Yellow flower that only grows in York went extinct in 1991 brought back to life by Natural England experts
York groundsel was a cheerful yellow flower that slipped into global extinction in 1991, thanks to overzealous application of weedkiller in the city of its name.
But now the urban plant has been bought back to life in the first ever de-extinction in Britain, and is flowering again in York.
Continue reading...Scheme that began to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee in 2012 has thrived, project audit finds
Wildflower meadows planted a decade ago to celebrate 60 years of the late queen’s reign have thrived, with 101 new fields of flowers created since the scheme was launched.
King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, worked with Plantlife and the Wildlife Trusts to launch ”coronation meadows”, identifying 60 species-rich meadows from which to take donor seeds – one meadow for each year of the queen’s reign at the time.
Continue reading...The once humble, low-cost staple more than doubles in price, putting many fish and chip shops at risk
Whether it’s fried, baked or mashed, potatoes have traditionally been a low-cost staple food in the UK – but not any more.
A surge in costs is clobbering high street chippies, while in the supermarket, oven chips and the once humble baking potato are casualties of soaring grocery prices.
Continue reading...Motorists urged to carry out safety check as rubber on cars left idle for long periods can deteriorate
There has been a sharp rise in the number of cars with cracked tyres – which can result in an MOT failure – because of vehicles lying idle during the coronavirus pandemic.
Figures from Kwik Fit, the car maintenance chain, show that its mechanics saw almost twice as many cars with premature cracking last year compared with before the lockdowns.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Researchers analysed works run by nine water and sewerage companies in England and Wales
Eleven billion litres of raw sewage were discharged from a sample of 30 water company treatment works in one year, new research suggests.
The study aimed to reveal the volume of discharged effluent released from storm overflows by water firms. Companies are not forced to reveal the volume of raw sewage released during discharges. They are only required by regulators to provide data on the number of discharges and the length of time they lasted.
Continue reading...Policy was uncovered by defenders of two women repeatedly detained when trying to re-enter the UK
A secret Home Office policy to detain people with the right to live in the UK at air and seaports has been found to be unlawful in the high court.
The policy applied to those with unpaid NHS debts and was only uncovered through evidence gathered from charities and lawyers fighting the cases of two mothers who were repeatedly detained.
Continue reading...Presenter parts from agents and says he lied about affair with younger employee while he was married
Phillip Schofield has sensationally quit ITV and admitted to an affair with a younger male colleague at This Morning while he was still married.
The 61-year-old – who stepped down from presenting the daytime TV programme last Saturday – said the “consensual on-off relationship” was “unwise, but not illegal”.
Continue reading...High inflation likely to push interest rates above 5% and force up mortgage and loan payments just ahead of election
Rishi Sunak has been warned the UK economy could be in recession next year as stubbornly high inflation pushes interest rates to more than 5% before the next general election.
Setting the stage for a further rise in borrowing costs on mortgages and loans for millions of households, economists predicted the Bank of England could be forced to drive Britain’s economy into a recession to tame inflation.
Continue reading...Evidence that both women experienced stress and anxiety, with Elizabeth traumatised by mother’s death and issue of marriage
Elizabeth I was heavily influenced by her mother Anne Boleyn, despite the fact that the latter died when the Tudor queen was less than three years old, according to the historian and author Tracy Borman.
As well as being influenced by feminist ideas that were ahead of their time, Borman said there was evidence they both experienced stress and anxiety.
Continue reading...Prospect and FDA suspend strike action after offer of ‘meaningful’ talks, with PCS also attending
Civil service unions have entered talks with the government on pay, believing ministers may finally be willing to offer more money to match rises given to health and teaching staff.
Two unions, Prospect and the FDA, said they would be suspending strike action and ballots because the government said it was willing to engage in “meaningful” talks.
Continue reading...Discovery of GS-9209, one of the furthest from the Milky Way, adds to evidence that large black holes prevent star formation, astronomers say
A supermassive black hole discovered at the heart of an ancient galaxy is five times larger than expected for the number of stars it contains, astronomers say.
