From 2025, commuters can expect two extra trains every hour between Manchester and York and journey times up to 40% shorter
Train services in the north of England are to be given triple the intended investment after the government announced the first part of its £96bn integrated rail plan.
The multibillion pound plan – announced last November – pledged to deliver faster train journeys more quickly than the original plans for the HS2 eastern leg and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Continue reading...Local MP and councillor angered by comments about Roundhay school, rated ‘satisfactory’ when foreign secretary attended
Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has been criticised for comments about the quality of education at her Leeds school, which she claims caused children to be “let down”.
Speaking at the launch of her economic plan, the foreign secretary is expected to describe seeing “children who failed and were let down by low expectations” during her time at Roundhay school in the 1990s.
Continue reading...A lack of recent rainfall forces part of the Leeds-Liverpool canal to shut while 5 million face a hosepipe ban
Boat owners on the UK’s longest canal will not be able to move their boats next week, due to a water shortage, while 5 million people have been warned they may be soon facing a hosepipe ban.
Stretches of the Leeds-Liverpool canal will be closed during periods next week after a lack of rainfall has led to low levels in some Yorkshire and Lancashire reservoirs, leaving canal locks unable to be filled.
Continue reading...Exclusive: mother of Emily Whelan hopes tests that helped prove Stewart was murdered may shed light on daughter’s death
The mother of a woman with epilepsy who died in 2016 hopes the high-profile murder of Diane Stewart could hold the key to establishing her daughter’s cause of death.
Emily Whelan, 25, was found unresponsive in her bedroom in Leeds on 7 November 2016 and pronounced dead the next day at Leeds general infirmary.
Continue reading...Theft from Leeds Bridge of memorial to British-Nigerian man who drowned in river in 1969 treated as hate crime
Detectives have launched a hate crime investigation after a blue plaque commemorating David Oluwale, a British-Nigerian man who died in 1969 after being harassed by police, was stolen within hours after being unveiled on Leeds Bridge.
An event to mark the installation of the plaque, attended by the leader of Leeds city council, was held between 5pm and 7pm on Monday and by 10pm it had been taken. The theft followed racist graffiti being daubed on the office of Leeds Civic Trust – which installs blue plaques in the city – on Sunday night.
Continue reading...Stigma can stop women seeking help but Hawa Bah, who was cut at eight, reaches those suffering in silence to get them the care they need
One night 14 years ago, Hawa Bah crept out of her house in Guinea and slipped into the darkness. She says she had lost count but it may have been her 14th or 15th escape attempt from an abusive marriage she was forced into with a man 37 years her senior.
Bah made her way through a maze of streets to the meeting point where a car was waiting with two strangers inside. When they took her to the airport, Bah felt her heart beating through her chest. She had not realised until then that she would be leaving her country. Aged 17, she had no belongings and no idea where she was going.
Continue reading...Aysha Khanom claims discrimination after Leeds Beckett accused her of using ‘racist language’ in tweets
An academic is suing Leeds Beckett University after she was dropped from her advisory role over tweets calling a mixed-race man a “house negro”, alleging the decision was discriminatory because of her belief in critical race theory and Black radicalism.
The university ended its association with the academic adviser Aysha Khanom after accusing her of “racist language” in relation to tweets using the terms “house negro” and “coconut” – the former in a question.
Continue reading...Exclusive: pathologist unable to rule out third-party involvement in Emily Whelan’s death because of condition of corpse
The family of a woman who they suspect was killed is suing a health trust that allegedly stored her corpse incorrectly, allowing it to decompose to the point that experts were unable to rule out third-party involvement in her death, the Guardian can reveal.
Emily Whelan, 25, was found unresponsive in her bedroom in Leeds on 7 November 2016 and was rushed by ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary (LGI). Her family was told that Emily, who had epilepsy, had experienced a seizure, but she had never had any significant issues with the condition she had managed since childhood.
Continue reading...‘We need to make sure that transmission comes down now,’ says Prof Graham Medley
The UK’s daily coronavirus death toll will rise from 34 to 100 a day in three to four weeks’ time, an expert on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has warned.
Infectious disease modelling expert Prof Graham Medley said there is little that can be done now to prevent daily deaths climbing to 100 – but “we need to make sure transmission comes down now” to prevent the figure increasing further.
Continue reading...With local lockdowns set to spread, report shows 90% of tests failing to hit turnaround target
The coronavirus test and trace system was condemned as “barely functional” today as its tsar admitted that demand was up to four times capacity, while 90% of tests were failing to hit the 24-hour turnaround target.
The Guardian has seen documents showing tracers taking up to two weeks to contact friends, relatives and workmates of people diagnosed with Covid-19 – the entire length of the self-isolation period.
Continue reading...Strict rules could be reimposed in days after cases double in a week in Lancashire city
Preston is facing a fresh lockdown within days after local coronavirus infections surged, a public health official has said.
Cases of the disease in the Lancashire city have doubled in a week, and Preston could follow in the footsteps of nearby east Lancashire, Greater Manchester and parts of West Yorkshire by reintroducing stringent lockdown rules.
Continue reading...Exclusive: proportion of close contacts being reached is below 80% in high infection areas
The government’s flagship test-and-trace system is failing to contact thousands of people in areas with the highest infection rates in England, raising further questions about the £10bn programme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”.
Local leaders and directors of public health are demanding more control over the tracing operation amid concerns that their ability to contain the virus is being put at risk.
Continue reading...Researchers in UK recreate Nesyamun’s sound using 3D version of his vocal tract
The “voice” of an ancient Egyptian priest has been heard for the first time since he died and was mummified 3,000 years ago, researchers have said.
Nesyamun lived under the pharaoh Rameses XI, who reigned around the beginning of the 11th century BC.
Continue reading...HS2 is a once-in-two-century chance to rebalance the UK economy. It isn’t just about creating links to London. There are over 25 stops from Scotland to the south-east. It increases desperately needed capacity on existing lines, creating more space for extra commuter trains. It takes lorries off the road as freight moves to rail, creating more space for the driver on our motorways. There is something in HS2 for every traveller.
The report by the New Economics Foundation (Scrap HS2 and pour £56bn into regions, says thinktank, 20 March) ignores what cities including Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham have all been doing to make sure we benefit. Altogether, cities around the route have plans to create nearly 500,000 jobs, 100,000 new homes and add billions to the economy of the country. Poor connections between our major cities have been holding us back for far too long. Together HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and Midlands Connect will give us the links that will unleash investment and bring prosperity to the Midlands and the north.
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