Safi Dawood to appear in court charged with murder of one man and attempted murder of another man and a 14-year-old boy
A man has been charged with murder after a triple stabbing in Uxbridge, west London, police have said.
Safi Dawood, 22, was charged with the murder of a 49-year-old man and the attempted murders of another man, 45, and a 14-year-old boy. He will appear on Thursday at Westminster magistrates court.
Continue reading...Ed Miliband says pushing for renewable energy and lower emissions will reduce household bills and boost economy
The UK government will go “all in” on clean energy and climate policy, the energy secretary has said, as he unveiled plans to put the UK back on track to reach its net zero commitments.
In the face of intensifying attacks on climate policy from the poll-leading Reform UK party and the Conservatives, the government insists that pushing for renewable energy and lower carbon emissions will reduce household bills and boost the economy.
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Mark Sedwill, the former cabinet secretary and former national security adviser, goes next. He is now a peer, and a member of the committee.
He says the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, thought there was enough evidence for the case to go ahead. But the CPS did not agree. Who was right?
In 2017, the Law Commission flagged that the term enemy [in the legislation] was deeply problematic and it would give rise to difficulties in future prosecutions.
And I think what has played out, during this prosecution exemplifies and highlights the difficulties with that.
Continue reading...Shares jump on higher profits as Emma Walmsley is ‘hopeful’ standoff with NHS can be resolved
GSK’s outgoing chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has said Britain will struggle to be a “life sciences superpower” unless it overhauls drug pricing.
As ministers draw up proposals to increase the amount the NHS spends on new medicines by up to 25%, Walmsley said she was “hopeful and ambitious” that the standoff with the pharma industry could be resolved.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Data shows wealthiest 0.1% of the US burn carbon at 4,000 times the rate of the world’s poorest 10%
The US’s super-rich are burning through carbon emissions at 4,000 times the speed of the world’s poorest 10%, according to an analysis provided to the Guardian.
These billionaires and multimillionaires, who comprise the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population, are also running down our planet’s safe climate space at 183 times the rate of the global average.
Continue reading...Those in need of free emergency contraception no longer have to see their GP or attend a sexual health clinic
The NHS has made the morning-after pill available for free across pharmacies in England in an effort to reduce a “postcode lottery” of access to emergency contraception.
Almost 10,000 pharmacies are now able to offer the pill without charge, saving those in need of free emergency contraception from having to visit their GP or to get an appointment at a sexual health clinic.
Continue reading...BBC ‘deeply concerned’ for journalist’s wellbeing after Vietnamese police withhold their ID card and passport
Vietnamese authorities have barred a BBC journalist from leaving the country and subjected them to days of interrogation, in a press freedom case that comes to light during a high-profile visit by Vietnam’s leader to the UK.
The journalist, a Vietnamese citizen who lives and works in Thailand, had returned to their home country in August to renew their passport, according a source with knowledge of the situation.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Leftwing party seeks to recover donations and data from company run by Andrew Feinstein, Jamie Driscoll and Beth Winter
Your Party, the leftwing party steered by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, says it is preparing legal action against a group of its own founders after a final deadline to hand over at least £800,000 in donations passed without payment, the Guardian understands.
Figures close to the party accused directors of MoU Operations Ltd (MoU) of having “gone rogue”, holding supporters’ funds to ransom and undermining its founding process “despite direct pleas from Jeremy and Zarah”.
Continue reading...Dania Alafranji, 16, still waiting on visa from Home Office despite being offered school place in Berkshire 18 months ago
A teenager from Gaza who has been denied an opportunity to attend school in Britain and be reunited with her mother has said she is “stuck in hell”, despite other European countries making exceptions for students from the region.
Dania Alafranji, 16, was accepted on to the Nsouli Scholars Programme to attend Reddam House school in Berkshire more than 18 months ago, but has yet to receive a visa that would allow her to escape the war in Gaza, with her family saying that they feel helpless and have been “going in circles” trying to get her to Britain.
Continue reading...A charismatic, tweed-wearing grower from Perthshire falsely claimed to be able to create thriving tea plantations in Scotland. His elaborate deception took in luxury hotels, media outlets and tea growers across the country
With its large silver pouch, artistic label and delicate leaves, Dalreoch Scottish white tea might be expected to grace elegant cups with saucers, perhaps with a scone served on the side. Instead, it is nestled with an array of numbered polythene packets in a room just off a laboratory at the University of Aberdeen.
This is not an ordinary afternoon tea but evidence in a crime that science helped solve.
Continue reading...Footage of online meeting showed Kent county council leader remonstrating with councillors
Earlier I pointed out that, in his Today interview this morning, the Reform MP Danny Kruger was strangely reticent when it came to explaining why the size of the civil service has grown so much in recent years. (See 11.09am.)
In his speech this morning Kruger was a bit more forthcoming. He said:
Let me be very clear. The growth of the civil service will be reversed. After falling in the wake of the global financial crisis, the headcount of the civil service rose again after Brexit – shame on the Tories – and it passed 500,000 in 2023.
