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More than 10bn was committed to building new schools between 2014-15 and 2023-24, compared with 6.8bn for rebuilding existing schoolsConservative governments spent 325m creating 67 free schools that subsequently failed or disappeared, many through lack of demand, according to data revealed by a freedom of information request.The figures from the Department for Education (DfE) show that the government committed more than 10bn to building new schools between 2014-15 and 2023-24, compared with 6.8bn for rebuilding existing schools, which critics say left England with a backlog of crumbling and decaying buildings. Continue reading...

Sex and nudity, violence and health and safety rank as top concerns among 5,000 complaints assessed by watchdog

The US president praised an autocrat, said Europe should send back' asylum seekers and compared Ukraine's leader to a conman

Nestle confectionery treats now described as being encased in a smooth milk chocolate flavour coating'Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars can no longer be called chocolate after Nestle reformulated their recipes due to the increasing cost of ingredients.The Swiss conglomerate now describes the treats as being encased in a smooth milk chocolate flavour coating", rather than being covered in milk chocolate. Continue reading...

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems' Gentleman Ed rips into Starmer for staying silent on The Donald's US security strategyWith little more than a week to go until the Christmas recess, the Commons is in festive overdrive. Demob happy. A few minutes in to the year's penultimate prime minister's questions with MPs from both sides shouting and cheering, the speaker interrupted proceedings to say: We don't need the panto auditions any more." To which the natural response was: Ooh yes we do." Because that's pretty much the whole purpose of PMQs at the best of times. A feelgood experience for some. A feelbad experience for others. Noise with no substance.No one embraces the panto spirit more than Kemi Badenoch. Kemi has come to realise that the bar is actually quite low for her to remain as Tory leader. All she has to do is be a little bit better than Keir Starmer at PMQs. Which is turning out to be a lot less difficult than she imagined. Sometimes just standing up is enough. Continue reading...

Roy Marsh, 86, says the penalty from enforcement officers was unnecessary and all out of proportion'A man has claimed he was fined 250 for spitting after a leaf blew into his mouth in Lincolnshire.Roy Marsh, 86, was given the financial penalty after the incident in Skegness earlier this year. He is now calling for responsible" litter enforcement. Continue reading...

Judge ordered the guard, deployed to the city in June, returned to the control of the California governor

Downing Street publishes list including ex-Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and Iceland supermarket chief Richard WalkerReeves is now being asked about the leak to the Financial Times on 13 November saying that Reeves had dropped plans to raise income tax in the budget.Reeves claims some aspects of the story were misleading. Continue reading...

Daughter delivers speech, with Nobel Institute saying Maria Corina Machado still expected in Oslo after journey of extreme danger'

Outgoing NYC comptroller and progressive ally of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani launches primary bid for CongressBrad Lander, the outgoing comptroller of New York City and a former candidate for mayor, announced on Wednesday that he is running for the US Congress in a challenge from the left to fellow Democrat and representative, Dan Goldman - with the backing of the city's progressive mayor-elect.Lander will run in the Democratic primary contest next year for a liberal district in lower Manhattan and northwest Brooklyn. Continue reading...

The White House has formalised its contempt for decaying' Europe with an ominous plan to undermine the EU and boost the far right

Baby Ruth Villarama's documentary Food Delivery depicts those struggling with the superpower to retain their trade. The director describes capturing their boats getting rammed by the Chinese coast guardDuring a televised debate in 2016, populist presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte made a typically belligerent statement that he himself would jetski to Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and plant a Philippine flag there. Duterte claimed that he was ready to die a hero to keep the Chinese out of the bitterly contested maritime territory.That made millions of Filipino workers and fishers vote for him because of that one promise," says film-maker Baby Ruth Villarama. As her new Oscar and Bafta-contending documentary Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea reveals, it wasn't a promise Duterte kept. He would make excuses that the jetski has broken down. Eventually there was an official pronouncement that it had just been a campaign joke. From then on, the fisherfolk were really enraged." Continue reading...

Keeping reindeer in pens for public enjoyment can cause them physical and mental harm, charities warnWith their fluffy coats, big brown eyes and reputation as Santa's helpers, reindeer are a common and popular attraction at Christmas markets around the UK.But being stuck in a pen and approached by hordes of adoring fans is harming the mental and physical health of Rudolph and his brethren, animal charities have warned. Continue reading...

