Category Archives: UK news

Revealed: star football pundits promote World Cup gambling despite ban

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Spirit of rules on use of celebrities in advertising is being ignored, claims charity supporting victims of gambling addiction

Football pundits Harry Redknapp, Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane are helping to promote betting on World Cup matches despite stricter rules on celebrity gambling endorsements to protect young people.

Fifa officials estimate the last World Cup generated £120bn in betting turnover. Gambling companies hope for a similar betting spree for this year’s tournament, despite a ban on gambling in Qatar.

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‘Exhausted’ Tories pin hopes on spring revival after bleak autumn statement

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Some MPs would like Jeremy Hunt to revise tax rises, fearing impact on ‘squeezed middle’ and backlash from red wall areas

Tory MPs are desperately hoping that a surprise spring economic revival will allow Jeremy Hunt to alter his tax-raising plans, amid warnings that the chancellor’s “stealth tax” autumn statement will extinguish the party’s election hopes.

While concerns have already been raised on the right of the party over the extent of the £25bn in tax rises announced by the chancellor last week, figures from across the party said that “emotional and mental exhaustion” had blunted a greater immediate backlash.

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Woman groomed and abused in care gets apology after 30 years

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Leeds city council letter accepting responsibility believed to be the first of its kind

Carrie* is no stranger to a legal challenge. In 2018, alongside other women, she won a landmark case against the Home Office when she challenged a requirement that prostitution offences, including those acquired below the age of 18, be disclosed under criminal record checks.

While Carrie, now 49, was giving a detailed statement to her lawyer dealing with this case, she described her time in care. Her childhood was dominated by neglect, sexual abuse and exploitation. It became clear to her lawyers that there was a second case – against the body responsible for the child protection services that failed her so badly: Leeds city council.

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Luxury goods boom in Britain as the young, rich and mortgage-free buck the recession

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Rich kids of Insta use strong dollar to fuel sales of high-end brands such as Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci

They’re young, rich and mortgage-free, and the scions of the 1% are having a roaring twenties.

Despite the economic gloom currently shrouding the UK and many other western countries, sales of luxury brands have been booming and growing numbers of buyers are young adults.

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Raising council tax to fund social care will deepen inequality in UK, experts warn

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Jeremy Hunt’s plans criticised for delay to reform, shifting burden to local authorities and ‘skewing the system’

Jeremy Hunt’s decision to fund more social care through increases in council tax will deepen inequality and undermine the cause of “levelling up”, the architect of the government’s planned reforms said last night.

The criticism from Andrew Dilnot, the economist whose blueprint for reform was delayed by another two years in Hunt’s first budget on Thursday, was echoed by senior figures in local government who said it would leave poorer areas at a disadvantage and was not the answer to the social care crisis.

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Florence Welch cancels UK tour after breaking foot on stage

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Florence + the Machine singer took a tumble during a performance at the O2 Arena in London

Florence + the Machine has cancelled its tour after lead singer Florence Welch broke her foot on stage on Friday night.

Welch took a tumble during a performance at the O2 Arena in London, which was the first gig in England on the Dance Fever tour.

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Armed police guard Iranian TV studios in London after Tehran threats

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Persian language channel said threats to journalists had escalated in response to coverage of protests

Armed vehicles have been deployed outside the Iran International television studios in London after two of its journalists were threatened by Tehran, the channel said.

There were about seven vehicles outside the studio in Chiswick Park, west London, after “severe and credible” threats were recently made against two of the UK-based channel’s journalists, one of its spokesmen told AFP.

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Women £570 a year worse off after 12 years of Conservatives, says Labour

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Analysis of ONS figures suggests average woman’s salary has fallen from £30,250 in 2010 to £29,680 today

Women are £570 a year worse off than they were before the Conservatives came into power 12 years ago and the autumn statement will leave them even worse off, Labour has claimed.

Citing analysis of ONS figures, Labour said that in real terms, the median full-time female worker’s salary has fallen from the equivalent of £30,250 in April 2010 to £29,680.

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‘World is watching’ Qatar, warns Peter Tatchell at London embassy protest

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LGBTQ+ activists call on fans to boycott games or use social media to highlight human rights abuses

Peter Tatchell has warned Qatar that the world’s eyes will be on the country during the World Cup, as protesters gathered outside its embassy in London to highlight the dangers faced by LGBTQ+ people, women and migrant workers.

Tatchell said t was “outrageous” that figures including David Beckham were promoting Qatar and the tournament, in effect asking fans to ignore human rights abuses and the country’s record on LGBTQ+ issues.

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‘Dangerously out-of-control cow’ tramples elderly man in Wales

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Seriously injured victim airlifted to hospital after escaped animal went on rampage in Carmarthenshire village

An elderly man has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after being attacked and trampled by an “dangerously out-of-control” cow, police said.

