General news

• Gordon Brown to attack Britain's failure to tackle child poverty

  14-08-2018 23:30
  Ex-PM will warn problem may reach ‘epidemic proportions’ during speech at Edinburgh international book festivalThe former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown will launch a scathing attack on the failure to deal with rapidly rising child poverty on Wednesday and warn that Britain is creating a generation of children whose sufferings are never talked about.Speaking at the Edinburgh international book festival, Brown will say it is a national disgrace that the number of children living b
  
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• Gordon Brown to attack Britain's failure to tackle child poverty

  14-08-2018 23:30
  Gordon Brown said the tax credits Labour had introduced decreased the number of children living in poverty, but the number has risen since he lost the general election in 2010.The former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown will launch a scathing attack on the failure to deal with rapidly rising child poverty on Wednesday and warn that Britain is creating a generation of children whose sufferings are never talked about.Speaking at the Edinburgh international book festival, Brown will say it is a n
  
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• England hopes hit by injuries to Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph

  14-08-2018 23:17
  • Watson has second achilles operation
  • Joseph ruled out of November internationalsEngland have been dealt a double injury setback before the new season with Anthony Watson a serious doubt for the start of next year’s Six Nations and Jonathan Joseph ruled out of November’s autumn internationals.Watson was forced to undergo surgery on his torn achilles for the second time last month after the first operation effectively failed. The initial prognosis was six months, suggesti
  
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• Future of Super League Super 8s close to agreement, says Robert Elstone

  14-08-2018 23:00
  • Most Super League clubs want Super 8s to be scrapped
  • We’re hopeful we’ll find something that works for everybody’The Super League’s new chief executive, Robert Elstone, said he and the leading clubs remain committed to replacing the Super 8s play-off structure with a more conventional one-up, one-down system next year, despite resistance from a number of clubs outside the top flight. The major change will be made public soon.Since returning to the sport from
  
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• A Passage to Britain review – Who Do You Think You Are? for the empire

  14-08-2018 23:00
  This new series tells the story of migration to the UK from the Indian subcontinent through ships’ records, starting with the Viceroy of IndiaThe Viceroy of India is not a suburban curry house. It’s not even the colonial office after which a suburban curry house is named, but rather a ship. It’s a splendid one, too, a P&O number with interiors modelled on an English country house. Well, one wants to feel at home – even at sea.The Viceroy plied the Mumba
  
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• Sky Data poll: Public would prefer council services cuts to tax increases

  14-08-2018 22:56
  A narrow majority of 53% would choose cutting services as far back as legally allowed, with 47% preferring an increase in council tax if forced to choose between the two.The poll comes after Northamptonshire County Council became effectively bankrupt earlier this month after revealing there was a £70m hole in its finances for the 2018/19 budget period.
  
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• White House: we cannot guarantee there's no tape of Trump using N-word

  14-08-2018 22:48
  Trump-Omarosa row deepens as Sarah Sanders says ‘I can’t guarantee anything’ when asked if recordings might emergeAs the remarkable public spat between Donald Trump and former adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman continued on Tuesday, the White House was unable to guarantee that no recordings exist of the president using the “N-word”.Related: Omarosa says Trump is a racist who uses N-word – and claims there is tape to prove itContinue reading...
  
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• You can now watch the developments of London’s monster fatberg via live stream

  14-08-2018 22:47
  The highly toxic piece of sewage has ‘started to grow an unusual and toxic mould’.
  
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• Plantwatch: unspoilt, rare, dunes earmarked for new golf course

  14-08-2018 22:30
  Planning go-ahead for Coul Links development, Sutherland, ‘threatens unique habitat and last stronghold for wild plants’One of the last unspoilt coastal dunes in Scotland is under threat from plans for a championship golf course, which the developers say will be environmentally friendly. Coul Links, near Embo, Sutherland, north-east Scotland, is considered very special – a complete, undisturbed dune system, on a stunning coastline, that has a unique mosaic of habitats. The dune
  
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• Parliament crash: man arrested on suspicion of terrorism

  14-08-2018 22:13
  Suspect believed to be Salih Khater, 29, who is of Sudanese origin and from BirminghamA man has been held on suspicion of terrorism offences after a car was driven into pedestrians and cyclists before crashing outside parliament in Westminster, as Downing Street revealed authorities were working on hundreds of live counter-terrorism investigations.The suspect, a 29-year-old British national, was arrested at the scene after armed police officers swooped on a silver Ford Fiesta that had crashed in
  
