Journalists and bloggers to have greater access under ‘open reporting provisions’ after pilot scheme launched in 2023
A scheme allowing journalists increased access to family courts is being rolled out in an effort to improve transparency.
The initiative permits accredited journalists and legal bloggers to report on cases as they unfold, as they would in criminal courts, provided the families and certain professionals involved remain anonymous.
Continue reading...A lifeboat had to make four trips to recover seven people from Worms Head island due to very challenging conditions
It turned out to be a dangerous trip to a tidal island in Wales that, thanks to the RNLI, seven American students will never forget.
The group had to be rescued by the lifeboat service after the incoming tide cut Worms Head island off from the Gower coast on Saturday morning.
Continue reading...The young man who died in Ireland after a tree fell during Storm Eowyn has been named as Kacper Dudek
Irish premier Micheál Martin said every effort is being made to restore power and water supplies following Storm Eowyn.
He described the destruction caused by some of the strongest winds on record as “unprecedented”.
Continue reading...Bridget Curtis, 71, admitted causing death of eight-month-old Mabli Cariad Hall after losing control of car
A woman has been jailed for four years for causing the death of an eight-month-old baby girl in a crash outside a hospital after losing control of her car while reaching for a handbag.
Bridget Curtis, 71, collided with a pram carrying Mabli Cariad Hall as she was being pushed by her father, Rob Hall, outside Withybush hospital in Haverfordwest, south-west Wales.
Continue reading...Austerity affected courts, prisons and public services while rates of poverty surged, creating the conditions for more crime
The period in which clear-up rates for the most serious crimes collapsed coincided with big cuts to police budgets, and the subsequent fall in police officer numbers of about 20,000.
The last Conservative government, responsible for the cuts after 2010 in the name of austerity, spent its time denying they would have any damaging effect on crime fighting in England and Wales. Then, in its final years, it started to reverse the cuts, and pretended “wokery” among law enforcement had diverted officers’ attention.
Continue reading...Snow, ice and fog yellow weather warnings remain in force across the UK as snow and sleet cause disruption to transport
It’s a very cold morning in Ireland with widespread frost and ice lingering, says the Irish meteorological service, Met Éireann.
In a post on X, Met Éireann said:
Sunny spells will develop later with just a scattering of cloud in a cold northerly breeze.
A few isolated wintry showers will drift in over Connacht and Ulster for a time but elsewhere should hold dry.”
Continue reading...Cross-party Senedd report finds Wales is third from bottom in spending on culture and sports, with Iceland biggest spender
It is known as the land of song and as one of the world’s most passionate sporting nations.
But a report has concluded that despite its proud heritage, Wales is languishing behind almost all other European countries in terms of spending on recreational, sporting and cultural services.
Continue reading...Palestinians trapped in a ‘doom loop of hell’, MPs told
At the end of last week Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary and runner-up in last year’s Tory leadership contest, said the child abuse grooming scandal started with “mass migration” and “importing hundreds of thousands of people from alien cultures, who possess medieval attitudes towards women”. In response Samuel Kasumu, a former Tory adviser on race issues, said that comments like that could lead to people being killed, while Kemi Badenoch defended her colleague.
In an inteview on the Today programme this morning, asked if Kasumu’s comments made him reconsider his views, Jenrick replied:
That’s complete nonsense. MPs have been killed in this country in recent times by a jihadist and by a neo-Nazi. They were killed because of the views of those individuals, not what anything an MP has said. We have to fight extremism in this country, wherever we find it, and you fight that by standing up to the extremists, you don’t fight it by shying away, by turning a blind eye, by looking the other way.
I’m not going to tiptoe around this issue. Millions of people in our country are listening to your programme this morning, and they are appalled by what is happening to young girls, and they are shocked that there might be girls in that situation today. We have to stop this.
I think some people who come from that country do. I’m not saying everybody.
NR: Did Sajid Javid’s family [the former Tory chancellor] come with a medieval culture to this county?
RJ: I’m saying some people do.
Robert Jenrick’s attempt to exploit this appalling scandal for his own political gain is completely shameless. He didn’t lift a finger to help the victims when a minister, now he’s jumping on the bandwagon and acting like a pound shop Farage.
Kemi Badenoch should sack him as shadow justice secretary and condemn his divisive comments, instead of letting him run a leadership campaign under her nose.
