Eleven people treated for smoke inhalation after fire breaks out in residential building in London
Eleven people have been taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a converted terraced house in the upmarket London neighbourhood of South Kensington.
Fifteen fire engines and about 100 firefighters were called to the fire at a terraced house converted into apartments on Emperor’s Gate, in the south-west of London, close to the Natural History Museum.
Continue reading...Daily registers will also be shared online with DfE as part of government drive to improve attendance
Taking an unauthorised family holiday is about to get more expensive, with the government announcing that fines for children in England missing school are to rise by 33%.
The education secretary, Gillian Keegan, is to overhaul the way local authorities fine parents for unauthorised school absences by bringing penalties “under a national framework to help tackle inconsistencies”.
Continue reading...Proposed sale of Abyssinian artefact taken during 1868 battle triggers appeal for restitution of ‘wrongfully acquired’ item
The Ethiopian government has called the auction of a looted colonial-era shield “inappropriate and immoral” as it attempts to stop its sale this week and prevent it from disappearing into a private collection.
The Anderson & Garland auction house, in Newcastle upon Tyne, was contacted by the Ethiopian National Heritage national restitution committee about the 19th-century Abyssinian shield, which it said should be removed from the auction set to take place on Thursday.
Continue reading...Tory government has ‘ducked’ difficult decisions, leading to higher bills, says shadow energy secretary
Labour has claimed a “culture of inertia and stasis” has blocked renewable energy projects under the Conservatives and says the party will overturn a de facto onshore wind ban “at the stroke of a pen” if it wins the general election.
The shadow energy secretary, Ed Miliband, told energy industry executives at a conference in London on Tuesday that Labour would immediately rip up a decade-long effective block on large onshore wind developments in England if elected.
Continue reading...Amendment by Labour MP Diana Johnson would end prosecutions for terminations after 24 weeks
MPs are expected to get a free vote on decriminalising abortion when a Labour backbencher lays an amendment that would end the prosecution of women who terminate pregnancies after the 24-week limit.
Diana Johnson is expected to lay an amendment to the Criminal Justice Act next month that would stop the possibility of women being jailed for going ahead with abortions after the time limit.
Continue reading...Residents tell of concerns and community spirit after discovery and removal of 500kg second world war explosive
Usually as the weekend approaches, the streets, shops and pubs around Devonport, the largest naval dockyard in western Europe, hum with life.
But an eerie hush fell over the area on Friday after more than 10,000 people were evacuated from homes and workplaces so a second-world-war bomb dropped on Plymouth by the Luftwaffe could be extracted from a back garden.
Continue reading...Children formally identified as Fares Bash, seven; Joury Bash, three; and Mohammed Bash, nine months
Three children, including a baby, who were allegedly murdered at a house in Bristol all died of knife injuries, police have said.
Avon and Somerset police said the siblings had formally been identified as Mohammed Bash, aged nine months, Joury Bash, three, and Fares Bash, seven.
Continue reading...Study analysing data from 10m consultations in England also says practice can free up millions of appointments
Seeing the same GP improves patients’ health, reduces doctors’ workloads and could free up millions of appointments, according to the largest study of its kind.
Primary care is under enormous strain, with patients struggling to book consultations, GPs quitting or retiring early, and financial pressures causing some practices to close. Four-week waits hit a record high in 2023, with 17.6m appointments taking place at least 28 days after being booked in England last year.
Continue reading...Home secretary’s mandatory reporting legislation plan already covered by statutory duties, say school leaders
Teachers in England face being banned if they fail to report evidence of children being subjected to sexual abuse under plans for new legislation announced by the home secretary, James Cleverly.
The new law would make it a legal requirement for healthcare professionals, teachers and others who work with children and young people to identify and pass on cases of possible sexual abuse.
Continue reading...Initiative before national rollout will allow review of care for patients whose condition is deteriorating
Patients whose health is failing will be granted the right to obtain an urgent second opinion about their care, as “Martha’s rule” is initially adopted in 100 English hospitals from April at the start of a national rollout.
The initiative will allow patients and their loved ones to get a review of their condition and treatment directly from doctors and nurses not involved in the medical team treating them.
Continue reading...Police had been searching Thames for Abdul Ezedi after attack on a mother and her two daughters in south London
A body has been found in connection with the hunt for a suspect who severely injured a “vulnerable” mother and her two young daughters in a chemical assault, Scotland Yard have said.
