Category Archives: UK news

Dancing Capercaillie bird makes a tentative comeback in Scotland

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Exclusive: Ecologists say there are early signs that the population is recovering in remote forests

It is a discotheque for Britain’s biggest type of grouse. Before dawn, male capercaillie will begin their courtship rituals, their black tail feathers erect and fanning out, chests puffed out, their heads thrust high into the cold spring air.

Their dancefloors are forest clearings in the Highlands which echo the males’ wheezing, popping and clattering mating calls. Often perched in surrounding pine trees, hens will carefully watch as their potential mates compete to win their affection.

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UK homeowners face huge rise in payments when fixed-rate mortgages expire

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More than 2.4m deals are ending in 2024, raising fears of financial timebomb

More than a quarter of UK homeowners on a fixed-rate mortgage are heading for sharp increase in monthly payments before the next election, in a financial timebomb that will rock the Conservatives just as voters prepare to choose the next government.

With the Bank of England expected to increase its key interest rate next week for the 13th time, figures shared with the Guardian by UK Finance, the banking industry trade body, show more than 2.4m fixed-rate homeowner deals will expire between now and the end of 2024.

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Ban on two-for-one junk food deals to be delayed for two more years

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Rishi Sunak says he is suspending anti-obesity measure to avoid restricting consumer options during cost of living crisis

The government is to delay its planned ban on two-for-one junk food deals – a key anti-obesity measure – for another two years amid the cost of living crisis.

Rishi Sunak will shelve the expected measure targeting multi-buy promotions on products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) to avoid restricting consumer options while prices remain high.

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Warning of floods over weekend, with storms set to hit parts of UK

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Some settlements may be cut off by flooding as warm, humid air causes storms to develop, says Met Office

Thunderstorms set to sweep across the UK this weekend could cause flash flooding, forecasters have warned.

Parts of the UK could face train and bus delays and some communities may be cut off by flooding as warm, humid air causes storms to develop, the Met Office said.

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‘Bittersweet’: bereaved charity founder honoured in King’s birthday list

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Bullying campaigner and founder of UK buddy system for Ukrainian refugees also among hundreds recognised

Suzanne Richards lost her son Joel, 19, brother Adrian, 49, and father, Pat, 78, in the 2015 terrorist attack in Sousse, Tunisia. Her other son Owen, then 16, was also shot and injured by the gunmen but survived the attack in which 38 people were killed.

Their memories live on in the Smile for Joel charity, supporting families who are victims of homicide, which she and Owen run from her home in Wednesbury, West Midlands.

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Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Anna Wintour honoured in king’s birthday list

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Knighthood for late novelist Amis is dated 18 May as honours cannot be given posthumously

Two giants of the literary world, the novelists Ian McEwan and the late Martin Amis, are recognised in the king’s first official birthday honours along with the fashion colossus Dame Anna Wintour.

The Booker prize-winning McEwan, whose acclaimed titles include Amsterdam, On Chesil Beach and Atonement, becomes a companion of honour, the highest award for outstanding achievement, of which there are only 65 at any time.

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Plaid Cymru will be ‘welcoming place’ after misogyny scandal, says new leader

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Rhun ap Iorwerth says Welsh pro-independence party is at a ‘difficult junction’ as he takes over

Rhun ap Iorwerth has been announced as the new leader of Plaid Cymru and faces the tough job of getting the party back on track after a misogyny and harassment scandal.

Despite strong calls within the party for the new leader to be a woman, ap Iorwerth was the only candidate who put his name forward.

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Campaigners win right to challenge England’s food strategy over climate crisis

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Feedback argues ministers’ failure to include measures to reduce production of meat and dairy products was unlawful

Ministers broke the law by failing to make plans to cut consumption of meat and dairy in England, activists will argue in a legal challenge after they were granted permission for a full judicial review of the government’s food strategy.

Overturning two previous decisions, the court of appeal on Friday ruled that the food systems campaigners Feedback could challenge the national food strategy on the basis that it failed to take into account ministers’ duties to cut carbon emissions.

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South East Water imposes hosepipe ban after Kent and Sussex water shortages

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Some areas left with little or no water, forcing schools to shut and residents to fetch drinking water from bottle stations

A hosepipe ban is scheduled to come into effect across Kent and Sussex as a result of record demand for drinking water, South East Water bosses have said.

Parts of the region have been left with little or no water this week during the hot weather, forcing schools to shut and residents to fetch drinking water from bottled water stations.

