Scheme starting this month is aimed at improving Britain’s poor record on early diagnosis
All GPs in England will be able to refer suspected cancer patients for tests without them first having to see a specialist under an NHS initiative designed to speed up diagnosis.
The scheme, which starts this month, will let family doctors send patients with potential symptoms straight to have a scan, X-ray or other diagnostic test.
Continue reading...Prime minister says UK should not sacrifice quality for speed as he seeks to improve terms at G20 talks
Rishi Sunak has hinted he will slow down progress on the India trade deal to improve its terms, saying the UK should not “sacrifice quality for speed”.
The comments, which preceded talks with the UK prime minister’s Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, at the G20 on Wednesday, suggested a marked change of approach from Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, who prioritised speed and hard deadlines, having pledged a “deal for Diwali” that did not materialise.
Continue reading...Latest updates: PM claims damage done to national finances by mini-budget has now been mostly repaired
Rishi Sunak has also said he hopes to have a meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit. Asked if he would have a bilateral with Xi, Sunak told Sky News:
I’m hopeful that I can. As I said, I think it’s important that we engage with people to try and tackle some of these shared challenges. And I’m here to talk to people, and that’s what I hope is possible.
I’m very clear that China poses a systemic challenge to both our values and our interests, and it represents the single biggest straight threat to our economic security. And that’s why it’s right that we take the steps that are necessary to protect ourselves against that.
I think our approach to China is one that is very similar to our allies, whether that’s America, Australia and Canada, all countries that I’m talking about exactly this issue with while we’re here at the G20 summit.
And I think it’s an indisputable fact of the global economy that China is a big part of it. And if we want to solve big global challenges like public health, like Russia and Ukraine, fixing the global economy or indeed climate change, it’s important to have a dialogue and to engage with China as part of solving those challenges.
Continue reading...Return of one of one of Britain’s rarest fish confirmed after DNA found in water samples above fish passes
For nearly two centuries, one of Britain’s rarest fish has been shut out of its spawning grounds by large weirs.
But the endangered twaite shad has now returned to its historic spawning habitat on the River Severn, thanks to four new fish passes that enable the migratory fish to negotiate weirs and swim up river to lay eggs.
Continue reading...Human rights council makes more than 300 recommendations, with many coming from less well-off countries
The UK must tackle rising poverty, the United Nations human rights council has said in a report that includes demands from less well-off countries for the British government to act.
Amid worsening financial prospects for millions, the member states of the UN body also demanded action on housing to prevent homelessness, better food security for young children, and equal rights for people with disabilities.
Continue reading...Awaab Ishak died in 2020, eight days after his second birthday, following ‘chronic exposure’ in Rochdale
A coroner has said the death of an “engaging, lively, endearing” two-year-old from prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s flat should be a “defining moment” for the UK’s housing sector.
Awaab Ishak died in 2020, eight days after his second birthday, as a direct result of black mould in the flat he lived in.
Continue reading...Users on gamer-focused platform manage to respond to posts despite government blocking all comments
The UK Treasury has opened an account on Discord to a torrent of abuse from users of the gamer-focused chat app – abuse they managed to send despite the government blocking all comments on the service.
As Twitter’s future looks increasingly uncertain, prominent users are preparing alternatives, directing followers to Facebook and Instagram accounts, handing out their Mastodon addresses, and setting up servers on chat apps such as Discord.
Continue reading...William Warrington slipped out of hospital in Gloucestershire and stabbed his mother before taking her car to kill father
A man with paranoid schizophrenia has admitted stabbing his parents to death on the same night in two attacks 15 miles apart, after slipping out of a psychiatric hospital in Gloucestershire.
William Warrington killed his mother, Valerie, 73, a hospital worker, at her home in the Cotswolds village of Bourton-on-the-Water in March. He then drove her car to his father, Clive’s, home in Cheltenham and killed him. Neighbours heard Warrington say “I’m going to enjoy this” as he attacked his father, 67.
Continue reading...Bankruptcy filing says ‘questions arose’ about founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s leadership
The collapsed crypto exchange FTX expects to have more than 1 million individual creditors, the company has said in its first bankruptcy filing, scattered across more than 100 companies in the wider group.
According to the filing at the bankruptcy court in the US state of Delaware, where FTX US is based, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and chief executive, stepped down at 4.30am on Friday, “after consultation with his own legal counsel”.
Continue reading...PM’s remarks at G20 summit suggest shift away from Liz Truss pledge to redesignate Beijing as a ‘threat’
Rishi Sunak has rowed back from officially recategorising China as a “threat”, saying he views the country as a “systemic challenge”, despite concerted pressure from Conservative MPs.
The prime minister’s remarks are likely to draw ire from the large group of China sceptics on the Conservative backbenches, including former leader Iain Duncan Smith and others such as Alicia Kearns, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee.
