The U-turn may help to end wave of strikes, though funding it could require cuts to key services
Steve Barclay has privately conceded he will have to increase his pay offer to NHS staff, in a U-turn that may help to end the growing wave of strikes.
However, the Treasury has made clear he will have to find any new cash from within the existing health budget, raising the prospect of cuts to key services.
Continue reading...‘Obsessive’ David Richards lay in wait for Alex Alam to leave her home after their relationship broke down
A former manager of the Dreamboys stripper group has been jailed for 27 years for attempted murder after attacking his wife with an axe.
David Richards, 42, attacked Alex Alam, 32, outside her home after their relationship broke down, fracturing her skull and cutting her face and scalp.
Continue reading...Minister speaks of ‘progress’ on security checks, but Foreign Office clarifies no green light yet for contractors
A group of 47 British Council contractors forced to live in hiding since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan have cleared the penultimate hurdle for being accepted on to a scheme designed to relocate them in the UK.
The group was said to have passed security checks and been invited to provide biometrics at a visa centre, after which they would have to have a final set of security checks.
Continue reading...Ratcliffe-on-Soar to be kept viable until late 2024 after ministers make request prompted by energy crisis
A Nottinghamshire coal-burning power plant will stay open for two years beyond its planned closure date after a call from ministers prompted by the UK’s energy crisis.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar had initially been pencilled in to shut in 2022, but last year said it would have an initial extension until 31 March 2023.
Continue reading...Report shows 3.2m people disconnected last year as they ran out of credit
Ministers are being urged to stop the forced installation of prepayment meters after revelations that 3.2 million people – the equivalent of one person every 10 seconds – were left with cold and dark homes last year as they ran out of credit.
As energy prices surged this winter, suppliers have stepped up the use of court warrants to force their way into homes to install prepayment meters, with some magistrates approving hundreds of applications at a time. For homes with smart meters, the change can be made remotely without even needing a warrant.
Rhiannon, a single parent with a baby who suffers from depression, fell behind on her payments after she separated with her partner. Her landlord allowed her supplier access to fit a prepayment meter. She has resorted to warming baby milk at her GP’s surgery and staying warm in her dad’s car.
Rona uses a wheelchair and lives with her daughter who has special educational needs. She is reliant on family to go to the Post Office to top up and was left without heating, lighting or means to make food over Christmas.
Alice, a woman with a lung condition who was moved on to a prepayment meter due to debt and couldn’t afford to top up. Her supplier told her she could not be helped again because she had been helped before, but being cut off prevents her charging her breathing machine.
Andy, a diabetic who was moved on to a prepayment meter and left without power for a week despite needing to keep his insulin in the fridge.
Continue reading...Beck rose to fame with the Yardbirds before fronting the Jeff Beck Group and making forays into the jazz-fusion sound he pioneered
Jeff Beck, the celebrated guitarist who played with the Yardbirds and led the Jeff Beck Group, has died aged 78, his representative has confirmed.
Beck died on Tuesday after “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis”, the representative confirmed. “His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss,” they added.
Continue reading...Guy Black, deputy chair of Telegraph newspapers, says draft legislation sets too low a bar on what constitutes spying
The UK’s proposed national security bill could have a “chilling effect” on investigative journalism because it sets too low a bar on what constitutes spying, the deputy chair of the Telegraph newspapers has warned.
Guy Black told the House of Lords that he was concerned the draft legislation could “potentially criminalise” reporters and whistleblowers because it says simply that a crime is committed if it “may materially assist a foreign intelligence service”.
Continue reading...Riverdance star has undergone surgery and is in care of doctors, according to Instagram account
Michael Flatley, best known for his Riverdance show, has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of cancer.
A post on the Irish dancer and director’s Instagram account said: “Michael Flatley has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He has undergone surgery and is in the care of an excellent team of doctors.”
Continue reading...Officials from 14 health unions want to hold direct talks with ministers to agree pay rises for NHS staff
The system for setting NHS staff pay is under threat after health unions refused to submit evidence to the two bodies that advise ministers on how big annual increases should be.
The role and credibility of both the NHS pay review body (NHSPRB) and the review body on doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration (DDRB) have been brought into question by the move.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary warns Tehran over case of Alireza Akbari, an ex-Iranian minister accused of being MI6 spy
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has urged the Iranian government not to press ahead with plans to execute a British-Iranian dual national found guilty of spying for MI6.
Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defence minister who has lived in the UK for more than a decade, could be executed within days after he was found guilty by the revolutionary courts of being a senior spy for M16. His appeal was rejected more than three months ago, but for reasons that are not clear the Iranian security services are now threatening to go ahead and impose the death penalty.
