General news

• 'I'm not bothered what your law says'

  27-09-2018 23:30
  Tommy Robinson told Sky News he doesn't care whether his message "incites fear" of Muslims as long as it "prevents children from getting raped".
  
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• New York police officers rescue Theresa May's team after bus breaks down

  27-09-2018 22:34
  Three New York police officers came to the rescue of a group of stranded Downing Street aides after their bus broke down.A bus carrying 11 of Theresa May's top team broke down in the fast lane of the highway as her official motorcade sped towards the airport after leaving the UN General Assembly in New York.As Mrs May took her seat in the front cabin of her Royal Air Force jet, chief of staff Gavin Barwell tweeted "#whereistricky #wheelsupsoon", a reference to Mrs May's trusted personal logistic
  
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• Christine Blasey Ford offers powerful testimony in the #MeToo era

  27-09-2018 21:11
  Eleven days after stepping forward to accuse Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, after receiving death threats and being forced to relocate from her home, having her email hacked and her life laid bare for the public to interrogate and scrutinize, Dr Christine Blasey Ford walked in to Dirksen Senate Office Building 226 prepared to relive a moment that she said “drastically altered” her life.The cramped room, limited to a handful of invited guests, including the actor and activist Alys
  
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• Conservatives risk becoming 'party of nostalgic nationalists'

  27-09-2018 21:00
  Sam Gyimah said the Tories must offer a real alternative to Corbyn’s vision by being vocally pro-business.The Conservatives risk becoming “a rump party of nostalgic nationalists”, senior ministers have said after Labour announced a package of interventionist policies aimed at middle England.Some ministers said they feared the party’s annual conference in Birmingham this week could be defined by infighting over Brexit, with little else to say to the country.
  
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• Black medics in NHS paid thousands less than white medics

  27-09-2018 20:46
  Black male doctors on average earn £9,492 a year less than white ones, according to the study.Black doctors in the NHS are paid on average almost £10,000 a year less and black nurses £2,700 less than their white counterparts, the biggest study of earnings by ethnicity has found.The revelations, based on analysis of 750,000 staff salaries in the NHS in England, prompted claims of racial discrimination.
  
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• Kremlin on Skripal suspect identification - 'Many people look alike'

  27-09-2018 20:44
  British officials have released surveillance footage of two men they said flew from Russia to Britain using fake passports and then used a nerve agent hidden in a vial of perfume that poisoned Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.The Bellingcat investigative website this week published a photograph of someone who looked like one of the men, and whom it identified as Russian military intelligence colonel Anatoliy Chepiga -- challenging the Kremlin account that the two men were civil
  
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• Tommy Robinson: I don't care if I incite fear of Muslims

  27-09-2018 20:43
  Tommy Robinson has told Sky News he does not care whether his message "incites fear" of Muslims as long as it "prevents children from getting raped".The English Defence League founder spoke about being found guilty of contempt of court in May last year for videoing and expressing views about suspects in a sexual grooming case in Canterbury.The right-wing activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, says he wanted to warn people about the men on trial in Canterbury because they were on bai
  
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• May 2018: Moment Tommy Robinson was arrested

  27-09-2018 20:35
  Footage from May shows the moment Tommy Robinson was arrested.
  
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• Rare beluga whale spotted in the River Thames

  27-09-2018 20:15
  A beluga whale has been seen swimming in the River Thames off Gravesend.
  
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• 'Benny' the Thames whale not showing signs of injury or distress

  27-09-2018 20:07
  The beluga whale that has been in the Thames for three days is "not showing any signs of injury or distress", according to the Port of London Authority (PLA)."On 26 September, BDMLR medics observed the whale swimming strongly in the Thames current," said Gavin Parsons, director of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, in a joint statement with the PLA.It appeared to have moved further up river towards London on Thursday morning, but by the afternoon was back in the same spot as previous days.
  