Researchers spotted the immense black hole in a galaxy known as GS-9209 that lies 25bn light-years from Earth, making it one of the most distant to have been observed and recorded.
Continue reading...Family say couple were not offered support to evacuate despite living near British embassy in Khartoum
An 85-year-old British citizen was shot by snipers and his wife died of starvation after they were left behind in Sudan, their family has said.
Abdalla Sholgami, who owns a hotel in London, lived with his 80-year-old wife, Alaweya Rishwan, who is disabled, close to the UK’s diplomatic base in Khartoum, the BBC said.
Continue reading...Met Office says temperatures could reach 24C with fine conditions expected to continue into next week
The UK could experience the hottest day of the year so far this bank holiday weekend, with temperatures expected to reach as high as 24C (75F).
The Met Office said the area of high pressure, which has brought fine conditions across the UK over the past few days, is forecast to continue through the weekend and into next week.
Continue reading...Document says man claimed he would attempt to harm monarch while she was visiting California
An FBI file relating to a visit to the US by the late Queen Elizabeth II has revealed a potential plot to assassinate her.
The document, available on the FBI’s online vault, outlines what appears to be intelligence provided to federal agents about a threat to the queen’s life in California 40 years ago.
Continue reading...Devon cattle stand in for extinct aurochs in project aimed at protecting precious species such as sand lizards
The mighty aurochs have gone, as have the tarpan horses and the wild boars, but modern-day substitutes have been drafted in to recreate a large open “savannah” on heathland in Dorset.
Instead of aurochs, considered the wild ancestor of domestic cattle, 200 red Devon cattle are to be found roaming the Purbeck Heaths, while Exmoor ponies are stand-ins for the tarpan horses and curly coated Mangalitsa pigs are doing the sort of rooting around that boars used to excel at here.
Continue reading...Durrell Goodall, Reano Walters and Nathaniel Williams are applying for a formal review of their convictions as teenagers
Lawyers for three black men convicted as teenagers of a 2016 murder in Manchester will apply for their convictions to be formally reviewed, arguing they resulted from institutional racism by the police, prosecution and judge.
The mothers of the three men – Durrell Goodall, Reano Walters and Nathaniel “Jay” Williams – will travel to Birmingham to personally deliver their sons’ 180-page application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Continue reading...Former Coronation Street actor calls for more support, as survey finds lack of safety net for self-employed creatives
More financial support should be available to artists in the periods where they are not working, the former Coronation Street actor Julie Hesmondhalgh has said, as research revealed universal credit is pushing the creative workforce into destitution.
The study by the performing arts union Equity and the University of Warwick found that of those subject to the universal credit rule known as the “minimum income floor” (MIF) – which reduces the amount of support that self-employed creatives are eligible for – 41% had gone without essential items such as food or utilities.
Continue reading...More than 3,000 planes scheduled to take off on Friday, with road traffic peaking as leisure trips coincide with commuting
The start of the May half-term holiday for many schools will see “hectic” roads and the most flights departing the UK since before the pandemic, according to industry estimates.
About 19m leisure journeys by car are expected on Britain’s roads over the next four days, and more than 3,000 planes are scheduled to take off on Friday.
Continue reading...Council of Europe has established digital register of damage as first step towards compensation mechanism
Britain is likely to keep Russian state assets immobilised for some time after the war in Ukraine ends, and certainly until Moscow has agreed to pay compensation for the damage it has inflicted, British officials have confirmed.
The Council of Europe summit last week established a digital register of damage for Ukraine as the first step towards an international compensation mechanism for victims of Russian aggression.
Continue reading...Police spent three days scouring reservoir after request by German authorities hoping to prove case against convicted rapist
Portuguese police have said material unearthed from a reservoir in Algarve will be sent to Germany for analysis after the first major search for Madeleine McCann in a decade came to a close.
After three days of excavation on a spit of land jutting into the Barragem do Arade reservoir in south Portugal, officers were stood down and a spokesperson for the Polícia Judiciária said the collected material would be delivered to the German authorities.
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