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Avon and Somerset police chief admits force is institutionally racist

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Sarah Crew also says force is ‘likely’ to be treating LGBTQ+ people, women and disabled people unfairly

The chief constable of Avon and Somerset police has admitted her force is “institutionally racist” and “likely” to be treating LGBTQ+ people, women and disabled people unfairly.

Sarah Crew said she was determined to fight an unjust system and would “root out” officers proved to be racist or behaving in a discriminatory way, and said she was not motivated by “wokeism or political correctness” but by “common sense”.

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Former Ofsted chief: school inspections should change after headteacher’s death

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Sir Michael Wilshaw says he now thinks differently about use of one-word headline grades in England

The former chief inspector of schools in England Sir Michael Wilshaw has said Ofsted’s style of school inspections needs to change after the death of the headteacher Ruth Perry.

Wilshaw, who led Ofsted until 2016, said Perry’s death, following an inspection that downgraded her school from “outstanding” to “inadequate”, had changed his mind over the use of one-word headline grades to rate schools in England.

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Tesco boss: food inflation has probably peaked but prices will stay high

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Ken Murphy says higher costs of grocery imports because of Brexit are partly to blame for rising prices

The chief executive of Tesco has said food inflation has probably peaked but warns that prices are likely to stay high.

Ken Murphy, the head of the UK’s biggest supermarket chain, said the price of milk, bread, cooking oil and some vegetables such as broccoli had come down this month but inflation continued in other essentials, including rice and potatoes, as aweather issues and locked-in increases in the price of labour and energy continued to bite.

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UK government urged to outline plans to help with winter energy bills

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Report by cross-party MPs criticises previous ‘lack of urgency in addressing market failures’

MPs have urged the government to set out its plans to protect households from high energy bills this winter as they said about 1.7 million people, including some of the most vulnerable groups, had been left waiting too long to receive previous support.

The public accounts committee (PAC) said that although schemes were introduced quickly, the government “did not have the bandwidth” to make sure help reached all groups in a timely fashion.

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Bar for street sexual harassment offences in England and Wales set too high, charities say

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Open letter says burden on victims to prove intent leaves door open for perpetrators to claim they were joking

Proposals to tackle sexual harassment in the street in England and Wales do not go far enough because the bar for offences has been set too high, charities have warned.

The Fawcett Society, Girl Guiding and Refuge are among organisations who say the requirement to prove perpetrators intended to cause alarm or distress undermines the provisions of two bills intended to protect women and girls going through parliament.

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Blood test to detect 50 types of cancer could be given to 1m people on NHS

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Chief executive Amanda Pritchard says that if early results are successful it will be rolled out more widely next year

A blood test which can detect 50 cancers before symptoms start to show could be offered to a million people in a pilot programme from next summer, according to the head of the NHS.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said the Galleri test has the potential to “transform cancer care forever”, according to reports.

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Just Stop Oil protesters interrupt opera at Glyndebourne festival

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Three activists use glitter cannons and air horns during performance of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites

Just Stop Oil protesters have interrupted a performance during the Glyndebourne opera festival in East Sussex by letting off glitter cannons and blowing air horns.

The disruption took place during a performance on Thursday of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at the festival near Lewes.

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Exotic bee-eater returns to UK for second summer in a row

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European birds nest in Norfolk much to the delight of twitchers – but environmentalists warn it’s a clear sign of climate change

With plumage cherry red, ultramarine, turquoise and yellow, usually found streaking like multicoloured darts across the skies of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Spain, they present as an epitome of tropical glamour.

British birdwatchers are aflutter to have found European bee-eaters swooping and burrowing in a disused quarry in Norfolk for the second summer in a row.

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Second boy, 14, dies after teenagers got into difficulty in river in Carlisle

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Child’s death in medical care follows that of 15-year-old Lewis Michael Kirkpatrick, who was found in the River Eden on 27 May

A second boy has died after an incident in which a group of teenagers got into trouble in a river in Cumbria last month.

The announcement of the 14-year-old’s death by Cumbria police follows the death of 15-year-old Lewis Michael Kirkpatrick, whose body was found in the River Eden in Carlisle on 27 May.

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Partygate report: key findings of Commons privileges committee

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How Boris Johnson was found to have misled MPs and why report recommended a 90-day suspension from parliament

The House of Commons privileges committee has found that Boris Johnson repeatedly misled MPs when he told them he knew nothing about lockdown-breaking social gatherings in and around Downing Street. These are the main points of what is a highly damning and hugely detailed report.

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