Category Archives: UK news

Archaeological dig to unearth wreckage of WW2 hero pilot crash under way

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Exclusive: Excavation, overseen by the US Department of Defense, will feature in More 4’s Hidden Wonders TV series

On 26 January 1944, a 23-year-old US pilot was flying a mighty P-47 Thunderbolt on a wartime training exercise when it crashed in Essex.

Locals witnessed the horror of 2nd Lt Lester Lowry’s aircraft diving to the ground and bursting into flames. Lowry was not seen to bail out and he has remained missing in action (MIA) for more than 80 years. Ironically, his plane was named “Lucky Boy”.

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Racist incidents against UK nurses surge by 55%

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Royal College of Nursing calls on government to stop using anti-migrant rhetoric, which it says emboldens racist behaviour

The number of reports by nurses of racist incidents at work has risen by 55% over three years, according to analysis by the nursing union.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) expects to receive more than 1,000 calls this year from nurses seeking advice and support after racist incidents in the workplace, compared with almost 700 cases in 2022.

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Over 1,200 health leaders call for swift passage of UK tobacco and vapes bill

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Experts publish letter as peers prepare to scrutinise draft legislation six months after its second Commons reading

More than 1,200 public health leaders have called for the tobacco and vapes bill to be passed swiftly through parliament to “protect future generations”.

They said in a cross-party letter that the “gamechanging” measures outlined were “far too important to let it slip off the agenda”.

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NHS leaders warn of longer waiting times if demand for extra £3bn not met

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Key Labour pledge under threat as health service faces costs from redundancies, strikes and rising drug prices

NHS bosses are seeking an emergency injection of £3bn to cover unexpected costs and have warned ministers that without it patients will wait longer for treatment and hospitals will start rationing care.

Their move presents a fresh problem for Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, as she tries to find ways to fill an estimated £30bn hole in the nation’s finances in her budget next month.

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Boy thrown from Tate Modern’s 10th floor can now run and swim, says family

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French child, who was six years old at the time of the incident in 2019, suffered life-changing injuries

A boy who was thrown from the 10th floor of Tate Modern in London six years ago can now run and swim limited distances, his family has revealed.

The unnamed French boy, who his parents call their “little knight”, suffered life-changing injuries in the attack in August 2019. Jonty Bravery is serving a minimum 15-year jail term for his attempt to murder the boy.

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Epping sex offender back in custody after release from prison in error

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Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, whose case triggered summer protests in Essex, detained again and faces deportation

A former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error is back in custody and faces deportation.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and was made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

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Keir Starmer shares post-punk passion and revisits musical past

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Prime minister praises Scottish band Orange Juice and shares details about his family life in Radio 3 interview

Keir Starmer has said he is a fan of the Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice and northern soul, in a deep dive of his musical tastes and personal life.

On BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions, Starmer chose a selection of his favourite music including works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Elgar, and reflected on his own musical journey, which included learning to play violin alongside Norman Cook, AKA Fatboy Slim, at school.

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Reform MP’s remarks about TV adverts were ‘racist’, says Wes Streeting

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Health secretary hardens Labour line after Sarah Pochin said advertising ‘doesn’t reflect our society’

Wes Streeting has accused the Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin of making racist remarks after she said seeing adverts full of black and Asian people “drives her mad”.

The health secretary said Pochin was “only sorry she’s been caught and called out”, adding she had “said the quiet bit loud”, as he warned of a return to “1970s, 1980s-style racism”.

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British Airways pulls Louis Theroux podcast sponsorship after Bob Vylan interview

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Airline says singer’s defiant interview breached its policy on politically sensitive or controversial subjects

British Airways has halted its sponsorship of Louis Theroux’s podcast over an interview with the frontman of Bob Vylan.

The airline has withdrawn its adverts from the journalist’s podcast after he interviewed Bobby Vylan – whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster.

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Met police urge Epping sex offender spotted in London to hand himself in

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Former asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has been missing since being released from prison in error

Police searching in London for a former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error have urged him to hand himself in.

The Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

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Labour demands clarity on Tory plan to strip thousands of right to stay in UK

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Anna Turley says legally settled people threatened by Katie Lam’s proposals deserve urgent clarification

Labour has called on the Conservatives to clarify their plan to strip the right to remain permanently in the UK from thousands of people, saying those affected had a right to know what was being proposed.

