Holidaymakers face delays as fuel price protesters block M5

Slow-driving convoy caused long delays to those heading to Devon and Cornwall on the first day of the school holidays

Protesters campaigning against high fuel prices have disrupted holiday getaways to the south-west of England by driving in convoy slowly up and down a motorway before blockading a petrol station.

The convoy drove at 30mph on three lanes of the M5 north and south in Somerset and the Bristol area on Friday morning as tens of thousands of people headed to Devon and Cornwall to begin summer breaks.

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Eden Project creators tee up to open ‘edible’ and green golf course

Team admit Gillyflower is not the first but hope it encourages a more sustainable approach to golfing

The views are spectacular, taking in a lovely Cornish river, a ruined castle and the rooftops of an ancient town while the golf is pleasantly challenging, with tight fairways and undulating greens.

But what makes Gillyflower golf course in Lostwithiel different is that every square metre of non-playing surface will be used to grow fruit and vegetables or encourage flora and fauna.

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Scilly residents face paying hundreds to visit the bank as last branch closes

Lloyds is to close the Isles’ last branch meaning the nearest bank will be 44 miles and a ferry ride away

For many, the ferry ride between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly marks the beginning of a relaxing weekend away. For residents of the islands wanting to visit their nearest bank, it’s about to become an expensive necessity.

Lloyds, which ran the Isles’ last remaining branch, is about to close the site on the island of St Mary’s because of a persistent fall in customer numbers.

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‘It’s trendy’: wild garlic foragers leave bad taste in mouth of Cornish residents

Patrols suggested as residents say foragers collecting large bags of wild garlic are ruining annual supply

Usually in the springtime, Millham Lane in the Cornish town of Lostwithiel is flanked by thick, unbroken banks of strongly scented wild garlic.

But this year ugly gaps have appeared in the bright green swathe after they were stripped by foragers – apparently professionals – intent on sourcing a fresh, free ingredient for fashionable dishes such as wild garlic pesto.

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Rise in UK Covid admissions leading to hospital illness, absence and delays

Hospitals in southern England worst affected, with Devon recording highest ever numbers of Covid patients

Rising numbers of people entering hospital with Covid are leading to other patients becoming infected, staff absences, delayed operations and long waits in emergency departments, experts have said.

In recent weeks, Covid infection levels have been rising in the UK and hospitalisations are also increasing.

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Jamaica Inn calls time on 100 years of hunts meeting on its land

Cornish pub used in Daphne du Maurier novel says there are no pluses, just minuses to hunt visits

A pub that was the setting for a novel by Daphne du Maurier has banned hunts from meeting on its land after 100 years of the practice.

The Jamaica Inn in Cornwall – immortalised in the 1936 novel of the same name about smuggling – announced the decision after the East Cornwall Hunt invited the Beaufort Hunt to meet there on Saturday, a move the pub called “extremely ill-advised”.

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Storm Eunice: London added to red weather warning amid ‘danger to life’

Major bridges closing and millions told to batten down and not go outside as authorities warn of ‘significant disruption’

The east of England including London has been added to the red weather warning for wind issued by the Met Office because of Storm Eunice, which has prompted rare danger-to-life warnings, with millions of people told to stay indoors at home to avoid 90mph winds.

The rare highest alert – meaning a major impact is very likely – was widened just before 4am, to run from 10am until 3pm on Friday, due to fears of the storm “causing significant disruption and dangerous conditions due to extremely strong winds”, the Met Office said.

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Cornish town with 1,440 residents seeks to become UK’s smallest city

Marazion, opposite St Michael’s Mount, faces stiff opposition from larger areas in contest for city status

It may not boast a cathedral, a university or a major sports team – the sort of features often associated with a typical British metropolis. But the town of Marazion (population 1,440), perched prettily on the south coast of Cornwall, has nevertheless launched a bold campaign for city status.

Marazion, which does have a couple of churches, a primary school and rowing and sailing clubs, would become the smallest and most southerly city if its proposal is accepted.

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Father, 86, dies trying to rescue disabled daughter from canal

Lawrence Casey went into Bude canal in Cornwall after daughter Jessica lost control of mobility scooter

An 86-year-old man has died while attempting to rescue his disabled daughter from a canal.

Lawrence Casey went into Bude canal in north Cornwall to rescue his daughter Jessica after she suddenly lost control of her mobility scooter and plunged into the water.

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‘It’s really hit us now’: Newquay becomes England’s Covid capital

North Cornwall town reeling and people urged not to visit as thousands of cases linked to festival

At first glance it looked like a pretty perfect day in the self-styled surfing capital of the UK. The sandy beaches were packed, the pubs, cafes and shops humming.

Look at little closer, though, and it became clear all was not quite right. A tapas bar was closed because a team member had tested positive; a surf shop shut its doors at lunchtime because of staff shortages; a scribbled note stuck on the window of a fudge shop summed up the problem – “Covid in Newquay is on the increase” – and urged customers to wear a mask and socially distance.