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• More than 300 Pennsylvania priests committed sexual abuse over decades

  14-08-2018 22:01
  Priests harmed more than 1,000 children according to a grand jury report released by the state supreme court More than 300 “predator priests” were found to have committed sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, harming more than 1,000 children, according to a grand jury report released by the state supreme court on Tuesday. The near-900-page report is the result of one of the largest US investigations into sexual abuse in the Catholic church. In painful detail, it showcases how for decades one
  
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• Labour hits out at 'false' claims over Corbyn cemetery visit

  14-08-2018 21:52
  Party says leader had been attending memorial to Palestinian airstrike victimsLabour has hit out at what it said were “false and misleading” claims about Jeremy Corbyn’s visit to the Palestinian cemetery in Tunis and insisted he had attended an annual memorial for victims of an Israeli air attack on the Palestine Liberation Organisation headquarters in October 1985.The party offered its most complete version of events yet about Corbyn’s controversial visit in 2014, and sa
  
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• Labour hits out at 'false' claims over Corbyn cemetery visit

  14-08-2018 21:52
  Labour has hit out at what it said were “false and misleading” claims about Jeremy Corbyn’s visit to the Palestinian cemetery in Tunis and insisted he had attended an annual memorial for victims of an Israeli air attack on the Palestine Liberation Organisation headquarters in October 1985.The party offered its most complete version of events yet about Corbyn’s controversial visit in 2014, and said the commemoration for the 74 people who had died was attended by “mai
  
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• Genoa bridge collapse: at least 23 killed, Italian official says

  14-08-2018 21:51
  Section of motorway bridge comes down during storm in port city in northern ItalyRescuers were continuing to work in extreme conditions late on Tuesday after a bridge collapsed in the northern Italian city of Genoa, killing at least 23 people and injuring 15. Related: Genoa bridge collapse – pictures from the sceneContinue reading...
  
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• Tory MP demands sleaze probe into Jeremy Corbyn's wreath trip

  14-08-2018 21:14
  Jeremy Corbyn has been reported to Parliament's sleaze watchdog, accused of failing to declare his controversial wreath-laying trip to Tunisia or reveal who paid for it.Tory MP Andrew Bridgen has written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Stone, alleging "a serious breach" of Commons rules and demanding an investigation.In his letter, seen by Sky News, Mr Bridgen says the Labour leader's office has "declined to declare" who funded the trip, adding that the visit also "raise
  
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• Labour frustrations mount as Corbyn wreath row drags on

  14-08-2018 21:09
  Party hoped for effective summer campaign, but leader struggles to shake off questions over PLO ceremony Jeremy Corbyn had planned to spend the summer making the case for a Labour government to voters up and down the country – putting his party on the front foot, in case Theresa May is forced into an early general election.Instead, while loyal supporters were queuing to see him speak in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday, he was facing questions for the fourth successive day about what wreaths were
  
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• Labour frustration mounts as Corbyn wreath row drags on

  14-08-2018 21:09
  Jeremy Corbyn had planned to spend the summer making the case for a Labour government to voters up and down the country – putting his party on the front foot, in case Theresa May is forced into an early general election.Instead, while loyal supporters were queuing to see him speak in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday, he was facing questions for the fourth successive day about what wreaths were laid by whom and why, in a Tunisian cemetery four years ago.Corbyn has repeatedly insisted the ceremony
  
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• Ben Stokes verdict cannot hide fact the game was brought into disrepute

  14-08-2018 21:07
  Ben Stokes could easily become an England great and it is high time he dealt with some of the more unpleasant aspects of his personalityThe England and Wales Cricket Board must have been heartily relieved by the Test team’s emphatic victory over India at Lord’s with their clean-cut all-rounder Chris Woakes excelling while Ben Stokes, grim-faced, clad in his smart blue suit and ritually snapped by photographers, made his daily trip to a Bristol courtroom.There Stokes relived the detai
  
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• Steve Bell on Jeremy Corbyn's row with Benjamin Netanyahu – cartoon

  14-08-2018 21:02
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• British actress can sue Weinstein for sex trafficking - U.S. judge

  14-08-2018 21:01
  Movie producer Harvey Weinstein must face a U.S. lawsuit by a British actress who has accused him of violating sex trafficking laws by inviting her to a hotel room in France and sexually assaulting her, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan denied Weinstein's motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed last year by Kadian Noble.The judge said that while the case was "not an archetypal sex trafficking action, the allegations plausibly establish" that Weinstein may
  
