Police search former Doctor Who star’s property and are seen leaving with boxes
The actor Noel Clarke has been arrested by police at his family home in London.
Detectives searched the former Doctor Who star’s property in Kensington on Thursday and officers were seen leaving the address with boxes apparently containing a laptop and documents.
Continue reading...Primary pupil numbers could fall by 4% over next five years leading to reduction of 162,000 pupils, study finds
Declining numbers of children across England could lead to the equivalent of 800 primary schools falling empty or being closed by the end of the decade, according to research by a thinktank.
The national decline in pupils at state primary schools is mainly driven by low birthrates but is magnified in London by increasing numbers of people moving out of the capital or leaving the state system to move abroad or send their children to private schools, according to the Education Policy Institute.
Continue reading...Number of procedures on men up by 26% as experts say cosmetic surgery has become normalised despite risks
Growing numbers of men and younger people are getting facelifts, a trend driven by social media, advances in surgical techniques and the rise of weight loss drugs.
Figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) show facelifts are on the rise in the UK. In 2024 there were 1,882 procedures, up 8% from the previous year. Women accounted for the majority, with numbers rising by 7% to 1,742. But the steepest increase came from men: procedures grew by 26%, from 111 in 2023 to 140 in 2024.
Continue reading...Many of the 236,000 imitations of the fluffy figures found this year contain banned chemicals or pose choking risk
Fake Labubu dolls accounted for 90% of counterfeit toys seized at the UK border this year, with many found to contain banned chemicals or pose choking hazards.
Border officials intercepted almost 259,000 counterfeit toys worth more than £3.5m, including 236,000 fake versions of Pop Mart’s toothy, fluffy Labubu dolls.
Continue reading...Asbestos and faeces flooding cells also among problems contributing to huge backlog in cases, Law Society finds
Asbestos, mould, rotten seagulls and cells flooding with excrement are among the problems experienced in crumbling courts in England and Wales, the Law Society has found.
The professional body for solicitors said deteriorating buildings and unreliable technology were contributing to the record backlog in crown courts and undermining confidence and trust in the justice system.
Continue reading...Khan’s comments come after US president used speech at UN to call London mayor ‘terrible’
Sadiq Khan has hit back at Donald Trump, accusing the US president of being “racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic” after he used a speech at the UN to call the London mayor “terrible” and claim the city was being steered toward “sharia law”.
Trump’s remarks on Tuesday night provoked anger among Labour figures, with the health secretary, Wes Streeting, praising Khan as someone who “stands up for difference of background and opinion”.
Continue reading...From immigrants eating the king’s waterfowl to sharia law in London, it’s all there in our Nige’s relativist world
“Attention all swans! Attention all swans! You are not safe! Immigrants from inferior cultures have been seen loitering with intent to kill in royal parks. They want to eat you alive. Be very vigilant. All offenders who are caught will be punishable under sharia law.”
Never say that a half-hour phone in with Nigel Farage on Nick Ferrari’s LBC morning show is anything but educational. Listen and learn. It’s an object lesson in how to perfect the 30-minute hate. Soon to become compulsory if Reform win the next election.
Continue reading...Manchester mayor urges Keir Starmer to reveal plans to deliver reform but denies he is plotting to replace PM
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has described Nigel Farage over his comment implying Donald Trump might be right about paracetamol posing a risk to pregnant women. (See 10.23am.)
Dangerous and irresponsible.
This man is a snake oil salesman and it’s time people stopped buying.
Surgical procedure to treat devastating illness slowed progress of disease by 75% in patients after three years
Huntington’s disease, a devastating degenerative illness that runs in families, has been treated successfully for the first time in a breakthrough gene therapy trial.
The disease, caused by a single gene defect, steadily kills brain cells leading to dementia, paralysis and ultimately death. Those with a parent with Huntington’s have a 50% chance of developing the disease, which until now has been incurable.
Continue reading...Starmer’s chief of staff used ‘false excuse’ for failing to declare donations to his former thinktank, Tories claim
The Conservatives have called for an investigation into Keir Starmer’s beleaguered chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, after allegations that he tried to mislead the elections watchdog over donations to a Labour thinktank he ran while in opposition.
The organisation, Labour Together, was fined £14,250 by the Electoral Commission in 2021 over its handling of almost £740,000 of donations. The Tories have claimed that it used a “false excuse” of administrative errors.
Continue reading...Convicted killer Daniel Bannister showed up at singer’s home for fourth time, leaving her ‘stunned’
A convicted killer who stalked Cheryl Tweedy has been jailed after turning up at the singer’s home for a fourth time.
