Airports report long waits because of Covid checks and staff shortages, as tourist traffic eases near Dover
Passengers faced long queues at Heathrow and Manchester airports as the Easter holidays got under way.
Travellers vented frustration on social media as Covid checks, high passenger volumes and reported staff shortages and e-gate problems meant long waits for check-in at Heathrow.
Continue reading...High demand for crackers, wreaths and trees as sales soar beyond traditional bunnies and chocolate
Traditionally a time for bonnets, bunnies and a surfeit of chocolate, Easter has increasingly taken on a new aspect, and more so since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
Easter crackers, Easter wreaths, and Easter trees are now critical components in the commercialisation of the Christian festival, with the bank holiday beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Continue reading...As The Full Monty is remade, entertainers are being booked for gigs in suburban and rural areas
With filming under way in Sheffield and Manchester for the remake of 1990s cult classic The Full Monty, the UK’s male strip scene is undergoing a makeover of its own, and paving the way for changes expected right across the entertainment industry as punters avoid city centre nightlife in favour of at-home entertainment.
Covid led to a surge in activities organised by and for local communities as people were confined to their immediate area. With restrictions lifted across the UK, many entertainers who spent the pandemic struggling for business are now increasingly being booked for out-of-town gigs in suburban and rural areas, and in venues such as social clubs, apartments and even old people’s homes – rather than city centre bars and nightclubs.
Continue reading...Bosses said to have been unhappy with choice of candidates after all-female shortlist was produced
BBC bosses have readvertised the job of political editor after being unhappy with the choice of candidates to replace Laura Kuenssberg in one of the most influential roles in British journalism.
Following weeks of interviews and an extensive recruitment process, the corporation had produced an all-female shortlist for the role, with ITV News’s Anushka Asthana and Sky News’s Sophy Ridge believed to be the final two candidates. An announcement on which of them would get the job had been expected to coincide with Kuenssberg stepping down last week.
Continue reading...Firms say they need the kind of help that EU competitors get as gas and electricity prices soar
Britain’s strategic heavy industries have warned they risk being left high and dry by a lack of support in the government’s upcoming energy strategy, warning that failure to follow European countries’ measures to reduce gas and electricity costs will put UK businesses at risk.
The government is expected to outline long-awaited proposals this week for a once-in-a-generation drive to invest in nuclear power and possibly more onshore wind and solar power, as well as approving continued North Sea oil and gas exploration.
Continue reading...Grant Shapps says invasion is ‘wake-up call’ but onshore wind plan seems to have been scaled down
A cabinet minister has rejected calls for the UK to consider rationing energy, as a plan to drastically increase onshore wind power also appeared to be significantly scaled back.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been a “massive wake-up call” for western nations about their dependence on imported oil and gas, which European countries are now trying to wean themselves off.
Continue reading...From the scary to the truly weird, our nights were full of apt visions in the early days of the pandemic, a study at University College London found
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Trapped inside a house, stuck inside a vehicle that wouldn’t move, unable to complete seemingly simple tasks: this was the stuff that dreams were made on during lockdown, according to new research from University College London.
Analysis of more than 850 dreams and nightmares submitted online to the Lockdown Dreams Project between March 2020 and March 2021 shows people often dreamed about having frustrating and restrictive experiences in mundane, everyday settings, like the home, at the height of the pandemic.
Continue reading...A new TV documentary alleges that children as young as 10 are using machetes to harvest pods
The food giant that owns the Cadbury brand is embroiled in fresh allegations of employing child labour after an investigation obtained footage of children working with machetes on cocoa farms in its supply chain.
Children as young as 10 have allegedly been found working in Ghana to harvest cocoa pods to supply Mondelēz International, which owns Cadbury. Campaigners say the farmers are being paid less than £2 a day and can’t afford to hire adult workers.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. Read the latest live developments in the Russia-Ukraine war here.
Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has said Russia’s position on Crimea and Donbas remains unchanged and that peace talks had not progressed enough for a leaders’ meeting.
Medinsky’s comments appear to be a rebuttal of earlier reports suggesting Moscow had “verbally” agreed to key Ukrainian proposals.
A Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia told media on Saturday that Russia had “given an official answer to all positions, which is that they accept the (Ukrainian) position, except for the issue of Crimea (which was annexed by Russia in 2014).”
Ukrainian forces liberating the town near Kyiv find streets littered with corpses of civilians and burned-out Russian tanks
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The retreat of Russian forces around Kyiv has left horrifying evidence of atrocities against civilians littered across the region’s suburbs and towns, turned into hellish war zones by Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
As Ukrainian armoured columns rolled into Bucha, a town north-west of the capital, they found streets blocked by burned-out Russian tanks and military vehicles, and strewn with the bodies of civilians whom locals said had been killed by the invading forces without provocation.
