Data supports belief that Christmas-themed merchandise, songs and decorations are appearing ahead of seasonHalloween might not yet be upon us, but the creepy thing is, Christmas is coming - and fast.A Guardian analysis shows that the Grinch-like grumble that Christmas is getting earlier every year" is actually justified. Figures from major supermarkets, local news bulletins and the UK Top 40 charts confirm what members of the public have long suspected: that the slow and steady takeover of the calendar by Christmas-themed items, songs and adverts - a phenomenon known as Christmas creep" - is in fact real. Continue reading...
UHY Hacker Young says 92 companies have delisted and only 10 floated on junior stock market in past yearThe UK's Alternative Investment Market (Aim) has shrunk to its smallest size in 23 years as business owners and investors anticipate an abolition of inheritance tax relief in the budget this week.The accountancy group UHY Hacker Young calculated that 92 companies have delisted from Aim, London's junior stock market, in the past year, reducing the total number of companies on Aim to 695. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor on (#6RS8M)
Chair of parliamentary group against assisted dying says she has been meeting dozens of undecided MPsOpposition to the assisted dying bill is growing in parliament after the interventions of the health and justice secretaries to call for caution - and a backlash among new MPs who are angered by the speed of the legislation.Rachael Maskell, the former Labour shadow minister who chairs the Dying Well all-party parliamentary group against assisted dying, told the Guardian she and others had been meeting dozens of undecided MPs and hoped to persuade them to vote down the bill and push instead for a wide-ranging commission that would explore better palliative care. Continue reading...
Voters will decide if Georgian Dream party, in power since 2012, will secure another four-years, having shifted the country closer to RussiaGeorgians have headed to the polls in a pivotal parliamentary election that could determine whether tGeorgia shifts away from its long-held western orientations towards stronger ties with the Kremlin.Voters will decide on Saturday whether the Georgian Dream (GD) party, which has been in power since 2012 and steered the country into a conservative course away from the west and closer to Russia, secures another four-year term. Continue reading...
Music mogul's former protege, now a politician, says he was set up to be the fall guy' for 1999 New York shootingShyne, the rapper and former Sean Diddy" Combs protege, says he was absolutely set up to be the fall guy" for a 1999 New York nightclub shooting in which the pair were implicated - and for which only he was imprisoned.One of the most difficult parts of it was watching everyone succeed," the lyricist, born Moses Barrow, says in an upcoming Hulu documentary about his life and career in music as well as politics. Continue reading...
Commonwealth leaders have been surprised at Labour's position - and campaigners have even called the PM's stance offensive'It was meant to be a historic moment for the UK: the first time a sitting prime minister has visited a Pacific island nation. But the focus instead has been on the anger and deep frustration sparked by Keir Starmer's blunt refusal to discuss the issue of reparations.No 10 confirmed the government would not issue an apology for the UK's role in slavery in the run-up to Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm). And while travelling to the conference, Starmer told reporters he wants to look forward" rather than have very long endless discussions about reparations on the past". Continue reading...
Sarra Hoy reports sevenfold increase in men seeking advice about prostate cancer after husband's terminal diagnosisThe wife of Chris Hoy has said his decision to reveal his prostate cancer diagnosis has triggered an increase in men seeking advice, and described him as a real-life superhero".The six-time Olympic gold medallist disclosed last weekend that he had two to four years" left to live, after a scan found that the main cancer found in his prostate had metastasised to his shoulder, pelvis, hip, ribs and spine and was stage 4. He had announced in February that he had been diagnosed with the disease. Continue reading...
Met police reopens investigation to pursue further lines of inquiry into incident that killed two schoolchildren in 2023The parents of two children who were killed in last year's Wimbledon school crash have said they hope a fresh investigation will bring answers and stop them reliving that pain".The Metropolitan police have announced the reopening of their investigation into the crash to pursue further lines of inquiry. Continue reading...
