Deadline is 31 January, although there will then be six-month grace period with such post still delivered
Do you have a book of stamps in your wallet, purse or drawer at home? Maybe you have stockpiled them to avoid future price rises.
If so, you need to be aware that the official deadline for using up stamps without barcodes – notably the regular first and second-class “everyday” stamps featuring the profile of the late Queen – is getting closer.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Forestry Act 1967 to change from 1 January to deter people from flattening trees and accepting paltry penalties
Illegal tree felling in England will be punishable by unlimited fines and prison sentences from 1 January, the government has announced.
The current fine for cutting down a tree without a licence, established by the Forestry Act 1967, is £2,500 or twice the value of the timber, whichever is the higher.
Continue reading...League of Gentlemen star’s two programmes are part of a rich seam of shows about the supernatural this year
This year’s Christmas TV and radio schedules feature more spooky and supernatural content than before the pandemic, reflecting a hunger for answers during uncertain times or grief for loved ones.
That’s according to Sherlock and League of Gentlemen writer and actor Mark Gatiss, who will be appearing in two ghostly programmes over the Christmas period.
Continue reading...Passengers arriving in UK can expect longer queues while mail may not arrive in time for Christmas
Border Force officials will on Friday join the wave of industrial action across Britain, starting the first of a series of strikes at airports, while Royal Mail workers walk out again for two days before Christmas.
Passengers travelling into the UK have been warned to be prepared for longer queues at immigration in airports, while many letters and parcels will now go undelivered before Christmas, as staff take action over pay trailing behind inflation.
Continue reading...PwC predicts increase in divorces, slide in house prices and drop in happiness index
British wages next year will fall back to 2006 levels, while 2023 will also bring a slide in house prices and an increase in divorces, according to a forecast that finds the UK is on course to be a less happy place to live.
The consultancy firm PwC said a look ahead to 2023 showed there were few positive indicators, with most measures of the UK’s economic and social performance going into reverse.
Continue reading...Take care using candles and electric heaters, fire authorities warn, as Ofgem reveals gas and electricity bills are up by 86%
Fire authorities have urged householders to take care when using candles, wood burners and electric heaters to cut energy bills this Christmas after a spate of recent house fires.
Flat fires in Uxbridge and Harwich this month were caused by candles; fire chiefs in Cumbria, Hereford and Worcester reported more fires as householders used unswept chimneys and candles; and last month in Wakefield a blaze was caused by a tumble dryer being used overnight to save money.
Continue reading...Prime minister appoints Historic England chair to role that had been vacant for six months
Rishi Sunak has appointed a former banker and quango head to be his ethics adviser after a six-month delay in filling the post, but will not allow the new incumbent to launch his own investigations into potential wrongdoing.
Sir Laurie Magnus, who spent his career in corporate finance and who chairs Historic England, will take over from Lord Geidt, who resigned as the independent adviser on ministers’ interests under Boris Johnson in June.
Continue reading...‘Don’t mingle’ advice comes as UK Health Security Agency says scarlet fever and strep A infections continue to rise
Flu and Covid are on the rise in England, with experts stressing the importance of vaccination and warning that people who feel unwell should stay at home rather than mingling with others during the festive season.
The figures come as cases of scarlet fever and strep A infections continue to rise.
Continue reading...Judge at Cardiff hearing rejects families’ complaint, saying relationships curriculum does not advocate any one gender identity
A group of parents has lost a legal challenge against the teaching of children about gender identity and sex in primary schools across Wales.
Campaigners launched a judicial review in the high court against the Welsh government’s new relationships and sexuality education (RSE) curriculum, which they depicted as “dangerous” and “woke”.
Continue reading...Scottish secretary hints that Westminster may use rare power to block new law which removes need for diagnosis of gender dysphoria for gender recognition certificate
At the Scottish parliament Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, is taking questions. Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, asks about the gender recognition reform (Scotland) bill and amendments rejected by the Scottish government. He says the bill would allow a man standing trial for raping a woman to force his victim to refer to him as a woman, not a man, and he asks Sturgeon why she voted against an amendment that would have prevented this.
In response, Sturgeon says many amendments have been rejected in the past days. She says where amendments were rejected, it was often because there were alternative ways to add safeguards to the bill. These new safeguards covered sex offenders, she says.
Health and care is under huge strain in the run-up to Christmas. These figures suggest there is absolutely no slack in the system, which is dangerously close to overheating completely.
A key part of the problem is that the vast majority of hospital beds are full – around 95% – including with thousands of patients fit to be discharged. The lack of community and social care means they’ll be spending this Christmas in hospital.
Continue reading...Unison members to take industrial action on 11 and 23 January in dispute over pay and staffing
Ambulance workers across England will stage two further strikes on 11 and 23 January in the dispute over pay and staffing, Unison has announced.
Members of the union in five ambulance services in England will take industrial action.
Continue reading...Environment Agency under fire for extending schedule for tackling pollution in rivers, lakes and coastal waters to 2063
Targets to clean up the majority of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters suffering from a cocktail of agricultural and sewage pollution have been pushed back from 2027 to 2063.
