General news

• Everything we know so far about the Chalcots Estate evacuation

  23-06-2017 23:52
  
  Residents said they had received little or no warning they would have to leave their homes.
  
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• Against the tide

  23-06-2017 23:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Pat Gallant-Charette, 66, becomes the oldest woman to make the 21-mile swim across the English Channel.
  
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• South Africa edge thriller as England count cost of Jason Roy dismissal

  23-06-2017 23:22 via theguardian.com
  
  • Second T20: South Africa 174-8; England 171-6
  • South Africa win by three runs to level series at 1-1After a hiatus of 34 years England were welcomed back to the West Country but could not emulate the victory of 1983. Against the odds South Africa won a topsy-turvy contest, laced with a touch of controversy, by three runs. It was a gutsy performance by South Africa and a profligate one by England. For a capacity crowd there was drama and ultimately disappointment when Liam Dawson hit
  
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• 800 Camden homes evacuated after Grenfell fire

  23-06-2017 23:16
  
  Camden Council will evacuate 800 households from five tower blocks tonight amid fire safety concerns.The move follows news that similar cladding was used on the Chalcots Estate to that which spread the Grenfell Tower fire in Kensington earlier this month.Council leader Georgia Gould said that, following checks, insulation was found to be safe but external cladding on the blocks "was not up to the standard that we wanted and was not fire retardant".
  
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• Five London tower blocks to be evacuated over safety fears after Grenfell fire

  23-06-2017 23:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Residents of the 800 homes on Chalcots estate to be moved into temporary accommodation for three to four weeks after fire brigade inspectionAn entire estate in north London is being evacuated after a fire inspection in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster found its tower blocks to be unsafe. Temporary accommodation is being sought for about 800 households from the five high rises on the Chalcot estate in Camden.The buildings were being emptied on Friday evening after firefighters said they &l
  
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• Glastonbury 2017: Radiohead and Lorde headline Friday evening – live

  23-06-2017 23:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Sleaford Mods and Dizzee Rascal send out the rhymes, Lorde graces the Other stage and Radiohead are the Pyramid stage headliners for the first big night of Glastonbury 2017. Catch all the action here 10.13pm BSTThe first song is Daydreaming, the warped piano ballad from A Moon Shaped Pool, concluding with the ambivalent lyrics “We are just happy to serve you” as white light cascades behind them. There’s a hungry roar from a crowd which seems to stretch right up the hill. It&rsq
  
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• Lewis Hamilton may keep racing until he has more F1 titles than Vettel

  23-06-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  • Briton can pass Ayrton Senna’s tally of poles at Azerbaijan Grand Prix
  • Max Verstappen sets pace during Friday practice sessions in BakuThere are records of no little import within Lewis Hamilton’s reach at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix but ticking boxes in Baku appears far from his mind. Now 32 and in his 11th season in Formula One, the three-times world champion still has his sights set on the long game. A gripping fight with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for the title
  
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• Growing the fame

  23-06-2017 22:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Women's Cricket World Cup gets under way, on a mission to grow as a sport and a business
  
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• Brexit: Tory MP Leadsom says broadcasters should be patriotic

  23-06-2017 22:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Coverage of Brexit could be more "helpful", Tory MP Andrea Leadsom tells Newsnight's Emily Maitlis.
  
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• Obama's own personal cold war | The minute

  23-06-2017 22:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Got a minute? A new report says Obama received detailed intel on Russian hacking attempts on US election ... Trump not sure Mueller can be trusted ... and hires a new usher that won’t shock you at all ... and everything else in politics. By Jamiles Lartey 9.41pm BSTBarack Obama received an “intelligence bombshell” from the CIA last August, warning him that Vladimir Putin was directing a hacking campaign to tip the presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor, the Washing
  
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• BBC Newsnight: Andrea Leadsom Suggests Emily Maitlis' Brexit Questions Aren't 'Patriotic'

