Tesla chief executive will gain control over social network he has criticized over its handling of ‘free speech’
Elon Musk has reached a $44bn deal to buy Twitter in a takeover that will give the world’s richest man control of a social network with more than 200 million users.
The sale will put the Tesla chief executive in charge of a company that he has frequently criticized, claiming it has not lived up to its potential as a platform for “free speech”.
Continue reading...Speaker seeks meeting with Mail on Sunday editor as PM threatens to unleash ‘terrors of the earth’
Conservative whips have said they are trying to find out the identity of the Tory MP responsible for misogynistic attacks on Angela Rayner, with a view to taking disciplinary action after Boris Johnson threatened to unleash “the terrors of the earth” against the culprit.
The prime minister hit out at the “sexist, misogynistic tripe” in the Mail on Sunday, which ran allegations from an anonymous MP that Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, deliberately tried to distract Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs in the House of Commons.
Continue reading...Lords signalled they are prepared to send bills back to Commons even at 11th hour before local elections
MPs and peers are set for some late nights over the next few days as government and opposition race to complete six bills in time for parliament to be prorogued by the end of this week.
Though the House of Commons leader, Mark Spencer, said business would conclude by Thursday – which would give MPs next week to get some shoe leather on the pavements ahead of the local elections – the Lords may have other ideas.
Continue reading...Exclusive: pharmacists say they should be allowed more easily to dispense substitute medicines as shortages take toll in England
Sajid Javid is being urged to change the law to let pharmacists alter prescriptions during medicine shortages, as it emerged that some women are travelling hundreds of miles to seek hormone replacement therapy products.
There have been acute shortages of some HRT products, which are used by about 1 million women in the UK to treat symptoms of the menopause.
Continue reading...Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says action is needed, ‘not just warm words’
The Downing Street lobby briefing has just ended. And we’ve learned that Boris Johnson has not received a fine over the party in the Downing Street garden on 20 May 2020 – or at least not yet.
There has been speculation that he will be fined for this because at the end of last week it emerged that other people who attended the event in response to an invitation from Johnson’s then principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, are being fined. The invitation told people to BYOB (bring your own bottle).
I, and others in Whitehall, have been clear that the prime minister himself had no direct involvement in decisions around Nowzad.
Continue reading...Up to 12,000 substances could fall within the scope of the new ‘restrictions roadmap’
Thousands of potentially harmful chemicals could soon be prohibited in Europe under new restrictions, which campaigners have hailed as the strongest yet.
Earlier this year, scientists said chemical pollution had crossed a “planetary boundary” beyond which lies the breakdown of global ecosystems.
Continue reading...Three women and a man pronounced dead at scene after police called to home in Southwark
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after four people died from stab wounds in the early hours of Monday morning in Southwark, south London.
The Metropolitan police are investigating the deaths after police were called to a residential address on Delaford Road in Bermondsey at about 1.40am after reports of a disturbance.
Continue reading...Government lawyers confirm Home Office plan to force small boats back to France has been abandoned
Priti Patel’s refugee pushback policy has been officially withdrawn by the government days before a judicial review of the tactic was due to be heard in the high court.
The government’s legal department acknowledged in a letter on Sunday that the plan to try to force people in dinghies back to France has been abandoned after Boris Johnson’s announcement that the Royal Navy would take over operations in the Channel.
Continue reading...ONS says a quarter of households in survey are struggling to pay bills such as fuel and food
Almost 90% of British households reported an increase in their cost of living last month as they were hit by escalating fuel, food and borrowing costs.
Heaping further pressure on Rishi Sunak to increase his support for those on low and middle incomes, the Office for National Statistics said a quarter of all those in its survey were struggling to pay their bills and 17% had turned to loans or borrowing on credit cards to make ends meet.
Continue reading...Report finds strong support for climate policies among Tory voters despite some MPs’ negative stance
The Conservative party could lose more than 1.3 million voters if the government scraps its net zero target, research suggests.
A report by the centre-right thinktank Onward, which counts the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, among its supporters, has found there is strong support for tackling the climate crisis among Tory voters despite attempts by some on the right of the party to campaign against the measures.
