Monarch’s portrait on £5, £10, £20 and £50 likely to enter circulation in 2024
Designs for bank notes featuring an image of King Charles III have been revealed by the Bank of England, with plans to enter circulation by mid-2024.
Announcing the design for the first time in the run-up to the coronation in May, the UK central bank said the king’s portrait would appear on existing designs of all four of its polymer bank notes currently in circulation – £5, £10, £20 and £50.
Continue reading...Loss of employees since Covid raises fears of weaker growth and higher inflation, says Lords report
An exodus of more than half a million people from the British workforce since the Covid pandemic is putting the economy at risk of weaker growth and persistently higher inflation, a Lords report has warned.
The House of Lords economic affairs committee said the sharp rise in economic inactivity – when working-age adults are neither in employment nor looking for a job – since the onset of the health emergency was posing “serious challenges” to the economy.
Continue reading...Having survived a tough childhood in Coventry, Hall became one of pop’s defining voices at the turn of the 80s, chronicling British decline and disfranchised youth with the 2 Tone band
• Alexis Petridis: ‘Terry Hall was the self-assured eye of the Specials storm’
• Terry Hall: a life in a pictures
Terry Hall, the lead singer of the Specials and a former member of Fun Boy Three and the Colourfield, has died aged 63, his bandmates in the Specials have confirmed.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced,” the band tweeted.
Continue reading...Gaby Hutchinson, 23, was working in security role at London venue on night of Asake gig
A security guard has become the second person to die after a crowd crush at the O2 Academy Brixton last week.
Gaby Hutchinson, 23, was working as a contracted security provider at a performance on Thursday by the Nigerian Afrobeats singer-songwriter Asake.
A previous version of this story was launched on Monday 19 December 2022. This version reflects updated information released by the Metropolitan police.
Continue reading...Officers used firearm after being called to Carlisle address where man in 40s was reported to be threatening people
A man has died after being shot by armed police in Cumbria.
Officers were called to Borland Avenue in Carlisle at 3.37pm on Monday to reports of a man threatening people.
Continue reading...Leaders say ‘there’s no trust left’ between unions and the government as they play down prospect of meaningful talks
Good morning. We’re in the final week before Christmas, and the strikes affecting public services are set to get even more serious. Last week’s strike by the Royal College of Nursing was unprecedented, because the RCN had never called a strike before, but ministers fear that a strike by ambulance staff in England and Wales on Wednesday could be even more serious because of the impact it will have on patients needing emergency care.
As Jessica Elgot and Andrew Gregory report in their overnight story, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has signalled that he is open to further talks in the hope of averting this week’s strike.
Look at Scotland. The government there came back to the negotiating table, made a new offer and the strikes were cancelled. Yet in England they refuse to negotiate a new deal with the unions or go back to the pay review body.
It’s Steve Barclay who is holding the country to ransom. He will have to carry the can if patients suffer because he thinks this is his Thatcher moment.
The government has been completely intransigent here. We’ve been calling on them for weeks and weeks to talk to us about this, to actually sit down and have a proper discussion before we try and resolve this dispute, and they have adamantly refused to do that.
I don’t know how much stronger myself, or Pat Cullen [the RCN general secretary] or Gary Smith of the GMB [need to be] – all of us are saying the same thing, we are prepared to talk to you, but they will not talk to us about the elephant in the room, which is pay.
It has be a very firm commitment. There is no trust left between us and the government. They would have to come up with something more that was more than just ‘Let’s talk about this’ for us to call off the strike on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Elon Musk says he will honour the results of a Twitter poll asking whether the should resign as head of the social media platform
Telsa investors seem to pleased with the way that Musk’s Twitter poll is leaning towards his potential resignation, with shares up 4% in pre-market trading:
Economic data interlude:
Continue reading...Adviser urges governments to act ‘before this form of racism poisons the minds of many more young people’
Schools should be required to teach about contemporary antisemitism, not only the Holocaust, as part of a drive to combat an “alarming” rise in hatred towards Jewish people among British pupils, a government adviser has said.
The former Labour MP Lord Mann, who now sits as a non-affiliated peer, urged ministers across the UK to take action after an investigation found antisemitic incidents in English schools had almost trebled over the past five years.
Continue reading...Mere commitment to discuss pay, so far refused by health secretary, would now be insufficient
Ambulance staff would require a definite commitment from ministers on pay rather than just a promise of talks to call off their planned strike on Wednesday, according to a union leader who said trust had largely broken down with the government.
Christina McAnea, the general secretary of Unison, one of three unions involved in the strike by ambulance crews in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said even a commitment to discuss pay, thus far refused by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, would now be insufficient.
Continue reading...Footfall likely to increase less than in previous years as shoppers struggle with cost of living crisis, say analysts
The UK retail industry is braced for a muted end to the Christmas shopping period as poor weather and strikes weigh further on consumers whose spending is already under pressure from the increased cost of living.
