Mayor of London ‘disgusted’ by recent scandals and suggests he is prepared to try to oust commissioner
The mayor of London has signalled he is prepared to try and oust the Metropolitan police commissioner in days or weeks over a series of scandals.
Sadiq Khan said he was “disgusted and angry” by recent failings and that he thought Cressida Dick lacked a plan to boost confidence in the police force which had been “knocked and shattered”.
Continue reading...John Armitage, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, says PM has gone ’past the point of no return’
A billionaire donor to the Conservative party has suggested that Boris Johnson should resign, saying that the prime minister was “past the point of no return”.
John Armitage, co-founder of the hedge fund firm Egerton Capital, who has given £3.1m to the Conservatives, including more than £500,000 since Boris Johnson entered No 10, told the BBC he thought leaders should leave if they lose their moral authority.
Continue reading...Prime minister follows Donald Trump playbook by tacitly endorsing wild conspiracy theory to score points
What started out as a conspiracy meme on the outer reaches of the internet has, with the help of Boris Johnson, swiftly established itself amid the cocktail of ideas and conspiracies that define the new extreme right.
The protesters who surrounded Keir Starmer on Monday night mostly shouted the word “traitor” – once a term of abuse against pro-EU MPs during the Brexit crisis – as well as “paedophile protector”, a reference to false claims about the Labour leader’s links to the Jimmy Savile case.
Continue reading...Much loved work that appeared in 2018 on a steelworker’s garage heads to England on the back of a lorry
It appeared one winter’s night on a steelworker’s garage, a wondrous piece of street art making points about the innocence of childhood, industrial decay and air pollution.
After a three-year sojourn in the town of Port Talbot, Season’s Greetings, Wales’ first and only Banksy, was craned on to the back of a flatbed lorry and trucked out of the country.
Continue reading...Chris Heaton-Harris takes over as chief whip in shake-up as PM seeks to reassure mutinous Tories
Boris Johnson has made Jacob Rees-Mogg the new minister for “Brexit opportunities” and installed a key loyalist as his chief whip in a reshuffle intended to shore up his position after weeks of terrible headlines.
Rees-Mogg, who was Commons leader, is moved to the Cabinet Office to take on a newly created role as Brexit opportunities minister, a cabinet-level job that also includes “government efficiency”.
Continue reading...Vardy is suing Rooney for libel over allegation that Vardy leaked stories from Rooney’s private Instagram account
Rebekah Vardy said she would “love” to leak stories about Coleen Rooney to the media, according to messages disclosed at the high court.
The court filings suggest Vardy and her former agent Caroline Watt had an ongoing relationship with reporters at the Sun newspaper and discussed at length how to leak stories to the tabloid.
Continue reading...Exclusive: first reported case of attempted international recruitment to IS since US left Afghanistan
Two suspected Islamic State recruits, one of them carrying a British passport, were seized by the Taliban when they tried to slip into Afghanistan last autumn through its northern border, the Guardian can reveal.
The men, who were carrying more than £10,000 in cash, military fatigues and night-vision goggles in their bags, were arrested after a tipoff from Uzbekistan, according to a Taliban source with knowledge of the operation.
Continue reading...Arthur Hughes says decision for 2022 production will allow lived experience to be ‘shown properly’
He is one of Shakespeare’s most reviled characters, distinguished by his “deformed, unfinish’d” figure. Now, for the first time, the Royal Shakespeare Company has cast a disabled actor in the title role of Richard III in a new production opening later this year.
For Arthur Hughes, it is a “dream come true” although his first reaction to being cast as the 15th-century king of England was disbelief. “It’s a part I’ve always wanted to play, it’s a very complex role, and it’s the biggest thing I’ve done,” said Hughes, 30.
Continue reading...MPs defend PM’s wife after criticism of her in extracts from book by Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft
Senior political figures, from Keir Starmer to Sajid Javid, have criticised negative briefings that suggest Carrie Johnson is partly to blame for the troubles of her husband’s premiership.
MPs came to the defence of the prime minister’s wife after the publication of extracts from a new book by the Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft which suggested her “behaviour is preventing [Boris Johnson] from leading Britain as effectively as the voters deserve”.
Continue reading...Police rescue Labour leader from anti-vaxxers shouting ‘traitor’ and ‘Jimmy Savile’ days after PM’s smear of Starmer in parliament
MPs from all sides angrily rounded on Boris Johnson and accused him of whipping up political poison after the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, was set upon by protesters who accused him of protecting the paedophile Jimmy Savile.
Johnson provoked widespread fury last week when he suggested Starmer had protected Savile during his time as director of public prosecutions. The comments drew criticism from two former Tory chief whips and prompted the resignation of a long-serving aide.
