General news

• Killing In The Name Of Tradition? That's A Red Rag To A Bull

  12-11-2017 23:55
  The Foreign Office said, very recently: "The Foreign Secretary (Boris Johnson) was expressing a personal view that he respects this Spanish tradition."
  
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• EU Planning For Failure Of Brexit Talks, Says Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier

  12-11-2017 22:58
  The EU’s chief negotiator has warned that the union is drawing up contingency plans in case of a “no deal” Brexit.
  
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• 'Viable' pipe bomb discovered in Omagh before Remembrance Sunday parade - The Independent

  12-11-2017 22:32 via independent.co.uk
  The Independent
  'Viable' pipe bomb discovered in Omagh before Remembrance Sunday parade
  The Independent
  A viable pipe bomb was discovered close to a war memorial in Omagh in Northern Ireland before a Remembrance Sunday parade took place, police have confirmed. The march was diverted and the traditional wreath-laying at the County Tyrone town's ...and more »
  
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• Pollutionwatch: sepia skies point to smoke and smog in our atmosphere

  12-11-2017 22:30
  A photographer takes a picture of the Houses of Parliament by French artist Claude Monet.While Hurricane Ophelia battered Ireland, to the east the sun turned red and a dense brown cloud rendered central and southern England in sepia.Around 1900, Claude Monet travelled to London for its wonderful light and painted red sun and orange winter tints over the Houses of Parliament.
  
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• People left without heating due to spending cuts, says fuel poverty group

  12-11-2017 22:27
  Not a single gas boiler has been repaired under the energy company obligation since April, when its annual budget fell from £800m to £640m.No gas boilers have been repaired since April under a government scheme intended to combat fuel poverty, as a result of spending cuts that risk leaving poorer Britons unprotected from the cold at home, according to a fuel poverty pressure group.National Energy Action (NEA), which obtained the figures from the Department for Business, Energy and In
  
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• UK government tensions rise after leak of Johnson-Gove letter to May

  12-11-2017 22:04
  The prime minister faces the possibility of parliamentary defeats on the Brexit bill.The tensions in Theresa May’s government intensified on Sunday night ahead of this week’s vital votes on the Brexit bill, as ministers accused Boris Johnson and Michael Gove of sending an “Orwellian” set of secret demands to No 10.As an increasingly weakened prime minister faces the possibility of parliamentary defeats on the bill, government colleagues have said they are aghast at the la
  
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• Viable Pipe Bomb Found Near Omagh War Memorial Before Remembrance Sunday Parade

  12-11-2017 21:08
  A viable pipe bomb was discovered close to a war memorial in Omagh before a Remembrance Sunday parade took place, police have confirmed.
  
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• Today's Remembrance marks significant moment in Royal family's history - ITV News

  12-11-2017 21:08 via itv.com
  ITV News
  Today's Remembrance marks significant moment in Royal family's history
  ITV News
  Never before in her long reign has the Queen come to the Cenotaph on Whitehall and not walked up the stone steps of the Cenotaph to place a wreath. She has missed the ceremony before. She was absent when pregnant and when overseas tours took her ...
  Prince Charles leads Remembrance day ceremony for British war deadReuters UK
  Prince Charles takes over Remembrance Sunday duty as teary Queen looks onExpre
  
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• There was an unofficial Cathedral World Cup on Twitter and it proved immensely popular

  12-11-2017 21:05
  With so many wonderful cathedrals to choose from, who was victorious?
  
