Category Archives: UK news

Labour heavyweight Wes Streeting denies plan to succeed Starmer

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A fundraising event held for the shadow minister sparks rumours that he is readying himself to replace Keir Starmer if he resigns over Beergate

Labour rising star Wes Streeting has denied preparing a leadership bid to replace Keir Starmer after it emerged that the wealthy party donor Waheed Alli hosted a recent fundraising event for him and another MP at his central London home.

The Observer has been told that the actors Ian McKellen and Michael Cashman, as well the businesswoman and LGBTQ+ activist Linda Riley, were among 20 to 30 people present at the event in March, where Lord Alli picked up the £4,600 bill for a buffet and drinks.

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Headteachers fight for funds to shore up England’s dilapidated classrooms

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Hundreds of schools are queueing for cash to replace leaky roofs and failing heating. Yet each year only 50 will get money to rebuild

When it rains, the pupils at Wales high school, south Yorkshire, know to look out for numerous obstacles as they move around the building - buckets, lots of buckets.

“On a rainy day, it’s commonplace to see a dozen buckets around the school,” said headteacher Pepe Di’Iasio. “You can’t do anything long term. We’re just patching over the roof and doing the various things that we can. We have flat roofs, asbestos throughout the place and an old energy system that uses heavy amounts. We have a building that we heat up every day and the heating goes straight up out of the roof.”

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England’s crumbling schools are a ‘risk to life’, officials warn No 10

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Leak reveals that the education department is battling with the Treasury for £13bn needed for rebuilding projects

Many school buildings in England are now in such disrepair they are a “risk to life”, according to internal government documents leaked to the Observer.

Emails sent by senior officials working for education secretary Nadhim Zahawi to Downing Street show them raising the alarm on two occasions within the last six weeks.

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Former Police Scotland officer hopes ‘torturous’ tribunal win will help women

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Ex-firearms officer Rhona Malone, awarded nearly £1m for sexist victimisation, says pain and sacrifices outweigh any compensation

A former armed response officer awarded nearly £1m by Police Scotland over victimisation said the past few years had been “torturous” and no amount of compensation could make up for the pain experienced.

Rhona Malone began her action against the force after a senior police officer said he did not want to see two female armed officers deployed together when there were sufficient male staff on duty.

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Queen’s platinum jubilee: the royals must span the social divides

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Brexit, Covid and Black Lives Matter have highlighted divisions in society. But we have more in common than we sometimes realise

In fragmented times, there is a public appetite for things that can bring us together. The jubilee is seen as the most important event of the year, ahead of the football World Cup, though that vote of confidence in the monarchy comes with future challenges. Support is rock-solid among older people in England’s home counties but only a minority of those in Scotland, of ethnic minority Britain and of the youngest adults are in favour.

The monarchy should resist all attempts to turn it into a symbol of tradition to see off “woke” younger generations – and instead respond to the public appetite for a Crown that bridges divides. In this year of welcoming, the royal estates should be part of Homes for Ukraine, celebrating both hosts and guests, and how those welcomed to Britain from Hong Kong and Afghanistan today, join new Britons from Uganda, Zimbabwe and Vietnam over the decades.

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The Russian bank, the Bruce Willis ad and the $900m sanctions battle

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Ministers warned that millions owed after alleged fraud by ex bosses of National Bank Trust could help fund Putin’s war effort

In one of Russia’s most high-profile marketing campaigns, film star Bruce Willis appeared in cinematic advertisements with a car chase and a rooftop rescue, ending with the slogan, “Trust is just like me, but a bank.”

The campaign for National Bank Trust in 2011 – which included cardboard cutouts of Willis popping up in 400 branches across Russia – was credited with raising the bank’s profile and boosting business.

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Ukraine refugees staying with UK hosts not cleared by criminal record checks

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Concerns grow for safety of those heading to Britain as government scrambles to fix flaws in housing scheme

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest developments

Ukrainians fleeing the war are being housed with UK hosts who have not had a criminal record check, in the latest concern to blight the government’s response to the refugee crisis.

Under increasing pressure to iron out flaws in its schemes, government sources told the Observer they were creating a “rematching” service to house Ukrainians with people willing to help.

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Secret British ‘black propaganda’ campaign targeted cold war enemies

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Britain stirred up tensions, chaos and violence in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according to declassified papers

The British government ran a secret “black propaganda” campaign for decades, targeting Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia with leaflets and reports from fake sources aimed at destabilising cold war enemies by encouraging racial tensions, sowing chaos, inciting violence and reinforcing anti-communist ideas, newly declassified documents have revealed.

The effort, run from the mid-1950s through to the late 70s by a unit in London that was part of the Foreign Office, was focused on cold war enemies such as the Soviet Union and China, leftwing liberation groups and leaders that the UK saw as threats to its interests

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Fifty people to be sent to Rwanda in a fortnight, says Boris Johnson

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PM says he will ‘dig in for the fight’ with ‘leftie lawyers’ challenging government’s plan for refugees

Boris Johnson said 50 people have been told they will be sent to Rwanda within the next fortnight, and that he was ready to fight with “leftie lawyers” seeking to challenge the government’s plans for refugees.

Under the £120m scheme announced last month, people deemed to have entered the UK unlawfully will be transported to the east African country, where they will be allowed to apply for the right to settle.

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Britain forecast to bask in sunshine with temperature as high as 27C

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Warm weekend weather could lead to heavy rain in parts but more fine days are expected in the next week

Most of Britain can expect to be bathed in sunshine in the coming week as temperatures climb to a possible high of 27C in what would make the warmest spell of the year.

