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Chief Inspector Andrew Johnstone has been placed on restricted duties after being charged with common assault

GMB, the union for the probation service, has responded to the government announcement that contracts of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Councils that provide the bulk of probation services in England and Wales will be terminated early. After the contracts are scrapped, a consultation called ‘Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence’ will try to identify how the current service can be improved in the light of the continued poor performance heavily criticised by a recent Justice Select Committee report. The contracts will expire...

Grave concerns over future of North Devon shipyard following government's suspension of Type 31e bidding have been raised by GMB. The bidding process was paused on Wednesday in an announcement by the MoD in which it claimed the pause was necessary after they had been forced to rethink the acquisition strategy for its Type 31e general-purpose frigate programme after abruptly terminating the original process. The MoD citied insufficient compliant bids for an effective and robust competition as the major reason....

Scientists say that if CO2 levels continue to rise the consequences will be “catastrophic”

An investigation into the Leave campaign's Facebook marketing campaign has revealed it was a "political phishing scam" that used sensitive issues with no connection to Brexit in order to win votes. Analysis of Facebook ads provided to the parliamentary investigation found ads about polar bears, the collapse of the UK steel industry and flood defences linked to the EU referendum vote - many offering the disproved sum of £350 million to solve UK problems. One used Storm Desmond which devastated many...

Theresa May's Chequers plan has fallen at the first hurdle after the EU's chief negotiator ruled out allowing the UK to collect customs duties on its behalf. Michel Barnier said the UK wanted to "take back control" of its money, law and borders - but so did the EU. He said the EU would not delegate "excises duty collection to a non-member", effectively sabotaging the compromised plan May put to the cabinet earlier this month. Although both he and the new...

Yet spending just ten minutes with them boosts their mental wellbeing

First mapping of global marine wilderness shows just how little remains

They remember local smells to build up a mental map to guide themselves across many miles of unfamiliar territory back to their loft.