Category Archives: UK news

Boris Johnson must respect rule of law and implement Brexit deal, says EU

Posted on by

Bloc leaders say UK must fully implement post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland

Boris Johnson must respect the “rule of law” by fully implementing the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, EU leaders have said ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said the behaviour of the prime minister was of increasing concern to EU member states. “It’s paramount to implement what we have decided – this is a question of rule of law,” he said.

Continue reading...

Solar eclipse 2021: spectacle to be visible across UK and Ireland

Posted on by

Skygazers – with appropriate eye protection – will be able to see much of sun being obscured from 10.08am

Views of a partial solar eclipse will be “somewhat fleeting” across certain parts of the UK due to cloudy skies, forecasters have said.

But those in central and south-east England will have clear spells to witness the spectacle, according to the Met Office. On Thursday morning, skygazers will be able to see nearly a third of the sun being blocked out by the moon in what is known as an annular eclipse.

Continue reading...

G7 leaders in the UK: what are their agendas?

Posted on by

Joe Biden wants alternative to Chinese belt and road offer while Japanese PM’s interests are more domestic

Leaders of the world’s seven leading industrialised nations will meet in Cornwall this weekend to agree a communique on how to redraw the world post-Covid, but also to pursue their own agendas and try to forge new personal relations after nearly 18 months apart.

1. Joe Biden has restored order, calm and direction to US international alliances, but now has to show what he will do with that goodwill.

Continue reading...

EU-UK talks on Northern Ireland appear close to collapse on eve of G7

Posted on by

‘Patience wearing very thin,’ says EU negotiator, while Joe Biden expected to raise ‘deep concerns’ about issue at summit

Talks between the EU and the UK over Northern Ireland appear on the brink of collapse as London indicated it was still considering unilateral action to keep unhindered supplies flowing from Great Britain into the region.

The European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, said patience was “wearing very, very thin” and described the relationship with the UK as “at a crossroads”.

Continue reading...

Covid contract case throws light on government’s relationship with truth

Posted on by

Rather than apologise after defeat, the government issued a statement at odds even with its own case

Cronyism will be the main accusation made against the government after the high court ruling that the Cabinet Office acted unlawfully, with “apparent bias,” when it awarded a contract last March to a company run by long-term associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings.

But the Good Law Project’s victory, and the Cabinet Office tumult during the pandemic that it exposed, has raised another fundamental question about integrity: the government’s relationship with the truth.

Continue reading...

From rule of six to 6,500 police: Cornwall hosts first Covid-era G7

Posted on by

Alongside coronavirus measures, huge security operation under way as thousands plan to join protests

Everybody from the most junior official to the president of the United States will have to follow the rules. Take daily Covid tests, wear masks at appropriate times and respect everything from one-way systems around venues to limits on how many people can gather around a table for a meal or drink.

Welcome to G7 UK 2021, the first world summit in the times of Covid.

Continue reading...

Covid distancing may have weakened children’s immune system, experts say

Posted on by

End of social distancing and mask-wearing could leave children vulnerable to common bugs

Scientists are concerned that measures to combat Covid-19 have weakened the immune systems of young children who have not been able to build up resistance to common bugs, leaving them vulnerable when mask-wearing and social distancing eventually end.

Contact with viral pathogens happens on a fairly regular basis and although it does not always lead to sickness, the exposure helps shore the immune system against the threat should the bugs be encountered again.

Continue reading...

Harry and Meghan reject claim Queen not consulted on Lilibet name

Posted on by

BBC correspondent says palace source claims Sussexes did not ask for permission to use name for daughter

Buckingham Palace has become embroiled in a row over whether the Queen was consulted over the naming of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s daughter.

Harry and Meghan’s decision to name their second child Lilibet, a childhood nickname of the Queen, was seen as an attempt by the couple to try to mend their rift with the royal family.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson urged to axe deadline for EU citizens to apply to stay in UK

Posted on by

More than 40 government-funded charities write to PM to call for lifting of ‘arbitrary’ 30 June cut-off date

More than 40 government-funded charities have written to Boris Johnson urging him to lift the 30 June deadline for EU citizens to apply to retain their rights to remain in the UK following Brexit.

The charities are all funded by the Home Office to provide support to vulnerable EU citizens including children and elderly people in care, victims of domestic abuse and trafficking, Roma communities and homeless people.

Continue reading...

Half of adults in UK watched porn during pandemic, says Ofcom

Posted on by

Research shows PornHub has bigger audience than BBC News – and people increasingly live lives online

Half the adult population of the UK watched online pornography during the pandemic, according to a projection by Ofcom which lays bare the activities of the 26 million individuals who view adult material.

By far the most popular pornography site was PornHub, which was visited by 50% of all males and 16% of all females in the UK in September 2020 – giving the site a far larger audience than mainstream television channels such as Sky One, ITV4 and BBC News.