  23-06-2017 22:53
  
  Andrea Leadsom has suggested journalists should be “patriotic” rather than question Brexit negotiations, in an extraordinary BBC Newsnight exchange that left the interviewer fuming.The leading Brexiter and former candidate for prime minister, whom Theresa May promoted to lead the House of Commons after she was severely weakened by the snap election, bristled under questioning about the Tories’ weaker position after the election.Host Emily Maitlis outlined the problems the Gover
  
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• Andrea Leadsom Suggests Newsnight's Emily Maitlis' Brexit Questions Aren't 'Patriotic'

  23-06-2017 22:53
  
  “It would be helpful if broadcasters were willing to be a bit patriotic” - @andrealeadsom tells @maitlis after being questioned on Brexit pic.twitter.com/8GjtxbVUF4—
  
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• Council 'will not take risks over safety'

  23-06-2017 22:40
  
  Camden council leader Georgia Gould says the evacuation was for safety reasons as Grenfell "has changed everything".
  
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• French economy minister calls for convergence on corporate tax with Germany

  23-06-2017 21:45
  New French economy minister Bruno Le Maire has called for swift convergence with Germany on corporate tax, and said his government will implement "difficult" measures this summer to ensure France honours its European pledge on public spending.In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro made available on Friday, Le Maire said his teams would draft proposals on taxes ahead of a Franco-German meeting scheduled for July 13."Our ambition is to achieve quick convergence of corporate tax.
  
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• Goran's girl

  23-06-2017 21:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Amy Denton Clark recalls taking the racket during the 1997 final at the Queen's Club.
  
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• Camden evacuates tower block after Grenfell fire

  23-06-2017 21:18
  Camden Council will evacuate 161 households from a tower block tonight amid fire safety concerns.
  
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• Snapchat's new map feature raises fears of stalking and bullying

  23-06-2017 21:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Snap Maps lets users track each other’s movements in real time, but child safety groups are cautioning young people against sharing their location Snapchat has introduced a map feature that lets users track other people’s location in real time, raising concerns among safety and privacy advocates.Snap Maps, launched this week, plots users and their snaps onto a map so friends and other Snapchatters can see where they are and what they are doing. Continue reading...
  
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• Grenfell Fire: Camden Council To Evacuate High Rise Amid Fears Cladding Is Flammable

  23-06-2017 21:17
  
  Residents are to be evacuated from a tower block in north London, to allow “urgent fire safety works” to take place, Camden Council leader Georgia Gould said.
  
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• Grenfell Fire: Camden Council Evacuates Five High Rises Amid Fears They're Not Safe

  23-06-2017 21:17
  
  People are being evacuated from five tower blocks in north London, to allow “urgent fire safety works” to take place in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze, Camden Council has announced.
  
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• Two Shelter board members quit after Grenfell Tower fire

  23-06-2017 21:09
  
  Two Shelter board members have stepped down in the wake of the fire.Two board members of the housing charity Shelter, including its chairman Sir Derek Myers, have resigned amid reports of internal disquiet over the organisation’s allegedly muted response to the Grenfell Tower fire.Myers is a former chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea council, which owns Grenfell Tower, while trustee Tony Rice is chairman of Xerxes Equity, the sole shareholder in Omnis Exteriors – the company th
  
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• Grenfell Tower: Pupils share 'happy memories' of lost friends

  23-06-2017 20:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Avondale Park Primary School pupils share happy memories of friends lost in the Grenfell Tower fire.
  
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• Rock bottom: Glastonbury makes it the year of the bumbag

  23-06-2017 20:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Festivalgoers sport the once maligned accessory, which shows ugly-pretty chic has reached critical massIt is most definitely the year of the bumbag, if Glastonbury festivalgoers are anything to go by at least.There are so many bumbags here: canvas ones covered in Gucci logos; neon pink ones shimmering with sequins; sleek leather ones and practical hi-tech ones; iridescent metallic ones slung over shoulders like holsters.Continue reading...
  
