Days later, Harry and Meghan will head to New York for human rights award, with no plans for brothers to meet
The Prince and Princess of Wales will fly to the US on Wednesday hoping to shine a light on the climate crisis against a media backdrop obsessed with sibling rivalry and turf war with the Sussexes.
In their first US trip in eight years, Prince William and Princess Catherine are visiting Boston to promote the prince’s environmental Earthshot prize.
Continue reading...Chinese state broadcaster transmits from Chiswick studio despite Ofcom revoking UK licence last year
France’s media regulator is under pressure to withdraw a licence that allows the Chinese state broadcaster to beam its programmes across Europe from a studio in west London.
Ofcom revoked the organisation’s licence to transmit in the UK last year but the China Global Television Network (CGTN) was able to continue broadcasting following authorisation from the French authority.
Continue reading...Thousands of staff including 999 call handlers and paramedics to take strike action over pay and staffing levels
Ambulance workers across England intend to strike before Christmas after voting in favour of industrial action over pay and staffing levels.
Unison said thousands of 999 call handlers, ambulance technicians, paramedics and their colleagues working for ambulance services in the north-east, north-west, London, Yorkshire and the south-west are to take strike action.
Continue reading...Tory-led Essex authority is on brink of bankruptcy and has appealed to government for emergency bailout
A Tory-led council has admitted a series of disastrous investments in risky commercial projects caused it to run up an unprecedented deficit of nearly £500m and brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.
The staggering scale of the catastrophe at Thurrock council in Essex – one of the biggest ever financial disasters in local government – is contained in an internal report made to the council’s cabinet, which reveals it has lost £275m on investments it made in solar energy and other businesses, and has set aside a further £130m this year to pay back investment debts.
Continue reading...Minority ethnic people make up 59% and 51% of respective populations in UK’s first ‘super-diverse’ cities
Leicester and Birmingham have become the first “super-diverse” cities in the UK, where most people are from black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, according to the 2021 census.
A total of 59% of people in Leicester are from minority ethnic backgrounds, while 51% of Birmingham’s population are people of colour, as are 54% in Luton, according to the data. Across England and Wales, 18% of people are BAME.
Continue reading...Letter from 44 charities urges independent investigation into ‘appalling’ treatment of people at Kent processing centre
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, is being urged by 44 leading charities to launch a Windrush-style inquiry into the crisis that engulfed Manston processing centre.
Organisations including the Refugee Council, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee have written a letter to the Guardian seeking an independent investigation into how people seeking refuge in the UK were forced to live in cramped and insanitary conditions.
Continue reading...NHS Digital research reveals scale of issues, with even higher number of 20- to 23-year-olds affected
More than half of older teenagers and young adults in England have a problematic relationship with food, a major survey of young people’s mental health has found.
Six in ten (60%) 17- to 19-year-olds have “possible problems with eating”, according to research undertaken by NHS Digital, the health service’s statistical body.
One in four 17- to 19-year-olds have a probable mental disorder – up from one in 10 in 2017 and one in six last year.
Children and young people from households facing financial difficulties, such as those who cannot afford food, are much more likely to have mental health problems.
One in eight 11- to 16-year-olds, and 29.4% of those that age with a mental health disorder such as anxiety or depression, have been bullied online.
One in six 17- to 24-year-olds have tried to harm themselves.
Continue reading...Avanti West Coast, which received £343m subsidy, had worst punctuality performance among train operators
Labour has called on ministers to claw back £12m in dividends paid by Avanti West Coast to its shareholders last year, when it was subsidised by £343m by the taxpayer.
Figures released by the rail watchdog on Tuesday showed that Avanti paid out £12m in 2021-22 from management and performance fees.
Continue reading...Former Labour foreign secretary does not rule out return to UK politics before next election and urges greater EU cooperation
The former foreign secretary David Miliband has fuelled speculation that he is preparing a political comeback in Britain after he said nothing had yet been decided on his return and delivered a set piece foreign policy speech urging the UK to make greater cooperation with the EU.
Miliband lost the Labour leadership to his brother Ed in 2010 and resigned from the shadow cabinet. He stood down as an MP and moved to New York in late 2013 with his family to act as the chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.
Continue reading...Study by British Chambers of Commerce reveals flagship bill to purge EU laws is low priority for firms
Most UK businesses have no interest in or understanding of the government’s flagship “Brexit freedoms” plan to scrap EU regulations, according to a survey of bosses.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said almost three-quarters of company directors were either unaware of the government plans or did not know the details. Across all business areas, about half in the survey of almost 1,000 firms said deregulation was either a low priority or not a priority at all.
