Category Archives: UK news

Army veterans criticise Prince Harry’s claim he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan

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Col Tim Collins says ‘we don’t do notches on rifle butt’ and kill-count talk could increase Harry’s personal security risk

High-profile British veterans have criticised the Duke of Sussex’s claim he had killed 25 Taliban soldiers while serving with the British army in Afghanistan and warned the high-profile admission could increase the risk to his personal security.

The retired army veteran Col Tim Collins, best known for delivering a rousing speech before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, said the prince’s kill-count talk was crass and “we don’t do notches on the rifle butt”.

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Sexual orientation census undercounts older people and those who shun labels

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Information collected in 2021 is first that aims to show UK diversity, yet 7.5% of people did not fill in relevant questions

Census 2021 was the first to collect information on the sexual orientation of residents aged 16 years and over in England and Wales. Of those who completed the survey, 1.54% identified as gay or lesbian, and approximately 1.51% identified as bisexual or pansexual. A further 0.06% identified as asexual, and 0.03% as queer. This is almost certainly an underestimation of the actual national diversity of sexual orientation.

The item on sexuality was introduced for equity monitoring. The Office for National Statistics conducted extensive research, including the 2017 census test, to determine the exact wording and location of the item.

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Quarter of ambulance patients in England wait an hour to get into A&E after arrival

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Waiting times for admission to A&E in last week of year likely to be highest recorded by the service

More than a quarter of ambulance patients in England waited more than an hour to be admitted to A&E in the last week of 2022, amid “one of the most difficult” winters in NHS history.

Of all those arriving by ambulance in the week to 1 January, 26.3% waited with crews for more than 60 minutes.

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Sunak invites unions to talks on Monday as senior Tory calls on government to improve pay offer to nurses– UK politics live

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PM offers no hint he will compromise on pay offers as former cabinet minister says nurses key to dealing with NHS pressures

The journalist interviewing Rishi Sunak this morning did not press Sunak on excess deaths because he needed to ask some questions about Prince Harry’s memoir. But Sunak would not go near the topic.

Asked how he felt seeing the royal family “torn apart” by these claims and revelations, Sunak replied:

As you would expect, it is not appropriate for me to comment on matters to do with the royal family.

I wouldn’t comment on matters to do with the royal family. I would just say I am enormously grateful to our armed forces for the incredible job they do in keeping us all safe. We’re all very fortunate for their service.

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SNP MP proposes paid leave for UK parents who have experienced miscarriage

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Angela Crawley’s private member’s bill aims to grant three days of statutory paid leave to grieving parents

Ministers have been urged to back proposals that would grant paid leave to parents who have experienced miscarriage.

Under current UK law, people are not granted maternity leave or pay if they have had a miscarriage.

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Average UK house price falls for fourth month in a row, says Halifax

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Figure of £281,272 comes as property values drop by 1.5% in December, after 2.4% decline in November

The average UK house price fell for the fourth month in a row in December, according to Halifax, with experts expecting a further slowdown amid a long recession.

Property values decreased by 1.5% in December, the lender’s monthly index revealed, after a 2.4% drop in November, a 0.4% decrease in October and a 0.1% dip in September.

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Met chief says London is ‘fantastically safe’ as homicide rate falls

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Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says UK capital is a place to ‘live, work and enjoy yourself’

The Metropolitan police commissioner has described London as a “fantastically safe” city as the force announced a drop in homicide rates last year.

Sir Mark Rowley said the capital was a place to “live, work and enjoy yourself” as he visited a boxing gym in Ilford, east London, on Thursday.

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NHS recruiting from ‘red list’ countries after Brexit loss of EU staff, says report

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Specialisms such as dentistry have shortages and EU exit still causes issues with medicines in Northern Ireland, thinktank finds

NHS trusts in England have increased recruitment from low-income “red list” countries to make up for the post-Brexit loss of EU staff, despite a code of practice to safeguard health services in those developing countries.

A report by the Nuffield Trust thinktank also identified shortages in vital specialist areas since Brexit, including dentistry, cardiothoracic surgery and anaesthesiology.

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Shell expects to pay about $2bn in UK and EU windfall taxes for last quarter

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Firm said in October it had not paid any UK windfall taxes because of heavy investment in North Sea

Shell has revealed it expects to pay about $2bn (£1.7bn) in UK and EU windfall taxes for the final quarter of 2022 – the first time it has paid UK tax for five years.

The oil company had previously sparked anger in October when it said it had not paid any UK windfall taxes because of heavy investment in the North Sea.

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Indie bookshop numbers hit 10-year high in 2022 defying brutal UK retail year

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Lockdowns were good news for book trade as people read more and sought out bookshops when they reopened

The number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland climbed to a 10-year high in 2022, as the book trade defied the odds in an otherwise brutal year for high street retailers.

