Category Archives: UK news

Eye of the Storm review – moving film about Scottish painter in love with nature

Posted on by

James Morrison’s work was full of awe for the natural world, and this documentary does his landscape painting full justice

Scottish painter James Morrison died shortly before the completion of this affectionate documentary about his life and work, and it’s a fitting tribute to an articulate and self-effacing artist with an extraordinary affinity for Scotland’s everchanging land- and seascapes. It’s directed by Anthony Baxter, best known for highlighting the stubborn local resistance resistance to Donald Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire with his You’ve Been Trumped films; this is something of a change of pace, while offering a not-dissimilar celebration of a very Scottish style of quiet, unfussy determination.

Morrison’s story is interesting enough – born and raised in Glasgow, the son of ship’s fitter, who settled on the east coast and made epic trips to paint abroad, most notably to the Arctic – but it’s added to here by a plangent late-life twist: he is losing his sight, to the extent he can barely see what he is painting. True to form, Morrison accepted this as uncomplainingly as anything else – “irritating” is the strongest imprecation I can recall – and there’s something inexpressibly moving about the way he strokes a blank sheet of paper taped to his easel as if he can’t wait to get started.

Continue reading...

Brazil variant evaded up to 61% of immunity in previous Covid cases

Posted on by

Scientists call for more genetic sequencing of emerging variants like P1 to bring pandemic under control

The coronavirus variant originally found in Manaus in Brazil and detected in six cases in the UK was able to infect 25% to 61% of the people in the Amazonian city who might have expected to be immune after a first bout of Covid, researchers say.

The extent to which P1 can evade the immune system, and potentially vaccines, emerged as the UK health secretary said the hunt for one person who tested positive for P1 – but did not leave contact details – had narrowed to 379 households in the south-east of England.

Continue reading...

UK failed to inform EU countries about almost 200 killers and rapists

Posted on by

Exclusive: total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to relevant EU capitals over eight-year period

The conviction of 109 killers, 81 rapists and a man found guilty of both crimes in UK courts was not passed on to the criminals’ home EU countries due to a massive computer failure and subsequent cover-up, the Guardian can reveal.

The most serious cases are among a total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to the relevant EU capitals over an eight-year period due to a catastrophic computer error, which some fear has put lives at risk.

Continue reading...

‘It’s an arms race’: the tech teams trying to outpace paedophiles online

Posted on by

As platforms pivot towards greater encryption, analysts are rushing to finesse child abuse prevention technology

“Predators are often early adopters of technology,” says Sarah Smith, chief technology officer at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK child abuse hotline. “It’s an arms race, we have to be constantly horizon-scanning.”

Smith and her team, based in an unassuming office in Cambridge, are a key link in a chain of experts around the world developing and finessing technology that tracks down paedophiles and removes child abuse images found online.

Continue reading...

Child abuse hotline reports rise in calls from men viewing illegal content

Posted on by

Growing use of adult pornography in lockdown may lead to more people seeking out images of under-18s, experts say

Child abuse experts have reported a rise in the number of men contacting a specialist helpline for people who are watching or considering watching online child sexual abuse material.

The Stop It Now! helpline had its busiest year in 2020, handling more than 12,500 calls, emails and live chats – up from 10,700 in 2019. More than 3,500 individuals asked for help because they were worried about their own or someone else’s online sexual behaviour towards children.

Continue reading...

The rich v the very, very rich: the rebellion at Wentworth golf club

Posted on by

When a Chinese billionaire bought one of Britain’s most prestigious golf clubs in 2015, dentists and estate agents were confronted with the unsentimental force of globalised capital

Like all exiles, Michael Fleming remembers when his separation from home soil began: 20 October 2015, a Tuesday. That year, Fleming was captain of Wentworth, an old, prestigious golf club in north-west Surrey. The club had recently been bought by a Chinese firm, Reignwood Consulting Ltd, and an annual general meeting was scheduled for the 20th. On that morning, having already drafted his speech, Fleming was in his dentistry clinic when he received the email.