Continue reading...A much-loved community space and an essential service, their days now seem numbered
The first thing Rajiv Shrikul does when he opens up his launderette in south Edinburgh each morning is pray. He says the 7am routine, which he started as a young boy in India, helps him cope with the kaleidoscope of personalities that pass through his shop. “Some people are angry, some are generous – you need to have a very stable mind. Meditation calms you down, especially in these hard times.”
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
Continue reading...Durham police confirm they will take no further action against Labour leader over April 2021 incident
Keir Starmer has been cleared of an allegation he broke lockdown rules after he was filmed drinking a beer in an office.
The Labour leader was in the City of Durham MP’s office, working in the run-up to the Hartlepool byelection in April 2021.
Continue reading...Dairy alternative goes on sale at Waitrose this week, the latest offering in a booming alt-milk market worth £400m a year
First came soya, nut and then oat but the new challenger to the plant milk crown is the humble spud as potato milk arrives on UK supermarket shelves.
Described as “deliciously creamy” and capable of producing the “perfect foam” for a homemade latte or cappuccino, the Swedish potato milk brand Dug goes on sale in 220 Waitrose stores this week.
Continue reading...Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the move was ‘an opportunity to reimagine a more meaningful and fulfilling partnership’
The Māori party of New Zealand has called for a “divorce” from the crown and removal of the British royal family as New Zealand’s head of state.
The call came on the 182nd anniversary of the signing of the treaty of Waitangi, or Te Tiriti o Waitangi, New Zealand’s foundational legal document.
Continue reading...Accord signed by Alberto Fernández and Xi Jinping at Winter Olympics also supports Chinese claim to Taiwan
Liz Truss has defended the Falklands as “part of the British family” after China backed Argentina’s claim over the South American islands.
The foreign secretary tweeted that “China must respect the Falklands’ sovereignty” after the Argentinian president, Alberto Fernández, met China’s President Xi on the fringes of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Continue reading...Prime minister may still face more letters of no confidence and revelations from Dominic Cummings
Allies of Boris Johnson have insisted that “grownups” are now in charge of his operation as he heads into critical week for his beleaguered premiership that could see him face a confidence vote and the threat of further damaging revelations.
Tory MPs said Johnson may have bought some time by bringing a new team into No 10. One major Conservative donor, Alexander Temerko, told the Guardian that the prime minister should now take the opportunity to “purge” the cabinet of disloyal leadership rivals.
Continue reading...City in Guangxi, with population of 3.7 million, reportedly under lockdown; James Marape tests positive on arrival at Winter Olympics
Fascinating dispatch from Costa Rica by CNN’s Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo, who reports of the fallout of the country’s decision last November to became the first country in the world to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for minors, with all children five and older required to get vaccinated, barring medical exemptions.
It started as a heated discussion between a father and his son’s doctor. But it quickly escalated to a multi-person fist-fight that shocked the nation.
Inside the St Vincent de Paul hospital in Costa Rica’s Heredia province, not far from the capital San Jose, the argument – over the country’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate – came to blows last week, leading to the arrests of seven people.But this fight proved more consequential than for just the people involved: The incident forced authorities to temporarily close the hospital’s doors, marking a dark moment in the country’s fight against the pandemic and highlighting the debate around its mandatory vaccination policy.
In 2019, 16.1 per cent of private school pupils had their A-levels graded A*. In 2021 — when teachers decided what marks to award their pupils — the proportion jumped to 39.5 per cent.
Research by The Sunday Times shows for the first time the extent of the grade inflation in individual schools. At North London Collegiate School, a girls’ school in Edgware whose senior fees are more than £21,000 a year, the proportion of A* grades soared from 33.8 per cent in 2019 to 90.2 per cent last summer. The 56.4 percentage point increase is the highest recorded in the investigation.
Continue reading...Kristina O’Connor says detective who was investigating after men tried to steal her phone asked her out
A woman is taking legal action against the Metropolitan police after a detective who told her she was “amazingly hot” while investigating her attack kept his job.
Kristina O’Connor, now 33, said she was sent inappropriate messages by DCI James Mason after he responded to her report of an attempted robbery in October 2011.
Continue reading...Serial killer reportedly wrote letter detailing 1996 murders of mother and daughter in Kent
The serial killer Levi Bellfield has reportedly penned a letter confessing to the murders of mother and daughter Lin and Megan Russell in 1996.
The Sun revealed that lawyers acting for Michael Stone, who has twice been found guilty of the murders of Lin and Megan in Kent, have claimed to have received a statement written by Bellfield detailing the killings.
Continue reading...First in line to throne thanks Duchess of Cornwall for support as royal family paves way for her to take title of queen
The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to his “darling wife” the Duchess of Cornwall for her “steadfast support” after the Queen announced that Camilla will be known as “Queen Consort” when Charles becomes king.
In a statement released on Sunday, Charles heralded the Queen for the way her “devotion to the welfare of all her people inspires still greater admiration with each passing year”.
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