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• EU won't impose immediate tariffs on cheap Argentine biodiesel

  27-09-2018 19:56
  The European Commission has decided not to impose provisional import tariffs on a flood of low-priced Argentine biodiesel until it gathers more information, although it considers the fuel to be subsidised and a potential threat to local producers.The decision, detailed in a document seen by Reuters, comes as a major blow for European producers of fuels made from vegetable and recycled oil.The Commission had been expected to reinstate provisional duties this month or in October and Argentine sale
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party isn’t so radical

  27-09-2018 19:54
  ‘It is amazing the lengths and depths Jeremy Corbyn’s critics will go to in order to smear him,’ writes Professor Trevor Curnow.Martin Kettle asserts that “Labour has now been radically transformed into a party in the leader’s own far-left political image” (Can Labour solve the Brexit question?What Corbyn’s Labour is proposing would have been seen as mainstream social democracy in the 1960s and 70s: a refashioning of a mixed economy of public and private
  
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• Labour can offer disadvantaged children a surer start in life

  27-09-2018 19:49
  The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, addresses the Labour party conference.While Labour’s commitment of vast new sums towards preschool interventions is welcome, much more thought needs to be given to how they can be used most effectively to equalise children’s life chances (Free nurseries are a good place to start patching up our fragmented system, 26 September).Much of the inequality that now exists between the life chances of children from relatively wealthy families and
  
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• Police arrest three after human remains found in Yorkshire cottage

  27-09-2018 19:37
  Helmsley is located on the edge of the North York Moors National Park.A historic market town has been left “shocked and horrified” by the arrest of three people after human remains were found in a stone cottage which was once part of an aristocratic estate.Roofers were struck by a foul smell while removing tiles and coping stones from the house in Helmsley, North Yorkshire.
  
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• Dr Christine Blasey Ford Details Sexual Assault Allegations To A Room Packed Full Of Men

  27-09-2018 19:35
  Dr Christine Blasey Ford, the woman testifying that a US Supreme Court nominee
  
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• Europe must tackle financial bubbles locally - ECB's Praet

  27-09-2018 19:29
  The euro zone is not yet at risk from financial asset bubbles but ultra low rates can endanger stability, so countries need to enact local measures to address pockets of excesses, European Central Bank chief economist Peter Praet said on Thursday."Keeping rates low for long periods can raise challenges for financial stability further down the road," Praet said in a speech.The ECB has kept rates in negative territory for years and expects to raise them only very slowly, arguing that its primary m
  
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• 'Dogging' couple found guilty of raping three teenage girls

  27-09-2018 19:17
  A couple face life in prison after being found guilty of raping three teenage girls in the 1980s and 1990s.Peter Griffiths, 65, and his wife Avril, 61, "worked together befriending the girls before going on to sexually abuse them", said prosecutor Wendy Brady.Peter Griffiths said he had consensual sex with one of the girls and took photos of another with her permission, when both were above the age of consent.
  
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• Corbyn talks with EU Brexit officials spark fresh no-deal fears

  27-09-2018 19:16
  Jeremy Corbyn has sparked fresh fears in Brussels of a no-deal Brexit after saying during talks with senior EU Brexit officials that he will vote down anything that fails to deliver the same benefits as membership of the single market and customs union.The Labour leader spent two hours with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, and Martin Selmayr, the most senior official in charge of planning for a cliff-edge Brexit.
  
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• Kremlin looks into UK reports naming Salisbury attacker as Russian colonel

  27-09-2018 19:09
  The Kremlin said on Thursday that it would look into reports in British media that one of the suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack in March was a decorated Russian colonel.The Daily Telegraph and the BBC reported on Wednesday that the real identity of one of the men wanted for the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga.This month, British prosecutors charged two Russians with attempted murder for the poisoning, but said they believed the
  
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• Jeremy Hunt warns Russia: 'The price will be too high'

  27-09-2018 19:02
  Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has used a Sky News interview to tell Russia "the price will be too high" if it continues to act against international norms.Mr Hunt suggested Moscow will be wondering whether the Salisbury chemical weapons attack was "a smart thing to do".Speaking to The Kay Burley Show in New York, he revealed his "frank exchange of views" with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, during a "pretty tough" meeting at the UN general assembly.
  