The lifestyle changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns were a boon for the book trade, as Britons with more time on their hands read more and sought out bookshops when they reopened.

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900,000 crimes committed by people on bail under Tories, analysis finds

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Offences committed in England and Wales have included murder, kidnap, and child rape, study of data shows

Nearly 900,000 offences including murder, kidnap, and child rape, have been committed by people on bail in England and Wales since the Conservatives came to power, a new analysis has found.

The latest government figures show more than 20,000 offences were committed by those released from custody as they awaited a hearing, equating to 55 offences a day.

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German minister calls for solution to Northern Ireland protocol deadlock

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Annalena Baerbock makes appeal as she holds talks in London with UK foreign secretary James Cleverly

Disputes over implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol have become “the achilles heel” of the EU’s relations with the UK, the German foreign minister said on Thursday as she held talks with her UK counterpart in London.

Annalena Baerbock’s appeal to find a solution to the deadlock over the protocol came during wide-ranging and much delayed talks with James Cleverly in London, which also covered the war in Ukraine and the state of Anglo-German relations.

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Union fury as Rishi Sunak unveils anti-strike laws for ‘minimum service levels’

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Legislation will allow bosses of key public services to sue unions and sack employees who refuse to work

Rishi Sunak’s new anti-strike legislation to enforce “minimum service levels” in key public sectors including the NHS and schools has drawn a furious reaction from unions as the prime minister scrambles to get a grip on industrial disputes.

The law, which the government plans to introduce in the coming weeks, will allow bosses in health, education, fire, ambulance, rail and nuclear commissioning to sue unions and sack employees if minimum levels are not met.

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Prisoner fighting extradition ‘bullied’ by cellmates singing Leaving on a Jet Plane

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Nicholas Rossi, 35, says he is being taunted with John Denver song over his possible extradition to the US

An alleged fugitive fighting extradition to the US is seeking to be freed on bail from a Scottish jail because fellow prisoners are taunting him by singing John Denver’s hit Leaving on a Jet Plane.

Nicholas Rossi, 35, faces extradition to the US over charges of serious sexual assault in Utah, after he was arrested in an intensive care ward in Glasgow following his admission with Covid.

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A centrist pitch from Keir Starmer means he will need to show how he differs from Sunak

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Labour will not ‘spend its way out of the mess’ but will a more pragmatic approach persuade the core support the party still stands for something?

Keir Starmer was looking assured, shirt sleeves rolled up and cracking jokes, as he stood in front of a giant orange robotic arm in an east London design lab to make his new year speech.

Just 24 hours earlier Rishi Sunak had given his own address on the state of the nation at the building next door, prompting the Labour leader to quip: “I won’t tell the prime minister where I’m going on holiday this year just in case I find him there as well.”

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Briton shot dead in Jamaica was victim of contract killing, police say

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Jamaican police say fatal shooting of Sean Patterson, 33, was ‘contract killing that emanated from Britain’

A British man who was shot dead in Jamaica this week was the victim of a contract killing ordered in Britain, according to local police.

Sean Patterson, 33, a personal trainer from west London, was found with gunshot wounds to his upper body and head at about midday on Monday in Bogue Hill, St James, police said.

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Keir Starmer to promise ‘completely new way of governing’ in major speech – UK politics live

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Latest updates: Labour leader to say he plans to move away from the ‘sticking plaster politics’ of short-term decision making

Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, which represents train drivers, told the Today programme this morning that he did not think the anti-strike legislation proposed by the government (see 8.48am) would make life harder for his union.

He suggested the law would lead to unions like his having to organise strikes across more localised units, instead of nationally.

If we’ve got to sit down in 15, 20 or 30 different undertakings and agree different levels of [minimum service], all it means is that we put more strikes on to pick up the shortfall, create greater strife, the connectivity of the railway falls apart, the logistically it’s impossible.

There have been minimum [service] levels in European countries for several years. They have never been enacted because they don’t work.

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UK average annual temperature tops 10C for first time

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Mean temperature of 10.03C beats 2014’s 9.88C, confirming 2022 as country’s warmest on record

The UK’s annual average temperature topped 10C for the first time in 2022, as last year was confirmed as the country’s warmest on record.

The mean temperature across the 12 months was 10.03C, beating the previous all-time high of 9.88C in 2014, the Met Office said on Thursday.

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Cold snap boosts pre-Christmas sales at Next

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Retailer reports much better than expected data in December but remains ‘cautious’ about 2023

Next has upped profit forecasts for the year by £20m after better sales than expected in the run-up to Christmas, but said it remained “cautious” about the year ahead.

The fashion and home retailer said sales had risen by 4.8% in the nine weeks to 30 December, well above predictions of a 2% fall, delivering £66m more sales than expected.

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