Trinity College Dublin considers returning Inishbofin skulls

Skulls’ removal from island in 1890s was colonial-era violation, say campaigners

Under cover of darkness in 1890, two headhunters climbed over a gate and crept into a graveyard on Inishbofin, a remote County Galway island on Ireland’s Atlantic coast. In the ruins of a medieval monastery they found dozens of skulls. They selected 13.

“When the coast was clear we put our spoils in the sack and cautiously made our way back to the road,” Alfred Haddon later wrote in his diary. He and his accomplice, Andrew Dixon, smuggled the skulls on to a boat and sailed away.

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Rishi Sunak says changes to asylum system should lead to ‘vast majority’ of Albanian applications being refused – live

Prime minister makes statement in Commons, saying he wants to abolish backlog of unprocessed asylum claims by end of next year

The Conservative MP Adam Afriyie has been made bankrupt after a judge in a specialist court heard how he owed around £1.7m, PA Media reports. A bankruptcy order was made against Afriyie, who represents Windsor, at an online hearing in the insolvency and companies court today by judge Nicholas Briggs.

This story, by my colleagues Heather Stewart and Rowena Mason last year, explains the background to this case.

We completed our enquiry into the impact of the ending of freedom of movement on the adult social care sector in April and submitted the report to government and parliament. We recommended that care workers continue to be eligible to apply for a health and care worker visa and made some additional recommendations for changes to the immigration system to ease the burden on social care employers and migrants.

However, our main recommendation was that a minimum rate of pay should be established for care workers at a premium to the statutory minimum wage where care is being provided with public funds. We suggested that this should initially be set at £1 per hour above the national living wage but expected a more substantial premium to be needed to properly address the crisis in social care recruitment and retention.

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UK train strikes: Rishi Sunak says government will not shift on rail negotiations – as it happened

Large parts of national rail network grind to halt as RMT union members strike for increased pay

There is similar pessimism about the prospects for a deal to prevent later rail strikes from the other side of the table.

Asked if there is a glimmer of hope in the negotiations, Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines earlier this morning told BBC Breakfast (via PA Media):

It’s hard to see that today. I’ve learned, you know, through a long career, that sometimes the light is just around the corner.

But where I stand today, I’d have to say that with the level of disruption the RMT are imposing, the way forward isn’t obvious.

Well, we hope not. We want to get a deal but at the moment, there is no deal in sight.

So we’ve got the schedule down at the moment, which is running for the next four weeks. We will review that at the end of that if there’s no settlement on the table and we’ll decide what our next steps are, but at the moment there is no settlement to be had.

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Partygate: ministers accused of writing ‘blank cheque’ for Boris Johnson legal bills

Exclusive: Cabinet Office to extend contract with law firm to defend claims ex-PM misled parliament, sources say

UK politics live – latest news updates

Ministers have been accused of writing a “blank cheque” for Boris Johnson’s legal bills, as it emerged taxpayer-funded support was being extended to help defend him against claims he misled parliament over Partygate.

With just days left until a contract expires with the law firm Peters and Peters, which Johnson and the government have relied on to disparage an investigation by the privileges committee, the Guardian has learned the Cabinet Office intends to renew it.

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Boy, 6, who fell through ice into lake in Solihull in critical condition

Emergency services continue search after incident in which three children died in West Midlands

A six-year-old boy who fell through the ice into a lake in Solihull is fighting for his life in hospital, as emergency services continue searching the waters after the tragedy that claimed the lives of three children.

The community of Kingshurst was still reeling in shock after three boys, 11, 10 and eight, died after falling through ice into the lake on Sunday.

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‘Like a horrific board game’: 33 hours inside an NHS in crisis

Crammed wards, burnt-out GPs, patients waiting hours for ambulances – the health service is at breaking point

Inside the dimly lit command centre at King’s College hospital, staff arriving for the first beds meeting of the day are greeted with a warning: the hospital is already under strain. “So, we are under pressure this morning,” the head of nursing, Naomi Hosking, informs colleagues stood around her in a semi-circle. No one registers surprise. “We’ve got a lot of patients in ED [emergency department] with little space to see new patients, so we need to get some early movement.”

