W ater companies will pay out £114 million to bill-payers after failing to meet key targets on reducing pollution, leakage and supply interruptions while customer satisfaction continues to fall, Ofwat has said. Not one company achieved the regulator’s top category of “leading” while Dwr Cymru, Southern, Thames, Anglian, Bristol, SouthContinue Reading
Mama Belle and the kids/Shutterstock Glitches in our evolutionary development mean that 80% of four-year-olds get glue ear, a temporary loss of hearing. Many have costly and unnecessary surgery despite there being excellent non-surgical alternatives. Glue ear or secretory otitis media, to give it its medical name, is caused byContinue Reading
Tero Vesalainen / Shutterstock The UK’s long-debated online safety bill (OSB) has been approved by the House of Lords, clearing the way for it to become law. But it has pitted the government, which proposed the bill, against tech companies that provide secure messaging services. Critics say it will allowContinue Reading
E mma Heming Willis, wife of Bruce Willis, has said that it is “hard to know” if the actor is fully aware of his condition – frontotemporal dementia (FTD). His daughter Rumer Willis announced in a post to Instagram earlier in the year that the 68-year-old actor, known for hisContinue Reading
R ishi Sunak is reportedly alarmed by the runaway cost of HS2 as he faces a Cabinet split over the potential axing of the rail project’s northern leg. A growing number of senior Tories have warned the Prime Minister against the cancellation of HS2’s Birmingham to Manchester route. Mr Sunak,Continue Reading
E ssential school staff in Scotland who are members of Unison are expected to walk out on September 26, 27 and 28 in a pay dispute with local government body the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla). Janitors, cleaners and support workers are among those set to take part inContinue Reading
A ndy Burnham has hit out at reports that Rishi Sunak is on the verge of scrapping the HS2 leg from Birmingham to Manchester. The mayor of Greater Manchester said scrapping parts of the project is a “decision of epic proportions for our part of the world” and would undermineContinue Reading
Review at a glance D iscovering Beautiful Thing is like a rite of passage for teen gays, whether in the form of the cult 1996 film or in one of the many revivals starring the likes of Andrew Garfield, Jonathan Bailey and Jonny Lee Miller. Who knew gay love couldContinue Reading
A train line which featured in The Railway Children film is among a number of “cherished” UK institutions such as pubs, museums and sports clubs to be protected with funding. The Government is spending more than £12.3m to secure 45 treasured spaces in villages, towns and cities across the country.Continue Reading
T he Prime Minister is reportedly considering axing plans for the HS2 high-speed rail link to run from Birmingham to Manchester amid soaring costs. Critics of such a move include former prime ministers Boris Johnson and David Cameron, some business leaders and the Labour mayors of Greater Manchester and London,Continue Reading
