News

Britain will narrowly avoid a recession this year, but there will be little respite for under-pressure families – with around seven million households expected to struggle to pay energy and food bills, according to an economic think tank. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) has forecast that the UK will swerve a technical recession – as defined by two or more quarters of falling gross domestic product […]

Child victims of sexual abuse are waiting more than 600 days to see their attackers brought to justice, figures suggest. A report by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA Centre) found that in 2021/22 it took an average of 261 days for police to reach a charging decision after a crime was reported, and then another 353 days for the matter to be concluded in court. That […]

McDonald’s has signed a legal agreement with the equality watchdog amid concerns over how it has handled sexual harassment complaints made by UK staff. The move comes after allegations by workers at the fast-food chain’s US restaurants of sexual harassment in the workplace over several years and the company’s failure to deal with the issue. It is not known how many current complaints have been made in the UK but […]

Profit more than doubled at oil giant BP last year as the business benefited from runaway gas prices caused by the war in Ukraine. The company said that it would invest an additional eight billion dollars (£6.6 billion) each in the energy transition, and in oil and gas, as boss Bernard Looney promised to keep affordable energy flowing. The business said that underlying replacement cost profit – the figure most […]

Rapist Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick is facing a life sentence after committing “violent and brutal sexual offences” against a dozen women. Carrick, who joined the Met in 2001 before becoming an armed officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command in 2009, pleaded guilty to 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb is expected to sentence Carrick, 48, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday. […]

Civil servants warned ministers that they did not have enough time to properly assess some of the energy support packages that will together cost the taxpayer about £69 billion, an official report has found. The programmes were rushed through after ministers had held off announcing extra support because they were waiting for the Conservative leadership election to play out. It meant that civil servants only had three weeks to put […]

NHS leaders have warned the service is facing its worst day of disruption yet as tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance staff in England are set to walk out in support of pay claims. Monday’s industrial action – expected to be the biggest strike in the history of the NHS – marks the first time the two groups have staged stoppages on the same day during the current wave […]

Harry Kane’s record-breaking goal fired 10-man Tottenham to a 1-0 win over Manchester City to further dent the champions’ titles hopes. Kane slotted home after quarter of an hour to break the deadlock and move past Jimmy Greaves as Spurs’ all-time leading marksman, having gone level with the late forward against Fulham two weeks ago. It proved enough to keep up Tottenham’s excellent record against City, who could have gone […]

New manager Sean Dyche re-ignited the energy and tenacity missing for so long as Everton won their first match since October but warned there was much more required to drag the club out of danger. There was an echo of Walter Smith’s ‘Dogs of War’ of the mid-1990s in the 1-0 victory over Premier League leaders Arsenal, a result built on midfield aggression, defensive commitment and finished by James Tarkowski’s […]