Abdul Ezedi has been sought by police since the attack on 31 January in Clapham, south London, with officers appealing to the public to call 999 if they saw him.
Continue reading...MP for Blackpool South, who offered to lobby for gambling industry, loses appeal against 35-day Commons suspension
Rishi Sunak may face another difficult byelection after an MP lost his appeal against a 35-day suspension from parliament for lobbying ministers on behalf of the gambling industry.
Scott Benton, the MP for Blackpool South, formerly a Conservative, had asked for a reconsideration of the standards committee verdict that he had committed an “extremely serious breach of the rules”.
Continue reading...Police say formal identification is still to take place but family are being supported after teenager was attacked in Rawnsley Park
A boy who was stabbed to death by two masked attackers in Bristol has been named by police as 16-year-old Darrien Williams.
A murder investigation was launched after the teenager was attacked in Rawnsley Park in the St Philip’s area of the city by two people who fled the scene on bicycles, it had previously been reported.
Continue reading...‘Closed quasi-detention conditions’ mean death of Leonard Farruku should be examined, lawyers say
The family of Leonard Farruku is calling for an independent inquiry into his death on the Bibby Stockholm barge, the Guardian has learned.
The Albanian asylum seeker, 27, was found dead on the barge, moored in Portland, Dorset, on 12 December last year, after a suspected suicide.
Continue reading...Blow for Rishi Sunak as former Lewisham mayor Damien Egan elected in South Gloucestershire seat
Labour has overturned an 11,000-plus Tory majority to win the byelection in the South Gloucestershire constituency of Kingswood.
Damien Egan, who resigned as the mayor of Lewisham in south-east London to contest the seat even though it is being abolished at the next general election, is celebrating victory after a professional and energetic Labour campaign. He won with 11,1176 votes, to 8,675 for his nearest rival, the Conservatives’ Sam Bromiley, a majority of 2,501. Labour won on a swing in the share of the vote of 16.4 percentage points – some way above the 11.4 point swing needed.
Continue reading...Armed gang spent night drinking at ‘safe house’ and visited brothel before shooting of police officer, jury hears
An armed robbery gang partied with champagne, vodka and sex workers on the eve of the raid in which PC Sharon Beshenivsky was murdered, a court has been told.
Jurors heard that the men spent the night drinking at a “safe house” in Leeds and visited a brothel before the fatal shooting.
Continue reading...Gathering of councillors in north-west England has resulted in suspensions of candidates Azhar Ali and Graham Jones
After the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, local Labour party meetings became the source of major headaches for the party leadership.
While they were spaces for people to share their difficulties navigating rising levels of Islamophobic and antisemitic abuse, it was also where people expressed frustration at Keir Starmer’s handling of Labour’s position on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Continue reading...Withdrawal of backing for Graham Jones, candidate for Hyndburn, follows Starmer’s action against Azhar Ali in Rochdale
Labour has suspended a second parliamentary candidate over their remarks about Israel, as Keir Starmer struggles to contain the fallout from the leak of a private meeting of party activists in Lancashire last year.
Party sources said on Tuesday that Labour had suspended Graham Jones, the candidate for Hyndburn, less than 24 hours after the party withdrew its support from Azhar Ali, its candidate for the Rochdale byelection later this month.
Continue reading...Figure of 20.4% is highest since records began in 2009, prompting warnings over growing reliance
One in five NHS staff in England are non-UK nationals, according to figures that show the pivotal role foreign workers play in keeping the health service afloat.
Healthcare workers from 214 countries – from India, Portugal and Ghana to tiny nations such as Tonga, Liechtenstein and Solomon Islands – are employed in the NHS. And the proportion of roles filled by non-UK nationals has risen to a record high, according to analysis of NHS Digital figures.
Continue reading...Lib Dems say last month an average of 5,735 people a day faced waits of 12 hours or more to be seen
More than 1.5 million patients in England had to wait 12 hours or longer in A&E in the past year, according to figures that MPs say lay bare the impact of the government’s neglect of the NHS.
Last month 177,805 patients faced waits of 12 hours or more to be seen in emergency departments, an average of 5,735 a day. It means one in 10 patients (12.4%) arriving at A&E waited 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged.
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