Category Archives: UK news

‘Love it’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gives verdict on Scottish favourite Irn-Bru

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US congresswoman posts video of herself sampling the drink at Cop26 after being given a can by Nicola Sturgeon

Cop26 is not short of controversial subjects, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has demonstrated she is not afraid to get stuck into the big questions: namely, would she like the Scottish fizzy drink Irn-Bru?

The bright orange drink has become the surprise curiosity of Cop26, and is on sale throughout the SEC convention centre due to a deal between building’s owners and drinks manufacturer AG Barr. Delegates from all over the world have been sharing their thoughts on its unique taste, with mixed reviews.

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Family of Kenyan woman allegedly murdered by UK soldier to sue MoD

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Agnes Wanjiru’s family instruct law firm to demand answers over her death

The family of a young Kenyan woman allegedly murdered by a British soldier almost a decade ago plans to sue the Ministry of Defence to demand answers over her death.

The body of Agnes Wanjiru, 21, was found in 2012 after she reportedly went out partying with British soldiers at the Lions Court hotel in the central town of Nanyuki, where the UK army has a permanent garrison.

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People testing negative for Covid-19 despite exposure may have ‘immune memory’

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Study says some individuals clear virus rapidly due to a strong immune response from existing T-cells, meaning tests record negative result

We all know that person who, despite their entire household catching Covid-19, has never tested positive for the disease. Now scientists have found an explanation, showing that a proportion of people experience “abortive infection” in which the virus enters the body but is cleared by the immune system’s T-cells at the earliest stage meaning that PCR and antibody tests record a negative result.

About 15% of healthcare workers who were tracked during the first wave of the pandemic in London, England, appeared to fit this scenario.

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Nine in 10 university students in England have had at least one Covid jab

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More than 90% also say they would test if they had symptoms, but poll finds mental health has deteriorated

Far from being irresponsible Covid spreaders, the vast majority of students at English universities have been vaccinated at least once and would request a test if they had symptoms, according to a survey.

Students’ wellbeing has suffered this autumn, however, with a third of those surveyed reporting that their mental health had deteriorated since the start of term, the report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says.

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Half of Britons do not know 6m Jews were murdered in Holocaust

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Survey also finds majority of UK respondents believe fewer people care about Holocaust today than used to

Just over half of Britons did not know that 6 million Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust, and less than a quarter thought that 2 million or fewer were killed, a new survey has found.

The study also found that 67% of UK respondents wrongly believed that the government allowed all or some Jewish immigration, when in fact the British government shut the door to Jewish immigration at the outbreak of the war.

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Prince Harry says ‘Megxit’ is a misogynistic term aimed at his wife Meghan

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Duke of Sussex says the term was created by a troll to describe their decision to quit royal duties, which was then amplified by the press

Prince Harry has said the word “Megxit”, used by the British press to describe the decision by him and his wife Meghan to quit their royal duties, was a misogynistic term.

He said the word was an example of online and media hatred. “Maybe people know this and maybe they don’t, but the term Megxit was or is a misogynistic term, and it was created by a troll, amplified by royal correspondents, and it grew and grew and grew into mainstream media. But it began with a troll,” Harry said. He did not elaborate.

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Iain Duncan Smith accused of ‘brazen conflict of interest’ over £25,000 job

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Ex-Tory leader chaired government taskforce that recommended new rules benefiting firm he was employed by

Iain Duncan Smith is facing questions over his £25,000-a-year second job advising a multimillion-pound hand sanitiser company after he chaired a government taskforce that recommended new rules benefiting the firm.

The MP and former Conservative party leader chaired the Task Force on Innovation, Growth, and Regulatory Reform, which reported back in May after he and two other MPs were asked by Boris Johnson to recommend ways of cutting supposed EU red-tape.

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Covid vaccine to be compulsory for all NHS England staff by April

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Sajid Javid set to confirm to MPs decision to press ahead despite oppositions of unions and some doctors’ organisations

All 1.4 million NHS staff in England will have to be vaccinated against Covid by next spring if they want to keep their jobs, Sajid Javid will confirm to MPs on Tuesday.

The health secretary has decided to press ahead with making jabs compulsory despite health unions and some doctors’ organisations voicing strong opposition.

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Boy, 10, killed by dog in Caerphilly named as Jack Lis

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Mother pays tribute to ‘beautiful’ son attacked while out playing with a friend

A boy who died after being attacked by a dog in Caerphilly in south Wales while he was out playing with a friend has been named as 10-year-old Jack Lis.

Gwent police were called to the Penyrheol area of the town at about 3.55pm on Monday and confirmed Jack had died at the scene. The dog was destroyed by firearms officers, the force said.

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‘She did not deserve to die like this’: family seeks justice for Kenyan woman allegedly killed by UK soldier

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Reports that British soldier confessed to Kenyan woman’s murder in 2012 have deeply affected relatives in Nanyuki

A vibrant sisal plant in a public cemetery on the outskirts of Nanyuki in Kenya marks the grave of Agnes Wanjiru, the woman allegedly murdered by a British soldier in March 2012.