Dyfed-Powys police received reports that the cow had escaped from Whitland Mart in Carmarthenshire, Wales.

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UK’s most vulnerable missing out on energy bill support due to confusing systems

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Charity warns of ‘significant risk’ that those on old prepayment meters will be unable to redeem vouchers offering £400 discount

The poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK risk missing out on the energy bill support and cost of living payments they are entitled to, because of a lack of clarity over what is available from the government and how to get it, charities have warned.

Under the energy bills support scheme announced by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, all households are eligible for a £400 energy bill discount, paid across six instalments starting last month.

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Rishi Sunak meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy in surprise visit to Ukraine

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Prime minister promises Ukrainian president sustained UK support as Russian strikes target power grid

Rishi Sunak made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his first visit to the country since taking office.

Zelenskiy posted a video on Saturday showing him meeting Sunak in the capital. “During today’s meeting, we discussed the most important issues both for our countries and for global security,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

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Town vs gown and car vs bike: row erupts over Cambridge congestion plan

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Residents rally over scheme they believe will benefit only bicycling students and dons

In 1381, a mob sacked university buildings and burned books in the town square, shouting: “Away with the learning of clerks!” More recently, battle lines have been drawn over plans to build homes on green belt land and attempts to ban wild swimming in the river Cam.

Now, tensions between town and gown are rising again in Cambridge. This time, it’s over proposals to introduce a £5 congestion charge on weekday car journeys to the city, with a protest march to Parker’s Piece common planned for 27 November.

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Inquiry into worst Channel disaster for 30 years fails to contact victims’ families

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At least 27 people died when their dinghy capsized in November 2021, but the UK investigation has yet to talk to their relatives

A UK investigation into the drowning of at least 27 people trying to cross the Channel in a small boat has yet to contact most of the victims’ families 12 months after the tragedy, the Observer can reveal.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has not yet been in touch with the majority of the families despite legal sources claiming it has all their contact details, prompting accusations that the inquiry’s progress is “dehumanising” the dead.

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Rochdale housing boss fired after death of Awaab Ishak due to mould exposure

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Gareth Swarbrick fired four days after coroner found two-year-old Awaab died because of ‘chronic exposure’ to mould

The boss of the social housing landlord of the mouldy flat that killed Awaab Ishak has been sacked, following days of growing pressure from the two-year-old’s family, ministers and MPs.

Gareth Swarbrick, who on Thursday issued a defiant statement refusing to quit, was fired on Saturday by the board of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.

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Computer says there is a 80.58% probability painting is a real Renoir

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Swiss company uses algorithm to judge whether contested Portrait de femme (Gabrielle) is genuinely by French artist


Staring enigmatically at an unseen object to her right, the black-haired woman bears a striking resemblance to the person depicted in Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s painting Gabrielle, which Sotheby’s recently valued at between £100,000-150,000.

However, art connoisseurs disagree over whether the work, which is owned by a private Swiss collector, is the real deal. Now, artificial intelligence has waded in to help settle the dispute, and the computer has deemed that it probably is a genuine Renoir.

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Three arrests after apparent attempted murder of Northern Ireland police in bomb attack

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Men held after improvised explosive device damaged police vehicle in Strabane, County Tyrone, on Thursday

Police in Northern Ireland have arrested three men after the apparent attempted murder of two officers in a bomb attack on Thursday night.

A suspected improvised explosive device damaged a police vehicle in the town of Strabane in County Tyrone about 11pm. The two officers escaped unharmed.

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Search for woman swept into river ‘stood down’ as heavy rain batters Scotland

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Flooding shuts schools and disrupts travel, with severe weather warnings in place and ‘highest risk to riverside communities’

Police Scotland have “stood down” searches for a woman who was swept into the River Don near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire on Friday as heavy rain continued to batter much of eastern Scotland.

The force said in a statement late on Friday evening: “Around 3.05pm on Friday, November 18, police were called to the River Don near to Monymusk following a report of concern for a woman in the water.

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Charlene White first to be eliminated from I’m a Celebrity

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Loose Women presenter got the fewest votes on Friday night and follows Olivia Attwood, who left for medical reasons, out of the show

Charlene White has become the first contestant to be eliminated from I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! after a public vote.

The Loose Women presenter accrued the fewest votes on Friday night after 14 days in camp.

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Rishi Sunak talks about fears for daughter’s safety and crime crackdown

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Prime minister says he was upset by killing of Olivia Pratt-Korbel and is willing to increase prison numbers to make UK safer

Rishi Sunak has said he fears for his daughter’s safety when out alone, saying that men have often taken their own freedoms for granted.

Sunak spoke candidly about his elder daughter Krishna’s desire for more independence but said he was disturbed by a number of crimes including the killing of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, the nine-year-old shot dead in Liverpool.

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