Category Archives: UK news

‘Mental torture’: six years after Grenfell, UK residents still live in fear as cladding deal falters

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A government agreement with developers was meant to solve the fire safety crisis in affected buildings – but the wrangling goes on

In June 2021, Charlotte Meehan received a safety inspection report for her block of flats as part of the nationwide checks after the Grenfell Tower fire. It made for grim reading, warning that the block had been built with combustible cladding and insulation.

Last April, the government announced a “wide-ranging” agreement with developers to fix the crisis of unsafe tall buildings, but Meehan, 34, and her fellow residents in the four-storey block in east London, are among tens of thousands still waiting for their homes to be made safe.

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Plant toxin hailed as ‘new weapon’ in antibiotic war against bacteria

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Scientists say albicidin has allowed them to take a giant step forward to creating a powerful new range of antibacterial drugs

Scientists have discovered a plant toxin whose unique method of dispatching bacteria could be used to create a powerful new range of antibiotics. The prospect of developing new antibacterial drugs this way has been hailed by doctors, who have been warning for many years that the steady rise of multidrug-resistant pathogens such as E coli now presents a dangerous threat to healthcare across the planet.

The new antibiotic – albicidin – attacks bacteria in a completely different way to existing drugs, a group of British, German and Polish scientists have revealed in a paper recently published in the journal Nature Catalysis. This suggests a new route could be exploited to tackle bacterial disease, they say.

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Tories call for action over legal threats from powerful figures facing scrutiny

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Solicitors accused of using lawsuits to stifle criticism of prominent figures include those acting for Nadhim Zahawi

Ministers are under pressure to speed up action against the use of legal tactics by powerful figures to silence legitimate criticism. This comes after a surge in investigations into their use.

The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) warned the profession against employing such tactics at the end of last year, but says their use has increased since then, and it is now examining 40 cases.

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Troubles ahead for Rishi Sunak? Here are five pitfalls he’ll be dreading

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He may yearn for a period of calm, but the prime minister faces some daunting challenges in the stormy months ahead

Having taken on the party leadership after months of economic turmoil, Rishi Sunak always faced a tough task in turning around his party’s fortunes. With the future of cabinet ministers already in doubt and Boris Johnson courting MPs, a series of new hurdles in the months ahead will make life even harder for the prime minister.

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Boy arrested after girl, 15, stabbed to death in Northumberland

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16-year-old detained on suspicion of murder after incident in Hexham in which a boy, 16, was also injured

A teenage boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death in Northumberland.

Northumbria police were called shortly after 5.10pm on Friday to a report of a teenage boy and girl injured in the Priestpopple area of Hexham.

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‘It’s just outrageous’: Flybe passengers on the frustration of cancelled flights

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Some people due to fly with regional airline had booked tickets just hours before firm collapsed

“I got an email asking me to check in, and 10 minutes later they had gone into administration.”

Andrew Gibbins was one of hundreds of passengers across the UK who have expressed frustration at regional airline Flybe, which abruptly announced its collapse on Saturday morning, telling any passengers expecting to travel with it not to go to the airport.

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Revealed: child migrants racially abused and threatened with violence at Home Office hotel

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Whistleblower tells of threats and illegal detention in fresh revelations about failures that drove children into hands of criminals

Children seeking asylum in the UK were threatened and subjected to racist abuse by staff at a Home Office-run hotel, a whistleblower has claimed as pressure grows on the government to act over the growing crisis in the system.

The source, who worked in the Brighton hotel for more than a year, said that in such an environment of “emotional abuse”, scores of children, who had arrived in the UK without parents or a carer, were driven on to the streets and into the hands of criminals.

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Clare Drakeford, wife of Wales’s first minister, dies

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Mark Drakeford and his wife married in 1977 and have three children

Clare Drakeford, the wife of Wales’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, has died suddenly, the Welsh government announced on Saturday.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “It is with deep sadness that we confirm the sudden passing of Clare Drakeford, wife of the first minister.

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Zahawi should quit as party chair until tax inquiry ends, top Tory peer implies

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Lord Young suggests ministers should feel able to step aside for the duration of any investigation

Nadhim Zahawi should step away from his Conservative party role while the inquiry into his tax affairs continues, a senior Tory peer and former Commons standards chair has appeared to suggest.

Lord Young, who served in several Conservative administrations from Margaret Thatcher’s to Theresa May’s, suggested that ministers under pressure should feel able to step aside for the duration of any investigation.

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Rare Giacometti chandelier bought for £250 in London set to sell for £7m

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Piece acquired by English painter in antiques shop in 1960s has been confirmed as lost work by Italian sculptor

Sometimes a hunch pays off, and when the English painter John Craxton recognised a work of genius for sale in a London antiques shop, he made very much the right call.

Craxton parted with £250 for an unusual chandelier he suspected was by the great sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Now that chandelier, made in the late 1940s, may sell at Christie’s in a few weeks’ time for as much as £7m. Pieces by the revered Swiss artist are the most expensive sculptures to buy at auction, and his work regularly breaks saleroom records.

