Union says oil refinery’s ‘strategic importance’ means talks about possible threats are urgentTrade union bosses are seeking an urgent meeting with Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon amid uncertainty surrounding the future of the Grangemouth oil refinery.Grangemouth is one of just six oil refineries in Great Britain and supplies two-thirds of the petrol and diesel for forecourts in Scotland as well as large volumes for the north of England and Northern Ireland. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Chief political correspondent on (#5Z8JM)
Move will save total of £17m, says health secretary, as Labour and head of TUC say windfall tax needed to tackle issuePrescription charges will be frozen for the first time in 12 years as a gesture to help with cost-of-living pressures, the government has said.The move is one of a number of small measures that government departments have been ordered to find to reduce families’ costs, but comes amid criticism that steps taken so far have done little to ease the burden of rising bills and inflation. Continue reading...
Warning as figures show record £101m worth of card and payment crime was blocked last yearThe cost of living could be the next frontline for scammers, the head of the UK’s specialist police unit for fraud has warned, with criminals using the crisis as a way to lure potential victims.DCI Gary Robinson, head of the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), said he thought fraudsters could seize on the financial squeeze to persuade people to hand over their personal details. Continue reading...
Collision took place on northbound section of A6 near Barton Rd junction; ambulance was on blue lightsA man in his 50s has died after a crash involving a Bugatti sports car and an ambulance in Bedfordshire.Police were called just before 6.30pm on Saturday to a report of a collision involving a blue Bugatti and an ambulance on blue lights on the northbound carriageway of the A6, near the Barton Road junction. Continue reading...
by Bethan McKernan and Sufian Taha in Jerusalem on (#5Z8H5)
World criticism mounts over the shooting of Al Jazeera journalist as dispute over chain of events growsNahed Araf Imran and her husband Jamal were exhausted but excited on Wednesday morning: Nahed was in labour with their third child at a local hospital in Nablus, in the north of the occupied West Bank.But when Jamal’s mother arrived at the hospital crying just before the couple’s daughter was born, he knew something was wrong. Continue reading...
Conservative MPs raise fears that Boris Johnson’s decision to ease cost of living crisis will help fuel obesityBoris Johnson is already facing a growing backlash within his party over his decision to shelve a plan to ban “buy-one-get-one-free” supermarket deals and pre-watershed TV advertising for junk food.The prime minister ordered the delay as part of a decree for Whitehall to find ways of easing the cost of living crisis. However, senior Tories have warned the delay risks heaping more pressure on the NHS and contributing to serious disease. Continue reading...
Ministers’ much-touted HSF programme criticised as local authorities run out of funding months too earlyA key part of the government’s response to the cost of living crisis has not been available to applicants for months in some parts of the country after councils ran out of money, the Observer can reveal.The government launched the £500m Household Support Fund (HSF) last autumn to help poorer households with essentials. Ministers have highlighted the HSF in response to accusations it isn’t doing enough to help people cope with soaring inflation. Just last week, work and pensions minister Chloe Smith repeatedly cited the HSF in an interview with Channel 4 News. Continue reading...
UK is ‘haven for dictators’ says critic after Queen invites ruler who outlawed political opposition in Middle Eastern state to the Royal Windsor horse showThe king of Bahrain is expected to attend the Royal Windsor horse show on Sunday after a personal invitation from the Queen, prompting anger from campaigners who claim the UK is “sportswashing” what they say is an increasingly repressive regime.King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has been invited as a guest of the Queen, demonstrating a warmth of official ties despite the Middle Eastern state’s outlawing of political opposition, and human rights violations including torture. Continue reading...
Food writer and activist, who won a libel suit against the Daily Mail’s Katie Hopkins, takes action against Tory Lee AndersonJack Monroe has instructed libel lawyers after the Tory MP Lee Anderson alleged the writer and food blogger was profiteering from the poor.Monroe, who won a rancorous, high-profile libel action against the former Daily Mail columnist Katie Hopkins in 2017, tweeted that the MP’s comments were a “very clear cut case of outright libel”. Continue reading...