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• Evelyn Mok: Bubble Butt review – a bummer of a show

  14-08-2018 21:00
  Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
  Mok’s routines about sexuality, dolls and her mum’s disciplinary habits are promising but underpowered By the end, Evelyn Mok is blaming tiredness and asking her audience’s forgiveness. It’s been that kind of show: misfiring, fatally underpowered. We are left to speculate how well her show Bubble Butt might work on a good day, but the signs aren’t encouraging. A #MeToo-tinged account of the comedian’s sexual sense of self, her ta
  
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• Police raids as Westminster terror suspect's route revealed

  14-08-2018 20:40
  Police are searching addresses in the Midlands after a man smashed his car into barriers near Parliament in a suspected terror attack - and have also revealed details of the driver's journey.The silver Ford Fiesta hit cyclists and pedestrians at 7.37am on Tuesday before crashing into security barriers.Police said the suspect arrested at the scene by armed police is a 29-year-old UK national previously unknown to MI5.
  
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• Firestarter Stokes has long walked a line between brilliant and bolshy | Ali Martin

  14-08-2018 20:32
  Ben Stokes, acquitted of affray, will look to take his England career back to the heights of centuries and devastating bowling“The Hit Man. Don’t mess with Ben Stokes – he’s fast and furious”. So trumpeted the front page of the Times magazine on Saturday 23 September less than 48 hours before his early-hours arrest in Bristol city centre following a street brawl. The tonally prescient interview with the England cricketer homed in on his reputation for being short-fu
  
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• Westminster Terror Suspect Is Believed To Be British Citizen Of Sudanese Origin

  14-08-2018 20:27
  The man detained on suspicion of terror offences after a car crashed outside
  
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• Classical scholars turn backs on Boris Johnson over burqa comments

  14-08-2018 20:18
  Education charity Classics for All distances itself from high-profile supporter The Ides of March may be long past but Boris Johnson has found himself, like Julius Caesar, under attack from an unusual direction – in Johnson’s case, the nation’s classical scholars.Following his incendiary remarks about Muslim women wearing the burqa, Johnson has found his position on a charity promoting the study of classics under threat, after several members threatened to cut their ties if Joh
  
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• The Corbyn wreath ‘scandal’ is just an exercise in hypocrisy | Owen Jones

  14-08-2018 20:14
  Showing solidarity with Palestinians courts condemnation, while complicity in the Israeli occupation is seen as acceptableIn November 2004, Britain’s foreign secretary Jack Straw laid a wreath at the grave of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. How might this have been framed with the current Labour leader? Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon saw Arafat as a “Jew murderer”. According to the Israeli minister of parliamentary affairs at the time, Danny Naveh, Arafat was &l
  
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• Grayling proposal could lead to smaller rail fare rises

  14-08-2018 20:14
  Transport secretary says fares, and staff pay, could be pegged to lower inflation measure
  The transport secretary has opened the way for smaller annual rail fare increases by suggesting they could be pegged to a lower measure of inflation – but only if unions accept the same measure for staff pay. Related: Chris 'Failing' Grayling: standing room only for the gaffe-prone ministerContinue reading...
  
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• School discriminated against expelled autistic boy, judge rules

  14-08-2018 20:04
  Children with special needs are at much higher risk of being excluded from mainstream schools.Children with special needs who have been excluded from schools for aggressive behaviour linked to their condition are being discriminated against, a judge has ruled.Judge Alison Rowley, sitting in the upper tribunal, said it was “repugnant” to consider such behaviour as “criminal or antisocial” when it was a direct result of a child’s condition and “not a choice&rdqu
  
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• Aquarius: onboard the migrant rescue ship – photographic diary 1

  14-08-2018 20:04
  The Aquarius is a special-purpose ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée, a European maritime and humanitarian organisation, and Médecins Sans Frontières to rescue migrants and refugees in trouble at sea. Photographer Nicoló Lanfranchi joined the crew onboard to chart the progress of the mission, which began in Marseille and will head to the Libyan coast. This is his first dispatch. Continue reading...
  