It’s 8.32am and ED – maximum capacity 60 – is packed, with 61 patients inside. The oldest is 98; the youngest 30 days old. Later, that pressure will intensify: the number of ED patients – in beds, on trolleys or in chairs – will more than double to 137.

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UK strikes: Rishi Sunak says government cannot shift pay stance

Rail bosses and unions also signal they will not budge, as RMT’s Mick Lynch says there is ‘no deal in sight’

Rishi Sunak has said the government is unable to shift its position on pay, effectively implying the only way for strikes across the railway and other sectors would be for unions to back down.

In comments to his cabinet on the first day of four weeks of disruption to train services, the prime minister said: “While the government will do all we can to minimise disruption, the only way we can stop it completely is by unions going back around the table and calling off these strikes.”

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Rishi Sunak tells MPs he will clear asylum backlog by end of 2023

PM says he has signed deal with Albania and will resume ‘hostile environment’ checks on bank accounts

Rishi Sunak has insisted he can clear a backlog of nearly 100,000 asylum claims by the end of next year as part of a set of policies that include resuming “hostile environment” checks on bank accounts suspended after the Windrush scandal.

The prime minister outlined a five-point plan in the Commons including law changes to criminalise and then remove tens of thousands of people who claim asylum after travelling to the UK by small boats, and a deal with Albania to aid removals to the Balkan state.

A small boats command, with an extra 700 staff from Border Force, the National Crime Agency and other agencies, to combat people smugglers and the surge in arrivals across the Channel.

An end to the use of hotels for more than 40,000 asylum seekers. They will be sent to disused former military bases, holiday camps and student accommodation.

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Nurses will strike this week in UK after talks with health secretary stall

Royal College of Nursing leader criticises ‘belligerence’ in meeting with Steve Barclay at which ministers refused to discuss pay

Nurses’ strikes will go ahead this week after a meeting between the union and the health secretary ended in deadlock, with the Royal College of Nursing condemning ministers’ “belligerence” for refusing to discuss pay.

Six hundred military personnel from all three armed forces will start training to drive ambulances to cover for striking NHS workers across the UK later this month. A further 150 are being readied to act as logistical support, defence sources said, with training for both groups to start “shortly”.

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Kwarteng had ‘all the advice’ but disregarded warnings on mini-budget, MPs told

Treasury officials tell select committee they set out impacts of £45bn plan for former chancellor

Kwasi Kwarteng disregarded warnings that his £45bn mini-budget could trigger a backlash on the financial markets, Treasury officials told MPs today.

The department’s permanent secretary, James Bowler, said he was “absolutely confident Treasury officials set out the right advice” to the then chancellor.

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NHS operations cancelled in England due to staff shortages double in three years

Labour highlights issue to back up pledge to invest heavily in addressing shortages

The number of operations cancelled by the NHS in England because of staff shortages may have doubled in three years, with an estimated 30,000 not proceeding because no staff were available to perform them.

At least a third of cancelled operations were those that were deemed urgent, according to the analysis by Labour. It suggested at least 2,500 cancelled operations for cancer patients and 8,000 on children.

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Portsmouth University loses discrimination case against Indian lecturer

Dr Kajal Sharma was only one of 12 senior academics not to be reappointed to her post

A university has been found to have discriminated against an Indian lecturer on the grounds of race after it failed to reappoint her for a job she had been doing for five years, replacing her with a white candidate with no experience of the role.

Dr Kajal Sharma was one of only two senior lecturers at the University of Portsmouth who were not reappointed to their jobs when their contract came to an end, while 11 out of 12 white colleagues were successful, an employment tribunal heard.

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Hot water bottles sell out around UK as cold snap hits

John Lewis said sales are up sixfold on last year as people look to save on their heating bills

Hot water bottles are selling out around the UK amid the cold snap and efforts to save on soaring energy bills.

John Lewis said sales were up sixfold on last year with several popular models currently out of stock online including the department store’s own-label version with a fake fur protective cover.

