Protesters also call for UK to stop arms sales to Israel and end to Israeli occupation of Palestine
Hundreds of protesters in London have staged a sit-in on Westminster Bridge, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in the first big demonstration of the year.
Elsewhere on Saturday, there were protests in Belfast and Dublin.
Continue reading...Scotland Yard suggest recently unsealed documents containing allegations of sexual assaults do not provide new information
The Metropolitan police has rejected calls to launch an investigation into Prince Andrew, after the release of court documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Accusations against Prince Andrew, including allegedly groping a woman’s breast during an encounter involving a puppet version of the prince and claims he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, were given a new airing in the unsealing of 1,200 pages by a US court.
Continue reading...Pioneering initiative to consider children’s addresses after coroner ruled air pollution a factor in death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, nine
Doctors at Great Ormond Street are being encouraged to consider air pollution levels at their patients’ home addresses when assessing the causes of their illnesses, under an innovative pilot scheme.
Data showing the average annual air pollution rates at patients’ postcodes has been embedded in patients’ electronic files, so that clinicians can help families understand whether their child has been exposed to elevated risk.
Continue reading...Two other men, thought to be Polish nationals, sustain life-threatening injuries as blaze destroys two-storey house in Croydon
A third man has died after a house fire in south London, police have said.
Another man sustained life-threatening injuries in the blaze that destroyed a two-storey end-of-terrace house on Friday night in Croydon, the Metropolitan police said.
Continue reading...Police launch murder investigation after stabbing on Abbey estate near St John’s Wood on Friday evening
A 29-year-old man has been stabbed to death in north-west London, police said.
Officers were called by the London ambulance service to the scene at the Abbey estate near St John’s Wood just after 7.30pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Dismay at St Pancras International in London as services cancelled due to flooding of Thames tunnel
When Ilse Deurloo arrived at St Pancras station after a festive holiday with her boyfriend in London, she was shocked by the scenes of chaos and disruption as thousands of travellers were left stranded.
“This is not what I had in mind,” said Deurloo, 20, who was planning to return home to Amsterdam on Saturday. Her train, like all expected high-speed services between Ebbsfleet International and London St Pancras International, was cancelled due to flooding in a tunnel under the Thames. Thames Water said it believed the incident was caused by a fire control system malfunction.
Continue reading...Southeastern trains on same route also affected, while windy conditions expected to sweep UK
Thousands of travellers faced disruption to their new year plans after all Eurostar trains in and out of London were cancelled on Saturday after “unprecedented” flooding in a tunnel on the line.
There were no high-speed services running between London St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet international in Kent on Saturday, and Southeastern trains on the same route were also suspended. A total of 41 Eurostar trains were cancelled.
Continue reading...Det Supt Andrew Wadey says force has ‘let women and girls down badly’ and service must be improved to restore faith
Victims of domestic abuse have lost confidence in Britain’s biggest police force after a series of scandals, a senior officer has admitted.
Det Supt Andrew Wadey, the Metropolitan police’s lead for domestic abuse and stalking, acknowledged the force had “let women and girls down badly in the past” but insisted they were committed to rebuilding trust.
Continue reading...London mayor had claimed law stopped him allowing vehicles beneath emissions standards to be donated to war effort
Sadiq Khan has pledged to send 4x4s and other vehicles to Ukraine that would otherwise be scrapped under the Ulez scheme.
The mayor of London has asked the transport secretary, Mark Harper, to enable people to donate suitable vehicles to Ukraine through scrappage schemes.
Continue reading...Demonstrators in and around Oxford Street campaign against retailers including Puma, Hewlett-Packard and Axa
Hundreds of people have marched along Oxford Street in London calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a boycott of “Israel-linked” brands, as traffic in the busy shopping district was brought to a standstill days before Christmas.
“There can be no Christmas as usual while a genocide is happening,” the organisers and activist group Sisters Uncut wrote on social media on Saturday, calling for the boycott of brands including Puma, HP and Axa.
Continue reading...Piece showing three aircraft on stop sign in Peckham was confirmed as genuine by the artist on Instagram
Two men have been filmed taking an artwork created by Banksy from a south London street less than an hour after it was confirmed as a genuine installation.
The artist confirmed the piece – a traffic stop sign covered with three aircraft said to resemble military drones – was his in a social media post shortly after midday on Friday.
Continue reading...The prime minister has been facing questions on his government’s performance from senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee
Social care leaders felt “blindsided” by recently announced changes to visa rules banning care workers from bringing their families to the UK and have “grave concerns” it could drive people from the sector, the Commons health committee heard this morning. PA Media has filed this from the hearing.
