General news

• Millennials set to reap huge rewards of inheritance boom

  29-12-2017 23:51 via theguardian.com
  Thinktank: younger generation will profit from high value homes owned by baby boomer parents – but not till they are 60 An unprecedented inheritance boom is heading the way of today’s younger generation. But it will result in higher wealth inequality and will arrive too late for most people currently excluded from the property ladder, according to a leading thinktank.The Resolution Foundation said inheritances would more than double over the next two decades. It expects the peak year
  
  Read more

• Arise Sir Ringo - Beatles drummer knighted in honours list

  29-12-2017 23:35
  Ex-Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has been knighted in Queen Elizabeth's New Year's honours list, along with Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb and author Michael Morpurgo, while ballet dancer Darcey Bussell becomes a dame.English author Morpurgo, 74, is best known for children's novels like "War Horse" and was Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005.
  
  Read more

• This Is How To Nominate Someone For An Honour From The Queen

  29-12-2017 23:31
  It’s a tradition dating back to Edward III, but many aren’t aware that the prestigious honours given out every year by the Queen and other royals are open to people from all walks of life.
  
  Read more

• Tory kingmaker among six politicians awarded top New Year honours

  29-12-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  1922 Committee’s Graham Brady and former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg are knighted and Cheryl Gillan is made a dameA quarter of all knighthoods in the New Year honours list have gone to politicians, including the Tory kingmaker Graham Brady, who has Theresa May’s political future in his hands as chair of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, and former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.The annual list makes knights of Brady and Clegg, despite the prime minister’s promise to stamp o
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Public service recognised in New Year honours list

  29-12-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  A knighthood for top HMRC civil servant Edward Troup and a KCB for Home Office permanent secretary Philip Rutnam are among the honours for public staffEdward Troup, who steps down at the end of 2017 as executive chair and permanent secretary of HM Revenue & Customs, receives a knighthood in the New Year honours list, one of many public servants to be recognised.Troup turned from poacher to gamekeeper in 2004 when he left Simmons & Simmons to work on corporate tax policy in Gordon Brown&r
  
  Read more

• Polling Guru John Curtice Gets Knighthood In The New Year's Honours List

  29-12-2017 23:30
  Polling guru John Curtice is to receive a knighthood it has been announced, capping off a year where the academic cemented his reputation as the UK’s foremost political analyst.
  
  Read more

• ‘Not nice’ Virgil van Dijk fee a reality of modern game, says Jürgen Klopp

  29-12-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • Liverpool pay £75m for most expensive defender in history
  • Klopp denies signing will necessitate January sale of a prized assetJürgen Klopp has said he dislikes Virgil van Dijk’s £75m price tag but believes it reflects the reality of modern football at elite level. The Liverpool manager also denied he must sell next month to fund the most expensive defensive transfer in history.Van Dijk will officially become a Liverpool player on 1 January after the Anfield c
  
  Read more

• Nick Clegg Is Knighted In 2017 New Year's Honours - To Brexiteers' Chagrin

  29-12-2017 23:30
  Remainer Nick Clegg has been knighted, it has been confirmed after rumours of the gong triggered huge anger among Brexiteers earlier this week.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• New Year's Honours List Doesn't Include Heroes Of Grenfell Tower Or Terror Attacks

  29-12-2017 23:30
  The government faces questions after it was revealed the New Year’s honours list doesn’t include heroes of the Grenfell Tower fire, Manchester or London terror attacks.
  
  Read more

• Jürgen Klopp hails ‘brave’ Rhian Brewster for speaking out about racism

  29-12-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • Liverpool manager hopes game’s rulers take heed
  • Guardian interview sparks immediate calls for actionJürgen Klopp has praised the courage of Rhian Brewster for speaking out about racial abuse and expressed his hopes that the people at the top of the sport will listen to the 17-year-old and realise more needs to be done in the fight against racism.Klopp said he could “100% understand” Brewster’s frustration that Uefa, in particular, was not doing enough a
  
  Read more

• Chelsea’s Conte confident of new Eden Hazard deal despite Real interest

  29-12-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • Belgian apparently waiting to see if Real Madrid are likely to make bid
  • Chelsea close to securing Thibaut Courtois under new five-year dealChelsea intend to resume contract talks with Eden Hazard in the new year aimed at extending his stay at Stamford Bridge but the player is apparently in no rush to commit his future while it is unclear whether Real Madrid will prioritise his signing this summer.Hazard, who does not operate with an agent, is contracted to 2020 but, with a new deal
  
  Read more

• Nigel Farage's Gong Conspiracy Torn Apart By These Brexiteer MPs' Knighthoods

  29-12-2017 23:29
  Three Brexiteer MPs have been knighted in the New Year’s honours list, despite Nigel Farage’s claim his support for Brexit is why he has received nothing.
  
