Category Archives: UK news

Amid the Prince Harry circus lies a court battle with the highest stakes

Posted on by

The Daily Mail’s owner, the prince and Elton John could be on the road to one of the biggest media trials in British history

When the Duke of Sussex unexpectedly arrived at the high court on Monday morning he became the most senior royal to appear in a courtroom since Princess Anne admitted being in charge of an English bull terrier that was dangerously out of control in a public space.

Prince Harry was there to allege that Associated Newspapers, the parent company of the Daily Mail, was similarly out of control.

Continue reading...

Body of man killed in custody may have been shown to trainees, Yorkshire police admit

Posted on by

Body of Christopher Alder could have been seen by cadets after mixup of remains, says South Yorkshire force

South Yorkshire police have admitted that officers may have been shown the body of Christopher Alder, a former paratrooper who died in police custody, in a mortuary as part of their routine training years after he was supposed to have been buried.

Alder, an ex-Parachute Regiment soldier, choked to death while handcuffed and lying face down on the floor of a Hull police station on 1 April 1998. CCTV footage showed officers laughing, joking and making monkey noises while he lay unconscious in a pool of blood. It was more than 10 minutes before police went to his aid.

Continue reading...

Farne Islands shut to visitors over fears of new avian flu outbreak

Posted on by

Rangers work to avoid repeat of last year’s devastating losses in breeding seabird colonies on the islands off the Northumberland coast

The Farne Islands will not open to visitors this spring in anticipation of bird flu once again ravaging breeding seabird colonies, after an “unprecedented” spate of deaths last year.

The rocky outcrop of islands off the coast of Northumberland has been looked after by the National Trust since 1925 and there are no previous records of so many endangered seabirds dying at once. More than 6,000 carcasses were picked up last year, which is believed to be the tip of the iceberg compared with how many birds would have died in total.

Continue reading...

Tougher second homes regulations come into force in Wales

Posted on by

Council tax and planning changes aim to make housing more affordable for those on local incomes

Radical measures giving councils in Wales a raft of extra powers designed to stop second homes hollowing out communities, especially in coastal and rural areas, have come into force.

Local authorities across Wales are using the powers to increase the amount of council tax that second home owners must pay and will also be able to bring in changes to planning rules to make it harder for houses and flats to be snapped up as holiday boltholes.

Continue reading...

Planning applications in England fall to record low in housing blow

Posted on by

Experts say developers deterred by changes to planning system brought in by successive Tory governments

Planning applications in England have fallen to their lowest level in at least 16 years, according to figures published this week by the levelling up department that highlight the scale of the country’s housing crisis.

Local authorities received fewer applications to build new buildings or improve old ones in 2022 than at any point since before 2006, the earliest year for which the government provides statistics.

Continue reading...

Woman fatally injured at Arthur’s Seat said husband had pushed her, witness says

Posted on by

Kashif Anwar is accused of murdering Fawziyah Javed and her unborn child by pushing her from hill

A woman walking on Arthur’s Seat on the night a husband is alleged to have pushed his wife off the Edinburgh hill claimed the alleged victim told her he had pushed her, a court has heard.

Kashif Anwar, 29, is accused of murdering Fawziyah Javed, 31, and her unborn child in September 2021 by pushing her from the landmark.

Continue reading...

BBC journalists to strike during local elections over radio cuts

Posted on by

NUJ members’ 24-hour stoppage on 5 May will coincide with the reporting of poll results

BBC journalists in England have announced a second 24-hour strike, to run from midnight on 5 May to coincide with the reporting of local election results, in a dispute over cuts to local radio.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the broadcaster’s management want local radio stations to share programmes across the network from 2pm on weekdays and at weekends, going from more than 100 hours of local programming on every station each week down to 40.

Continue reading...

Cambridgeshire shootings: man charged with murder over deaths of father and son

Posted on by

Stephen Alderton, 66, will appear in court in connection with killings of father and son Gary and Josh Dunmore

A man has been charged with the murders of a father and son following two shootings in villages in Cambridgeshire.

Stephen Alderton, 66, has been charged with the murders of Gary
and Joshua Dunmore after the incidents near Huntingdon on Wednesday, Cambridgeshire police said.

Continue reading...

Starmer accuses government of ‘turning Britain’s waterways into an open sewer’

Posted on by

Lib Dems call for Thérèse Coffey to resign after raw discharges sent into English rivers 825 times a day last year

Keir Starmer has accused the government of “turning Britain’s waterways into an open sewer”, as data showed raw discharges were sent into English rivers 825 times a day last year.

Private water companies have been consistently accused of failing to take action, and the Environment Agency admitted there were more than 300,000 spillages into rivers and coastal areas in 2022, lasting for more than 1.75m hours.

Continue reading...

Three Insulate Britain protesters face retrial over London street blockade

Posted on by

Giovanna Lewis, Amy Pritchard and Paul Sheeky were part of group who glued themselves to road in City of London in 2021

Three climate protesters who stopped traffic to bring rush-hour chaos to the City of London are facing a retrial.

Giovanna Lewis, 65, a councillor from Dorset, Amy Pritchard, 37, a horticultural worker and Paul Sheeky, 46, a screenwriter, were part of a large group of Insulate Britain protesters who glued themselves to the ground and blocked traffic between Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street on 25 October 2021.

Continue reading...

King Charles lays wreath in Hamburg to honour second world war dead

Posted on by

Charles and Camilla also remembered the Kindertransport children, during a state visit to Germany

King Charles and Germany’s president have lain wreaths in remembrance of the victims of the second world war, in the ruins of a bombed-out church in Hamburg.

