Author: UK News

Assisted dying: What is the current law and will it change? The assisted dying debate will return to Parliament this week as a new bill is formally introduced in the House of Commons. Campaigners who are terminally ill or have watched loved ones die in pain have called the existing legislation “unbelievably cruel” and pointed out that animals suffering severely can be legally euthanised. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater will formally introduce a private member’s bill (PMB) on assisted dying on October 16. A debate on the bill next month will mark the first time the controversial issue has been voted…

Average rent across the UK reaches record high Rent prices outside London have hit a new record high. Prices outside the capital have now reached £1,344 on average per month, having increased by 5.2% annually, according to a property website. The average rent advertised for London properties also reached a new record of £2,694 per month, which was 2.5% higher than a year earlier, Rightmove said. The figures cover the third quarter of 2024 across Britain. Rightmove said the average number of inquiries per rental property is now 15, down from 23 last year, but nearly double the eight recorded…

Lucy Letby initially failed her student nurse placement after lack of empathy, inquiry finds Lucy Letby initially failed her final year placement as a student nurse after her perceived lack of empathy with patients and families, a public inquiry has revealed. Letby’s assessor, Nicola Lightfoot, deputy ward manager at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s children’s unit, told the inquiry it was apparent to her that Letby, who was later convicted of multiple infant murders, did not have the “overall characteristics” to become a successful registered nurse. She testified at the Thirlwall Inquiry that Letby lacked the essential qualities of a…

Covid vaccine: How to book a jab and who is eligible? The number of people going to hospital with Covid across Britain has risen at an “alarming” rate after a new variant of the virus emerged, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned. UKHSA figures showed the admission rate for patients testing positive for Covid XEC stood at 4.5 per 100,000 people in the week to October 6 – up from 3.7 a week earlier. The North East has seen the highest hospital admission rates at 8.12 per 100,000, and for those aged 85 and older, the rate is 52.48 per 100,000, according to the UKHSA. Since…

Inflation falls below 2% target for first time in three years UK inflation has decreased to below the 2 per cent target for the first time in over three years. The consumer price index (CPI) has dropped to 1.7 per cent, down from 2.2. per cent in August, according to the Office for National Statistics. The figure has beaten expert predictions, which largely estimated a more modest drop to 1.9 per cent. It’s expected the drop will empower policymakers at the Bank of England to slightly cut interest rates in November to 4.75 per cent. The Bank’s governor Andrew Bailey…

Rise in rough sleeper deaths in UK prompts call for shelter funds Campaign group warns of ‘emergency on our streets’ after estimated 155 people died while rough sleeping last year. Andrew Reece was 37 and sleeping rough in Stoke-on-Trent when on 10 May 2023 he took his own life in an abandoned and roofless children’s home. Reece, known locally as Pud, was one of an estimated 155 people who died in the UK last year while rough sleeping, an annual increase of 42%, according to a count by the Museum of Homelessness project. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can…

Brand new London Underground trains vandalised before making it to the tracks | UK News Londoners have been left outraged after a brand-new Underground train was vandalised with mindless graffiti, months before it is even due to enter service. A snap of the train was shared online on Monday, showing it sporting three spray-painted tags. The carriage was reportedly targeted while being transported to a depot for testing, with the new trains planned to start running on the Piccadilly Line from 2025. The train can be seen on rails inside an industrial depot. It still resembles existing Underground trains but…

Water industry ownership should be decided by citizens’ assembly, new bill says Labour MP Clive Lewis to argue for nationalisation and public involvement in management of water companies. The future ownership of the water industry should be decided by a citizens’ assembly to remove decision-making from boardrooms and impose democracy on the sector, a private member’s bill is to argue. Labour MP Clive Lewis, who in the past has called for water to be put back into public ownership, will introduce his bill on the future of water ownership and management later today. Continue reading… https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/16/water-industry-public-ownership-citizens-assembly-labour-bill

King Charles faces unusual ‘snub’ as Zara Tindall’s husband lays bare life in royal family King Charles and Queen Camilla are facing an embarrassing snub by leading Australian politicians ahead of their tour of the country. As the couple prepares to kick off their nine-day visit Down Under on Friday, every single state premier has turned down invitations to attend their royal reception in Canberra on October 21, reports suggest. The King is set to deliver a speech at the event to recognise Australians for their achievements in the arts, culture, sports and health. Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan is the…

