PricewaterhouseCoopers warns that ‘alarming’ level of debt may prove hard to deal with if interest rates increaseBritain’s economy is sitting on a timebomb of debt on course to break through the £10tn barrier within the next five years, according to a report out today charting the country’s two-decade long addiction to borrowing.The study by consultancy [...]
Families likely to abandon case aimed at compensating children born with disabilities after mothers took drug during pregnancyA landmark legal case by families of children with physical and mental disabilities against a multinational pharmaceutical company is likely to be abandoned after legal aid was withdrawn.The families say manufacturers of an anti-epilepsy drug taken by mothers [...]
Report predicts mass migration to north as archbishop warns of ’social zoning’Large swaths of southern England will become off limits to housing benefit recipients in a little more than a decade because of the government’s proposed plans to cut welfare bills – triggering a huge migration of the poor to the north – according to [...]
• New Hampshire clergyman opts to take early retirement• Decision does little to appease Anglican communion criticsThe rift in the Anglican communion over homosexuality was reopened today after its first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, said he was retiring early because seven years of controversy had “taken their toll” on him, his family and followers.Robinson’s [...]
• Crackdown on £190bn-a-year welfare bill• Payments could be suspended for three months The unemployed will be ordered to do periods of compulsory full-time work in the community or be stripped of their benefits under controversial American-style plans to slash the number of people without jobs.The proposals, in a white paper on welfare reform to [...]
Security services soften their stance towards use of control orders to curtail terror suspects’ freedomsThe scrapping of control orders for terror suspects moved a step closer last night when the security services appeared to dramatically soften their support for the controversial measures.In a surprise development, senior Whitehall security sources broke ranks to reveal that MI5 [...]
Conservation charity WWF finds only 28% of consumers have heard of logo that shows timber is from sustainable sourcesHalf of British shoppers are unaware that they could be adding to deforestation and global warming when they buy furniture and paper on the high street.A survey by conservation charity WWF has found that 50% of consumers [...]
Ad hoc anti-cuts group targets phone company over claims it has been let off a tax bill by the RevenueCampaigners have threatened to extend direct action protests after once again forcing Vodafone stores to shut.Activists have gathered under the banner of UK Uncut to demonstrate against Vodafone, claiming it has been let off a tax [...]
Journalists continue industrial action over planned cuts to pensions, but corporation insists it is not backing downWith a second day of industrial action by BBC journalists causing more disruption to programmes, the public service broadcaster is bracing itself for a a wave of strikes that could run on until Christmas.The National Union of Journalists said [...]
David Cameron’s communications director voluntarily attends meeting with Met over News of the World hacking scandalDavid Cameron’s communications director Andy Coulson has been interviewed by police as a witness over his alleged knowledge of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.The paper’s former editor voluntarily attended a meeting with the Met at a solicitor’s office [...]
Court ruling that former immigration minister lied about his Lib Dem opponent triggers a by-election in Oldham EastThe former immigration minister Phil Woolas was ejected from parliament today after two high court judges ruled that he lied about his Liberal Democrat opponent during the general election, in a judgment that is likely to have profound [...]
Detainees were starved, deprived of sleep and threatened with execution at JFIT facilities near Basra, high court toldEvidence of the alleged systematic and brutal mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at a secret British military interrogation centre that is being described as “the UK’s Abu Ghraib” emerged yesterday during high court proceedings brought by more than 200 [...]
Walkout takes a string of programmes off air and insiders say BBC has no intention of sweetening pension dealA day of acrimonious industrial action at the BBC left the public broadcaster bracing for a wave of strikes by its journalists that could run on until Christmas.A walkout by news journalists, including high-profile presenters Martha Kearney, [...]
Video showing brutal mistreatment is submitted during high court proceedings brought by former Iraqi inmatesEvidence of systematic and brutal mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at a secret British military interrogation centre that is being described as the UK’s Abu Ghraib emerged today during high court proceedings brought by more than 200 former inmates.The court was informed [...]
Court decision unlikely to place further obstacle in way of US attempt to extradite former Finsbury Park imamAbu Hamza, the controversial Islamist cleric, has won an appeal against the government’s attempts to strip him of his British passport, a special tribunal ruled today.Solicitors for the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London argued [...]