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• Woman jailed in Iran shocked by Boris Johnson's comments, her husband says

  12-11-2017 20:54
  Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Tehran since April 2016.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was brought to tears of shock and anger by Boris Johnson’s inaccurate comments about the reasons for her visit to Tehran and the Iranian authorities’ use of them to justify her imprisonment, her husband said on Sunday.In a description of a phone call with his wife, Richard Ratcliffe said that lumps had been found in her breasts that required an ultrasound scan, that her state of mind had
  
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• UK woman in Iran jail has 'health fears and is close to breakdown'

  12-11-2017 20:54
  Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Tehran since April 2016. Photograph: PA
  
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• Viable pipe bomb left close to Omagh Remembrance Day ceremony, police say

  12-11-2017 19:50
  The PSNI described it as a ‘sickening and appalling act’.Police have confirmed that a device left close to a Remembrance Sunday commemoration in Omagh was a viable pipe bomb.The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the bomb was an attempt to disrupt Poppy Day in the County Tyrone town, which was the site of the deadliest atrocity of the 30-year Troubles.
  
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• Daily Express owner said to be mounting bid to take over National Lottery

  12-11-2017 19:42
  Richard Desmond’s own Health Lottery has lost £160m in six years.Richard Desmond, the billionaire owner of the Daily and Sunday Express newspapers, is planning to bid for the rights to run the National Lottery.Desmond, who already runs the rival Health Lottery, is said to be preparing to tender for the UK lottery franchise when it comes up for renewal in 2019.
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: UK woman jailed in Iran on verge of nervous breakdown, says husband - The Independent

  12-11-2017 19:34 via independent.co.uk
  The Independent
  Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: UK woman jailed in Iran on verge of nervous breakdown, says husband
  The Independent
  British woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been jailed in Iran, has seen a medical specialist after finding lumps on her breasts and is “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”, her husband Richard Ratcliffe has said. The mother-of-one has ...
  UK woman held in Iran jail 'angry and in tears' at Boris Johnson remarksThe Guardian
  The 8 things you might have
  
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• Viable pipe bomb device found near war memorial in Northern Ireland

  12-11-2017 19:31
  A viable pipe bomb was found close to a war memorial in Omagh, police in Northern Ireland have confirmed.The discovery of the "small but potentially dangerous device" was made before a Remembrance Day parade took place.The march was diverted and the traditional wreath-laying at the County Tyrone town's cenotaph was postponed as the area was sealed off.
  
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• Racially motivated crimes now exceed sectarian ones in Northern Ireland

  12-11-2017 19:30
  Amnesty said that the presence of paramiltary organisations was part of the problem of low conviction rates.Racially motivated crimes in Northern Ireland now exceed those connected to traditional sectarian bigotry, police figures show.Between July 2016 and June 2017, there were 1,062 racist incidents reported to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe On 'Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown' Amid Breast Cancer Fears

  12-11-2017 19:27
  The British woman who has been jailed in Iran has seen a medical specialist after finding lumps on her breasts and is “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”, her husband has said.
  
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• If prominent remainers apologise to angry leavers, Brexit can still be avoided | Letters

  12-11-2017 19:17 via theguardian.com
  Brian Forsdick argues leading remainers must acknowledge that many people who voted Brexit have every right to be angry; Martin Large says the effects of crushing market fundamentalism drove the Brexit vote; plus letters from Tim Worstall of the Adam Smith Institute, Rev John Cameron, Ian West, Richard Bull and Andrew WilksAt last a prominent remainer, Jonathan Freedland, has woken up to the reality of the continued support for Brexit (We’ll never stop Brexit and Trump till we address the
  
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• Failure to publish Gaddafi report casts doubt on intelligence oversight | Letters

  12-11-2017 19:16
  Ian Cobain (How Britain did Gaddafi’s dirty work, 9 November) reminds us of the structural inadequacy of parliamentary oversight of intelligence.In July 2010 the prime minister, arguing that an investigation by the intelligence and security committee (ISC) into allegations of the involvement of UK security and intelligence agencies in rendition and torture would not have public confidence, established a judge-led inquiry to examine these claims.
  
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• We Must Find A More Environmentally Friendly Way To Commemorate Remembrance Day

  12-11-2017 18:26
  In essence I appreciate the sentiment and symbolism of the Remembrance Poppy Appeal and there is no doubt that the Poppies' presence serves as a poignant reminder of service men and women worldwide who have fought, or continue to fight, in global conflicts.
  
