Category Archives: UK news

Gymshark founder who launched £1.25bn empire in parents’ garage awarded MBE

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Ben Francis, 30, among slew of businesspeople recognised for services to commerce and economy in new year honours list

The 30-year-old founder of the exercise clothing brand Gymshark has been awarded an MBE in the new year honours list, – just one of a slew of businesspeople to be recognised for their services to commerce and the economy.

Ben Francis, who began his £1.25bn empire sewing his own gym clothes in his parents’ garage in Bromsgrove, near Birmingham, in 2012, is the youngest of those to be honoured for their services to business.

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New year honours list includes outspoken critics of government

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Chris Bryant and Julian Lewis receive knighthoods while Michael Marmot gets Companion of Honour

Sir Michael Marmot, the world-leading expert on health inequalities, has been made a Companion of Honour in the new year honours, among a series of people to be rewarded despite their often outspoken criticism of ministers and government policy.

Marmot, who headed a landmark inquiry into UK health inequalities and has since been vocal about the lack of action to address them, receives one of the most prestigious honours in existence.

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Leah Williamson among Lionesses recognised in New Year honours list

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  • Beth Mead, Ellen White and Lucy Bronze are made MBEs
  • Denise Lewis becomes a dame and Pat Jennings gets CBE

England captain Leah Williamson is one of four Euro 2022 winners to be recognised in the New Year honours list.

The Arsenal defender lifted the Lionesses’ first major trophy after the team’s 2-1 extra-time defeat of Germany at Wembley to earn the only piece of silverware for an England senior side since the men’s team’s World Cup triumph in 1966. The 25-year-old becomes an OBE, while her teammates Beth Mead, Ellen White and Lucy Bronze have been awarded MBEs. The head coach Sarina Wiegman has also been awarded an honorary CBE.

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New year honours 2023: Mary Quant and Lionesses among those recognised

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Brian May and Grayson Perry are knighted, Denise Lewis is made a dame and Frank Skinner becomes MBE

The fashion designer Mary Quant, the Lionesses and the Queen guitarist Brian May are among those recognised in the first new year honours of the king’s reign.

Quant, 92, who as one of the most influential fashion figures in the swinging 60s popularised the miniskirt and hot pants, becomes a Companion of Honour, one of the top honours.

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China bridles as EU states prepare to scale up Covid monitoring

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France joins Spain and Italy in requiring arrivals to show a negative result with the UK to follow suit

European countries are preparing to scale up the monitoring of potential new coronavirus variants from China, as Spain and France brought back mandatory testing at airports in response to Beijing’s rapid rollback of anti-infection measures.

The two countries on Friday followed Italy’s lead by requiring arrivals from China to show a negative test result, though unlike Rome, Spain makes exceptions for those who can prove they are fully vaccinated.

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Rail strikes ‘cost UK hospitality sector £1.5bn in December alone’

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Figure worse than predicted and head of industry body expects ‘more business failures’ in early 2023

The rail strikes have had a worse impact on the UK’s hospitality industry than expected – costing bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels £1.5bn in December alone – according to the head of the body representing the sector.

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, said this had contributed to a “perfect storm” for businesses battling high energy bills and a cost of living crisis, adding this meant “undoubtedly we will see more business failures” in the next three months.

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Newly released files reveal plan to move Millennium Dome to Swindon

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Labour government received bid to relocate controversial London building before it was rebranded as the O2

The “Swindon Dome” does have a ring to it.

It has emerged Tony Blair’s government received a proposition to move the Millennium Dome – later redeveloped and rebranded as the O2 – to Swindon.

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UK house prices fall for fourth month in a row, the longest run since 2008

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Annual growth rate cools in December and average price of property drops to £262,068, says Nationwide

Property prices in the UK fell for the fourth month in a row in December, the longest run of declines since 2008, according to Nationwide.

Annual house price growth also slowed sharply as the year drew to a close, to the lowest rate since mid-2020, with all regions of the country affected, according to the building society’s monthly survey.

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Inflation, waiting lists, strikes, rail chaos, climate emergency: the 2022 polycrisis

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Almost every facet of life in the UK – courts to cost of living, transport to healthcare, environment to asylum system – is at breaking point

In mid-November Rishi Sunak was asked in a Channel 4 interview to name one public service that “was working, adequately, working properly”.

The prime minister didn’t give a direct answer. But the exchange feeds into an ever-more-common discourse: that the UK is facing “polycrisis” in almost every facet of life in Britain. From courts to the cost of living, transport to healthcare, environment to the asylum system – everywhere appears to be affected.

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Andrew Tate put in 30-day pre-trial detention in Romania after arrest

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Influencer, his brother and two others held on human trafficking, rape and organised crime charges

The controversial online influencer and misogynist Andrew Tate has been put in pre-trial detention in Romania following his arrest on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.

The former kickboxer and reality TV star, who has been banned from a number of social media platforms for misogynistic comments and hate speech, was arrested alongside his brother and two other suspects.