Brace for change, Wentworth wrote to Fleming and his colleagues, outlining its planned announcements at the AGM: a wild increase in membership fees and the number of members drained from about 4,000 to just a few hundred. A “barmy” decision, Michael Parkinson, the chatshow host and a longtime member, had told the Mail on Sunday, which had scooped the details two days earlier. Peter Alliss, the BBC golf commentator, complained that Reignwood was “bringing an Asian philosophy to Britain”. Fleming, whose manner is so mild it’s hard to ever imagine him yelling “Fore”, was shocked. He began rewriting his speech.

Continue reading...

Data on long Covid in UK children is cause for concern, scientists say

Posted on by

With lack of vaccinations and schools in England set to reopen cases must not be ignored, experts warn

Scientists have warned that emerging data on long Covid in children should not be ignored given the lack of a vaccine for this age group, but cautioned that the evidence describing these enduring symptoms in the young is so far uncertain.

Recently published data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has caused worry. The data suggest that 13% of under 11s and about 15% of 12- to 16-year-olds reported at least one symptom five weeks after a confirmed Covid-19 infection. ONS samples households randomly, therefore positive cases do not depend on having had symptoms and being tested.

Continue reading...

Johnson trying to set up charity that could fund No 11 flat revamp

Posted on by

No 10 does not deny reports that scheme could cover costs of works by PM’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds

Downing Street is trying to set up a charity that could cover the costs of the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, which he shares with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds.

A No 10 spokesman would not deny reports in the Daily Mail that the prime minister is attempting to set up a charity where benefactors can contribute to the upkeep of Downing Street.

Symonds is understood to have undertaken a substantial redecoration of the flat above No 11 that she shares with Johnson and their baby son, Wilfred. Johnson is known to have joked with Conservative MPs about the cost of the refurbishment.

According to the Mail, the purpose of the charitable fund would be to maintain not just the No 11 flat, but also other parts of Downing Street, including the state rooms, and could therefore be presented as having a wider heritage purpose.

Continue reading...

City firms made plans in Brexit run-up to move assets worth £100bn to EU – survey

Posted on by

Data from EY highlights last-minute transfers in order to hold on to European business

City firms revealed in the final months of 2020 that they planned to shift nearly £100bn in assets to the EU, taking the total value of assets lost to the bloc since the Brexit vote to £1.3 trillion, according to a new survey.

The data from consulting group EY pointed to a last-minute push by firms before 31 December after the UK-EU trade deal did not offer concessions for the UK’s dominant financial services sector. It forced companies to move staff and assets to the continent in order to continue serving EU customers.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak to offer ‘help to grow’ training for SME managers

Posted on by

Small businesses will receive help in Wednesday’s budget to boost tech and management skills

The bosses of small businesses are to be invited back to school to brush up on their management skills, under plans to be announced in the budget designed to help close Britain’s productivity gap with rival nations.

As part of the attempt to speed up the UK’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will unveil a “help to grow” scheme that will offer the leaders of up to 130,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the chance of MBA-style management training.

Continue reading...

Time to say goodbye? Calls rarely end when we want them to, study finds

Posted on by

Whether talking to family, friends or strangers, calls hardly ever end when both parties are ready

So you just called to say “I love you” – but how long should you stay on the phone?

New research suggests no matter who we’re talking to, or what we’re talking about, conversations rarely conclude when the two individuals want them to end.

Continue reading...

Why UK’s hunt for Brazil variant Covid cases is so urgent

Posted on by

Analysis: P1 strain believed to transmit more easily and may reduce vaccine effectiveness

Public Health England is facing a needle-in-a-haystack hunt for a person who tested positive for the “concerning” Brazilian Covid variant but did not leave their name and address with their test.

There are a few clues to go on. Public Health England thinks it knows when the test in question was taken and so is asking people who were tested on 12 or 13 February but have not received any test result to get in touch.

Continue reading...

