Category Archives: UK news

UK pornography taskforce to propose banning ‘barely legal’ content after Channel 4 documentary airs

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Programme about performer Bonnie Blue condemned for ‘glamorising and normalising’ extreme pornography

The new pornography taskforce will propose legislation this autumn aimed at banning a type of “barely legal” content produced by the porn star Bonnie Blue, the Guardian has learned.

The proposed action by the independent pornography taskforce, launched last month by the Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, comes in response to the broadcast of the Channel 4 documentary 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story. The programme followed the performer for six months and included her claim to have had sex with 1,057 clients over the course of 12 hours.

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UK to evacuate ill and injured children from Gaza to receive NHS care

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Government to announce taxpayer-funded initiative after three children were brought to UK under private scheme

The UK government will evacuate seriously ill and injured children from Gaza to the UK for NHS treatment under a scheme to be announced within weeks.

Ministers will enable children in severe need to receive taxpayer-funded care. Three children were brought to the UK this year through a private scheme by the charity Project Pure Hope.

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Family of Kenyan woman allegedly murdered by UK soldiers criticise defence secretary

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Niece of Agnes Wanjiru says she thinks John Healey is ‘taking us for a ride’

The niece of a Kenyan woman who was murdered more than a decade ago, allegedly by British soldiers, has said her family now believe the defence secretary “just made a promise for his political gain” when he met them in April.

John Healey told the family of Agnes Wanjiru of his “determination to see a resolution” in the case of her murder, pledging the UK’s full support for the investigation.

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British man dies after falling ill at hair transplant clinic in Turkey

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Former teacher Martyn Latchman, 38, became unwell during the preparatory phase of £1,500 procedure

A British man has died after starting a hair transplant procedure in Istanbul.

Martyn Latchman, 38, from Milton Keynes, who left a 16-year career in teaching last year to become a defence contractor, died last week after becoming unwell during the preparatory phase of the £1,500 procedure.

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Revealed: Yorkshire Water boss was paid extra £1.3m via offshore parent firm

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Company says extra payments relating to work for Kelda Holdings were covered by shareholders not billpayers

The boss of Yorkshire Water, one of Britain’s biggest water suppliers, has received £1.3m in previously undisclosed extra pay since 2023 via an offshore parent company, the Guardian can reveal.

Nicola Shaw received £660,000 from Yorkshire Water’s Jersey-registered parent company, Kelda Holdings, in the 2023-24 and the 2024-25 financial years. The size of the fees was not disclosed in the annual report of the regulated subsidiary, Yorkshire Water Services.

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Social media ads promoting small boat crossings to UK to be banned

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Change to border security bill will also make it a crime to advertise fake passports, visas and work opportunities

Ministers are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the Channel to asylum seekers.

The government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine.

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UK has got ‘fat’ on decades of free labour by women, says MP Jess Phillips

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Minister points to ‘sexist’ practice of country relying on women to provide services so government did not have to

Labour MP Jess Phillips has said the UK has got “fat” from the free labour of women for decades.

The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said the country has relied on women providing charity, adding it was a “fundamentally sexist” practice that meant the government was less willing to provide the service itself.

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Dua Lipa ‘feeling grateful’ after Kosovan president grants her citizenship

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Singer of hits such as Houdini, One Kiss and Training Season was born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parents

Singer Dua Lipa has said she is “feeling grateful” after being awarded citizenship of Kosovo by the country’s president.

The 29-year-old was born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parents, Anesa and Dukagjin Lipa, and moved to the country’s capital of Pristina aged 11, when her family returned after Kosovo gained its independence in 2008, before moving back to London aged 15.

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Labour does not deserve to win next election without change, Reeves says

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Chancellor admits voter frustration as government faces renewed calls from Labour politicians for a wealth tax

Labour does not “deserve” to win the next election if it does not change the country, Rachel Reeves has said, as she acknowledged some voters were disappointed with the party’s record since entering government.

The chancellor said she understood the unhappiness felt by some voters towards a government that has U-turned on winter fuel allowance and welfare policies in recent months.

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Labour does not deserve to win next election without change, Reeves says

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Chancellor admits voter frustration as government faces renewed calls from Labour politicians for a wealth tax

Labour does not “deserve” to win the next election if it does not change the country, Rachel Reeves has said, as she acknowledged some voters were disappointed with the party’s record since entering government.

The chancellor said she understood the unhappiness felt by some voters towards a government that has U-turned on winter fuel allowance and welfare policies in recent months.

