General news

• May offers the ‘British dream’ but speech turns into a nightmare

  04-10-2017 21:57
  Theresa May sought to relaunch her premiership on Wednesday by offering voters the “British dream” but the most personal speech of her premiership was overshadowed by a prankster handing her a P45, an incessant cough, and problems with the backdrop.The prime minister attempted to shift the focus from Brexit infighting to domestic policy on energy bills and council housing, but at times struggled to deliver her words as her voice faltered.After accepting a glass of water and a cough s
  
  Read more

• A White House social media slip-up is making people think Donald Trump doesn’t do all his own tweets

  04-10-2017 21:56
  A classic mistake was made.
  
  Read more

• Eddie Mair Likens Boris Johnson To Bernard Manning During Brutal Interview With Amber Rudd

  04-10-2017 21:32
  The BBC’s Eddie Mair has had another jab at Boris Johnson during a merciless interview with one of the Foreign Secretary’s Cabinet colleagues, suggesting the Tory MP is politics’s answer to Bernard Manning.
  
  Read more

• Picturehouse staff protest over pay at start of London film festival

  04-10-2017 21:21
  Cinema workers have staged a protest at the start of the BFI London film festival in defiance of a threat by their employer, Picturehouse, to sack those taking part in strike action.About 50 protesters took part in the demonstration in Leicester Square, in the capital, as part of a campaign entering its second year demanding a London living wage.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Apple watchOS update addresses LTE connectivity issues

  04-10-2017 21:18
  Two weeks after Apple released watchOS 4.0, the company has pushed out an update that aims to fix a seriously annoying issue.
  
  Read more

• Investigation begins after Jamaican detainee, 38, dies

  04-10-2017 21:05
  The man died while being held at Morton Hall immigration removal centre near Swinderby, Lincolnshire.An investigation has been launched into the death of a 38-year-old immigration detainee after the Home office confirmed that a Jamaican man died on Tuesday while he was being held at Morton Hall immigration removal centre in Lincoln.The prisons and probation ombudsman has begun an investigation.
  
  Read more

• London's Angel station reopens after suspect package scare

  04-10-2017 20:55
  LONDON (Reuters) - British police said they carried out a controlled explosion on a suspect package near London's Angel underground station on Wednesday before allowing the station to reopen. Earlier, London's transport authority said the station was closed while authorities responded to a security alert outside. Britain is on its second-highest level of security alert after several attacks in the country in recent months. (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by William Schomberg)
  
  Read more

• Police alerted to suspect package in London's Islington area

  04-10-2017 20:41
  LONDON (Reuters) - British police were alerted to a suspect package in London's Islington area on Wednesday, and a cordon was in place, a police spokesman said. Earlier, London's transport authority said Angel underground station was closed while authorities responded to a security alert outside the station. (Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Policemen cleared of lying to inquest about Kingsley Burrell's death

  04-10-2017 20:36
  Three policemen have been cleared of lying to an inquest following the death of a patient at a mental health unit.Paul Adey, Mark Fannon and Paul Greenfield were acquitted by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday after they were charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice.It was alleged that they had repeatedly lied about a cloth being placed over the head of Kingsley Burrell, 29, who died following a heart attack in March 2011.
  
  Read more

• Backlash from businesses as PM vows to cap 'rip-off' energy bills

  04-10-2017 20:36
  The Prime Minister is facing a backlash from the energy sector and the country's biggest business lobby group following her pledge to cap "rip-off" bills.Theresa May used her Conservative conference speech - overshadowed by a bad cough and a comedian's stunt - to say the Government planned to carry out its earlier threat of action to fix the "broken energy market".
  
  Read more

• Unions plot legal action for 1,800 Monarch workers after airline's collapse

  04-10-2017 20:30
  A union has announced it is launching legal action on behalf of the 1,800 staff who have lost their jobs following the collapse of Monarch Airlines.Unite, which represents cabin crew and engineers, is going to lodge employment tribunal proceedings over an alleged failure by Monarch to consult staff over the redundancies.The pilots union, Balpa, said it was planning action too over "shabby" treatment of its members.
  