Continue reading...Ministers are considering another postponement to border controls amid fears of supply chain problems and higher prices
Government plans to waive border checks on goods from the EU – including food and livestock – will put the country at risk of importing devastating infectious diseases such as African swine fever and compound serious damage to UK trade caused by Brexit.
The double warning has been issued by the British Veterinary Association (BVA) as ministers consider yet another postponement of post-Brexit inspections because of fears that checks will slow supply chains, add to bureaucracy and increase prices in shops at a time when UK consumers are already facing a cost of living crisis.
Continue reading...Entrepreneur Selman Turk is being sued by a Turkish millionairess, in a case involving a payment to the Duke of York
When the Turkish entrepreneur Selman Turk launched a new digital bank three years ago, he was entering a crowded market of online start-ups hoping to grab business from the traditional banks.
It seemed there was little to distinguish the new London-based venture, Heyman A, from a host of other contenders. It had a rudimentary website, meagre funding compared to some of its digital rivals and no banking licence. “We are building a good bank for good people,” said its website. A footnote added that it was “in the application process” to become a bank in the UK.
Continue reading...Duke of York wrote about his experience in the conflict in a post on his ex-wife’s Instagram account that was quickly deleted
The Duke of York said he returned from the Falklands war “a changed man” in a piece posted to his ex-wife’s Instagram account.
Andrew, who reached a multimillion-pound out-of-court settlement in a civil sexual assault case a few weeks ago, wrote more than 700 words about his experience in the Falklands.
Continue reading...P-28 plane took off from airfield in Warwickshire and was bound for Le Touquet in northern France
Rescue teams have carried out a search in the Channel after a plane flying from the UK with two people onboard went missing.
The French coastguard told Sky News the aircraft is the “subject of a worrying disappearance” and a search for the plane was carried out “all afternoon”.
Continue reading...Deputy defence minister says territory is ‘liberated from the invader’ as disturbing images in Bucha show bodies had been bound and hooded
At least 158 children have been killed and more than 254 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, the country’s office of the prosecutor general has said.
The office said two of the fatalities were among 13 people killed when Russian forces fired at civilian cars on a highway in Chernihiv around 18 March.
Continue reading...Country’s biggest trade unions are taking on scores of employers to challenge low wage and salary offers
Unionised workers are increasingly prepared to challenge inadequate pay offers and take strike action to ensure wages keep up with the sharply rising cost of living, amid signs that workplace militancy is growing in parts of the economy.
Some of the UK’s biggest unions are battling scores of firms at the same time, with the number of industrial disputes well above pre-pandemic levels. GMB members entered into dispute with 42 employers between October 2021 and March 2022 – seven times the number of disputes in the same period in 2019-20. Unite members are currently involved in 30 disputes in England – almost four times the reported number involving the union three years ago.
Continue reading...Report follows Turkish millionaire’s claim in high court that her financial adviser said cash was for help with passport application
One of the Duke of York’s senior aides told bankers that a now disputed cash payment to the prince was for his daughter Princess Beatrice’s wedding, it has been reported.
In 2019, Andrew received £750,000 from Nebahat Isbilen, a Turkish millionaire and wife of a former leading politician, who has claimed in the high court that she was told by her financial adviser Selman Turk to pay the sum to the prince in return for assistance with a passport application. It was later claimed in court documents that this was a false representation.
Continue reading...Gardeners warned of frost damage to blooms on Saturday night ahead of a week of unsettled weather
The UK is braced for more wintry weather across the weekend with frost creeping in overnight and temperatures set to plummet as low as minus 6C in some areas.
Forecasters said the “peaks and troughs” of spring will hit most of the country over the next week, with sunny spells and windy intervals expected in most regions.
Continue reading...The prime minister fails to feature on a number of Tory flyers for the 5 May polls, but his opponents are putting him front and centre
After his ratings plunged in the wake of “partygate” and as his government faces demands to act over the cost of living, it may be a surprise to discover that Boris Johnson’s face can be found on leaflets for the forthcoming local elections. Unfortunately for the prime minister, it is not his own party’s literature that features his image.
The Observer has seen Conservative leaflets circulated in London, the Midlands and the north of England in recent weeks. None of them shows Johnson, once regarded as the Tory politician able to reach voters that no one else in his party could.
Continue reading...Met commissioner to step down on 10 April, with search for replacement expected to take months
Cressida Dick will leave her role as commissioner of the Metropolitan police with a payoff of £166,000, the Guardian understands.
Dick announced her resignation in February after clashing with the London mayor, Sadiq Khan. She officially ceases to be commissioner on 24 April.
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