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Labour does not deserve to win next election without change, Reeves says

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Chancellor admits voter frustration as government faces renewed calls from Labour politicians for a wealth tax

Labour does not “deserve” to win the next election if it does not change the country, Rachel Reeves has said, as she acknowledged some voters were disappointed with the party’s record since entering government.

The chancellor said she understood the unhappiness felt by some voters towards a government that has U-turned on winter fuel allowance and welfare policies in recent months.

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Pro- and anti-migrant prroters face off at London hotel housing asylum seekers

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Anti-racism campaigners outnumber those opposing hotel being used as Home Office accommodation

Anti-racism demonstrators turned out in large numbers on Saturday outside a London hotel where asylum seekers are being housed to counter-protest against those opposed to it being used as Home Office accommodation.

Both groups of protesters gathered near the Thistle City Barbican hotel in Islington, north London.

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Chancellor’s attempt to intervene in car finance scandal branded ‘disgraceful’

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Defending industry over consumers sends ‘really bad message’, says Treasury committee member Bobby Dean

Rachel Reeves’ efforts to intervene in the supreme court case on the car finance scandal were “unprecedented and disgraceful” and send a “really bad message” to consumers that the government is willing to defend wrongdoing by banks, Treasury committee member and Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has said.

While the supreme court largely sided with finance companies on Friday – helping lenders avoid a £44bn compensation bill – Dean said the chancellor had gone too far to show she was on the side of business.

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Chancellor’s attempt to intervene in car finance scandal branded ‘disgraceful’

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Defending industry over consumers sends ‘really bad message’, says Treasury committee member Bobby Dean

Rachel Reeves’ efforts to intervene in the supreme court case on the car finance scandal were “unprecedented and disgraceful” and send a “really bad message” to consumers that the government is willing to defend wrongdoing by banks, Treasury committee member and Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has said.

While the supreme court largely sided with finance companies on Friday – helping lenders avoid a £44bn compensation bill – Dean said the chancellor had gone too far to show she was on the side of business.

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Palestine Action ban coupled with Online Safety Act ‘a threat to public debate’

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Rights bodies say new law and proscription of direct action group create risk of censorship of Gaza-related content

The Online Safety Act together with the proscription of Palestine Action could result in platforms censoring Palestinian-related content, human rights organisations have warned.

Open Rights Group, Index on Censorship and others have written to Ofcom calling on it to provide clear guidance to platforms on distinguishing lawful expression from content deemed to be in support of terrorism.

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VIP contract introduced by Tory peer left government owed £24m

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DHSC rejected as ‘unusable’ PPE supplied by company linked to Lord Chadlington, which later went bust

They were the lucrative deals that epitomised the “VIP lane” set up by Boris Johnson’s government during the Covid pandemic, which gave priority for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts to people with political connections.

Peter Gummer, a former PR boss who has been Tory peer Lord Chadlington since 1996, had smooth access at his fingertips. The erstwhile adviser to John Major has “close personal friendships with many senior Conservative party politicians”, he has said, and as president of the Witney constituency association in the Cotswolds is “close friends” with its most notable MP: David Cameron.

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Social media ads promoting small boat crossings to UK to be banned

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Change to border security bill will also make it a crime to advertise fake passports, visas and work opportunities

Ministers are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the Channel to asylum seekers.

The government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine.

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Social media ads promoting small boat crossings to UK to be banned

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Change to border security bill will also make it a crime to advertise fake passports, visas and work opportunities

Ministers are to outlaw social media adverts promoting journeys on small boats across the Channel to asylum seekers.

The government will create a UK-wide criminal offence that could lead to perpetrators being sentenced for up to five years in prison and a hefty fine.

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Three million on NHS England waiting lists have had no care since GP referral

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Exclusive: Data reveals ‘invisible crisis’ with millions yet to have first specialist appointment or diagnostic test

Almost half of the 6 million people needing treatment from the NHS in England have had no further care at all since joining a hospital waiting list, new data reveals.

Previously unseen NHS England figures show that 2.99 million of the 6.23 million patients (48%) awaiting care have not had either their first appointment with a specialist or a diagnostic test since being referred by a GP.

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Man, 76, charged after children fell ill at Leicestershire summer camp

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Jon Ruben charged with three counts of wilful ill treatment of a child after illnesses at camp in Stathern

A 76-year-old man has been charged after a number of children became unwell at a summer camp in Leicestershire.

Jon Ruben, of Ruddington, Nottingham, has been charged with three counts of wilful ill treatment of a child. The charges relate to three children at the rural camp in the village of Stathern, Leicestershire police said on Friday.

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