Former prime minister's heavily promoted book, Unleashed, just hung on to No 1 bestseller spot in UKSales of Boris Johnson's memoir, Unleashed, have slumped by 62% in its second week since publication.The heavily marketed tome, promoted in a prolonged media round by the former prime minister in recent weeks, only just managed to cling on to the No 1 spot in the official UK Top 50 this week, selling 133 more copies than Tim Spector's The Food for Life, according to Nielsen Bookscan's Total Consumer Market data. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England editor on (#6RQ3G)
Nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more was able to have fair trial, court rulesLucy Letby has been refused permission to appeal against a conviction for attempting to murder a baby girl as judges ruled she was able to have a fair trial.The former nurse, who is serving 14 whole-life prison terms, had sought to overturn the conviction on the basis that she had been subjected to unadulterated vitriol" in the media before the trial. Continue reading...
Deceased in suspected carbon monoxide poisoning were two men aged 91 and 74 and a woman aged 86Police and firefighters are continuing to investigate a suspected carbon monoxide poisoning at a care home in Dorset where three elderly people died, as relatives of survivors and neighbours told of their shock at the tragedy.Police said on Thursday the deceased at the Gainsborough care home in Swanage were two men aged 91 and 74 and an 86-year-old woman. Seven other people were taken to hospital as a precaution and are not in a serious condition. Continue reading...
by Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent on (#6RQ1H)
DJ AG has built a huge audience by inviting performers such as Skepta to join him in London and elsewhereDJ AG knew he was on to something after Daddy Freddy's performance.The DJ, real name Ashley Gordon, has garnered more than 385,000 followers by doing something incredibly simple: playing music outside and allowing people to perform alongside him while he livestreams the results. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent on (#6RQ1J)
Mech Dara, charged with incitement over social media posts, freed on bail after filmed apology to country's leadersMech Dara, one of Cambodia's most prominent journalists, known for exposing the country's billion-dollar scam industry, has been released on bail after a video of him apologising to the country's leaders appeared in pro-government media.Dara was arrested last month while travelling with his family, and charged with incitement over social media posts. Continue reading...
Downing Street says PM's hopes of meeting Democratic nominee as well as Donald Trump have fadedKeir Starmer's hopes of meeting Kamala Harris before the US presidential election have faded, Downing Street has said.The prime minister said last month he aimed to meet both presidential candidates before American voters go to the polls on 5 November. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Despite a 58% increase in funding over a decade, there has been no improvement in outcomes, a new report reveals Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. The annual budget for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England now stands at 10.7bn, an increase of 58% in a decade. Despite that, there has been no improvement in outcomes, and many parents say that their children are being sold short. The need for services is so great against the backdrop of years of council cuts that two in five local authorities are at risk of effectively declaring bankruptcy by 2026. In other words: the system is somehow underfunded and financially ruinous at the same time, and failing the children it is supposed to support.That is the grim diagnosis contained in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) published this morning, which warns that system-wide reforms are needed to keep councils afloat. And there is no doubt that the figures it contains are eye-watering.Budget | Rachel Reeves will announce at the International Monetary Fund a plan to change Britain's debt rules that will open the door to more borrowing for long-term capital investment. After weeks of speculation, the change could release up to 50bn extra for infrastructure projects.France | Gisele Pelicot, the French woman who has become a feminist hero for insisting that the rape trial of her ex-husband and 50 other men should be held in public, has told a court in southern France she was driven by her desire to change society and expose rape culture. She said: I wanted all woman victims of rape ... to say: Mrs Pelicot did it, we can do it too."Police | The identities of armed police officers charged after opening fire at suspects are likely to stay secret in future unless they are convicted, the home secretary has announced. Yvette Cooper's statement came after the acquittal of the Metropolitan police sergeant Martyn Blake for shooting dead Chris Kaba.US | A former model who says she met Donald Trump through the late sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein has accused the former president of groping and sexually touching her in an incident in Trump Tower in 1993. Trump's presidential campaign called the allegation unequivocally false", calling it a fake story contrived by the Harris campaign".Dementia | Tens of thousands of dementia patients are to be enrolled in clinical trials designed to dramatically speed up the hunt for a cure, leading scientists have announced. The initiative is intended to challenge historically low" numbers enrolled into trials in the UK. Continue reading...