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Fijian British army veteran injured on Afghan tour granted right to settle

Ioane Koroiveibau’s case gives hopes to hundreds of other Commonwealth nationals who served in UK forces

A Fijian British army veteran who suffered from deafness after serving in Afghanistan has been allowed to return to the UK, in a case that gives hope to hundreds of other Commonwealth former soldiers living abroad.

Ioane Koroiveibau, 36, gave up on Britain in 2015 when his immigration paperwork was lost after his discharge on medical grounds, his hearing loss caused by repeated exposure to gunfire on a dangerous tour in Helmand.

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RCN accuse government of ‘belligerence’ as talks to avert strike action fail; Wales strikes to go ahead – as it happened

Royal College of Nursing says Steve Barclay refused to discuss pay at meeting on Monday; Welsh nurses to strike after last-minute talks fail. This blog is now closed

Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary, told ITV this morning that there was no point talking to Steve Barclay, the health secretary, if he was not prepared to discuss pay. She said

What I’m saying … to the health secretary this morning, is if you don’t want to speak to me directly about nurses’ pay, we have engaged with the conciliation service Acas, they can do that through Acas, but our door is absolutely wide open and it appears at the minute that theirs is totally shut …

Fundamentally, I need to get to a table and talk to them about pay. This isn’t just me, it’s the 320,000 nurses that voted for strike action … They voted through an independent ballot that we carried out and surely to goodness you couldn’t look at one of those people this morning in the eye and say: ‘You’re not worth an extra brown penny’. In my mind they absolutely are.

I think it’s a very challenging international picture. About a third of the world’s economies are predicted to be in recession, either this year or next.

We’re no different in this country and truthfully, it is likely to get worse before it gets better, which makes it even more difficult when we have big public sector strikes going on at the moment.

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UK cold weather: National Grid puts contingency coal units on standby as travel is disrupted by snow – live

Snowfall causes issues across parts of UK as cold snap intensifies

Daniel Duffield, a 22-year-old off-duty paramedic, was stuck on the M25 for more than two-and-a-half hours this morning, while attempting to travel home to Birmingham from London.

He told PA Media that vehicles have been “stationary with very small movement”.

I expected some traffic due to weather but nothing this bad. Traffic appeared to be at a standstill for miles and miles. Other drivers were turning their engines off presumably to save fuel due to the uncertainty. A few people were stretching their legs due to delays too.

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Microsoft to buy 4% stake in London Stock Exchange

US tech company signs 10-year strategic partnership with LSEG for data analytics and cloud technology

Microsoft will buy 4% of the London Stock Exchange as part of a multibillion-pound deal to work together on data analytics and cloud technology.

The US tech company will buy the stake from a consortium of Blackstone and Thomson Reuters, and will take a seat on the board of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). The consortium previously sold the financial data company Refinitiv to LSEG in a £22bn takeover.

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UK ministers face legal challenge over North Sea oil and gas licences

Three campaign groups challenge plans to award up to 130 new licences for exploration

The UK government is facing a fresh challenge in the courts over plans to award up to 130 new licences for North Sea oil and gas exploration, in the latest attempt to stop ministers’ proposed expansion of the country’s fossil fuel production.

Three campaign groups have written to the business secretary, Grant Shapps, explaining the grounds on which they consider the latest offshore oil and gas licensing round to be unlawful. They call for the decision to award the new licences to be reversed, arguing that new oil and gas exploration and development is incompatible with the UK’s own rules and international climate obligations.

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UK economy returns to growth as GDP rises 0.5% in October

Growth figure shrank 0.3% in a quarter, reflecting concerns over lengthy recession

Britain’s economy returned to growth in October as activity bounced back from the impact of the additional bank holiday for the Queen’s funeral, however a long recession is still expected.

The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.5% on the month, after a decline of 0.6% in September when many businesses closed their doors during the national mourning period.

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UK weather: Britain has coldest night of the year as temperature hits -15C in Scotland

Large parts of UK hit by ice, fog and snow with airports forced to close and rail and roads affected

The UK has experienced its coldest night of the year so far, with temperatures in Scotland dipping below -15C.

Braemar in Aberdeenshire recorded -15.7C overnight, the Met Office said. It came as commuters faced travel chaos on Monday morning as large parts of the UK were hit by ice, fog and snow.

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