Category Archives: UK news

Nicola Bulley: MPs criticise police over release of personal details

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Labour’s Stella Creasy among those questioning why Lancashire police told public of ‘issues with alcohol’

MPs and campaigners have criticised the police for releasing personal details about the missing woman Nicola Bulley’s issues with alcohol and the menopause, with one describing it as “deeply troubling”.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, was one of a number of people who questioned why Lancashire police took the unusual step of releasing private details about Bulley.

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Birmingham’s singing station clock – a platform for ‘ordinary’ voices

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Aural clock, designed by Turner prize winner Susan Philipz for Curzon Street HS2 station, features sounds made by 1,092 city folk

“I think your voice would suit an F sharp. So that will be six o’clock,” said composer Andy Ingamells as he listened to my feeble attempts to sing Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, my go-to karaoke song.

He is in the process of recording the voices of 1,092 ordinary people from across Birmingham and Solihull so they can be immortalised in the chimes of a singing station clock, which will be placed in the centre of the HS2 railway station being built in the city.

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Profits of British Gas owner Centrica triple to ‘obscene’ £3.3bn

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Figure angers campaigners calling for tougher windfall taxes and follows prepayment meter scandal

The profits of the scandal-hit owner of British Gas have more than tripled to a record £3.3bn, boosted by soaring wholesale gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as many households in Britain struggle with the cost of living.

Centrica’s “monster” profits immediately angered campaigners who are calling for tougher windfall taxes, lower bills and better treatment of vulnerable customers against the backdrop of the prepayment meter scandal.

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‘Playing football in heaven’: tributes pour in after boy rescued in Thai cave dies in UK

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Friends of Duangpetch Promthep share emotional messages after the talented player was found dead in his dorm at a football academy

Tributes have been paid to Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys rescued from a flooded Thai cave in 2018, who died in the UK on Tuesday.

Kiatisuk Senamuang, the founder of the Zico Foundation and a mentor to Duangpetch, known also as Dom, wrote in a message: “Have fun playing football in heaven, be what Dom wanted to be, just go for it, go to watch every match you want to.”

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Nicola Sturgeon denies ‘short-term pressures’ behind resignation as Scottish first minister – UK politics live

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Latest updates: Scotland’s first minister says she has ‘wrestled’ with decision for weeks

SNP MP Stewart McDonald described Nicola Sturgeon as “the finest public servant of the devolution age” amid reports of her expected departure as Scottish first minister.

“Nicola Sturgeon is the finest public servant of the devolution age,” the MP for Glasgow South tweeted, sharing a photograph of himself with Sturgeon.

Absolutely gutted about this. Nicola has been an incredible leader.

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Further strike action in England looks ‘inevitable’, education union leaders say

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NEU joint secretary says teachers will ‘not back down’ as pay rise negotiations with government reach stalemate

Schools in England look set for further disruption over the coming weeks after talks to avert planned strike action by teachers ended in failure, with no new offer on the table.

Union leaders met the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, on Wednesday morning in the latest of a series of meetings. Though they remarked on a new urgency about the talks, there was still zero progress on pay.

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British Gas owner expected to reveal record profits of £3bn

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Britain’s largest energy supplier only recently ended its much-criticised forced installation of prepayment meters

The owner of British Gas is poised to reveal record annual profits of more than £3bn just weeks after suspending the forced installation of prepayment meters due to concerns over its treatment of vulnerable customers.

Analysts expect Centrica, which owns Britain’s largest energy supplier, to post underlying profits of £3.3bn in 2022 on Thursday, up from £948m in 2021.

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Captain of football team rescued from Thai cave in 2018 dies in UK

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Cause of death of Duangpetch Promthep, who moved to Leicester to attend a football academy, has not been confirmed

Duangpetch Promthep, one of the 12 boys from the Wild Boars football club who were rescued from a flooded Thai cave in 2018, has died in the UK.

Duangpetch, who had moved to the UK to attend a college’s football academy, died on Tuesday, the Zico Foundation, which had supported his scholarship abroad, said. His death was also confirmed by Brooke House college in Leicester.

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Brussels contacts Sweden over plans to deport British woman with Alzheimer’s

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Kathleen Poole, who lives in a care home, faces removal for not having post-Brexit paperwork in order

The European Commission has contacted the Swedish authorities after it emerged they were planning to deport a 74-year-old British woman with severe Alzheimer’s because she did not have her post-Brexit paperwork in order.

At the same time, the office of the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is trying to ascertain the exact circumstances that have led to the removal threat faced by Kathleen Poole, who cannot speak, walk or feed herself and is bedbound in a care home.

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Plymouth shooting: police force says sorry for issuing licence to gunman

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Jake Davison should never have been allowed to have shotgun, Devon and Cornwall police tell inquest

The police force that issued the Plymouth gunman Jake Davison with a shotgun certificate has said he should never have been allowed to have the weapon and apologised in public for the first time to his victims’ families.

