In this issue

February 02, 2023

PM under pressure over claims Raab bullied staff

Sunak pressed to explain what he knew about complaints

4 mins

Composer and screenwriter Hesketh-Harvey dies at 65

Kit Hesketh-Harvey, the musician, composer and screenwriter, died suddenly yesterday at the age of 65.

3 mins

'The world is a greyer and quieter place without him'

Lady Fiona Carnarvon, chatelaine of Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey, writes about her friend Kit Hesketh-Harvey

3 mins

Old-style vaudevillian who traded in polite campery

Kit Hesketh-Harvey was one of those surprisingly rare performers whose personality was the same on stage as off.

4 mins

Maxwell's brother doubles down on defence of Andrew after bizarre bathtub photo

Ghislaine Maxwell's brother has doubled down on his attempt to clear Prince Andrew's name, claiming he will \"not be cowed\" by the backlash and ridicule of his staged bath photo.

3 mins

One hundred days of Sunak

The PM has already had plenty of ups and downs but how should we judge his time in No 10 so far, asks Sean O’Grady

5 mins

Sunak returns to his happy place... but it's not working

PPMQSTSD is not a recognised medical condition; principally because it can only possibly affect the roughly eight people in the world to actually watch Prime Minister's Questions regularly enough to have become psychologically traumatised by it. But for those of us who do suffer, this week's edition should have come with a trigger warning.

3 mins

Partygate cover-up 'strictly for the birds', says Johnson

Boris Johnson has lashed out over the Partygate scandal, accusing anyone who suspects he deliberately covered up Covid lockdown parties in No 10 of being \"out of their mind\".

2 mins

Girl, 4, killed by family dog

Alice Stones was mauled to death in back garden of her home

2 mins

Child social care reform in bid to offer more protection

\"Immediate action\" is needed to improve children's social care following the murders of Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes to prevent more from coming to harm, care leaders have warned.

3 mins

Biggest teachers' strike in a decade as 100k join walkout

Thousands of schools across England and Wales were shut yesterday as a result of the biggest strike action in a decade as overstretched teachers describe working \"like zombies\" for little pay.

3 mins

House prices down... again

The average UK house price has fallen for the fifth month in a row dropping by 0.6 per cent in January according to one of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders, Nationwide. Annual house price growth also slowed to 1.1 per cent, from 2.8 per cent in December. The typical property value is now 3.2 per cent lower than the peak seen last August.

2 mins

Households face the biggest rise in water bills in decades

Households in England and Wales will see the largest increase to their water bills in almost 20 years from April when they rise to an average 448 a year.

3 mins

Flat owners opposite Tate Modern win privacy case

The owners of four flats overlooked by the Tate Modern in London have won a Supreme Court privacy bid over the use of the gallery’s viewing platform.

2 mins

No sign missing woman fell as kidnapping fears grow

The parents of Nicola Bulley said there was no sign” the mother of two fell near the River Wyre as they fear someone may have taken her. Ms Bulley’s parents, known only as Ernest, 73, and Dot, 72, vowed we will never stop looking for her”.

2 mins

Home news in brief

Edinburgh Zoo to offer visitors chance to feed pandas

3 mins

Ukraine billionaire among targets in corruption raids

High-profile oligarch hor Kolomoisky who has denied any wrongdoing is a former political ally of President Zelensky

4 mins

Family demands justice at the funeral for Tyre Nichols

Hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the life of Tyre Nichols on Wednesday evening in a ceremony inside a Mississippi Boulevard Baptist Church in Memphis.

3 mins

No classified documents at Biden's home, says FBI

President Joe Biden’s personal attorney said FBI agents had found no documents with classified markings during a planned” search of Mr Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, holiday home.

4 mins

Missing radioactive capsule found after week-long hunt

Officials have found a tiny but highly radioactive capsule that fell off a lorry while it was on a 870-mile highway through Western Australia last month.

2 mins

Tate 'exploiting' sexist views of young Romanians

Boys are being radicalised by the influencer’s views as his court case dominates the headlines, says local politician

4 mins

Stay-at-home protest marks Myanmar coup anniversary

Protesters in Myanmar marked the second anniversary of the military coup yesterday with a \"silent strike\" and renewed vows to restore the democracy that was wrested from them.

3 mins

World news in brief

Pope gives mass to a crowd of 1 million in Congo

5 mins

The propaganda battle over strikes is being lost by Sunak

Yesterday saw the most people on strike on a single day since 2011, as teachers in England and Wales walked out for the first time in the current wave of industrial action, along with rail workers, civil servants and university lecturers.

3 mins

As a mother and a teacher, I'm conflicted about strikes

Like thousands of teachers up and down the country, I was on strike yesterday. In just under a decade of teaching, I've seen conditions plummet year on year. I've seen my wages and that of my colleagues dwindle in light of the cost of living crisis. I've seen funding cuts decimate education from the inside, destroying the life chances of the most vulnerable young people who rely on school as a lifeline.

4 mins

Sunak's ace up his sleeve could sway the next election

From the moment Keir Starmer asked his first question and it was on a subject other than strikes, we knew that this was going to be an inconclusive exchange. Inconclusive, but not pointless.

3 mins

Abolishing non-dom status will be bad for the economy

There is something about Labour's way of managing money that provokes alarm. The opposition is putting pressure on Jeremy Hunt to reveal by the end of this month the government's intentions towards non-doms.

3 mins

Eva Green's case highlights why 'being rude' is still the worst thing a woman can be

It can leave an indelible stain on a career, finds Nicole Vassell

4 mins

'If men had the menopause it'd be all over the news'

The Albert Nobbs’ and Ozark’ star is about to play Phaedra in a new Simon Stone production. She tells Jessie Thompson about portraying one of the most vilified anti-heroines ever’

8 mins

An overly sentimental love letter to a true soap queen

Helena Bonham Carter is on excellent form in Nolly’, Russell T Davies’s drama about the Crossroads’ matriarch Noele Gordon, but it’s just hero worship, says Nick Hilton

2 mins

Manufacturing shrinks for sixth consecutive month

Activity in the UK’s manufacturing sector shrank in January, albeit less than expected, for the sixth month in a row.

1 min

Shingles vaccine boosts sales and profits for GSK

GlaxoSmithKline GSK) has delivered higher profits and revenues after it was buoyed by bumper sales for its shingles vaccine Shingrix. The London-listed pharmaceutical giant said sales grew by 19 per cent to 29.3bn in 2022, compared with the previous year.

1 min

Benefits trap: moving people on to low-paid jobs is not a workable solution

When children face the question \"what do you want to be when you want to grow up?\", a common response is astronaut, or maybe doctor? I'd be willing to bet my house that no child has ever answered \"researcher for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)\".

3 mins

Business news in brief

Ladbrokes owner raises profit guidance

2 mins

Read all stories from The Independent

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