The crop-top look made famous by All Saints is cool once more – only now you don’t need a toned tummyThe T-shirt – that staple of summer style – has had an upgrade for 2022. The so-called “baby tee” – cropped, tight, often with a cutesy slogan, and last popular around the turn of the millennium – is back.Worn by celebrities including model Hailey Baldwin, singers Olivia Rodrigo and Charli XCX, as well as the cast of US teen TV drama Euphoria, the baby tee’s popularity is part of a wider return of noughties style for young fashion brands. Urban Outfitters, Fiorucci, Weekday, Praying, Vanna Youngstein and Heaven by Marc Jacobs all produce T-shirts in this cut. Continue reading...
by Caitlin Cassidy (now) and Royce Kurmelovs (earlier on (#5Z8A3)
Paul Keating condemns Liberal housing scheme; Anthony Albanese speaks at Brisbane rally, after promoting Labor’s manufacturing plan; 20 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
Asda chairman Stuart Rose says universal credit uplift and honesty over Brexit are crucial to combat ‘national economic emergency’One of Britain’s most prominent retailers has called for a major welfare boost for the poorest as pressure grows on chancellor Rishi Sunak to act on the cost of living crisis.Stuart Rose, the chairman of Asda and Conservative peer, effectively backed reinstating a £20-a-week uplift in universal credit introduced at the start of the Covid pandemic to help those on low incomes. He said some were seeing “shocking” increases in their bills and warned that the pressures were likely to persist into 2024. Continue reading...
The Doctor Who star and classical actor reveals how he copes with ‘the horror of the terror’ of theatrical anxietyHe is one of the biggest stars of stage and screen, from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Doctor Who, but even David Tennant suffers from nerves – and chocolate is one of his secrets to calming them, he has revealed.The actor allowed himself exactly three squares of chocolate in every interval of one of his shows, finding “comfort in the routine”. “Being on stage is a bit like jumping out of a plane. I try and nail down the things I can control,” he said. Continue reading...
PM announces spending boosts and ‘game changer’ for first-home buyers ahead of final election campaign week, as he urges voters to stick with government at polls
In new book Hunt says he was ‘shocked to his core’ by failures in care and the system’s fear of transparencyJeremy Hunt has described sitting at the top of a “rogue system” when he was health secretary and said he was “shocked to his core” by failures in care.The current chair of the Commons health and social care committee said a fear of transparency and honesty in the NHS when it comes to avoidable deaths and mistakes is a “major structural problem” that must be addressed, in an excerpt from his new book published in the Sunday Times. Continue reading...
Ed Davey says party will focus on just one target in key ‘super Thursday’ pollsThe Liberal Democrats will put all their campaign efforts into only one of two crucial byelections this summer – leaving Labour to fight the Tories in the other – as pressure intensifies on leftwing parties to work more closely together to oust the Conservatives from power.The Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, told the Observer on Saturday that his party would concentrate on the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton because it believes it can pull off a sensational win against the incumbent Conservatives in the south-west, where it has traditionally been strong. Continue reading...
Virus has laid bare America’s fragmented healthcare system and corrosive racial and socioeconomic inequalityMore than one million people have died in the Covid-19 pandemic in the US, according to Johns Hopkins, far and away the most deaths of any country.While the sheer number of deaths from the coronavirus sets the US apart, the country’s large population of 332.5 million people does not explain the staggering mortality rate, which is among the highest in the world. Continue reading...
Widening rift on retaining the royals is revealed ahead of Queen’s platinum jubileeFewer than half of people in Scotland say they support retaining the monarchy, according to a major new poll that reveals the cultural divides emerging within the union.Almost six in 10 people across Britain want to retain the monarchy for the foreseeable future, with only a quarter saying that the end of the Queen’s reign would be an appropriate time for Britain to become a republic. The overwhelming majority, some 85%, expect that Britain will still have a monarchy in a decade’s time. Continue reading...
Ukraine president said ‘victorious chord’ in war with Russia was not far off as nation celebrates Kalush Orchestra’s winVolodymyr Zelenskiy has hailed Ukraine’s win in the Eurovision song contest, saying that his war-ravaged country would do its best to host next year’s final in the beleaguered port city of Mariupol.After Kalush Orchestra won Saturday night’s contest in a show of popular support for the nation that went beyond music, the Ukrainian president reacted with a Telgram post saying: “Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe! Next year Ukraine will host Eurovision! Continue reading...
The proposal would have seen lithium and rare metal resources taken into state hands as part of the country’s wide-ranging political shakeupA constitutional assembly in Chile has rejected plans to nationalise parts of the crucial mining industry in a blow to progressive hopes of overhauling the neoliberal Pinochet-era political settlement.The proposal, known as article 27, would have given the state exclusive mining rights over lithium, rare metals and hydrocarbons and a majority stake in copper mines. Continue reading...
Despite nationwide lockdown, there are now more than 800,000 suspected cases in the unvaccinated countryNorth Korea said on Sunday a total of 42 people had died as the country began its fourth day under a nationwide lockdown aimed at stopping the impoverished country’s first confirmed Covid-19 outbreak.At least 296,180 more people came down with fever symptoms, and 15 more had died as of Sunday, the outlet said. Continue reading...
