Category Archives: UK news

Star buys: celebrities send meteorite prices into orbit

Posted on by

Elon Musk, Steven Spielberg and Nicolas Cage among those who collect rocks that can cost millions

They really are from out of this world, and the prices are astronomical. For those who have everything they need on Earth, what they now want is a little bit of space. Meteorites are attracting the attention of celebrity collectors who have pushed the price of the rocks – which have hurtled through space for hundreds or even thousands of year before crashing into this planet – tenfold over the past decade.

More than 70 of the most spectacular meteorites ever found will go under the hammer at Christie’s auction house next week in a sale that is expected to generate millions of pounds. Included in the Deep Impact auction are meteorites embedded with gem stones and others have suffered such an impact from blasting through the atmosphere at up to 160,000mph that they resemble sculptures by Alberto Giacometti or Henry Moore.

Continue reading...

UK quietly expelled Chinese spies who posed as journalists

Posted on by

MI5 concluded three Beijing security ministry employees used cover of working for Chinese press agencies

Britain quietly expelled three Chinese spies last year who it said were posing as journalists, it has emerged, as tensions flare between the two countries over a range of media issues.

The intelligence agency MI5 concluded the three worked for China’s powerful Ministry of State Security (MSS) but had been using the cover of working for the country’s press agencies.

Continue reading...

‘Good on her’: how Jackie Weaver became an internet star

Posted on by

Handforth residents, a comedian and young political activists helped explosive parish council meeting go viral

It was the distraction the nation didn’t know it needed: a poor-quality recording of an online meeting of a Cheshire parish council, called by two councillors “following the refusal of the council chairman to call such a meeting”.

Normally such a congress would struggle to raise a quorum, let alone an audience of millions. Yet against all odds, December’s Extraordinary Meeting of Handforth parish council’s planning and environment committee went viral on Thursday night.

Continue reading...

Oxford Covid vaccine almost as effective against Kent variant, trials suggest

Posted on by

Scientists say it offers only slightly lower protection compared with original Covid

The Covid vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is nearly as effective against the Kent variant as it is against older forms of the virus, according to preliminary research results.

Researchers analysed swabs from trial volunteers who developed asymptomatic or symptomatic infections to determine which variant of the virus they had caught after receiving the vaccine or a control jab.

Continue reading...

Out of the dark ages: Netflix film The Dig ignites ballyhoo about Sutton Hoo

Posted on by

Archaeologists at British Museum and National Trust report surge in interest in 1939 Anglo-Saxon find

It was when she spotted #SuttonHoo trending on Twitter that Sue Brunning knew this was not going to be just like any other week.

As the curator of the early medieval collection at the British Museum, and the guardian of the spectacular Sutton Hoo treasures, Brunning is well used to fielding interest in what are justly some of the museum’s best loved exhibits.

Continue reading...

‘Pandemic burnout’ on rise as latest Covid lockdowns take toll

Posted on by

Increasing number of people report feeling worn out and unable to cope due to period of sustained stress

Psychologists are reporting a rise in “pandemic burnout” as many people find the current phase of lockdowns harder, with an increasing number feeling worn out and unable to cope.

They warn that many are finding the latest lockdown more difficult because of a realisation that coronavirus will be around longer than expected, dashed hopes about an easing of restrictions, and a period of sustained stress similar to overwork, which has prompted symptoms such as fatigue.

Continue reading...

What are Covid variants – and should we be worried?

Posted on by

In the UK, all eyes are on South African, Brazilian and Kent variants - with mutations transmitting among the population

With the discovery of new coronavirus variants in parts of the UK, prompting intensive testing, we take a look at what the variants are and how concerned we should be.

Continue reading...

Kilmarnock: hospital under lockdown after ‘serious incident’ say Police Scotland

Posted on by

Lockdown lifted after Crosshouse hospital stabbing, another incident in town centre and a serious road crash

A lockdown at an Ayrshire hospital has been lifted after police were called to a “serious incident” following reports of a stabbing at the site and another two “potentially linked” incidents in the area.

Crosshouse hospital in Kilmarnock was placed under lockdown for about three hours and ambulances were diverted to University Hospital Ayr while officers dealt with the first incident. It is not currently known who has been injured.

Continue reading...

African nations fear more Covid deaths before vaccination begins

Posted on by

Campaigners call for vaccines to be prioritised to frontline health workers and people at highest risk

Communities across Africa are reeling as a second wave of Covid infections recedes, leaving thousands dead amid fears of further surges before mass vaccination campaigns can begin to make a difference.

Few countries in Africa will start immunising even frontline health workers until much later this year, prompting accusations that large orders by wealthy nations are costing the lives of medical staff in poorer parts of the world.

Continue reading...