Continue reading...One of the original line-up of the BBC’s car show, Baker had been suffering from motor neurone disease
Sue Baker, one of the original presenters of BBC’s Top Gear and the Observer’s former motoring editor, has died aged 67. Baker, who joined the original format of the TV series in 1980, died on Monday morning after suffering with motor neurone disease (MND).
She appeared on more than 100 episodes of the car programme until 1991. She then left to continue her work as a motoring journalist.
Continue reading...Exclusive: fresh claims that Simon McDonald relayed staff complaints to Raab when he was foreign secretary
Dominic Raab was warned about his behaviour towards officials during his time as foreign secretary by the department’s top civil servant, who then informally reported his concerns to the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team.
The Guardian understands that Simon McDonald, the then permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, spoke to Raab on several occasions during his tenure about how he treated staff in his private office and during meetings.
Continue reading...Man in his 30s also arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of third man found with stab wounds in Houghton Regis
Police have arrested a man suspected of the murder of two men and the attempted murder of a third.
Officers were called to reports of a man being struck by a vehicle in Tithe Farm Road, in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, at 1.18am on Sunday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Steve Barclay not tasked with manifesto commitment, raising fears that shortage of doctors in England will continue
Rishi Sunak has fuelled concerns that the government will miss its target of recruiting 6,000 more GPs in England, which was promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto.
The prime minister omitted the pledge from his appointment letter to the health secretary, Steve Barclay, laying out expectations for what should be delivered by March 2024.
Continue reading...Critics claim latest effort to reduce Channel crossings is ‘throwing good money after bad’
Conservative MPs have joined unions and refugee groups in condemning a £63m deal signed by Suella Braverman with her French counterpart to reduce the number of people attempting to cross the Channel in small boats.
Natalie Elphicke, the member for Dover, and Tim Loughton, a senior home affairs select committee member, questioned whether the bilateral agreement will do enough to address a surge of new arrivals after it failed to establish joint patrols or guarantee that people smugglers are detained.
Continue reading...Adult ape sharing information and just wanted mother to look at foliage with no motive otherwise, scientists say
Chimpanzees show each other objects just for the sake of it, researchers have found, revealing it isn’t only humans who like to draw attention to items that have captured their interest.
As anyone who has spent time with a child knows, even very young humans like to point out objects to others. However, it was previously thought this behaviour only occurs in our species.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary says it is his job to ensure UK visitors stay safe as he defends attending the tournament
James Cleverly has told LGBTQ+ football fans travelling to Qatar for the World Cup to “respect the law” of the host country, as the foreign secretary defended attending the tournament himself.
While Cleverly said he understood why some people were uncomfortable with Qatar holding the event, which begins on 20 November, he said it was “my job to make sure those people who do visit stay safe”.
Continue reading...Leaders of Kent and Hampshire county councils say even ‘drastic cuts’ to services will not be enough
Two of England’s largest Tory-run local authorities have warned the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, that they will be forced to declare bankruptcy within the next few months because of the unprecedented financial crisis enveloping both councils.
The leaders of Kent and Hampshire county councils said even “drastic cuts” to current services would not be enough to patch up the huge holes in their budgets created by soaring inflation and rising pressures in adult and children’s social care.
Continue reading...George Eustice says the free trade deal with Australia – hailed by Boris Johnson as one of the big gains from Brexit – was poor. This live blog is now closed
James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, was criticised last month for saying that gay football fans visiting Qatar for the Word Cup should “be respectful”, and make allowance for the country’s intolerance of homosexuality.
In an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Cleverly defended his comments, saying that the Foreign Office always advises people to obey local laws when they are travelling. He told the programme:
My focus is to make sure that British visitors, particularly LGBTQ+ visitors to Qatar going to enjoy the World Cup, are safe and that they enjoy their tournament. So my advice was purely about ensuring that they have a safe and secure time at the World Cup.
We always say that you have to respect the laws of your host nation. That is a universal element of British travel advice.
I’ve spoken at length with the Qatari authorities on this and it’s worth bearing in mind that men and women don’t typically hold hands in Qatar, and other conservative Muslim countries like Qatar, so my strong advice is to look at the UK government’s travel advice.
This deal is just the same as previous deals - spending money and resources on intercepting and obstructing people crossing the Channel, while doing nothing to address their need for safe access to an asylum system.
The inevitable result will be more dangerous journeys and more profits led by ruthless smuggling gangs and other serious criminals exploiting the refusal of the UK and French government to take and share responsibility.
Continue reading...Enforcement-focus agreement ignores lack of safe and legal routes for people to apply for asylum in UK
Following a flurry of selective UK government briefings promising a “groundbreaking” new deal under Rishi Sunak which would curb the numbers of people arriving by small boats, a £63m UK-French deal has arrived.
And much like the last three bilateral agreements over the past four years, which promised to break the “evil” people-smugglers’ model, this one also concentrates on bolstering law enforcement along the French coastline, funded by UK taxpayers.
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