Facebook and Nick Clegg urged to disclose child sexual abuse after offenders used FB in 5,100 grooming crimes, claims NSPCC October 25, 2021 Police recorded 24 online grooming crimes every week where offenders used Facebook-owned sites in an attempt to target children for sexual abuse between 2017 and 2021. That’s 5,120 sexual communication with a child offences that have involved Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp since the law came into force in April 2017, according to the NSPCC this [...]
Budget: Regeneration of brownfield sites could deliver 160,000 new homes October 25, 2021 A cash injection of £1.8bn, set to be announced in the Budget this week, should help brownfield sites covering the equivalent of 2,000 football pitches to be turned into plots for new homes. It is hoped hundreds of thousands of homes could be built on regenerated land across the country, while England’s planning system will [...]
Angry London rail cleaners take their fight over pay to Churchill’s Fleet Street offices October 25, 2021 Cleaners employed by Churchill who clean trains and stations across London and the Southeast will take their fight over pay to their company headquarters today. The cleaners are employed by Churchill to clean trains and stations for the Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Southeastern franchises, which run trains across London and the Southeast of England. [...]
First deal for new UK Infrastructure Bank as it pumps £107m into green energy hub October 25, 2021 The brand new UK Infrastructure Bank said this morning it plans to invest £107m in the South Bank Quay development at Teesworks, a green energy hub in Teesside, North-East England, creating around 800 jobs. The deal marks the first investment for the bank, which launched in June of this year to finance innovative infrastructure projects, [...]
ULEZ from today: London’s £12.50 pollution charge zone for older vehicles 18 times larger October 25, 2021 From today, drivers of vehicles which do not comply with minimum emissions standards are being charged £12.50 to drive into London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez). The new rules come as London’s pollution charge zone for older vehicles has been significantly expanded, by 18 times, affecting tens of thousands of London motorists. The Ulez has [...]
The Week Ahead: Markets set for flurry of big bank earnings, ahead of the Budget October 25, 2021 It was contrasting week for US and European markets last week, with the Dow and S&P500 once again setting the pace with more record highs, while European stocks lagged behind, finishing the week lower, despite a valiant attempt to recoup their losses from an early week sell-off. The recovery in the latter part of the [...]
Turkey’s Erdogan sends ten ambassadors packing in unprecedented diplomatic move October 24, 2021 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered then foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared “persona non grata”. The British envoy is not one of them. The envoys, including the US, French and German representatives in Ankara, issued a statement earlier this week calling for a resolution to [...]
Sports hero: World 200 metres bronze medallist Alex Quinonez brutally murdered October 24, 2021 World 200 metres bronze medallist Alex Quinonez has been killed in his home country of Ecuador. The 32-year-old finished third at the World Championships in Doha two years ago to become the first Ecuadorian athlete to win a global medal in a track event. The Ecuadorian sports ministry announced the news in a statement on [...]
Government turning to more CCTV and street lighting to reduce crime October 24, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to pledge millions for better CCTV and improved street lighting and give £80m in additional funding to the Crown Prosecution Service. It is part of a £435m package of measures aimed at preventing crime and will form part of next week’s Budget, with a focus on violent offences against women. [...]
Transport, research and skills: £20bn of investments announced ahead of Budget October 24, 2021 When Rishi Sunak delivers his second Budget in a year this Wednesday, there may not be many surprises left after investments totalling more than £20bn were announced over the weekend. The Chancellor will head to the Commons with a focus on levelling up transport links outside London, research and development in health, and a “skills [...]
