Category Archives: England

England’s NHS crews ‘watching patients die in back of ambulances’ due to A&E delays

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Survey says queues outside emergency departments are leading to ‘car park care’ and fatalities

Paramedics across England are watching patients die in the back of ambulances because of delays outside emergency departments, according to a survey by Unison.

The gridlock of patients in some of the country’s hospitals has led to queues of up to 20 ambulances outside casualty departments in certain areas. In a number of cases, crews have been forced to wait more than 12 hours before handing over patients.

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Over 60 Reform UK candidates in local elections are Tory defectors, study finds

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Labour accuses Nigel Farage’s party of ‘mass rebrand’ after research into nominations of former Conservatives

More than 60 of Reform UK’s council candidates standing in this year’s elections are defectors from the Conservative party, according to research from the Labour party.

Reform has also selected an ex-Conservative for its candidate in the upcoming Runcorn and Helsby byelection, while the party’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire is the former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, who lost her parliamentary seat in West Yorkshire last July.

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Aintree racegoers grateful for hats as sun shines for first time in decade

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Ladies Day visitors happy to make financial sacrifices to wear spectacular outfits at annual Liverpool event

The tradition of fascinators and hats during Ladies Day is usually more about showcasing excellent style than being practical. But this year, spectators at Aintree had good need for their headwear, as the sun shone at the racecourse for the first time in almost a decade.

A crowd of 45,000 people had been predicted, and as temperatures reached 19C on Friday, the Met Office said it was just short of being the warmest Aintree festival this century.

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UK set for warmest day yet this year as firefighters warn of more wildfires

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Temperature could hit 24C in central England on Friday with ‘very high to extreme’ risk of wildfires across Britain

The UK could experience its warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures higher than European holiday hotspots.

The Met Office said much of the country would be dry and sunny on Friday, and some of central England could hit 24C (75F) as weather “nearer to what we’d expect in July” continued.

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C of E vicars call for ’urgent and decisive action’ on increasing their pensions

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Lead signatory of letter to Church Times says it is ‘moral and Christian imperative’ to ensure dignified retirement

Church of England vicars are demanding an increase in pensions amid claims that many face an impoverished old age, with some forced to rely on food banks or move in with adult children.

Almost 2,000 C of E clergy have joined an action group on Facebook in the past few weeks and 700 signed a letter to the Church Times calling for “urgent and decisive action”.

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MPs’ attacks on judges a huge threat to the rule of law, says attorney general

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Richard Hermer has responded to Robert Jenrick’s calls for a senior judge to be sacked over sentencing guidelines row

Political attacks on judges are “dangerous” and “a huge threat to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”, the attorney general has said in a direct rebuke to the shadow justice secretary.

Richard Hermer said politics was entering a “dangerous moment” where politicians were “attacking judges on a personal basis” on the floor of the House of Commons.

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Chester zoo unveils £28m ‘Africa’ facility – complete with chilly giraffes

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Nine-hectare site home to 57 species including rhino, zebras and ostriches in UK’s biggest such development

“Although we are trying to replicate Uganda and Kenya we are actually in Cheshire so the weather is slightly different,” admits Chester zoo boss, Jamie Christon, on a fresh and very grey Monday morning.

But ignore the chilliness and screw your eyes and you could well be transported to a sweeping African savannah where, one day, there will be giraffes, zebras, antelopes and ostriches roaming majestically side by side.

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Scotland Yard protesters demand justice for drag artist found dead in Soho in 2023

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Friends and fans of Heklina denounce Met’s investigation of unsolved death in her London flat

Nearly two years after the American drag artist Heklina was found dead in London, her friends and fans gathered outside Scotland Yard’s headquarters to protest against the force’s handling of the case.

Heklina, whose real name was Steven Grygelko, was found at a flat in Soho, central London, on 3 April 2023, by a friend and fellow drag performer, Peaches Christ, real name Joshua Grannell.

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Police officers ‘mocked and ostracised’ for paternity leave in England and Wales

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Exclusive: Most only take a week’s leave, and paternity pay for back-office staff in Met is nearly three times higher

Police officers have described being ostracised for taking paternity leave, as it is revealed that back-office staff in the Metropolitan police are entitled to proportionately nearly three times as much paternity pay as frontline fathers.

A freedom of information request has revealed that most serving police officers in England and Wales only take one week of paternity leave, with some describing being on “blue lights” duty and carrying Tasers a week after the birth of their babies.

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Man arrested over three deaths in fire at house near Kettering

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Four-year-old girl, young man and woman killed by blaze at former stationmaster’s house in Rushton

A 54-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a fire at a historic former stationmaster’s house killed three people, including a four-year-old girl, police have said.

Emergency services were called at about 10.30pm on Friday to reports of a large blaze at a property in Beswick Close in Rushton, near Kettering.