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Gulf royals own more than £1bn of UK property via tax havens

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New government register shows how offshore jurisdictions used for ownership of nearly 200 properties including hotels and country estates

The royal families of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar own more than £1bn of UK property via offshore jurisdictions, such as Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, the Guardian can reveal.

Nearly 200 properties, including hotels, London mansions and country estates, belong to a few small but super-rich dynasties, according to analysis of a new government register that reveals who is behind offshore companies that own UK property.

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British army serviceman, 21, charged with terror and explosive offences

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Daniel Abed Khalife charged over incidents in Staffordshire in August 2021 and January 2023

A 21-year-old member of the British army has been charged with terror and explosives offences over two incidents in Staffordshire in August 2021 and January this year, the Metropolitan police have said.

Daniel Abed Khalife, of Beaconside, Stafford, is accused of eliciting or attempting to elicit information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism in August 2021.

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Family of woman found ‘mummified’ say privacy laws kept them in the dark

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Laura Winham lay dead in her flat for three years before her brother discovered her body

The family of a severely mentally ill woman who lay dead and undiscovered in her flat for more than three years said they were unable to have any contact with her because of privacy laws.

Laura Winham, 38, had schizophrenia, struggled to look after herself and had become estranged from her family, who she thought were trying to harm her.

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Domestic abuse charges in England and Wales halved since 2015, as offences doubled

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Exclusive: Domestic abuse charges authorised by CPS declined from 82,158 to 43,836 in 2021-2022, Labour party reveals

The number of charges related to domestic abuse has halved since 2015, figures for England and Wales uncovered by the Labour party have revealed, while similar offences recorded by police have more than doubled.

Domestic abuse charges authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have steadily declined from 82,158 in 2015-2016 to 43,836 in 2021-2022, the data shows. Over the same period, the total number of domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by the police has soared by 116% from 421,185 in 2015-2016 to 910,980 in 2021-2022.

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Starmer to pledge Labour is party of ‘sound money’ and public service

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‘Never again will Labour allow hate to spread unchallenged,’ Labour leader will say at annual conference in London

Never again will Labour be the party of protest not public service, and never again will it allow hate to spread unchallenged, Keir Starmer will say, as he reiterates his promise to make it the party of “sound money”.

The Labour leader will address approximately 600 people at London Labour’s annual conference on Saturday, and outline how his government will “give people a sense of possibility again”, while focusing on the changes he has made since the party lost the 2019 general election.

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Dizzee Rascal loses appeal against conviction for assaulting ex-fiancee

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Grime star was found guilty last year of assaulting Cassandra Jones during “chaotic” row at her London home

Dizzee Rascal has lost his appeal against his conviction for assaulting his ex-fiancee.

The grime artist, 38, whose real name is Dylan Mills, was found guilty at a trial in April last year of assaulting Cassandra Jones by pressing his forehead against hers and pushing her to the floor during a “chaotic” row at her south London home in June 2021.

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Met police officer sacked for requesting photo of dead man

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PC Bonnie Murphy, who asked colleague Jamie Lewis to send her a picture of a decomposed body, acted with gross misconduct, inquiry rules

A serving Metropolitan police officer has been sacked from the force after asking for and receiving a photograph of a dead man.

PC Bonnie Murphy, who asked colleague Jamie Lewis to send her a photo of a decomposed body to show her family, was dismissed without notice.

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Tearful Lucy Letby said ‘it’s always me when it happens’, court told

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GP says it ‘seemed a pretty normal reaction’ amid series of collapses of infants at Chester hospital

A nurse accused of murdering seven babies was seen crying as she said something to the effect of “it’s always me when it happens”, a court has heard.

Lucy Letby, 33, is said to have made the remark amid a series of collapses of infants at the Countess of Chester hospital’s neo-natal unit. Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.

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Jeremy Hunt ‘not even trying’ to settle NHS pay dispute, says Unison – UK politics live

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Unison general secretary says chancellor ‘completely ignoring vital public services’ after he gives speech on plans

Hunt says Brexit is an opportunity to work with regulators to create an economic environment which is “more innovation-friendly, and more growth-focused”.

He says he wants to create an “enterprise culture built on low taxes, reward for risk, access to capital and smarter regulation”.

Nor will we fix our productivity puzzle unless everyone who can participate does. So to those who retired early after the pandemic, or haven’t found the right role after furlough, I say: Britain needs you.

High taxes directly affect the incentives which determine decisions by entrepreneurs, investors or larger companies, about whether to pursue their ambitions in Britain

Sound money must come first but our ambition must be nothing less than to have the most competitive tax regime of any major country.

In case anyone is in any doubt about who will actually deliver that restraint to make a low tax economy possible, I gently point out that in the three weeks since Labour promised no big government chequebook they have made £45bn of unfunded spending commitments.

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