News – World and UK

Rachel Reeves will enter 2025 with the economy flatlining, inflation rising and a looming Whitehall spending review which experts warn will be “difficult”. The Chancellor believes the Government has taken tough decisions to get the public finances back on track and the benefits of public investment and planning reform will boost growth. Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said her focus on investment was “commendable” and […]

Some 35 human organs were made available for transplant after being donated over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, new figures have shown. The organs were provided by 11 donors across the UK after their death and included a heart, lungs, kidneys, livers, pancreas and bowel, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) said. No details have yet been given on the circumstances of those receiving the transplants. It comes as there are […]

200 years of saving animals in distress A swan crash landing on Leicester's National Space Centre, a cat high up on a viaduct in Huddersfield, a deer wedged in railings in East Grinstead.These are just a few of the RSPCA's top 17 saves of the year, picked out from the million or so calls they get every year.The Society, which relies entirely on donations to keep going, has been celebrating […]

Membership of Reform UK has surpassed that of the Conservatives, Nigel Farage’s party has said. A digital counter on the Reform website showed a membership tally before lunchtime on Boxing Day ticking past the 131,680 figure declared by the Conservative Party during its leadership election earlier this year. Mr Farage said it was a “historic moment” as he posted on X: “The youngest political party in British politics has just […]

Two women have died and a man and a teenage boy suffered serious injuries after a suspected stabbing in Milton Keynes on Christmas Day. A 49-year-old man from the Buckinghamshire city was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and is in custody, Thames Valley Police said. Officers were called to a block of apartments in Santa Cruz Avenue, Bletchley, at about 6.30pm on Wednesday. The women, aged 38 […]

Taking the plunge at a Boxing Day swim meant more than just a dip in the sea for one happy couple. As hundreds of bathers dashed for the water in Tenby, a magical moment was happening between Victoria Tansey and Philip Frith. Mr Frith, 34, went down on one knee on the sand and asked Miss Tansey, 37, to marry him. She said an ecstatic yes to the carefully planned […]

The Government is under pressure over its manifesto pledge to ban trail hunting as hunts gather for the traditional Boxing Day meet. Anti-hunting campaigners are urging them to deliver on the promise to ban trail hunting – a practice in which a scent is laid across the countryside for hounds and riders to follow as an alternative to banned fox hunting, but which has been criticised as a “smokescreen” for […]

More than 360,000 train services across Britain were fully or part-cancelled in the past year as reliability is at a joint record low amid major staffing shortages. PA news agency analysis of the latest Office of Rail and Road data found 208,000 services were fully axed in the year to November 9. A further 161,000 were part-cancelled, meaning they did not serve at least one of their scheduled stops. The […]

The Monarch spoke from Fitzrovia Chapel, a former London hospital chapel The King has used his Christmas address to pay tribute to the “selfless” doctors and nurses who provided “strength, care and comfort” during cancer treatment for himself and the Princess of Wales. In his annual message to the nation and Commonwealth, Charles offered his “heartfelt thanks” to the medical teams who supported him and his family “through the uncertainties […]