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• Jailing Barclays bankers won’t save us from another financial crash | Joris Luyendijk

  23-06-2017 20:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Nine years after the global economy almost imploded, bankers are finally in the dock. But we are still at great risk of a banking calamityIf you had told people in the City at the height of the financial crash in 2008 that it would take almost nine years for the first top bankers to face prosecution, few would have believed you. If you had then said that this first prosecution would relate to suspected fraud over one bank’s supposed attempt to avoid nationalisation – rather than the
  
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• Grenfell fire survivors moved out of hotel with just hours notice

  23-06-2017 20:32
  Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have been thrown out of a west London hotel with just a few hours notice.A telephone number was given for them to arrange alternative accommodation but some victims have told us there was either no response or no answer as to where they should go.The survivors were in 20 rooms at the hotel in Kensington and the Red Cross said they have all since been able to find other accommodation.
  
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• NHS Trusts told to check buildings for combustible cladding

  23-06-2017 20:30
  
  NHS Trusts have been told to urgently check their buildings to establish whether any are clad in materials implicated in the the Grenfell Tower fire.Regulator NHS Improvement has written to around 200 Trusts in England asking them to report back when safety checks have been completed.In a letter sent on Monday, they asked Trusts to pay particular attention to tall buildings on hospital estates and those with in-patients - and to report back within 24 hours.
  
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• Can Brexit be stopped? The answer is in our hands | Jonathan Freedland

  23-06-2017 20:30 via theguardian.com
  
  One year on, the certainties of the leave case are collapsing. We’re no longer shackled to that verdictOne year on, the political weather has changed and suddenly a once unthinkable question can be asked: might Brexit be stopped?The obvious shift is in the power of a government whose animating mission was meant to be British departure from the European Union. Put simply, Theresa May sought a mandate for hard Brexit and didn’t get it. That leaves the forces of leave weakened, and rema
  
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• Martin Rowson on the anniversary of the vote for Brexit – cartoon

  23-06-2017 20:28 via theguardian.com
  
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• Fears for residents as cladding on 14 tower blocks fails fire tests

  23-06-2017 20:26
  
  Other councils plan to strip the material from high-rises.Cladding panels from 14 tower blocks in nine local authorities have failed urgent fire safety tests being carried out after the Grenfell Tower blaze, raising concerns for the safety of thousands of residents.Councils announced plans to rip down cladding on buildings in Salford, Portsmouth and two London boroughs, Islington and Hounslow, as a precautionary measure.
  
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• Tennis star Dan Evans announces he tested positive for cocaine

  23-06-2017 20:24
  British tennis No 3 Dan Evans has announced that he tested positive for cocaine in April.The 27-year-old called an impromptu press conference at the Novotel hotel in London on Friday afternoon, where he took no questions but made a statement."I've let a lot of people down - my family, my coach, my team, sponsors, British tennis and my fans.
  
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• Marin Cilic books Aegon Championships semi-final and targets run at Wimbledon

  23-06-2017 20:22 via theguardian.com
  
  • The 2012 champion beats Donald Young 6-4, 7-5 in quarter-finals
  • World No7 hopes Queen’s Club form can lead to title bid in SW19The late Bud Collins, who cast his knowing gaze over the game for several decades, eulogised Marin Cilic seven years ago in terms rock writers once reserved for Bruce Springsteen. That year in Melbourne, it took Andy Murray four sets to stop him in the semi-finals but the languid Croatian has only briefly touched the skies since, outlasting a spent Ke
  
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• Tesco to raise store staff wages by 10.5 percent over two years

  23-06-2017 20:18
  
  Tesco, Britain's biggest private sector employer, is to raise pay for hourly paid store staff by an inflation-beating 10.5 percent over the next two years, it said on Friday."This reward package sees our biggest investment in store pay for a decade," said Matt Davies, Tesco's UK CEO.Tesco's move comes as the Bank of England is closely watching a pick-up in inflation for signs it might fuel higher pay settlements.
  
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• Brexiter Gisela Stuart Condemns 'Vacuous' EU Referendum And David Cameron For Calling It

  23-06-2017 20:05
  
  A leading Brexiter has attacked David Cameron’s decision to call last year’s “vacuous” EU referendum.
  
