Queues form at Bank of England to swap old £20s and £50s before they stop being legal tender
Consumers are racing to exchange their old paper banknotes for new plastic versions, just over a fortnight before they cease to be legal tender at the end of September.
The Bank of England has warned people to expect long queues at its headquarters at Threadneedle Street in the City of London as they try to swap paper £20 and £50 notes.
Continue reading...Critics question chancellor’s idea of abolishing rules imposed after 2008 financial crash during cost of living crisis
The UK chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, is reportedly planning to scrap caps on bankers’ bonuses in a controversially timed move to attract more talent to the City of London.
A source close to Kwarteng confirmed the chancellor was considering lifting the cap but emphasised that no decision had been taken.
Continue reading...On the first full day of lying in state, huge queues have formed in London
The first mourners to see the Queen lying in state have told how they were overcome with emotion as they paid their respects.
Some doffed their hats, others said prayers and shed tears, while one woman said she wanted to sing Ave Maria.
Continue reading...UK Meteor Network says object in night sky most likely a deorbiting satellite from Elon Musk’s SpaceX
A fireball seen over Scotland and Northern Ireland is likely to have been space junk from Elon Musk’s satellite programme, according to astronomers examining it.
The UK Meteor Network said the fireball was visible for 20 seconds just after 10pm on Wednesday night. It received almost 800 reports from Scotland, North Ireland and northern England.
Continue reading...Outlook ‘uniquely uncertain’, says Partnership as it announces cost of living support for staff
The John Lewis Partnership has warned its annual staff bonus is at risk this year after it slumped to a first half loss of £99m and said the outlook in the run-up to Christmas was “uniquely uncertain”.
The group, which is staff-owned and includes the Waitrose supermarket chain, blamed soaring inflation for the loss in the 26 weeks to 30 July, which compared with a £29m loss before tax in the same period last year.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan to lift cap criticised as ‘very bad timing’ during cost of living crisis
In its response to the legal proceedings launched by the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol (see 11.54am), the UK government has said that it has unilaterally decided to continue suspending border checks on farm produce and other goods entering NI from Great Britain, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports.
The European Union is considering its next steps after receiving the UK’s response to legal threats over the failure to comply with the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, PA Media reports. PA says:
Despite politics as normal being paused while the nation mourns the Queen’s death, the government responded to the action ahead of today’s deadline.
The bloc had requested a response to its raft of infringement proceedings over the UK’s failure to comply with the rules before the end of the day.
Continue reading...Move likely further to antagonise EU but leaders hope Queen’s death may help bring about reconciliation
The UK has made a unilateral decision to continue suspending border checks on farm produce and other goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, a move likely to antagonise the EU but not provoke further action.
London notified Brussels of its decision on Thursday in its formal response to seven lawsuits brought by the EU over the alleged failure of the UK to comply with the Northern Ireland protocol.
Continue reading...People travel from across the country to see procession from Buckingham Palace and attend lying-in-state at Westminster Hall
Joyce Dawson, 54, from Middlesbrough, was watching the news on Tuesday night when she decided to make her first ever visit to London to see the Queen lying in state.
“I texted my daughter and said: ‘We have to go to London tonight,’” she said. “It was a spur of the moment thing.”
Continue reading...As well as a sad occasion, the Westminster Abbey farewell will be a global spectacle, and a diplomatic opportunity for the UK
India’s president will represent his country at the Queen’s funeral on Monday, meaning the prime minister, Narendra Modi, is not expected to be among the hundreds of foreign leaders due to attend the global spectacle.
A quarter of the 2,000 places at Westminster Abbey have been reserved for heads of state and their partners, with Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Naruhito, the emperor of Japan, the best-known guests confirmed as coming from abroad.
Continue reading...Global weekly deaths down to 11,118 on 5 September – the lowest level since March 2020
The end of the Covid-19 pandemic is “in sight”, the World Health Organization has declared, after revealing that weekly deaths from the virus around the world were at the lowest level since March 2020.
The weekly global deaths figure on 5 September 2022 was 11,118, according to the WHO’s website. March 2020 was the month that the UK entered its first national lockdown.
Continue reading...IOPC watchdog insists review of evidence led it to investigate firearms officer for homicide
The family of Chris Kaba will be allowed to watch police video of the incident that led to his killing, the Guardian has learned, as the police watchdog insisted evidence and not public pressure led it to investigate an officer for homicide offences.
Kaba, 24, who was unarmed, was shot once by an officer from the Metropolitan police on 5 September. The bullet struck him in the head as he sat in the driver’s seat of a car which had come under suspicion in Lambeth, south London. He died just over two hours later.