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• Labour's Corbyn tells EU's Barnier hard Irish border must be avoided

  27-09-2018 19:00
  The leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said he had told the EU's Brexit chief Michel Barnier in talks on Thursday that Britain's withdrawal must not disrupt trade across the Ireland-Northern Ireland border.Corbyn, who has previously met Barnier and once brought him an Arsenal football shirt as a gift, stressed that he was not negotiating with him on his visit to Brussels but laying outLabour's views on the dangers of a no-deal Brexit.
  
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• David Beckham avoids speeding prosecution after lawyer 'Mr Loophole' finds technicality

  27-09-2018 18:53
  David Beckham will not be prosecuted over a speeding charge after his lawyer, known as "Mr Loophole", successfully fought the allegation on a technicality.Former England captain Beckham was accused of driving his Bentley at 59mph in a 40mph zone on the A40 in Paddington, London, shortly after 5.30pm on 23 January.Celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman initially had a setback when a judge dismissed his submission seeking to dismiss the charge.
  
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• Hunt says May's Chequers plan still basis for Brexit deal

  27-09-2018 18:35
  British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said he believes that Prime Minister Theresa May's Chequers Brexit plan should remain the basis for Britain's exit from the European Union, and that negotiations should take place around it.Hunt told Sky News on Thursday that May's Brexit proposals, known as Chequers after the country house where they were agreed by the British cabinet in July, were still relevant despite opposition expressed by European leaders and some of May's colleagues.
  
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• People Are In Tears After Christine Blasey Ford's Extraordinary Account Of Alleged Assault By Brett Kavanaugh

  27-09-2018 18:27
  The powerful testimony by Christine Blasey Ford, detailing allegations that
  
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• Police treating Manchester hotel room death as murder

  27-09-2018 18:12
  Police have launched a murder investigation into the death of a man found in a Manchester hotel room.Police were called to the Britannia Hotel shortly after 5.30am on Wednesday after reports that a man had fallen from the fifth floor.The man, believed to be in his 20s, died at the scene on Portland Street and officers are not treating his death as suspicious.
  
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• Simon Cowell donates £25,000 to close dog meat farm in South Korea

  27-09-2018 18:10
  Simon Cowell has donated £25,000 to an animal protection charity to help close a dog meat farm in South Korea.The X Factor boss's contribution to Humane Society International (HSI) means more than 200 dogs and puppies bred for human consumption will now be saved, the charity said on Twitter.
  
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• 'Swinging' couple found guilty of raping three teenage girls

  27-09-2018 18:04
  A couple face life in prison after being found guilty of raping three teenage girls in the 1980s and 1990s.Peter Griffiths, 65, and his wife Avril, 61, "worked together befriending the girls before going on to sexually abuse them", said prosecutor Wendy Brady.Peter Griffiths said he had consensual sex with one of the girls and took photos of another with her permission, when both were above the age of consent.
  
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• Britain tells Iran it will not let matter of detained aid worker rest

  27-09-2018 17:29
  British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday he had had a frank discussion with his Iranian counterpart about detained British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and that he would not let the matter rest."Iran is detaining innocent people as an instrument of diplomatic leverage and we can't accept that," Hunt told Sky news from New York where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly."I had a very, very frank discussion with the Iranian foreign minister ... and I ma
  
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• Watch: Royal Mail’s magical promo launches Harry Potter stamps

  27-09-2018 17:28
  Forget owls, Royal Mail has a new set of Harry Potter stamps.
  
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• Ain't no mountain? Fair enough: how urban hiking can change the way you see your city

  27-09-2018 17:20 via theguardian.com
  Yes, most cities are peak-free zones, but you can still find challenging hiking conditions – all without a trip to the countryUrban hiking might sound like an oxymoron, but it’s actually a thing. There are plenty of maps, blogs and guided tours cropping up online (more about that below). Continue reading...
  