Former business secretary says Sunak and Hunt better placed to respond to Rachel Reeves' economic policiesKemi Badenoch has been blamed by senior Tories for missing the chance" for the party to make a mark" in its response to the budget because the leadership frontrunner had been unwilling to move the dates of the contest.Sources close to Badenoch had said there was no prospect of changing the timetable when the matter was raised by other candidates earlier in the autumn, with most of her rivals said to be backing the change to allow them to respond to Rachel Reeves' first budget. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England editor on (#6RPWS)
The Thirlwall inquiry has uncovered new details about Letby and the neonatal unit on which she workedDuring the two criminal trials of Lucy Letby, jurors were given a huge volume of complex evidence including tens of thousands of pages of medical notes, swipecard data, witness testimony, Facebook messages and more.Letby, now 34, was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder another seven on the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England. Continue reading...
by Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspon on (#6RPVC)
Dehumanising rhetoric' blamed as almost half of respondents say they recently suffered discriminationMuslims across Europe are grappling with a worrying surge" of racism that is being fuelled in part by dehumanising anti-Muslim rhetoric", the EU's leading rights agency has said, as it published a survey in which nearly half of the Muslim respondents said they had recently experienced discrimination.Published on Thursday by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the survey of 9,600 Muslims across 13 member states found that racism and discrimination threads through most aspects of their lives. Continue reading...
Plant enthusiasts stumble across 2-metre long snake consuming egg-laying mammal in Marys Creek State Forest in QueenslandA botanist was admiring a myrtle shrub in bloom in an obscure state forest just west of Gympie in Queensland when his companion uttered 10 words that can rarely have been heard before - at least in English.I was just looking at a Gossia bidwillii, in flower and Darren calls out," Elliot Bowerman said. Continue reading...
by Lois Beckett in Los Angeles, California on (#6RPRZ)
Mariel Garza says she is standing up' after billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong quashes support for Kamala HarrisPatrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, refused to allow the newspaper's editorial board to endorse Kamala Harris for president, the former editor of the paper's opinion section told a media news outlet on Wednesday.Mariel Garza, a veteran California journalist who has worked for the Times' editorial board for nearly a decade, resigned from the paper in protest of Soon-Shiong's decision, she told the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). Continue reading...
US says for first time that North Korea has sent at least 3,000 soldiers to Russia and are training at military basesThe US has said for the first time that it has seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, a move that could mark a significant escalation in Russia's war against its neighbour.US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said it would be very, very serious" if the North Koreans were preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, as Kyiv has alleged. But he said it remained to be seen what they would be doing there. Continue reading...
Charity Commission investigation also said there had been mismanagement within MermaidsA charity supporting gender-questioning young people has been told to rewrite its guidance about the risks of puberty blockers, after a two-year Charity Commission investigation, which also concluded that there had been mismanagement within the organisation.However, the investigation found that the charity, Mermaids, had appropriate safeguarding policies in place and there was no evidence that it provided medical advice to children, which would have been outside its remit. Continue reading...
National Audit Office report finds no signs of improvement in lives of pupils despite record spendingThe bill for special needs education in England has hit 10bn a year, with the number of children and young people entitled to government support in the form of education, health and care plans set to double to 1 million within a decade, a landmark report has found.The investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that despite record levels of spending there had been no signs of improvement in the lives of children with special educational needs (SEN). Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea in Apia and Aamna Mohdin on (#6RPC3)
UK prime minister would rather work with nations on future-facing challenges' at Commonwealth summitKeir Starmer has insisted he wants to look forward" rather than have very long endless discussions about reparations on the past" in his first comments on the issue before the Commonwealth summit.The prime minister is under pressure to discuss reparatory justice with Commonwealth countries, most of which are former UK colonies, in Samoa this week. Continue reading...