  Read more

• EU transition deal is needed quickly to stop City firms leaving UK, says Bank official

  04-10-2017 20:30
  Sam Woods, a deputy governor at the Bank of England, said City firms would become more complicated as a result of the restructuring Brexit would force them to undertake.A top official at the Bank of England has warned the government it has less than 12 weeks to agree a transition deal with the EU to prevent City firms starting to move jobs and business out of the UK.Sam Woods, a deputy governor at the Bank, said City firms would activate their Brexit contingency plans if there was no deal on a t
  
  Read more

• Watch everything that went wrong during Theresa May’s speech

  04-10-2017 20:03
  If you can bear it.
  
  Read more

• Universal Credit Explained By The People On The Frontline Of It

  04-10-2017 20:03
  The Conservatives are this month set to push ahead with the rollout of a controversial benefits shakeup that critics - including at least a dozen Tory MPs - say is pushing some of the country’s most vulnerable people to the brink.
  
  Read more

• Everyone’s wondering why Theresa May wore a bracelet featuring communist Frida Kahlo during her dramatic speech

  04-10-2017 19:45
  Yes, Frida Kahlo, the noted communist.
  
  Read more

• Have the Tories found their new Kenny Everett? | Brief letters

  04-10-2017 19:41
  In 1983, Kenny Everett said at a Conservative student rally ‘let’s bomb Russia’.Rosemary Bentley wonders if Boris Johnson is stepping into his shoes.Dr Robert Smith (Letters, 3 October) describes Clint Eastwood’s film The Outlaw Josey Wales as a “piece of nonsense”.
  
  Read more

• UK to be battered by 60mph gale-force winds and heavy rain

  04-10-2017 19:30
  Forecasters are warning parts of the UK to brace for gale-force winds of more than 60mph overnight.The strong westerly winds will be at their height from 9pm on Wednesday, and will continue until about 9am on Thursday.The Midlands, Mid Wales, North Wales, the North West, Yorkshire and East Anglia are the areas most likely to be affected.
  
  Read more

• From 'dream' speech to a PR nightmare

  04-10-2017 19:30
  Theresa May's conference speech did not go to plan.
  
  Read more

• A different class of suffragette | Letters

  04-10-2017 19:27
  June Purvis paints a very admirable picture of Emmeline Pankhurst (A suffragist statue in Parliament Square would write Emmeline Pankhurst out of history, theguardian.com, 27 September) as a colourful campaigner.When anyone disagreed with her she simply tended to throw them out of the movement, including her own daughter, Sylvia Pankhurst, who believed working-class women should have the right to vote but her middle-class mother wasn’t interested and they fell out over it.Emmeline Pankhurs
  
  Read more

• No 10 rebukes Boris Johnson over Sirte 'dead bodies' comment

  04-10-2017 19:09
  Downing Street has rebuked Boris Johnson for saying a war-torn Libyan city only had to “clear the dead bodies away” to become a world-class tourist destination, after Theresa May faced calls from her own MPs to sack him.Johnson drew gasps and embarrassed laughter from an audience at a Conservative conference fringe event on Tuesday when, speaking about the potential of Sirte, the Libyan city where Muammar Gaddafi was killed, he said: “There’s a group of UK business people
  
  Read more

• Facebook UK posts £58m profit but pays just £2.6m in tax

  04-10-2017 18:30
  Facebook could face fresh allegations that it doesn't pay enough tax after annual results showed its UK business has swung back into profit.Despite this, Facebook UK listed its corporation tax liability as £5.1m - and once tax credits and deductible expenses were applied, it only paid £2.58m.The social network's remarkable rise in revenue is a result of advertising spend by big British companies now being accounted for by the UK business, instead of being funnelled through its Irish
  
