Category Archives: UK news

Lego doubles profits as demand soars beyond Covid-19 lockdown

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Brick brand says it does not not expect problems with Christmas stock despite global supply crisis

Lego profits more than doubled in the first six months of the year as brick fans stayed home to build Star Wars and Harry Potter models even after the Covid-19 lockdown ended.

The Danish toymaker was one of the winners from Covid restrictions as children and adults turned to its model kits to occupy themselves – and that trend has continued. Sales jumped 43% to DKr23bn (£2.6bn) in the first six months of 2021 while net profits surged 140% to DKr6.3bn.

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Northern Irish unionist parties form alliance to oppose Brexit protocol

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Four parties including DUP and Ulster Unionists issue statement warning of ‘grave damage’ under new rules

Four rival unionist parties in Northern Ireland have formed an alliance to fight the Brexit protocol, issuing a joint statement weeks after the Democratic Unionist party threatened to quit Stormont if it was not scrapped.

It is seen as a significant attempt to show that the DUP’s hardline position is not isolated before the expected publication by the EU of fresh proposals to address UK demands to substantially rewrite the protocol.

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Revealed: exploitation of meat plant workers rife across UK and Europe

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Thousands of outsourced workers on inferior pay and conditions to fulfil demand for cheap meat, Guardian investigation shows

Read more: ‘The whole system is rotten’: life inside Europe’s meat industry

Meat companies across Europe have been hiring thousands of workers through subcontractors, agencies and bogus co-operatives on inferior pay and conditions, a Guardian investigation has found.

Workers, officials and labour experts have described how Europe’s £190bn meat industry has become a global hotspot for outsourced labour, with a floating cohort of workers, many of whom are migrants, with some earning 40% to 50% less than directly employed staff in the same factories.

The Guardian has uncovered evidence of a two-tier employment system with workers subjected to sub-standard pay and conditions to fulfil the meat industry’s need for a replenishable source of low-paid, hyper-flexible workers.

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Rare white stag killed by police after running through Merseyside streets

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Animal welfare experts urged officers to let deer find its way home but police say they were left ‘no option’

A rare white stag was killed by police on Sunday evening after it spent hours running through a Merseyside town, despite animal welfare experts urging officers to let it find its way home.

Merseyside police say that they were unable to find an organisation who could help safely recover the deer from Bootle, and so were forced to euthanise it out of concerns for motorists.

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End to freedom of movement behind UK fuel crisis, says Merkel’s likely successor

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Olaf Scholz, poised to become next chancellor, wades into row over HGV driver shortage

The centre-left politician in pole position to replace Angela Merkel as German chancellor has pinpointed the decision to end freedom of movement with Europe after Brexit as the reason for Britain’s petrol crisis.

Olaf Scholz, who is seeking to form a coalition government after the SPD emerged as the biggest party in Germany’s federal elections, said he hoped Boris Johnson would be able to deal with the consequences of the UK’s exit from the EU.

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‘Getting into Europe is a relief every time’: an HGV driver reflects on UK crisis

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Christopher Johns talks about what conditions are like for drivers in the UK and whether any solutions might be forthcoming

Christopher Johns, 37, from Burwash, Sussex, has been an HGV driver for more than 10 years, and drives long distance in UK and Europe. Here he speaks about what conditions are like for HGV drivers in the UK, and why he feels there may be no quick solution to the current truck driver crisis.

“I’m always staggered by how much truck drivers have been taken for granted in the UK. We work so hard for very little money. Our wages have desperately needed improving for such a long time. A friend’s starting salary at Lidl is the same as that of many trucker friends. I could earn more if I did temp work, like many others do, but I have a wife and three kids, I need job security. I only earn enough now because I do a lot of overseas work, where you get bigger expenses allowances.

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‘It’s awkward’: how UK workers hired remotely feel returning to the office

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For some, finally meeting their colleagues face-to-face has come with a few nasty surprises

Alexandra was delighted when she landed a new job in the midst of the pandemic. The 55-year-old felt she had bonded with her new colleagues online and looked forward to meeting them face-to-face once the lockdown was over.

But when she finally went into the office, she had a nasty realisation. “I strongly suspect that they would not have hired me, had they met me in person during the interview process,” she said.

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Online child abuse survey finds third of viewers attempt contact with children

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Largest major survey of its kind finds 70% of respondents first saw child sexual abuse material when they were under 18

The largest major survey of people who watch online child sexual abuse has found that one-third of respondents attempted to directly contact a child as a result of the illegal images they watched online.

The survey, by Protect Children, a Finnish human rights group, was posted on the “dark web” so users would find it while actively searching for illegal content of children. The analysis was based on more than 5,000 people who responded initially to the survey about why and how they watched children being abused online, although 10,000 responses have been received so far.

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Covid has wiped out years of progress on life expectancy, finds study

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Pandemic behind biggest fall in life expectancy in western Europe since second world war, say researchers

The Covid pandemic has caused the biggest decrease in life expectancy in western Europe since the second world war, according to a study.

Data from most of the 29 countries – spanning most of Europe, the US and Chile – that were analysed by scientists recorded reductions in life expectancy last year and at a scale that wiped out years of progress.

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Javid accuses Starmer of denying ‘scientific fact’ in trans rights row

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Labour leader says it is not right to say ‘only women have a cervix’ and calls for ‘respectful debate’ over issue

Labour and the Conservatives have clashed on the issue of trans rights, as Sir Keir Starmer said it was wrong to say “only women have a cervix” and the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said this was a “total denial of scientific fact”.