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• Faster, higher, stronger? Not in Olympic women’s road cycling | Stephanie Constand

  14-08-2018 20:00
  A watered-down Tokyo 2020 course suggests the Olympic motto ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ is relevant only to menThe routes for the Olympic road races were recently announced by the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the UCI, and something is yet again conspicuously absent from the women’s course.Women’s races seem to be chronically afflicted by a phenomenon whereby marquee features which form integral aspects of the men’s race tend to inexplicably go missing. Regretta
  
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• Car hits pedestrians at parliament in suspected terrorist attack

  14-08-2018 19:52
  A man deliberately drove a car into London pedestrians and cyclists on Tuesday before ramming it into barriers outside Britain's parliament in what police said appeared to be the second terrorist attack at the building in just under 18 months.The driver, a 29-year-old British citizen, was arrested by armed officers moments later."Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method, and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident," the officer, London Assistant Co
  
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• Tottenham apologise to fans and issue refund details following stadium delay

  14-08-2018 19:46
  • We are hugely frustrated at this late stage, club says
  • Location of Champions League games still unconfirmedTottenham have made a new apology to their fans as uncertainty continued following the decision to delay the opening of their new stadium.Spurs officials met members of the Tottenham Supporters’ Trust on Tuesday after the club postponed the launch of the £850m ground over safety concerns which they say they only learned of this week. At least three Premier League g
  
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• The Guardian view on record employment: Not the whole picture | Editorial

  14-08-2018 19:46
  Economic insecurity means that real unemployment is double that which is officially recorded. A new institutional framework to deliver and maintain full employment is neededBritain’s employment problem would on the surface appear to have been solved. Officially just one in 25 Britons are now unemployed, the lowest rate since the winter of 1974-75. Younger workers look to be finding jobs more easily than ever. Older workers are staying in employment for longer. Although the economy has crea
  
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• PM: No deal still better than bad Brexit deal

  14-08-2018 19:35
  The Prime Minister still believes a Brexit deal with the European Union is the most likely outcome to the negotiations.
  
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• EU must 'change its approach' to avoid a no-deal Brexit, Jeremy Hunt says

  14-08-2018 19:30
  The EU needs to "change its approach" to avoid a no-deal Brexit, Jeremy Hunt has said.Speaking at the start of a three-day tour of Northern Europe, the foreign secretary called on Jean-Claude Juncker's European Commission to show a "pragmatic approach" to negotiations."But we do need to see a change in approach by the European Commission if we're going to have a pragmatic approach that works for everyone.
  
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• Harvey Weinstein: judge allows sex trafficking case to move to trial

  14-08-2018 19:25
  New York judge says Weinstein may have broken sex trafficking law in potential landmark case brought by British actor Kadian NobleA US federal judge has ruled that a British woman’s sex-trafficking lawsuit against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein can go ahead – setting the stage for a landmark case. British actor Kadian Noble, 31, sued Weinstein in US district court in New York City in November, charging he brought her to a hotel room in France and sexually assaulted her
  
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• Chile police raid Catholic church HQ in sex abuse investigation

  14-08-2018 19:20
  Marist Brothers accused of dozens of cases of abuse‘The impunity of the Chilean hierarchy has ended’Chilean authorities have raided the headquarters of the Catholic church’s Episcopal Conference as part of a widespread investigation into sex abuse committed by members of the Marist Brothers order, prosecutors said.The raid by investigating prosecutors and Chile’s equivalent of the FBI took place at one of the most important buildings of the Chilean church in the capital,
  
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• ‘Urban’ sounds: it’s time to stop using this hackneyed term for black music

  14-08-2018 19:07
  Industry executives are increasingly railing against the word, which is born out of racial stereotyping of black communities‘Urban” is a word used across the music industry to include R&B, hip-hop, soul and now grime. It is no coincidence that these forms of black music are lumped together into one category. Sam Taylor, an executive from the music publishing firm Kobalt, reignited the debate about the term by saying: “I hate and despise the word ‘urban’.&rd
  
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• Westminster attack witness: I chased terror suspect after he sent woman 'flying onto bonnet'

  14-08-2018 19:04
  A man has described how he jumped off his bike and chased after the Westminster terror suspect after the car "rammed" a group of about 15 cyclists, sending one woman flying up on the bonnet.Robert Nicholson told Sky News that he saw the incident unfold as he was heading to work and waiting in a "safe cycling box" near Parliament."Usually you get anything from 10 to 30 cyclists waiting - there were about 15 cyclists there this morning," said Mr Nicholson.
  
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• 'The 1998 day that changed Omagh forever'

  14-08-2018 18:57 via bbc.co.uk
  Aileen Moynagh remembers the day of the Omagh bomb, when she was working in the town.
  