  Read more

• Vectura asthma inhaler makes "positive" regulatory progress in Europe

  04-10-2017 18:25
  (Reuters) - British drugmaker Vectura said its asthma inhaler Flutiform had made favourable regulatory progress in Europe, andit can now apply for approvals through its partner.Vectura said its partner Mundipharma confirmed a "successful outcome" for the inhaler, when first assessed by the UK medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency -- which covers 18 countries across Europe."This positive DCP outcome is an important step in the regulatory process and Mundipharma can now begin to appl
  
  Read more

• It Has Taken Two Category Five Hurricanes To Bring The Caribbean And Climate Change On To The World's Front Pages

  04-10-2017 18:24
  As Boris Johnson saw for himself the scale of devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma, during his recent visit to the Caribbean, he might also consider the loss of life and livelihoods elsewhere.
  
  Read more

• If You Want Flights For £30, Don't Be Surprised When An Airline Collapses

  04-10-2017 18:23
  In our endless search for bargains in today's 'click and buy' society, have we inadvertently caused increased instability?
  
  Read more

• Las Vegas Shooting Survivor Recounts The Moment Taxi Driver Saved Her Life

  04-10-2017 18:08
  A survivor of the Las Vegas shooting fights back tears as she describes how feels lucky to be alive after a taxi driver rushed her to hospital.
  
  Read more

• Army man Emile Cilliers 'sabotaged wife's parachute in murder attempt'

  04-10-2017 17:58
  Emile Cilliers, 37, from the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, is accused of two charges of attempted to murder his wife Victoria.The former Army officer suffered serious injuries after spinning thousands of feet to the ground at Wiltshire's Netheravon Airfield in April 2015.The 40-year-old's main and reserve parachute both failed.
  
  Read more

• Rex Tillerson Ducks Whether He Called Donald Trump A 'Moron' As He Says He's Not Quitting

  04-10-2017 17:51
  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said had never considered resigning from the Trump administration as he dodged a question on whether he described the President as a “moron”.
  
  Read more

• Drug industry fails to win judicial review of new UK cost curbs

  04-10-2017 17:50
  By Ben HirschlerLONDON (Reuters) - Britain's pharmaceuticals industry failed to secure a judicial review of new cost curbs, which mean drugs costing NHS England more than 20 million pounds ($26 million) annually no longer get automatic funding.The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) had sought to challenge the additional hurdle to drug uptake that was implemented by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) earlier this year.On Wednesday it said it was di
  
  Read more

• Comedian hands May 'P45' during her big speech

  04-10-2017 17:45
  A prankster handed the PM a fake P45 during her speech at the Tory conference and was escorted out to heckles.
  
  Read more

• Police to review Conservative security after Prime Minister prank

  04-10-2017 17:43
  Police are to work with the Conservatives to review their conference security after a well-known comedian was able to hand the Prime Minister a mock P45 unemployment notice.Interrupting Theresa May's keynote speech to Tory members in Manchester, Lee Nelson - real name Simon Brodkin - approached the podium to hand the Prime Minister the fake document before being led away.Conservative MPs voiced their concerns over the prank, as party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin and Home Secretary Amber Rudd
  
  Read more

• Theresa May promises £2bn boost for affordable homes

  04-10-2017 17:33
  The Government's £2bn boost for building affordable homes has been welcomed by local councils, landlords and housing groups.In her speech at the Conservative Party conference, the Prime Minister announced the extra cash for the Tories' affordable housing programme, meaning £9.1bn will now be spent on building new homes before 2021.In a vow to "make the British dream a reality by reigniting home ownership", the Prime Minister said the Government would encourage councils and housing as
  
  Read more

• Monarch Collapse Sees Unite Launch Legal Action On Behalf Of 1,800 Staff Made Redundant

  04-10-2017 17:32
  Britain’s biggest union is launching legal action on behalf of the scores of Monarch staff left “high and dry” when the airline went into administration earlier this week.
  