Continue reading...Discovery of stuffed animals from central Africa and recordings from ‘human zoo’ inspires exhibition
It was when part of a Scarborough museum was being redeveloped more than a decade ago that builders found a blocked-up door. Behind it they discovered bags filled with asbestos and, under that, a collection of taxidermied animals that had been collected by a Victorian big game hunter and left to the museum.
Neglected, outdated and ethically problematic, the temptation may have been to shut the artefacts away again. Instead, the Scarborough Museums and Galleries opted to do something else with the archive bequeathed by Col James Harrison – some of it much more morally challenging than stuffed antelope heads.
Continue reading...Survey of 1,000 factories for campaign group claims many cut rates in pandemic and have not increased them since
Lidl, Zara’s owner Inditex, H&M and Next have been accused of paying garment suppliers in Bangladesh during the pandemic less than the cost of production, leaving factories struggling to pay the country’s legal minimum wage.
In a survey of 1,000 factories in the country producing clothes for UK retailers, 19% of Lidl’s suppliers made the claim, as did 11% of Inditex’s, 9% of H&M’s and 8% of Next’s.
Continue reading...George Eustice says adapted kerosene boilers can run on ‘hydro-treated vegetable oil’ and cut emissions by 88%
A proposal to incentivise households in rural areas to run their heating systems on vegetable oil is to be put to parliament.
The former environment secretary George Eustice will introduce a bill proposing the removal of duties on renewable liquid heating fuels and incentives to replace kerosene in existing boilers.
Continue reading...Fraud and error have left ‘eye-watering’ amount owed to HMRC, says public accounts committee
The government has been criticised for failing to collect £42bn in unpaid tax from businesses and individuals amid concern over the strain on the public finances as the UK’s economy stands on the brink of recession.
The cross-party Commons public accounts committee (PAC) said that an “eye-watering” amount of tax was owed to HMRC, while also criticising tax collectors for lacking ambition to tackle fraud and error.
Continue reading...Exclusive: employment strategy aimed at those ‘written off’ by society like young people with mental health issues, says Jonathan Ashworth
Labour will “put health and wellbeing” at the heart of its employment strategy by embedding career advisers in health services, including addiction clinics, rehab centres and primary care, the party has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the strategy would help people who had been “written off” to access work.
Devolving employment support to local authorities to target the best routes into work.
Tailored extra support to work flexibly for those with caring responsibilities or chronic conditions.
Offers of “in principle” decisions for access-to-work funding for disabled people.
Change the work capability assessment regime to allow people to accept a job without fearing they would not be able to return to the benefits they were receiving.
Continue reading...Opposition day debate seeks to establish committee to investigate reforming tax benefits enjoyed by independent schools
Labour will attempt to force a binding vote on ending private schools’ tax breaks and use the £1.7bn a year raised from this to drive new teacher recruitment.
The motion submitted by Keir Starmer’s party for the opposition day debate on Wednesday is drafted to push the charitable status scheme that many private schools enjoy to be investigated, as the party attempts to shift the political focus on to education.
Continue reading...Exclusive: After the Michelle Mone scandal and PPE questions, National Audit Office says monitoring conflicts of interest is ‘crucial’
Peers and MPs should have to declare any links to firms they recommend for contracts even in an emergency such as the Covid pandemic, the head of the National Audit Office (NAO) has said, in the wake of the PPE controversies including the Michelle Mone scandal.
Gareth Davies, the auditor and comptroller general at the NAO, said keeping on top of conflicts of interest was a “crucial part of public stewardship” that was not always followed during the VIP fast lane process.
Continue reading...Oxfam says its analysis of January 2021 to February 2022 underlines need for UK to stop arming Saudi Arabia
At least 87 civilians were killed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen using weapons supplied by the UK and US between January 2021 and February 2022, according to a new Oxfam analysis.
The charity accused the UK government of ignoring an identifiable “pattern of harm” caused by the indiscriminate bombing – and argues it amounts to legal grounds for Britain to end elements of its lucrative arms trade with Riyadh.
Continue reading...Chris Parry and fellow Briton Andrew Bagshaw had been helping people evacuate from frontline
The family of one of the two British men missing in Ukraine have said they are “very worried” about his disappearance.
Chris Parry, 28, was last seen on Friday with fellow Briton Andrew Bagshaw, 48, heading to the town of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Romanian court denies challenge and rules he must serve full 30 days along with brother and two female suspects
A Romanian court has rejected Andrew Tate’s appeal against his detention, ruling that the former kickboxer, influencer and professed misogynist must remain in custody while an organised crime investigation continues.
Tate, 36, his brother Tristan, 34, and two Romanian female suspects were arrested by prosecutors on 29 December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group to exploit women. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
Continue reading...