Category Archives: UK news

Martin Bashir used ‘deceitful behaviour’ to secure Diana interview, report finds

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BBC chief Tim Davie apologises after investigation identified ‘clear failings’ in tactics used by journalist to secure interview

The BBC has been forced to make a humiliating apology after an investigation found that Martin Bashir used deceitful tactics that were later covered up by senior executives to secure his sensational 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

The inquiry, conducted by the former supreme court judge John Dyson, was withering of both Bashir and the corporation’s former director general, Tony Hall, who was accused of overseeing a flawed and “woefully ineffective” internal probe into the issue.

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Confirmed cases of India variant in UK rise 160% in a week

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Latest figures from PHE come as another new variant is designated ‘under investigation’

The number of confirmed cases in the UK of the Covid variant of concern that was first detected in India has risen more than 160% in the past week, data shows, and another new variant has been designated as “under investigation”.

Data from Public Health England (PHE) shows there have now been 3,424 confirmed cases of the B.1.617.2 variant in the UK, up from 1,313 cases confirmed by last Thursday.

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UK civil servants given just days to prepare £2.9bn aid cuts in 2020

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Cuts were agreed on the basis of a forecast shown five days later to be too pessimistic, report finds

UK civil servants were given five to seven working days to prepare 30% cuts in the overseas aid budget last summer, including a £730m cut to bilateral aid that it later emerged was unnecessary.

The cuts were agreed in July 2020 on the basis of a single forecast reduction in the size of the UK economy, which was shown to be too pessimistic five days after the cuts package was signed off.

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Thousands of breast implant victims will get payouts after court ruling

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Case in Paris was brought by 2,700 women over implants made by French company and certified as safe by German firm

Thousands of victims of the PIP breast implant scandal, including 540 British women, will receive compensation after a Paris appeals court ruling.

The case in Paris was brought by 2,700 women who said they had suffered long-term health effects after receiving implants manufactured by a French firm which were filled with cheap, industrial-grade silicone not cleared for human use.

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Cecil Rhodes statue at Oxford college should go, says independent report

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Exclusive: commission’s finding follows number of protests over colonial legacy at Oriel College

A independent commission set up to examine the future of Oxford University’s controversial statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes has recommended its removal.

The commission was set up last June after Oxford University’s Oriel College voted in favour of removing its statue. The commission was asked to look into the issue after a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was torn down in Bristol at the height of last summer’s Black Lives Matter protest.

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Windrush scandal: 21 people have died before receiving compensation

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More than 500 people have been waiting more than a year for claim to be handled, Home Office data shows

The Home Office has revealed that 21 people have died while waiting for Windrush compensation claims to be paid, amid continuing concern that the scheme is taking too long to make payments to elderly people affected by the scandal.

The number has more than doubled since November, when figures showed that nine people had died without receiving the redress they had applied for.

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Glasgow churches subjected to anti-Catholic abuse after Rangers win

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Aftermath of Scottish Premiership victory on Saturday marred by vandalism, unrest and abusive behaviour

A number of churches in and around Glasgow were subject to vandalism and anti-Catholic abuse over the weekend, the Guardian has learned, as Rangers supporters rampaged through the city centre on Saturday.

Windows were smashed at the St Maria Goretti church estate in Cranhill, north-east Glasgow. At another church, which has asked not to be identified, a banner with anti-Catholic slogans was draped across railings in time for evening mass, before it was removed by church officials. There were further reports of abusive heckling of those within church grounds. The Guardian understands that two incidents were reported to Police Scotland.

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The Guardian view on post-Brexit trade: only hard choices are left | Editorial

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Boris Johnson likes to pretend that free-trade deals are easy and have no downside. Talks with Australia are proving him wrong

There is agreement across the Conservative party that free trade is a good thing, in theory. Unity is harder to sustain over practical detail, as has become clear through negotiations on a deal with Australia.

The agreement has immense symbolic value. It would be the first substantial post-Brexit deal that was not a rollover of terms that were available under EU membership. The prime minister sees it as the enactment of his “global Britain” rhetoric. The government is determined to have such a trophy ready in time for next month’s G7 summit.

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Turkey to ban plastic waste imports

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Greenpeace investigation revealed British recycling left to burn on beaches and roadsides

Turkey is banning the import of most plastic waste after an investigation revealed British recycling was left to burn or be dumped on beaches and roadsides.

Greenpeace visited 10 sites in the southern city of Adana in March. Investigators found waste including British supermarket packaging in waterways, on beaches and in illegal waste mountains.

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Help, it’s 1,000 trillion degrees in here! The Big Bang artwork that makes scientists cry

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What would it have been like to be inside the Big Bang? We meet the ultra-hi-tech art duo who are using light, sound and sub-atomic astro data to recreate the biggest explosion ever

‘Step into the heart of the Big Bang,” says the advert for Halo, a walk-in, 360-degree, audiovisual installation about to open in Brighton. Come off it, I want to retort. You couldn’t “step” into the Big Bang without first travelling 13.8 billion years back in time and then being extremely miniaturised. After all, the universe was, according to one estimate, just 17cm in diameter at its inception.

