United Kingdom

Typhoo Tea has been rescued by vape maker Supreme in a £10m deal which it said would keep the brand "in British hands".

The 120-year-old teamaker fell in to administration in November as its sales slumped and debts rose.

Manchester-based Supreme makes the e-cigarette brand 88Vape and distributes nicotine and home products to supermarkets.

Record number of deportees includes children who may have spent most of their lives in the UK

The last time house prices were this expensive relative to average earnings was in the year 1876, nearly 150 years ago.

Source: https://www.schroders.com/en-gb/uk/individual/insights/what-174-years-of-data-tell-us-about-house-price-affordability-in-the-uk/

If I wanted to take my family on a week-long trip to London during Easter, how much of the city would be shut down? Are the shops closed and so on?

I know Good Friday is a bank holiday, but I don't know what exactly it means beyond, I suppose, the banks being closed? 😁

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/5231417

Archived link

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council and a vocal critic of Western nations, has reportedly purchased a 3.5-million-pound (USD4.4 million, EUR4.2 million) luxury yacht manufactured in the United Kingdom.

The vessel, named Hurry Up, was produced by Plymouth-based Princess Yachts in 2024 and imported into Russia through a foundation allegedly linked to Medvedev, according to the investigative outlet The Insider.

The foundation, known as the Foundation for the Support of National Maritime Programs, facilitated the import through a related company, documents reveal.

The foundation is headed by Dmitry Ustratov, an associate of Ilya Yeliseyev, a long-time confidant of Medvedev and overseer of his financial interests.

[...]

A police driver who faced a fierce backlash when he rammed a cow has been cleared of any potential wrongdoing after an investigation found his actions "both lawful and necessary".

Shocking footage from the incident on 15 June shows a police vehicle hitting a cow in Staines-upon-Thames, causing the 10-month-old cow, named Beau Lucy, to fall and skid metres down the road.

Surrey Police has said an investigation looking at whether the actions of those involved on the night amounted to the offence of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal found they had acted "within their duties".

A statement reads: "The tactics adopted were both lawful and necessary to prevent harm to the public and property.

"As such, no further action will be taken in either the criminal investigation, or the internal misconduct matter."

Beau Lucy, who suffered cuts in the incident, has recovered well and remains at the farm with her herd, the force added.

Some progress, finally.

Edit: for the benefit of the tinfoil hat wearers, assisted dying is not the same as euthanasia.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/5201835

The UK House of Commons unanimously voted to reject China’s “distortion of the international law around Taiwan” to undermine its participation in international organizations, including the UN.

It is the fifth legislative body to condemn Beijing's interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, following Australia, Canada, The Netherlands and the EU.

The House said that UN Resolution 2758 passed on Oct. 25, 1971 — which states that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the only legitimate government of China — does not mention Taiwan and therefore does not establish PRC sovereignty over Taiwan or define its political status.

The chamber urged the UK government to clarify its position that nothing in international law forbids Taiwan’s participation in international organizations such as the UN.

[...]

The UK continues to be a "staunch advocate for Taiwan’s meaningful international participation" in bodies including the UN and the World Health Assembly, UK Foreign Office Minister for the Indo-Pacific Catherine West said yesterday.

The UK government should condemn any attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to “rewrite history,” as this behavior does not benefit Taiwanese, the interests of the UK or the wider international community, West added.

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[Labour Party lawmaker Blair] McDougall said that “diplomatic technicalities on an issue as fraught as the status of Taiwan could have far-reaching consequences for the entire world,” citing the importance of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, shipping routes and geopolitical position.

The economic toll of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be felt in every household in the UK, he added.

McDougall also stressed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine serves as a stark reminder to “form policy on a crisis before the crisis emerges,” he said.

A man has become the first in the UK to be arrested over videos filmed of women on nights out without their consent, with some in vulnerable states.

The 27-year-old from Bradford was taken into custody on suspicion of stalking and harassment after reports of women being followed, filmed and harassed in Manchester city centre.