The short answer is yes, but if you don't want big brands or to use Amazon then more time and a lot more prompts are needed

Military personnel told they can return to Nigeria after actions described as unfriendly act'Authorities in Burkina Faso have released 11 Nigerian military personnel held after a cargo plane from Lagos made an unauthorised" emergency landing in its second largest city, Bobo-Dioulasso.The breakaway regional Association of Sahel States (AES) said on Monday that the C-130 aircraft had entered Burkina Faso's airspace without clearance, calling it an unfriendly act". Continue reading...

Report also found an overall failure of the museum', including broken security camera and lack of coordination, hearing told

Tory leader says head of Reform should put on his big boy pants' and apologise over allegations from ex-schoolmates

Australian psych-rockers, who removed their music from Spotify in protest against the streaming service, lament the appearance of AI band King Lizard WizardSpotify has removed an AI impersonator of popular Australian rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard from the streaming service, with the band's frontman voicing despair at the situation.King Gizzard removed their music from Spotify in July in a protest against the company's chief executive Daniel Ek, who is the chair of military technology company Helsing as well as a major investor. Continue reading...

Parents of Madeleine McCann among dozens to sign letter to PM urging him to revive second part of Leveson inquiryMadeleine McCann's father has called for greater scrutiny of the UK media as he told how monstering" by sections of the press had made him feel as if he was being suffocated and buried".Gerry McCann said his family was tormented by press abuses" and that the media had repeatedly interfered" with the investigation into his daughter's disappearance in 2007. Continue reading...

Local police say Dyllon Redfern, 24, brandished a derringer from the 19th century after being asked for his IDThe single-shot, percussion-style pistols known as derringers have almost certainly not been used in violent crimes since the 19th-century old west in the US - but police allege that a robber clad in pajama pants brandished one of those weapons at an Oklahoma liquor store recently.Dyllon Redfern, 24, stands accused of going into Primo's Wine and Spirits in Tulsa on the night of 5 December but being turned away from buying anything because he did not have his identification. Store employees later told Tulsa police that Redfern, who was in pajama pants and a hooded sweatshirt, left and came back with what they described as an old timey musket", pointed the gun at them and demanded cash as well as their IDs. Continue reading...

Natasha Ugle says nothing has changed' since her husband Wayne's death in 2023, as a national report found 33 First Nations peoples died in custody last year

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Dramatic scenes in the water prompt warnings to swimmers and snorkelers at one of Australia's most popular holiday destinationsAn abundance of baitfish has drawn in hundreds of sharks to feed in the shallows around Byron Bay, creating dramatic scenes at one of Australia's most popular holiday destinations.The multi-day event was captured by many Byron locals, who shared footage of the sharks, including black tip whalers, dusky whalers and bull sharks, as they fed on the large school of fish over the weekend. Continue reading...

After a ceasefire deal he brokered collapsed, Trump told a rally in Pennsylvania that he would make a call' to stop a war' between Thailand and CambodiaUS president Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he will make a call regarding reignited hostilities on the Thai-Cambodia border, where fighting has resumed less than two months after a ceasefire he brokered between the two nations collapsed.Speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania, the US president reiterated his global peacemaking skills, proclaiming that in ten months I ended eight wars", before listing hostilities between Kosovo and Serbia, Pakistan and India, and Israel and Iran. Continue reading...

The Emily in Paris actor and writer of the Tony-nominated Slave Play remains in Japan while prosecutors investigate the alleged discovery of MDMA in his bagThe American playwright and Emily in Paris actor Jeremy O Harris has been released three weeks after his arrest in Japan on suspicion of drug smuggling while prosecutors investigate, police said Wednesday.Japan has some of the world's strictest drug laws, and possession of illegal narcotics can result in jail time. Prosecutors also have a very high conviction rate. Continue reading...

Additional student critically wounded on Tuesday, after 17 August shooting left two people with gunshot woundsAt least one student was killed and another was critically wounded in a shooting at a residence hall at Kentucky State University on Tuesday, and a suspect who is not a student at the school was in custody, officials said.The shooting was the second in four months in the same area of the university. Continue reading...