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Conservationists turn to glue to make seeds stick on windy Yorkshire moor

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Project has been planting grass to help restore vital peatland but found some of it was not taking

Green sludge pours out of thick hosepipes wielded by two Welshmen in a bog in the north of England. It is not many people’s vision of cutting-edge technology.

But although the goop splattering messily on to bare patches of moorland may not look much, it is the first of its kind – a special type of glue designed to help restore vital peatland, which has been disappearing at rapid rates.

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Blair aide feared 1997 cabinet portrait would look ‘triumphalist’

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National Archives documents show concerns raised over Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s proposal

Downing Street feared that a group portrait of Tony Blair’s cabinet that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery wanted to commission to mark New Labour’s 1997 election victory would look “triumphalist” and be unlikely to win votes in Scotland, newly released documents reveal.

The gallery proposed a portrait by Peter Howson, a distinguished member of the new wave of expressionist artists who emerged from the Glasgow School of Art in the 80s, and was willing to pay. With the fee likely to be “substantial”, Downing Street aides were also concerned about negative coverage if any public funds were used, the documents released by the National Archives show.

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Blair government had misgivings about Mandela mediation role over Lockerbie

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Files show Downing Street felt former South African leader’s attempt to mediate was ‘unlikely to be helpful’

Downing Street believed Nelson Mandela’s attempt to play mediator between it and the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi over the question of compensation after the Lockerbie bombing was “unlikely to be helpful”, documents reveal.

But despite misgivings, No 10 aides did not rule out using Mandela “back against [Gaddafi] if Libya rejected a reasonable offer”, the documents released by the National Archives in the UK show.

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Blair asked Bush during first phone call if he could call him by first name

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Archives reveal PM’s early attempts to establish personal relationship with president after 2000 US election

Tony Blair moved swiftly to place his relationship with George W Bush on a personal footing after the Republican won the 2000 US presidential election, asking him “early on” in their first telephone call if he could call him by his first name.

“Bush warmly assented (but stuck himself with addressing the prime minister as ‘Sir’),” according to a note of their call, which is among government files released to the National Archives. Blair was the first foreign leader to call to congratulate the president-elect. Michael Tatham, a British diplomat, noted that the eight-minute conversation had established “as good a rapport as one could hope for” from such a short call.

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SNP restores whip to MP Patrick Grady after sexual assault suspension

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Alleged victim says end of suspension is ‘slap in face to anyone who has experienced sexual harassment’

The SNP has restored the party whip to a senior MP who has sat as an independent since June after an independent parliamentary inquiry found he made an unwanted sexual advance towards a teenage party worker.

Patrick Grady quit the SNP group at Westminster after a two-day suspension from parliament, imposed after the independent parliamentary standards commissioner found he had made the advances to the then 19-year-old man in 2016. The man to whom he made the advances said the end of Grady’s suspension was “a slap in the face to anyone who has experienced sexual harassment”.

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The ‘indefensibles’: donors, cronies and lackeys embody case to abolish Lords

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After Boris Johnson took political patronage to new levels by his appointments, Labour sees public mood is ripe for radical reform

What do Boris Johnson’s brother, a historian who has written favourably about him, and a defeated MP who gave him a free holiday all have in common?

All of them now grace the prestigious red benches of the House of Lords, along with 27 donors to the Conservative party.

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One in 10 Tory peers have given more than £100,000 to party

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Exclusive: 27 members of House of Lords have donated almost £50m in total to Conservatives

One in 10 Conservative peers are big donors to the party, giving almost £50m in total, new analysis shows, amid controversy over more financial backers believed to have been put forward on Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

After speculation about more donors due to get peerages within the coming weeks, figures compiled by the Guardian show 27 out of the party’s 274 peers have given more than £100,000 to the Conservatives.

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UK ministers under pressure to screen China arrivals for Covid

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Politicians and experts call for border testing to be introduced, but others question usefulness of move

Ministers are coming under pressure to screen arrivals from China as the number of Covid-19 cases there continues to surge after Beijing’s abrupt decision to end most of its strict pandemic restrictions.

The US became the latest country to impose controls on travellers entering the country from China on Wednesday, demanding that all such arrivals show proof of a negative Covid test.

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Unions holding government to ransom with talks demand, says Ben Wallace

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Minister ratchets up hardline stance as he rejects claim government is sabotaging efforts to end strikes

Trade unions are seeking to hold the government “to ransom” by demanding direct talks on public sector pay, Ben Wallace has argued in a further apparent ratcheting up of ministers’ hardline stance towards strikes.

Speaking at Manchester airport, where he met military personnel covering for Border Force staff, the defence secretary rejected a charge from the new TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, that the government was sabotaging efforts to end the strikes.

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Edinburgh Hogmanay organisers hopeful of avoiding washout

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Worst of expected bad weather in Scottish capital should have passed before new year celebrations

Organisers of Hogmanay in Edinburgh are hoping to avoid a new year washout, with heavy rain forecast to have passed by the time revellers ring in 2023.

The celebration in the Scottish capital has been cancelled due to Covid for the past two years, but on Saturday a sellout crowd of 30,000 is expected to bring in the new year in Princes Street as part of the three-day event.

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