  Read more

• Ukraine kidnappers release hostage after $1m bitcoin ransom paid

  29-12-2017 23:18 via theguardian.com
  Male employee of UK-registered cryptocurrency exchange ‘safe, but stressed’ following capture by gunmen Kidnappers in Ukraine have released an employee at a UK-registered cryptocurrency exchange after getting more than $1m (£750,000) in bitcoin as a ransom, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister told Reuters on Friday. Pavel Lerner, a leading analyst and blockchain expert, was seized by masked abductors on Boxing Day, according to a statement by his company, EXMO Finance
  
  Read more

• Mali shocked by resignation of prime minister

  29-12-2017 22:58 via theguardian.com
  Abdoulaye Idrissa Maïga and his government quit seven months before country faces presidential electionMali’s prime ministerand his government have resigned in a surprise move just months before presidential polls are due to be held.Authorities gave no reason for Abdoulaye Idrissa Maïga’s decision to step down seven months before the president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, seeks re-election. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Danny Cipriani plays the conductor as Wasps win nine-try thriller at Bath

  29-12-2017 22:51 via theguardian.com
  • Bath 26-31 Wasps
  • Marcus Watson scores two tries and Dan Robson also makes an impactThey continue to be left in the international wilderness but Dan Robson and Danny Cipriani shone brighter than any of England’s backs in a helter-skelter victory for Wasps, the visitors edging home five tries to four.Cipriani pulled the strings, particularly in the first half, with Robson scoring one try and at his sniping best. While Bath’s rally from 19-0 down not only saved face and le
  
  Read more

• New Year's Honours: Recipients To Have Titles Revoked

  29-12-2017 22:27
  While people such as John Lennon and Carla Lane have famously returned their honours as a sign of protest, others have been stripped of the recognition after having done something to “damage” the reputation of the system.
  
  Read more

• Road rage finally puts alleged 'Goodfellas' mobster, 82, behind bars

  29-12-2017 22:18 via theguardian.com
  Vincent Asaro gets eight years for tracking down and burning motorist’s carAsaro was cleared of 1978 Lufthansa robbery immortalised in 1990 filmNew York may have recorded a dramatic fall in crime this year, including the lowest annual murder total since the 1950s, but a sentencing hearing in Brooklyn on Thursday revealed the persistence of some of the city’s most famous criminal traditions. Prosecutors allege that Vincent Asaro, 82, was inducted into the Bonanno crime syndicate more
  
  Read more

• New Year’s Honours List: The Best Reasons Why People Rejected An Honour

  29-12-2017 22:01
  Whilst the majority of people are delighted to be mentioned in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, scores of others have turned down an award and some have even thought twice and returned them years after making a trip to the palace.
  
  Read more

• Hospital tries to discover identity of patient with memory loss

  29-12-2017 22:01
  The patient - thought to be in his early 40s - arrived at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Scotland, on Boxing Day.When he got to the hospital he was wearing a green checked shirt and blue t-shirt above black jogging bottoms and trainers.The man, who speaks with a local Scottish accent, has tattoos on his upper right arm of two Samurai swords, and a tattoo on his chest of a Samurai.
  
  Read more

• Zombie thrills

  29-12-2017 22:00 via bbc.co.uk
  From zombie experiences to haunted houses and high-concept horror films, the fright business is getting more profitable.
  
  Read more

• Record-breaker Arsène Wenger will be hard act to follow when he finally goes | Barney Ronay

  29-12-2017 21:02 via theguardian.com
  As Frenchman prepares for 811th league game in charge to overhaul Sir Alex Ferguson it will sharpen focus on his legacy and who will eventually succeed himBehold, the age of Arsène. The past few years of Arsène Wenger’s extended Arsenal farewell have brought something new, a gradual piling up of gongs and garlands that have little to do with trophies won or goals scored but speak instead to his extreme, unyielding longevity. Longest-serving Arsenal manager. Longest-serving ma
  
  Read more

• Lord Adonis says Theresa May is 'allying with UKIP' on Brexit as he quits Government role

  29-12-2017 21:00
  A senior adviser to Theresa May has quit as the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission over the Government's Brexit plans.Former transport secretary Lord Adonis claimed the Prime Minister was "allying with UKIP and the Tory hard right" in negotiation plans for Britain's exit from the European Union.In a resignation letter seen by Sky News, Lord Adonis said: "Brexit is a dangerous populist and nationalist spasm worthy of Donald Trump.
  
