They were beating the drums so hard in Newtownards, County Down, you could almost have heard them in Downing Street. Loyalists are taking to the streets of Northern Ireland on an almost weekly basis to demand Boris Johnson scraps the Irish Sea border. Jamie Bryson organised this rally. A loyalist close to the thinking of
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The difference at the end was how the two sets of supporters left the stadium. England couldn’t get away quick enough, while Scotland stayed to sing. The pandemic may have changed much about football, but the rivalry in this, the oldest international fixture in world football, remains undimmed. It was first played in 1872 and
The government is being urged to bring forward its review into support for children with special educational needs and disabilities after claims that a lack of guidance to specialist schools has left disabled children behind. The disability charity Sense says thousands of children have been affected after schools were forced to implement their own risk
The UK’s longest-known coronavirus patient has died after choosing to withdraw from treatment, his wife has confirmed. Jason Kelk, 49, had spent more than 13 months in intensive care at St James’ Hospital in Leeds after contracting coronavirus in March last year. He was transferred to a hospice this morning and died surrounded by his
Flood warnings have been enforced across the country for the weekend after parts of southeast England saw a month’s worth of rainfall in one day. The Environment Agency has issued 39 flood alerts in London, Kent, parts of the Home Counties, the West Midlands and Wiltshire after some areas saw up to 67mm of rain.
England and Scotland battled out a 0-0 draw at a rain-soaked Wembley in their eagerly anticipated Euro 2020 group game. England’s John Stones hit the post in the first half and Scotland had a shot cleared off the line as the visitors earned a deserved first point in the tournament The result means England still
A Tory MP faces trial accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008. Imran Ahmad Khan, 47, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is alleged to have groped the teenager in Staffordshire. Ahmad Khan, who was elected at the 2019 general election, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday by video link from
Schools and universities are the most common setting for COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the latest report from Public Health England (PHE). Total outbreaks continued to increase in the week starting 26 May, the latest available data shows, despite a 39% drop in the number occurring in education. The PHE report says this coincides with the
The Delta variant now accounts for almost all of the UK’s coronavirus cases, according to Public Health England. Some 33,630 cases of the strain were recorded in the last week and PHE said “the most recent data show 99% of sequenced and genotyped cases across the country are the Delta variant”. Last week, the Delta
The UK is set to enjoy more warm weather this week – and today could be the hottest day of the year so far. Temperatures in some parts of the South East could reach as high as 29C (84.2F). The previous hottest day of the year was on 2 June, when temperatures reached 28.3C (82.9F)
It is “possible” that putting India on the red list earlier might have prevented the widely anticipated delay to easing England’s coronavirus lockdown that is set to be announced later, a minister has said. Boris Johnson is preparing to announce a delay of four weeks to step four of the country’s roadmap out of COVID-19
A survivor of the Grenfell Tower disaster has said ex-residents are still being “denied swift justice” four years on from the catastrophic fire. Tiago Alves, his father, mother and younger sister all escaped from their home in Flat 105 on the 13th floor in the early stages of the deadly blaze on 14 June, 2017.
More gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood, platelets and plasma after “historic” new rules came into effect. The new eligibility rules came into force today on World Blood Donor Day and mean that donors in England, Scotland and Wales will no longer be asked if they are a man who has
Boris Johnson will plead with the nation to make “one last heave” to freedom as he announces a delay of up to four weeks in lifting lockdown restrictions in England. A government source has told Sky News the prime minister will dash hopes that Freedom Day will come in two weeks’ time, on 21 June,
A home video of a teenage Ed Sheeran singing in his school production of the musical Grease is going up for auction. The film, which is nearly two hours long, shows Sheeran as a 15-year-old playing the character Roger or ‘Rump’. Wearing a leather jacket and his hair slicked back, he gives the audience a
A teenager has been charged with murder after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death outside a school in Luton. Humza Hussain, 16, was found with multiple knife wounds near Challney High School for Boys in Stoneygate Road at around 4pm on 8 June. He was taken to hospital but pronounced dead two hours later. A
A woman whose employment contract was not renewed after expressing views that sex cannot be changed and transgender women are “not women” has won an appeal against an employment tribunal. In 2018, Maya Forstater posted a number of tweets expressing her beliefs about sex and gender, including her opposition to proposed reform of the Gender
A 25-year-old woman has died after being struck by a police car responding to an emergency call. The fatal collision happened on Stockwell Road in Lambeth, south London, at around 11.20pm on Wednesday. The Metropolitan Police said the marked car was responding to a 999 call at the time of the incident. The pedestrian was
A healthcare assistant working on a COVID ward has been convicted of using a dead patient’s bank card to buy crisps, fizzy drinks and sweets from a hospital vending machine. Ayesha Basharat, 23, took the card from an 83-year-old woman who had recently passed away at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham. A doctor recorded her time
The number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment has topped five million – the highest number ever recorded. In total 5,122,017 million people were waiting to begin treatment at the end of April, 2021, NHS England figures show – the highest number since records began in August 2007. The figure has increased every month