IOPC watchdog launches independent inquiry into incident on Chelsea Bridge in west London
A man who shot with a Taser by police in London and had to be rescued from the River Thames has died, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said.
Police were called to Chelsea Bridge Road in west London on Saturday morning after receiving reports that a man was armed with a screwdriver and shouting.
Continue reading...Analysis: The Queen’s age means a reduction in duties, and succession planning is well under way
As the bunting comes down after the long weekend of platinum jubilee celebrations, many in Buckingham Palace will breathe a sigh of relief that the increasingly frail 96-year-old Queen made it to the extra bank holiday declared in her honour.
But behind the scenes, succession planning is well under way. It was ever thus. There are few other jobs in public life where the incumbent knows who will replace them before they even start, but that has been the Queen’s reality since she gave birth to Prince Charles in 1948.
Continue reading...Force claimed it approached groups before launch of Project Alpha which scours social media sites
Youth violence experts have said they had no involvement with a police scheme that collects children’s personal data, despite the Met claiming to have consulted them.
Project Alpha, involving more than 30 staff and launched in 2019 with Home Office funding, scours social media sites looking at drill music videos and other content. It has prompted concerns about racial profiling and potential privacy violations.
Continue reading...More holidaymakers caught up in travel chaos as nearly 200 flights are cancelled and roads clog up
UK holidaymakers have faced yet more travel chaos as easyJet cancelled another 80 flights on Sunday and roads began to clog up with drivers returning from half-term and jubilee weekend breaks.
Tens of thousands of British travellers are estimated to be stranded at airports across Europe after close to 200 flight cancellations over the weekend.
Continue reading...Prince of Wales praises his mother’s ability to ‘bring us together’ at Platinum Jubilee Party at the Palace
The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to the Queen – and environmental activists across the world – in speeches at a concert at Buckingham Palace.
Speaking on the third day of a four-day celebration to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee at the BBC’s Platinum Party at the Palace, Prince Charles began his address “Your Majesty, Mummy”.
Continue reading...British anaesthetist pleads for doctors and nurses to be allowed naps and limited night shifts, as in other critical workplaces
About half of all hospital doctors and nurses have had accidents or experienced near misses while driving home after a night shift.
The risks they pose to themselves and other road users have been calculated as the same as those posed by drivers who are over the legal alcohol limit, delegates at a European medical conference were told last week.
Continue reading...Survey puts Labour 20 points ahead in the constituency amid reports Boris Johnson could face no confidence vote
The Conservatives are heading for a potentially catastrophic defeat in the Wakefield byelection amid reports Boris Johnson could face a vote on his future next week, according to a new poll.
A survey by JL Partners and reported in the Sunday Times gives Labour a 20-point lead over the Tories in the Yorkshire constituency.
Continue reading...Diversity in book industry must be sustained, and start at the top, Booker prize-winning author tells Hay festival
The Booker prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo says she fears that publishers’ interest in black authors may be only a “trend or fashion” that could wane unless the business becomes more diverse.
Evaristo, who was the first black woman to win the literary prize for her novel Girl, Woman, Other in 2019, said that the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd in 2020 “really did shake the industry to the core” and had marked a turning point in previously “excluded” authors getting book deals.
Continue reading...‘We’re standing up for UK institutions,’ says shadow minister, pointing to booing of Boris Johnson
Labour has staked a bold claim to be the true party of patriotism and the best of British values, as four days of nationwide celebrations to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee draw to a close on Sunday.
Senior Labour party figures said Boris Johnson – who was booed outside St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday – was no longer seen by the public as a leader who upholds the British standards of integrity, decency and honesty that the country has long been admired for across the world.
Continue reading...Pre-recorded segment features the Queen acting opposite the CGI bear, voiced by Ben Whishaw
Paddington Bear was the secret special guest for the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations on Saturday night, appearing alongside the monarch in a sweet-natured video segment.
Just as she did at the 2012 London Olympics, when she appeared with Daniel Craig’s James Bond in a pre-recorded video, the Queen proved a good sport as she acted alongside the CGI bear, voiced by Ben Whishaw, who joined her at Buckingham Palace for afternoon tea.
Continue reading...Monarch recalls ‘little pond’ in Parliament House during newly released video call made in May
The Queen displayed a “cheeky” sense of humour when she met virtually with several Australians of the Year and the country’s governor general as part of her platinum jubilee celebrations.
During the Zoom call with the six Australians, which included the recently retired wheelchair tennis player Dylan Alcott, the 96-year-old monarch remarked on the “splendid” technology which enabled the virtual meeting to take place.
Continue reading...Author cites Brexit and the climate crisis as examples of previous generations ‘breaking’ their future
The author Elif Shafak has said she thinks “there’s a scream building up” inside many young people, because they feel their future “is being shaped by older generations”.
