Category: UK News

Data from the UK government reveals that more pupils were off school without permission in the last week of the summer term than at any other point during the academic year. Approximately 450,000 pupils, amounting to 5% of pupils in England, were off without permission in the week ending 19 July. This comes as the… Continue reading Term-time holiday fine rise won't stop us, say parents

Translink, the Northern Irish public transport provider, has been criticized for its decision to exclude the Irish language on signage at the new £340m Grand Central Station in Belfast. An Dream Dearg, an Irish language group, described the development as a “new multi-million monolingual monolith”. Despite ongoing construction on the site, bus services are set… Continue reading Grand Central Station: Irish dual-language signage excluded

Kim Carnie, a Scottish singer-songwriter, has revealed that she kept a same-sex relationship secret for six years out of fear that it would cause upset. The Gaelic singer of the year, who has previously appeared on movie and computer game soundtracks, was able to come out with the full support of her family and friends,… Continue reading Secret relationship shaped Scots singer's award-winning film

Ross Main, a fine art graduate from Fife, Scotland, stumbled upon abandoned beehives that his grandfather had left in an old quarry near Innerwick in East Lothian. The site was overgrown with gorse, but Ross’s curiosity led him to test his luck. To his surprise, he found that the beehives were still there, untouched since… Continue reading Beekeeper inspired by grandfather's long lost hives

An 80-year-old man named Bhim Kohli was murdered in Franklin Park in Leicestershire by a 14-year-old boy. Kohli was walking his dog on Sunday at the time of the attack and died the following day. The youth, whose name cannot be released for legal purposes, has been in police custody since his arrest and will… Continue reading Boy, 14, charged with murder of 80-year-old

The final report of the six-year public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire that claimed the lives of 72 people in 2017 has found that the catastrophe was the result of a chain of failures by governments, “dishonest” companies and a lack of strategy by the fire service. Among the recommendations laid out are the… Continue reading Grenfell's path to disaster: How chain of failures led to 72 deaths

Severe weather warnings have been issued for southern England and south Wales as more than a month’s worth of rain is expected to fall in just two days. The Met Office has warned of floods, transport disruption and power cuts as up to 100mm of rain is forecast for some of the already-wettest areas, potentially… Continue reading Weather warnings as southern UK to get a month's worth of rain

UK housebuilder Barratt Developments reported a sharp fall in profits after completing far fewer homes last year. The company built just 14,000 in the year to June 2019, well down on the 17,000 finalised the previous year. The decline led to a 75% fall in pre-tax profit for the year. Barratt cited high interest rates… Continue reading Barratt: Biggest UK housing firm to build fewer homes

The Scottish government has abandoned its promise to extend free school meals to all primary school pupils, focusing instead on expanding the benefit only to P6 and P7 students whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. Last year’s programme for government had stated that free school meals would be expanded to all… Continue reading Scottish ministers ditch universal free school meal pledge

The Conservative Party’s former cabinet minister Priti Patel has been eliminated from the party’s leadership contest following the first round of voting by Tory MPs. Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, received the most votes from MPs, with 28 in total. Kemi Badenoch received 22 votes, followed closely by James Cleverly with 21. Tom Tugendhat… Continue reading Priti Patel knocked out of Tory leadership contest