Category Archives: UK news

‘I felt so betrayed’: classical musician forced out of London flat after noise complaints

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Fiona Fey, of popular choir Mediaeval Baebes, says her livelihood was threatened by noise abatement order

Musicians are facing a postcode lottery of noise complaints, industry leaders have warned, after a member of the classical chart-topping choir Mediaeval Baebes was handed a noise abatement notice for playing music in her flat.

Fiona Fey was told she had created “excessive noise from the playing of musical instruments that is audible and detectable from your property” and that she must cease making any more “noise from the property in the form of playing loud music”.

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‘I kept my alcoholism secret on Mission: Impossible set,’ Simon Pegg reveals

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The actor, now recovered, tells BBC’s Desert Island Discs he became ‘very sneaky’ about his drinking in the early 2000s

Simon Pegg faced his own mission impossible, tackling both his addiction and eventual recovery, while working on the major Hollywood film franchise alongside Tom Cruise, he will explain in a revealing radio interview on Sunday morning.

Speaking of a secret reliance upon alcohol that he hid while working on film sets in the early 2000s, Pegg admits: “You become very sneaky when you have something like that in your life.”

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Boris Johnson’s disciples gathered to sing the old hymns. But are they a real threat to Sunak?

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Familiar faces on the Tory right met in Bournemouth to pour scorn on the government. And they can certainly make the PM’s life harder

• Read more: Tory anarchy breaks out as revolt looms on Brexit laws

It was billed as the launch of a campaign to hand more power to Tory members. It was not, its organisers repeatedly insisted, a group aiming to reinstall Boris Johnson as party leader – or cause trouble for Rishi Sunak. It was about “taking back control” of the Conservative party for the grassroots.

Yet as the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) met for its inaugural gathering in a sunny Bournemouth on Saturday, it was less than 15 minutes after Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns had belted out the national anthem that Johnson’s name was first uttered on stage.

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Eurovision 2023: Sweden wins the 2023 Eurovision song contest with Tattoo by Loreen – as it happened

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Loreen becomes only second person to win contest twice as Sweden claims seventh victory overall

The scandal though is that Georgia were robbed of a place in the final. Robbed, I tell you. A dramatic gothic ballad type affair with lots of creepy hands in the background on the screen reaching out for Iru, the song Echo would have been a great addition to tonight’s show. Don’t blame me, I voted for it.

This tweet summed it up really.

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Sunak food summit promises star guest and lots of rhubarb

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It’s hard to see the PM’s talks with farmers, store chiefs and the (rumoured) odd TV star producing concrete proposals

Farmers throwing in the towel amid soaring costs and labour shortages and falling domestic production of some foods have resulted in repeated gaps on British supermarket shelves – much to shoppers’ chagrin.

UK agriculture has had a torrid few years navigating the fallout from Brexit and the pandemic at a time when squeezed consumers are reassessing what they can afford to put in their shopping baskets.

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Nurses’ union head calls for double-digit pay rise in England ahead of strike ballot

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Pat Cullen raises stakes in dispute with government after nurses reject earlier offer of 5%

The head of the Royal College of Nursing union has called for a double-digit pay rise for nurses in England, raising the stakes in the long-running dispute with the government.

Pat Cullen, the general secretary of the RCN, had previously told members to accept the government’s offer of 5% in March but it was rejected in a vote by 54% to 46%.

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Britons face another day of disruptions as train crews stage strike

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Most networks will have limited service as RMT members at 14 companies in England walk out

Passengers faced a second day of disruption on Britain’s railways on Saturday as the union leader Mick Lynch insisted the 24-hour strike had not targeted the Eurovision song contest.

Train crews are staging another 24-hour strike, immediately after Friday’s action by drivers, disrupting people travelling to Liverpool for the Eurovision final, as well as National League football fans heading to Wembley in London.

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Priti Patel to blame local election losses on Tory leadership in speech

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Witham MP expected to attack ‘those in power’ for sidelining party’s grassroots at conference of pro-Boris Johnson group

Priti Patel will attack the Conservative party leadership, blaming heavy local election losses on “those in power and control”, in a speech on Saturday.

The former home secretary is expected to accuse the Tory leadership of having “done a better job at damaging our party” over the past year than Keir Starmer’s Labour party or leftwing campaign groups.

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Ukraine aims for repeat victory in most political Eurovision in years

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Four-hour broadcast will feature taunts at Putin and a singalong of a Liverpool anthem

There will be rockets, soldiers and moustachioed men in their underpants lampooning Vladimir Putin as a “crocodile psychopath” – and that’s just the Croatian act.

One of the most stridently political Eurovision grand finals in years takes place in Liverpool on Saturday night against a backdrop of a war in Ukraine that shows little sign of ending.

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Excessive foraging for wild garlic and mushrooms in UK ‘a risk to wildlife’

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Experts say foragers taking too much, selling the goods commercially and harming fragile ecosystems

Foragers for wild garlic and mushrooms have been picking ingredients in protected sites, taking too much and putting wildlife at risk, experts have warned.

