A round 300,000 fewer top GCSE grades could be awarded this week in a “shock” to pupils and their parents, it has been suggested. Exams regulator Ofqual has said a return to pre-pandemic grading means this year’s national GCSE results in England will be lower than last year and similarContinue Reading
L ondon mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of attempting to “squash dissent”, after his deputy asked a City Hall-funded expert to counter science that questioned the benefits of a charge on polluting vehicles. Shirley Rodrigues asked an academic, who was in receipt of funding from Mr Khan’s office, onContinue Reading
A Cabinet minister has ruled out adding an extra bank holiday to the calendar to allow the public to celebrate should England win Sunday’s World Cup final. There had been calls from Opposition politicians, including Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, for a national day off in the Lionesses’ honour ifContinue Reading
T he family of Victorian-era prime minister William Gladstone are due to travel to the Caribbean to apologise for the historical part an ancestor played in the slave trade. William, who was Liberal prime minister on four occasions in the 19th century, was son of John Gladstone – one ofContinue Reading
L awyers representing exonerated prisoner Andrew Malkinson have called for the chairmanship of the body responsible for investigating potential miscarriages of justice to be made full-time. Emily Bolton, the solicitor for Mr Malkinson – who served 17 years behind bars after being wrongly convicted of rape, said the position ofContinue Reading
S cotland’s Deputy First Minister has rejected calls to field a single pro-independence candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West. Former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said his former party was heading for “electoral disaster” if the pro-independence vote is split. In an open letter to First MinisterContinue Reading
A lex Salmond has warned that his former party faces “electoral disaster” if it does not back Alba’s calls to put up a single independence candidate in a forthcoming by-election. The former Scottish first minister and SNP party leader has written an open letter to First Minister Humza Yousaf toContinue Reading
U K ministers, journalists, media representatives and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court are among 54 British nationals to have been banned from entering Russia. BBC journalist Ros Atkins, known for his popular explainer-style videos, is among those included on the list, along with Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer andContinue Reading
C ouncils and police are being urged to “turn a blind eye” to pubs opening early for the women’s football World Cup final. MPs have called on the authorities to ignore instances of publicans serving outside of their usual Sunday hours, after warnings that licensing rules mean leave some venuesContinue Reading
M ore than 120,000 children in the UK are living in the most extreme form of poverty, according to a charity survey which suggested the situation has worsened since last year. A rise in levels of destitution has been described as “stark and worrying” by Buttle UK, which works withContinue Reading
