Category Archives: UK news

Anxious unionists in little mood to celebrate Northern Ireland centenary

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In Enniskillen for a long time, the unionists kept winning. Now the feeling is of Britishness being lost

Covered up and boxed in a storage vault in the town of Enniskillen, two historic oil paintings gathered dust. King William III commissioned the portraits of himself and Queen Mary after he routed Catholic forces in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, a turning point in Irish history that established Protestant ascendance.

Unionists revere King Billy, also known as William of Orange, as a hero who saved their settler ancestors. The portraits used to gaze down from Enniskillen town hall, a reminder of their link to the crown, until the council voted to remove them in 2002.

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AstraZeneca CEO hits back at Covid vaccine supply criticism

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Pascal Soriot says firm is doing its best to produce more and ‘should be proud of what we did in the world’

AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, has mounted a robust defence of the drugmaker’s Covid-19 vaccine efforts, and said the business should be proud of what it has done for the world and is doing its “very best” to produce more, as the company faces legal action from the EU over delivery shortfalls, and shipments to poorer countries have also been delayed.

The company generated $275m (£197m) in revenues from the Covid vaccine it developed with Oxford University in the first three months of the year and shipped 48m doses to 120 countries through the global vaccine-sharing initiative Covax, 80% of which went to low and middle-income countries. In total, it has supplied more than 300m vaccine doses to more than 165 countries so far this year.

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Carrie Symonds’ influence at No 10 extends much further than the decor

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Analysis: Boris Johnson’s fiancee has no official role, but has helped shape the personnel and vision of the PM’s office

“She’s buying gold wallpaper,” Boris Johnson is said to have told panicked aides last February of his fiancee Carrie Symonds’ interior decorating plans for their No 11 flat. The costs far exceeded the £30,000 allowance for prime ministers, and apparent attempts last year to cover them by other means – Conservative party funds, a charitable trust and Tory donors – seem to have failed.

As well as Dominic Cummings’ diatribe over the “unethical, foolish and possibly illegal” refurbishment spending saga, Helen MacNamara, the Cabinet Office’s director general of propriety and ethics, was also reported to be strongly opposed.

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Germany first to hand back Benin bronzes looted by British

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Culture minister says country is facing up to ‘historic and moral responsibility’ by returning artefacts to Nigeria

Germany is to become the first country to hand back the Benin bronzes looted by British soldiers in the late 19th century, after the culture minister, Monika Grütters, announced it would start returning a “substantial” part of the artefacts held in its museums to Nigeria from next year.

“We face up to our historic and moral responsibility to shine a light and work on Germany’s historic past,” Grütters said after museum experts and political leaders struck an agreement at a summit on Thursday.

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Body with power to suspend MPs could investigate Boris Johnson flat refurb

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Exclusive: Labour asks parliamentary commissioner for standards to investigate any potential breach of MPs’ code of conduct

Boris Johnson’s refurbishment of his Downing Street residence could be investigated by parliament’s sleaze watchdog, a move that would mean the prime minister could be personally sanctioned if found to have breached conduct rules.

The Guardian understands an extensive complaint has been submitted to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone, with powers that can lead to suspensions of MPs or even byelections if serious breaches have occurred.

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‘Sexual predator’: actor Noel Clarke accused of groping, harassment and bullying by 20 women

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  • Actor-producer categorically denies allegations from all 20 women
  • Bafta suspends outstanding contribution award and actor’s membership
  • Alleged misconduct including claims he secretly filmed naked audition
  • Doctor Who and Kidulthood star allegedly showed colleagues sexually explicit photos and videos of women

When Noel Clarke appeared on stage at the Royal Albert Hall on 10 April to collect his Bafta, the typically self-assured actor looked a little on edge. Viewers might have concluded that Clarke was simply overwhelmed: he was clutching one of the most prestigious accolades bestowed by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the prize for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.

Yet there were other reasons why Clarke – and Bafta – may have felt preoccupied.

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People with dyslexia have skills that we need, says GCHQ

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UK surveillance agency says it has long valued neuro-diverse analysts – including Alan Turing

Apprentices on GCHQ’s scheme are four times more likely to have dyslexia than those on other organisations’ programmes, the agency has said, the result of a drive to recruit those whose brains process information differently.

GCHQ says those with dyslexia have valuable skills spotting patterns that others miss – a key area the spy agency wants to encourage as it pivots away from dead letter drops and bugging towards high-tech cybersecurity and data analysis.

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Boris Johnson’s night-time visit to memorial angers Covid bereaved

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PM makes solo visit to memorial wall despite families asking him for weeks to meet them there

Boris Johnson has made a solo visit under cover of darkness to the National Covid Memorial Wall, infuriating bereaved families who have been asking for weeks for him to “walk the wall” and meet them there.

Johnson was spotted at the wall on Tuesday night, a day after allegations – which he denies – that he made remarks to the effect he would rather let “bodies pile high” than announce another lockdown.

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Poussin painting ‘copy’ to hang in main galleries with new label

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The Triumph of Silenus was relegated to storerooms but new study casts it in a new light

It was bought by the National Gallery in the 1820s as a painting by Nicolas Poussin, the 17th-century French master. But The Triumph of Silenus – a bacchanalian revel – has long been relegated to the storerooms, having been repeatedly rejected by some of the 20th-century’s foremost experts as a mere copy.

