Category Archives: UK news

Hospitals in frantic dash to fill gaps left by doctors’ strike

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Consultants who refuse to do extra work threatened with having their pay docked as NHS trusts race to empty their wards

Hospital trusts are taking desperate measures to limit the predicted loss of life from this week’s NHS strikes – including threatening consultants who refuse to do extra work, and tempting junior doctors to cross picket lines by increasing locum pay – as fears grows that many wards could be left without medical cover.

NHS leaders and senior clinicians fear the four-day walkout by junior doctors – starting at 6.59am on Tuesday and continuing until 6.59am on Saturday – will lead to the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of operations and appointments, while putting seriously ill patients at greater risk.

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Yvette Cooper was ‘not told’ about Labour’s Sunak attack ad in advance

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Shadow home secretary was not consulted about the widely criticised advert that claims Rishi Sunak did not believe in jailing child abusers

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, was not informed or consulted about the release of a widely criticised Labour advertisement that claims Rishi Sunak does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison, the Observer has been told.

As several senior party figures distanced themselves from the poster that has caused a huge row within the party, Labour sources said that Cooper “had nothing to do with it” – despite being in overall charge of crime policy for Labour.

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UK comedians pay tribute to Gareth Richards after his death at 41

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Co-host of Frank Skinner’s Absolute Radio show dies from injuries sustained in car crash in late March

Comedians across the UK have paid tribute to the comic Gareth Richards, who has died aged 41 from injuries sustained in a car crash on the M25 last month.

Richards’ wife, Laura, said in a statement on Saturday: “It is with great sadness that I have to share that Gareth passed away on Friday 7 April (Good Friday) at 6.30pm.

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Nicola Sturgeon promises full cooperation with police after husband’s arrest

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Former first minister says she ‘will get on with her job’ in statement outside Glasgow home raided by police last week

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to “fully cooperate” with police after the arrest of her husband, the SNP’s former chief executive, during an investigation into party finances.

Speaking publicly today for the first time since Peter Murrell’s arrest, the former first minister admitted that recent days had been “obviously difficult” in a brief statement outside the couple’s Glasgow home, which police had raided three days earlier.

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Student faces deportation from UK after arriving early for course at university’s request

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A mix-up on dates meant Rasikh Aziz travelled from Pakistan too soon. Now the University of Law has reported him to the Home Office

An international student who travelled to the UK two months early after being given the wrong enrolment date by his university is facing deportation after it reported him to the Home Office.

Rasikh Aziz was incorrectly told by the University of Law that he must arrive by October 2022 for a postgraduate course beginning in January 2023, according to documents seen by the Observer. He subsequently flew to the UK and presented himself at the university’s Birmingham campus, where he had an induction, underwent an ID check and was issued with a student card. In January, he began attending classes without a problem.

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French and German tourists turn their back on Brexit Britain

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Industry leaders fear new entry restrictions and the UK’s tarnished image among some Europeans have caused a decline in EU visitors

French and German tourists are beginning to avoid the UK, tourism leaders fear, because of post-Brexit restrictions on travelling with identity cards.

Since anti-Covid measures ended across Europe last year, tourism has started to recover, but there are growing signs that significant numbers of French and Germans – two of the largest markets for UK tourism – are staying away.

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Government treating teachers in England with contempt over pay offer, says union

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NASUWT general secretary said ministers ‘not serious about compromising’ in last month’s talks


Ministers are treating teachers in England with contempt if they refuse to renegotiate their “miserable” pay offer, according to a teaching union leader who fears the government wants to “walk away” after only six days of talks.

Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said the government insisted on using forecasts of very low inflation next year to justify its pay offer and was “not serious about compromising” during negotiations last month.

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Over 850 people with community and charity roles to attend king’s coronation

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Guests will include more than 450 British Empire Medal recipients, many of whom helped in Covid lockdowns

More than 850 community and charity representatives have been invited to the coronation of King Charles III, mingling with the royals, heads of state, politicians, peers and diplomats at Westminster Abbey.

Buckingham Palace has announced more than 450 recipients of the British Empire Medal (BEM) will attend in recognition of the contributions made by volunteers and community champions across the country.

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Beached sperm whale in Cleethorpes feared to have died

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Distressed mammal was reported at lunchtime on Friday, but marine rescue service arrived too late to save it

A sperm whale is feared to have died after it washed up on the Lincolnshire coast.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) was called at about 12.15pm on Good Friday to help with a “large stranded whale” on the beach at Cleethorpes. The charity said the whale had been spotted “upright in the water” at about midday, but by the time it reached the beach, it was stranded on its side.

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Labour strategists to press on with Sunak attack ads despite criticism

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Shadow ministers privately say they feel ‘uncomfortable’ over ‘distasteful’ ad amid calls for Keir Starmer to apologise

Labour frontbenchers have been left uneasy by a “spectacularly misjudged” advert claiming that Rishi Sunak does not support jailing child abusers, but party strategists are preparing to double down on the aggressive campaign.