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• Remembrance Sunday: Prince Charles Leads Tributes To War Dead

  12-11-2017 17:45
  The nation fell silent at 11am as people across the country reflected on the sacrifices made by fallen soldiers on Remembrance Sunday.
  
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• Sadiq Khan Willing To Meet Donald Trump Despite Twitter 'Fisticuffs'

  12-11-2017 17:35
  Sadiq Khan says he is willing to meet Donald Trump when the US president visits the UK, despite the rocky relationship the pair have so far fostered on social media.
  
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• Will the smile ever leave Brexit Secretary Davis Davis' face?

  12-11-2017 17:20
  It's not difficult to detect a spring in the step of David Davis.Despite the fact that he is the man responsible not just for extricating us from the European Union but fashioning our future relationship, he is clearly enjoying being back on the front line of British politics.Despite his claim that "huge progress" is being made, there is an arbitrary timescale of a fortnight set by Michel Barnier to come up with more money - not that Mr Davis recognises that as a deadline he needs to stick to.
  
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• Dog wedged between two walls freed by firemen after firework scare

  12-11-2017 17:12
  A dog has had a lucky escape after jumping from a first-floor window and running half a mile before becoming wedged in a tiny space between two walls.Taba disappeared from her home on 3 November after being scared by fireworks, squeezing out of an upstairs window and using a conservatory roof as a means to escape.The home owner said she only became aware Taba was there when her cat began behaving strangely and she went outside to investigate.
  
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• How dropping cigarette butt left asylum seeker with risk of deportation

  12-11-2017 16:56
  ‘Dropping cigarette butts is not a crime in Syria,’ said the 27-year-old, who arrived in the UK after travelling through Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Italy and France.The safety of a Syrian asylum seeker who fled his war-torn country was put at risk after he dropped a cigarette butt on a London street.The asylum claim of the 27-year-old man is under consideration by the Home Office.
  
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• How dropping cigarette butt left asylum seeker facing risk of deportation

  12-11-2017 16:56
  ‘Dropping cigarette butts is not a crime in Syria,’ said the 27-year-old, who arrived in the UK after travelling through Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Italy and France.The safety of a Syrian asylum seeker who fled his war-torn country was put at risk after he dropped a cigarette butt on a London street.The asylum claim of the 27-year-old man is under consideration by the Home Office.
  
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• Taxi driver stabbed in Manchester after argument over fare

  12-11-2017 16:19
  Police are appealing for witnesses after a taxi driver was stabbed repeatedly by a customer following an argument over a fare.Officers were called to Ruskin Avenue in the Moss Side area of Manchester shortly before 8.10pm on Saturday.Greater Manchester police said the driver had picked up a man on Dickenson Road, Longsight, before driving to Moss Side.
  
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• Johnson has 'constructive' call with husband of jailed aid worker - Sky

  12-11-2017 16:06
  LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson had a "constructive" conversation with the husband of Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who is jailed in Iran, Sky News reported on Sunday.
  
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• Russia Investigation Focuses In On What Donald Trump And Top Aides Knew

  12-11-2017 15:19
  Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has questioned Sam Clovis, co-chairman of Donald Trump’s election campaign, to determine if the President or top aides knew of the extent of the campaign team’s contacts with Russia, two sources familiar with the investigation said on Friday.
  
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• Ireland will not threaten to veto Brexit talks 'at this stage', PM says

  12-11-2017 15:15
  Ireland will not threaten to use a veto on Brexit talks "at this stage" over the lack of progress on the Irish border as Dublin is in a very strong position with all EU member states behind it, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Sunday.Brussels wants three issues broadly solved before it decides in December whether talks can move on to a second phase about trade: the exit bill, safeguarding expatriate rights and the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which will be the UK's only land f
  
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• Britain won't offer a new figure on Brexit bill to unlock talks - minister

  12-11-2017 15:15
  Britain will not offer a figure or a formula for how much it believes it owes the European Union, Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday, after the EU demanded that London spell out its approach to the final bill to unblock talks.With no movement in the negotiations to unravel more than 40 years of union, Britain may miss a December deadline to move the talks to a discussion of future trade ties, which businesses say is vital for them to make investment decisions.
  