UK politics live: No 10 rejects new accusations over Taylor Swift ticket and police escort row Downing Street has rejected suggestions that Sir Keir Starmer received free Taylor Swift tickets as a “thank you” after she was given taxpayer-funded police security while performing in London. No 10 would not say whether the prime minister was confident that perceptions of a conflict of interest had been avoided but insisted “operational decisions” were “ultimately” up to Scotland Yard and not the government. Last week it emerged that London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper were involved in talks around the…

Sara Sharif murder trial latest: Schoolgirl’s head ‘covered with homemade hood’ in weeks before death Sara Sharif’s head was covered with “homemade hoods” made of plastic bags and parcel tape in the weeks before her death, a court has heard on the second day of her murder trial. The Old Bailey also heard on Tuesday that fingerprints allegedly belonging to the 10-year-old’s father, Urfan Sharif, were found on one of the bags and a bit of parcel tape. Earlier, jurors were told neighbour Chloe Redwin, who used to live above the family at a previous address in 2020, would hear…

Trending News Inspiration Papers News that Matters Impact on your life Good News Watch: Inquiry into Novichok poisoning of Dawn Sturgess begins Pep Guardiola approached over England job but has four other options Vladimir Putin ordered Novichok attack on my life, Salisbury victim Sergei Skripal tells Dawn Sturgess inquiry Afghan special forces to be brought to Britain as minister finally admits troops were employed by UK Previous Next Previous Next CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism Read More Donald Trump will be mad if you retweet this video that’s going viral right now following Kamala Harris’s decision to go on Fox News…

A cloudy start for many, with drizzle over the hills. Some bright or sunny spells developing at times through the day. The increasing risk of heavy showery rain in the south and west though the evening. Warm in the south. TONIGHT: Outbreaks of heavy and perhaps thundery rain will push north and eastwards across the UK through the evening and overnight. A mild night to come. Source: Met Office

Many of Tuesday’s papers provide coverage of the latest hint from Chancellor Rachel Reeves that employers’ national insurance contributions could go up in the Budget.

The trial of Urfan Sharif makes several tabloid front pages, as he admitted to police that he had killed his ten-year-old daughter.

Watch: Inquiry into Novichok poisoning of Dawn Sturgess begins Watch as the inquiry into how Dawn Sturgess was fatally poisoned after being exposed to the Russian nerve agent Novichok opened on Monday, 14 October. The British 44-year-old died after being exposed to the chemical weapon which was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018. Ms Sturgess’s death came after the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and then police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year. They were poisoned when members of a Russian military…

Sadiq Khan puts pressure on Starmer over EU as he insists no reason to be scared of single market return Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on Sir Keir Starmer over the EU single market, saying rejoining it is “something we shouldn’t be scared to talk about”. The prime minister has ruled out a return to the common market, saying he cannot see Britain re-entering the trading agreement in his life time. Sir Keir has also made it a red line in his ongoing post-Brexit reset with Brussels. But the mayor of London has said returning to the market should not…

Covid vaccine: How to book a jab and who is eligible? The number of people going to hospital with Covid across Britain has risen at an “alarming” rate after a new variant of the virus emerged, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned. UKHSA figures showed the admission rate for patients testing positive for Covid XEC stood at 4.5 per 100,000 people in the week to October 6 – up from 3.7 a week earlier. The North East has seen the highest hospital admission rates at 8.12 per 100,000, and for those aged 85 and older, the rate is 52.48 per 100,000, according to the UKHSA. Since…

Male artists such as Damien Hirst less of a force after 40, says Tracey Emin Artist, 61, also tells The Louis Theroux Podcast that she likes ‘pomp and ceremony’ of the royal family. Tracey Emin has said that most male artists including her contemporary Damien Hirst are less of a creative “force” after they reach the age of 40. Both Emin and Hirst have been Turner prize nominees, with Hirst winning the prestigious award in 1995, with his formaldehyde-preserved cow and calf, called Mother and Child, Divided, the focal piece of his exhibition that year. Continue reading… https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/15/male-artists-damien-hirst-less-of-force-after-40-tracey-emin

Vladimir Putin ordered Novichok attack on my life, Salisbury victim Sergei Skripal tells Dawn Sturgess inquiry Salisbury poisoning victim Sergei Skripal believes Vladimir Putin personally ordered the Novichok attack on him and his daughter Yulia, the former spy has told the inquiry into Dawn Sturgess’s death. In a new witness statement made public at the hearing in Salisbury on Monday, Mr Skripal said he believed the Russian president “must have at least given permission for the attack on Yulia and me” in March 2018. Mr Skripal, a former Russian GRU military intelligence agent convicted in Russia in 2004 on charges…