Category Archives: UK news

UK weather: lightning strikes homes in Hampshire as country hit by storms

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Yellow weather warning issued for southern England and Wales with risk of difficult driving conditions

A 70-year-old woman has escaped unharmed after two homes were partially destroyed by a lightning strike in Hampshire, with thunderstorms and heavy rain expected across the south of the UK this weekend.

After several days of sunny skies and scorching temperatures, the Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning in southern England and Wales for Saturday and Sunday, advising that frequent lightning, thundery rain and strong winds are expected.

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Boris Johnson wants to mimic Tony Blair’s project, say No 10 sources

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PM wants to echo Blair’s promise of an ‘opportunity society’ and energise those who feel left behind

Boris Johnson intends to mimic aspects of Tony Blair’s political project in the hope of winning over more voters in former Labour heartlands, Downing Street sources have revealed.

While the Conservatives’ 2019-intake MPs are more likely to model themselves on Margaret Thatcher than the former Labour prime minister, No 10 insiders said Johnson had been studying Blair’s approach.

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Esther Dingley family call for clarity after claim human remains found in Pyrenees

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Family of missing British hiker have been informed of report and are seeking ‘urgent clarification’, says charity representing them

The charity representing the family of British hiker Esther Dingley says it is seeking urgent clarification after reports emerged that possible human remains had been found close to where the woman went missing in the Pyrenees.

LBT Global said in a statement posted to Facebook it was “aware of the discovery of what MAY be human remains close to the last known location of Esther DINGLEY. We are urgently seeking clarification. The family have been informed of the discovery and we are supporting them now.”

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Sage adviser claims ministers trying to get as many as possible infected with Covid

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Exclusive: Prof Robert West says rhetoric about caution is ‘a way of putting blame on public’

A scientist advising the government has accused ministers of allowing infections to rip through the younger population in an effort to bolster levels of immunity before the NHS faces winter pressures.

The allegation comes after England’s remaining Covid restrictions were eased on Monday, with nightclubs throwing open their doors for the first time in the pandemic and all rules on social distancing and mask wearing dropped even as infections run high.

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Stonehenge may be next UK site to lose world heritage status

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Britain is eroding global reputation for conserving its historic assets, culture bodies are warning

The UK is eroding its global reputation for conserving its “unparalleled” historic assets, culture bodies have warned, with Stonehenge expected to be next in line to lose its coveted World Heritage status after Liverpool.

Related: Unesco strips Liverpool of its world heritage status

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No conspiracy in hit-and-run killing of Briton in Kyiv, judge rules

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Businessman Barry Pring sustained fatal injuries when hit by car in Ukrainian capital in February 2008

There was no conspiracy to kill a British businessman who died in a hit-and-run incident in Ukraine while celebrating his first wedding anniversary, a judge has concluded.

Barry Pring, an IT consultant, sustained fatal injuries when he was hit by a car while waiting for a taxi on a carriageway outside a restaurant in Kyiv on 16 February 2008.

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‘It’s incredibly poor’: Scottish islanders angry at failing ferry service

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Ageing fleet hit by breakdowns and cancellations, with capacity low on services that do run due to Covid

The perfume and toiletries shop overlooking Brodick Bay on Arran is normally packed in the summer, as day-trippers and holidaymakers stream off the mainland ferries at the busy terminal just across the bay.

But this summer has been grim, said Andrew Russell, the sales director for Arran Sense of Scotland, formerly known as Arran Aromatics. For thousands of people and businesses up and down the west coast of Scotland, this summer has been marred by repeated crises affecting ferry services run by the state-funded CalMac.

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Omagh bombing could have been prevented, says high court judge

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‘Real prospect’ 1998 attack by dissident republicans could have been thwarted, says Mr Justice Horner

Security forces had a “real prospect” of preventing the 1998 Omagh bombing – the deadliest atrocity of the Northern Ireland Troubles – a Belfast high court has ruled.

Mr Justice Horner recommended on Friday that the British and Irish governments each undertake human rights compliant investigations into the bombing, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220 people.

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France fiasco to pingdemic U-turn: Boris Johnson’s week of chaos

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In the last seven days the UK government has flailed from one controversy or misstep to the next

Often, the political week heading into the Commons summer recess can feel almost soporific, with the thoughts of ministers and MPs geared more towards holiday sunbeds than rows. But the last seven days has been different, and not only because of the ongoing political flux of coronavirus, with the government seeming to flail from one controversy, U-turn or misstep to the next, day after day.

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Thousands aged over 65 failed to apply for EU settled status – report

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Lords report calls on the government to ensure support remains in place to help late applicants secure their status

Significant numbers of Europeans in the UK aged over 65 failed to apply to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS) before the deadline, a parliamentary report has found, warning that this could make thousands of retirement-aged EU nationals vulnerable to Britain’s hostile environment policies.

