Category Archives: UK news

Why has Labour turned nasty? – podcast

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The party’s latest ad campaign launches personal attacks on Rishi Sunak. What’s behind its new ruthless approach?

Labour’s new attack ad campaign came as a shock, even to some senior members of the party. Its social media strategy ahead of next month’s local elections started with a highly personal attack on Rishi Sunak, suggesting he somehow does not think adults who sexually assault children should go to prison. It was followed by another ad focusing on the Sunak family’s taxes.

It’s a marked change from Keir Starmer’s previous approach of emphasising his personal integrity and insisting he wants to bring honesty back into politics. So what’s changed? The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, explains what it says about the party’s confidence, unity – and the threat posed by Sunak. And she tells Hannah Moore whether it could mean the next general election will be be the most ruthlessly fought yet.

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Inaction on diabetes has plunged the the UK into a wholly avoidable crisis

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Government sleepwalking, junk food and rising inactivity have created a health emergency that has been warned of for decades

The warnings about a looming, large and potentially lethal diabetes crisis in the UK have been sounded for years. Tragically, there is no longer any need for warnings.

Diabetes UK’s grim report confirms the worst: 5 million people are now living with diabetes, a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.

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More house price drops expected despite signs of market stabilising

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Rics monthly poll shows new buyer inquiries in UK are flat as volume of agreed sales falls further

UK house prices are expected to continue to fall despite surveyors’ expectations that the housing market will stabilise over the next 12 months, a study has shown.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (Rics) monthly survey, which measures the proportion of surveyors reporting new buyer inquiries against those saying they fell, found the net balance was -29% in March, almost flat on the -30% recorded in February.

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UK in ‘rapidly escalating’ diabetes crisis as cases top 5m, report says

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Diabetes UK study also expresses concern about growing number of younger people with type 2

The UK is experiencing a “rapidly escalating” diabetes crisis, with cases topping five million for the first time and under-40s increasingly affected, a report has revealed.

About 90% of diabetes patients have type 2, a condition much more likely to develop if people are overweight. About two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or obese.

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Council’s failures left disabled child in chronic pain for three years, watchdog finds

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Local government ombudsman rules that delay in finding suitable accommodation for family caused serious health risks

A severely disabled child missed out on vital NHS surgery and was left in chronic pain for more than three years because a council failed to move them out of unsuitable housing despite repeated pleas from health professionals, a watchdog has ruled.

Lambeth council in London was fined £20,000 by the local government and social care ombudsman for a catalogue of service failures and administrative errors that left the child unsafe and in “significant and avoidable distress” and her mother at risk of serious injury.

Child Y’s constant pain, requiring injections and medication, could be relieved only through surgery, yet this was being delayed because the unsuitability of the family’s home meant Child Y could not safely return after an operation.

Sitting in the wheelchair for long periods caused so much pain that Child Y’s school had bought a specialist bed in which they would be wheeled around the school to ensure they could access lessons.

At home, Child Y and her mother were at risk of injury from manual handling because they were unable to use proper equipment. Because of the lack of space, Child Y could not be positioned properly for eating and was at risk of choking.

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A&E staff in England struggling to spot abuse cases in infants, says watchdog

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HSIB report identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in hospital emergency departments

Staff in hospital emergency departments in England are struggling to spot when infants are being physically abused by their parents, raising the risk of further harm, an investigation has found.

Clinicians often do not know what to do if they are concerned that a child’s injuries are not accidental because there is no guidance, according to a report from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) that identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in emergency departments.

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Calls for better care for asylum seekers after rise in diphtheria cases in Europe

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Researchers say improved health screening of people arriving in small boats is needed to prevent outbreaks

Health experts are calling for better care for asylum seekers as research reveals small boat crossings have been linked to a sharp increase in diphtheria cases in the UK and across Europe.

Reception centres in the UK have hit by a series of scandals in recent months, including outbreaks of disease and reports that offers of assistance from public health leaders have been declined by the Home Office.