What’s more, it was dark inside the Big Bang. In fact, there was no light at all. True, if you stuck around for 380,000 years, according to Nasa, you might have been able to see something because that was when free electrons met up with nuclei and created neutral atoms that would have allowed light to pass through. But who has 380,000 years to hang around waiting in the dark?

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British tourists to EU may have to quarantine even if vaccinated

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UK could also face travel block due to India variant and own incoming rules if altered EU policy stands

Fully vaccinated Britons could still be told to quarantine at their EU holiday destination due to concerns over the Covid variant first detected in India and a failure to allow Europeans to visit Britain freely, according to a policy agreed in Brussels.

Representatives of the 27 member states on Wednesday provisionally approved a change of the policy under which anyone from a non-EU country could travel if they were able to prove they had been fully vaccinated.

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Covid laid bare existing weaknesses in UK government, says NAO

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Report highlights data failings, workforce shortages and disconnect between health and social care

Coronavirus has exposed decades-long weaknesses in government and divisions in wider society, an official parliamentary watchdog has said, including neglect of social care and chronic underfunding in local government.

Amid renewed questions over the reopening timetable, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned that from the very start of the pandemic a lack of planning had left ministers without a “playbook” on how to respond.

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Anger as Patel delays publication of report into private detective’s murder

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Independent panel set up to investigate killing of Daniel Morgan ‘furious’ at home secretary’s move

The home secretary has ordered that an independent report on claims murderers were shielded by police corruption and claims of corruption in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire must be vetted by her department before its publication.

The move triggered fury and follows eight years of work by a special panel to investigate the murder of private detective Daniel Morgan in 1987, who was found dead in a south London car park with an axe embedded in his head.

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Any amount of alcohol consumption harmful to the brain, finds study

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UK study of 25,000 people finds even moderate drinking is linked to lower grey matter density

There is no safe amount of alcohol consumption for the brain, with even “moderate” drinking adversely affecting nearly every part of it, a study of more than 25,000 people in the UK has found.

The study, which is still to be peer-reviewed, suggests that the more alcohol consumed, the lower the brain volume. In effect, the more you drink, the worse off your brain.

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Naomi Campbell becomes a mother – and shares photo

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Supermodel releases images of herself on social media cradling the feet of her ‘beautiful little blessing’

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has announced that she has become a mother.

Campbell, 50, shared a photograph of her hand cradling a pair of tiny feet on Twitter and Instagram on Tuesday afternoon, with the caption: “A beautiful little blessing has chosen me to be her mother.”

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‘Nothing conclusive’ on India variant to change route out of lockdown, says Johnson – video

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The UK prime minister said there was ‘nothing conclusive’ in data gathered on the coronavirus variant first identified in India to suggest the final stage of lifting coronavirus restrictions in England from 21 June should be delayed. 

Speaking at a mass vaccination centre in London, Boris Johnson urged people to be ‘cautious’ and said that holidaymakers should not be travelling to countries on the amber list unless for pressing family or urgent business reasons

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Nurse who cared for Boris Johnson resigns over ‘lack of respect’ for NHS workers

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Jenny McGee, who kept vigil by PM’s bedside when he was sick with Covid, derides government’s handling of pandemic

A nurse who cared for Boris Johnson when he was gravely ill with Covid-19 says she has handed in her resignation, such is her disillusionment with the “lack of respect” shown by the government for the NHS and healthcare workers.

Jenny McGee, who kept vigil by the prime minister’s bedside for two days when he was in intensive care, also revealed that his staff had later attempted to co-opt her into a “clap for the NHS” photo opportunity with him during what she thought would be a discreet thank you visit to Downing Street.

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Hilary Mantel and JK Rowling add lots to auction for global vaccine rollout

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Fundraiser running until 21 May also includes chances to consult with star agent Jonny Geller and have a character named after you in a Sarah Pinborough novel

A literary auction raising money to help vaccinate the world against coronavirus has made more than £23,000 so far, as book lovers bid to win signed novels by authors including Hilary Mantel, as well as mentoring sessions from star publishers and agents.

Bidding at Books for Vaccines for a personal consultation with literary agent Jonny Geller has reached £1,000, while a signed box set of the Wolf Hall trilogy, with handwritten first sentences from Mantel, has topped £600. The auction is running until 21 May, with other lots including the chance to have a character named after you in the next novel by Sarah Pinborough, author of the Netflix hit Behind Her Eyes, a signed copy of Marian Keyes’s novel Grown Ups, and the chance to write the dedication at the front of Jill Mansell’s new novel.

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Air pollution linked to ‘huge’ rise in child asthma GP visits

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Exclusive: consultations for asthma and other respiratory infections go up with increased dirty air, finds study

A “huge” increase in the number of visits to doctors by children with asthma problems occurs after a week of raised air pollution, according to a study. The number of inhaler prescriptions also increases significantly.

Dirty air is already known to increase hospital treatment for severe asthma attacks and other respiratory problems. But the new research is the first using clinical data to show increased illness among the much bigger number of people who seek treatment from their GP.

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