Category Archives: UK news

US judge hears rightwing thinktank’s challenge over Prince Harry visa

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Heritage Foundation, which claims duke may have lied about past drug use on application, wants US government to release records

A federal judge has given the US government a week to decide how to respond to a rightwing thinktank that alleges Prince Harry may have lied about past drug use on his visa application.

The Duke of Sussex moved to southern California with his wife, Meghan Markle, an American citizen, and their young family in 2020 after they left British royal life and embarked on new projects, including the release of his memoir, Spare in January.

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Tony McPhee, singer and guitarist for rock band the Groundhogs, dies aged 79

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Musician who led acclaimed band on and off between 1962 and 2015 – and scored three UK top 10 albums – had suffered a fall last year and a series of strokes

Tony McPhee, the singer and guitarist who led British blues and rock group the Groundhogs across six decades, has died aged 79.

A message was posted on the group’s Facebook page confirming that he died peacefully at home” on 6 June from complications after a fall last year. He had also suffered a series of strokes in later life.

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Covid inquiry reveals fresh battle for release of government messages – UK politics live

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Lawyer for Covid inquiry announces ‘regrettable’ delays in handing over of information by government

Q: What would the minimum wage for workers be under your fair pay agreement for care workers? (See 10.47am.)

Starmer says his sister is a care worker. He knows how hard the job is.

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Syphilis cases at highest level for 75 years in England last year

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UKHSA figures also show gonorrhoea diagnoses rose by 50% to 82,600 – the most since records began in 1918

Cases of syphilis were at their highest level in 75 years in England last year while gonorrhoea cases reached a record high, figures show.

The UK Health Security Agency is urging people to use condoms, calling them “the best line of defence”, and advises people to go for a test if they have recently had unprotected sex.

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Call for new writers of colour as entries open for the 4thWrite short story prize

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The winner will receive £1,000, and have their story featured on the Guardian website

A short story competition run by the Guardian and publisher 4th Estate is open for entries from unpublished writers of colour living in the UK.

The winner of the 4thWrite prize will receive £1,000, a one-day publishing workshop with 4th Estate and publication of their story on the Guardian website.

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Housebuilders cut back on construction as UK mortgage rate rises spook buyers

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Work on residential building sites slips in May to weakest level since 2009

Britain’s housebuilders are cutting back on the construction of new homes amid signs that potential buyers are being spooked by the prospect of increases in mortgage rates over the coming months.

The latest report on the construction sector found that work on residential building sites slipped in May to the weakest level since 2009, apart from when sites were locked down during the Covid pandemic.

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SSE to pay near-£10m penalty over licence breach

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Sum follows Ofgem inquiry into firm’s power generation arm earning ‘excessive payments’ from National Grid

The energy regulator has said the power generation arm of Scottish energy company SSE will pay a near-£10m penalty for breaching the terms of its licence.

Ofgem said a detailed investigation had found that SSE Generation had secured “excessive payments” from the National Grid, the electricity system operator (ESO), during periods of what is known as “transmission constraint”.

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AI should be licensed like medicines or nuclear power, Labour suggests

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Exclusive: party calls for developers without a licence to be barred from working on advanced AI tools

The UK should bar technology developers from working on advanced artificial intelligence tools unless they have a licence to do so, Labour has said.

Ministers should introduce much stricter rules around companies training their AI products on vast datasets of the kind used by OpenAI to build ChatGPT, Lucy Powell, Labour’s digital spokesperson, told the Guardian.

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Lewis Capaldi ‘extremely sorry’ for cancelling gigs to rest for Glastonbury

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Singer said recent months had been overwhelming and he needs to spend time with friends and family to recover

The Brit award-winning singer Lewis Capaldi apologised to fans after cancelling all of his upcoming commitments to “rest and recover” ahead of Glastonbury.

Capaldi, 26, said in an Instagram post on Monday that he is “struggling” after a “full on” couple of months in which he released the chart-topping album Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent.

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Keir Starmer pledges ‘good, union jobs’ amid energy row with GMB

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Labour leader to address union’s conference after its leader attacks plan to ban new North Sea oil and gas extraction

Keir Starmer will pledge to put “good, union jobs” at the heart of Labour’s energy policy during a speech to one of its biggest donor unions after its general secretary criticised a proposed ban on oil and gas expansion.