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Anne Perry, killer turned crime writer, dies aged 84

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After murdering her friend’s mother as a teenager, as dramatised in film Heavenly Creatures, she turned to writing period thrillers

A British crime writer who helped bludgeon her friend’s mother to death as a teenager and was the inspiration for Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures has died in Los Angeles, her publisher announced Wednesday. She was 84.

Anne Perry, a prolific author whose period thrillers have sold over 25m copies worldwide, was 15 years old when she and her friend Pauline Parker murdered Pauline’s mother in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1954. Honora Mary Parker died after being hit with a brick about 20 times, in a killing that shocked and captivated the country.

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UK imposes sanctions on ‘enablers’ accused of helping Russian oligarchs

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‘Financial fixers’ alleged to have helped Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov to hide assets are among those targeted

The UK government has imposed sanctions on the “financial fixers” who have allegedly helped the Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov hide their assets.

The sanctions, announced by the Foreign Office on Wednesday, are targeted at what officials describe as “oligarch enablers”, whom they accuse of knowingly assisting the billionaire businessmen to shield their wealth.

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Junior doctors’ union asks Acas to help end strikes deadlock

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Conciliation service urged to look for ways to end logjam with government over demand for 35% pay rise

The junior doctors’ union has asked the conciliation service Acas to look into ways of breaking the deadlock in their dispute with the government over their claim for a 35% pay rise.

Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England are on the second day of a four-day strike in pursuit of their campaign to achieve “full pay restoration” after a significant loss of earnings since 2008-09. It is expected that up to 350,000 appointments and operations could be cancelled as a result.

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White House rejects claim that Biden ‘hates the UK’ as he prepares to meet Sunak – politics live

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Latest updates: US president is not ‘anti-British’ as DUP has claimed, says White House

Joe Biden is “not anti-British,” one of his most senior aides has said in response to accusations by the former Democratic Unionist party leader Arlene Foster that the US president “hates the UK”. (See 10.37am.)

Just hours after he arrived in Belfast, the purpose of Biden’s short visit to Northern Ireland was being questioned by unionists who have been boycotting power-sharing arrangements in Northern Ireland for more than a year meaning the territory has no devolved government.

I think the track record of of the president shows that he is not anti-British. The president has been very actively engaged throughout his career dating back to when he was a senator in the peace process in Northern Ireland and that involved engagement with leaders of all of Northern Ireland parties from both of the two main communities.

I think his message to the DUP and to all the political leaders is going to be … the continued strong support for seeing the peace process move forward here and the strong desire by this president to increase US investment in Northern Ireland to take advantage of the vast economic potential that that seems here, and to reiterate broad support for the returning of the devolved government in Northern Ireland.

He hates the United Kingdom, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.

I just think the fact he’s coming here won’t put any pressure on the DUP at all, quite the reverse actually, because he’s seen by so many people as just simply pro-republican and pro-nationalist.

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Ritz job applicant rejected over afro hair says apology ‘disingenuous’

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Hotel claimed Jerelle Jules was sent out-of-date and incorrect grooming policy banning ‘unusual hairstyles’

A black job applicant who was told his hair was against the employee grooming policy of the Ritz has said an apology he subsequently received from the hotel was “disingenuous and lacklustre”.

Jerelle Jules, 30, from Hammersmith, west London, had made it to the final round of interviews for a position as a dining reservations supervisor at the exclusive London hotel, when he was sent the company’s employee grooming policy.

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Elon Musk says BBC’s ‘government-funded media’ Twitter tag will be changed

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Billionaire also says pain level from owning site is ‘extremely high’ but the business is ‘breaking even’

Elon Musk, Twitter’s billionaire owner, has said the social media platform will change the BBC’s label of “government-funded media” after the broadcaster objected to the tag.

The Tesla chief executive made the announcement during a wide-ranging interview with the corporation in which he also said his pain level from running the site had been “extremely high” but claimed the business was now “roughly breaking even”.

