Met Office issues yellow warnings with heavy rainfall and lightning expected to cause disruption
More than half a month’s rain could fall across the south of England on Friday, which could lead to some homes and businesses being flooded, the Met Office has said.
Between 30mm and 40mm of rain was expected to fall in some areas in six hours, the forecaster said. Typically in August, 63mm of rain falls across the south-east of England over the entire month.
Continue reading...De-aged image offers likelife image of how prince may have looked during unsuccessful Jacobite rising of 1745
The face of Bonnie Prince Charlie has been recreated using death masks that depict him as he would have looked during the Jacobite rising of 1745.
The prince, who was renowned for his good looks, has captivated a new generation of interest through the TV show Outlander.
Continue reading...School leavers in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man will also receive their results today
The number of students accepted on to UK degree courses has fallen this year, Ucas figures show.
Press Association reports:
Firstly, I want to say a huge congratulations to the hundreds of thousands of students up and down the country who are celebrating their results and next steps today.
I am delighted to see more than 200,000 UK 18-year-olds have secured their first choice, which is testament to their hard work and commitment to progress to higher education in a year that has seen many complex factors at play, such as geopolitics, the economy and job market, and cost of living.
Labour recognises the enormous effort that all of our young people have put into their studies over the past year.
Young people have achieved these results despite the challenges they’ve faced: with a Labour government behind them, offering them pathways to good prospects, there will be no limit on what they can achieve.
Continue reading...Thousands of images from second world war include bomb damage to Old Trafford and troops at leisure
Black-and-white aerial photographs offering a bird’s eye view of England as it changed during the second world war are being made available to the public for the first time.
The 3,600 images include pictures of bomb damage to Old Trafford in Greater Manchester, as well as other towns and cities. They also show ancient monuments surrounded by anti-tank defences in West Sussex, and troops at play at a US army camp in Wiltshire.
Continue reading...Proposals to ‘streamline’ treatment, which government says are clinically led, would cut number of targets from nine to three
Keir Starmer has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” as the number of NHS cancer waiting time targets is expected to be reduced.
The government has been consulting on the proposed measures to streamline NHS cancer care, which would replace the nine existing cancer targets with just three. The target of all patients seeing a specialist within two weeks of an urgent referral for cancer tests by the GP is expected to be scrapped.
Continue reading...Stephen Chitty, 70, from Watford raised about £2,000 for Mercy Ships on ‘tiring but rewarding’ journey
A 70-year-old man has raised almost £2,000 for charity by completing a 40-day challenge to travel the length and breadth of England entirely by bus.
Stephen Chitty, from Watford, Hertfordshire, travelled 1,650 miles on 117 buses. He started and finished his ambitious journey in Watford and travelled to English cities including Newcastle and Norwich.
Continue reading...Asylum seekers removed from Bibby Stockholm after bacteria which can cause serious lung infection found in water
Suella Braverman is under pressure to abandon plans to house asylum seekers on a barge after 39 people had to be removed from the vessel after the discovery of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system.
Ministers said they were concerned contractors knew there were traces of legionella bacteria on the Bibby Stockholm on Monday, when the first asylum seekers boarded the vessel in Portland, Dorset. Officials have insisted the Home Office was not told about the detection until Wednesday when further tests were ordered.
Continue reading...Police conducting murder investigation after body found at house near Woking say they believe people have left UK
An international search has been launched after detectives said they believed three people sought over the suspected murder of a 10-year-old girl in Surrey left the UK on Wednesday.
Police opened a murder investigation on Thursday after discovering the child’s body at a house in the village of Horsell, near Woking.
Continue reading...Australian investment bank funds troubled UK utility’s overhaul of pipes and sewage works
The Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie has confirmed it will inject a further £550m into the UK’s Southern Water in an attempt to turn around the troubled company.
The funds are intended to help Southern Water, which supplies Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, to overhaul its leaky pipes and faulty sewage works.
Continue reading...Police officers were called to house in Woking in early hours in response to a concern for safety
A murder investigation has been launched after a 10-year-old girl was found dead at a house in Woking.
Officers were called to a property on Hammond Road at about 2.50am on Thursday in response to a concern for safety. On arrival, the girl was found dead, Surrey police said.