  Read more

• Guitars stolen in Surrey burglary returned to owner eight years later

  29-12-2017 20:56
  An amateur musician has been reunited with his collection of guitars eight years after they were stolen.The man told police he had given up hope of ever seeing his seven guitars again after a burglary at his home in Epsom, Surrey, in 2009.The instruments were found during a drugs raid at a property in Tadworth, Surrey, last year.
  
  Read more

• Protests over alleged corruption and rising prices spread to Tehran

  29-12-2017 20:54 via theguardian.com
  Angry eruptions proliferate after police disperse spontaneous demonstration in city of Kermanshah in western IranDemonstrators chanted anti-government slogans in several cities across Iran on Friday, as protests against alleged corruption and rising prices turned into the largest wave of demonstrations since nationwide pro-reform unrest in 2009. Police dispersed anti-government demonstrators in the western city of Kermanshah as spontaneous protests spread to Tehran and apparently several other c
  
  Read more

• Murdered pub worker Iuliana Tudos was 'special and caring'

  29-12-2017 20:52
  Friends of murdered pub worker Iuliana Tudos have described her as "funny, honest, loving" and "definitely something special".A post-mortem examination concluded that the 22-year-old, whose body was found in a disused building in London's Finsbury Park on Wednesday afternoon, died from a stab wound to the abdomen and a head injury.There are no arrests as yet over the murder of Ms Tudos, who was also known as Julia and Lili, and lived in Upper Tollington Park, Haringey.
  
  Read more

• Ben Jennings on politicians in need of an NHS 'drunk tank' – cartoon

  29-12-2017 20:46 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Council apologises as Grenfell Tower households miss out on extra cash

  29-12-2017 20:44
  Money promised to Grenfell Tower survivors by Kensington council to help cover Christmas costs did not arrive in time for multiple households.“This was our error and we are sorry for this and have taken steps to deal with the households we are aware of,” said Kim Taylor-Smith, the deputy leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).
  
  Read more

• People in Houston 'at risk of being arrested just because they are homeless'

  29-12-2017 20:35 via theguardian.com
  ACLU lawyer says people living in encampments have nowhere to go Federal judge allows city to stop people setting up tents in public placesPeople in Houston are “at risk of being arrested just because they are homeless”, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union said, after a federal judge cleared the city to enforce an ordinance that prohibits the setting up of tents and temporary living quarters in public places.Related: Death in an Amazon dumpsterContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• So documents about Thatcher have been declassified. What about the rest? | Deborah Orr

  29-12-2017 20:07 via theguardian.com
  From minutes of European council meetings to documents on the Scott inquiry, we are still being kept in the darkThe annual excitement that is the release of hitherto classified documents from the National Archives is upon us. This year an unusually high number have been withheld by the Cabinet Office. The reason given for continued secrecy is, of course, national security. When, I think we are all asking ourselves, is someone going to start tackling the problem of national insecurity, which is e
  
  Read more

• Andrew Adonis quits as Theresa May's infrastructure tsar over Brexit

  29-12-2017 20:06 via theguardian.com
  Labour peer says prime minister has become ‘voice of Ukip’ as he resigns as chair of National Infrastructure CommissionAndrew Adonis, the former Labour minister, has resigned as chair of the government-backed National Infrastructure Commission in protest at Theresa May’s management of Brexit, describing the process as “a dangerous populist and nationalist spasm worthy of Donald Trump”.
  The former transport secretary headed the body that makes recommendations to the
  
  Read more

• Richard Branson's Virgin healthcare firm scoops £1bn of NHS contracts

  29-12-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Virgin Care’s success highlights fears over role of private companies in NHS and casts doubt on recent assurances by Jeremy HuntRichard Branson’s Virgin Care won a record £1bn of NHS contracts last year, as £3.1bn of health services were privatised despite a government pledge to reduce the proportion of care provided by private companies.Overall, private firms scooped 267 – almost 70% – of the 386 clinical contracts that were put out to tender in England durin
  