Saturday could be “16-19C widely – with 24C the possible high in the south-east”, according to Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern.

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Promote safety benefits of low-traffic schemes, Boardman tells councils

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Head of Active Travel England says aim is to give neighbourhoods back what has been taken away

Councils should face down rows over low-traffic neighbourhoods by reframing the debate in terms of livable streets that children can use safely, the head of England’s walking and cycling watchdog has argued as it unveiled its first raft of projects.

Chris Boardman, the former Olympic cyclist who heads Active Travel England (ATE), has promised his organisation will help local authorities navigate culture wars and media controversies over traffic schemes, along with carrying out its core role of ensuring good design.

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Older UK renters forced to cut back on spending as living costs soar

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Exclusive: Many tenants aged over 65 are already struggling, Independent Age research finds

Almost two-thirds of tenants over 65 have cut back on their general spending as a result of the cost of living crisis, and campaigners are warning that older people who do not own their homes are particularly vulnerable to rising bills.

Research shared with Guardian Money by the charity Independent Age puts the spotlight on the struggles of older tenants who are battling to keep up with rising household costs.

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Platinum jubilee Queen Barbie sells out in three seconds

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Now online traders are asking for at least twice the original £95 asking price of the special commemorative doll

The Queen and Barbie are both icons, so the combination was sure to be hot property – now a special platinum jubilee doll has sold out and become the subject of fierce bidding on eBay.

John Lewis said its stock of the £95 doll sold out in three seconds, and most eBay sellers are now hoping to sell the sought-after collectible for at least double that.

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Prince William presents damehood to Deborah James as cancer fundraiser raises £5m

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Duke of Cambridge makes personal visit after ‘Bowelbabe’ told supporters she was receiving end-of-life care for her condition

The Duke of Cambridge has presented podcast host Deborah James with a damehood at her family home after her Cancer Research fundraising initiative passed the £5m mark in just five days.

James, 40, known online as Bowelbabe after campaigning to raise awareness of bowel cancer, launched the JustGiving page on Monday after revealing she was receiving end-of-life care for the condition.

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UK government suspends engagement with NUS over antisemitism allegations

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The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said he was ‘seriously concerned’ by reports of alleged antisemitism within the organisation

Ministers have banned official contact with the National Union of Students over long-running allegations of antisemitism within the organisation, despite the NUS’s pledge to work with Jewish students in an internal investigation.

The allegations have become a focus for the government since the election of Shaima Dallali as the next NUS president, with groups including the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) raising concerns after alleged historic comments resurfaced.

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Police issuing more than 100 fines over Partygate is a ‘non-story’, says Jacob Rees-Mogg – UK politics live

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Latest updates: Jacob Rees-Mogg says ‘we need to look at whether these rules were right in the first place’

Jacob Rees-Mogg has become the second minister to distance himself from the comments connecting food bank usage with an inability to cook made on Wednesday by Lee Anderson in the House of Commons.

Anderson caused outrage after suggesting food bank usage has risen in part because of “generation after generation” of people who are unable to cook or budget properly.

Rees-Mogg told Sky News:

Somebody in my position cannot possibly say things like that, I can’t cook myself and it wouldn’t be right for me to lecture people on how to live their lives.

I think human nature is about empathising with people who live different lives from oneself.

Prospect represents highly skilled civil servants, many of whom have better paid comparators in the private sector. We also represent roles across the private sector and quite frankly would not expect to see those employers behave in the way the government is towards its civil servants.

To be clear: without these civil servants you will not be able to effectively help our country recover from the pandemic, nor tackle the cost-of-living crisis. It will also not be possible to achieve your levelling up ambitions

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Expect the Queen to perform more virtual duties as other royals step up

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Analysis: But while Charles stood in at Queen’s speech, sources say she has no plans to relinquish head of state duties

The Queen is likely to perform more virtual engagements and any future official physical engagements will continue to be jointly diaried with other members of the royal family as part of ongoing adjustments due to her “episodic mobility problems”.

While she will continue to perform her constitutional role as head of state, her role as head of nation, which is not part of her formal constitutional duties, is increasingly being shared amongst other senior royals.

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Jeremy Hunt suggests he may run for Tory leadership again

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Hunt says now is not right time for leadership change but Johnson has ‘mountain to climb’ to win another term

The former Conservative leadership contender Jeremy Hunt has suggested he could run for the top job before the 2024 election as he warned Boris Johnson he had “a big mountain to climb” to win another term.

Amid the fallout from the Partygate scandal and after bruising losses in last week’s local elections, Hunt told the Times Magazine it was not the “right time” for a leadership change due to the war in Ukraine.

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UK should not fear EU trade war, says Frost as he backs ripping up protocol

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Former Brexit minister says UK ‘cannot be defeated’ by Brussels in provocative Telegraph column

The former Brexit minister David Frost has said the UK should not fear a trade war with the EU.

In a provocative newspaper column, he said the UK “cannot be defeated” by Brussels and needed to “make sure it is ready” for the consequences of a unilateral move to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.

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‘Forgotten’ Syrian interpreter attempts suicide after UK asylum delays

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The man, who has been awaiting a Home Office decision for almost two years, says the anxiety has had a significant impact on his wellbeing

A Syrian interpreter who has worked for the British government and the White Helmets has tried to kill himself after waiting nearly two years for a decision on his asylum claim.

Ali [not his real name] worked as an interpreter and translator for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Istanbul, and for Mayday Rescue, a humanitarian organisation that supported the work of the White Helmets (officially known as the Syria Civil Defence) across Syria.

In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here

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