Armed officers at the scene but no reports of injuries, Metropolitan Police says
Rishi Sunak is being interviewed on ITV’s This Morning.
He says immigration levels are too high, but he rejects claims it is out of control. This is from the Daily Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan.
Continue reading...Jason Carr, who had worked for the police, looked up details of the man on trial despite judge telling jurors it was illegal to do so
An “unashamed and unrepentant” juror who spent two decades in the police has been jailed for six months after causing a rape trial to collapse by researching the defendant online.
Jason Carr thought he “knew better than the lawyers” and used his phone to search for details about the man on trial believing there were gaps in the evidence, a judge at Liverpool crown court said.
Continue reading...National Cyber Security Centre urges operators of critical national infrastructure to prevent hacks
The UK’s cybersecurity agency has urged operators of critical national infrastructure, including energy and telecommunications networks, to prevent Chinese state-sponsored hackers from hiding on their systems.
The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, issued the warning after it emerged that a Chinese hacking group known as Volt Typhoon had targeted a US military outpost in the Pacific Ocean.
Continue reading...Lenders forced to raise fixed-term deals after latest inflation figure pushed swap rates upwards
Households looking for a new mortgage deal have been warned to expect 5%-plus fixed-rate deals in the coming weeks, after Wednesday’s inflation figures sent the money markets back into turmoil.
Nick Mendes, the mortgage technical manager at the broker John Charcol, said on Thursday that he doubts that there will be any two-year fixed-rate mortgages and probably few five-year deals priced at less than 5% in the coming weeks, as lenders are forced to reprice their mortgages upwards.
Continue reading...Roald Dahl Story Company announces new shows, including a large-scale circus and a reading of The Magic Finger
A slate of Roald Dahl adaptations has been announced, including a family musical based on The Enormous Crocodile, a reading of The Magic Finger and a large-scale circus show featuring many of the author’s most famous characters.
The three shows will join the new musical The Witches, co-produced by the National Theatre and readying for its debut in November, while a further four creations have been commissioned by the theatre division of the Roald Dahl Story Company and are under development.
Continue reading...Committee highlights serious problems with residence schemes affecting Brits already living in the EU before Brexit
An influential House of Lords committee has urged Suella Braverman to step up efforts to protect the rights of vulnerable British citizens in the EU after the case of an elderly woman with dementia who was threatened with deportation from Sweden.
It also said more needed to be done to ensure the rights of EU citizens in the UK – also guaranteed under the Brexit withdrawal agreement – were protected to prevent a “Windrush-type scenario”.
Continue reading...Nearly 1,000 students attempt group action against UCL, accusing it of breaking promises
Lawyers representing almost 1,000 current and former students whose studies were affected by Covid and strike action told the high court in London their clients felt “cheated” by their educational experience and should be entitled to seek compensation through the courts.
They are seeking to bring a claim against University College London (UCL), accusing it of breaking its “promises” after tuition was moved online and access to libraries and laboratories restricted during the pandemic, with no discount to their “eye-watering” tuition fees.
Continue reading...Steve Rodhouse, who led Operation Midland, may have breached professional standards, says police watchdog
One of Britain’s most senior police officers should face a gross misconduct charge over his role in Operation Midland, the disastrous investigation into claims of a VIP paedophile ring, the police watchdog has concluded.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct had previously cleared Steve Rodhouse of wrongdoing for overseeing the Metropolitan police’s operation, which saw the force raid homes of high-profile figures having fallen for the lies of the fantasist Carl Beech.
Continue reading...Investigation of Teesworks project to be led by independent panel of his choosing, not National Audit Office
Michael Gove has ordered an “independent review” into allegations of “corruption wrongdoing and illegality” surrounding a Teesside redevelopment project that is part of Rishi Sunak’s freeports plans.
But there was anger as Gove declined to act on calls for the National Audit Office (NAO) to lead the investigation, instead announcing it will undertaken by an independent panel that he will appoint, while the watchdog will have some limited role.
Continue reading...Data prompts speculation NHS inability to cut waiting lists could make private healthcare ‘new normal’
Record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare, spending up to £3,200 on having a cataract removed and £15,075 on a new hip, amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists.
