‘Disappointing for June’ temperatures to continue across UK

Met Office reports tentative signs of building high pressure but forecasts sunny spells and showers for this week

There are tentative signs of high pressure building from the west but cool, wet weather is likely to continue across the UK, forecasters say.

After a cool and windy weekend, Monday and Tuesday will remain cool for the time of year, the Met Office said, although will feel warmer in sheltered sunshine.

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Harry Dunn’s mother ‘unspeakably hurt’ that son’s killer will not attend inquest

Family angered by Anne Sacoolas’s refusal to give evidence in person over motorcyclist’s death in 2019

Harry Dunn’s mother has said she is “unspeakably hurt” that her son’s killer, Anne Sacoolas, has refused to attend the inquest into his death, saying it was “bitterly disappointing and, as a mother, utterly incomprehensible”.

An inquest into Dunn’s death opened on Monday, almost five years after the 19-year-old was killed when his motorcycle collided head-on with a vehicle driven by Sacoolas that was on the wrong side of the road outside a US military based in Northamptonshire in August 2019.

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Fans call foul over England’s Euro 2024 sticker album debacle

A row between rivals Panini and Topps has meant collectors cannot fill an album with players in their kits from all 24 nations in this year’s tournament

Adding stickers of your favourite players into an album is arguably one of the few innocent pleasures that remain for football fans. But children and seasoned collectors have discovered that even this gentle pastime has been affected by modern football’s passion for money.

The Panini sticker album has been a staple of international tournaments since the 1970s. But after Uefa sold the rights for stickers for Euro 2024 to its American rival Topps, Panini launched an alternative “England 2024” album, using rights held by England, Italy, Germany and France that were not part of Uefa’s deal.

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Joey Barton faces new criminal trial over alleged assault on wife

Dame Victoria Sharp says judge was wrong to pause trial after prosecutors said they did not plan to call Georgia Barton as a witness

Joey Barton faces a new criminal trial over an allegation he assaulted his wife, judges at the high court have ruled after proceedings against him were previously paused.

The former footballer was accused of assaulting Georgia Barton in a drunken row – which he denied – and was due to face trial at a magistrates court in 2022.

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Eight in 10 primary teachers in England spending own money to help pupils

Increasing numbers of children hungry and lack adequate clothing, with two-thirds of secondary teachers also supporting pupils

Eight in 10 primary schoolteachers in England are spending their own money to buy items for pupils who are increasingly arriving at school hungry and without adequate clothing, according to new research.

Almost a third (31%) of those who took part in the survey said they were seeing more hungry children in class, with 40% reporting an increase in pupils coming in without proper uniform or a warm winter coat, research by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found.

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Mounjaro is second obesity drug to be approved for use in England

Those with BMI of 35 and a comorbidity can now be prescribed tirzepatide and Nice says it is more effective than Wegovy

The medical treatment regulator for England has approved a second drug to combat obesity, giving patients and doctors what it says is a more effective alternative to semaglutide.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) issued draft guidance on Tuesday recommending that very obese people should be prescribed tirzepatide, which is marketed in the UK as Mounjaro.

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English pupil funding at same level as when Tories took power, study finds

Real-terms funding per pupil at 2010 levels, teacher pay at 2001 levels, and building investment 25% below mid-2000s

Spending on each schoolchild’s education in England has suffered an unprecedented 14-year-freeze since the Conservatives came to power, according to Britain’s leading economics thinktank.

Funding per pupil is now at 2010 levels in real terms, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said in its latest analysis of school spending, while teacher pay was at about the same real-terms level as in 2001.

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Artificial cornea implant saves sight of man, 91, in NHS first

Cecil Farley says implant, which could become standard treatment, means he can still see his wife of 63 years

A 91-year-old man who became the first patient in England to have his sight saved by an artificial layer in his cornea has praised the procedure for allowing him to still see his wife.

Cecil Farley, from Chobham in Surrey, had problems with his right eye for about 15 years before losing his vision. He required a cornea transplant to save his sight but his previous surgery – a graft with a human cornea – failed and doctors warned the next might too. And the shortage of human corneas from deceased donors meant Farley faced a year-long wait.

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Zara Aleena family ‘tortured’ by thought death was preventable, inquest told

Law graduate’s murder by Jordan McSweeney in 2022 highlights ‘the crumbling justice system’, jury hears

The family of Zara Aleena, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in east London while walking home after a night out, has been “tortured” by thoughts her “death was preventable” – and that a “crumbling justice system” contributed to it.

As a jury-led inquest into the death of the 35-year-old law graduate opened at Walthamstow coroner’s court on Monday, her aunt Farah Naz, read a statement saying: “Since her death we have been campaigning so that our daughters, sisters, friends can be safe and protected as Zara never was. This is Zara’s legacy.”