Pop superstar and her fiance, Sam Asghari, say in joint post ‘We will continue trying to expand our beautiful family’Britney Spears says she has lost a baby early in her pregnancy.Spears announced the loss on Instagram Saturday in a joint post with her fiance, Sam Asghari. The pop superstar, who gained her freedom from a court conservatorship that controlled her life for more than a decade, said in April that she was expecting a child with Asghari. Continue reading...
Symonds, 46, in single vehicle collision late on Saturday, report says, citing statement from family confirming deathWorld cricket is mourning the shock loss of another Australian great after Test star and two-time World Cup winner Andrew Symonds was killed in a car crash in Queensland. The 46-year-old “cult figure” was involved in a single-vehicle accident late on Saturday.Queensland Police are investigating the crash, which occurred at Hervey Range, about 50km from Townsville. Continue reading...
PM will go to Belfast seeking ‘broadest possible support’ from party leadersBoris Johnson will vow not to scrap the Brexit deal governing Northern Ireland and instead back reform that has “the broadest possible cross-community support”, in an attempt to cool tensions over the issue.In a shift in tone before emergency talks in Belfast on Monday, the prime minister will make it clear that he has no intention of scrapping the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, which he claims is causing significant disruption to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Continue reading...
Dorset police say it received a report on Saturday that a body had been found in the waterPolice said a body has been recovered in the search for David Haw, who had been missing since 2 May after reportedly falling off a Rib (rigid inflatable boat) in Poole harbour.Dorset police said it received a report at 1.37pm on Saturday that a body had been found in the water. Continue reading...
A fundraising event held for the shadow minister sparks rumours that he is readying himself to replace Keir Starmer if he resigns over BeergateLabour rising star Wes Streeting has denied preparing a leadership bid to replace Keir Starmer after it emerged that the wealthy party donor Waheed Alli hosted a recent fundraising event for him and another MP at his central London home.The Observer has been told that the actors Ian McKellen and Michael Cashman, as well the businesswoman and LGBTQ+ activist Linda Riley, were among 20 to 30 people present at the event in March, where Lord Alli picked up the £4,600 bill for a buffet and drinks. Continue reading...
Ex-firearms officer Rhona Malone, awarded nearly £1m for sexist victimisation, says pain and sacrifices outweigh any compensationA former armed response officer awarded nearly £1m by Police Scotland over victimisation said the past few years had been “torturous” and no amount of compensation could make up for the pain experienced.Rhona Malone began her action against the force after a senior police officer said he did not want to see two female armed officers deployed together when there were sufficient male staff on duty. Continue reading...
Babis Anagnostopoulos spent 10 chilling hours in an Athens courts calmly describing the murder of his wifeLast week, Greek helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos stood in the dock of an Athens court and related the circumstances that led him to suffocate his British wife. Over the course of 10 hours he barely paused. Coolly and calmly, from 10am to 8pm, he addressed the tribunal.He recalled the dream life he had shared with the woman whom he would go on to asphyxiate; his decision to choke her beloved puppy, Roxy, hanging the pet dog from the banister of the couple’s maisonette; his love for his baby daughter, whom he would place next to her dead mother’s body; and his determination in a moment “of chaos” to cover up the killing as a robbery gone terribly wrong. Continue reading...
Brexit, Covid and Black Lives Matter have highlighted divisions in society. But we have more in common than we sometimes realiseIn fragmented times, there is a public appetite for things that can bring us together. The jubilee is seen as the most important event of the year, ahead of the football World Cup, though that vote of confidence in the monarchy comes with future challenges. Support is rock-solid among older people in England’s home counties but only a minority of those in Scotland, of ethnic minority Britain and of the youngest adults are in favour.The monarchy should resist all attempts to turn it into a symbol of tradition to see off “woke” younger generations – and instead respond to the public appetite for a Crown that bridges divides. In this year of welcoming, the royal estates should be part of Homes for Ukraine, celebrating both hosts and guests, and how those welcomed to Britain from Hong Kong and Afghanistan today, join new Britons from Uganda, Zimbabwe and Vietnam over the decades. Continue reading...
Ministers warned that millions owed after alleged fraud by ex bosses of National Bank Trust could help fund Putin’s war effortIn one of Russia’s most high-profile marketing campaigns, film star Bruce Willis appeared in cinematic advertisements with a car chase and a rooftop rescue, ending with the slogan, “Trust is just like me, but a bank.”The campaign for National Bank Trust in 2011 – which included cardboard cutouts of Willis popping up in 400 branches across Russia – was credited with raising the bank’s profile and boosting business. Continue reading...