  Read more

• Richard Branson's Virgin healthcare firm scoops £1bn of NHS contracts

  29-12-2017 20:00
  Overall, private firms scooped 267 of the 386 clinical contracts put out to tender in England during 2016-17.Richard Branson’s Virgin Care won a record £1bn of NHS contracts last year, as £3.1bn of health services were privatised despite a government pledge to reduce the proportion of care provided by private companies.Overall, private firms scooped 267 – almost 70% – of the 386 clinical contracts that were put out to tender in England during 2016-17, according to a
  
  Read more

• Lord Adonis says Theresa May is "allying with UKIP" on Brexit as he quits Government role

  29-12-2017 19:56
  Lord Adonis has quit as the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission over the Government's Brexit plans.The former transport secretary claimed Theresa May was "allying with UKIP and the Tory hard right" in negotiation plans over Brexit.The Europhile Labour peer said he was duty bound to oppose the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill when it comes to the House of Lords.
  
  Read more

• UVF claimed MI5 urged it to kill former Irish PM, state papers reveal

  29-12-2017 19:53 via theguardian.com
  Message from UVF to former taoiseach Charles Haughey claims British intelligence supplied details of his home and cars MI5 encouraged loyalist paramilitaries to assassinate Charles Haughey, the former Irish prime minister was warned in a letter sent to his Dublin office.The previously secret message – apparently issued by the Ulster Volunteer Force and released under the republic’s 30-year rule to its national archives – claims British intelligence went as far as supplying the
  
  Read more

• Lord Adonis Resigns With Scathing Letter Calling Theresa May The 'Voice Of UKIP'

  29-12-2017 19:49
  Theresa May’s infrastructure tsar has quit, delivering a scathing verdict on the Prime Minister’s approach to Brexit.
  
  Read more

• Read Lord Adonis' letter to PM in full as Labour peer quits as Govt's infrastructure tsar

  29-12-2017 19:47
  Theresa May's infrastructure tsar has quit, delivering a scathing verdict on the Prime Minister's approach to Brexit.In this spirit I was glad to accept reappointment last year as Chair of the independent National Infrastructure Commission, when you also reaffirmed your support for HS2, which will help overcome England's north-south divide when it opens in just eight years time.The Commission has done good work in the past 27 months, thanks to dedicated public servants and commissioners.
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on labour’s share: bigger slice needed | Editorial

  29-12-2017 19:32 via theguardian.com
  Capital is being hoarded by a wealthy few in Britain. The state should intervene to ensure more people have a greater shareWhen the Labour party this year reopened the debate about whether the state should become an owner of parts of British life, it was derided as a throwback to the failed ideologies of the 1970s. Yet the surging inequality apparently endemic to modern-day capitalism is cause enough for the state to intervene. What is becoming increasing clear is that the shares of national inc
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on the Kabul bombing: vicious identity violence | Editorial

  29-12-2017 19:30 via theguardian.com
  In a nation worn down by war, Isis’s ability to turn latent divisions into bloody slaughter should not be underestimatedAfghanistan’s 16-year war has largely been fought between the Taliban and a regime in Kabul backed by the US and Nato forces. The battle between the two was understood to be political, not sectarian. The Taliban considered a war between Muslims counterproductive to establishing an Islamic emirate. However the bombing of a Shia cultural centre in Kabul by Isis’
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on quantum computing: the new space race | Editorial

  29-12-2017 19:28 via theguardian.com
  The main use of quantum technology might not be to hack existing systems but to create unhackable communication networks of the futureThe Washington Post’s columnist David Ignatius moonlights as a pacey novelist. His latest book, The Quantum Spy, is a thriller that touches upon the space race of our times: the great power contest to develop a quantum computer, able to work so fast that it can crack today’s uncrackable codes. Such a machine would be revolutionary. Modern e-commerce de
  
  Read more

• Storm Dylan set to disrupt UK new year celebrations

  29-12-2017 18:57
  Storm Dylan’s is set to disrupt new year celebrations across the country as the UK braces for more wet and windy weather.Forecasters have warned residents of Northern Ireland and southern Scotland to expect gales of 80mph.“With thunderstorms and those sorts of systems you get rapidly rising and falling air,” said Grahame Madge, a spokesman for the Met Office.
  