by Steven Morris, Jamie Grierson and agency on (#6RP5T)
Police confirm possible carbon monoxide poisoning' is main line of inquiry after fatalities at care home in SwanageA 60-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by detectives investigating the deaths of three people at a care home in Dorset.Officers are still treating the deaths at the Gainsborough care home in Swanage as unexplained and have confirmed that possible carbon monoxide poisoning" is the primary line of inquiry. Seven other residents were taken to hospital. Continue reading...
by Julian Borger and William Christou in Beirut on (#6RPF1)
Yoav Gallant says his country still intends to strike back in response to 1 October missile attack by TehranPlanned airstrikes on Iran will make the world understand Israel's military might, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said.The Middle East has been braced for more than three weeks for a threatened Israeli response to Iran's 1 October missile attack, which was in turn a reprisal for Israel's killing of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Continue reading...
by Robyn Vinter North of England correspondent on (#6RPF0)
In statement written shortly after murder, Eddie Ratcliffe's mother said he clearly knows right and wrong'The mother of Eddie Ratcliffe, one of Brianna Ghey's killers, described him in the aftermath of the murder as a good child, with good morals and a loving, caring family behind him" who was on track to apply for Oxford.Brianna, aged 16, was stabbed to death in a sadistic" and exceptionally brutal" murder in a Warrington park on 11 February 2023 by Ratcliffe and Scarlett Jenkinson, who were both 15 at the time. Continue reading...
Nineteen-year-old woman died from stab wounds at a property in the St Andrew's area of the city on SundayA 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder after the death of a woman at a residential property in Bristol at the weekend.Avon and Somerset police were called to a property in the St Andrew's area of Bristol in the early evening on Sunday. The deceased has been identified as 19-year-old Luka Bennett-Smith. Continue reading...
Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary, says ex-president not fit for office'The Labour party has put out a statement rejecting allegations that it broke US election law because activists and staff members have been volunteering to help the Democrats.A Labour spokesperson said:It is common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions from around the world to volunteer in US elections.Where Labour activists take part, they do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and rules.We said that because working people had already paid the burden under the last government, we wouldn't increase the taxes, the main taxes that working people pay, so income tax - all rates - national insurance and VAT. So those taxes that working people pay, we're not increasing those taxes in the budget.We go into this budget with a number of challenges - the 22bn black hole just this year, in the public finances, the unfinanced company compensation schemes, for example on infected blood and Horizon, it's really important that we honour but they weren't in the forecasts from the previous government.The fact that the previous government had baked in austerity to our public spending settlements in the years to come, and we committed to not return to austerity. Continue reading...
French maritime officials say rescue operation was launched after lifejacket spotted in sea off CalaisThree people have died after a boat sank in the Channel, French maritime authorities said.The French maritime prefecture for the Channel and the North Sea said a further 46 people were rescued after the incident off the coast of Calais on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...
As Commonwealth heads meet, pressure is growing for justice over colonialism and climateCalls for the UK to open the door to reparatory justice for slavery, colonialism and the worsening effect of the climate crisis are growing from Caribbean and African nations, campaigners and MPs as the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) gets under way in Samoa.The UN judge Patrick Robinson concluded last year that the UK owed more than 18tn in reparations for its historical involvement in slavery in 14 countries. But Downing Street has said the issue is not on the agenda" at Chogm, and Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that he wants to be facing forward" rather than have very long, endless discussions about reparations on the past". Continue reading...
Long-delayed regulations for England may encourage' housebuilders to equip homes with solar panels, rather than requiring themLabour is considering making solar panels optional on new homes in England, after pressure from housebuilders, in a move that would weaken low-carbon regulations, the Guardian has learned.Ministers are preparing to publish long-delayed regulations for new homes, known as the future homes standard, which would ensure that all newly built homes are low-carbon. Continue reading...
Inquiry preceded controversial migration deal linked to claims of abuse in increasingly authoritarian countryThe European Commission is refusing to publish the findings of a human rights inquiry into Tunisia it conducted shortly before announcing a controversial migration deal with the increasingly authoritarian north African country.An investigation by the EU ombudsman found that the commission quietly carried out a risk management exercise" into human rights concerns in Tunisia but will not disclose its results. Continue reading...
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