Category Archives: UK news

Lavish Roman mosaic is biggest found in London for 50 years

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Archaeologists say ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ finds near London Bridge are from heyday of Londinium

The largest expanse of Roman mosaic found in London for more than half a century has been unearthed at a site believed to have been a venue for high-ranking officials to lounge in while being served food and drink.

Dating from the late second century to the early third century, the mosaic’s flowers and geometric patterns were a thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime find, said Antonietta Lerz, of the Museum of London Archaeology (Mola).

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22.02.2022: social media gets excited over palindrome ‘Twosday’

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Unusual calendar date reads the same forwards or backwards and is rumoured to bring good luck

Some are calling it palindrome day while others are opting for the twos day (or “Twosday”) pun but, it seems, everyone is excited about the unusual calendar event taking place on the 22 February 2022 (22.02.2022), when the day’s date can be read the same way forwards or backwards.

This palindrome day is unusual because it’s also an ambigram, meaning that on a calculator it can be read upside down in exactly the same way.

In the UK date-writing format (dd-mm-yyyy), there have only been seven palindrome days so far this century, starting with 10 February 2001 (10.02.2001), while the next is on 3 February 2030 (03.02.2030).

Commenters on social media have been sharing their excitement about the date and the good luck it is rumoured to bring.

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Queen cancels virtual engagements due to Covid

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Buckingham Palace says monarch suffering ‘mild cold-like symptoms’

The Queen has cancelled her planned virtual engagements for Tuesday as she continues to experience Covid symptoms.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “As Her Majesty is still experiencing mild cold-like symptoms she has decided not to undertake her planned virtual engagements today, but will continue with light duties.’’

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Almost 15,000 ‘ghost flights’ have left UK since pandemic began

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Exclusive: Thousands of near-empty planes flown since March 2020, new figures reveal

Almost 15,000 “ghost flights” have departed from the UK, according to newly revealed official figures.

The ghost flights, defined as those with no passengers or less than 10% of passenger capacity, operated from all 32 airports listed in the data. Heathrow was top, with 4,910 ghost flights between March 2020 and September 2021. Manchester and Gatwick were the next highest. There were an average of 760 ghost flights a month over the period, although the data covered only international departure and not domestic flights.

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Lifting of Covid rules in England ‘will lead to rise in home schooling’

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Fears over ‘forced exclusion’ of vulnerable pupils whose families will be too scared to send them to school

The lifting of Covid restrictions in England will lead to a further rise in home schooling and the “forced exclusion” of immunosuppressed pupils whose families will be too scared to send them to school, an academy trust leader has warned.

Steve Chalke, the founder of the Oasis academy trust of 52 schools, said the scrapping of twice-weekly testing in school communities and the legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive test was “a huge gamble”.

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UK will ‘barrage’ Russia with sanctions, warns Boris Johnson – video

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Boris Johnson has claimed Russia is bent on a 'full-scale invasion of Ukraine' and said the UK would immediately impose economic sanctions.

Speaking after a 6.30am Cobra meeting, the prime minister said the UK was prepared to continue ratcheting up measures

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Police review chief says ‘Betamax police’ stuck in the past

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Chair of forthcoming strategic review says force must modernise to tackle blockchain-era criminals

A “crisis of confidence in policing” can only be put right through fundamental reform or risk the end of policing by consent, the head of a review of the police service will warn on Tuesday.

Sir Michael Barber, the chair of the Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales, will say that a “Betamax police force” is unsuccessfully pursuing “blockchain-enabled criminals” as he urges modernisation of crime-fighting technology and new training for officers.

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Tory row over testing casts shadow over PM’s Covid announcement

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Analysis: cabinet colleagues horrified over wrangling between Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid

Cabinet ministers were already waiting in No 10 on Monday morning when it became clear the sign-off for the prime minister’s much-anticipated end to Covid regulations was not going to be as perfunctory as they had imagined.

A festering row between Rishi Sunak’s Treasury and Sajid Javid’s health department was responsible, first reported by the Guardian last week and still unresolved.

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Queen to speak to PM in weekly update from self-isolation

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UK monarch tested positive for Covid, which is manifesting in ‘mild cold-like symptoms’

The Queen is expected to speak to Boris Johnson on Wednesday for her regular weekly update from the prime minister as she continues to recover from Covid-19.

Audiences with foreign ambassadors are expected to go ahead – also on a virtual basis – as the monarch remains in self-isolation at her home in Windsor.

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Covid restrictions and free mass testing to end in England on 1 April

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Announcement by Boris Johnson shows Rishi Sunak has won out over Sajid Javid in cabinet battle over funding

Covid laws and free mass testing are to be swept away across England after Rishi Sunak won a cabinet battle on cutting the cost of the pandemic, prompting fears that the poor and vulnerable will pay the price.

Boris Johnson announced plans to end free testing for the general public from 1 April, saying it was time for people to “get our confidence back”.