  Read more

• Heather Menzies obituary

  29-12-2017 18:54 via theguardian.com
  Actor best known for playing Louisa von Trapp in The Sound of MusicThe heart-warming 1965 musical The Sound of Music is such a perennial favourite that anyone connected with it in any capacity has basked in reflected glory for the rest of their lives. Such was the case of Heather Menzies, who has died of brain cancer aged 68. The blond, blue-eyed 16-year-old played 13-year-old Louisa, the third oldest of the seven cute Von Trapp children taught to sing catchy Rodgers and Hammerstein songs by Mar
  
  Read more

• Storm Dylan could be a 'danger to life' as 80mph gusts set to batter Britain

  29-12-2017 18:36
  Storm Dylan will bring a wet and windy end to 2017 as gusts of up to 80mph are set to batter Britain.Northern Ireland and southern Scotland will be worst hit by the storm, with warnings from forecasters of the potential for "injuries and danger to life from flying debris"."There is a small chance of longer journey times or cancellations as road, rail, air and ferry services are affected, with the chance that some roads and bridges could close," according to the Met Office.
  
  Read more

• This website lets you see all of Scotland’s spectacularly named gritters in action

  29-12-2017 18:03
  Just in case you are bored in the break between Christmas and New Year.
  
  Read more

• Thomasina Miers’ recipe for chicken liver and quince paté

  29-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  It’s hard to beat homemade chicken liver paté: easy to make and luxurious to eatThe secret to a relaxed New Year’s Eve, if you’re doing the cooking, is the same one that applies to any laid-back dinner party: it’s all about the planning. That may sound a bit dull, but even I, the original fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants cook, have to accept it’s also true. If you can spend any time at weekends or midweek preparing food in advance, you’ll always have treasur
  
  Read more

• Trump’s tax plans: why liberals can smile (ironically) | Emma Brockes

  29-12-2017 17:57 via theguardian.com
  Those who believe in higher taxes will finally get them – though only to give the richest a breakThe last week of the year in New York was one of arctic chill, a giant penis mural and people calling in to radio shows to freak out about the Trump tax plan. All week, NPR (National Public Radio) has emitted an unremitting stream of low-level panic as New Yorkers try to come to terms with the massive tax overhaul which, for them and millions of other Americans, will almost certainly mean a hig
  
  Read more

• Missing Sophie Smith 'likely' went into sea near Great Yarmouth

  29-12-2017 17:39
  A student who went missing from her home on Boxing Day was suffering depression and it is "most likely" she went into the sea, police have said.Sophie Smith, 21, was wearing a vest and shorts when she set out in very cold weather at about 3am on December 26.CCTV images showed her heading towards the seafront near her family home in Gorleston near Great Yarmouth.
  
  Read more

• Five new 'persons of interest' in murder of Natalie Pearman 25 years ago

  29-12-2017 17:33
  Police have identified "five new persons of interest" after appealing for information about the murder of a teenage prostitute 25 years ago.A lorry driver found Natalie Pearman's body in a lay-by on the outskirts of Norwich shortly before 4am on 20 November 1992.The 16-year-old, who had been working as a prostitute in the city's red light district, was last seen alive in Rouen Road at 1.15am on the same day.
  
  Read more

• Bruce McCandless obituary

  29-12-2017 17:22 via theguardian.com
  Astronaut who became the first person to walk in space untetheredIn 1984 the astronaut Bruce McCandless, who has died aged 80, took the world’s breath away by becoming the first person to make an untethered spacewalk. Using a backpack equipped with nitrogen thrusters to move himself around, McCandless floated free in the void from the space shuttle Challenger for around four hours before returning to his colleagues inside. The main aim of the nine-day mission had been to release two commun
  
  Read more

• Arsenal players’ frustrations with Alexis Sánchez led to dressing room bust-up

  29-12-2017 17:22 via theguardian.com
  • Forward confronted after Arsenal’s win against Burnley at Turf Moor
  • Some players did not celebrate with 29-year-old after goals at PalaceAlexis Sánchez was at the heart of a dressing room bust-up after Arsenal’s away win against Burnley last month and the tensions between the forward and some of his team-mates – which have simmered for some time – were laid bare during the club’s victory at Crystal Palace on Thursday night.Sánchez was inv
  
  Read more

• 'Drunk tanks only work if everyone is thoroughly checked out': your best comments today

  29-12-2017 17:09 via theguardian.com
  We’re highlighting interesting conversations on the site – including ‘booze buses’ and the train journey helping millennials search for loveDiscussion today has focused on alcohol recovery units, plans to build a power hub on an artificial island, and talking openly about sex. To join in you can click on the links in the comments below to expand and add your thoughts. We’ll continue to highlight more comments worth reading as the day goes on. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!