Devon and Cornwall police also said Davison, who had a history of violence and an obsession with weapons from an early age, should “certainly” not have been given his shotgun back after it was confiscated when he attacked two children the year before the shootings.

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Nicola Sturgeon resigns as first minister of Scotland

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Scottish National party leader says she no longer has stamina to carry on in pressured and demanding role

Nicola Sturgeon will stand down as first minister of Scotland, as she said she no longer had the stamina to continue in the highly pressured and demanding role.

In a shock decision, Scotland’s longest-serving first minister said she had instructed the Scottish National party (SNP) to begin the process of electing a new leader and would remain in office until her successor is chosen.

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Lancashire police maintain ‘no evidence’ of crime in Nicola Bulley case

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Force says it has been ‘inundated’ with false information about missing 45-year-old

Police have said there is still no evidence of crime in the case of Nicola Bulley, who went missing near her home in Lancashire nearly three weeks ago, but they are being inundated with false information, accusations and rumours.

Bulley was last seen in St Michael’s on Wyre, not far from her home in Inskip, Lancashire, on the morning of 27 January.

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Glencore shareholders to receive almost £6bn after record profits

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Mining and commodities firm’s pre-tax profit climbed 60% to £28.2bn last year, up £10.6bn on 2021

Glencore will give almost £6bn to shareholders after the mining and commodities company reported record pre-tax profits of more than £28bn in 2022, boosted by rocketing oil and coal prices.

The Switzerland-based group, whose market capitalisation makes it one of the largest FTSE 100 companies, announced a payout of £5.9bn ($7.1bn) to shareholders, including dividends and a new £1.2bn share buyback programme.

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UK rehearsing economic fallout scenarios if China invades Taiwan

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Exclusive: Whitehall officials planning strategy to tackle disruption to global supply chains in the aftermath of an attack

Whitehall officials have strategised a series of scenarios about the economic fallout that could follow if China were to invade Taiwan, sources have told the Guardian.

Concerns about the major disruption to global supply chains and consequences of any coordinated western response have been examined by civil servants as part of what is said to be routine “forward-scanning” exercises.

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Chagos islanders must get full reparations for forced exile, says NGO

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Human Rights Watch also demands trial for ‘appalling colonial crime’ of expulsion – and continuing ill treatment – of Chagossians

The UK should pay full and unconditional reparations to generations affected by its forcible displacement of Chagos Islands inhabitants in the 1960s and 70s, an action that constituted a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch has said.

The NGO said that individuals should be put on trial for the expulsion of Chagossians when the UK retained possession of what it refers to as British Indian Ocean Territory, or BIOT, after Mauritius gained independence in 1968.

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Labour out of EHRC special measures after progress on tackling antisemitism

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Keir Starmer says party heading in right direction but there is still work to do, 18 months after watchdog’s report

Labour has been taken out of special measures by the equalities watchdog, with Keir Starmer hailing progress in tackling antisemitism as a watershed moment for the party.

In a speech on Wednesday, Starmer will herald the party’s progress while saying there is still significant work to be done.

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Chinese cameras leave British police vulnerable to spying, says watchdog

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Warning in surveillance commissioner’s report comes after Chinese CCTV cameras banned from government property

British police are leaving themselves open to spying by Beijing because of their reliance on Chinese-made cameras, according to a report from the government’s independent watchdog on surveillance.

Most forces across England and Wales use camera equipment that is either made in China or contains important Chinese components, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner has warned.

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Girl with deadly inherited condition is cured with gene therapy on NHS

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Teddi Shaw, from Northumberland, first recipient on health service of Libmeldy, world’s most expensive drug

A girl born with a rare and deadly genetic condition is expected to live a long and normal life after becoming the first person to be cured on the NHS with the help of a revolutionary gene therapy.

Teddi Shaw was diagnosed with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), an inherited condition that causes catastrophic damage to the nervous system and organs. Those affected usually die young.

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Two arrested over suspected malicious messages in Nicola Bulley case

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Man, 49, from Manchester and woman, 20, from Oldham held after reports messages being sent to Wyre council members

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of sending malicious communications to local councillors over the disappearance of Nicola Bulley, police have said.

Lancashire police received reports over the weekend of messages being sent to Wyre council members. A 49-year-old man from Manchester and a 20-year-old woman from Oldham have been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications offences.

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Brianna Ghey: candles and flower tributes laid at vigil for trans teenager

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At least 300 people gather on Tuesday night to pay respect to 16-year-old girl stabbed to death in a Warrington park on Saturday

Candles and flowers have been laid out on the steps of St George’s Hall in Liverpool in tribute to Brianna Ghey, a trans teenager who was stabbed to death in a Warrington park on Saturday.

A crowd of at least 300 people, many of them also teenagers and young adults, gathered quietly on Tuesday night to pay respect to the 16-year-old, who her family described as “strong, fearless, one of a kind”.

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