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• 10 Canadian restaurants and bars that will blow your mind

  27-09-2018 17:20 via theguardian.com
  From molecular gastronomy in Ottawa, to seafood and swine Caesar cocktails in Montreal, these are the food trends coming out of some of the most exciting eateries in the worldAtelier, Ottawa, Ontario Continue reading...
  
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• School Nurse Numbers At Lowest Level In Almost A Decade

  27-09-2018 17:02
  School nurses are at their lowest number in at least nine years, with staff
  
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• Murdered British MP remembered in Brussels street sign

  27-09-2018 16:53
  The city of Brussels named a square on Thursday after Jo Cox, the British lawmaker murdered during the Brexit referendum campaign, in a ceremony where her family lamented the continued ferocity of political debate."After Jo was killed, it felt like there was a real hope that some things would change," her sister Kim Leadbeater told a gathering at the newly named "place Jo Cox" in the city centre that was attended by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
  
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• Hunt says Russia may wonder if Skripal poisoning was smart

  27-09-2018 16:45
  British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday that the world would not be a comfortable place for Russia if it used chemical weapons, adding that the Kremlin may be regretting ordering an attack on a former Russian spy in Salisbury.Russia denies involvement in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury in March.Hunt said he had a "frank exchange of views" with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, adding that it was "not acceptable for Russia to in
  
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• Carabao bangers, Mourinho v Pogba and lucky cucumbers – Football Weekly Extra

  27-09-2018 16:43 via theguardian.com
  Max is joined by Barry Glendenning, Paul Doyle and Vaishali Bhardwaj to discuss the Carabao Cup, yet more Mourinho drama, Harry Wilson’s banger, lucky cucumbers, mislaid lederhosen and noisy dogsJoin the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Paul Doyle and Vaishali Bhardwaj to look back at the last few days of football, starting with Derby knocking Manchester United out of the Carabao Cup and the José Mourinho/Paul Pogba fallout. Con
  
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• Sainsbury's-Asda stores overlap in 463 areas, says competition watchdog

  27-09-2018 16:36
  The planned £12bn merger between Sainsbury's and Asda risks substantially lessening competition in 463 areas where the businesses overlap, the competition watchdog has warned.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) set out the figure in a detailed explanation of why it last week announced it would refer the deal for an in-depth investigation.A merger between Sainsbury's and Asda, currently Britain's second and third biggest supermarkets, would create a powerhouse whose combined market
  
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• Pret allergy inquest: Coroner 'struggling' with British Airways explanation of why defibrillator was not used

  27-09-2018 16:32
  An in-flight defibrillator was not used after a teenage girl suffered a fatal allergic reaction because it was "too dangerous", a British Airways employee has told an inquest.Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who had numerous allergies, collapsed on a flight from London to Nice after eating an artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette from Pret A Manger.The youngster reacted to sesame seeds in the bread, which caused her throat to tighten and vicious red hives to flare up across her midriff, eventually
  
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• Brett Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Blasey Ford Testifies At Historic Senate Hearing

  27-09-2018 16:26
  A woman accusing Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault is
  
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• Portmeirion and beyond: the fairytale of north Wales

  27-09-2018 16:15 via theguardian.com
  Journalist Joanna Moorhead spent childhood holidays in the ‘magical kingdom’ of Portmeirion. Forty years later, she toured the area with her teenage daughter. Is it still as enchanting? Back in the 1970s, a good 20 years before the advent of low-cost airlines made short European breaks as cheap as a trip to the local seaside, my family made regular jaunts to an Italian village that was only two hours, door to door, from our home in Manchester. The place was the height of exotica: it
  
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• Champions League to get VAR from next season, says UEFA

  27-09-2018 15:37
  Video assistant referee (VAR) technology will be used in the Champions League from next season, UEFA has announced.As well as being brought in from the play-off stage of European club football's premier competition, VAR will also be used in the 2020 European Championship, next year's UEFA Super Cup and in the Europa League from the 2020-21 season.In addition, it will be used in the finals of the new Nations League competition from 2021.
  
