Category Archives: England

Rock star Stevie Van Zandt in plea for more arts and music in English schools

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Exclusive: E Street Band and Sopranos star visits south London to see his TeachRock programme in action

Legendary guitarist and Sopranos star Stevie Van Zandt has made an impassioned plea for more arts and music in England’s schools as a way of engaging disaffected young people during a visit to south London.

It was a last day of term like no other for pupils at Beckmead College – a school for students aged 14-19 with social, emotional and mental health needs – when the E Street Band member turned up, dressed like a rock star in purple velvet, winkle picker boots and trademark bandana.

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Couple and two children among six killed in Wakefield crash

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Shane Roller, Shannen Morgan and their daughters Lillie and Rubie died in collision between two vehicles

A couple who died in a crash with two children in West Yorkshire on Sunday that also killed two other adults have been named by police as Shane Roller and Shannen Morgan.

The collision between two vehicles, which also left an 11-year-old girl orphaned, happened on the A61 Barnsley Road between Staincross in Barnsley and Newmillerdam, Wakefield, on Sunday afternoon.

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Indonesians who paid thousands to work on UK farm sacked within weeks

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Exclusive: Several sent home for slow fruit picking face debts as watchdog investigates alleged illegal fees

Indonesian workers who paid thousands of pounds to travel to Britain and pick fruit at a farm supplying most big supermarkets have been sent home within weeks for not picking fast enough.

One of the workers said he had sold his family’s land, as well as his and his parents’ motorbikes, to cover the more than £2,000 cost of coming to Britain in May and was distressed to find himself unemployed with few possessions.

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UK weather: hottest day of the year so far as temperature of 31.9C recorded

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St James’s Park in central London records highest reading, with health alerts in place across the Midlands, eastern and southern England

UK temperatures have reached their highest point of the year so far, the Met Office has confirmed, with 31.9C recorded at St James’s Park in central London.

The high temperatures, which were recorded largely along the eastern half of the country, came as the majority of schools in England and Wales closed for the summer.

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English councils call for further delay to social care costs cap

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Funding and staffing shortages mean plan to introduce cap in October 2025 impossible to deliver, councils say

Long-awaited changes designed to protect individuals from having to sell their homes to meet large social care bills must be further delayed because of funding and staffing shortages, the leaders of England’s largest councils have said.

Plans to introduce a cap on social care costs – which would limit people’s lifetime care cost contributions to a maximum of £86,000 – in October 2025 will be impossible to deliver, the County Councils Network (CCN) said.

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Women in England could be offered DIY cervical screening tests on NHS

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Research suggests at-home tests could encourage 400,000 more women a year to have a screening

Women could be offered DIY cervical screening tests on the NHS, after research found self-testing at home significantly improved screening rates.

Researchers calculated that being able to take their sample at home could encourage about 400,000 more women a year to have a cervical screening.

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Irish glee as Sinn Féin leader congratulates Spain on Euros win over England

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For some it was harmless banter but others say Mary Lou McDonald’s post on X was an example of obnoxious trolling

It’s a venerable football equation: English defeat = Irish glee.

Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader, reflected this tradition when she posted “Olé, Olé, Olé” and celebrated Spain’s victory over England in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin on Sunday. “Felicidades! Comhghairdeas to the champions of Europe,” she added, using the Irish word for congratulations.

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England’s healthcare watchdog apologises over ‘new regulatory approach’

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CQC ‘got things wrong’ implementing inspection regime and new computer system, interim chief admits

England’s healthcare regulator has issued a public apology over reforms to its monitoring of tens of thousands of hospitals, care homes, dentists and GPs.

The apology from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) came in the wake of care organisations complaining of a “hostile” inspection regime and a major new computer system failing to work properly.

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‘I’ve never seen owt like it’: England fans in Benidorm in high spirits before Euro final

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Supporters enjoy a ‘buzzing’ atmosphere and predict ‘carnage’ whatever the result in match against Spain

Anticipation had been building on Benidorm’s Calle Gerona, affectionately known as the strip, from early in the afternoon.

Some holidaymakers had travelled especially to the town in the hope of finding the ultimate party atmosphere in which to celebrate: Spain’s most British town.

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Starmer says England have ‘made country proud’ as fans arrive in Berlin for Euros final

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More than 50,000 England fans expected in German capital as men’s side hope to make history against Spain

Tens of thousands of England fans are arriving in Berlin as Gareth Southgate’s men’s team attempt to make history and beat Spain to win a first major tournament since 1966.

More than 50,000 England fans are expected to be in German capital for the final of the European championship, many of whom will be without tickets.