Across the UK last year 272,000 people used their own funds to cover the cost of having an operation or diagnostic procedure at a private hospital. That was up from 262,000 the year before and a sharp rise on the 199,000 who did so in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic struck.
Continue reading...Bermondsey MP had whip removed last year after complaint by reporter Henry Dyer about racist comments
Labour is to restore the party whip to Neil Coyle after the MP was suspended for drunken abuse and making racist comments to a journalist.
Coyle was suspended in February last year after a complaint by Henry Dyer, a political reporter for the Insider website who now works for the Guardian, about the behaviour of the MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark in London.
Continue reading...Ibrahim Faraj, seven, was abducted and taken to Saudi Arabia in November
A woman whose seven-year-old son was kidnapped by his father and taken to Saudi Arabia has said she repeatedly warned authorities it would happen but “no one listened”.
Ranem Elkhalidi has not seen or spoken to Ibrahim Faraj since November, when he was abducted by his father, Hamzah Faraj, in breach of a court order.
Continue reading...Release on Thursday has already prompted responses from politicians but complex factors behind probable rise in numbers coming
The release of official statistics is often the focus of political scrutiny, but the latest annual figures for overall net migration to the UK, due Thursday at 9.30am, are sufficiently anticipated they have prompted two separate policy announcements already.
On Tuesday, Suella Braverman rushed through a plan to reduce the number of people arriving via student visas by greatly limiting the scope for them to bring along family members.
Continue reading...NGOs dismayed at reduction in Britain’s contribution as crisis-hit region faces challenges from drought, rising prices and conflict
The UK has been accused of taking the “insulting and shortsighted” decision to cut humanitarian aid to east Africa at a time of chronic drought, conflict and rising food prices.
At a United Nations pledging conference in New York on Wednesday, which the UK is co-chairing, Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s international development minister, announced a humanitarian aid package to the region of £143m.
Continue reading...Thinktank warns against wholesale switch to working from home and raises fears over lost productivity in capital
Office workers in central London are spending on average 2.3 days a week in the workplace, according to a report that warns against a wholesale switch to working from home.
The thinktank Centre for Cities carried out polling of office workers in the capital and found they were spending 59% of the time in their workplace compared with pre-Covid levels.
Continue reading...Report raises concerns about near 23% rise in children in care over 10 years amid serious shortage of social workers
Radical reforms to the care system in Wales are needed to address a “shocking” rise in the number of looked after children, a Welsh parliament committee has concluded.
The committee said the number of children in care was up by almost 23% since 2013 while at the same time there were shortages of qualified social workers.
Continue reading...Only students on courses designated as research programmes will be able to bring dependants under home secretary’s policy
Suella Braverman has rushed out stringent curbs on international students who come to study in the UK amid growing pressure on the home secretary over her conduct in office.
Under proposals released in parliament on Tuesday, overseas students will no longer be able to bring family with them except under specific circumstances as the government seeks to reduce immigration numbers.
Continue reading...Archbishop of Canterbury calls on ministers to implement strategies on human trafficking and the refugee crisis
The archbishop of Canterbury has proposed two amendments to the government’s flagship illegal migration bill that he had earlier deemed “morally unacceptable”.
With the controversial plans to enter the committee stage in the House of Lords on Wednesday, Justin Welby called on ministers to implement 10-year strategies for tackling human trafficking and for an international collaboration to solving the refugee crises.
Continue reading...South Wales force refers itself to police watchdog following deaths of Kyrees Sullivan and Harvey Evans
Police are facing serious questions and community anger after taking almost 24 hours to admit potential involvement in the pursuit of two teenagers, whose deaths sparked riots in Cardiff.
Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, were killed in the Ely area of the city just after 6pm on Monday, minutes after CCTV footage appeared to show them being followed by a police van as they rode together on an e-bike.
Continue reading...Streaming company tells millions of British subscribers that the service can no longer be used free by other households
Netflix has begun its crackdown on the millions of UK subscribers who share their passwords with friends and family who live outside of their household.
The streaming company has sent a letter to almost four million British subscribers that it has identified as giving friends and family members outside their home free access.
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