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Women in England and Wales denied ‘exciting’ drug that can stop breast cancer spreading

Latest study shows Enhertu, rejected by Nice, can stall growth of tumours by a year, longer than standard chemotherapy

Thousands of women with advanced breast cancer in England and Wales are being denied a drug that cuts the risk of the disease spreading by more than a third.

Enhertu has been rolled out to patients with HER2-low breast cancer in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has rejected it for patients in England. Women in Wales are also being denied the drug.

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Girl shot in Hackney was on school holiday visit from Birmingham

Girl remains in critical condition after being hit by bullet in suspected drive-by attack

The young girl left in a critical condition after being mistakenly shot by a suspected gangland hitman was visiting relatives in London on her half-term holiday.

The girl, from Birmingham, was still in hospital on Friday after a bullet struck her as she ate at Evin restaurant, in Hackney, north-east London, on Wednesday evening.

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Fewer pupils in England studying drama and media at GCSE and A-level

Figures show statistics, computing, physics and maths have risen in popularity and languages bouncing back

Fewer pupils in England are studying drama, media and performing arts at GCSE and A-level, while the popularity of statistics, computing, physics and maths has gone up.

Provisional figures for exam entries in England this summer, published by the exams regulator Ofqual on Thursday, also reveal a growing enthusiasm for modern foreign languages, which had been in long-term decline.

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Junior doctors’ strike could delay care for 100,000 NHS patients in England

Rishi Sunak says timing of action days before general election appears to be ‘politically motivated’ to help Labour

Up to 100,000 patients in England face having their NHS care cancelled days before the general election after junior doctors announced a fresh wave of strike action, with Rishi Sunak saying it appeared to be politically motivated.

Health leaders expressed alarm, warning the five-day strike would jeopardise efforts to tackle the record waiting list and “hit patients hard”.

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Labour pledges to clear NHS waiting list backlog in England in five years

Wes Streeting says another Conservative term could result in waiting list swelling to 10m cases

Labour has promised to clear the NHS waiting list backlog in England within five years, with Wes Streeting warning that the health service risks becoming “a poor service for poor people” while the wealthy shift to using private care.

In an interview with the Guardian, the shadow health secretary said that in another Conservative term the total waiting list in England could grow to 10m cases, with healthcare becoming as degraded as NHS dental services.

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Three Labour names in frame with Diane Abbott’s candidacy in doubt

Three activists with links to Hackney constituency widely talked about as possible replacements to stand for election

Labour could select one of three “credible” candidates to run in Diane Abbott’s seat as it seemed intent on not allowing Abbott to stand for the party despite an investigation into her conduct being completed six months ago.

Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, was suspended from the party in April last year over a letter in the Observer that seemed to play down suggestions of racism against Jewish people, meaning she was still an independent when parliament was prorogued for the general election on 4 July.

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Toddlers ‘sold out’ to balance books of childcare bill, English nursery providers say

Experts say government’s relaxation of rules on staff ratios for two-year-olds is putting children at undue risk

Toddlers have been “sold out” to balance the books of the government’s childcare bill, according to nursery providers, who say young children have been put at risk by changes in supervision rules.

The deaths of two babies in nurseries made headlines last week but frontline workers say they are also concerned for the safety of older toddlers after the government relaxed rules on staff ratios.

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William and Kate lead tribute to RAF pilot killed in memorial event crash

Airman died at the scene after second world war-era plane came down near RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire

The Prince and Princess of Wales have led tributes to an RAF pilot who was killed in a Spitfire crash while taking part in a Battle of Britain memorial event.

The airman, who has not yet been named by police, died at the scene from his injuries after the second world war-era plane came down near RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire at about 1.20pm on Saturday.

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Death of man charged in UK with spying for Hong Kong not being treated as suspicious

Police make statement after postmortem of Matthew Trickett, an immigration officer charged under National Security Act

The death of a former Royal Marine accused of assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service is not being treated as suspicious, police say.

Matthew Trickett, an immigration enforcement officer and private investigator, was found dead in Grenfell Park in Maidenhead, Berkshire, at around 5.15pm on Sunday after a report from a member of the public.

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Court backlog target in England and Wales no longer achievable, says NAO

Watchdog says outstanding caseload has increased from 60,000 to 67,573 since MoJ set target of 53,000 in 2021

The Ministry of Justice’s ambition to reduce the backlog in crown courts in England and Wales to 53,000 by March next year is no longer achievable, a parliamentary watchdog has said.

The MoJ set the target in October 2021 when the outstanding caseload was 60,000, but by the end of last year it had reached 67,573 – its highest level ever – according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.

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British man charged with helping Russian intelligence

Howard Michael Phillips, 64, arrested by counter-terrorism police, held ‘sensitive information in regards to an MP’, says prosecutor

A British man has been charged with assisting Russia’s intelligence service after being arrested by UK counter-terrorism police.

Howard Michael Phillips, of Harlow, in Essex, was charged on Thursday with an offence contrary to section 3 of the National Security Act (NSA), the Metropolitan police said.

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