Category Archives: UK news

‘Idea of commuting fills me with dread’: workers on returning to the office

Posted on by

Staff warily contemplate going back to work as business leaders say it is vital to boost urban economy

With the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in England probably two weeks away, the prospect of returning to offices means the revival of the daily commute.

In a push to bring back more people to town and city centres to boost the urban economy, a group of 50 business leaders, including the Canary Wharf executive chair, Sir George Iacobescu, the bosses of Heathrow and Gatwick airports, the Capita chief executive, Jon Lewis, and the BT chief executive, Philip Jansen, are calling for the government to encourage a return to the office.

Continue reading...

TfL hit by £100m fall in ad revenue across tube, rail and bus network

Posted on by

Exclusive: record low level of London journeys during Covid crisis drives down commercial income

Transport for London (TfL) has recorded a £100m plunge in advertising revenue across its network of tube stations, trains and buses after Covid-19 pandemic restrictions kept commuters away from travelling to work.

TfL’s advertising estate – which comprises more than 100,000 billboards, posters and panels throughout the capital’s tube and rail network, in trains and on buses and shelters – is one of the largest and most valuable in the world.

Continue reading...

PM to confirm 19 July end to Covid rules despite scientists’ warnings

Posted on by

Boris Johnson to press ahead with final stage of unlocking in England amid huge rise in infections

Boris Johnson is to announce that the lifting of most remaining Covid-19 restrictions in England will go ahead on 19 July amid a backlash from government scientific advisers who have warned that doing so would be like building new “variant factories”.

Despite cases having risen to their highest level since January 2021, the prime minister is set to press ahead with the final stage of unlocking in two weeks.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live: UK records 24,248 new cases; Luxembourg PM ‘in hospital with Covid’

Posted on by

Media reports say Xavier Bettel is undergoing tests as a precaution; Israel seeking new deal after talks with UK collapse

Russia has recorded a record daily number of Covid-19 infections after deaths hit at a record-high for five days in a row this week.

Vladimir Putin has for now refrained from calling another lockdown, but the 25,142 infections reported on Sunday were the biggest figure since 2 January, AFP reports.

France’s health minister has warned “our country is in a race against time” as he said a fourth wave of Covid-19 could arrive by the end of the month.

In a tweet on Sunday Olivier Véran urged people to get vaccinated as he warned of a worrying rise in cases caused by spread of the Delta variant, Reuters reports.

Continue reading...

Politics trumps Covid science in Javid’s push to ‘live with the virus’

Posted on by

Experts are urging greater vaccination coverage and action over ventilation in public spaces before lifting restrictions

For months, the prime minister has repeated the mantra that further easing of Covid-19 restrictions would be about “data and not dates”. Yet, as coronavirus cases in the UK continue to surge, and scientists warn that fully reopening society risks building “variant factories” in our own back yard, the government appears poised to put one date – 19 July – ahead of everything else. Once again, politics has trumped science.

Since Sajid Javid’s appointment as health secretary on 26 June, the UK has confirmed a further 188,538 coronavirus cases, with approximately 25,000 extra people testing positive each day. On Sunday, Javid said that the best way to protect the nation’s health was by lifting the main Covid-19 restrictions, even though this would result in a further significant increase in cases. “We are going to have to learn to accept the existence of Covid and find ways to cope with it – just as we already do with flu,” he said.

Continue reading...

Johnson to announce controversial plans for greater NHS control

Posted on by

Prime minister defies warnings from his own MPs concerned that bill to shake up health service will prove gift to Labour

Boris Johnson is set to spark a political row this week by announcing plans to seize greater control of the NHS, despite warnings that the “power grab” will see ministers blamed for delays in treatment and closure of local hospital units.

The prime minister has told the new health secretary, Sajid Javid, to put the long-awaited health and care bill before parliament despite Javid’s own misgivings and concerns among hospital bosses and doctors’ leaders.

Continue reading...

Hundreds of Afghan security forces flee as districts fall to Taliban

Posted on by

Militants’ advance continues as Britain nears end of its two-decade deployment to country

The Taliban’s rapid advance through northern Afghanistan continued on Sunday with more than a dozen districts falling to the militants, as Britain entered the final days of its two-decade deployment to Afghanistan.

More than 300 members of the Afghan security forces fled across the border into Tajikistan to escape the militants, and Badakhshan and Takhar provinces are now largely under Taliban control, beyond the respective regional capitals.

Continue reading...

UK’s Africa minister confuses Zambia with Zimbabwe at Kenneth Kaunda funeral – video

Posted on by

James Duddridge made the slip-up in a speech at the funeral of Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia’s founding president and one of Africa’s last surviving liberation leaders, in the country’s capital, Lusaka, last week.

Kaunda, who died last month at the age of 97, ruled Zambia from 1964, when it won independence from Britain, until 1991.

 'Today the United Kingdom mourns Dr Kaunda’s passing alongside his family, the people of Zimbabwe and indeed the wider world,' said Duddridge. The slip prompted anger on social media, with some seeing evidence of enduring colonial-era attitudes among British officials towards African countries

Continue reading...

UK-EU relations deteriorate again after ‘strange’ David Frost remarks

Posted on by

Irish foreign minister hits out at Brexit minister over provocative article on Northern Ireland protocol

The EU fears that Boris Johnson wants to “dismantle” the Northern Ireland protocol, the Irish foreign minister has said, as relations between Brussels and London deteriorated again after remarks by the Brexit minister David Frost in the past 24 hours.