  Read more

• Watch Tory conference literally falling apart

  04-10-2017 17:30
  A letter falls off the set behind Theresa May as the PM delivers her speech at the Tory conference.
  
  Read more

• May orders energy price cap, shares tumble

  04-10-2017 17:29
  By Kate Holton and William JamesMANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said she would impose a price cap on the energy market to help millions of households struggling with rising prices, hitting shares in the leading providers hard.May had proposed a price cap on the sector earlier this year, the biggest market intervention since privatisation almost 30 years ago, but the plan was thrown into doubt after her ruling Conservatives lost their parliamentary majority in an electi
  
  Read more

• Feel free: Italian cuisine without the gluten

  04-10-2017 17:14
  Giulia Rhodes takes a trip to Milan, Bologna and Turin in search of the best in gluten-free Italian cooking and produce – and decides no one needs to let their diet stop them from enjoying la dolce vita. Photography: Camilla GreenwellLuigi spins an improbably thin disc of dough, slapping it authoritatively on to the marble worktop. He spreads it with tomato, scatters on buffalo mozzarella and mushrooms, tucks in fat rolls of ham and slides it into the heat of the wood-fired pizza oven.Minu
  
  Read more

• Should junk food adverts be banned from TV?

  04-10-2017 17:00
  Should junk food adverts be banned from TV?
  
  Read more

• 'The British. Dream. Is what I am. In politics. For,' the Maybot whirred | John Crace

  04-10-2017 17:00
  Emotional intelligence is even harder to master than artificial intelligence.First the comedian Simon Brodkin, dressed as a conference delegate, wandered up to the stage.Which Theresa gratefully accepted.
  
  Read more

• Pesto warning: Some brands have 'more salt than McDonald's burger'

  04-10-2017 16:56
  Some pesto sauces contain more salt per serving than a McDonald’s hamburger, a survey has revealed.Campaign group Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) named two Sacla products - Italia Organic Vegetarian Pesto No 5 Basil and Italia Pesto No 1 Classic Basil - as having 1.5g of salt per serving.This is a higher level than in a McDonald's burger, the campaign group said, and also makes the sauces 30% saltier than seawater.
  
  Read more

• Facebook UK posts £58m profit but pays just £2.6m in corporation tax

  04-10-2017 16:52
  Facebook could face fresh allegations that it doesn't pay enough tax after annual results showed its UK business has swung back into profit.Despite this, Facebook UK listed its corporation tax liability as £5.1m - and once tax credits and deductible expenses were applied, it only paid £2.58m.The social network's remarkable rise in revenue is a result of advertising spend by big British companies now being accounted for by the UK business, instead of being funnelled through its Irish
  
  Read more

• Theresa May's £2bn for social housing unlikely to solve problem

  04-10-2017 16:35
  With Britain building 60,000 too few homes a year and an affordability crisis that has caused home ownership among the young to slump by a third in the last 10 years, it seemed a bold and surprisingly un-Tory move by Theresa May to promise “a new generation of council houses” in her leader’s speech.The last time the country built more than the 250,000 houses a year now needed to keep up with the rate of new household formation was under Labour’s Jim Callaghan in 1978, whe
  
  Read more

• Manchester University staff vote to strike over academic job cuts

  04-10-2017 16:32
  Staff at Britain’s largest university have voted to strike over plans to axe 140 academic jobs.On Wednesday 87% of University and College Union (UCU) members at the University of Manchester voted to strike this month, with a total of 93% backing some form of industrial action.The union announced that strike action would take place on Monday 23 October and Tuesday 24 October, and staff would then begin working to rule from Thursday 25 October.
  