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• Prince Charles leads Remembrance day ceremony for British war dead

  12-11-2017 15:10
  Prince Charles led the annual ceremony to honour Britain's war dead on Sunday, laying a wreath on behalf of 91-year-old Queen Elizabeth to mark Remembrance Sunday as she watched the service from a balcony.A two-minute silence was held at 1100 GMT and wreaths were laid at the foot of Britain's main war memorial by senior royals and political leaders including Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.
  
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• EU planning for collapse of Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier - The Guardian

  12-11-2017 14:43 via theguardian.com
  The Guardian
  EU planning for collapse of Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier
  The Guardian
  Michel Barnier told a French newspaper that it was vital that the UK increased its financial offer to the EU. Photograph: Eric Vidal/Reuters. Brexit. EU planning for collapse of Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier. Chief negotiator says no-deal scenario ...
  EU preparing for possible collapse of Brexit talks - BarnierBBC News
  'Let's quit EU talks NOW!' Theresa May SHOULD walk away from Brexit talksExpress.co.uk
  
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• EU planning for collapse of Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier

  12-11-2017 14:43
  Michel Barnier told a French newspaper that it was vital that the UK increased its financial offer to the EU.The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said the bloc is drawing up contingency plans for the possible collapse of Britain’s departure talks.Barnier, who last week gave the UK a two-week deadline to provide greater clarity on the financial settlement it was prepared to offer as part of the divorce deal, told France’s Journal du Dimanche newspaper the failur
  
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• British ministers rally around Foreign Secretary Johnson over Iran

  12-11-2017 14:22
  British ministers rallied around Boris Johnson on Sunday, saying the foreign secretary was doing a "great job" and had no reason to resign over remarks that critics say may prompt Iran to extend the prison sentence of a jailed aid worker.The coordinated defence is part of attempts to shore up the government of Prime Minister Theresa May, weakened by a series of scandals and gaffes involving her top team of ministers as she negotiates Britain's departure from the European Union.The leader of Brit
  
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• Sir James Dyson's Vision For Post-Brexit Britain Is Raising A Few Eyebrows

  12-11-2017 13:55
  Billionaire businessman Sir James Dyson has said it is time to walk away from negotiations with the EU and a post-Brexit Britain should scrap corporation tax and make it easier to hire and fire workers.
  
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• Remembrance Sunday: Queen watches as Charles leads commemorations

  12-11-2017 13:48
  The Queen watched on for the first time in her 65-year reign as Prince Charles led Remembrance Sunday commemorations at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.In a break with tradition, Prince Charles laid the head of state's wreath at the base of the monument shortly after a two-minute silence at 11am.The Queen stood with the Duke of Edinburgh and Duchess of Cornwall on a Foreign Office balcony to observe the silence and watch the service.
  
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• Queen watches as Charles leads Remembrance Sunday service

  12-11-2017 13:30
  The Queen has watched on for the first time in her 65-year reign as Prince Charles leads Remembrance Sunday commemorations at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.
  
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• Bomb alert disrupts Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Omagh

  12-11-2017 13:12
  A Remembrance Sunday ceremony close to the site in Omagh of the largest single atrocity of the Troubles in Northern Ireland has been disrupted by a bomb scare.The Police Service of Northern Ireland cleared the area around Drumragh Avenue, Mountjoy Road, Sedan Avenue, George Street and High Street.The PSNI said the alert was a “sickening attempt” to disrupt the Remembrance Day wreath-laying ceremony in the Co Tyrone town.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn calls for Boris Johnson to quit over 'heartbreaking' Iran comment

  12-11-2017 12:52
  Jeremy Corbyn has launched a furious attack on Boris Johnson, calling for the Foreign Secretary to be sacked for "putting our citizens at risk".The Labour leader said his appeal was motivated by the "heartbreaking" case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British woman jailed in Iran.Mr Corbyn said the "embarrassing" behaviour, coupled with the Foreign Secretary's "colonial throwback" attitude meant he should resign.
  
