Category Archives: UK news

Fears of ‘feeding frenzy’ against BBC after Diana interview backlash

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Ex-chair of BBC Trust warns criticism could lead to ‘destroying something it would be impossible to recreate’

A former chair of the BBC Trust has warned against the “feeding frenzy” engulfing the corporation as ministers said they would look at how it is governed in the wake of damning findings about its 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

As the broadcaster faced further searching questions over its handling of the crisis, Sir Michael Lyons, who chaired its then governing body from 2007 until 2011, said there was a danger of destroying something that “would be impossible to recreate”.

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Infected blood scandal: Hancock pledges payouts if advised by inquiry

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Health secretary agrees government has ‘moral responsibility’ to address what happened in 1970s and 80s

Matt Hancock has said compensation will be paid to people people infected by contaminated blood products and their relatives if is recommended by the public inquiry into the scandal.

Appearing at the inquiry on Friday, the health secretary agreed the government had a “moral responsibility” to address what had happened.

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Signs of rise in Covid infections in England amid variant warnings

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Boris Johnson still plans to end restrictions in June despite experts’ fears over spread of India and Kent variants

Covid infection levels are showing early signs of an increase in England, data has revealed, as experts continue to warn the variant of concern first detected in India could grow exponentially in the UK.

On Friday Boris Johnson told broadcasters in Portsmouth he has seen nothing to suggest it will be necessary to “deviate from the roadmap”, indicating that the planned lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in England on 21 June may yet go ahead.

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Spain to drop Covid restrictions on British visitors from 24 May

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Spanish PM says negative test not needed even as Boris Johnson warns against travel to amber list countries

Spain will allow British holidaymakers into the country without the need to provide a negative Covid test from 24 May.

In a move aimed at restarting the country’s battered tourist industry, the Spanish government has announced that visitors from the UK will be free to enter Spain “without restrictions and without health requirements”. The same applies to visitors from Japan. All arrivals are still required to fill out a health form.

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Prince William as personal as the public has ever seen in Diana remarks

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Analysis: usually guarded Duke of Cambridge reveals pent-up fury as he comments on BBC’s handling of Panorama interview

He delivered it to camera in a calm and measured tone. But the Duke of Cambridge’s actual words had devastating impact and betrayed a fury pent up for a quarter of a century.

He spoke of “deceit” of “lurid and false” claims, of cover-ups, woeful incompetence and his “indescribable sadness” over Lord Dyson’s findings on the BBC’s handling of the now infamous Panorama interview.

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Richest nations agree to end support for coal production overseas

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G7 countries reaffirm commitment to limit global heating to 1.5C after nearly two days of wrangling

The world’s richest nations have agreed to end their financial support for coal development overseas, in a major step towards phasing out the dirtiest fossil fuel.

After nearly two days of wrangling at a meeting of the G7 environment and energy ministers, hosted virtually by the UK on Thursday and Friday, all reaffirmed their commitment to limiting global heating to 1.5C, and committed to phasing out coal and fully decarbonising their energy sectors in the 2030s.

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Spain’s Valencia region presses to be added to UK travel green list

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Region including Benidorm and Alicante has a much lower Covid infection rate than Spain as a whole

The president of the Valencia region is to meet Britain’s ambassador to Spain next week to press for the region to be added to the UK’s green list of acceptable travel destinations.

Valencia, which includes the resorts of Benidorm and Alicante on the Costa Blanca, claims to be the safest place in Europe, with a Covid infection rate of 29 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared with Spain’s overall rate of 140 per 100,000.

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Digested week: the 99 Flake crisis is solved, with northern nous

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Grand achievements in Preston. Is there something in the water? Well me, eventually

Oh frabjous day – callooh callay! Monday 17, that long-awaited day that marks our arrival at the next staging post of the roadmap out of lockdown. Swap your horses, adjust your britches, take a draught of small beer and regard with pleasure the great plains of freedom lying before you (ignore any musterings of variants you think you see on the horizon. They are not there).

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UK expected to offer post-Brexit trade deal to Australia

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Gradual tariff-free deal will be victory for free-trade Brexiters but will likely alarm UK farmers

UK ministers are expected to offer Australia a trade deal which will gradually eliminate all tariffs and quotas, one seen as a victory for free-trade Brexiters in the cabinet but likely to prompt alarm among UK farmers.

Downing Street did not deny reports on Friday that the likely offer to Australia would be a transition to zero quotas and tariffs over 15 years, although insisted discussions were still taking place.

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Government considers BBC shake-up after damning Diana report

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Ministers to mull governance overhaul after inquiry condemns Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview

Damning findings about Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, means the governance of the BBC and how it operates will have to be examined, according to a senior government minister.

The comments by the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, came as the Metropolitan police said they would “assess” the contents of John Dyson’s report “to ensure there is no significant new evidence”, after previously deciding not to begin a criminal investigation.

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UK like an ‘enemy state’ to EU nationals detained by Border Force

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Confused over regulations, Home Office border staff meet legitimate visitors and workers with suspicion

EU citizens living and working in the UK have revealed how they are being met with suspicion and threats that they will be refused entry at the UK border for the first time in their lives, fuelling fresh fears that Border Force officials have not been trained in the new Brexit rules.

Wolfgang, a German national who runs an IT business, was detained at Heathrow airport despite having proof of settled status, indefinite leave to remain and a British passport on the way.

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UK accused of a ‘abandoning’ Rohingya with ‘catastrophic’ 40% aid cut

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Children in overcrowded Cox’s Bazar settlement likely to suffer most from reduced humanitarian spending, say campaigners

The government has been accused of abandoning Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh after cutting aid to the humanitarian response by more than 40%.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pledged £27.6m to the humanitarian sector’s joint response plan launched this week, compared with £47.5m last year.

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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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