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‘Even in the realms of extreme, it’s extreme’: how UK music festivals are planning for freak weather

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Whether waterlogged from flooding or parched and prone to wildfires, festival sites are having to plan for every eventuality – and the costs are substantial

Wellies and sun hats are the traditional first guard against the elements at festivals, but this summer they may not be enough to protect revellers. Flood defences, wildfire response teams and satellite weather-monitoring technology are among the ways UK music festivals are adapting to extreme weather events fuelled by the climate crisis.

Last summer’s record high temperatures in the UK hit during festival season, and the changing climate has become one of the industry’s biggest challenges, increasing the frequency, severity and likelihood of weather such as heatwaves and thunderstorms. With preparations underway for this year’s festival season, event organisers are increasing their contingency plans to secure their events, at a time of higher costs in labour, energy and insurance.

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Tories hail Greek migration policies as an example. Instead, they should serve as a warning

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Experience in eastern Mediterranean proves deterrence and harsh conditions do little to discourage refugees

Prominent Conservatives openly view Greece’s self-described “strict but fair” migration policies as a model to emulate. The former home secretary Priti Patel told MPs last week that “we would not be in this current situation” had she been allowed to replicate “Greek-style reception centres”.

British interest in the Greek model dates back to May 2021, when the former immigration minister Chris Philp made an “urgent” – as internal documents seen by the Guardian called it – trip to Greece. This was followed by an official visit by Patel in August 2021, who toured a newly constructed Greek camp, went out on patrol with the Greek coastguard and spoke of working “closely with Greek partners” on migration.

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Grenfell fire: National Theatre play to tell survivors’ stories

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Production is at centre of collaboration with west London community affected by 2017 disaster

The National Theatre is to stage a verbatim play based on accounts by survivors and those bereaved by the Grenfell Tower fire almost six years ago as the centrepiece of a long-term collaborative project with the west London community.

The play, Grenfell: in the words of survivors, is the work of the novelist and playwright Gillian Slovo, who spent five years gaining the confidence of community members and recording their accounts of the disaster in north Kensington which killed 72 people.

Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors will be at the National Theatre from 13 July until 26 August.

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Liz Truss to say Macron trip to China was sign of weakness

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Former PM to say in speech that any attempts by western leaders to appease Xi Jinping would be a mistake

Liz Truss will say Emmanuel Macron’s recent trip to China was a “sign of weakness”, after the French president asked Beijing for support in ending the war in Ukraine.

In the latest of a series of foreign policy interventions designed to encourage Rishi Sunak to take a tougher approach towards China, Truss will say in a speech that any attempts by western leaders to appease Xi Jinping would be a mistake.

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How the tide turned against the CBI’s director general

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Sacked chief says he is ‘shocked’ and allegations have been ‘distorted’

The director general of Britain’s most prominent lobby group is not leaving quietly. On Tuesday morning, hours after learning of his dismissal from the Confederation of British Industry, Tony Danker posted a series of tweets in which he revealed he was “shocked” at the decision, which followed allegations of misconduct.

Some present and former staff did not share in his sense of surprise, they told the Guardian, four weeks after this newspaper first revealed the allegations against him.

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Essex pub landlady replaces golliwog doll collection that was seized by police

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Benice Ryley plans to display new dolls despite police investigation into an alleged hate crime

The landlady of a pub whose collection of golliwog dolls was confiscated by police has assembled replacements, which she plans to display in defiance of a continuing investigation.

Last week four Essex police officers and a trainee seized all the dolls on show in the White Hart Inn in Grays as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime.

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City of London police open inquiry into alleged sexual misconduct at CBI

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Investigation begins after the Guardian reports on complaints against senior figures at business organisation

City of London police have launched an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the Confederation of British Industry in the wake of the Guardian’s reports of complaints against senior figures at the organisation.

Britain’s most prominent business group is battling to secure its future after more than a dozen women employed by the CBI claimed to have been victims of various forms of sexual misconduct, including an allegation of rape during a staff party.

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