Continue reading...Amber warnings for snow and freezing rain in place for much of Wales and England while second snow warning affects most of northern England
Some pictures of heavy snow from the Pennines
Heavy snow is threatening to postpone Manchester United’s Premier League game with Liverpool on Sunday.
Continue reading...Closed roads, multi-vehicle collisions and train problems reported as Met Office warnings remain in place
Homes were left without power, roads were closed, cars stranded, and flights and train services disrupted on Saturday as heavy snow and freezing rain hit much of the UK.
The National Grid said on Saturday night that power was cut to properties across the Midlands, south-west England and south Wales, including Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff, and that work was under way to get services restored.
Continue reading...Election manifesto promise to set up specialist tribunals to deal with huge backlog of cases has been put on hold
The government appears to have stalled on plans to set up dozens of specialist rape courts to deal with a huge backlog of cases, amid warnings there are not enough lawyers to make the proposals work.
Labour pledged during the election campaign to use vacant rooms and buildings on crown court sites to fast-track rape cases and reduce the numbers awaiting trial.
Continue reading...Disruption expected as rain turns to snow, after major flooding incident declared in Greater Manchester
An ice warning is in force for much of the UK as temperatures have dropped, after a major incident was declared due to flooding.
The yellow Met Office warning indicates there could be some difficult travel conditions across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north Wales, and stretching down to the Midlands, until 10am on Thursday.
Continue reading...Patients waiting many hours for ambulances to arrive, while those phoning 999 struggle to get through
A “critical incident” was declared by the Welsh ambulance service on Monday evening due to significantly increased demand and extensive handover delays.
The ambulance service, which covers 3 million-plus people across Wales, said more than 340 calls were waiting to be answered at the time the critical incident was declared.
Continue reading...Fourth named storm of the season follows concern over lack of flooding warnings for Storm Bert last week
An amber warning for wind has been issued for large parts of the UK, with power cuts and flying debris possible amid the arrival of the fourth named storm of the season.
Storm Darragh is expected to bring gusts of up to 80mph and heavy rain late on Friday and into Saturday.
Continue reading...MPs vote to give leave to bring in private members’ bill on PR but it will have no practical effect
Lord Robertson, the former Labour defence secretary and former Nato secretary who is leading the government’s strategic defence review, is giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. He has told MPs that the Americans are being fully consulted about the review. This is from Shashank Joshi, the Economist’s defence editor.
Listening to George Robertson & Richard Barrons, who are writing the UK’s defence review alongside Fiona Hill, giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. They’re in “constant contact” with allies, Robertson says, and have a US officer on the review team.
Continue reading...Companies say higher returns are needed to ensure record infrastructure investment across industry is delivered
Water companies want to see higher returns for shareholders to ensure record investment into sewage infrastructure, pipes and treatment plants is delivered.
As Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, prepares to announce its decision on how much customer bills will be allowed to rise by to fund tens of billions of pounds in investment across the industry, water companies said higher returns were needed.
Continue reading...James Howells seeking go-ahead to search for hard drive that was accidentally thrown into landfill in 2013
For more than a decade, a computer expert from Newport in south Wales has doggedly fought to recover £500m of bitcoin he says was accidentally thrown into a council tip.
James Howells’ bid to become extremely rich reached a judge on Tuesday with a team of lawyers arguing that it was still possible to launch a hunt for his missing hard drive containing the bitcoin.
Continue reading...Layla Moran and Diane Abbott say end-of-life care needs more funding after bill passed for England and Wales
MPs on both sides of the debate over assisted dying have called for improvements to palliative care, regardless of whether parliament eventually enacts legalisation.
Layla Moran, who supported the bill at its second reading on Friday, and Diane Abbott, who did not, agreed that more funding was required to improve end-of-life care during a joint-interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Continue reading...Terminally ill adults with less than six months to live will be given right to die under proposed legislation
MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.
Campaigners in favour of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill said it was a significant move towards giving people more choice over the way they die, after the Commons backed the bill by 330 votes for to 275 against.
Continue reading...Peter Young says agency sought information from him about Daniel Andreas San Diego, who was on ‘most wanted terrorists’ list
A former animal rights activist who was on the run from the FBI for more than seven years claims that he was offered a deal to inform on one of the organisation’s most wanted fugitives who was arrested this week in Wales.
Peter Young, 47, who now lives in Boulder, Colorado, went on the run after being indicted in 1998 over a string of fur farm raids across three states the previous year. He was jailed in the US for two years in 2005 after spending years hiding from the FBI in the UK.
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