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The latest local and national UK and International news.
Finding plastic – how Nemo’s underwater world is polluted by packaging
The baby clownfish was snapped playing next to a Nestle food wrapper in the South China Sea
Jeremy Corbyn calls for all Navy ships to be built in UK
The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for all Navy vessels to be built in the UK. There has been speculation that a £1bn contract for three new Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ships could go to a foreign shipyard. The Ministry of Defence contract is expected to go out to international tender later this month. Visiting Glasgow, the Labour leader said building the ships somewhere in the UK could secure more than 6,500 jobs - 1,800 of these in shipyards....
“Grammar school plan will steal from children to give privileged few more choice”
A generation of children's education is being compromised as staff numbers are cut, classes get larger, and staff are forced to bring basic things like toilet paper from home says GMB GMB, the union for school support staff, says the Conservative’s latest grammar school plans steal from the majority of UK children to give the rich more choice. The Government has announced a £50 million fund for grammars schools to expand to "give parents greater choice". Karen Leonard, GMB National...
This Tory is putting bill to make patients pay for NHS treatment before parliament today
Rightwinger Chris Chope has put forward legislation that would undermine the principle of an NHS free at the point of use. The Tory MP for Christchurch has tabled a private member’s bill set to be the third to be debated today calling for “co-payment” for NHS treatment. His National Health Service (Co-Funding and Co-Payment) Bill (HC Bill 37) is unlikely to be passed without his Government’s support, but it opens up for debate extending charges from prescriptions, dentistry and opticians...
“A massive finger to the DWP”: writer David Wilson on his disabled son’s PIP victory
Last August writer David Wilson wrote movingly when the Disability Living Allowance his son Ben had always relied on to live independently was stripped and he was left having to fight a cruel Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment by the Department of Work and Pensions that left him struggling to cope. Ben's income was cut drastically. This is what happened next: My son lives in Cornwall and, aged 45, has been disabled since he was six months old after a vaccination precipitated Salaam...
Primary school children injured after roof collapses during lessons
Emergency services called to Nechells E-ACT Primary Academy in Birmingham after part of ceiling fell on top of a Year 2 class
Fossil reveals how some ancient crocodiles evolved into dolphin-like creatures
Researchers say the specimen represents a 'missing link' in the family tree of crocodiles
These are the Brexiteer Tory MPs who voted against reforming the House of Lords in 2012
Calls for House of Lords reform have resurfaced this week after the government suffered another Brexit set back in the upper house. The Daily Mail, which staunchly backed Britain's exit from the European Union, said it is "time to pull the plug on the Lords" on its front page and called its representatives "Traitors in Ermine". Peers backed retaining key aspects of the EU's single market this week through continued participation in the European Economic Area (EEA) by 245 votes...
Government-backed “anti-inequality” investment fund could pay all citizens up to £60 a week by 2045
A pioneering new citizens’ wealth fund in the UK could provide a universal annual cash dividend and eventually a weekly basic income, a new report has claimed. According to research by City, University of London and the Friends Provident Foundation the UK government should create a citizens’- owned investment fund to pay for an annual cash payment to everyone in the country. The report says the fund would be a powerful new anti-inequality instrument, allowing a dividend of £430 per person after...