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• Boris is 'a good Foreign Secretary' - Davis

  12-11-2017 12:50
  David Davis also says he doesn't recognise the two-week deadline for the UK to offer the EU more money so trade talks can start.
  
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• Michael Gove: I don't know what jailed Briton was doing in Iran

  12-11-2017 12:39
  Michael Gove has risked inflaming the situation of a British mother imprisoned in Iran by saying that he does not know what she was doing in the country, in contradiction of the government’s official position that she was there on holiday.The environment secretary’s comments on the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe follow outrage from her family earlier this week after Boris Johnson said she was in Tehran training journalists.Defending the foreign secretary on BBC1’s Andrew M
  
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• Michael Gove admits 'I don't know' why jailed Briton Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran

  12-11-2017 12:36
  Michael Gove has sparked fresh questions about the fate of a British mother jailed in Iran, appearing uncertain over why she was there.It follows Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's claim that the 38-year-old charity administrator was "training journalists" - which could add five years to her sentence.Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family and employer say she was on holiday visiting family when she was arrested with her daughter at an airport in Tehran.
  
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• Former Scotland Yard Chief ‘Knew Of Damian Green Pornography Claims’

  12-11-2017 12:23
  A former head of Scotland Yard knew of allegations that pornography had been found on one of Damian Green’s parliamentary computers during a 2008 police investigation into leaks, it has been reported.
  
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• EU agreed no sum needed to move talks forward - British Brexit minister

  12-11-2017 11:49
  The European Union agreed that Britain would not have to come up with a figure for a financial deal to leave the bloc before moving talks on to discuss a trade deal, Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday.Speaking to Sky News, Davis said Britain agreed to the sequencing of talks demanded by the EU but had told the bloc's negotiators it would not come up with a figure to push them beyond 'phase one'.
  
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• Britain's Gove offers support to foreign secretary over Iran comments

  12-11-2017 11:39
  British environment minister Michael Gove defended his colleague Boris Johnson on Sunday, saying he was doing a "great job" as foreign minister and Iran should be "in the dock" over a jailed aid worker, not him.
  
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• Boris Johnson Met 'London Professor' Joseph Mifsud Embroiled In Trump/Russia Investigation

  12-11-2017 11:21
  A photograph has emerged of Boris Johnson meeting the “London Professor” named in the statement of offences against Donald Trump’s former foreign policy advisor who pled guilty to lying to the FBI last month.
  
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• England v France: Rugby League World Cup 2017 – live!

  12-11-2017 11:08 via theguardian.com
  Live updates from the final Group A game in PerthTonga shock New Zealand to shake up the drawAnd you can email Niall or tweet @niallmcveigh 10.05am GMTThe players are heading out, France in a typically elegant tricolore chevron number. Here’s what England head coach Wayne Bennett had to say before the match:“We need to play better than we did last week. I want to give everyone an opportunity to play before we get to the quarter-finals. I’ll pick my best team, starting next week
  
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• Man beaten to death in Ilford by gang 'with baseball bats'

  12-11-2017 11:01
  A man has died after being beaten by attackers believed to have been armed with baseball bats, police say.
  
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• On my radar: Toby Jones’s cultural highlights

  12-11-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  The actor on Dragons’ Den, the jazz improvisations of Brad Mehldau, the Cinema Museum, a south London bus garage, and more…Born in Hammersmith, London, Toby Jones studied at the University of Manchester and at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He has starred in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Berberian Sound Studio (2012) and Dad’s Army (2016); he also appears in The Hunger Games and voiced Dobby the house elf in the Harry Potter
  
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