Now doubts about the picture have been dispelled and it will hang in the main galleries with a new label bearing Poussin’s name.

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Julia James: Police say death of PCSO in Kent being treated as murder

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Serving community support officer Julia James, 53, was found dead in woods near hamlet of Snowdown

A serving police community support officer who was found dead on Tuesday afternoon was murdered, police have said.

No arrests have yet been made following the death of PCSO Julia James, 53, whose body was found in Akholt Wood in Kent. The loss has shocked the tiny nearby hamlet of Snowdown, where Ms James is believed to have lived with her husband.

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Killer farm robot dispatches weeds with electric bolts

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Makers say machine could be part of an agricultural revolution of automation and sustainability

In a sunny field in Hampshire, a killer robot is on the prowl. Once its artificial intelligence engine has locked on to its target, a black electrode descends and delivers an 8,000-volt blast. A crackle, a puff of smoke, and the target is dead – a weed, boiled alive from the inside.

It is part of a fourth agricultural revolution, its makers say, bringing automation and big data into farming to produce more while harming the environment less. Pressure to cut pesticide use and increasing resistance to the chemicals meant killing weeds was the top priority for the farmers advising the robot company.

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Parking mad: UK man completes mission to park in every spot at local supermarket

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Gareth Wild finished his ‘magnum opus’ by filling the last of 211 spots in the parking lot of Sainsbury’s in Bromley

A man has completed a six-year challenge to park in every car parking space at his local Sainsbury’s.

Gareth Wild, 39, from Bromley, south-east London, said he decided to take on the challenge after noticing his preference for certain spots.

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Boris Johnson furious as inquiry launched into ‘cash for curtains’

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Electoral Commission believes there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect offences around renovation of 11 Downing Street

The Electoral Commission has launched an inquiry that has the potential to imperil Boris Johnson’s premiership as the “cash for curtains” row increasingly engulfed the prime minister.

With sweeping powers to call witnesses and refer matters to the police, the watchdog said its probe was necessary because it already believed there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect that payments for expensive renovations to Johnson’s Downing Street flat could constitute several offences.

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UK sends oxygen concentrators and ventilators to India – but no Covid vaccines

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Foreign Office says Britain ‘first out of the blocks’ with help but Labour calls it a drop in the ocean

The UK has been “the first out of the blocks” with help for India, but will not send vaccines to the Covid-ravaged country until Britain has surplus supplies, the Foreign Office minister Nigel Adams has told MPs.

He said the UK was responding to the Indian government’s needs, and had been the first country to provide practical support “in the face of heartbreaking scenes that had shocked us all”. He said he had friends of Indian heritage who were “at their wit’s end”, and vowed the UK would be at the forefront in providing aid.

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Senior managers told police spy to use fake identity in court, inquiry hears

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Michael Scott gave false identity when being prosecuted alongside activists over anti-apartheid protest in 1972

Senior Scotland Yard managers authorised an undercover officer to lie in court when he used his fake identity in a trial in which he was convicted of public disorder, an inquiry has heard.

The managers have also been accused of ignoring ethical issues when they encouraged the undercover officer to spy on legally protected confidential discussions between campaigners and their lawyers about legal tactics.

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Keir Starmer attacks ‘Major Sleaze’ Boris Johnson over ‘cash for curtains’ row

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Labour leader’s attack on PM came an hour after Electoral Commission launched inquiry into No 11 refurbishment

A furious Boris Johnson tried to fight off allegations he broke donation reporting rules, as Sir Keir Starmer branded him “Major Sleaze” in the “cash for curtains” row increasingly engulfing the prime minister.

An hour after the Electoral Commission launched an investigation and said there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect payments for renovations to Johnson’s Downing Street flat could constitute several offences, the prime minister was accused of focusing on petty personal issues instead of the pandemic.

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Grant Shapps: NHS app will be Covid ‘vaccine passport’ for foreign travel – video

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International travellers will be asked to demonstrate their Covid vaccination and testing status using the NHS smartphone app, the UK government has confirmed, as the transport secretary promised to release a list of possible holiday destinations within a fortnight.

Grant Shapps said work had started on developing the app many people use to book appointments with their GPs so that it can show whether they have been vaccinated and tested for the virus 

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European parliament votes through Brexit deal with big majority

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UK and EU senior figures hail moment as a ‘new chapter’ of friendly relations after four years of division

The European parliament has given its overwhelming backing to the Brexit trade and security deal, prompting senior figures on both sides to speak of hope for a “new chapter” of friendly relations after four years of division.

Five MEPs voted against the deal, with 660 in favour and 32 abstentions, although in an accompanying resolution the chamber described the referendum result of 23 June 2016 as a “historic mistake”.

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UK universities are institutionally racist, says leading vice-chancellor

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Prof David Richardson cites systemic issues that disproportionately affect black and minority ethnic students

UK universities are institutionally racist and must do more to support students of colour, a leading vice-chancellor has said.

Prof David Richardson, chair of Universities UK’s advisory group on stamping out racial harassment on campuses and vice-chancellor of University of East Anglia, said there was evidence of systemic issues that disproportionally affect students from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

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