Continue reading...Culture secretary hits out after minister leaves notes for civil servants in empty Whitehall offices
Nadine Dorries has criticised Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister responsible for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, of foisting a “Dickensian” approach to working from home on the civil service.
Rees-Mogg, who has previously been called “the honourable member for the 18th century” has written to cabinet ministers urging them to coerce staff into a “rapid return to the office” and has been leaving notes in empty Whitehall workspaces with the message: “I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”
Continue reading...Mail on Sunday accusation of ‘Basic Instinct ploy’ criticised by cabinet ministers and MPs across Commons
Angela Rayner has hit out at “sexism and misogyny” in politics, as a storm of criticism erupted after a newspaper reported that she crosses and uncrosses her legs during prime minister’s questions to distract Boris Johnson.
Cabinet ministers including Johnson himself, and MPs from across the House of Commons condemned the Mail on Sunday report, which the chair of the House of Commons women and equalities committee, Caroline Nokes, a Conservative, called a “dirty little story”.
Continue reading...Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter, who work on RRS Sir David Attenborough, hope to tie the knot on Monday
Two polar research ship crew members are to become the first same-sex couple to get married in the British Antarctic Territory.
Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter hope to tie the knot on Monday, although it may be pushed back because of the weather.
Continue reading...Luke Symons was captured by Houthi rebels and accused of being a spy but was never put on trial
A British man who was held captive in Yemen without charge or trial for five years has been released from jail.
In 2017, Luke Symons, 30, was detained by Houthi rebels at a security checkpoint on suspicion of espionage.
Continue reading...18th-century bonbonniere was identified after coming up for auction last year and will now go on display
It was an audacious and highly professional heist. At 2am on a June night in 2003, five men wearing balaclavas and blue boilersuits smashed their way through a window at Waddesdon Manor, the extravagant French-style chateau built in Buckinghamshire by the Rothschild banking dynasty.
Despite high security, they grabbed more than 100 gold boxes and other precious objects worth several million pounds – and four minutes later they were gone. Almost all disappeared without trace.
Continue reading...Police appeal for witnesses as fire crews describe blaze as the largest in the area for years
Families have been evacuated from their homes after a wildfire swept across heathland in Dorset, destroying about 17 hectares (42 acres) of wildlife-rich habitat.
Canford Heath in Poole is a 340-hectare nature reserve and site of special scientific interest that is home to rare species including smooth snakes, sand lizards and Dartford warblers, as well as adders, dragonflies and nightjars.
Continue reading...Labour leader says cannot ‘pass over’ the fact prime minister and other officials broke the law
Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s determination to keep pressing the prime minister over parties in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, saying even Conservative MPs were “sick of defending the indefensible”.
Challenged about whether he had focused too much on Partygate, the Labour leader insisted his party could not just “pass over” the fact that Johnson had been issued with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN), along with Rishi Sunak and scores of officials.
Continue reading...Suspect from Bedworth detained after attack on at least 10 people on Saturday
A 33-year-old man who was arrested after at least 10 people were injured in a knife attack has been detained under the Mental Health Act.
It comes after disturbances in Bedworth town centre, north of Coventry, on Saturday morning, in which three people suffered stab wounds, Warwickshire police said.
Continue reading...Of the 750,000 hospitalised, many still report fatigue, muscle pain, insomnia and breathlessness, with women worst affected
Fewer than one in three people who have been hospitalised with Covid-19 have fully recovered a year after they succumbed to infection.
That is the shock finding of a survey into the impact of long Covid in the UK. The team of scientists and doctors at Leicester University also found that women had poorer recovery rates than men after hospitalisation, while obesity was also likely to hinder a person’s prospects of health improvements.
Continue reading...Research into C difficile found antibiotic resistance is growing as a result of overuse on farm stock
Scientists have uncovered evidence that dangerous versions of superbugs can spread from pigs to humans. The discovery underlines fears that intensive use of antibiotics on farms is leading to the spread of microbes resistant to them.
The discovery of the link has been made by Semeh Bejaoui and Dorte Frees of Copenhagen University and Soren Persson at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute and focuses on the superbug Clostridioides difficile, which is considered one of the world’s major antibiotic resistance threats.
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