Category Archives: UK news

Rising energy costs ‘will force thousands of corner shops to close’

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Association of Convenience Stores urges chancellor to provide more financial support for small shops

Thousands of corner shops will be forced to close due to surging energy costs unless the government steps in with emergency support, a trade body has said.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has written to the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, saying that without financial support its members will be driven out of business. “We will see villages, housing estates, neighbourhoods and high streets lose their small shops,” the letter says.

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Revealed: black and Asian people wait longer for cancer diagnosis in England than white people

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Exclusive: Analysis of 126,000 cases over a decade shows ‘deeply worrying’ racial disparities in NHS wait times

Black and Asian people in England have to wait longer for a cancer diagnosis than white people, with some forced to wait an extra six weeks, according to a “disturbing” analysis of NHS waiting times.

A damning review of the world’s largest primary care database by the University of Exeter and the Guardian discovered minority ethnic patients wait longer than white patients in six of seven cancers studied. Race and health leaders have called the results “deeply concerning” and “absolutely unacceptable”.

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Facing the uncomfortable possibility that healthcare is discriminatory

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When Covid struck and BAME patients died disproportionately, students of heath inequalities were not surprised

As the first Covid wave hit, it quickly became clear that people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds were dying in disproportionate numbers.

The immediacy and visibility of these deaths was shocking and revealed a disparity so clear-cut that some wondered if the explanation could be genetic. But those who have spent a lifetime studying health inequalities were less surprised. People from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds do worse across a wide range of health outcomes.

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Welsh Guards sergeant killed in training was mistaken for target, report finds

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Sgt Gavin Hillier was shot at Castlemartin range by short-sighted soldier not wearing corrective lenses

An army sergeant who led a “distinguished career” was shot and killed after being mistaken for a firing target by a short-sighted soldier during a training exercise, a report has found.

Sgt Gavin Hillier, 35, of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, died at the Castlemartin range in Pembrokeshire on 4 March 2021.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg to sell London offices as civil servants work from home

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Minister had urged staff to go into office and attacked FCA over working from home

Jacob Rees-Mogg has revealed he is planning to sell off £1.5bn worth of government offices in London due to the proportion of civil servants continuing to work from home.

The minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency will publish a strategy next week that includes selling property assets over the next three years, with staff working in fewer buildings as part of a new network of government “hubs”, the Telegraph reported.

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Liz Truss ponders VAT cut of 5 percentage points amid cost of living crisis

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Tory leadership frontrunner understood to have discussed move, with final decision coming after contest ends

Liz Truss is considering whether to reduce VAT by five percentage points across the board, which could save families £1,300 a year, it was reported.

The foreign secretary is understood to have discussed the move with her advisers but no final decisions will be taken until the Conservative leadership contest concludes on 5 September, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

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Prince Charles guest edits black British newspaper The Voice

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Prince says he was ‘touched’ to be asked to take helm for paper’s 40th-anniversary edition

The Prince of Wales has edited an edition of British African-Caribbean newspaper The Voice, which will feature interviews with Lady Doreen Lawrence and Idris Elba, to mark its 40th anniversary.

The Voice, which was founded in 1982, is the only national black British newspaper operating in the UK. Charles described the paper as an “institution” adding that he was “so touched” to be asked to edit the special anniversary edition.

The issue, which will be available from 1 September, will explore themes including community cohesion, education, climate, the Commonwealth, faith and the arts and will feature an interview with Lawrence.

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Unions threaten ‘waves of industrial action’ over UK cost of living crisis

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Move could see synchronised strikes in autumn as new prime minister takes office

Britain is facing a wave of coordinated industrial action by striking unions this autumn in protest at the escalating cost of living crisis, the Observer can reveal.

A series of motions tabled by the country’s biggest unions ahead of the TUC congress next month demand that they work closely together to maximise their impact and “win” the fight for inflation-related pay rises.

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Labour pledges to strengthen the BBC’s independence and protect funding

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Party would insulate broadcaster from political pressure, says shadow culture secretary, as Liz Truss prepares to wage war on it

Labour has pledged to strengthen the BBC’s political independence and retain it as a publicly-owned, public service broadcaster at the heart of British life, amid signs that a Tory government led by Liz Truss would wage war on the corporation.

Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, told the Observer she is examining a series of reforms to insulate the BBC from political pressures, including ending “revolving door” appointments of people in politics to top posts in the corporation, and extending the charter renewal period from 10 to 15 or 20 years to reduce pressures on BBC leaders to toe the government line.

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Liverpool football fans pay tribute to Olivia Pratt-Korbel

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Spectators applaud during ninth minute of match as Jürgen Klopp asks, ‘How can this happen?’ after nine-year-old shot

Football fans from the city of Liverpool have paid tribute to nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot inside her home.

Thousands of fans applauded in the ninth minute of the Liverpool and Bournemouth game and both teams rose in unison to pay tribute as Liverpool fans sang the team’s anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone.