Keir Starmer faced calls to personally apologise and order the retraction of the ad, which, a campaign group warned, “poisons the water that we all must drink from”.

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No honeymoon for Humza Yousaf as byelection looms over crisis-hit SNP

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Labour is pouring resources into Rutherglen and Hamilton for expected contest that could be ‘tipping point in Scottish politics’

It was a small but deliberate act by Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s new first minister, a politician increasingly keen to distance himself from Nicola Sturgeon and one with a keen eye for symbolism.

On Thursday, for his first briefing with Holyrood’s political correspondents at Bute House, the first minister’s elegant Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh, settees had been placed in a circle in the drawing room. Gone were the regimented ranks of chairs used by Sturgeon; gone was her lectern facing the room. Yousaf provided Tunnock’s chocolate wafers, tea and coffee. This, reporters were told before they sank into the sofas, was a fireside chat.

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Cheap flights, Brexit, now Dover chaos – is this the end of the road for continental coach tours?

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While many operators still ply the cross-Channel route, some businesses are focusing instead on domestic trips

It was once the staple for group travel abroad, favoured by school trips and touring retirees alike, but it now looks like Britain could be falling out of love with the continental coach journey.

Many are likely to have been put off for life by chaos at Dover, as people try to get away for the Easter holiday. An estimated 20,000 people got caught up in gridlock last weekend alone after delays in border processing that forced vehicles to queue for up to 14 hours.

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Labour shadow minister refuses to endorse party’s social media attack on Rishi Sunak – UK politics live

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Lucy Powell says ad ‘not to everyone’s taste’ and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell adds party is ‘better than this’

A Labour source has said the party has been advised to “fight as viciously as the Conservatives”, as a row continues over an social media advert featuring Rishi Sunak posted yesterday (see 9:42am)

HuffPostUK’s Kevin Schofield has spoken to an unnamed senior Labour staff member who is unrepentant about the advert and that it is start of a wider pattern going forward – picking up advice from the Australian Labour party and US Democrats.

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Twelve-year-old boy charged with murder of 60-year-old woman in Sheffield

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Marcia Grant died after being hit by car in Greenhill area on Wednesday, South Yorkshire police said

A 12-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a 60-year-old woman who died after being hit by a car in Sheffield on Wednesday, South Yorkshire police said.

The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, will appear before Sheffield youth court on Saturday.

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Northern Ireland police warn of potential dissident attacks on Easter Monday

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Warning comes ahead of US president Joe Biden’s much-anticipated visit to Belfast on Tuesday

Police in Northern Ireland are warning of potential dissident republican attacks over the Easter weekend, as the Democratic Unionist party leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said the lack of a government in Stormont was not to blame for the increasing threat of violence.

Tensions have increased as the bank holiday weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement. The date falls on Easter Monday though many will mark it on Friday, given its association with the day.

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Birds of a feather cast asunder by Brexit

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New rules require Britain’s rare canaries to be tested for five diseases before they can travel between UK and EU

Cute fluffy yellow plumes may be synonymous with Easter, but bird hobbyists have warned that a rare canary species bred for centuries in Britain may become a thing of the past because of Brexit.

Access to the birds, particularly in the Netherlands and Belgium where canary and budgie breeding is also popular, has been lethally impeded by new rules. Each bird now has to be tested and certified for five diseases before it can travel between the UK and the EU.

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Third scan could greatly reduce UK breech birth numbers, study suggests

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Researcher say making scan at 36-37 weeks routine may also cut risk of severe complications for babies

Giving women a third scan at the end of their pregnancy could dramatically reduce the number of unexpected breech births and the risk of babies being born with severe health problems, research suggests.

Pregnant women in the UK have routine scans at 12 and 20 weeks only, with no further scan offered in the third trimester unless they are considered at risk of a complicated pregnancy. The researchers hope their findings could lead to a change in guidance for clinicians that will improve maternity care.

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Marcia Grant’s family speak of grief after boy, 12, arrested on suspicion of murder

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Social worker who was run over by her own car outside Sheffield home described as ‘beautiful soul’

The family of a “warm, loving and dedicated” social worker have spoken of their grief after a 12-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Marcia Grant, 60, died after she was run over by her own car outside her home in the Greenhill area of Sheffield at about 7.10pm on Wednesday.

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Nus Ghani welcomes report criticising ex-chief whip but says alleged comments were ‘devastating’ – UK politics live

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Latest updates: publication of report into alleged Islamophobia finds it not possible to determine what Mark Spencer said to Tory MP Ghani

A brief foray into the area between politics and football as the Athletic, a subscription-only football website, has obtained government emails that showed the possible failure of a Saudi Arabian takeover of Newcastle United was flagged as an “immediate risk” to UK-Saudi relations [paywall].

The website’s reporter Adam Crafton has 59-pages of emails between government officials that shows the Foreign Office trying to boost the image of Saudi Arabia despite concerns about human rights abuses as the Premier League considered whether to approve the deal.

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