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• London fire brigade chief denies she should have expected Grenfell

  27-09-2018 15:16
  The London fire brigade commissioner, Dany Cotton, has claimed the ferocity of the Grenfell Tower fire was so unexpected that it was like “the space shuttle landing on the Shard”, even though she conceded that the brigade knew about the risk of cladding fires nine months before the blaze.Giving evidence in front of a packed inquiry room, Cotton admitted she did not know about an internal fire brigade presentation detailing the risks.Survivors of the June 2017 disaster, which killed 7
  
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• Tory Councillor Bob Frost Suspended After 'Joking' About Slavery and Abortion

  27-09-2018 14:33
  A controversial Tory councillor has been suspended after apparently sending a
  
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• Grenfell Inquiry: London Fire Chief Dany Cotton Still Suffers Memory Blanks After Tragedy Trauma

  27-09-2018 14:28
  The head of the London Fire Brigade has described how the events of the
  
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• EU accepts no-deal Brexit would still include some deals - diplomats

  27-09-2018 14:26
  The European Union will wait until November before kicking off full-blown preparations for a possible collapse of Brexit talks, diplomats said, reluctantly accepting that such a scenario would still require some managing.EU envoys of the 27 countries remaining in the bloc after Brexit discussed on Wednesday stepping up contingency planning should no agreement with Britain emerge on how to run the unprecedented process."We will wait for if and when the negotiations with Britain officially fail to
  
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• At-risk children 'left to fend for themselves' after service cuts

  27-09-2018 14:25
  Thousands of children at risk of abuse and neglect are being left to fend for themselves because of substantial cuts to family support services over the past five years, a charity has warned.Action for Children said its analysis of official figures published on Thursday showed council budgets for early help services designed to prevent families falling into crisis had shrunk by £743m – more than a quarter – over the past five years.The cut includes a £450m reduction in Su
  
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• Postman Pat and Rosie and Jim creator John Cunliffe dies

  27-09-2018 14:12
  John Cunliffe, the creator of beloved children's characters Postman Pat and Rosie and Jim, has died.The author's agents David Higham confirmed the news following a death notice and poignant obituary in his local paper, the Ilkley Gazette."Even the skies wept for John the gifted creator of 'Postman Pat', 'Rosie and Jim' and author of many earlier published collections of poetry and picture story books for children.
  
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• Royal wedding gospel singers The Kingdom Choir are set to tour the UK

  27-09-2018 14:06
  The gospel singers had previously only performed to a maximum of a few hundred people before they made headlines during Harry and Meghan's big day in May.Following the Windsor Castle gig - watched by about two billion people - they announced a record deal with Sony in July and are now hitting the road.The tour will also feature a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on 19 May, marking a year to the day of the show-stopping performance that changed their lives - and Harry and Meghan's first anni
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn in Brussels to meet EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier

  27-09-2018 14:05
  Jeremy Corbyn will tell the EU's chief negotiator that a "no-deal" Brexit is not acceptable amid an impasse in negotiations.The Labour leader has travelled to Brussels for meetings with Michel Barnier, alongside Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary.Prior to his discussions with the European Commission official, Mr Corbyn attended a ceremony dedicating a square in the Belgian capital to murdered MP Jo Cox.
  
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• VAR: Video technology to be used in Champions League from next season, says UEFA

  27-09-2018 14:00
  Video assistant referee (VAR) technology will be used in the Champions League from next season, UEFA has announced.As well as being brought in from the play-off stage of European club football's premier competition, VAR will also be used in the 2020 European Championship, next year's UEFA Super Cup and in the Europa League from the 2020-21 season.In addition, it will be used in the finals of the new Nations League competition from 2021.
  
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• Is Britain really set for months' of brutal snow?

  27-09-2018 13:53
  Britain warned it is in for a brutal winter by forecasters, with temperatures plunging for months - but is that right?
  
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