“It’s difficult to be young, in this age in particular,” the Turkish-British novelist told the Hay festival. “It’s their future that’s been broken by previous generations,” she said, citing Brexit and the climate emergency.
Continue reading...Saturday’s festivities will culminate in an open-air concert for 22,000 people headlined by Diana Ross
Members of the royal family are attending events as the UK marks its third day of platinum jubilee celebrations, with Princess Anne attending the Epsom Derby on the Queen’s behalf.
Buckingham Palace announced on Friday that the monarch, 96, would pull out of attending the Epsom Derby, where she is being officially represented by her daughter. The Queen is expected to watch the event on television instead.
Continue reading...Campaigner says death is ‘life’s last taboo’ and that she hopes talking about may bring comfort to others
Deborah James has said she is angry at the fact she is terminally ill, and scared of dying.
The campaigner, 40, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and has documented her experiences since on social media, revealed that in the weeks since moving to end-of-life care she keeps “shouting at people and pushing them away”.
Continue reading...People continuing to cross Channel to reach UK, figures show, with a vessel of 40 brought ashore on Friday
Nearly 10,000 people have arrived in the UK on small boats from across the Channel so far this year, according to new government figures.
A total of 9,988 have reached the UK after leaving the French coast in vessels such as dinghies since New Year’s Day.
Continue reading...Acclaimed sculptor calls leaving the EU ‘a practical disaster’ and a ‘betrayal’ as major retrospective opens
The acclaimed British sculptor Antony Gormley is to become a German citizen because of the “tragedy” of Brexit.
Speaking at a major retrospective of his work at the Museum Voorlinden near The Hague, Gormley, who is half-German, said his strong feelings about Britain’s departure from Europe had prompted him to apply for German nationality.
Continue reading...Five years after London Bridge and Borough Market attacks, watchdog says psychologists should feature in counter-terrorism
Psychologists and behavioural scientists should be deployed more frequently to counter-terrorism operations as the number of neurodivergent individuals under investigation rises, a watchdog has advised.
The government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation told the Observer that evaluating the threat from individuals with conditions like autism was becoming an increasingly prevalent challenge. Jonathan Hall QC said: “You are seeing a lot more neurodivergence and mental health coming into terrorist investigations, and that’s also having an impact on deradicalisation programmes.
Continue reading...Singer, whose real name is Lamar Jackson, was killed in a fight at an event in Woodford Green
A rapper has been stabbed to death at a jubilee party in east London.
The Metropolitan police have opened a murder investigation after Lamar Jackson, known as Hypo, was attacked at an event in Woodford Green on Saturday morning.
Continue reading...Alan Wilson calls PM’s self-defence ‘nonsense’ and says country needs leader it can trust
The bishop of Buckingham has joined the growing calls for Boris Johnson to resign and believes that he “obviously” lied over lockdown parties in Downing Street.
The Right Rev Dr Alan Wilson described the prime minister’s defence that he did not realise what was going on as “nonsense”, adding that the country needed a leader it could trust.
Johnson has faced public calls from Conservative MPs to stand down following the final report by Sue Gray into breaches of Covid regulations and the alcohol culture in Downing Street and Whitehall.
Under party rules, he will face a confidence vote if 54 Tory MPs, 15% of the party, submit a letter to the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady calling for one.
Continue reading...Historian taking part in debate at Hay festival says he is labelled an activist to ‘delegitimise’ his voice
Historian and TV presenter David Olusoga has said that rightwing newspapers characterise him as an activist and critical race theorist to “delegitimise” his voice, despite there being no basis for these claims.
Olusoga, whose work has explored black Britishness and the legacy of empire and slavery, said that people “feel perfectly comfortable making these comments about me without being able to point to a single reference or footnote in my books”. He said that in reality he is “an old-fashioned empirical historian who fundamentally tells stories and tries to create empathy and a public understanding of history”.
He told an audience at Hay festival: “Why the need to describe me as a critical race theorist? Why the need to describe me as an activist rather than a historian? These are all about delegitimising people’s voices.”
Olusoga was speaking as part of a debate on “how cancel culture has become a blood sport”, but said that the phrase did not capture his experience, since it is usually attributed to students, who he thinks are falsely accused of fomenting “cancel culture”, when in reality it reflects “a growing intolerance” in rightwing newspapers.
He was also asked for his views on the response to historian David Starkey’s comments that slavery was not genocide. Starkey subsequently resigned from his post at the University of Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam College.
Olusoga said he was “conflicted” because while what Starkey had said was “appalling” and “inaccurate”, he felt “it’s sad that somebody who is a great historian was getting into those debates”.
He blamed Starkey’s tone on the influence of the Moral Maze, BBC Radio 4’s provocative show that has run since 1990, for “elevating opinion over expertise”. “It’s taken some who have great expertise away from that expertise and into that carnivalesque world of commentary,” he said.