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Shabana Mahmood plans bill to overrule Sentencing Council in ‘two-tier justice’ row

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Ministry of Justice drafts instruction for judges in England and Wales to ignore guidelines on age, sex and ethnicity

Ministers are planning to introduce a last-minute rule change this week to overturn sentencing guidelines that could have led to criminals getting different sentences depending on their age, sex and ethnicity.

Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is planning to bring a bill to the Commons this week to overrule the guidelines, which are due to come into force in England and Wales on Tuesday.

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Minister attacks expenses rules after Labour MP’s claim for ‘pet rent’

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Watchdog accepted Taiwo Owatemi’s claim for landlord’s surcharge to let her keep dog in London flat

Ministers will ask the Commons authorities to consider changing rules that allowed a Labour whip to claim £900 in expenses to rent a pet-friendly flat in London.

The government will lobby the independent expenses regulator to look at allowance rules after Taiwo Owatemi claimed for a pet surcharge demanded by her landlord to allow her to keep her dog in the property.

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Actor Reece Richards condemns police watchdog over race decision on arrest

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Sex Education actor criticises IOPC for refusing to consider race in investigation of officers who pepper-sprayed him

The Hairspray and Sex Education actor Reece Richards has condemned the police watchdog for refusing to consider race in its investigation of Met officers who arrested and pepper-sprayed him.

The 34-year-old was walking home in west London last September after performing in Hairspray when a car crashed into a lamp-post nearby. Two white men fled the scene. When Metropolitan police officers arrived seconds later, Richards pointed out the suspects’ directions. He said that, instead of pursuing them, an officer began shouting at him to get the ground and pointed a pepper spray at him.

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Three people die after house fire in Northamptonshire village

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Emergency services called on Friday night to blaze at 19th-century former railway station in Rushton

Three people have died after a fire at a Grade II-listed former railway station in a village in Northamptonshire.

Police, fire and ambulance services were called at about 10.30pm on Friday to reports of a large blaze at a property in Beswick Close in Rushton, near Kettering.

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Why the weasel testicles? Cambridge show explains medieval medicine

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Exhibition aims to help visitors get inside the minds that thought mercury and roasted apples would cure lice

Medieval treatments might make you question the sanity of the doctors of the day, but a new exhibition is set to take visitors inside the minds of such medics and reveal the method behind what can seem like madness.

Curious Cures, opening on Saturday at Cambridge University Library, is the culmination of a project to digitise and catalogue more than 180 manuscripts, mostly dating from the 14th or 15th centuries, that contain recipes for medical treatments, from compendiums of cures to alchemical texts and guides to healthy living.

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University of Sussex taking legal action over £585,000 free speech fine

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Vice-chancellor Sasha Roseneil accuses Office for Students of seeking to ‘persecute’ rather than solve problems

The University of Sussex is taking legal action to overturn a record fine levied by England’s higher education regulator, accusing the regulator of seeking to “persecute” it rather than solve problems.

This week the Office for Students (OfS) said it would fine Sussex £585,000 for two “historic” breaches of its regulations related to freedom of speech and governance. It comes after a three-and-a-half-year investigation into the resignation of Prof Kathleen Stock, who was the target of protests at Sussex over her views on gender identification and transgender rights.

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Lancashire prison governor denies alleged relationship with drug gang leader inmate

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Kerri Pegg, 42, also accused of accepting gift of Mercedes from man styling himself Jesse Pinkman

A prison governor has denied two counts of misconduct in a public office after she allegedly entered into a relationship with an inmate and drug trafficker who called himself Jesse Pinkman, the name of a meth dealer from the TV show Breaking Bad, a court has heard.

It is alleged Kerri Pegg, 42, became “emotionally and personally involved with a serving prisoner”, Anthony Saunderson, the boss of a drug dealing gang who used the Pinkman name as a handle during secret communications with other criminals. He has since been convicted of drug trafficking.

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Police to block ‘intimidating’ protests near places of worship, says Home Office

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Yvette Cooper says change needed in England and Wales after concerns over marches near synagogues and mosques

The government plans to give police in England and Wales powers to change the route or timing of protest marches planned outside places of worship in order to give greater protection against intimidation.

The government is to include the powers in an amendment to the crime and policing bill after concerns were raised about protests near synagogues and mosques.

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Police in England, Wales and NI too overworked to investigate crimes properly – report

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Watchdog finds forces are ‘overwhelmed’ by common offences, and victims are being failed

Overworked police lack the resources, time and experience to investigate crimes properly, leading to victims being failed and an erosion in faith in law enforcement, an official report has found.

The report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) says that the rate of positive outcomes – when police identify a suspect and they face justice – has crashed from 25% in England and Wales a decade ago to 11% in 2024.

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