Category Archives: UK news

Emergency visa scheme extended in major U-turn by Boris Johnson

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Threat of Christmas being ruined by driver shortages forces ministers to expand range and duration of visas

Boris Johnson’s government has made a dramatic U-turn in an attempt to save Christmas – with a raft of extended emergency visas to help abate labour shortages that have led to empty shelves and petrol station queues.

New immigration measures will allow 300 fuel drivers to arrive immediately and stay until the end of March, while 100 army drivers will take to the roads from Monday, the government announced late on Friday.

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Police log 10,000 indecent exposure cases, but fewer than 600 reach court

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Exclusive: England and Wales figures show ‘epidemic’ of flashing against women, after allegations against Wayne Couzens emerged

Women are facing an “epidemic” of flashing and other forms of indecent exposure, with police in England and Wales recording more than 10,000 cases last year but taking fewer than 600 people to court over them, Guardian analysis reveals.

The findings come after Wayne Couzens was reported for repeated instances of alleged indecent exposure in the years and days before he raped and murdered Sarah Everard, but faced no action. Police accepted they may have had enough clues to identify the police officer as a threat to women sooner, amid fears that flashing is a gateway to other sex crimes.

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Coronavirus treatments: the potential ‘game-changers’ in development

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After positive clinical trials for antiviral drug Molnupiravir, it joins other medicines that have shown promise

The first clinical trial results showing a positive effect for a pill that can be taken at home has been hailed as a potential gamechanger that could provide a new way to protect the most vulnerable people from the worst effects of Covid-19. Molnupiravir joins a growing list of medicines that have shown promise. Here are some of the main developments in treatments so far.

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Met officers investigated over Couzens WhatsApp group are still on duty

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Exclusive: under-fire force places two police officers on restricted duties, while other forces suspend officers

Two Metropolitan police officers allegedly involved in a chat group that included Wayne Couzens that swapped alleged misogynistic and racist messages have been left on duty after being placed under criminal investigation, the Guardian has learned.

The two Met officers are said to have been part of a WhatsApp group involving constables from three forces that is under investigation after Couzens’s phone was seized following his arrest for the murder of Sarah Everard in March.

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Diana: The Musical review – a right royal debacle so bad you’ll hyperventilate

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This filmed version of the Broadway show, with its accidental comedy and cringeworthy lines, is a guilty-pleasures singalong in waiting

And … so … it’s … springtime for glamour and victimhood, winter for Windsors and Charles. Netflix have now given us the filmed version of the entirely gobsmacking and jawdropping Broadway show Diana: The Musical, shot at the Longacre theatre on West 48th Street last summer with no audience while the show itself was on pause due to the Covid pandemic. And while you’re waiting for Pablo Larraín’s movie Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Diana, this will have to do. Although there is a danger it will cause you to hyperventilate.

Not since the Cats movie have I literally shouted from my seat: “What? What? WHAT?” Only by having Diana ride on stage on the back of a Jellicle cat could this be more bizarre. If it was deliberate satire it would be genius, but it’s not. It’s a saucer-eyed retelling of the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, with bobbing chorus lines of footmen and flunkies who with a costume change morph into step-in-time phalanxes of snarling tabloid hacks, while Diana solemnly warbles downstage about her loneliness and determination in a pool of follow spotlight.

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Fruit sculptures in Hackney honour Windrush generation

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Veronica Ryan creates UK’s first permanent artwork dedicated to people affected by the scandal

The first permanent artwork to honour the Windrush generation in the UK has been unveiled in the east London borough of Hackney, as councils across the country kick off the first day of Black History Month.

The work, created by the artist Veronica Ryan, is one of two permanent sculptures that symbolise the council’s respect and commitment to the Windrush generation and their legacy and contribution to the area. The second, by Thomas J Price, will be unveiled next spring.

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The raging return of Idles: ‘We’ve always used violence as part of our vocabulary’

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After scoring a No 1 in lockdown, the post-punk band’s singer Joe Talbot reflects on writing about car crashes, substance abuse and Rishi Sunak on their new album

Towards the end of Idles’ upcoming fourth album, Crawler, lead singer Joe Talbot comes to a euphoric realisation. “In spite of it all,” the 37-year-old howls, “life is beautiful.”

It’s an apt conclusion for a band who have endured personal tragedy and childhood trauma, and in just four years cemented their status as the face of British post-punk. Their debut album, Brutalism, burst forth with Talbot raging about rape culture (“Sexual violence doesn’t start and end with rape / It starts in our books and behind our school gates,” he shouts on fan favourite Mother), NHS funding and white privilege. Its follow-up Joy As an Act of Resistance swiped at toxic masculinity via similarly seething anthems and catapulted its creators to No 5 in the UK album chart. Last year’s Ultra Mono, a more diversified flurry of synths, pianos and hummed vocals, did even better, finding its way to No 1.

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Sarah Everard case: people stopped by lone officer could ‘wave down a bus’, says Met

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Minister speaks of ‘devastating blow’ as Scotland Yard suggests actions to take if feeling unsafe

Police will have to work hard to rebuild public confidence after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, a minister has said, as Scotland Yard said people stopped by a lone plainclothes officer should challenge their legitimacy and could try “waving a bus down” to escape a person they believe is pretending to be police.

Wayne Couzens, who joined the Metropolitan police in 2018, was handed a rare whole-life sentence on Thursday for the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old Everard as she walked home in south London in March.

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Scottish Covid vaccine passport app hit by problems after launch

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NHS app needed to enter nightclubs, large events and for overseas travel, but users complain it does not work

Scotland’s Covid vaccine passport app is experiencing problems hours after its launch.