Contact tracing will end from Thursday and contacts of people testing positive will no longer have to test or isolate.

Schools and other education settings will no longer be advised to test twice-weekly, with immediate effect.

NHS and social care staff will no longer get asymptomatic testing but this is expected to continue for patients and care home residents.

Covid passports will be scrapped from 1 April, with venues no longer recommended to use them. They will still be available for international travel.

The Office for National Statistics survey of Covid in the community will be maintained but in a slimmed-down version.

The Vivaldi study on care homes and Panoramic study on antivirals will continue, the government insisted, although it was not clear how they will be funded and whether enough testing is being done to support them.

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Mauritius asks Google to label Chagos Islands as part of its territory

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Row breaks out over Google Maps definition as UK insists it still maintains sovereignty

When you are searching online for some of the remotest islands on the planet, it helps to get the name right. But a row has broken out over the labelling of the Chagos Islands on Google maps.

The UK maintains that it still holds sovereignty over what it terms British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) – one of the smallest of red dots on the traditional cartographic globe.

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‘I forget everything’: the benefits of nature for mental health

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As campaign launched to enshrine right to green space, Bolton woman describes how ‘tranquility walks’ helped her through lockdown

During Covid lockdowns, Sharon Powell felt alone. She was caring for her father, 90, who was deteriorating from Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and looking after him had become increasingly difficult.

Social life in her community in Johnson Fold, Bolton, had been Powell’s escape from the pressure at home, but when Covid restrictions were introduced “everything was just gone”. She was depressed, anxious and having panic attacks “like a washing machine on full spin”.

This article was amended on 21 February 2022, to correct the spelling of Trish Goodwin’s name.

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Storm Franklin threatens UK with more travel chaos and power cuts

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Third named storm in a week to bring further strong winds and heavy rain to Britain

Large parts of the UK were braced for another day of travel chaos and power cuts on Monday as Storm Franklin brought hurricane-force winds and flooding in the wake of the deadly Storm Eunice.

Hundreds of families in south Manchester were urged to evacuate their homes on Sunday night, while thousands of households remained without power following the worst UK storm in decades.

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Jamal Edwards, SBTV founder and music entrepreneur, dies aged 31

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Edwards’ company confirms YouTube star awarded MBE in 2014 for his work in music has died

Jamal Edwards, known for founding media platform SBTV, which helped catapult grime and a wave of new artists to a global audience, died on Sunday morning aged 31.

Edwards was also a director, author, DJ, entrepreneur and designer, and was awarded an MBE in 2014 – when he was 24 – for his work in music.

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Johnson to say ending Covid rules in England is a ‘moment of pride’

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PM to unveil long-term strategy for living with the virus but health experts say measures are premature

Boris Johnson will proclaim that the lifting of all remaining Covid restrictions in England this week marks a “moment of pride” when he unveils the government’s long-term strategy for living with the virus, despite concerns from scientists, health experts and Labour that the move is premature.

The legal requirement for anyone with Covid to isolate will be ditched a month earlier than planned, while free PCR and lateral flow tests for everyone will be axed to rein in public spending and attempt to restore people’s confidence that life can return to normality. The tests will reportedly be kept for the over-80s.

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Home Office immigration contractor failed to investigate racist staff messages

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Mitie admits failure to ‘escalate’ whistleblower complaints made two years ago about racist WhatsApp group posts

The Home Office is investigating allegations of racist WhatsApp messages sent by immigration staff, as the contracting firm Mitie admitted that they received complaints two years ago but failed to “escalate them”.

The messages by workers for Mitie, revealed by the Sunday Mirror, include derogatory references to Chinese people and the mocking of the Syrian refugee crisis.

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The Queen tests positive for Covid

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Monarch, 95, experiencing ‘mild cold-like symptoms’ but expects to continue carrying out light duties

The Queen has tested positive for Covid-19, ahead of the expected ending of all coronavirus restrictions in England in the coming days.

Buckingham Palace said the monarch, 95, was experiencing “mild cold-like symptoms” but expected to continue carrying out light duties this week.

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Covid antivirals an option for the Queen under care of medical household

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Monarch said to have mild symptoms, but staff may look to drugs recently approved in UK

With the Queen approaching her 96th birthday in April, there was always going to be concern about her contracting Covid, but the monarch has tested positive against a radically different backdrop from when the virus arrived in the UK.

In addition to the protection afforded by her vaccinations – and she is understood to have had a booster – she could also be given antiviral drugs approved by UK authorities as recently as December.

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Tributes paid to DUP politician Christopher Stalford, who has died at 39

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Leaders across Northern Irish political spectrum praised ‘passionate’ Stormont assembly member

Tributes from across Northern Ireland’s political divide have been paid to Christopher Stalford, a Democratic Unionist party member of the Northern Ireland assembly who has died suddenly at the age of 39.

The DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said he had talked at length on Friday night with Stalford, whom he described as a friend and as someone who had been “born to be a public representative”.

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