The monarch joined President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the mayor of Hamburg, Peter Tschentscher, to leave floral tributes at St Nikolai memorial church, whose spire was a landmark used by bomber crews during the conflict 80 years ago and has since become a monument against war.

Continue reading...

Four climate activists convicted of causing public nuisance, but no jail term

Posted on by

Men staged protest in City of London in October 2021, which included one gluing head to road to block traffic

Four climate protesters, including a man who glued his head to the road in order to block traffic in central London, have escaped jail terms.

Matthew Tulley, 44, Ben Taylor, 38, George Burrow, 68 and Anthony Hill, 72, staged a protest between Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street in the City of London on 25 October 2021. They were convicted of causing a public nuisance by a jury at Inner London crown court. All four represented themselves.

Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch casts doubt on growth projections for Asia-Pacific trade deal

Posted on by

Comments threaten to worsen already tense relationship between senior ministers and civil servants

Kemi Badenoch has cast doubt on her department’s projections for how much the Asia-Pacific trade deal the UK government has signed will help economic growth.

The government announced overnight it had joined the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), which includes Australia and Japan, after two years of negotiations.

Continue reading...

Man charged with attempted murder after driver hit by his own van in Cardiff

Posted on by

Christopher Elgifari, 31, is alleged to have stolen the delivery van, whose 54-year-old driver is in a critical condition

A man has been charged with attempted murder after a delivery driver was hit by his own stolen van and left fighting for his life.

Christopher Elgifari, 31, is alleged to have stolen a white van from the 54-year-old victim on Tuesday in Cardiff, south Wales.

Continue reading...

Man accused of pushing wife from Arthur’s Seat was ‘abusive’ and ‘violent’

Posted on by

Court hears Kashif Anwar, accused of murdering Fawziyah Javed in Edinburgh, had told her it would be ‘OK’ if she died in childbirth

A man accused of murdering his wife by pushing her from Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh was overheard in hospital telling her that if she died in childbirth it “would be OK” because he “would be free”, a court has heard.

Kashif Anwar, 29, is accused of killing Fawziyah Javed, 31, in September 2021 by pushing her from the peak in Holyrood Park, causing her multiple blunt force injuries that led to her death and that of her unborn child.

Continue reading...

Bafta Games Awards: God of War wins six but Vampire Survivors is best game

Posted on by

The were gasps in the crowd as a cult indie shooter beat the blockbusters to the key award of the night

It must be one of the biggest shock wins in the history of the Bafta Games Awards. Up against huge blockbuster titles such as Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök, the best game winner at this year’s ceremony, which took place on Thursday evening, was Vampire Survivors, a shoot-’em-up largely developed by lone coder Luca Galante.

There were gasps in the crowd at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London when the title was read out, with Galante’s small team accepting the award on his behalf and looking shaken. The game, in which players attempt to survive as long as possible in an ever-changing landscape swarming with monsters, had earlier won the game design award.

Continue reading...

Home Office accused of building delays into plan to speed asylum claims

Posted on by

Questionnaire system at heart of effort to reduce backlog is ‘fundamentally flawed’, say immigration lawyers

Immigration lawyers have accused the Home Office of building delays into a scheme meant to speed up decisions on 12,000 asylum claims.

The plans announced last month to cut the asylum backlog – which now stands at a record 160,000 cases – by sending questionnaires to refugees requires claimants to reply in English within 20 working days or risk refusal.

Continue reading...

Every fire brigade in England plagued by bullying and harassment claims, report finds

Posted on by

Inspectors say ‘deeply troubling’ behaviour found at fire and rescue services across England may be ‘tip of the iceberg’

Every fire brigade in England is plagued with bullying, harassment and discrimination complaints, a damning report has found, and officials have called for drastic measures to clean up the service.

Inspectors urged bosses to carry out background checks on every firefighter, with those who fail being sacked, after long-awaited findings shone a light on “deeply troubling” behaviour in the emergency service.

A senior officer accused of calling a black colleague the N-word dismissing it as simply “having a laugh”.

A firefighter reporting a superior for making a racist comment, only to find his account dismissed because the alleged offender “wouldn’t behave in such a way”. The senior officer in question then threatened “to make his life hell”.

Two male firefighters mockingly told a female colleague they were “going to rape her”, before simulating it with her.

Some staff being reluctant to speak up after being told it would be “career suicide” to do so.

Continue reading...

Government disposed of 3bn items of PPE bought in pandemic, data shows

Posted on by

Department of Health and Social Care in England has removed 269,500 pallets of PPE from its stock

The government has disposed of more than 3bn items of personal protective equipment (PPE) it bought during the pandemic, figures have revealed.

An estimated 3.14bn items have been shed through a mixture of recycling, energy from waste processes – including some incineration – donations and sales.

Continue reading...

Margaret Ferrier should be suspended for 30 days for Covid breach, says MPs’ watchdog

Posted on by

Possible byelection looms for Rutherglen and Hamilton West after MP travelled back to Scotland on train after positive test in 2020

The MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West Margaret Ferrier should be suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days for breaching Covid rules, the committee on standards has recommended.

Ferrier could face a byelection as the Commons watchdog recommended she should be suspended for 30 days for breaching Covid rules. She was found to have damaged the reputation of the Commons and put people at risk after taking part in a debate and travelling by train while suffering from Covid.

Continue reading...