The app, which proves someone is fully vaccinated, is needed from Friday to enter nightclubs, large events and for overseas travel. But a number of users have complained it does not work and that the app cannot find their data.

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Flu and Covid jabs safe to be given at same time, study finds

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Clinical trial on joint flu, Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccinations reported only mild to moderate side-effects

Flu jabs are safe to give at the same time as the Pfizer or AstraZeneca Covid vaccines, according to the first clinical trial to investigate co-administering the shots in a single appointment.

While some people experienced more side-effects with certain combinations of flu and Covid shots, the ailments were mainly mild to moderate, the study found. The most common side effects included pain at the injection site and temporary fatigue, headache or muscle pain.

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Sarah Everard’s killer might have been identified as threat sooner, police admit

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Details of indecent exposure claims emerge as ex-Met officer Wayne Couzens is given whole-life sentence

Police have accepted they may have had enough clues to identify Wayne Couzens as a threat to women before he raped and killed Sarah Everard..

Couzens was handed a rare whole-life sentence on Thursday, meaning he will spend the rest of his life in jail. The judge said his crimes were as serious as a terrorist atrocity because he abused his powers as a police officer to commit them.

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Oh my days: linguists lament slang ban in London school

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Exclusive: ‘like’, ‘bare’, ‘that’s long’ and ‘cut eyes at me’ among terms showing up in pupils’ work now vetoed in classroom

A London secondary school is trying to stop its pupils from using “basically” at the beginning of sentences and deploying phrases such as “oh my days” in a crackdown on “fillers” and “slang” in the classroom.

Ark All Saints academy has produced lists of “banned” language which includes “he cut his eyes at me”, which the Collins dictionary says originates in the Caribbean and means to look rudely at a person and then turn away sharply while closing one’s eyes dismissively.

Ermmm …

Because …

No …

Like …

Say …

You see …

You know …

Basically …

He cut his eyes at me (he shot me a withering sidelong glance)

Oh my days (my goodness)

Oh my God

That’s a neck (you need a slap for that)

Wow

That’s long (that’s boring, tough or tedious)

Bare (very, extremely)

Cuss (swear or abuse)

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Sarah Everard: Wayne Couzens to be sentenced for kidnap, rape and murder

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Met officer used police ID card and handcuffs to lure Everard into car before killing her and burning body

The former Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens is to be sentenced for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, amid calls for a formal law to set out the rights of victims.

Couzens, 48, used his police warrant card and handcuffs to lure Everard off the street before strangling her with his police belt and burning her body, depriving her family of the chance to say a final goodbye, a court heard.

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Stephanie Grisham book sheds light on Trump’s bizarre brushes with world leaders

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Memoir reveals Trump once discussed strength of kangaroos in meeting with UK PM – one of the few European leaders he liked

Boris Johnson once devoted a considerable part of a meeting with Donald Trump to discussing how strong kangaroos are, as the British prime minister struck up a robust relationship with a fellow “pudgy white guy with crazy hair”.

In contrast, the then US president considered his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, “a wuss”.

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Cutting methane should be a key Cop26 aim, research suggests

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Oil and gas producers could reduce emissions at low cost or even at a profit by staunching leaks, says thinktank

Sharp cuts in methane from leaking gas drilling platforms and production sites could play a major role in the greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary to fulfil the Paris climate agreement, and should be a key aim for the Cop26 UN climate talks, new research suggests.

Cutting global emissions of methane by 40% by 2030 is achievable, with most cuts possible at low cost or even at a profit for companies such as oil and gas producers. It would make up for much of the shortfall in emissions reductions plans from national governments, according to the Energy Transitions Commission thinktank.

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Boris Johnson expected to announce new armed forces chief this week

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Navy chief Tony Radakin and SAS general Sir Patrick Sanders are frontrunners for the position

Boris Johnson has interviewed five candidates to head Britain’s armed forces with navy chief Adm Tony Radakin and the general responsible for the SAS Sir Patrick Sanders frontrunners for the job.

Defence sources said the prime minister had been advised to pick a new military leader with “operational experience” to replace the outgoing Gen Sir Nick Carter, whose credibility was damaged by the chaotic exit from Afghanistan.

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Keir Starmer promises ‘serious plan for government’ in conference speech

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Labour leader attacks Boris Johnson as ‘a showman with nothing left to show’ in keynote address

Keir Starmer has used a 90-minute conference speech to urge former Labour voters to return to the party, promising he will never “go into an election with a manifesto that is not a serious plan for government”.

In his first in-person address to a Labour conference since becoming leader, Starmer sought to present himself as a serious, focused contrast to the “trivial” approach of Boris Johnson, recounting his background, his “two rocks” of family and work, and his career as a lawyer and director of public prosecutions.

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France cool on efforts by Australia to repair Aukus rift damage

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Élysée says future talks must have substance after Canberra’s decision to cancel submarine contract

France has said any future talks between Emmanuel Macron and the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, over the fallout from Canberra’s decision to tear up a €56bn (£48bn) submarine deal will have to be “seriously prepared” and have “substance”.

The Élysée Palace has denied it is refusing to take Morrison’s calls, saying the president is “always available to talk on the phone”, but has admitted it is not in any hurry to resume contact with Canberra.

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At least 15 serving or former police have killed women in UK since 2009 – report

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Majority of the women killed by former officers had been their partners, according to the Femicide Census

Women have been killed by at least 15 serving or former police officers in the UK since 2009, new figures reveal.

The majority of the women killed by former officers had been their partners, according to data from the Femicide Census first reported by the Times.

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