Continue reading...Dal Babu calls for financial penalties after social media posts attract hundreds of teenagers to Oxford Street
Politicians are too scared to take on big tech companies, a former chief superintendent has said after posts shared on social media attracted hundreds of teenagers to London’s Oxford Street.
Police issued 34 dispersal orders and arrested nine individuals on Wednesday after people gathered outside JD Sports in an apparent response to posts on Snapchat and TikTok urging users to take part in an “Oxford Circus JD robbery” at 3pm.
Continue reading...Call for government to act amid anger over demolition of Crooked House pub in Staffordshire
The UK risks losing a vital part of its heritage unless planning laws are changed to protect historic pub buildings, campaigners have said.
Greg Mulholland, the director of Campaign for Pubs, said the growing anger over the fire and demolition of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire must act as a “catalyst for change” in the approach to protecting historic pubs.
Continue reading...Hamish Ogston’s donation will fund up to 2,700 apprenticeships in crafts to preserve historic buildings
A British philanthropist has given almost £29m to heritage skills training, breathing new life into dying crafts and addressing the chronic shortage of specialists who can prevent historic buildings from deteriorating beyond repair.
Hamish Ogston’s donation, which has been made through his charitable foundation, will be announced on Thursday.
Continue reading...Study shows cost of living influencing students’ choice, with fears of limiting effect on career options
One in three students starting university this year may opt to live at home, according to new research that found rising costs and family needs are affecting the “Covid generation” of school-leavers.
Before the pandemic about 20% of first year undergraduates in England lived at home while studying, including older mature students. But a new survey of current sixth formers by University College London found that as many as 34% of 18-year-old school-leavers could stay at home if accepted by their first-choice university when exam results are published next week.
Continue reading...BMA highlights government’s ‘complete disregard’ for the health service and its patients
Consultants in England will strike for two additional days in September if the government continues to refuse pay talks and fails to present the profession with a credible offer, the British Medical Association has said.
The BMA said on Monday that it had written to the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to inform him that on top of strikes by consultants on 24 and 25 August, there would be additional strikes on 19 and 20 September, unless the government agrees to further negotiations.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of students face likely drop in As and A*s as ministers aim to return results in England to pre-pandemic levels
Tens of thousands of A-level students face disappointment on results day next week, amid warnings that nearly 100,000 fewer As and A*s could be awarded as the government seeks to return grades to pre-pandemic levels.
Up to 50,000 candidates this summer are likely to miss out on the top grades they might have expected last year, according to one estimate, throwing applications for the most competitive universities into doubt.
Continue reading...Winds in Berry Head in Devon of 78mph could be August record for area while trees fall on Exeter-Penzance track
Storm Antoni, the first the Met Office has named this season, has hit the UK, with forecasters warning that flying debris thrown up by strong winds could pose a danger to life.
The highest wind gust recorded was in Berry Head (78mph) in South Devon followed by Cardinham (56mph) in Cornwall. The Met Office said these were both provisionally a new highest wind gust for August in those places.
Continue reading...Simon Squibb plans to provide small businesses with rent-free space after bidding £25,000 for disused stairs
An entrepreneur who woke up homeless in a stairwell at the age of 15 with his first business idea has spent £25,000 on a disused stairwell to provide a rent-free space in London for small businesses to fulfil their dreams.
Simon Squibb, who retired at 40 after selling Fluid, his marketing agency, to PricewaterhouseCoopers, hopes the stairwell in Twickenham, south-west London, will provide a showcase for owners of small businesses.
Continue reading...Plans to cut waiting lists in England were welcomed but critics say they do not address deeper staffing issues
Rishi Sunak has been warned his plan for more private sector partnerships with the NHS in England to cut waiting lists will amount to “reshuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic” without addressing deeper structural issues with staffing.
The recommendations of an elective recovery plan, published on Friday, were broadly welcomed by opposition parties and health experts, but said to be overdue. Critics also said they only addressed a fragment of the much wider capacity and staffing issues across the whole of the country’s health systems.
Continue reading...Health secretary says ‘every available resource’ must be used to help patients access diagnosis and treatment faster
More private and third sector providers should be used by the NHS to help cut post-Covid waiting lists, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, will say after a review of capacity in the health service.
Barclay will draw on the work of his “elective recovery taskforce” – a group convened by ministers to look at how to bring down waiting times.
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