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• Why is everyone still talking about this cerulean blue jumper?

  14-08-2018 18:54
  The idea that trends that trickle down from the catwalk has become one of fashion’s most enduring truisms. But does it hold water?The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger, was published in 2003, and the film version was released three years later, yet one line continues to resonate. Or rather, one concise theory involving a blue jumper that claims to illustrate the structural and economic connection between high fashion and the everyday, referred to in popular culture as the “ceru
  
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• Jewellery thief jailed again for failing to pay back proceeds of England's biggest heist

  14-08-2018 18:54
  One of a gang of ageing criminals who audaciously raided a safe-deposit business in England's biggest-ever burglary will spend more time in jail after failing to pay back over 6 million pounds.The gang ransacked 73 deposit boxes at the Hatton Garden Safety Deposit building in the London jewellery district three years ago, stealing gold, silver, diamonds and jewellery worth 14 million pounds.Daniel Jones, 63, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2016, and on Tuesday he was given another six
  
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• Shares rebound as lira pulls out of nosedive

  14-08-2018 18:45
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - World share markets rebounded on Tuesday as Turkey's lira pulled out of a recent nosedive and reassuring data from Germany helped offset the latest wobbles in China's giant economy.
  
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• Police searching three addresses after London incident

  14-08-2018 18:43
  LONDON (Reuters) - Police investigating a man who drove into pedestrians outside parliament on Tuesday morning said they were searching two addresses in Birmingham and one in Nottingham, central England, as part of their inquiries.
  
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• Fernando Alonso to retire from F1 at end of the season after 17 years

  14-08-2018 18:42
  • 37-year-old leaves McLaren ‘to explore new adventures’
  • Alonso remains fully committed to rest of F1 seasonFernando Alonso will leave McLaren and “move on” from Formula 1 at the end of the season “after 17 wonderful years in this amazing sport” and has promised to finish the championship with “more commitment and passion than ever”.The 37-year-old former world champion said: It’s time for me to make a change. I have enjoyed every
  
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• Ben Stokes cleared of affray outside Bristol nightclub

  14-08-2018 18:35
  England cricketer Ben Stokes has been found not guilty of affray following a fight outside a nightclub.A jury acquitted the 27-year-old after a seven-day trial which heard Stokes was acting in self-defence when he punched two men.Within hours of the verdict, the England Cricket Board (ECB) said Stokes would be included in their squad to play India in the third Test.
  
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• ‘It has made us unsafe’: Muslim women on fear and abuse after Boris Johnson’s burqa remarks

  14-08-2018 18:34
  Since the former foreign secretary likened women in niqabs to ‘letterboxes’ and ‘bank robbers’, there has been an increase in reports of anti-Muslim abuse. How does it feel to be victimised because of your dress?‘Oh, there goes a letterbox.’ On Saturday, while Sidrah Sajad was out shopping in Manchester, where she lives, she heard a man – middle-aged, white – say this to a companion as she walked past. “I turned around and said: ‘Excuse
  
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• Westminster security measures face further scrutiny after crash

  14-08-2018 18:30
  The latest apparent attack in Westminster will inevitably lead to further scrutiny of the security measures currently in place to protect parliamentarians as well as Londoners and tourists in the capital.In the aftermath of the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks, lines of crash-rated bollards, concealed barriers in the forms of balustrades and steel barriers were placed around Westminster and outside the Houses of Parliament.Kirsty Moseley was one of the closest witnesses to Tuesday's suspected terror attack
  
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• Driver who hit London pedestrians was British citizen - security minister

  14-08-2018 18:30
  A man who drove a car into London pedestrians outside Britain's parliament on Tuesday was a British citizen who originally came from another country, security minister Ben Wallace said."He's a British citizen," Wallace told BBC TV.
  
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• Diane Abbott: 'Before going to bed, I wrap my hair and have a cup of camomile tea'

  14-08-2018 18:27
  The shadow home secretary on bedtime reading, long days in parliament and the importance of efficient staffIt’s extremely important to me. I’ve read a lot recently about how bad not sleeping is for your health. Unfortunately, I’m always up by 6am, no matter what time I go to bed, and I’m lucky to get four uninterrupted hours. Before going to bed, I wrap my hair and have a cup of camomile tea. I am an avid reader: I have to keep building new shelves for all my books. I sho
  
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