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• Qatar given 10 days to meet 13 sweeping demands by Saudi Arabia

  23-06-2017 19:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Gulf dispute deepens as allies issue ultimatum for ending blockade that includes closing al-Jazeera and cutting back ties with Iran Saudi Arabia and its allies have issued a threatening 13-point ultimatum to Qatar as the price for lifting a two-week trade and diplomatic embargo of the country, in a marked escalation of the Gulf’s worst diplomatic dispute in decades.
  The onerous list of demands includes stipulations that Doha close the broadcaster al-Jazeera, drastically scale back cooperat
  
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• A letter to … my parents, for whose safety I am fearful

  23-06-2017 19:58 via theguardian.com
  
  The letter you always wanted to write‘I’m good. It’s going great.” This is what I tell you every time I talk to you because I know you need to hear some good news. I’m talking joyfully about my new life, on the computer screen in front of you – it’s one of the rare moments that make you smile, because where you live everything is dark and heavy, because where you live fear, despair and anxiety reign. To keep those smiles on your faces, I’ll ne
  
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• Exeter school’s uniform resolve melts after boys’ skirt protest

  23-06-2017 19:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Isca academy in Devon to ditch policy that boys must wear trousers even in a heatwave after ‘box-pleat rebellion’ caught global attention The US constitution has long guaranteed the right to bear arms – but now the schoolboys of Exeter have gone one better and won the right to bare legs.Britain’s heatwave this week sparked open rebellion at Isca academy in Devon, with boys wearing skirts in protest at rules that insisted male pupils wear long trousers even as temperatures
  
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• The long struggle for the right to speak the Welsh and Irish languages | Letters

  23-06-2017 19:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Dr Ann Elisabeth Pierce Jones and Rev Tony Coslett on the Welsh language revival and Seán Starrs makes a plea for an Irish language actThe establishment of Welsh-medium education is a longstanding campaign driven by parental pressure (Welsh-only teaching – a political tool that harms children?, 20 June). The first school was opened by parents in 1956; many others followed. But education is only part of the overarching campaign for recognition of language rights.The Welsh Langua
  
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• Labour did well and can do even better | Letters

  23-06-2017 19:55
  
  ‘Jeremy Corbyn energised a large number of voters,’ writes David Winnick.Martin Kettle’s piece on the electoral support Labour has yet to win (Corbyn’s Labour has done well.There is no doubt Jeremy Corbyn energised a large number of voters, and not only the young, to support Labour and helped to destroy the Tory Commons majority.
  
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• The Guardian view on plutocratic Mars missions: escape velocity | Editorial

  23-06-2017 19:51 via theguardian.com
  
  The race between wealthy tech billionaires to get to Mars is a distraction from mortalityFor science fiction writers ranged across the astronomical distance that separates Edgar Rice Burroughs and Kim Stanley Robinson, Mars has been a theatre of dreams, variously realistic. Now the tech billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are competing to see who will make it first there in reality. Bezos is spending a billion dollars a year out of his Amazon stock to keep his project going; Musk has announced
  
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• Labour MPs will back Nicky Morgan for Treasury select committee chair

  23-06-2017 19:48
  
  Nicky Morgan campaigned for remain in the referendum and has since advocated a soft Brexit.Labour MPs are set to back former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan for chair of the influential Treasury select committee, hoping to stop prominent Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg in his bid for the post.The committee’s former chair, Andrew Tyrie, who decided not to enter the contest, was known for his interrogation skills, especially his take-no-prisoners approach to bankers and senior politicians such as Geo
  
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• Daily Mail and ‘alt-right’ put lefties in firing line | Letters:

  23-06-2017 19:48
  
  Paul Dacre, the editor of the Daily Mail. Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Rex
  
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• Gorilla in the mist: Zola makes splash online for dancing in zoo's pool – video

  23-06-2017 19:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Zola the gorilla can barely contain his excitement while splashing in a pool at Dallas zoo. The activity is part of the zoo’s enrichment program, which provides stimulation in order to encourage more natural behaviors. The 14-year-old western lowland gorilla originally became a viral hit while ‘break-dancing’ at Calgary zoo in 2011 Continue reading...
  