UK vaccines minister appeals for help to trace person with new Brazilian Covid variant – video

Posted on by

The British vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has appealed for help to trace one of six people infected with the Brazilian Covid-19 variant. 

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Zahawi said: 'If you had a test on 12 or 13 February and haven’t had a result, get in touch'

Continue reading...

Gilbert and George on their epic Covid artworks: ‘This is an enormously sad time’

Posted on by

The artists have responded to the pandemic with comic, haunting works showing themselves being buffeted around a chaotic London. They talk about lines of coffins, illegal raves and ‘shameful’ statue-toppling

As they call themselves living sculptures, I can’t resist asking Gilbert and George what they think of all the statue-toppling that took place last year. When I ask for their verdict on the removal of public works that have been accused of celebrating slavery and colonialism, they are sceptical.

“We would call that shameful behaviour,” says George. “And it’s very odd – because normally those statues are totally invisible. Nobody ever looks at them. I remember, very near my home town, there’s a statue of Redvers Buller, the hero of the Boer war, surrounded by dying Zulus and things. And if you asked people in Exeter, ‘Where’s Buller’s statue?’, none of them knew. It’s a bit silly. Rewriting history is very silly.”

Continue reading...

Prince Harry on Oprah Winfrey: my worry of Diana history repeating

Posted on by

CBS releases two brief clips from Winfrey’s interview with Meghan and Harry, in which they talk about Princess Diana

The Duke of Sussex, who shocked Britain when he and his wife, Meghan, stepped back from royal duties, has told the US interviewer Oprah Winfrey that he had worried about history repeating itself.

CBS has released two brief clips from Winfrey’s interview of the couple, which is scheduled to air on 7 March. It is the first TV interview they have given since making California their home last year.

Continue reading...

Brexiters buy KGB artefacts for ‘museum of communist terror’

Posted on by

Portrait of Lenin and spy tools among items snapped up at auction by group planning UK exhibition

It depicts the Russian revolutionary leader in characteristically serious mood, staring across Red Square, perhaps, and rendered with more than a touch of kitsch.

But while a Soviet-era oil painting of Vladimir Lenin, which sold for nearly $2,000 at auction in the US, might capture the man as many know him, its buyers are not exactly Bolsheviks.

Continue reading...

More than 50,000 people call for inquiry into use of Queen’s consent

Posted on by

Tens of thousands sign petition to investigate mechanism that allows Queen to vet draft laws

More than 50,000 people have called for a parliamentary investigation into an “unfathomable” mechanism that allows the Queen to vet draft laws before they are approved by the UK’s elected representatives.

They have signed a petition supporting an urgent investigation by a House of Commons committee as they are concerned that the “royal family has a worrying and undemocratic ability to influence the government behind closed doors”.

Continue reading...

Britain must reset its compass, from housing to wages, says archbishop of York

Posted on by

Stephen Cottrell says the nation has learned to live with wrongs when it should be trying to change them

Britain needs to reset its compass in a political climate in which “we’ve learned to accommodate things that we know are wrong”, the archbishop of York has said.

Stephen Cottrell, who was enthroned in October, told the Observer: “Our compass has slipped; we’ve allowed ourselves to believe that things can’t change, that this is just the way the world is. Politics has, I think, shrunk. There’s a loss of vision about what the world could be like.”

Continue reading...

Covid vaccine does not affect fertility but misinformation persists

Posted on by

Scientists emphasise safety but younger women still hesitant

Amy Taylor was chatting to friends over a Zoom drink when the conversation took an unexpected turn. One of the group – all in their early 30s, mostly university-educated and in professional jobs – mentioned that she had concerns about the Covid vaccine because she wanted to try for a baby in the next year or two.

“I was surprised when others said they were also a bit anxious. Then I started thinking maybe I should be worried too – even though I’m pro-vaccinations and I know this is the way out of the pandemic,” said Taylor*. “This really plays into the fertility insecurity that lots of women in their 30s have anyway – have I left it too late, will I need IVF, should I freeze my eggs? We don’t want anything else that could interfere with our chances of motherhood.”

Continue reading...