Just 2% of all applications for the settlement scheme were submitted by people aged over 65, a percentage that is unlikely to reflect the population of older EU nationals living in the UK. Charities supporting older Europeans to apply said they had “encountered many individuals who have no mobile phone, no digital access and inappropriate or no documentation”, and the report warned that people who struggled with the digital technology required to apply were more likely to have missed the deadline for applications at the end of last month.

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Winnie-the-Pooh goes to Harrods in new authorised AA Milne prequel

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Once There Was a Bear by Jane Riordan and Mark Burgess will channel the original books’ voice and pictorial style using details from Christopher Robin’s real life

The story of how Winnie-the-Pooh went from a Harrods toy shelf to the home of Christopher Robin and the Hundred Acre Wood is set to be told for the first time, in an official prequel to AA Milne’s original stories.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Once There Was a Bear has been written in the style of Milne by children’s writer Jane Riordan, with illustrations by Mark Burgess emulating the original drawings of EH Shepard. It is the first prequel to Milne’s books and poetry about the bear, and has been authorised by the estates of both Milne and Shepard.

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Rates of double-jabbed people in hospital will grow – but that does not mean Covid vaccines are failing

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Several factors, including the portion of those at highest risk among the double-vaccinated and antibody levels, account for the data

The next wave of Covid will be different. When cases soared in spring and winter last year lockdowns rapidly brought them back under control. This time it will be vaccines that do the hard work.

But Covid jabs are not a perfect shield. They slow the spread of the virus, help prevent disease, and reduce the risk of dying. They do not bring all this to an end.

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Brexit: Von der Leyen rejects Boris Johnson bid to renegotiate Irish protocol

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EU has already proposed changes to lessen impact on Northern Irish citizens, say officials

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has rejected Boris Johnson’s move to renegotiate the Northern Irish protocol, raising the temperature of a simmering Brexit row.

“The EU will continue to be creative and flexible within the protocol framework. But we will not renegotiate,” she said after a call with the prime minister on Thursday.

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Covid pass could be compulsory for entry to large events in England – video

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The vaccines minister has confirmed the government intends to go ahead with making Covid vaccination a condition for entry to nightclubs from September in England.

Nadhim Zahawi said that after a successful trial the government has rolled out the NHS Covid pass, which allows people to show their Covid status, whether proof of vaccination, test results or natural immunity. 

He added the government reserved the right to make its use compulsory in future but confirmed MPs will get a vote on plans to use Covid passports

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Lex Greensill given ‘extraordinarily privileged’ government access, inquiry finds

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Report also says government’s process for managing lobbying is insufficiently transparent

The businessman Lex Greensill was given “extraordinarily privileged” access to government while the government’s process for managing lobbying is insufficiently transparent and allows access to a “privileged few”, a report into the Greensill lobbying scandal commissioned by the prime minister has concluded.

The former prime minister David Cameron and the late cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood have been criticised in the 141-page review drawn up by the City solicitor Nigel Boardman.

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Coronavirus live: Dutch and Czech athletes in Tokyo test positive; South Korea reports record daily cases

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More Olympic athletes confirmed to have Covid; Seoul considering new restrictions amid one of worst outbreaks to date

In the UK, a record 618,903 alerts were sent to users of the NHS Covid-19 app in England and Wales in the week to July 14 telling then they had been in close contact with a person who had tested positive for coronavirus, according to NHS figures.

Angela Merkel has urged Germans to get vaccinated amid a worrying rise in cases, telling the nation: “The more we are vaccinated, the freer we will be.”

“We all want our normality back,” the German chancellor, who is preparing to step down later this year, said. “The more we are vaccinated, the freer we will be.”

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‘Something’s not right’: Northern Irish townland has its 31.2C day in the sun

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Ballywatticock was country’s hottest ever spot last week – but its reign had ended within days

In the annals of climate change it will be remembered, if at all, as a diverting footnote: the brief reign of Ballywatticock.

Few people in Northern Ireland had heard of this townland on the shores of Strangford Lough in County Down until its weather station recorded the hottest temperature for the UK last Saturday: 31.2C (88.16F).

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Chinese tycoon gets go-ahead to build vast central London ‘palace’

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Westminster council unable to block Cheung Chung-kiu’s grand plans for Knightsbridge property despite ban on “Monopoly board-style” homes

A Chinese billionaire has been granted planning permission to construct an eight-storey, 5,760-sq metre (62,000-sq-ft) private palace overlooking Hyde Park, central London.

Westminster city council granted Cheung Chung-kiu, a Hong Kong-based property tycoon, permission to partly demolish and reconstruct 2-8A Rutland Gate, in Knightsbridge, in order to create his vast new home, which experts said could be worth up to £500m when completed.

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