Home workers putting in more hours since Covid, research shows

Posted on by

Staff in countries including UK log on for two hours longer at home and face bigger workloads

Employees who work from home are spending longer at their desks and facing a bigger workload than before the Covid pandemic hit, two sets of research have suggested.

The average length of time an employee working from home in the UK, Austria, Canada and the US is logged on at their computer has increased by more than two hours a day since the coronavirus crisis, according to data from the business support company NordVPN Teams.

Continue reading...

Rich countries must update financial vows to tackle climate crisis, says UN

Posted on by

Patricia Espinosa says fulfilling $100bn-a-year promise must be top priority to support developing world

Rich countries must step up with fresh financial commitments to help the developing world tackle the climate crisis, the UN’s climate chief has said.

Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that fulfilling pledges of financial assistance made a decade ago must be the top priority before vital climate talks – Cop26 – later this year.

Continue reading...

UK minister announces launch of mix-and-match Covid jab trial – video

Posted on by

The UK vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, says volunteers are being sought for a world-first trial giving a first dose of one vaccine type and a second dose of another.  Run by the University of Oxford, it will recruit 820 people over the age of 50 to receive a first dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

Continue reading...

Covid: Oxford trial to test efficacy of mix of vaccines for individuals

Posted on by

Scientists aim to establish level of immunity in trial of 820 people, giving some a substitute vaccine at second appointment

Volunteers are being sought for a world-first trial to establish the efficacy of giving people a first dose of one vaccine and a second dose of a different vaccine.

The trial, which is being run by Oxford University and is funded by the government’s vaccine taskforce, has been described by ministers as “hugely important”.

Continue reading...

‘Lost generation of unemployed’: Covid hits careers of over-50s

Posted on by

People over 50 who lose their jobs more likely to suffer long-term joblessness than other age groups

Lisa Griffiths, a 61-year-old special needs nanny, has spent her career easily moving from one contract to the next. So when her last, five-year contract ended recently, she was shocked to find new employment opportunities far more limited than she had expected.

Then, while she was considering her options, the pandemic hit and work dried up altogether.

Continue reading...

UK Covid live: Boris Johnson to hold news briefing as Britain exceeds 10m vaccinations

Posted on by

Latest updates: PM press conference comes after milestone is passed; 1,322 further deaths reported in the UK today

Boris Johnson is about to hold a press conference at No 10. He will be with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser.

Today’s coronavirus figures for Scotland are here. There have been 88 further deaths (down from 92 a week ago today) and 978 further cases (down from 1,330 a week ago today).

Of all the new tests carried out, only 5.1% were positive. This is the lowest positivity rate since late December, and very close to the 5% target often mentioned by Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, as the benchmark set by the WHO for countries that have got Covid under control.

Continue reading...

MI5 was involved in 1972 conviction of trade unionists, court told

Posted on by

‘Higher echelons of the state’ allegedly helped get striking workers including Ricky Tomlinson convicted

Three government departments including the Security Service, MI5, collaborated to help convict a group of construction workers who had gone on strike to try to improve their pay and safety measures, the appeal court has heard.

Lawyers for the 14 trade unionists, including the actor Ricky Tomlinson, told the court that the “higher echelons of the state” were responsible for helping to get them unfairly convicted for offences arising out of a strike 47 years ago.

Continue reading...

Bezos leaves Amazon in its prime – keeping it that way is the task

Posted on by

Analysis: Running the online retailer should be a dream job, but where and how to grow will challenge Andy Jassy

A pain-free departure of a visionary founder is a difficult trick to pull off for any business. The stakes are even higher for a company the size of Amazon, as Jeff Bezos steps back from his day-to-day management role.

The decision by Bezos, 57, to quit as chief executive later this year took analysts by surprise, but the first step has already gone smoothly, with Andy Jassy appointed as his successor without any public power struggle.

Continue reading...

UK passes 10m Covid vaccination milestone

Posted on by

About 15% of population has been offered first jab, as experts call for focus on hotspots

Britain has given a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine to more than 10 million people, as public health experts call on ministers to target future vaccinations in hotspots where the disease is threatening to run out of control.

Official figures from across the UK’s four nations showed that 374,756 people received a jab on Tuesday, taking the headline total to 10.02 million, less than two months after the programme began.

Continue reading...

Britain should welcome Hongkongers, but not the ‘good migrant’ narrative | Jeevan Vasager

Posted on by

The idea that Hong Kong migration will give the UK an entrepreneurial rocket boost is based on imperial stereotypes

Ministers swell with pride as they speak of profound ties of history and friendship, while polling shows that a substantial majority of Britons are in favour and newspaper headlines are overwhelmingly positive.

Immigration has always been a contentious issue in Britain. So why, as the UK opens a path to citizenship for millions of Hong Kong residents, is it different this time?

Continue reading...