Team behind Eden Project North says it will re-imagine British seaside for 21st century and regenerate community
The team behind the Eden Project in Cornwall has submitted a business case for £70m of government funding to create a northern outpost on the coast of Lancashire.
The team behind Eden Project North hopes it can be a major new attraction in Morecambe that will re-imagine the British seaside for the 21st century – and regenerate a coastal community.
Continue reading...Simon Coveney warns talks may collapse amid fishing rights impasse
Brexit negotiations on a trade deal resume in a crucial week, as it emerged talks on the issue of EU access to British fishing waters have not progressed since the summer.
As the two sides re-engaged in the troubled discussions, with less than seven weeks to go before the end of the transition period, Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said the negotiations were “not in a good place” on fishing rights.
Continue reading...MEPs might not be able to seal any agreement until three days before transition period ends
A European parliament vote to seal a Brexit trade deal could be delayed until 28 December, three days before the end of the transition period, under an emergency EU plan.
With less than seven weeks to go before the UK leaves the single market and customs union, the negotiations remain troubled, with the talks on fishing rights in UK waters not progressing significantly since the summer.
Continue reading...Research based on playing time data showed gamers reported greater wellbeing
Playing video games can be good for your mental health, a study from Oxford University has suggested, following a breakthrough collaboration in which academics at the university worked with actual gameplay data for the first time.
The study, which focused on players of Nintendo’s springtime craze Animal Crossing, as well as EA’s shooter Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, found that people who played more games tended to report greater “wellbeing”, casting further doubt on reports that video gaming can harm mental health.
Continue reading...Thirty-piece collection was bequeathed to museum in 1948 and recently rediscovered
An unusual collection of 2,000-year-old glassware is providing Syrian refugees in the Renfrewshire town of Paisley with a connection to their homeland, five years after they settled in Scotland.
The 30-piece collection, dating back to Roman times, was bequeathed to Paisley Museum in 1948 by Elizabeth Spiers Paterson, the daughter of thread manufacturers, and is believed to have been acquired from antiquities dealers in Syria, known as the birthplace of glass-making.
Continue reading...More than two-thirds of UN member states have declared they are open to a new agreement to stem the rising tide of plastic waste
Support is growing internationally for a new global treaty to tackle the plastic pollution crisis, it has emerged, though so far without the two biggest per capita waste producers – the US and the UK – which have yet to signal their participation.
A UN working group on marine litter and microplastics met at a virtual conference last week to discuss the issue. More than two-thirds of UN member states, including African, Baltic, Caribbean, Nordic and Pacific states, as well as the EU, have declared they are open to considering the option of a new agreement.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s picture editors select highlights from around the world
Continue reading...Tech firm told Northern Ireland resident who wanted to watch rugby that he didn’t live in UK
It was an unlikely statement from one of the world’s biggest companies, but for a brief period on Saturday afternoon it appeared that Amazon had pledged its backing to a united Ireland.
The tech company has now apologised after telling a resident of Northern Ireland that he could not watch its rugby union coverage because he didn’t live in the UK.
Continue reading...Exclusive: study of low-risk individuals finds impairments four months after infection
Young and previously healthy people with ongoing symptoms of Covid-19 are showing signs of damage to multiple organs four months after the initial infection, a study suggests.
The findings are a step towards unpicking the physical underpinnings and developing treatments for some of the strange and extensive symptoms experienced by people with “long Covid”, which is thought to affect more than 60,000 people in the UK. Fatigue, brain fog, breathlessness and pain are among the most frequently reported effects.
Continue reading...Exclusive: widow seeks damages for 2006 murder and payment of lost income
The widow of Alexander Litvinenko has submitted a claim against Russia to the European court of human rights (ECHR), seeking €3.5m (£3.1m) in compensation for his murder by radiation poisoning in London.
Marina Litvinenko is requesting punitive damages and payment for accumulated lost income. A public inquiry concluded that her husband’s murder in 2006 was probably ordered by Vladimir Putin.
Continue reading...George Eustice says departure of PM’s top aide will have no particular impact on negotiations
The UK environment secretary, George Eustice, has denied that the departure of Dominic Cummings – one of the architects of Vote Leave – will have any impact on Brexit negotiations.
As the Brexit deal deadline approaches, Eustice sought to downplay Cummings’ exit from No 10 by arguing it would not alter discussions with Brussels as UK negotiations are led by David Frost.