Simon Coveney told RTÉ on Sunday that EU leaders feared the worst after what he felt was a provocative article written by Lord Frost and the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, in the Irish Times on Saturday.

Continue reading...

UK minister confuses Zambia with Zimbabwe at Kenneth Kaunda funeral

Posted on by

Slip by James Duddridge at funeral of liberation leader derided as evidence of enduring colonial attitudes

James Duddridge, the UK’s minister for Africa, appeared to confuse Zimbabwe with Zambia in a speech at the funeral of Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia’s founding president and one of Africa’s last surviving liberation leaders, in the country’s capital, Lusaka, last week.

Kaunda, who died last month at the age of 97, ruled Zambia from 1964, when it won independence from Britain, until 1991. He was respected across the continent as one of a generation of Africans who fought to free their nations from colonial rule.

Continue reading...

New Manchester park to use Victorian wells to water greenery

Posted on by

Mayfield Park will be watered using wells discovered while archaeologists were on site

Manchester’s first public park for more than a century will use recently uncovered wells from the Victorian era to provide a sustainable source of water.

The 2.6-hectare (6.5-acre) Mayfield Park will sit behind Piccadilly station and provide play areas and floodable meadows. The £1.4bn development’s greenery will be watered using three Victorian wells that were discovered while archaeologists were on site to catalogue historical features of the site.

Continue reading...

Revealed: rise in stress among those working from home

Posted on by

New research finds that those living and working alone during the pandemic have suffered the worst effects of all

Working from home during the coronavirus pandemic has caused increased levels of loneliness and mental distress, according to new research into how workers have been affected by the crisis.

With ministers still debating how to manage the return to workplaces in the wake of Covid restrictions, a study by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) found that the biggest increases in mental distress and loneliness during the pandemic were felt by the most isolated group – those working from home and living alone. However, in a finding that surprised researchers, people working from home and living with others also experienced a significant increase in loneliness not felt by those working outside the home.

Continue reading...

Fears of summer chaos in schools and offices as Covid restrictions are swept away

Posted on by

Government urged to provide clarity on relaxing of mask and isolation protocols amid rise in cases

Boris Johnson is facing increasing warnings of a summer of chaos in schools and workplaces, amid urgent demands for clarity over the government’s plans to tackle an unpredictable escalation in Covid cases.

Retaining advice to wear masks in certain settings and abandoning quarantine for anyone in England who is fully vaccinated are measures being examined by the government to stop a resurgence in cases and more enforced isolations – something that also risks hitting the NHS workforce.

Continue reading...

Man appears in court over fatal Oxford Circus stabbing

Posted on by

Tedi Fanta Hagos, 25, has been charged with the murder of 60-year-old man in central London

A man has appeared in court charged with murder after a 60-year-old was stabbed in central London.

Tedi Fanta Hagos, 25, of no fixed address, is charged with the murder of Stephen Dempsey outside the Microsoft store in Oxford Circus on 1 July . He is also charged with possession of a knife.

Continue reading...

Covid: letting fully vaccinated skip quarantine in England ‘will cause resentment’

Posted on by

Expert warns that plans to drop all legal requirements after 19 July could lead to mass non-compliance

Allowing those who have received two doses of a Covid vaccine to skip quarantine could breed resentment and result in mass non-compliance, a scientific adviser has warned.

Downing Street has confirmed it is looking at whether to drop all legal self-isolation measures for fully vaccinated people who come into contact with someone who is infected “as part of the post-step 4 world”.

Continue reading...

Man charged with murder after Oxford Circus stabbing

Posted on by

Tedi Fanta Hagos, 25, charged over fatal stabbing of 60-year-old man in central London on Friday evening

A man has been charged with murder after a 60-year-old was stabbed in central London.

Tedi Fanta Hagos, 25, of Ravenhill, Swansea, was charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon on Friday and is expected to appear at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday, Scotland Yard said.

Continue reading...

‘Real’ T rex goes on show in England for first time in over a century

Posted on by

The skeleton of Titus, discovered in the US in 2018, makes its world debut at Nottingham museum

The first ‘real’ Tyrannosaurus rex to be exhibited in England for more than a century will go on show in Nottingham on Sunday.

The skeleton of Titus, discovered in the US state of Montana in 2018, will make its world debut at the Wollaton Hall Natural History Museum as part of a new exhibition on the dinosaur’s life and environment.

Continue reading...

UK school skiing trips to EU could be wiped out by Brexit visa rules

Posted on by

Extra cost of permission for British temporary staff to work in resorts likely to be prohibitive for firms

School skiing trips that rely on British personnel to staff their EU winter camps could be wiped out by Brexit after it emerged they are facing the same obstacles as the music and theatre sectors.

Just like rock bands and music artists, instructors who work on the slopes of France, Italy or elsewhere in the EU are now required to have visas if they work in Europe, even if it is for just one week at a time.

Continue reading...

After Brexit, Merkel probably dabbed her eyes – and moved on

Posted on by

Analysis: when the German chancellor steps down in September, her departure will leave a gaping hole

Angela Merkel, now on an affable UK farewell tour including tea with the Queen, leaves a paradoxical legacy for many British.

She is often hailed as the upholder of a liberal Europe that faced a populist onslaught from Donald Trump. But she is also the woman who refused to throw David Cameron a lifeline on immigration ahead of the Brexit referendum, judging it not in the national interest. But for Merkel’s stance then, her jocular host now might not have been Boris Johnson, who leaves her cold, but an ageing Cameron in his 11th year in office.

Continue reading...