Continue reading...

The island with no water: how foreign mining destroyed Banaba

Posted on by

The Kiribati island survived droughts due to sacred caves that captured rainfall but rampant phosphate extraction ruined this precious resource

  • Read more of our Pacific Plunder series here

The last decent rain on Banaba was more than a year ago.

Without rain, people on the isolated central Pacific island, which is part of the country of Kiribati, have been forced to rely on a desalination plant for all their water for drinking, bathing and growing crops.

Continue reading...

Major internet outage ‘shows infrastructure needs urgent fixing’

Posted on by

Experts say outage shows internet services too centralised and lack resilience

One of the world’s biggest web outages should act as a “wake-up call” that internet infrastructure has become dangerously over-centralised and lacks resilience, security experts have warned.

An unexplained configuration error at a single infrastructure provider, Fastly, which handles 10% of the world’s internet traffic, was enough to render major websites and services inoperable for almost an hour on Tuesday morning.

Continue reading...

Ex-police constable guilty of gross misconduct after choking female officer

Posted on by

Simon Hawxwell, formerly of Hampshire constabulary, also guilty of waving scissors in colleague’s face

A highly experienced former police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after he choked a new female colleague, brandished scissors in her face and aimed highly sexualised insults at her.

PC Simon Hawxwell, who served in Hampshire constabulary for 18 years, left his young co-worker “fearful she would be sliced” when he held scissors to her cheek in the office.

Continue reading...

Cressida Dick says there is occasional ‘bad ’un’ in Metropolitan police

Posted on by

Commissioner made the remark when speaking more widely about violence against women and girls

Britain’s most senior police officer has admitted that there is the occasional “bad ’un” within the ranks of the Metropolitan police service.

Her comments came on the day that one of her officers pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and rape of Sarah Everard, who went missing in March while walking home in south London.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden’s mission at the G7 summit: to recruit allies for the next cold war | Rafael Behr

Posted on by

The US risks being superseded by China as the prime global power within decades. For Washington, the idea is appalling

Joe Biden crosses the Atlantic this week on a tide of goodwill. After four years of Donald Trump, European leaders are grateful for the mere fact of a US president who believes in democracy and understands diplomacy.

Trump had no concept of historical alliance, strategic partnership or mutual interest. He saw multilateral institutions as conspiracies against US power, which he could not distinguish from his own ego. He heard European talk of a rules-based international order as the contemptible bleating of weakling nations.

Continue reading...

What could a delay to the 21 June lockdown easing mean for England?

Posted on by

Analysis: with ministers said to be considering England’s 21 June easing, how delay could affect vaccinations and virus spread

Ministers are said to be considering delaying the easing of lockdown in England on 21 June for somewhere between two weeks and a month. We look at what a delay could mean, and how long it may need to last.

Why delay?

Continue reading...

G7 plan ‘will slash UK tax revenue from US tech firms’ say experts

Posted on by

Global tax changes could mean Treasury loses £230m digital services tax receipts from Google, Amazon, Facebook and eBay

Experts have warned that US tech companies, including Google, Amazon and Facebook, could pay less tax in the UK and several other big economies under global reforms agreed at the weekend by the G7.

In a key stumbling block emerging days after the landmark deal, research from the TaxWatch campaign group indicates that the UK Treasury stands to lose about £230m from the taxes paid each year by four of the big US tech firms.

Continue reading...

British woman in coma after twin fights off crocodile in Mexico

Posted on by

Sister punched crocodile in head after it attacked in a lagoon where they had been swimming

A British woman is in a medically induced coma in Mexico after she was attacked by a crocodile in a lagoon where she and her twin sister had been taken by a tour guide.

Melissa and Georgia Laurie, 28, from Berkshire, had been swimming in the lagoon, about 10 miles from Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, on the south-east coast of the country, when Melissa was attacked.

Continue reading...

‘I found a snake in the toilet!’: Guardian readers on their holiday disasters

Posted on by

Holidays, especially abroad, are off the cards for many this summer. So it’s good to remember they aren’t always the idyllic break we dream of. Here are our readers worst experiences

We went on holiday for Christmas to a friend’s parents house in Marlo – a village in Victoria, Australia. We got there on Christmas Eve to find the only shop was pretty bare – so Christmas lunch was a frozen turkey roll, Fanta, chips and some frozen peas. I made a Christmas tree out of a stick and some toilet rolls, determined to be cheerful. On Christmas morning, I woke up and went outside. It was nice and hot – yay, beach day! Then I stepped on a very large brown snake on the doorstep and screamed. I found another snake in the lounge room, one in the toilet, and others all around the house. It was my idea of hell. I had no idea whether they were poisonous but it didn’t matter. I was terrified. Lesley Podesta, retired, Australia

Continue reading...