Rhondda Cynon Taf declares emergency as at least four deaths reported across England and Wales
Several people have been killed as Storm Bert battered the UK, with a major incident declared in south Wales.
At least four deaths have been reported in England and Wales since the storm hit amid flooding brought by heavy rain and thawing snow. Thousands of homes have been left without power.
Continue reading...Councils, politicians and campaigners hope a ‘tourist tax’ would raise money to fund services in areas affected by high visitor numbers
Millions of tourists to the UK could soon be asked to pay a local visitor levy as cash-strapped councils try to raise money to fund services.
Nearly half of Scotland’s local councils are considering a mandatory levy on overnight stays, known as a tourist tax, to help cope with a surge in visitors that has overwhelmed places such as Skye, the Callanish stones on Lewis and Orkney’s neolithic sites.
Continue reading...Weather warnings for wind, rain and snow cover much of country, with 16 flood alerts in place
Storm Bert has hit the UK, with snow closing roads and strong rains and winds expected to cause further travel disruption and potential flooding.
Weather warnings and 13 flood alerts have come into effect across much of the country.
Continue reading...Several weather warnings in place for weekend, with snow, wind, rain and ice predicted
Storm Bert is expected to bring wind, rain, ice and snow to much of the UK over the weekend in what forecasters have called a “multi-hazard event”.
The Met Office has issued several weather warnings – mostly yellow, but also including the more severe amber in Scotland – for Saturday and Sunday.
Continue reading...Bus station closed after report of ‘potential suspicious item’ but Police Scotland say ‘nothing suspicious found’ after controlled explosion
Three men have been arrested and a controlled explosion was carried out after a bus station was closed for several hours after reports of a “potential suspicious item” found in the area.
Police Scotland said at about 9.40pm on Wednesday that nothing suspicious was found, despite the controlled explosion at Buchanan bus station.
Continue reading...Only 2.5% of more than 300,000 farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, researchers find
There is just one local authority inspector for every 878 farms in England, Scotland and Wales, according to a report, which says that the current welfare system is continuing to fail animals.
Researchers for the Animal Law Foundation found that only 2.5% of the more than 300,000 UK farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, a marginal decrease from 2018-21 when Covid-19 might be expected to have affected inspection rates.
Continue reading...Jeremy Clarkson tells Westminster protest that government should admit plans weren’t ‘thought out and are a mistake’
In an interview with the BBC, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, defended imposing inheritance tax on some farms when Labour said in opposition that it was not planning to do that. Asked why the government changed its mind, he replied:
After we won the election, we discovered that the Conservatives have left a £22bn black hole in the public finances. And if we want to fix our National Health Service, rebuild all schools, provide the affordable housing that rural communities and across the country rely on, then we’ve had to ask those with the broader shoulders to pay a little bit more.
I’m sure we all feel betrayed because of the state that the Conservatives left the economy in. A £22bn pound black hole isn’t a small problem. It’s massive, and fixing that is necessary if we want to stabilise the economy and rebuild our public services.
Continue reading...PM confirms target of 81% emissions cut at Cop climate summit but says ‘I’m not going to tell people how to live their lives’
Leadbeater introduces the next speaker, Nat Dye, who has terminal cancer. She says she thinks his views are the most important for people to hear at this press conference.
He says he has known “positive” experiences of death. His fiance and his mother both had relatively peaceful deaths. He says palliative care can work for some people.
Imagine I am dying and palliative care hasn’t improved. Well, I have no choice whatsoever: I die in pain or I die in pain.
I see this as a chance just to act with kindness and a choice for people at their darkest hour.
Continue reading...Early signs of success seen in area where native European oysters were fished to local extinction by early 1900s
Thousands of oysters released into the Firth of Forth appear to be thriving again after a century-long absence from the Scottish estuary since they were lost to overfishing.
Marine experts from Heriot-Watt University who have helped reintroduce about 30,000 European flat oysters to the estuary said divers and underwater cameras showed they were doing well.
Continue reading...Land reform charities call for better regulation of UK’s carbon market so profits can be shared with public
Nature campaigners have called for taxpayers to take stakes in forest and peatland projects designed to store carbon, to avoid all the profits from carbon credits going to private investors.
A report from the Revive Coalition, an umbrella group for Scottish land reform and conservation charities, says carbon credits also need to be used much more effectively to bolster demand and help the UK meet its net zero targets.
Government-owned banks such as the Scottish National Investment Bank should invest in carbon projects, including on public land.
It becomes mandatory for all large and medium-sized companies to have audited carbon reduction targets to avoid green washing.
All carbon offsetting projects must register with the official schemes, the Woodland carbon code and the Peatland carbon code.
A new land tax is set up that is reduced if the land is managed to protect the climate and promote nature recovery.