He will speak at the GMB’s annual conference on Tuesday, a day after he tried to calm a growing rift with its leadership over Labour’s energy policy.

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Revealed: government looking at four more sites for asylum vessels

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Rishi Sunak confirms two more barges will house 1,000 people, as sources say discussions about other areas are taking place

Thousands of asylum seekers could be housed in vessels moored near Newcastle, Harwich, Felixstowe and the Royal London docks, the Guardian has learned.

Rishi Sunak confirmed on Monday that the government had acquired two more giant barges to house about 1,000 people seeking refuge in the UK.

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Covid inquiry legal challenge over WhatsApp messages to be heard ‘very soon’

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MPs told UK government’s attempt to avoid handing over evidence to inquiry had been ‘misinterpreted’

The high court will decide “very soon” whether ministers should be forced to hand over all unredacted files demanded by the Covid inquiry, MPs have been told.

In an attempt to allay concerns of a cover-up, the Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin faced down fractious MPs on Monday and denied there was any political involvement in the scrutiny of such material.

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Reading terrorist had assault charge dropped weeks before attack, court told

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CPS and Home Office had ‘miscommunication’ over Khairi Saadallah, who went on to kill three, pre-inquest review hears

Charges against a man who was later responsible for the Reading terror attack were dropped due to “miscommunication” between the Home Office and Crown Prosecution Service, a pre-inquest review has heard.

Khairi Saadallah murdered three men in a Reading park on 20 June 2020 as coronavirus restrictions were eased. Saadallah allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39.

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Butterfly loved by Churchill back in England after almost 100 years

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Black-veined whites, thought to have died out in 1920s, have seemingly returned due to warmer climate

When they last roamed England in 1925, they counted Winston Churchill as a fan. Now, black-veined whites – an extremely rare species of British butterfly – have been spotted fluttering once again.

Small numbers of the black and white insects have been spotted in fields and hedgerows in south-east London, nearly a century after the species was thought to have become extinct in the UK.

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One in five unpaid carers in England and Wales ‘do not have access to a vehicle’

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Census data shows nearly half a million households that cater for someone disabled or in bad health are without car or truck

About one in five households with an unpaid carer for someone who is disabled or in bad health across England and Wales have no access to a private vehicle, new analysis shows.

The findings show that nearly half a million households across England and Wales (486,341) that include someone disabled or in bad health did not have a car or truck at the time of the 2021 census.

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Rise in UK breweries going bust amid thirst for cheaper craft beers

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45 breweries, mostly smaller makers, enter insolvency in last 12 months, up from 15 the previous year

The number of UK breweries going out of business has tripled in the past year, with smaller craft beer manufacturers most at risk as consumers opt for cheaper options during the cost of living crisis, according to research.

In total, 45 breweries entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March, compared with 15 in the previous year, according to the most recent official Insolvency Service statistics analysed by Mazars, an audit, tax and advisory firm.

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No point in food price measures without targeting small stores, Which? warns

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Consumer group tells chancellor ‘blanket approach’ will not address poor households’ access to affordable food

UK ministers’ efforts to reduce soaring food shopping bills “won’t touch the sides” without measures to make small grocery stores more affordable for low-income households, the chancellor has been warned.

Which?, the consumer group, has written to Jeremy Hunt over concerns that a blanket approach to lowering supermarket bills will not address the problem of accessibility to affordable food, after reports that ministers are considering a voluntary price cap scheme.

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Access to contraception has got harder in England, top doctor says

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Lesley Regan, women’s health ambassador for England, says ‘destructive’ changes to NHS system in 2012 are failing women

Women are finding it harder to access contraception than they did a decade ago, resulting in more unplanned pregnancies, the women’s health ambassador has said.

They have been discouraged by bad experiences, a confusingly disjointed system and long delays for procedures such as the coil or implant insertion, according to Prof Lesley Regan, a leading gynaecologist who was appointed women’s health ambassador for England last year.

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Bournemouth beach deaths: victims named as Joe Abbess and Sunnah Khan

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Family of Joe, 17, pay tribute to ‘fabulous young man’ and relatives of Sunnah, 12, say she ‘was an angel’

A 17-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl who died after getting into difficulty in the water off Bournemouth beach last week have been named as Joe Abbess and Sunnah Khan.

Joe, from Southampton, was described as a “fabulous young man” who was “kind and generous, loving and caring, hardworking and funny”, according to a family statement issued by Dorset police.

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