May figure second highest for month on record amid fears chancellor is struggling to keep within spending rules
Higher tax receipts were unable to prevent a rise in public sector borrowing in May to £17.7bn, up from £17bn a year earlier and the second highest for the month on record.
A poll of City economists had forecast public sector net borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – would be £17.1bn.
Continue reading...Industry professionals gather at civil and military aircraft event further overshadowed by war between Israel and Iran
Every second summer more than 100,000 aviation industry professionals gather in Paris for an airshow – a flying display crossed with a vast conference. The mood at the latest gathering this week was more subdued than usual, after the deadly crash a week ago of a London-bound Air India flight in Ahmedabad.
Investigators have recovered the black box from the plane to try to work out the cause of the disaster. The aircraft maker Boeing, and GE Aerospace, which made the 787 Dreamliner’s engines, both cancelled many of their media-facing events out of respect for the families of the 241 passengers and crew who died, as well as at least 30 more people on the ground who were killed.
Continue reading...Claim comes in legal exchange with advocacy group ahead of judicial review of decision to slash support to 0.3% of gross national income
Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI).
The assertion by Treasury solicitors that ministers are immune from legal challenge over aid cuts comes in preliminary exchanges with the aid advocacy group One Campaign. It is the first step in what could prove a highly embarrassing judicial review.
Continue reading...In 1992 letter, Mustapha Matura warned of risk to Ladbroke Grove, home to strong Caribbean creative community
A groundbreaking Trinidadian-British playwright who paved the way for modern Black British theatre makers warned about the dangers of gentrification in Ladbroke Grove, which he believed would ruin the “writer’s paradise”.
Mustapha Matura was the first British writer of colour to have work put on in the West End, and used the west London area as an inspiration for many of his plays, which were also staged at the Royal Court and National Theatre.
Continue reading...Exclusive: first store opens in Spinningfields, Manchester, two weeks before band’s first gig in 16 years in Cardiff
Will the truce between the Gallagher brothers hold out? Will the most-hyped reunion in British rock history actually come off? And will fans be able to bag themselves an official Oasis tea towel?
The answer to that final question, at least, has arrived. The first Oasis merchandise store will open in Manchester on Friday, two weeks before the band perform their first gig in 16 years at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Continue reading...Student Loans Company figures show 10% jump in a year as individuals increase borrowing to meet cost of living
Students in England are finishing their degrees with government loans averaging £53,000, a jump of 10% in a year, as they increase their borrowing to meet the rising cost of living.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has released figures showing individual loan balances were £5,000 higher in 2024-25 than a year earlier, when the average in England was £48,270.
Continue reading...In phone call, Paetongtarn Shinawatra discusses border dispute with former Cambodian leader and calls him ‘uncle’
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, apologised after a leaked phone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen prompted public anger and threatened the collapse of her government.
In the leaked call, Paetongtarn – daughter of the populist former leader Thaksin Shinawatra – discusses an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen, who is known to be a friend of her family.
Continue reading...Anahita, a Tehran resident in her 30s, tells of fleeing the city, surging inflation and her hopes for regime change
The greatest impact of this war is fear and anxiety. We don’t know whether this situation will last for weeks, months or even years. Our lives have been thrown off routine, I spend most of my time just reading the news. I’m constantly afraid that a missile might hit my home, my city or the homes of my relatives and friends in other places.
I get the news from X and Instagram because we don’t have any reliable news networks and broadcasts that are not censored by the regime. We follow the updates through videos shared by people from different parts of the country on social media. The internet in Iran has become very slow and it was completely down yesterday [Wednesday].
Continue reading...Items ranged from video cameras and guitars to taxidermy deer heads, props from Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive – and the director’s personal coffee machine
Personal effects belonging to the film-maker David Lynch, who died in January, have fetched more than $4m at auction in Los Angeles, with the highest bid of $195,000 going to scripts for his unrealised film project Ronnie Rocket.
Wednesday’s auction of almost 450 items included props from Lynch’s films, personal items such as video cameras and music equipment, his director’s chair, two taxidermy deer heads, his 35mm print of his debut feature Eraserhead – and his beloved La Marzocco GS/3 home espresso machine, which fetched $45,500 and presumably produces a damn fine cup of coffee.
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