The 71-year-old performer's son Micah has been arrested on suspicion of murder, Santa Monica police saidJubilant Sykes, the Grammy-nominated opera and gospel singer, has died aged 71 after being stabbed to death at his home in California.His 31-year-old son, Micah Sykes, was arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

In state's 18th execution this year, Mark Geralds, 58, given three-drug injection for 1989 stabbing of Tressa PettiboneA man convicted of fatally stabbing a woman during a home invasion decades ago was executed on Tuesday evening in Florida.Mark Allen Geralds, 58, was pronounced dead at 6.15pm following a three-drug injection at Florida state prison for the February 1989 murder of Tressa Pettibone. Continue reading...

Crews conduct high-water rescues in Washington, and flood watches put in effect along coast down to OregonA series of powerful storms hit the Pacific north-west, dumping heavy rain, swelling rivers, closing roads and prompting high-water rescues in several states.An unusually strong storm system called an atmospheric river is passing through the region, bringing heavy rainfall across western Washington and north-western Oregon and more than a foot of snow in the northern Rockies and north-western Wyoming. Continue reading...

National Audit Office says Shabana Mahmood's plans may have unintended consequences' on stretched systemShabana Mahmood's radical plans to overhaul the asylum system could cause unintended consequences" such as increased homelessness among people seeking refuge and growing case backlogs, Whitehall's spending watchdog has concluded.The head of the National Audit Office said that the home secretary's policies, which are meant to accelerate case decisions and reduce appeals, would require effective action on the bottlenecks" if they were to succeed. Continue reading...

Seven brainteasers feature in intelligence agency's 2025 Christmas card, with covers designed by UK school pupilsA warning from the spies at GCHQ: a robber is on the loose, intent on stealing Christmas presents. Luckily, he won't find it easy.The robber's target, according to the British intelligence and security agency, is a house with a large number of rooms, each of which has a letter, which are linked to each other by coloured doors and arrows. He can't go through the same-coloured door twice in a row, and can't move against any arrows. Eventually, the robber is caught by the police. How was he acting? Continue reading...

Exclusive: Culture secretary announces first national youth strategy in 15 years to help vulnerable' generationYoung people have faced violent indifference" from the political establishment for decades, leaving them struggling to navigate a changing world, the culture secretary said as she announced the first national youth strategy in 15 years.In an interview with the Guardian, Lisa Nandy said young people today were the most digitally connected but also the most isolated generation, adding that more could be done to police online spaces under new laws. Continue reading...

Zelenskyy says he would hold wartime elections within months given help from allies and Ukraine's parliament

Exclusive: PM calls for members of European convention on human rights to allow tougher action to protect borders

The closer you get to Kalu's endless sinewy trails of old VHS tape, the harder it is to know where their forms stop and the space around them begins

Chair of 2025 judging panel says win begins to erase that border between the neurotypical and neurodiverse artist'

Worcestershire council leader Jo Monk sent city councillor Ed Kimberley a cease and desist letter over his criticism of herThe leader of a Reform UK-run local authority has been criticised for an authoritarian" attempt to silence opposition after sending a legal threat to a Labour councillor, demanding he stops mentioning her name in public.Ed Kimberley, a Worcester city councillor, said he received the cease and desist letter from the leader of Worcestershire county council, Jo Monk, in late November. Continue reading...

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels clash with Congolese army and other groups as they march on strategic eastern townAbout 200,000 people have fled their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Rwanda-backed rebels march on a strategic eastern town just days after Donald Trump hosted the Rwandan and Congolese leaders to proclaim peace.The UN said at least 74 people had been killed, mostly civilians, and 83 admitted to hospital with wounds from escalating clashes in the area in recent days. Continue reading...

French first lady was filmed calling women who had disrupted Paris theatre show by Ary Abittan sales connes'French celebrities and politicians on the left have expressed outrage after Brigitte Macron was filmed using a derogatory and sexist slur to describe feminist protesters at a theatre show in Paris.A video filmed on Sunday showed France's first lady in discussion backstage at the Folies Bergere theatre in Paris with Ary Abittan, a French actor and comedian previously accused of rape, before a performance he was about to give. The previous night, feminist campaigners had disrupted his show with shouts of: Abittan, rapist!" Continue reading...