  Read more

• Soldier on trial for attempted murder of wife 'tampered with her parachute'

  04-10-2017 16:10
  Emile Cilliers, 37, is accused of deliberately removing vital components from a parachute rig, which led to his wife Victoria, 40, plunging 1,200 metres (4,000ft) to the ground during her jump in Wiltshire.Winchester crown court heard that Victoria Cilliers, a former army officer and highly experienced parachutist, spiralled to the ground but “miraculously” survived the fall, which happened on 5 April 2015.The jury heard that a week before the incident, which occurred at Netheravon a
  
  Read more

• Soldier Cilliers trial attempted murder wife jump 'tampered parachute'

  04-10-2017 16:10
  Emile Cilliers, 37, is accused of deliberately removing vital components from a parachute rig, which led to his wife Victoria, 40, plunging 1,200 metres (4,000ft) to the ground during her jump in Wiltshire.Winchester crown court heard that Victoria Cilliers, a former army officer and highly experienced parachutist, spiralled to the ground but “miraculously” survived the fall, which happened on 5 April 2015.The jury heard that a week before the incident, which occurred at Netheravon a
  
  Read more

• Prankster, coughing fits mar Theresa May’s speech to activists

  04-10-2017 16:10
  By Elizabeth Piper and William JamesMANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May’s bid to reassert her dwindling authority was marred on Wednesday by a calamitous keynote speech interrupted by repeated coughing fits, a prankster and even letters of her slogan falling off the stage.May had wanted to use the Conservative Party's annual conference to bring her divided party together and pitch herself as the only person able to deliver Brexit and keep opposition Labour le
  
  Read more

• British PM May orders energy price cap, sending shares tumbling

  04-10-2017 16:10
  By Kate Holton and William JamesMANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday she would impose a price cap on the energy market to help millions of households, sending stocks in the country's largest energy provider, Centrica to a 14-year low.May had proposed a price cap on the sector earlier this year, the biggest market intervention since it was privatised almost 30 years ago, but the plan was thrown into doubt after her ruling Conservative Party lost their parli
  
  Read more

• The repliKates: Kate Middleton's high-concept lookalikes

  04-10-2017 15:55
  Turned out nice again … Kate, with a wooden brolly that will be the envy of the repliKates.As the saying runs, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.By this logic, then, the Duchess of Cambridge should be thrilled: she has inspired a movement of copycat sycophants.
  
  Read more

• Coughing fit, P45 prank and set woes mar May's Tory Conference speech

  04-10-2017 15:54
  Theresa May's keynote speech was marred by a bad throat and an interruption by a comedian, as she tried to set out her vision for the "British dream".The stakes were high for the Prime Minister to cheer up her party and show she had understood the lessons of the election, as she took to the stage for her main address.First, she was handed a P45 by the comedian Simon Brodkin - who plays a character called Lee Nelson - and told it was from Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary.
  
  Read more

• From Boris the Lion King to Theresa May’s P45 – my malarial week at the Tory conference

  04-10-2017 15:52
  Theresa May in full flow: ‘We were pleased with the way it went,’ said a spokesman.By the end of the Conservative party conference, Theresa May had suffered so many painful betrayals and humiliations that she should have ditched her speech and dropped a 60-minute visual album on Tidal instead.
  
  Read more

• Theresa May offers voter ‘British dream’ in bid to relaunch premiership

  04-10-2017 15:47
  Theresa May said she wanted to offer voters the “British dream” but the most personal speech of her premiership was overshadowed by a prankster handing her a P45, an incessant cough and a stage malfunction.The prime minister attempted to shift the focus from Brexit infighting to domestic policy on energy bills and council housing at the end of her party’s annual conference, but at times struggled to deliver her words as her voice faltered.Accepting a glass of water and cough sw
  
  Read more

• UK scientist among Nobel Prize winners for 3D molecule imaging

  04-10-2017 15:45
  A British scientist is one of three researchers who have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing a method to produce 3D images of the molecules of life.Richard Henderson, 72, of the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, was rewarded in Stockholm for developments in electron microscopy.The cryo-electron microscopy method, developed with Joachim Frank, 77, of New York's Columbia University, and Jacques Dubochet, 75, of Switzerland's Unive
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!