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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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”.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...On fifth day in office, PM and deputy will meet England’s regional mayors as Labour draws up new bill for king’s speech
Every area of England should take over key powers from Westminster, Keir Starmer will say as he and Angela Rayner declare an end to the “levelling up” agenda and look to kickstart a new era of devolution.
The prime minister and his deputy will meet every regional mayor in England on Tuesday on just their fifth day in office, as the party draws up a devolution bill to be launched as part of next week’s king’s speech.
Continue reading...Popular Dig Where You Stand project using Sheffield City Archives is bringing past to life in exhibitions around city
The word “archive” may usually conjure images of dusty boxes, white gloves and hushed silences. But a growing number of artists are finding that underneath the layers of protective paper there’s rich source material.
“Archives are like time travel,” says Désirée Reynolds, an artist in residence at Sheffield City Archives, who has been burrowing into the thousands of items in the northern city’s annals in search of black history since 2021.
Continue reading...All four capitalised on dissatisfaction over Labour’s stance on the Gaza war but said they had other priorities too
On a momentous night for Keir Starmer and the Labour party, nothing was going to detract from the celebrations. But the results weren’t all positive. Among the matters for Labour to ponder when the hangovers have cleared is the loss of four seats to pro-Palestinian candidates amid dissatisfaction over the party’s stance on the Gaza war. Here is more about the four independents who upset the odds.
Continue reading...Artistic director of Birmingham production of The Flying Dutchman says he hopes to inspire people to get involved
“Opera in this country is definitely not accessible,” says Byron Jackson, an international baritone and the artistic director of what is thought to be the first black- and Asian-led production of Wagner in the UK.
Opening in Birmingham on Sunday, this rendition of the German-language opera The Flying Dutchman will feature a cast from across the Commonwealth, and a number of community performers from Handsworth, Balsall Heath and farther afield in the West Midlands.
Continue reading...New health secretary aims to resolve dispute in England and warns health service is ‘not good enough’
The new health secretary, Wes Streeting, has declared the NHS is broken as he announced that talks with junior doctors in England would restart next week.
The Ilford North MP said patients were not receiving the care they deserved and the performance of the NHS was “not good enough”.
Continue reading...First Labour prime minister since 2010 promises to serve whole country as he speaks outside No 10
Keir Starmer pitched himself as a leader for “stability and moderation” who will rebuild Britain, as he reached out to those who did not vote for Labour with a promise to serve the whole country.
The Labour leader gave a speech on the steps of Downing Street after going to Buckingham Palace to accept the king’s invitation to form a new government.
Continue reading...Murray is due to compete in doubles at his last Wimbledon, yet fans are also ‘pretty excited’ to see younger players
Thursday marks a changing of the guard. While for many this might mean electing a new prime minister, at Wimbledon, tens of thousands queued for a chance to bid adieu to Andy Murray and cheer on the next generation of British tennis stars.
Murray is due to compete alongside his older brother, Jamie, in the men’s doubles this week in his final Wimbledon showing. There had been hope he would play in the tournament’s singles, but he pulled out on Tuesday after being unable to sufficiently recover from the back surgery he underwent 12 days ago.
Continue reading...Warriors from Britain joined far-flung Byzantine military campaigns in sixth century, grave goods suggest
Sixth-century Anglo-Saxon people may have travelled from Britain to the eastern Mediterranean and northern Syria to fight in wars, researchers have suggested, casting fresh light on their princely burials.
St John Simpson, a senior British Museum curator, and Helen Gittos, an Oxford scholar, have concluded that some of the exotic items excavated at Sutton Hoo, Taplow and Prittlewell, among other sites, originated in the eastern Mediterranean and north Syria and cannot have been conventional trade goods, as others have suggested.
Continue reading...The countries are heading in different directions, but voters on both sides of the Channel have similar concerns
It was raining in Calais on election day. A thin, penetrating, miserable drizzle blowing in off the Channel that was entirely in keeping with the mood of a great many voters as they headed to the polls in France’s most momentous ballot in living memory.
“It’s all going to shit,” said Xavier Hembert, voting with his son Arthur on the rue Philippine de Hainaut, named after Edward III of England’s French-born wife, much loved here ever since she persuaded him not to decapitate the port’s Burghers in 1347.
Continue reading...Former neonatal nurse convicted on retrial after jury at original trial was unable to reach verdict
Lucy Letby has been found guilty of trying to kill a two-hour-old baby girl on the hospital ward where she murdered seven other infants.
The “cold-blooded, calculated killer”, who is serving 14 whole-life prison terms, was convicted on Tuesday of attempting to murder the “extremely premature” infant after a retrial at Manchester crown court.
Continue reading...After festival organisers refused to screen Euros clash, pop singer bought flat screen TV and generator from Argos on Sunday morning and set them up in camping area
Festivalgoers at Glastonbury were given the opportunity to watch England’s Euro 2024 last-16 match against Slovakia by an unlikely figure: former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, who livestreamed the game in the festival campsite on a flatscreen television he’d bought from Argos earlier in the day.
Glastonbury officials had announced earlier in the week that the match would not be shown at the festival due to clashes with performances on the major stages, forcing fans to find enterprising ways to watch it. Tomlinson was more enterprising than most, purchasing a flat screen TV and generator on Sunday morning and streaming the game using wifi. He said that he had initially intended to watch the game in the hospitality section but was thwarted by spotty reception, so brought the TV to the main festival site instead.
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