Continue reading...Co-founder says group offended by ‘redefinition’ of homosexuality as she defends charity against accusation of anti-trans agenda
The organisation LGB Alliance was founded to “prevent the dissemination of the lie of gender identity”, a court was told on Wednesday, during a hearing over whether the Charity Commission was right to grant the body charitable status.
Co-founder Kate Harris told a hearing that a surge in anti-lesbian discrimination was another motivation for the creation of the organisation.
Continue reading...MPC members will look at other developments in UK and abroad in mission to increase interest rates
The drop in inflation from 10.1% in July to 9.9% last month is not going to trouble the Bank of England’s policymakers when they meet next week to set interest rates. Its monetary policy committee (MPC) is on a mission to increase the cost of borrowing to bring down inflation to 2%. Prices growth that sticks at almost 10% is still too high. One month’s figures are not a trend.
The nine MPC members will also ponder several other developments at home and abroad that can be considered reasons to increase interest rates.
Continue reading...Liz Truss has stated her opposition to windfall taxes but the European Commission says energy profits must be shared
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, says the UK is facing a “crisis of income”. She says workers should get a better share of corporate profits.
This has parallels with the point Ursula von der Leyen was making about profits in her speech this morning (see 9.35am), although von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat who has little in common with Graham, was just talking about the energy sector.
Continue reading...Thousands queue on streets of London to file past Queen after procession from Buckingham Palace
Guardian columnist Andy Beckett has written today about how there is no single “national mood” in the aftermath of the Queen’s death, in a country where support for the monarchy has fallen significantly over the last decade.
The idea that the whole country is mourning the Queen and welcoming her successor is a fiction: energetically disseminated, seductive for many in a time of division, but a fiction nonetheless. There is no single ‘national mood’ about the royal family, and there never has been, whatever most journalists and politicians say. Instead there is an assortment of feelings, even right outside Buckingham Palace.
But over the longer term, the reign of her more divisive, less historically resonant son may cause that surge to fade, and the decline in royal popularity to resume, even accelerate. With Charles, known for his impatience with staff and extravagant lifestyle, the sense of entitlement, which is as fundamental to the royal family as a sense of duty, is more obvious.
The poorer country that the UK is likely to become over the next few years may also be less tolerant of one of the world’s most lavish monarchies. The Queen’s old-fashioned, relatively plain public persona, and the length of her reign – to an extent, she continued to be judged by rather deferential, mid-20th century standards – means that modern Britain’s appetite for a less self-effacing ruler has not yet been tested.
Continue reading...Labour leader defends right to protest but says it should not ruin people’s chance to express their private thanks
People who wish to protest against the monarchy should respect those mourning the Queen and not ruin their opportunity to express their private thanks, Keir Starmer has said.
Amid controversy over a small number of protesters being removed by police or arrested, the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast the right to protest and disagree was a British tradition, but he called for it to be done “in the spirit of respect”.
Continue reading...Businesses may have to wait until November, although package could still be activated next month
British businesses have been warned by government officials that they will have to wait longer than households for financial support with their energy bills amid delays in launching the £150bn scheme, according to reports.
Company bosses are increasingly worried about the prospect of delays to the arrival of support because fixed energy contracts come to an end in October for hundreds of thousands of firms.
Continue reading...Up to 100 employees of Clarence House received notification they could lose job following accession to throne
A civil service trade union has criticised the decision to give redundancy notices to King Charles’s staff during the period of mourning as “nothing short of heartless”.
The Guardian reported on Monday that up to 100 employees at the King’s former official residence, including some who have worked there for decades, received notification that they could lose their jobs following his accession to the throne.
Continue reading...South Western, Southeastern and Greater Anglia among operators expected to run more late services
Extra late-night trains will run from the capital from Wednesday to help people pay their respects to the Queen, as Transport for London predicted that the late monarch’s funeral would be a bigger logistical challenge for public transport than the 2012 Olympics.
TfL has set up a dedicated command centre and enlisted a large number of volunteers from its ranks as it anticipates handling more than 1 million people travelling to attend the lying in state of the Queen in Westminster Hall and her funeral.
Continue reading...Queen’s coffin expected to arrive at RAF Northolt at 6.45pm BST before being transported to Buckingham Palace
If you’re wondering why there’s such a fuss about the Queen’s death, our weekly science podcast published today might have some answers.
Our science editor, Ian Sample, has been talking to Prof Michael Cholbi, chair in philosophy at Edinburgh University, about what grief is, how losing a public figure can have such a profound impact on our lives, and why there’s value in grieving.
Continue reading...