Continue reading...Child mortality crisis is looming as nations struggle to make payments to west and China, says former prime minister
It is being called the “great reversal”. After decades of progress, the international goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 is in jeopardy, Gordon Brown has warned, as developing countries battling the coronavirus sacrifice their health and education systems to pay western and Chinese creditors.
“We need a comprehensive new plan that recognises the need for some countries to restructure and reduce debt,” Brown told the Observer. Ahead of a key G20 meeting next weekend, the former prime minister is calling for a global solution if an imminent child mortality crisis is to be averted.
Continue reading...Attitudes to faith said to drive negative perceptions more than ethnicity or nationality
Religion is the “final frontier” of personal prejudice, with attitudes to faith driving negative perceptions more than ethnicity or nationality, a report to be published tomorrow will say.
How We Get Along, a two-year study of diversity by the Woolf Institute, is due to conclude that most people are tolerant of those from different ethnic or national backgrounds, but many have negative attitudes based on religion.
Continue reading...UK death toll rises by 168; economy minister says Germany ‘isn’t out of the woods’; Greece limits public gatherings; US records 177,000 new cases
France reports 302 deaths and 27,228 new cases in the last 24-hours, according to the French health ministry website. The country has had in total 44,246 deaths and 1,981,827 confirmed cases since the beginning of the outbreak.
The prime minister of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Ambrose Dlamini, has tested positive for Covid-19.
In a statement published on Twitter he said he was asymptomatic and currently isolating in line with the government’s coronavirus protocols:
We should not tire of looking after one another and encouraging adherence to all health protocols at all times.
Government Press Statement: Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini tests positive for #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/HoqABtoRKh
Continue reading...With British skiers nervous about booking holidays in Europe, travel specialists are predicting an exodus to the north
The Scottish mountains may be an unlikely beneficiary of the Covid-19 pandemic. With British skiers nervous about committing to a package holiday with a tour operator in one of the main European destinations, travel specialists are predicting the rise of the DIY ski trip, which could be good news for the Cairngorms.
“There’s clearly still an enormous amount of uncertainty about what will happen across the winter season,” said Rob Stewart, founder of Ski Press PR, who represents clients in the ski industry. “The general view is that December – and I’m talking about for UK skiers – will be a write-off in regards to skiing. This is mainly due to uncertainties on when resorts will really start to open up and, of course, the quarantine and Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel.”
Continue reading...Concentrations of intoxicating THC have risen, data from more than 80,000 street drug samples gathered over 50 years shows
Cannabis resin – or “hash” – has increased in strength by nearly 25% over the past half century, a major international study has revealed.
Researchers with the Addiction and Mental Health Group at the University of Bath analysed data from more than 80,000 cannabis street samples tested in the past 50 years in the US, UK, Netherlands, France, Denmark, Italy and New Zealand.
Continue reading...Prof John Edmunds calls for consistent UK government strategy and warns against relaxing measures
Encouraging the public to visit bars and restaurants and then closing down such venues when Covid-19 cases spike is not a “sensible way to run the epidemic”, a government scientific adviser has said.
Prof John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), urged a long-term strategy when it comes to balancing the economy and the pandemic.
Continue reading...Allegra Stratton breaks cover to contradict ‘false’ briefings over her appointment
The woman appointed by Boris Johnson to lead his daily press operations was left in tears on Saturday after she claimed to have been the subject of negative briefings by a former No 10 official who resigned last week and made a dramatic exit from Downing Street.
In an extraordinary escalation of feuding involving new and departing aides to Johnson, friends of Allegra Stratton, the new press secretary to the prime minister, said she had been “in tears all morning” as a result of what she believed were critical briefings by Johnson’s former director of communications, Lee Cain.
Continue reading...Councils not briefed about policy change despite concerns about homelessness and Covid risks
The Home Office did not discuss the decision to restart asylum evictions with local authorities, it has been revealed, despite concerns about the immediate impact on homelessness and heightened risks of coronavirus transmission.
Councils were not briefed about the change in policy before it was announced in mid-September, a freedom of information investigation by the Independent online newspaper showed, underlining that all 26 councils that responded said there had been no consultation with ministers.
Continue reading...Family of Jamalie Maleek Deacon Matthew urge public to share any relevant information with the police
The family of a 17-year-old boy stabbed to death in north London have said they are “utterly devastated” by his death.
The Metropolitan police were called at 3.50pm on Thursday to Northwick Park in Harrow after reports of a stabbing.
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