UK News

Teachers should be given powers to compel parents of disruptive children to engage with them – tackling the “burgeoning crisis of behaviour” in schools, a report has said. Schools should be able to escalate concerns to other agencies on “safeguarding grounds” when parents refuse to co-operate, according to a paper from the think tank set up by Sir Tony Blair. The report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change […]

The Scottish Government has been urged to reduce the cost of rail travel after a price comparison found it was cheaper to fly from Edinburgh to London than commute from the Scottish capital to Glasgow by train. Research by Scottish Labour found a return flight from Edinburgh to London Stansted could cost as little as £29.98 – less than the £31.40 price of a peak-time ScotRail ticket between Glasgow and […]

The King will speak about his commitment to heritage crafts as part of a BBC Christmas special of Countryfile. The festive programme, filmed at Charles’s Highgrove home in Gloucestershire, will showcase the work of the King’s Foundation’s education programmes, including painting, millinery and embroidery crafts. Countryfile hosts Matt Baker, Margherita Taylor, and Adam Henson met staff from Charles’s charity for the programme while the royal residence was transformed into a […]

Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson is expected to be the next UK ambassador to the US. Lord Mandelson, who served in the cabinets of Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is poised to be the UK’s next top diplomat in Washington, as President-elect Donald Trump returns to office. The tenure of Dame Karen Pierce, the current office holder, is expected to come to an end at the start of 2025 […]

A new once-a-day tablet that treats advanced breast cancer is to be rolled out on the NHS, with about 1,100 patients in England set to benefit. The final guidance on elacestrant by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) comes after it provisionally rejected the drug in October. The charity Breast Cancer Now welcomed the news but said it remains “deeply concerned that the system is not working […]

Household water bills in England and Wales will increase by an average £31 a year over the next five years, regulator Ofwat has announced. The increase is significantly higher than the expected average rise of around £20 a year per household, outlined in the regulator’s draft proposals in July. Ofwat said the increase would pay for a £104 billion upgrade of the water sector to deliver “substantial, lasting, improvements for […]

Disadvantaged pupils in England find it “increasingly difficult” to catch up as they progress into secondary school, a report has suggested. The Government should prioritise early intervention but also carry out continued interventions throughout pupils’ schooling to reduce the disadvantage gap, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has said. The think tank’s report highlights significant variation in the attainment gap between disadvantaged learners and their peers in different areas of England. […]

There has been a “catastrophic” rise in deaths caused by drinking, leading public health experts have said. The Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) has called for urgent action from the Health Secretary to redress the “alarming trend”. In a letter to Wes Streeting, the Alliance – which is made up of medical royal colleges, charities, treatment providers and academics – highlights how deaths caused “solely by alcohol have increased by a […]

Sea slugs making a home in the UK due to climate change are among the species spotted around the country’s coasts in 2024, The Wildlife Trusts said. Sea monitoring by volunteers and conservationists this year also revealed invasive species such as Pacific oysters and showed some wildlife making a comeback, including St Piran’s hermit crabs along the south coast – which were wiped out by the Torrey Canyon oil spill […]