Queen’s coffin will travel from the Scottish capital to London on Tuesday
The Press Association reports:
The Australian prime minister has faced backlash from the business and health care sector following the announcement of a one-off bank holiday to mark a national day of mourning for the late Queen.
Continue reading...Singer-songwriter apologises to fans in announcement on Instagram after becoming ‘burnt out’ from touring
Sam Fender has cancelled a number of forthcoming shows and announced he is “taking some time off the road” to look after his mental health, after admitting that he was “burnt out” from touring.
The 28-year-old singer-songwriter from Newcastle posted the announcement on Instagram, saying it would be “completely hypocritical” of him to advocate for discussion of the topic without looking after his own mental wellbeing.
Continue reading...Claim comes in appeal by trans rights charity against decision to give LGB Alliance charitable status
The gay rights organisation LGB Alliance was set up to “promote transphobic activity rather than pro-LGB activities”, the head of Consortium, an umbrella group of LGBT organisations told a court on Monday.
In the first full day of hearings in the appeal by the transgender rights charity Mermaids against the Charity Commission’s decision to award charitable status to LGB Alliance, Paul Roberts, the chief executive of Consortium, said that LGB Alliance was created to pursue an anti-trans agenda.
Continue reading...Emergency budget of winter tax cuts expected next week once period of national mourning for Queen is over
An emergency budget to bring in winter tax cuts for millions of people and set out more detail on energy handouts is expected late next week once the country emerges from national mourning.
Though politics has been paralysed by the death of the Queen, Liz Truss is under pressure from Tory MPs to set out her plans potentially on Thursday or Friday next week, before the Commons breaks up for party conferences.
Continue reading...Series of incidents in Edinburgh, London and Oxford include woman being charged after protest outside St Giles’ Cathedral
Civil liberties campaigners and others have expressed alarm about the response of police to anti-monarchy protesters after a number of incidents, the latest of which included the arrest of a man in Edinburgh for apparently heckling Prince Andrew.
The advocacy group Liberty said that new powers recently given to the police to curtail protest, and how they were being enforced by officers, were a cause for deep concern.
Continue reading...Service of thanksgiving at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh pulses with history as nation pays its respects
The people of Scotland, from prime ministers to benefit claimants, have said an emotional goodbye to their Queen as her coffin was set at rest in the “parish church of Edinburgh” where she was first given the Scottish crown 69 years ago.
Psalms the Queen used to sing in Crathie Kirk on the Balmoral estate were set to soaring organ music as hundreds of dignitaries attended a service of thanksgiving for her life at St Giles’ Cathedral.
Continue reading...Brexit chief extends olive branch in effort to bring UK back to negotiating table in long-running dispute
The EU has initiated a fresh attempt to end the Northern Ireland Brexit dispute with the UK with a proposal to reduce checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea to a near “invisible manner” involving just “a couple of lorries” a day.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said physical checks would be made only “when there is a reasonable suspicion of illegal trade smuggling, illegal drugs, dangerous toys or poisoned food”.
Continue reading...Politicians pay warm tributes but memories of colonial atrocities prompt fierce criticism too
In 1952, the then Princess Elizabeth was on a royal tour with Prince Philip at Treetops lodge in Kenya. Unknown to them at the time, she would receive news of her father’s death during that visit, and the forest lodge would long be remembered as the place where Britain’s longest-serving monarch “went to sleep a princess and awoke a queen”.
Just two years after her visit, the Mau Mau, Kenyan freedom fighters opposed to British colonial rule, burned the lodge down. It was rebuilt in 1957, and older residents who live along the long and winding path to the lodge remembered her second visit to the area in 1983 fondly, saying it had placed their neighbourhood on the map. But Treetops was not open for the end of the Queen’s life. It closed its doors last year after a dive in tourism during the pandemic forced it out of business.
Continue reading...‘Blatant efforts’ by companies criticised by campaign group Transport & Environment
Britain’s biggest housebuilders privately lobbied for the government to ditch rules requiring electric car chargers to be installed in every new home in England, documents have revealed.
The FTSE 100 construction firms Barratt Developments, Berkeley Group and Taylor Wimpey were among the companies who argued against the policy in responses to an official consultation seen by the Guardian. The “blatant lobbying efforts” were criticised by Transport & Environment, a campaign group.
Continue reading...Government guidance sets out strict rules urging international royalty and presidents to travel by commercial flights
Foreign heads of state arriving for the Queen’s funeral must travel by bus en masse to Westminster Abbey, rather than using private cars, according to newly issued government guidance.
The documents, seen by the Guardian, set out strict rules for the dozens of international presidents, kings, queens and prime ministers expected to attend the funeral, urging them to travel by commercial flights to avoid swamping London’s airports.