The Labour leader called for laws to go further to protect trans rights after he was asked about one of his MPs, Rosie Duffield, who said “only women have a cervix”.

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Boris Johnson to consider using army to supply petrol stations

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Ministers to discuss emergency plan Operation Escalin after BP reveals a third of its forecourts have shortages

Hundreds of soldiers could be scrambled to deliver fuel to petrol stations running dry across the country due to panic buying and a shortage of drivers under an emergency plan expected to be considered by Boris Johnson on Monday.

The prime minister will gather senior members of the cabinet to scrutinise “Operation Escalin” after BP admitted that a third of its petrol stations had run out of the main two grades of fuel, while the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents almost 5,500 independent outlets, said 50% to 90% of its members had reported running out. It predicted that the rest would soon follow.

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Tom Fletcher and Strictly partner test positive for Covid

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McFly singer and dancer Amy Dowden will miss next Saturday’s show while in separate isolation

The Strictly Come Dancing contestant Tom Fletcher and his professional partner, Amy Dowden, have tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss next Saturday’s live show, the BBC has said.

Fletcher, one of the lead vocalists from McFly, and Dowden had performed well in their first dance during this weekend’s show.

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Spice Girl among stars to begin phone-hacking claims against Murdoch empire

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Melanie Chisholm, Boyzone’s Shane Lynch and S Club 7’s Hannah Spearritt latest to allege voicemail interception

A group of 1990s pop stars are among the latest individuals to launch phone-hacking cases against Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, as the scandal that has dogged the company for more than 15 years continues to rumble on at the high court.

Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls, Shane Lynch from Boyzone, Hannah Spearritt from S Club 7, and Steps’s Ian Watkins and Lee Latchford-Evans have recently filed claims against the company.

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Covid live: more than 70 million Americans still unvaccinated; brawls mar reopening of bars in Norway

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States including Idaho and Kansas report throwing away thousands of expired doses; clashes in Norway as bars, restaurants and nightclubs reopen

Here is a round-up of all the top Covid stories from the UK and around the world so far today:

A decline in public services in the UK could be hidden behind a “Covid crisis smokescreen”, unions have warned.

It comes amid calls from union chiefs for rail and bus services to be renationalised to avert “disastrous” cuts to services and jobs and increases in fares.

People just will not travel on trains if fares go up, and coupled with the new ways of working, there is a real danger that the railways will be hollowed out.

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‘We’ve signed Ronaldo’: could other banks follow Goldman Sachs to Birmingham?

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As the bank hires nearly 100 staff in the city, the region’s mayor hopes to attract more big firms

Investment bankers are rarely compared to football stars. But when the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, formally welcomed Goldman Sachs to Birmingham this month, he likened its arrival to one of the summer’s big transfer moves.

“I hope this isn’t inappropriate,” he said, addressing a crowd of Goldman staff gathered at the city’s newly refurbished Grand Hotel. “I think you probably are the Cristiano Ronaldo moment. You’re the big one to secure.”

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Man arrested over killing of London schoolteacher Sabina Nessa

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Police say they are questioning 36-year-old on suspicion of murder in ‘significant development’

Detectives are questioning a 36-year-old man on suspicion of the murder of the London schoolteacher Sabina Nessa, in what they called a “significant development” in the case.

The man was arrested at 3am on Sunday at an address in East Sussex and was taken into police custody. He is the third man arrested over the killing.

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UK urged to resettle fleeing Afghan women’s football team

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Leeds United have offered support but players face return to Taliban regime unless accepted soon

The UK government is being asked to urgently resettle female players from Afghanistan’s junior football team who fled the Taliban and have been offered a new life with Leeds United.

The 35 young women – many of whom are in their teens – their families and football coaches are in Lahore, Pakistan, on 30-day visas. But the 136-strong group face returning to Afghanistan unless they are accepted by a third country soon – they have to leave Pakistan by 12 October.

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European lorry drivers ‘will not want to come to UK’, warn haulage chiefs

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Emergency visa plan will not resolve Britain’s road transport crisis, says industry as majority blame Brexit in poll

The government’s emergency programme to issue temporary visas to thousands of lorry drivers is far too little to resolve Britain’s supply-chain crisis and is unlikely to attract them to the UK, haulage chiefs have warned.

Downing Street on Saturday night confirmed hastily compiled plans to add 5,000 HGV drivers and 5,500 poultry workers to a visa scheme until Christmas, to help the food and fuel industries with shortages.

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Starmer faces wave of anger over Labour conference chaos

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Labour leader bids to stem damage after defeat on rules as deputy Rayner furious over unnecessary conflict

Keir Starmer is battling to restore authority over the Labour party after a bruising defeat at the hands of unions and the left sparked a storm of criticism over his performance as leader.

Ahead of a conference billed as the moment when Starmer would introduce himself as a future prime minister to the British people, the Labour leader on Saturday was forced to withdraw plans to limit the role of party members, and increase that of MPs, in selecting future party leaders, after the unions united in opposition to block the move.

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Chilled food delivery group collapses putting over 400 jobs at risk

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EVCL Chill goes into administration hit by severe driver shortages and loss of customers

More than 400 jobs are at risk after a chilled food delivery business collapsed into administration – in part as a result of the driver shortage.

EVCL Chill, based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, had struggled after the loss of a number of customers over the past year and severe driver shortages, administrators PwC said.

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