The head of Care England, which represents social care providers across the country, criticised a lack of consultation with the sector, saying it left them “particularly concerned, annoyed and irritated”.
Prof Martin Green, its chief executive, told the committee the system is currently already “creaking at the edges” due to a lack of funding, and spoke of the “chronic workforce shortage” it faces.
Today’s guidance does not go far enough. During the many months we have been waiting for its publication, it has become increasingly clear that non-statutory guidance will provide insufficient protection and clarity, and that a change in the law of the land is required.
That is why I am today asking the government to back my private member’s bill which would change the law in this area to ensure children are fully protected.
Continue reading...Residents ‘absolutely fuming’ about council’s decision to shut Colvestone primary and transfer its pupils
Helen Davis could not believe her children’s luck when Hackney council announced the borough’s first “21st-century street” was going to be built on the doorstep of their local school.
“It still makes me tingle just to think about it,” she said. “Colvestone primary school was going to be at the heart of this new, pedestrianised, green space. Pupils were going to be able to grow their own vegetables, run conservation projects and have outside play activities. They were even planning an outdoor classroom.”
Continue reading...London boroughs among hardest hit due to falling birth rate and family struggles with Covid and rising costs
Primary schools are being closed, merged and shrunk as councils across England respond to falling numbers of pupils due to the falling birth rate as well as family upheaval triggered by rising costs, Brexit and Covid.
London boroughs are among the hardest hit, with thousands of school places being lost, but the closures and cuts extend to other cities and areas as they adjust to fewer children being born or moving into their catchment areas.
Continue reading...Edward Little had travelled to London with £5,000 to buy weapon for attack on Christian preacher Hatun Tash
A dangerous extremist was 10 minutes from obtaining a gun that he wanted for an attack in Hyde Park in London when he was stopped in an armed police operation, a counter-terrorism chief has said.
Edward Little, 22, had travelled by taxi from his home in Brighton to London with £5,000 in cash when officers arrested him in September 2022.
Continue reading...Criminal Cases Review Commission re-examines case of Wang Yam, who was convicted of 2006 murder of Allan Chappelow in London
The case of Wang Yam, a former MI6 informant convicted of the murder in 2006 of Allan Chappelow, a reclusive author and photographer, is being re-examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
The move comes after developments in forensic DNA analysis, which led to the successful appeal of Andrew Malkinson, whose 2004 conviction for rape was overturned in July.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Key sectors of capital’s economy worth billions to exchequer could be left understaffed, mayor warns
Sadiq Khan has said ministers’ plans to cut legal migration will lead to a “full-blown recruitment crisis” in London, with vacancies in hospitality alone still higher than they were pre-pandemic.
Net migration to the UK boosted the UK population by 672,000 in the year ending June 2023, and about half (48%) of the country’s foreign-born population live in London or the south-east of England.
Continue reading...Cross-party Treasury committee says its private hearings suggest there has been no improvement in 20 years
MPs on the cross-party Treasury committee have been “shocked and alarmed” to hear about the scale of bullying and sexual harassment against women in the City of London, which suggests there has been “no improvement whatsoever” over the past 20 years.
The Labour MP and committee member Angela Eagle said private hearings held as part of the committee’s sexism in the City inquiry had raised significant concerns about the conditions women were forced to endure in the UK’s financial services sector.
Continue reading...The then chancellor’s plan proved to be of no economic benefit and was decried by scientists – but it clearly set out the political aims of ‘Dishy Rishi’
There is no blue heritage plaque above the stainless-steel open kitchen at the branch of Wagamama at London’s Festival Hall – but the restaurant might have claims to one. It was here, in delivering a couple of plates of katsu curry – one chicken, one vegan – on 8 July 2020, that our current prime minister in effect launched his campaign for the country’s leadership.
During that lockdown spring as pandemic chancellor, Rishi Sunak had one of the few enviable public roles: he was cast as the man who saved the economy by giving money away. By the time he pitched up at Wagamama that lunchtime, his various Covid-help schemes had dished out £176bn in furlough payments and loans and deferred taxes. In those efforts Sunak, little known before the crisis, had sometimes looked like the only sober and responsible member of her majesty’s government. The headline act of his summer budget statement, “eat out to help out”, changed that narrative.
Continue reading...Police say 13 protesters arrested during march from Bank Junction to Parliament Square
Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters gathered in Parliament Square, London, on Saturday to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The protesters marched from Bank Junction to Westminster, with many holding signs with the words “Free Palestine” and “End the siege”. Some protesters chanted: “One, two, three, four, occupation no more, five, six, seven, eight, Israel is a terrorist state.”
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