Analysts at the data company Springboard said they expected the number of shoppers at retail destinations across the UK to rise by 4.5% in high streets, 5% in retail parks and 10% in shopping centres in December compared with November. However, those footfall increases would be smaller than previous years.
Continue reading...Campaigners welcome DfT’s temporary £60m subsidy to cut emissions and congestion, but say it should go further
Bus fares in many places across England will be capped at £2 for the winter under a government-backed campaign to encourage people back on to public transport.
Single fares on most major operators’ services will be limited from January until March under the scheme.
Continue reading...UK prime minister joins Nordic and Baltic leaders at summit on countering Russian aggression
Rishi Sunak will meet UK troops in Estonia and Nordic and Baltic leaders at a summit on countering Russian aggression, where he will say leaders must sustain or exceed their lethal aid support to Ukraine and their political backing.
Monday’s meeting will come after the UK prime minister was reported to have unnerved some in Whitehall by asking for a “Goldman Sachs dashboard” on the progress of the war and how UK military supplies are used, according to the BBC.
Continue reading...One concertgoer claims security guards ‘kettled’ fans into a confined space outside Asake gig
Witnesses to the deadly crush outside the O2 Academy Brixton last Thursday have insisted many fans in the crowd outside had tickets, rejecting reports of a ticketless mob storming the venue.
After the death of 33-year-old Rebecca Ikumelo was announced on Saturday, fans criticised the security and organisation at the event.
Continue reading...Outcry after presenter writes he is ‘dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets’
A Jeremy Clarkson column in the Sun about the Duchess of Sussex has provoked outcry online, with social media users labelling it “vile”, “horrific” and “abusive”.
In an article for the paper published on Friday, Clarkson wrote that he loathed Meghan “on a cellular level”. He said he was “dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.
Continue reading...Met Office issues amber warning for ice in north of England and says warmer weather also brings risks of flooding
Temperatures could rise as high as 14C (57F) in parts of the UK on Monday, the Met Office has predicted, but the warmer weather will bring a risk of flooding.
Most of south Wales, the south-west of England and some of the south-east is under a yellow warning for rain, with a chance of some flooding. Surface-level flooding may also occur in other parts of the UK as snow and ice on higher ground melt overnight.
Continue reading...Wildlife TV presenter tipped for success after capturing country’s heart on path to Strictly victory
He may have come from relative obscurity but 2023 is predicted to be a big year for the Strictly Come Dancing champion Hamza Yassin, who lifted the glitterball trophy with his dance partner Jowita Przystał on Saturday night.
He pipped fellow finalists Helen Skelton, Fleur East and Molly Rainford to the title in a tense final and insiders are now predicting big things for the wildlife expert, who said he was “over the moon” to win.
Continue reading...Lorna Tucker says not enough is being done to help Britain’s homeless people, and what is being done is not working
The film-maker Lorna Tucker was once a teenage runaway, sleeping rough in London for 18 months. Twenty-five years later, she has relived the harrowing experience for a documentary, returning to her former haunts and speaking to homeless people at a time when record numbers are living on Britain’s streets.
She was reunited with some of those she left behind, including “Darren”, who has been on the streets since his alcoholic mother was unable to care for him. “Darren sleeps where I used to sleep under Waterloo Bridge,” she said. “He still has the same eyes he had as a 15-year-old boy. He’s still got this beauty, but obviously he’s been very affected by it.”
Continue reading...Law courts will deliver their verdict on Monday on whether plans to export asylum seekers are lawful
It has been more than three months since two of the UK’s most senior judges sifted through thousands of pages of evidence and heard opposing arguments from some of the country’s lawyers about whether or not the government’s controversial plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda are lawful. On Monday at 10.30am, at the Royal Courts of Justice, they will deliver their judgment.
The government’s plan to export asylum seekers from one of the world’s richest countries to one of the world’s poorer nations, 4,000 miles away, is so radical that no other country has attempted anything like it.
Continue reading...Saju Chelavalel, 52, accused of killing Anju Asok, 35, and her six- and four-year-old children
A 52-year-old man has been charged with the murders of an NHS nurse and her two children in Kettering.
Saju Chelavalel is accused of the murder of Anju Asok, 35, Jeeva Saju, six, and Janvi Saju, four.
Continue reading...Government accused of prioritising contingency planning ahead of securing a deal with workers
Unions have lashed out at plans for the armed forces to cover for striking public sector workers in the run-up to Christmas, claiming the military are not “sufficiently trained” to plug staffing gaps on the frontline.
The government is deploying 1,200 troops from the army, navy and RAF to fill in for ambulance drivers and border staff during widespread strikes over the festive period, with more than 1,000 civil servants also drafted in to help.
Continue reading...