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‘She has no choice’: Liz Truss faces U-turn on energy if she enters No 10, MPs say

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If foreign secretary wins the Tory leadership contest she looks set to have to change course on ‘handouts’ despite campaign pledges

For months, everyone in government had known that Friday was energy cap day, and at 7am the bad news duly dropped. Phones pinged as the nation woke to Ofgem’s confirmation that typical gas and electricity bills were to rise by a frightening 80%.

Millions of people would be unable to cope, said charities. Even those on low or middle earnings who had some savings could see them entirely wiped out. It was a full-on national crisis, albeit long predicted.

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Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach lawsuit ends in 11th hour settlement

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Dramatic move shows Mark Zuckerberg ‘desperate to avoid being questioned over cover-up’, says Observer journalist who exposed scandal

Facebook has dramatically agreed to settle a lawsuit seeking damages for allowing Cambridge Analytica access to the private data of tens of millions of users, four years after the Observer exposed the scandal that mired the tech giant in repeated controversy.

A court filing reveals that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has in principle settled for an undisclosed sum a long-running lawsuit that claimed Facebook illegally shared user data with the UK analysis firm.

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England’s gardeners to be banned from using peat-based compost

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Sale of peat-based compost for use on private gardens and allotments to be outlawed within 18 months

Sales of peat for use on private gardens and allotments will be banned in England from 2024, the government has announced.

Environmental campaigners have long called for stricter laws to restore peatlands.

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People on £45,000 could struggle with bills, says chancellor

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Nadhim Zahawi says energy price hike will be ‘really hard’ for middle-earners, as well as society’s most vulnerable

People earning around £45,000 a year, as well as those on benefits, could need government help to pay their energy bills this winter, the chancellor has said.

Britain’s energy industry regulator, Ofgem, on Friday confirmed an 80% rise in the consumer price cap from October that will take a typical household’s gas and electricity bill from £1,971 to £3,549 a year.

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Billionaire closes main road in South Kensington for gardening work

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Ivy owner Richard Caring wins council permission to close part of Onslow Square, a busy ambulance and bus route, for two weeks

Richard Caring, the billionaire owner of the celebrity hotspot restaurant the Ivy and private members’ club Annabel’s, has won permission to close a main road in South Kensington, central London, in order to have dozens of trees planted in the grounds of his £40m mansion.

Caring, who has built up an estimated personal fortune of more than £1bn from his clubs and restaurants empire, which also includes the Sexy Fish in Mayfair, secured permission from the council to close part of Onslow Square for two weeks in order to install a crane to carry the mature trees over a row of neighbouring terraced houses.

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‘Wise and kind’ Labour peer Giles Radice dies at 85

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Keir Starmer praises an ‘unrivalled social democratic thinker’ who was vital to party regaining power in 1997

Keir Starmer has paid tribute to former Labour politician Giles Radice, after reports he has died aged 85.

The party leader praised the peer and former MP as a “wise and kind man” and “unrivalled social democratic thinker”.

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Second man arrested on suspicion of murdering Liverpool girl Olivia Pratt-Korbel

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Arrest of 33-year-old follows earlier arrest of 36-year-old man suspected of being the gunman

A second man has been arrested by armed police on suspicion of the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool. The 33-year-old, from Dovecot, was also arrested on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder.

He was arrested by armed officers on Lunsford Road in Huyton, Liverpool, on Friday afternoon. Merseyside police said the man has been taken to a police station where he will be questioned by detectives.

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Briton who was Netflix’s ‘ultimate conman’ flees French police

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Robert Hendy-Freegard, subject of Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman documentary, may face attempted murder charges

A British conman who was the subject of a Netflix documentary is on the run and facing possible attempted murder charges in France after injuring two police officers while fleeing a raid, local officials have said.

Robert Hendy-Freegard had been illegally breeding dogs while living in the French village of Vidaillat, according to the local mayor, Martine Laporte.

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Ex-BBC executive says he was blocked from board due to ‘Labour background’

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James Purnell, a minister under Gordon Brown, says corporation feared his appointment would anger Boris Johnson’s government

A former BBC executive has claimed he was blocked from a top job at the broadcaster due to fears his background in Labour politics would anger Boris Johnson’s government.

James Purnell spent almost a decade at the BBC in a variety of executive roles, before leaving two years ago after the arrival of Tim Davie as director general. He had previously been an MP and served as a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government.

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Liz Truss taking risk by not announcing energy plan – if she has one

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Tory MPs are jittery while Keir Starmer is gaining traction with his plan for a price freeze

It is the biggest energy crisis for decades, with experts warning that people may freeze to death this winter and many will turn off their heating altogether.

But Liz Truss’s leadership campaign has barely reacted to the news that bills will have almost tripled in a year, beyond the vague promise of help to come.

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