Anna Turley MP, the Labour chair, has written to Katie Lam, the shadow Home Office minister whose interview about the plans last weekend sparked renewed interest in the policy of retrospectively revoking indefinite leave to remain (ILR) status for large numbers of people.

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Met police take over search for Epping sex offender after London sighting – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read our full report here

The accidental release of the asylum seeker was a “mind-blowing” blunder, says the MP for Chelmsford.

The Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman said on Saturday: “My mind has blown. How this could possibly happen?”

He came out of the airlock, and kept saying to the officers there, ‘Where am I going? What am I doing? I don’t know where I’m going and what I’m doing.’

He was holding a pack of paperwork in his arms, and his bag of bits …

He knew he’d been deported. He came over to me and said, ‘I need you to help me.’

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Cutting cash Isa limit will not boost stock market, MPs warn Rachel Reeves

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Treasury committee says move in November budget could push up mortgage rates instead

Cutting the annual cash Isa allowance will not encourage many savers to switch to shares but could push up mortgage costs, MPs have warned the chancellor.

Adults can put up to £20,000 a year in a tax-free Isa and spread the money between cash and stock market investments as they choose. In the 2023-24 tax year, 66% of all contributions went into cash savings.

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Prince Andrew in advanced talks about moving out of Royal Lodge, reports say

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Buckingham Palace trying to increase pressure on prince to give up home for which he pays ‘peppercorn’ rent

Prince Andrew is reportedly in advanced talks with King Charles’s senior aides about moving out of his Royal Lodge home after a week in which his “peppercorn” rent tenancy has come under scrutiny.

Pressure has mounted on the royal family for Andrew to vacate the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park amid the continuing controversy over his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the posthumous publication of the memoirs of the prince’s sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.

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Ukraine wants US to stay involved, says Zelenskyy after meeting western allies

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Ukrainian leader joined ‘coalition of the willing’ in London to discuss how to ramp up pressure on Russia

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants the US to stay involved in efforts to end the war after a meeting of western allies in London that took place without Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian leader chose not to overtly lobby for the supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles at a meeting of more than 20 mainly European leaders from the “coalition of the willing” but instead emphasised the need for the west to work together.

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Tanni Grey-Thompson says disabled drivers at risk of missing out on switch to electric cars

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Former Paralympics champion says inaccessible charging points show government ‘has forgotten about us’

Campaigners including Tanni Grey-Thompson have warned that disabled drivers are at risk of being locked out of the electric car transition because of inaccessible chargers.

The former Paralympics champion and the Electric Vehicle Association England are pushing for the government to introduce standards to ensure chargers are easy to reach.

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What’s in a name? West End casting directors raise concerns about trend for big stars

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Film and TV stars are selling tickets, but director says reliance on famous names is ‘killing audiences’ intellects’

From Ncuti Gatwa in Born With Teeth to Alicia Vikander in The Lady From the Sea and Susan Sarandon in Mary Page Marlowe, there is no shortage of starry celebrities being cast for the West End right now.

It is a phenomenon happening in subsidised theatre too: Indhu Rubasingham’s inaugural season at the National Theatre features the likes of screen favourites Paul Mescal and Nicola Coughlan.

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Rishi Sunak only politician sent witness statement in China spy case

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Statement from security adviser, sent to then prime minister, did not describe China as enemy

Rishi Sunak was the only politician to be sent a witness statement by the deputy national security adviser at the centre of a controversy about the collapse of a case against two British men accused of spying for China.

According to letters sent to the joint committee on the national security strategy, the statement from Matthew Collins in December 2023, which was sent to the then prime minister and his advisers, did not describe China as an enemy, another key element of the case.

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NatWest boss warns against higher bank taxes as lender’s profits rise 30%

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CEO says fiscal discipline should be balanced with ‘policies that create stability, consistency and support growth’

NatWest Group’s chief executive has warned the government against increasing taxes on banks in the autumn budget as the high street lender reported a 30% jump in profits.

Paul Thwaite said he understood the “difficult choices” that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had to make in order to help close a potential £30bn shortfall in the public finances but argued she needed to “balance fiscal discipline” with “policies that create stability, consistency and support growth”.

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