Continue reading...Documentary about Billy Mail’s connection with orphaned pup Molly airs on National Geographic next week
National Geographic will be streaming a new documentary about an unlikely bond between a man and an otter in Shetland.
Billy Mail met Molly, a starving pup, in 2021 when he saw her jumping off a pontoon into the sea near his Shetland home. Mail wanted to see how close he could get to her before she fled. But it turned out that Molly had no intention of running away.
Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story will be available from 14 November on Disney+, and will air on 15 November on National Geographic
Continue reading...‘Distressing’ images and videos were circulating after 74-year-old was struck by a single-decker in Cowgate area
Police have asked the public to stop sharing “distressing” images and videos after a man died in Edinburgh on Saturday evening.
The 74-year-old man was struck by a single-decker bus in the Cowgate area of the city, when the streets were busy with weekend revellers.
Continue reading...Godley, whose comedy drew upon her Glasgow upbringing, died ‘surrounded by her loved ones’, her management says
Janey Godley, the Scottish comedian and author whose quick wit led her to swap pint-pulling in Glasgow for international standup tours, has died aged 63.
She died in a hospice “surrounded by her loved ones”, her management said on Saturday. Godley had announced she was receiving palliative care in September after her terminal cancer spread.
Continue reading...Greek Cypriot Costa Koushiappis to be removed from UK even though his application is pending with Home Office
An EU citizen caught up in a Home Office backlog of applications for post-Brexit residency status is to be deported by Border Force officials in Scotland.
Costa Koushiappis, 39, who is Greek Cypriot, has been told to show up at Edinburgh airport at 7am on Friday to be forcibly put on a flight to Amsterdam just weeks after he received an email from the Home Office to say it could take a further 24 months to process his application for status.
Continue reading...Analysis from business and trade department says bill will significantly strengthen workers’ right. This live blog is closed
In the past the weirdest budget tradition was the convention that the chancellor is allowed to drink alcohol while delivering the budget speech. But since no chancellor has taken advantage of the rule since the 1990s (and no one expects Rachel Reeves to be quaffing on Wednesday week), this tradition is probably best viewed as lapsed.
But Sam Coates from Sky News has discovered another weird budget ritual. On his Politics at Jack and Sam’s podcast, he says:
Someone messaged me to say: ‘Did you know that over in the Treasury as they’ve been going over all these spending settlements, in one of the offices, its full of balloons. And every time an individual department finalises its settlements, one of the balloons is popped.’
There couldn’t be a more important time for us to have this conversation.
The NHS is going through what is objectively the worst crisis in its history, whether it’s people struggling to get access to their GP, dialling 999 and an ambulance not arriving in time, turning up to A&E departments and waiting far too long, sometimes on trolleys in corridors, or going through the ordeal of knowing that you’re waiting for a diagnosis that could be the difference between life and death.
We feel really strongly that the best ideas aren’t going to come from politicians in Whitehall.
They’re going to come from staff working right across the country and, crucially, patients, because our experiences as patients are also really important to understanding what the future of the NHS needs to be and what it could be with the right ideas.
Continue reading...Olympic cycling champion says doctors have told him he has two to four years to live
Tributes have poured in for the Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy after he revealed he had received a terminal cancer diagnosis.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Hoy, who won six golds and one silver medal for Team GB, said doctors had told him he had between two and four years to live.
Continue reading...Met Office issues warnings for across the UK as the first named storm of the season sweeps in
Parts of the UK have been battered by strong winds and heavy rain, as Storm Ashley – the first named storm of the season – swept in.
The Met Office said the storm was likely to bring a threat of injuries and danger to life, with winds of up to 80mph and heavy rain expected in some areas.
Continue reading...John Taylor, 44, found with serious injuries outside Kilwinning home in what police believe was ‘targeted attack’
A murder investigation has been launched after a man died in what police believe was a “targeted attack” outside his home in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire.
John Taylor, 44, was found with serious injuries outside his home in Pollock Crescent on Friday at about 1.55pm, Police Scotland said.
Continue reading...Forecast of high winds and rain leads to cancellation of event that was due to take place in Portsmouth on Sunday
High winds and rain expected from Storm Ashley have caused organisers to cancel the Great South Run, which was due to take place on Sunday.
Great Run, which organises the annual 10-mile race in Portsmouth, said it had been monitoring weather conditions and they “haven’t improved to a point where we can safely stage Sunday’s event”.
Continue reading...Former first minister established party as a political force but questions later emerged about influence he wielded
Alex Salmond cemented his place in British political history in May 2011 when he and the Scottish National party did something extraordinary.
They won an overall majority at Holyrood, under a proportional system designed to promote coalitions, not one party’s domination. With the SNP winning 69 of Holyrood’s 129 seats, the result delivered two things that defined Salmond’s legacy.
Continue reading...