It is easy to miss the grave due to heavy undergrowth in the unkempt cemetery.

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Randox: how one-man-band operation became a Covid testing giant

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Healthcare firm named in Owen Paterson lobbying scandal has won £500m in UK government contracts

As the Covid-19 pandemic swept towards the UK, a senior employee of the healthcare firm Randox addressed an audience of horse racing royalty, gathered amid the neoclassical splendour of St George’s Hall in Liverpool.

Randox, which had garnered a role within the “sport of kings” via its sponsorship of the Grand National, had developed a test for Covid-19, he told them.

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Bitcoin price surges to record high of more than $68,000

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Other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum also reach records as investors hedge against inflation

The bitcoin price has reached a new record high, breaking through $68,000 (£50,000), and analysts predict that the world’s best-known cryptocurrency will rise further in the coming weeks.

This beats the previous record high set in late October, when bitcoin reached nearly $67,700 before falling back again when investors discovered a new cryptocurrency, shiba inu. Other cryptocurrencies have also risen to record highs, such as ethereum, which soared to $4,837.

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At least a quarter of Tory MPs have second jobs, earning over £4m a year

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More than 90 Tory members do paid work on the side compared with very few Labour politicians, finds analysis

More than a quarter of Tory MPs have second jobs with firms whose activities range from gambling to private healthcare, making more than £4m in extra earnings in a year, Guardian analysis has found.

The register of MPs’ interests shows that more than 90 out of 360 Tories have extra jobs on top of their work in parliament, compared with three from Labour. They are overwhelmingly older and 86% are men. The highest earners were all former cabinet ministers.

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Cop26: Obama criticises China and Russia for ‘dangerous absence of urgency’ – day eight live

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Day eight at the Glasgow summit focuses on loss, adaptation and damage

The fossil fuel industry has hundreds of people accredited to the key climate talks in Glasgow - giving the sector a bigger delegation than any country, campaigners have claimed.

Analysis of the UN’s provisional list of named attendees suggests 503 delegates at Cop26 who are either directly affiliated with fossil fuel companies or are part of country delegations but are affiliated to oil, gas or coal firms, PA reports.

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Johnson refuses to apologise over Paterson vote after No 10 says he will miss sleaze debate – UK politics live

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Latest updates: prime minister also does not rule out peerage for Paterson; No 10 says PM will not attend debate as he will be on a train then

The Downing Street lobby briefing is over, and the prime minister’s spokesman has confirmed that Boris Johnson will not be speaking in, or attending, the sleaze/standards/corruption debate in the Commons this afternoon.

And he won’t be watching it on the TV in his office afterwards; he is on a visit to a hospital in the north-east. No 10 signalled that he would not be able to be able to return to London in time for the debate because the rail timetable did not allow this.

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RSPCA investigates after huntswoman filmed kicking and punching a horse

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Naturalist Chris Packham calls for legal action over ‘appalling abuse’ at Hertfordshire event

The RSPCA is investigating after a woman was filmed by a hunt saboteur group apparently punching and kicking a horse.

The woman was condemned by the anti-hunting campaigners, as well as the naturalist Chris Packham and the organisation that oversees hunting with hounds in the UK.

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Broken covers: collector puts world’s worst album art on show

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Steve Goldman’s first rule is ‘it has to make me laugh’, and he is sharing the fun with public in Huddersfield

There’s the album cover with the band as rabbits, or the one with a harmony duo walking out of water dressed only in their underwear and ties, but surely the most baffling is the concert guitarist pictured in dinner jacket and no trousers.

Why? “I’ve no idea, sorry,” says Steve Goldman, who owns about 300 records that can lay claim to having some of the world’s worst cover art.

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Belarus escorts hundreds of migrants towards Polish border

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Column of up to 500 people including children led by border guards in escalation of deadly crisis

Belarusian authorities have escorted as many as 500 people, most of whom are from the Middle East, to the Polish border in an escalation of a deadly crisis that has already left people desperate to reach the EU trapped between borders and at least seven dead due to exposure.

Videos published by Belarusian media on Monday showed armed Belarusian border guards in combat fatigues escorting the column of people, which included families with children, along a highway from the border town of Bruzgi and towards a forest that runs alongside Poland’s Podlaskie region.

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Australia shark attack: British victim hailed as ‘wonderful father’

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Perth police have called off search for Paul Millachip, 57, saying it is apparent that attack was fatal

The wife of a man who is believed to have been killed by sharks off Australia’s west coast has paid tribute to a “wonderful father” .

Paul Millachip, 57, who is understood to have been from the UK, was last seen in the water on Saturday by two teenagers who witnessed what they believed was a shark attack off Port Beach in North Fremantle, Perth.

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