Continue reading...As Queen Elizabeth II’s cortege drove from Balmoral to Edinburgh, well-wishers from near and far paid understated tribute
The hush had settled on the waiting crowd even before the Queen’s cortege appeared over the rise in the road from Balmoral. An oblivious toddler chattered into the silence on Ballater main street, where the country’s longest-serving monarch shopped for barbecue sausages at the local butcher.
It was a typically Highland farewell to a woman those lining the village streets considered a treasured neighbour: deeply felt, but understated in its expression. There was no applause, no spontaneous chorus of anthem or hymn as the coffin passed by sedately, and all eyes were pulled to the east to follow it beyond sight. Then, as though released from a trance, the bystanders turned to nod to friends and disperse promptly, leaving behind the metal crowd barriers, taking home the weight of their loss.
Continue reading...Recently extended powers to strip people of their nationality almost exclusively targets Muslims, report says
British Muslims have had their citizenship reduced to “second-class” status as a result of recently extended powers to strip people of their nationality, a thinktank has claimed.
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says the targets of such powers are almost exclusively Muslims, mostly of south Asian heritage, embedding discrimination and creating a lesser form of citizenship.
Continue reading...Woman held in Edinburgh as man says he was taken away by police in Oxford as proclamation read out
Two protesters who expressed republican sentiments have been arrested at events proclaiming the accession to the throne of King Charles III.
A man said he was arrested for shouting, “Who elected him?” when the proclamation was read out in Oxford.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Labour peer calls on US president to follow UK in banning firm over misconduct in South Africa
Joe Biden should follow the UK in banning the global management consultancy firm Bain & Company from future government contracts, the Labour peer Peter Hain has said.
In a letter shared with the Guardian, the former minister and anti-apartheid campaigner urged the US president to “act on this matter and establish a clear precedent that will signal to all US global companies, consultancies, lawyers, auditors and financial advisers that collusion with corrupt politicians and their business cronies in other countries will not be tolerated”.
Continue reading...Public will be able to pay their respects to the Queen in St Giles Cathedral in the Scottish capital on Monday
Labour will go ahead with its autumn conference later this month, as officials, advisers and politicians from all parties attempt to balance paying their respects to the Queen with avoiding a period of political paralysis.
The Queen’s death and period of mourning has come at a moment of acute political tension, with concerns over the behaviour of Liz Truss’s new administration in Whitehall and significant gaps in the details of her energy price cap, set to cost well over £100bn.
Continue reading...Former PM says he never felt Charles interfered, and ‘black spider memos’ should have stayed private
David Cameron has said it was “entirely right” for King Charles to have written to ministers and politicians when he was heir to the throne, lobbying on key issues including bovine tuberculosis and herbal medicines.
In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Cameron said he never felt Charles – whose “black spider memos” to ministers were released after a 10-year legal battle – had interfered in politics.
Continue reading...The painter’s view of Venice, now in St James’s Palace, once hung in George III’s bedroom
The father of the artist Canaletto painted stage scenery, and the theatrical tricks with light and perspective that he passed on to his famous son were evident in the splendid backdrop to the meeting of the accession council on Saturday in St James’s Palace.
The oil painting that featured so prominently was painted in 1744 and bought by George III in 1762. The Grand Canal With Santa Maria della Salute Looking East Towards the Bacino shows the great church of Santa Maria della Salute towering over the water in the strong morning sun. Measuring more that 2 metres (7 feet) wide, it was signed by the artist – real name Giovanni Antonio Canal – on the moored barge at the front of the composition.
Continue reading...From failing eyesight and tiredness to dealing with younger colleagues – some of the challenges facing the new king
The biggest challenge for those, like the King, who are working in their 70s is adapting to change, according to David Smith, 73, who, for the past 20 years, has been chief officer of the men’s charity, 15 Square.
“I think a lot of people get into their 70s and say ‘I’ve always done it this way and this is how I’m always going to do it’,” says Smith, who is the same age as Charles. “And that is a recipe for disaster. You have to embrace change.”
Continue reading...Cortege passing through villages of Royal Deeside where many considered monarch a dear neighbour
The Queen has commenced her final journey from her beloved Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire and is heading down the north-east coast to Edinburgh.
The cortege carrying her coffin left Balmoral at about 10am and was making slow progress through the villages of Royal Deeside, allowing the thousands who lined the route to bid a final farewell to the country’s longest-serving monarch and the woman many locally considered a dear neighbour.
Continue reading...Man was interviewed by counter-terrorism officers in connection with 1996 attack that injured 200
A man who was arrested in connection with the 1996 Manchester IRA bombing has been released without charge.
He was held on suspicion of terrorism at Birmingham airport on Thursday and has now been released from custody, Greater Manchester police said. The man was interviewed by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West.
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