Continue reading...Researchers find no such link for women, suggesting connection between diet and bowel cancer is clearer for men
Eating a plant-based diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes can reduce the risk of bowel cancer in men by more than a fifth, according to research.
A large study that involved 79,952 US-based men found that those who ate the largest amounts of healthy plant-based foods had a 22% lower risk of bowel cancer compared with those who ate the least.
Continue reading...Editors urge ministers to end ‘endemic’ use of Slapps – legal cases designed to hinder investigations
A coalition of senior journalists and editors from across the political spectrum are calling on the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, to back a proposed law to tackle the global super-rich’s use of “abusive legal tactics to shut down investigations”.
More than 70 newspaper editors, publishers and media lawyers wrote to Raab on Tuesday demanding that the government take urgent action to stop oligarchs and kleptocrats from using their fortunes to exploit British courts, intimidating and silencing investigative journalists with strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps).
Continue reading...End Fuel Poverty Coalition fears energy suppliers are using warrants to disconnect poorest ‘by the back door’
Campaigners have called for an immediate ban on pre-payment meter (PPM) installations made under court warrants because of fears that energy suppliers are using them to disconnect the poorest, most indebted customers “by the back door”.
Energy firms’ licence conditions protect many vulnerable people from formal disconnection over the winter, but the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said transferring households on to PPMs, which require regular top-ups and charge for energy at a higher rate, often prompted people in debt to “self-disconnect”.
Continue reading...Revised online safety bill proposes fines of 10% of revenue but drops harmful communications offence
Social media platforms that breach pledges to block sexist and racist content face the threat of substantial fines under government changes to the online safety bill announced on Monday.
Under the new approach, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter must also give users the option of avoiding content that is harmful but does not constitute a criminal offence. This could include racism, misogyny or the glorification of eating disorders.
Continue reading...National Highways has obtained an injunction to ‘prevent unlawful protests’ until November 2023
A high court injunction has been granted that would impose fresh penalties on Just Stop Oil activists for demonstrating on the country’s busiest motorway until November next year.
National Highways said it had secured the civil order to “prevent unlawful protests” on the M25, after a series of actions by the environmental group caused significant traffic disruption.
Continue reading...Jason Penrose launched a ‘campaign of consistent stalking’ against The Crown actor, making her fear for her life, court told
A persistent stalker who left Claire Foy “terrified in her own home” and fearing he would kill her and her daughter entered the UK illegally, a court has heard.
Jason Penrose, 49, launched a “campaign of consistent stalking” and even turned up at the The Crown star’s home on 17 December last year and repeatedly rang the doorbell, Wood Green crown court was told on Monday.
Continue reading...PM is stuck between two wings of party and at risk of Commons defeat on pro-renewables amendment
Rishi Sunak is scrambling to find a compromise on permitting onshore wind amid a growing backbench Conservative rebellion, though No 10 remains fearful of a backlash from MPs who oppose windfarms.
The U-turn on backing onshore wind projects would directly contradict a pledge by Sunak during his leadership campaign but Downing Street has sought to frame it as government policy.
Continue reading...Representatives of Eurosceptic insist he had been left with no option but to appeal to European court of human rights
Lawyers for Owen Paterson have admitted the irony of the former MP bringing a case against the UK government at the European court of human rights, despite having previously called on Britain to “break free” of the court entirely.
Representatives for Paterson, a prominent Eurosceptic Conservative who resigned last year in the midst of a lobbying scandal, issued a statement on Monday insisting he had been left with no option but to appeal to a court whose authority he had previously questioned.
Continue reading...Foreign Office minister says case of Hussein Abo al-Kheir raised ‘at highest level’ and demands end to executions
The British government has condemned as “abhorrent” what it said was the clear torture of a Jordanian national on death row in Saudi Arabia for drug offences, and demanded an end to a sudden spate of executions in the Gulf monarchy.
It was the first time the British government has made the allegation.
Continue reading...Opposition to unveil plan to reverse biodiversity loss rather than simply halting it, which is government’s current target
The government will not be able to achieve its nature targets by 2030, even though they are “embarrassingly poor”, the shadow environment minister and leading wildlife groups have said.
Next week at the Cop15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, Alex Sobel will be discussing Labour’s “science-led, joined-up plan to tackle the climate and ecological emergency”. The plan will aim to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, rather than simply halting it, which is the government’s current target.
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