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• Qatar weighs demands to end crisis amid threat of long siege

  23-06-2017 19:41
  
  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — With just days to decide, Qatar on Friday weighed an onerous list of demands by its neighbors as a way out of a regional crisis, and a top Emirati official warned the tiny country to brace for a long-term economic squeeze unless it is willing to acquiesce.
  
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• Five electrocuted at water park in Turkey

  23-06-2017 19:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Three children and two adults who tried to rescue them die after incident in Akyazı, Sakarya province, according to reportsFive people, including two teenagers and a 12-year-old, have been electrocuted in a water park in north-western Turkey.The three children were struck by an electrical current in a swimming pool at the park, in the town of Akyazı, Sakarya province, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.Continue reading...
  
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• Glastonbury highlights: from Corbyn chants to Ed Sheeran via grime

  23-06-2017 19:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Pyramid stage and Left Field play host to political animals and NYC Downlow celebrates its 10th birthdayJeremy Corbyn, Pyramid stage, 4pm Continue reading...
  
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• Minnesota police officer's brutal arrest of driver was 'disturbing', ACLU says

  23-06-2017 19:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Video of 2016 arrest shows officer initiating traffic stop with gun leveled at Anthony Promvongsa, who is dragged from the car and punched and kneedA Minnesota arrest in which a driver was dragged from his vehicle and repeatedly punched and kneed by a police officer was a “disturbing and completely unnecessary” example of an excessive use of force, the state ACLU has said.Video recently obtained by the Minnesota chapter of the ACLU shows Buffalo Ridge drug taskforce agent Joe Joswiak
  
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• Arsenal hopeful of landing Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette with record £44m bid

  23-06-2017 19:18 via theguardian.com
  
  • France striker would become London club’s most expensive signing
  • Offer likely to be accepted by Lyon and player is expected to accept moveArsenal are hopeful of securing the highly rated France striker Alexandre Lacazette after lodging a club record bid worth £44m, a fee likely to prove acceptable to Lyon and spark a flurry of knock-on movement in the transfer market.A number of teams had registered an interest in Lacazette, who has 11 caps and is contracted to Lyon unt
  
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• Salford council to remove cladding from nine tower blocks

  23-06-2017 19:15
  
  Salford has already decided to take all the cladding down from nine of its blocks.Cladding on nine tower blocks in Salford must be removed following safety concerns raised after the Grenfell Tower fire because it is the “right and moral thing to do”, the city’s mayor said on Friday.Salford was taking “immediate steps” to address safety concerns, he said, with residents in the recently refurbished buildings told that the aluminium composite material (ACM) would be ta
  
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• Refugees Tell Their Story With Their Art In London Exhibition

  23-06-2017 19:11
  
  More than 80 refugees from around the world have been given the chance to display their artwork in London.
  
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• Tattooing avocados helps keep up supply of smash hit

  23-06-2017 19:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Appetite for creamy green fruit shows no sign of abating as growers and retailers struggle to keep up with demandWe’ve smashed them, scooped them, sliced them and blended them. Now we have started tattooing avocados as retailers battle to feed the UK’s growing obsession with the creamy green fruit.Fruit supplier Mack, based in Kent, handles 1.3m avocados a week for a number of British retailers, and is testing a new Spanish-developed machine for labelling fruit destined for Marks &am
  
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• Grenfell Tower charity single tops chart two days after release

  23-06-2017 19:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Cover version of Bridge over Troubled Water by 50 UK musicians becomes second-fastest selling single of 2017Simon Cowell’s Grenfell Tower charity single has soared to the top of the singles chart just two days after its release.Fifty of Britain’s biggest musical names contributed to the cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, which has now been declared the second fastest-selling single of the year, according to the Official Charts Company. Continue reading..
  
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