News – World and UK

NHS workers are being urged to accept a 5.5% pay increase – with a union describing the offer from the Scottish Government as the “best negotiable” under current circumstances. The Scottish Government tabled the offer, which is in line with that proposed in England, to NHS Scotland staff earlier this week. The deal could see almost 170,000 employees – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – […]

Magistrates have been ordered to delay jailing criminals in a bid to ease prison overcrowding as the number of people behind bars hit a new weekly high. Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Green, who is the deputy senior presiding judge for England and Wales, issued what is known as a listing direction to magistrates’ courts managers in the two countries, saying offenders likely to be jailed should have their […]

An animal welfare charity has called on the Scottish Government to urgently act upon fresh evidence of a loophole in fox hunting laws that it claims could allow mounted hunting to continue in Scotland. The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act, which came into force last year, was designed to close loopholes in the earlier ban on fox hunting, introducing a two-dog limit for hunting and banning trail hunting. The law […]

Jude Bellingham faces a spell on the sidelines through injury and could miss the start of England’s Nations League campaign. The Real Madrid midfielder has suffered a leg injury and reports in Spain suggest the 21-year-old will not be available until after the international break. A statement from the Spanish club on Friday read: “Following tests carried out today on Jude Bellingham by Real Madrid’s medical team, the player has […]

The life of an “extraordinary girl” who was killed in the Southport knife attack has been remembered with balloons, bubbles and one of her favourite Taylor Swift songs at her funeral. Ahead of the service for seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe on Friday, mourners – including the family dog Bobby – gathered outside St John’s Church in Birkdale to see the horse-drawn carriage, which travelled from the family home through streets […]

Parents of children with additional needs have spoken about how they are at their wits’ end on how to secure school places for this academic year. SNAs (special needs assistants), activists, parents and their children marched from Cleary’s Clock on O’Connell Street to the Department of Education in Dublin to demand action so that vital school places are available for children with special needs. Nicola O’Dea, from Finglas, said her […]

Carol Vorderman has taken aim at “controversial decisions by BBC management” following the Huw Edwards scandal. Carol Vorderman has taken aim at “controversial decisions by BBC management” following the Huw Edwards scandal. The former Countdown star, 63, was given a standing ovation after she delivered the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Friday. She described herself as having been on thousands of TV shows over decades, “sacked […]

Two stages at Leeds Festival have closed for the day due to high winds caused by Storm Lilian. Liam Gallagher is due to headline the music festival in Bramham Park on Friday evening, as Reading and Leeds Festivals get underway for three days of music over the Bank Holiday weekend. Strong winds of up to 80mph are forecast in northern parts of England and Wales on Friday – with travel […]

A body believed to be that of Mike Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter has been located in the wreckage of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily, meaning all missing passengers have now been found. The Italian Coastguard said the sixth and final missing person had been located on the sunken Bayesian on Friday. Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, said the search for Hannah has not been “easy or quick”, […]