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UK weather: flood warnings as Storm Evert moves eastwards

Unsettled weather forecast across England and Wales with ‘torrential thundery downpours’ in the east

The Met Office has issued weather and flood warnings as Storm Evert moved eastwards across Britain with thunderstorms forecast for the weekend.

Yellow wind warnings are in place for coastal areas in south-east England and East Anglia, and thunderstorm warnings for a swath of England from Nottingham to Norwich and north as far as Hull.

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‘I have a scene to do, run!’: backstage at Minack Theatre

Our photojournalist explores the famed outdoor venue in Cornwall as it welcomes back full houses

“I knew of it from pictures I’d seen online and I thought it looked pretty, but when you arrive and see it yourself, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, this is insane,’” says actor Guido Garcia Lueches about the Minack Theatre. “It’s probably the best theatre I’ve ever performed in.”

Carved largely by hand into a craggy, granite cliff-face, the dizzying outdoor venue on the south coast of Cornwall looks magnificent in the summer sunshine. Tiers of subtropical foliage splash colour throughout the landscape and weathered concrete seats bearing the titles of past shows rise abruptly from the stage. The ocean, 100ft below, looks an enticing shade of turquoise.

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Stonehenge may be next UK site to lose world heritage status

Britain is eroding global reputation for conserving its historic assets, culture bodies are warning

The UK is eroding its global reputation for conserving its “unparalleled” historic assets, culture bodies have warned, with Stonehenge expected to be next in line to lose its coveted World Heritage status after Liverpool.

Related: Unesco strips Liverpool of its world heritage status

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Concerns grow in St Ives over Covid cases linked to G7 summit

At least five hospitality venues close as two police officers and Extinction Rebellion camp report cases of virus

Concerns are growing that St Ives may face a spike in Covid cases as the G7 summit winds up with hospitality venues, police officers and a protest camp all reporting cases of the virus.

At least five venues in St Ives, the town closest to the main venue summit, Carbis Bay, have closed or are limiting their operations because of cases.

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Brexit bust-up torpedoes Johnson’s bid to showcase ‘global Britain’ at G7

Northern Ireland border row hits summit in Cornwall as prime minister tells other leaders UK is ‘a single country’

Boris Johnson was embroiled in an extraordinary public spat with EU leaders over Northern Ireland on Saturday as tensions over Brexit boiled over at the G7 summit in Cornwall.

After a series of tense bilateral meetings at which the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, told their summit host the UK must implement the Brexit deal in full, an unrepentant Johnson said he had urged his EU colleagues to “get it into their heads” that the UK is “a single country”.

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G7: Emmanuel Macron tells Boris Johnson UK-France relations need ‘reset’ – live updates

Leaders of the G7 industrialised countries are meeting in Cornwall this weekend to discuss vaccines, the pandemic recovery and the climate crisis

The Duchess of Cambridge and US first lady Jill Biden have written a joint article on the importance of early childhood, following their visit to a primary school in Cornwall, where the G7 is taking place.

The two women met for the first time on Friday at Connor Downs Academy in Hayle, where they took part in a round-table discussion with experts on the importance of the early years of childhood for future outcomes.

In the article, published by CNN, they say there must be a fundamental shift in how the UK and US approach the earliest years of life. “If we care about how children perform at school, how they succeed in their careers when they are older, and about their lifelong mental and physical health, then we have to care about how we are nurturing their brains, their experiences and relationships in the early years before school,” they write.

The European Union has been urged to back down in a dispute with the UK over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Boris Johnson was holding talks with the EU’s key players on Saturday as the dispute threatened to overshadow his hosting of the G7 summit.

The prime minister was meeting European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, European Council head Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the margins of the gathering in Cornwall.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged the EU to take a more “pragmatic” approach to the Northern Ireland issue.
The main summit agenda will see the leaders of the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy commit to a new plan aimed at preventing a repeat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Johnson also faces a potentially tricky series of meetings with the EU’s senior representatives. Downing Street has indicated the UK would be prepared to unilaterally delay the full implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol to prevent a ban on chilled meats crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain.

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Wish you were here? 13 photos that reveal what the G7 summit is really like

Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson play happy families, Justin Trudeau channels Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, giant Pikachus descend on a beach – and more

It’s that time again – the G7 summit. It was previously the G8 summit, until the Russians went full Russia and, rather than receiving coordinated international condemnation and effective sanctions, were kicked out of this faintly ridiculous rigmarole as “punishment”.

This year’s is being held in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. Very rarely are things achieved at these summits. The best thing about them is the opportunity to laugh at the photographs, which somehow are even more excruciating than the usual political photo ops.

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Pikachus, politicians and pollution art: how activists are protesting at the G7 summit – video

As world leaders flocked to the G7 summit at Carbis Bay in Cornwall to discuss the Covid pandemic recovery and the climate emergency, activists have also taken the chance to demonstrate to the leaders of seven of the wealthiest global democracies.

From a swarm of 300 drones creating 3D images of endangered species to protesters running around in Pikachu costumes, demonstrators have got creative to get the attention of politicians and the press. Here are some of the most impressive stunts

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