NHS Providers boss says those who are coughing and sneezing' should wear face coverings on public transportPeople experiencing flu or cold symptoms should wear a mask in public places as the UK grapples with a tidal wave" of illness, an NHS leader has said.Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said the country was facing a very nasty strain of flu" that had occurred earlier in the year than normal, and face coverings should be worn on public transport, as during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

Killings of suspected IRA informers brought shame and fear but relatives have opportunity to step out of shadows

Nine-year investigation paints highly critical picture of agency's handling of double agent

This blog is now closed, you can read more UK political coverage hereBadenoch says the Tories will review the way the household benefit cap operates.This is a policy introduced by George Osborne when he was chancellor. It imposes a cap on the total amount a household can receive in benefits.We will review every circumstance in which benefits are currently paying more than work.We will undertake a full eview of the level and operation of the household benefit cap, which currently acts more like a sieve than a cap, because most people on benefits avoid it through one exemption or another. Continue reading...

Flood alerts issued across Britain while every county in Ireland under orange weather warningsFlights, trains and ferries were cancelled, motorists faced long delays and thousands of properties left without power across the UK and Ireland after Storm Bram brought heavy rain and strong winds.By Tuesday night, there were more than 300 flood warnings or alerts across the UK and sporting matches and festive events were cancelled because of the weather. Continue reading...

Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman say regulator breached right to privacy during Entain bid for casino website 888Two gambling bosses facing criminal charges of bribery and fraud have begun a separate civil claim against the Gambling Commission, claiming the regulator breached their right to privacy when it intervened in their plan to take control of the online casino company 888.Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman, the former chief executive and chair of the Ladbrokes and Coral owner, Entain, bought 6.5% of 888 Holdings in June 2023 via a vehicle called FS Gaming and proposed installing themselves at the top of the business, which also owned William Hill. Continue reading...

Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested in March amid White House's crackdown on foreign students' pro-Palestinian advocacyA federal judge has allowed a Tufts University student from Turkey to resume research and teaching while she deals with the consequences of having her visa revoked by the Trump administration, leading to six weeks of detention.Rumeysa Ozturk, a PhD student studying children's relationship to social media, was among the first people arrested as the Trump administration began targeting foreign-born students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy. She had co-authored an op-ed criticizing her university's response to Israel and the war in Gaza. Immigration enforcement officers took her away in an unmarked vehicle, in an encounter caught on video in March outside her Somerville residence. Continue reading...

Press conference was expected to have been Venezuelan opposition leader's first public appearance in 11 monthsA press conference in Oslo with the Nobel peace prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader in hiding, has been cancelled, the Norwegian Nobel Institute has said, adding that it was in the dark" as to her whereabouts.Machado last appeared in public on 9 January at a demonstration in Caracas protesting against the inauguration of Nicolas Maduro for his third term as president. The press conference, traditionally held by the Nobel laureate on the eve of the award ceremony, had been expected to be the 58-year-old's first public appearance in 11 months. Continue reading...

The musician, who led the Grammy-winning band, had been receiving treatment for colon cancerRaul Malo, the soulful tenor and frontman of the genre-defying, Grammy-winning band the Mavericks, has died. He was 60.Malo died on Monday night, his wife, Betty Malo, posted on his Facebook page. He had been diagnosed with cancer. The frontman of the Mavericks had documented his health journey on social media since he disclosed in June 2024 that he was receiving treatment for colon cancer. Continue reading...

Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine remained committed to a real peace' after US president hints he could walk away from KyivOh, and a little warning shot from EU's Kallas:If we go into the fight [of] pointing fingers, I mean, we can also point a lot of fingers [on] what is wrong in America, but this is not the way we work, we are not going to meddle with the internal affairs of other countries." Continue reading...

Ron DeSantis's legally dubious order designating Cair - and Muslim Brotherhood - follows similar move by TexasFlorida is declaring the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) - a US civil rights and liberties group - a foreign terrorist organization, the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, announced on Monday.The move closely follows a similar order issued in November by Texas's governor, Greg Abbott, DeSantis's fellow Republican, even though only the federal government can designate terrorist organizations. Continue reading...