Not one English waterway, including rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters is in good ecological and chemical health at present, with pollution from water treatment plants and agriculture the key sources of the damage. The Environment Agency said on Thursday £5.3bn was being invested for the next five years to stop the further deterioration of waterways.
Continue reading...Party sees identifying 50-year-old male home-owners as key to electoral success
You’ve met Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman, now meet the key swing voter Labour hopes will win them the next election: middle-aged mortgage man.
Party insiders say they are being ruthless about targeting exactly the kind of voters they believe will put them back into power, homing in on people who previously lost faith with Labour but have been personally affected by the spike in interest rates caused by Liz Truss’ “mini-budget”.
Continue reading...Vote on law that would remove need for diagnosis of gender dysphoria to obtain gender recognition certificate pushed back after fraught debate
The final vote on the Scottish government’s long-awaited changes to simplify how someone can legally change gender has been delayed until Thursday after two days of fraught, chaotic and sometimes emotional debate among MSPs.
With discussion of more than 150 amendments continuing late into Wednesday night, the decision was taken by Holyrood business managers to re-schedule the crunch vote for Thursday afternoon rather than have the session run on into the early hours.
Continue reading...Doctors warn of a backlog of patients and ‘deteriorating health’, with calls to 999 down 25% during paramedics’ 24-hour stoppage
The NHS is bracing itself for an influx of patients between now and Christmas after thousands of people deferred seeking treatment during the ambulance workers’ strike on Wednesday.
Senior doctors are warning that the decision by many people in England and Wales not to request help while paramedics were staging a 24-hour stoppage will leave the NHS struggling to cope at a time when hospitals would traditionally be scaling back their services for the festive break.
Continue reading...British Chamber of Commerce present government with urgent recommendations as members report struggling to sell into EU
More than three-quarters of firms say the government’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU has not helped them to expand their business in the last two years despite promises that it was an “oven-ready” deal.
A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has prompted the business lobby group to present the government with five urgent recommendations for enhancing the agreement, which has left many exporters struggling to sell into the EU under the current terms.
Continue reading...The chef said he devised the recipe for ‘Britain’s favourite curry’ after a customer complained that his meal was too dry
A chef who is believed to have invented the chicken tikka masala, regarded as Britain’s favourite curry, has died aged 77.
Ali Ahmed Aslam’s death on Monday was announced by his Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow, which closed for 48 hours as a mark of respect. The eatery announced: “Hey, Shish Snobs … Mr Ali passed away this morning … We are all absolutely devastated and heartbroken.”
Continue reading...Ambulance workers and other NHS staff strike for between 12 and 24 hours in England and Wales
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Barclay is doubling down on his refusal to negotiate on pay and told staff struggling now that they should “look forward” to next year’s pay process.
We’re already three quarters of the way through this year. So, what you’d be saying is, go all the way back retrospectively to April to unpick what has been an independent decision by the pay review body.
But we’re already now under way in terms of next year’s pay review process, the remit letters have gone out.
It took place in February and the world was a rather different place in February and therefore I think some of the evidence they considered was probably out of date by the time it was published. Because the process is very slow, the decision is a bit lagged.
I think [ministers] should ask the pay review body to reconsider what they did last year, and not reopen last year, because I think it’s too late to do that, but actually say I want you to do a very quick turnaround for this year’s recommendations and I want you to take account on anything you might have missed last time round.
No, it reflects the very different action we’ve seen from these trade unions – the GMB, Unite and Unison – compared to what we saw from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), where we agreed national exemptions in terms of what would be covered by the RCN, whereas the three unions striking today have refused to work with us on a national level.
Life and limb cover will be provided. The last thing that our members want to do is put patients in harm’s way … The government has to play their part, they have to come to the table and talk to us. Our members want a resolution to this.
Continue reading...Natalie McNally, 32, died at her home in Lurgan after being stabbed on Sunday night
Police have launched a murder investigation after a pregnant woman was stabbed to death at her home in County Armagh. Natalie McNally died on Sunday in Lurgan in what police have described as a “double tragedy”.
DCI John Caldwell confirmed on Wednesday that McNally was 15 weeks pregnant. He said the 32-year-old had died after being stabbed a number of times and sustaining defensive injuries.
Continue reading...The SNP’s proposals including making it easier to get a gender recognition certificate polarised national politics and provoked angry debates over rights
When Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, pledged to reform gender recognition laws at a LGBTQ+ leaders’ hustings before the 2016 Holyrood elections, she could not have envisaged the escalating toxicity and political polarisation that would ultimately surround her plans, nor the personal toll it would exact.
The proposals to bring in a system of self-declaration for individuals wishing to change their legal gender has led to multiple protests outside the Holyrood parliament, booing the avowedly feminist first minister as a “destroyer of women’s rights”. It has prompted the SNP’s biggest ever backbench rebellion and brought Sturgeon head to head with another of Scotland’s best-known women, the Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who on the eve of the final vote described the gender recognition reform bill as “the single biggest rollback of women’s rights in our lifetimes”.
Continue reading...