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Sir Keir Starmer has urged councils to “get on with the job” of fixing pothole-plagued roads. The Prime Minister said damaged roads “can risk lives and cost families hundreds if not thousands of pounds on repairs”. He made the comments as the Department for Transport (DfT) announced how much each local authority in England will receive to maintain roads in the next financial year. The funding allocations include: – More […]

But no police officers will face charges over their role in the incident, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. Footage of fracas was shared online in July and prompted protests after it appeared to show a Greater Manchester Police officer assaulting a man as he lay on the floor. The altercation, in the airport’s Terminal Two, allegedly happened after an earlier confrontation between passengers on a Qatar Airways flight which […]

An estimated four million people in the UK are preparing to spend the Christmas and new year period overseas, according to a travel trade organisation. Abta said Sunday will be the busiest day for departures between Friday and January 2, with Christmas Day the quietest. It identified the most popular destinations for winter sun holidays as the Canary Islands, southern Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Dubai. The ski resorts of France, […]

Teachers should be given powers to compel parents of disruptive children to engage with them – tackling the “burgeoning crisis of behaviour” in schools, a report has said. Schools should be able to escalate concerns to other agencies on “safeguarding grounds” when parents refuse to co-operate, according to a paper from the think tank set up by Sir Tony Blair. The report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change […]

The Scottish Government has been urged to reduce the cost of rail travel after a price comparison found it was cheaper to fly from Edinburgh to London than commute from the Scottish capital to Glasgow by train. Research by Scottish Labour found a return flight from Edinburgh to London Stansted could cost as little as £29.98 – less than the £31.40 price of a peak-time ScotRail ticket between Glasgow and […]

The King will speak about his commitment to heritage crafts as part of a BBC Christmas special of Countryfile. The festive programme, filmed at Charles’s Highgrove home in Gloucestershire, will showcase the work of the King’s Foundation’s education programmes, including painting, millinery and embroidery crafts. Countryfile hosts Matt Baker, Margherita Taylor, and Adam Henson met staff from Charles’s charity for the programme while the royal residence was transformed into a […]

Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson is expected to be the next UK ambassador to the US. Lord Mandelson, who served in the cabinets of Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is poised to be the UK’s next top diplomat in Washington, as President-elect Donald Trump returns to office. The tenure of Dame Karen Pierce, the current office holder, is expected to come to an end at the start of 2025 […]

A new once-a-day tablet that treats advanced breast cancer is to be rolled out on the NHS, with about 1,100 patients in England set to benefit. The final guidance on elacestrant by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) comes after it provisionally rejected the drug in October. The charity Breast Cancer Now welcomed the news but said it remains “deeply concerned that the system is not working […]

Household water bills in England and Wales will increase by an average £31 a year over the next five years, regulator Ofwat has announced. The increase is significantly higher than the expected average rise of around £20 a year per household, outlined in the regulator’s draft proposals in July. Ofwat said the increase would pay for a £104 billion upgrade of the water sector to deliver “substantial, lasting, improvements for […]