The trend of gathering food in the wild has boomed in recent years, with top restaurants serving foraged food on the menu, and it can be a healthy and sustainable way for people to get closer to nature.

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Lisbon revealed as best-value location for a European city break

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The Portuguese capital wins top spot ahead of budget-friendly eastern European destinations, according to new poll

In an annual travel survey which analysed typical tourist costs in 35 European cities, Lisbon has emerged as the best-value location for a city break on the continent – beating traditional budget-friendly eastern European destinations.

The Post Office Travel Money City Costs Barometer found the Portuguese capital won the top spot ahead of runner-up Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital. Two other past winners – Krakow (third) and Athens (fourth) – complete the top four cities.

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Local election observers say 1.2% of voters turned away for lacking ID

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Democracy Volunteers group says half of them appeared to be from minority ethnic backgrounds

More than 1% of voters, half of whom appeared to be from minority ethnic backgrounds, were turned away from polling stations because of ID requirements at the local elections, according to a group of democracy observers.

Democracy Volunteers, a group of election observers, said it conducted snapshot surveys in 118 councils on 4 May.

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Tory voters in Surrey defiant after backing Lib Dems in local elections, poll shows

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Focus group of blue wall residents believes Sunak is ‘out of his depth’ and that Britain needs change now

Blue wall Conservative voters in Surrey are far from impressed with the government’s obsession with culture wars, and remain unrepentant for tactically backing the Liberal Democrats at last week’s local elections.

The prime minister still looks “out of his depth”, uninspiring and unable to set out a straightforward vision six months in the job, according to a panel of Surrey residents who backed the Conservatives at the 2019 election. They believe “the country needs change now”, and the Tories need some time in opposition to sort themselves out.

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IOPC to investigate Met police officers after man Tasered and two dogs shot dead

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Police watchdog to launch inquiry after incident involving man with two dogs along canal in Limehouse

An investigation will be launched after a man was Tasered and two dogs were shot dead by Metropolitan police officers in front of witnesses, the police watchdog has announced.

On Friday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct said it was “appropriate” that complaints linked to the incident in Poplar, east London, on 7 May should be “independently investigated”. The IOPC said it understood the “public concern” caused by the shooting.

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Sunak and Starmer criticise decision to deny Zelenskiy a Eurovision speech

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Producers of event refuse Ukraine president’s request to speak over fears of politicising contest

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have voiced their disapproval of a decision to prevent Volodymyr Zelenskiy from being able to address this year’s Eurovision.

The prime minister and the Labour leader were united in criticising the decision to block the Ukrainian president’s request to speak at Saturday evening’s grand final. They were joined in their opposition by the former prime minister Boris Johnson.

PA Media contributed to this report

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Prince Harry has no evidence he was hacked by the Mirror, court told

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Mirror Group’s lawyers suggest newspaper’s stories about prince were instead leaked by royal press officers

Prince Harry has no evidence he was the victim of phone hacking by Mirror journalists, the high court has heard, with stories about his private life instead secretly leaked by royal press officers.

The Duke of Sussex alleges that dozens of news stories published in the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and People were obtained through phone hacking or other illegal behaviour. The articles – published between 1995 and 2011 – detail his relationship with his family, his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, his military service and allegations of drug use.

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Ex-pupil, 16, charged after three teachers injured at school in Scotland

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Officers were called to Johnstone high school in Renfrewshire after incident in which a 14-year-old was also hurt

A 16-year-old girl has been charged after three teachers were taken to hospital as a result of a disturbance at a school in Scotland.

Officers were called to Johnstone high school in Renfrewshire after a former pupil entered the school at about 10.45am on Friday.

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Woman in Cornwall died four months after reporting rape, inquest hears

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Coroner raises concerns over police and mental health services’ response to case of Tamsin Dolamore

A senior coroner has expressed deep concern over the way police and mental health services dealt with the case of a vulnerable woman who fell from a railway bridge four months after reporting she had been raped.

Tamsin Dolamore, a 24-year-old carer, was found on the tracks near a railway station in Cornwall and died in hospital the following day having sustained head injuries and had a cardiac arrest.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Edinburgh University tries to defuse row after trans rights protests over film

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Executives holds talks with both sides after screening of gender critical documentary was cancelled

Edinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.

University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown.

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Chances were missed to save man who starved in Nottingham, report finds

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DWP, GP surgery and social landlord failed to spot risks for Errol Graham, who had benefits cut despite being severely mentally ill

Welfare officials failed to properly identify the risk of harm to Errol Graham, a severely mentally ill man whose disability benefit payments they cut off and who died of starvation eight months later, an official report has found.

An independent safeguarding review into the “shocking and disturbing” events leading to Graham’s tragic and lonely death concluded that multiple failings by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), his GP practice, and social landlord meant that chances to save him were missed.

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