...

Though filming on a public street is not a crime, it can cross the line into harassment, and women who discovered they had been targeted were asked to report it to police.

Greater Manchester police (GMP) said they had received a number of reports and, while investigating, found more content locked under paywalled accounts, which included footage of suspected non-consensual nudity and upskirting.

The arrest is thought to be the first of its kind in the country linked with viral videos of women filmed on nights out, some of them while drunk or alone on the street.

Give it some time and maybe Lemmy will enter the top 10...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22497296

Summary

CCTV footage from Whitefield School in London shows autistic children being abused in padded “calming rooms” between 2014-2017, including being shoved, restrained, left in distress, or forced to sit in vomit.

Police investigated but brought no charges, leaving families to cope with trauma. Over 40 children were affected, with some developing PTSD or epilepsy.

Safeguarding investigations revealed six staff members abused students, but they weren’t referred for banning. Parents accuse authorities of a cover-up, while calls grow for stricter regulation of seclusion practices in special schools across the UK.

For the majority of artists, making music is financially unsustainable. According to a census conducted by the Musicians’ Union, nearly half of working musicians in the UK earn less than £14,000 a year from their craft, while a further half have to sustain their careers with other forms of income. It’s easy to imagine that these are the aspiring performers making tunes in their bedrooms and moonlighting as bartenders, but even household names are turning to alternative income streams.

British singer Kate Nash announced on Thursday that she would start posting pictures of her bottom on adult website OnlyFans to raise money for her tour. The Foundations singer has nearly a million monthly listeners on Spotify, and is playing all across the UK, including a sold out gig in London, but says that touring is a loss making exercise.

She started her “Butts 4 Tour Buses” page in order to ensure “good wages and safe means of travel for my band and crew”. Nash would rather you gawk at her gluteus maximus than listen to Foundations on Spotify. "No need to stream my music, I’m good for the 0.003 of a penny per stream thanks," she told her followers on Instagram.

For an independent solo artist to make the UK living wage they would need 9 million streams a year. But most artists need far more as revenue is split between bands, with record labels often taking a hefty cut.

While Spotify can provide a reliable if paltry source of income, touring is only profitable for musicians playing big venues to sold out crowds. A survey conducted by rehearsal space network Pirate Studios found that only 29% of artists make a profit from tours. Rising costs and a flailing economy have exacerbated this, and a government report earlier this year found that artists are facing a “cost-of-touring” crisis, with travel, accommodation and food prices all higher than ever.

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With her backside hustle, Nash follows in the footsteps of Lily Allen, who started selling pictures of her feet on OnlyFans over summer. She had the idea after seeing that her feet had a perfect five star rating on WikiFeet, a photo-sharing foot fetish website. Subscribers pay £8 a month to access her posts. In October, Allen claimed that shots of her well-pedicured trotters were earning her more money than Spotify streams – and that’s saying something, considering Allen has over 7 million monthly listeners and more than a billion streams on her top three songs.

A number of unidentified drones have been spotted over three airbases in Britain, the United States Air Force (USAF) has confirmed.

The incidents, which occurred between November 20 and 22, saw “small unmanned aerial systems” spotted over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell, in Norfolk.

The USAF, which uses the bases, said it was unclear at this stage whether the drones were considered hostile.

It also declined to comment on whether any defence mechanisms were used but said it retains “the right to protect” installations.

Russia is ready to carry out cyber attacks on the United Kingdom and other allies in a bid to weaken support for Ukraine, a senior minister will warn later.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, whose role includes responsibility for national security, is set to tell a Nato meeting that the Kremlin could target British businesses and leave millions without power. It is the latest in a series of warnings about the cyber-warfare capabilities of Russia, which McFadden is to call a "hidden war" being waged against Ukraine.

He is also expected to single-out Russia's Unit 29155, which the government says has carried out a number of attacks in the UK and Europe.

[...]