Mary Lou McDonald says Tories in ‘cahoots’ with DUP in threatening to tear up post-Brexit protocolThe leader of Sinn Féin has accused Boris Johnson of playing games with Ireland and using it as a “pawn” in the UK’s continual trade battle with the EU, ahead of the prime minister’s visit on Monday.Johnson is due to touch down in Belfast on Monday for talks after the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) blocked the election of a speaker in the Stormont assembly, a week after Sinn Féin topped the polls in elections. Continue reading...
The Italian glam rock band have had three UK Top 40 singles and opened for the Rolling Stones since their win last yearIt wasn’t so long ago that Måneskin were busking on the streets of Rome, performing for four hours straight even if only one person was watching. So the 2021 Eurovision song contest winners couldn’t believe their luck when the Rolling Stones invited them to open a concert in the US in November, giving them their first opportunity to perform in front of an audience of thousands.“We thought, fuck yeah, we’re not going to decline that,” bassist Victoria De Angelis said in an interview with the Guardian alongside her three bandmates in Turin before the Eurovision 2022 final. Continue reading...
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Minoli de Soysa on (#5Z80Y)
Further intense unrest puts more pressure on the presidency of Gotabaya RajapaksaThey have called it “Gota Go Village”. Here, on what was once an empty stretch of lawn outside the office of the Sri Lankan prime minister, on Colombo’s seafront Galle Face promenade, a thriving community has sprung up. There are tents, food stalls, a library, a memorial, art installations, stages for music and speeches, and even the beginnings of a small farm growing vegetables and fruit from recently planted trees. Nearby, a patch has been set aside to cultivate rice.It began as the focal point of the anti-government protests that have engulfed Sri Lanka for months as the country goes through the worst economic crisis since independence. As fuel, food and medicine have run short, the blame has been placed firmly at the feet of one man, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, widely known as Gota, who stands accused of economic mismanagement and corruption pushing the country to the brink of bankruptcy. The calls from the majority of the population have been clear: Gota must step down. Continue reading...
Regulator removed 5,311 physiotherapists after failing to renew licences, raising concerns about patients and loss of incomeThousands of patients have been left without vital healthcare after nearly one in 10 physiotherapists was prevented from practising after their regulator removed them from its register.Exactly 5,311 physiotherapists were deregistered by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) on 1 May because they had not renewed their registration after the HCPC decided not to send out reminder letters. Continue reading...
Demonstrators demand release of two students held after murder of Christian woman in SokotoHundreds of people in Nigeria’s north-western city of Sokoto demonstrated on Saturday over the arrest of two students after the murder of a Christian student accused of blasphemy, residents said.Africa’s most populous country is roughly divided between Muslims and Christians but religious tensions and deadly clashes are not uncommon, particularly in the north. Continue reading...
Stansted and others launch hiring drive, but staff talk of 4am starts, low pay and hours on their feetAntisocial work hours, long days on your feet, and dealing with impatient and sometimes unpleasant passengers. Such is the life of an airport security officer.Their role is to check passengers and their luggage before boarding, and they are key to ensuring safety and the smooth running of an airport. But the work is not well paid, and airports are struggling to recruit enough people to staff the X-ray machines and metal detectors as air travel rebounds after Covid. Continue reading...
Move imposed with immediate effect in attempt to control prices after heatwave damages cropsIndia, the world’s second largest producer of wheat, has banned all exports with immediate effect after a heatwave affected the crop.A notice in the government gazette by the directorate of foreign trade, dated Friday, said a rise in global prices for wheat was threatening the food security of India and neighbouring and vulnerable countries. Continue reading...
Six weeks after start of vaccine rollout, fraction of young children have had first dose as parents question usefulnessOnly 7% of primary schoolchildren in England have received a first dose of Covid vaccine six weeks after it was rolled out to all 5- to 11-year-olds, as parents grapple with the decision about whether to take up the offer.That rate compares with 24% of 12- to 15-year-olds who had received a first dose in the first six weeks after they became eligible in September 2021. Continue reading...
Speed of transition, one day after death of Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, appears designed to show unityRulers in the United Arab Emirates have unanimously appointed Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the president of the hereditarily ruled nation on the Arabian peninsula.The state-run WAM news agency said the rulers of the country’s seven sheikhdoms made the decision at a meeting held in Al Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi. Continue reading...
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