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‘Staggering shortfall’ of NHS staff as record number of patients wait for tests

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Lack of radiologists blamed for waiting list for diagnostic tests more than doubling in 10 years in England

The waiting lists for diagnostic tests, including cancer scans, is at a record high in NHS England, with doctors warning of a “staggering shortfall” of clinical radiologists.

Figures published on Thursday reveal the diagnostic waiting list stands at 1,658,221 – twice what it was 10 years ago. Nearly 500,000 patients are waiting for CT scans and MRIs.

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Two children dead and four people in hospital after east London house fire

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Two adults and two children still being treated after blaze in East Ham, with one child in critical condition

A second child has died after five people were taken to hospital following a house fire in east London.

Those involved are believed to be members of the same family who all lived at the address on Napier Road in East Ham. Six fire engines and about 40 firefighters were called to the fire just before 8.30am on Saturday, the London fire brigade (LFB) said.

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Human remains found in London house search after bodies discovered in Bristol

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Crime scene in place in west London’s Shepherd’s Bush as hunt for another suspect continues

Human remains were found at a house in west London as police investigated the discovery of the body parts of two men in a pair of suitcases near the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol, Scotland Yard has said.

A Met police statement said: “While searching a flat in Scotts Road, W12 on Friday, 12 July, officers found human remains which are in the process of being sensitively removed. Additional postmortem examinations will be arranged as soon as possible.

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Sunak and ministers are ‘guilty men’ in prisons crisis, says justice secretary

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Shabana Mahmood says Tories left country threatened with total breakdown of law and order

Rishi Sunak and his former ministers are “the guilty men” who should be held responsible for “the most disgraceful dereliction of duty” by failing to address the prisons crisis, the justice secretary has said.

Speaking as she set out plans to release thousands of inmates early to ease pressure in overcrowded jails, Shabana Mahmood said the Conservatives “had left the country threatened with a total breakdown of law and order”.

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Home Office U-turn grants Wirral ‘legend’ right to live in UK after 46 years

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Retired newsagent who fundraised £50,000 for legal battle was due to take case to court in autumn

A retired newsagent and “local legend” from Merseyside has said he feels marvellous after a Home Office U-turn granted him the right to live in the UK almost 50 years after he arrived.

Nelson Shardey, 75, launched legal action against the Home Office and fundraised almost £50,000 earlier this year after he was refused the right to stay in the UK permanently, despite living in the country since 1977 and running his shop, Nelson’s News, in Wirral for 31 years.

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NHS patients raising safety concerns too often ‘fobbed off’, says commissioner

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Dr Henrietta Hughes said focus on budgets had led to substandard care and dismissal of legitimate fears

NHS patients raising safety concerns are too often “gaslighted”, “fobbed off” or dismissed as “difficult women”, according to England’s patient safety commissioner, who criticised health leaders for a “relentless focus” on finance and productivity.

Dr Henrietta Hughes said patients and loved ones sounding the alarm about substandard care should be an early indicator of danger or potential harm, but far too frequently they were completely ignored. NHS trusts focusing too much on budgets meant that “the culture becomes toxic, and we’re just on the road back to the Mid Staffs scandal”, she added.

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From contaminated blood to birth trauma, how female NHS patients’ concerns are ignored

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England’s patient safety commissioner says NHS patients raising concerns are dismissed as ‘difficult women’

England’s patient safety commissioner, Henrietta Hughes, has warned that NHS patients raising concerns are too often “gaslighted”, “fobbed off” or dismissed as “difficult women”.

“It shows a very dismissive and very old fashioned, patronising attitude to patients who have identified problems and need to have their voices heard,” she said.

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Starmer ‘shocked’ about prisons crisis as early release scheme prepared

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Government to announce terms which could free more than 20,000 inmates in coming months to manage capacity

The “shocking” prisons crisis is even worse than feared, Keir Starmer has said as the government prepares to release tens of thousands of inmates early in a bid to prevent jails becoming full.

The prime minister suggested he was opposed to freeing violent criminals and sex offenders when ministers announce the terms of a new prisoner release scheme for England and Wales on Friday.

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Two children from same Liverpool primary school die

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Headteacher of Millstead primary says school ‘devastated’ by deaths of pupils, aged five and six

Two children who were pupils at the same Liverpool primary school have died, the UK’s Health Security Agency has said.

The children, aged five and six, attended Millstead primary school in the Everton area of the city, which caters for children with special educational needs.

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Conditions at UK immigration removal centre ‘worst inspectors have seen’

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Report found ligature points previously used in suicide attempts at Harmondsworth had not been removed

The prisons watchdog has described “truly shocking” conditions in an immigration removal centre close to Heathrow airport as the worst its inspectors had ever seen.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons has published a damning report on conditions at Harmondsworth, a 658-bed centre, the largest of its kind in Europe.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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