Daniel Bannister, 50, who breached a restraining order after showing up at Tweedy’s rural home in June, had already spent time in prison for the same offence. At Reading crown court on Tuesday, a judge sentenced him to 12 months in jail after he admitted a single charge of breaching a restraining order. He was also handed a fresh restraining order not to contact Tweedy.
Continue reading...Organisers of event urge fathers to push for more equal parental rights in face of Britain’s current poor offering
“Who’s in your team?” asked Elliott Rae, pumping up the crowd in central London at what he billed as the world’s first Working Dads’ summit. “Who’s your goalkeeper, your defender, your striker? Do you have a full 11? Do you have subs on the bench?.”
Football analogies are generally rare at events about parenting, particularly those that seek to tackle gender equality. But then, so are men. At the Working Dads’ summit – almost certainly the first in the UK – both were in plentiful supply, as fathers were urged to “create a new idea of masculinity”.
Continue reading...Appeal court rejects home secretary’s attempt to appeal against blocking of return of man to France under ‘one in, one out’ deal
Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to change modern slavery laws to prevent migrants from making last minute attempts to “frustrate a removal” after her bid to appeal in a trafficking case was thrown out by the court of appeal.
The home secretary had applied for permission to appeal against a high court ruling temporarily blocking the removal of an Eritrean asylum seeker to France under Labour’s “one in, one out” scheme so that he had more time to gather evidence in support of his trafficking claim. Three appeal court judges rejected her application.
Continue reading...Duchess’s then spokesperson recalls disgraced financier’s ‘Hannibal Lecter-style’ phone call after she disowned him
The Duchess of York allegedly sent an email apologising to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein after he threatened to “destroy her” in a “Hannibal Lecter-style” phone call, according to reports.
Sarah Ferguson sent the message in April 2011, describing Epstein as a “supreme friend”, after she had publicly disowned him in the media.
Continue reading...Writer, who has served six years for sharing a Facebook post, was given a presidential pardon
The British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been released from jail after serving six years for sharing a Facebook post.
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, granted him his freedom after intensive lobbying by the UK government and pressure from Egypt’s national human rights council.
Continue reading...Research covering 24 countries finds female and younger staff face worst aggression from patients
Violence and abuse by patients against staff in GP clinics is widespread globally and usually triggered by long waiting times and the refusal to prescribe requested drugs, research shows.
The findings are based on a 24-country study of the threats and aggression that family doctors, receptionists and other practice staff experience at work.
Continue reading...Nationwide survey in London, Manchester and Glasgow shows pandemic trends may be reversing as more people return to office
People buying homes in London 500 metres from a tube or railway station pay £42,700 more than buyers of similar properties 1,500 metres away from transport hubs, according to new data.
The figures indicate that despite the reshaping of the housing market sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and dramatic changes to working patterns, the traditional estate agent mantra of “good transport links” continues to wield its power over buyers.
Continue reading...Girlguiding survey reveals rising fears of harassment, with many avoiding public transport or changing what they wear
Two-thirds of girls and young women have changed their everyday behaviour to try to stay safe, with 31% avoiding taking public transport alone, according to a survey by the Girlguiding charity.
The research found that 56% of girls and young women in the UK aged between 11 and 21 said they feel unsafe travelling by themselves, up from 45% in 2022, while almost one-third said they avoided public transport altogether.
Continue reading...Lib Dem leader to use conference speech to urge extra funding for mRNA research and accuse Nigel Farage of cheering US funding reductions
The UK should import US scientists whose cancer research projects have been cut by Donald Trump, Ed Davey will argue at a Liberal Democrat conference that has focused heavily on how the party can respond to hard-right populism.
In his closing speech, Davey will also criticise Nigel Farage, saying the Reform UK conference applauded the Trump administration’s decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccines, which are being trialled as a way to offer personalised immunotherapy treatment for some cancers.
Continue reading...Russia shrugs off criticism as Poland and Estonia speak about incursions at emergency meeting of UN security council
European allies have vowed to shoot down any Russian aircraft violating their airspace after Nato members accused Moscow of repeated incursions into the alliance’s territory in recent weeks.
“If another missile or aircraft enters our space without permission, deliberately or by mistake, and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on Nato territory, please don’t come here to whine about it,” Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, told an emergency meeting of the UN security council in New York on Monday that was called to discuss a Russian airspace incursion over Estonia.
Continue reading...