Nothing works properly. It’s impossible to build anything. The streets are dirty and unsafe. Taxes and prices are far too high. Immigration is changing our country for the worse and far too fast. And we’re becoming poor, sick and unhappy. There is a malaise over Britain.
These problems are complex. But the effective cause of them is simple. Since 1997 we have had governments that, firstly don’t share the attitude of the country they govern, and secondly, they aren’t properly in charge of the state.
This announcement only reinforces climate policy as a dividing line in our politics, rather than being the unifying issue it once was.
And, for the Conservative party, it risks chasing votes from Reform at the expense of the wider electorate.
By undermining the judiciary we further erode public trust in the institutions of our democracy and therefore in democracy itself.
So I say to those seeking to villainise a judiciary that cannot easily answer back, who wilfully discredit our legal system for their own expediency – it’s time to show responsible leadership.
This is not just about short-term decisions to make it easier to deal with public concerns about immigration.
Our support for human rights has its origin in Magna Carta. How we deal with issues of human rights is fundamental to our ability to deal with autocracies and dictatorships.
In the world of power where the club of strong men want to carve the world up in their own interests, populism and polarisation are enablers.
And those politicians in the Western world who use populism and polarisation for their own short-term political ends risk handing a victory to our enemies.
Continue reading...Tilda Swinton’s performance marks 30 years since audiences last saw her tread the boards, meanwhile Gary Oldman will be in Krapp’s Last Tape
Tilda Swinton will return to the stage for the first time in more than 30 years as part of the Royal Court’s 70th anniversary programme in a reprisal of her 1988 one-woman performance in Manfred Karge’s Man to Man.
Swinton’s return to the role, in which she plays a widow who takes on the identity of her deceased husband, is one of two star turns in David Byrne’s third season as artistic director, which will also feature Gary Oldman in another revival: Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape that was first performed in 1958.
Continue reading...Move into budget market could involve creating new brand in-house or buying virtual network operator
BT is reportedly considering the launch of new a low-cost mobile brand, as the telecoms group explores ways to compete with new rivals in the market including the fintech companies Revolut and Monzo.
The group is exploring options to enter the budget market, which could involve creating a new brand in-house or buying an existing virtual network operator, according to the Financial Times.
Continue reading...Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed
Recently drafted climate plans from scores of countries fall drastically short of what is needed to stave off the worst effects of climate breakdown, analysis has shown.
More than 60 countries have so far submitted national plans on greenhouse gas emissions to the UN, setting out how they will curb carbon for the next decade.
Continue reading...Exclusive: two dossiers of material seen by the security council raise questions over export of British arms to the UAE, which has been accused of supplying weapons to paramilitary RSF group
British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.
UK-manufactured small-arms target systems and British-made engines for armoured personnel carriers have been recovered from combat sites in a conflict that has now caused the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe.
Continue reading...Peers say ‘woeful’ record on prosecutions has led to a ‘low-risk, high-reward’ criminal culture
Organised crime groups in the UK are making millions every year from illegally dumping and burning rubbish, peers have told ministers, after an inquiry found a lack of enforcement made it a “low-risk, high-reward” criminal enterprise.
“Criminality is endemic in the waste sector,” a Lords committee told the government on Tuesday, after it found at least 38m tonnes of waste was illegally managed every year, “leading to serious environmental, economic and social consequences”.
Continue reading...Education secretary promises ‘clear timelines’ are in place to permanently remove crumbling concrete
All schools in England that received grant funding to pay for the removal of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) should be free of it by the end of this parliament, the education secretary has pledged.
Setting out a new timeline for dealing with the crumbling concrete crisis in schools, Bridget Phillipson said: “We inherited a crumbling education estate, but I won’t let that be our legacy.
Continue reading...Viewing original works of art can relieve stress, cut heart disease risk and boost immune system, first study of its kind finds
Enjoying original works of art in a gallery can relieve stress, reduce the risk of heart disease and boost your immune system, according to the first study of its kind.
Researchers measured the physiological responses of participants while viewing masterpieces by world-renowned artists including Manet, Van Gogh and Gauguin in a gallery.
Continue reading...Deputy PM tells MPs party must pick clearer fights that show its values after byelection slump
David Lammy has urged Labour MPs to see the party’s defeat in the Caerphilly byelection as a moment of reflection, arguing progressive governments around the world have recovered from worse to “win big”.
The deputy prime minister pointed to Canada’s Liberals, Norway’s Labour party and Australia’s Labor party as examples of centre-left groups who “roared back” from mid-term slumps to secure significant victories.
Continue reading...Customers urged not to go to domestic airline’s airports as customers and staff offered train travel on suitable routes
The UK domestic airline Eastern Airways has suspended operations and all of its flights have been cancelled.
Customers of the airline, which operated regional services from airports across the UK, are urged not to go to the airport as flights will not be operating, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said.
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