Those looking for clues about the shape of this week’s budget could do worse than consider Rishi Sunak’s diet. The chancellor has given up an addiction to full-sugar Coca-Cola and taken to fasting once or twice a week.
“The guy doesn’t really eat much,” said one of those who knows Sunak well. “He’ll have some chicken broth in the evening. He’ll sustain himself throughout the day with a Granny Smith apple and some cashew nuts.”
This parsimonious regime is nothing to do with Sunak’s Hinduism; rather, it flows from the chancellor’s belief that flushing things out of the system is good for his health. When he gets to his feet at 12.30pm on Wednesday he will announce plans to put the entire country on a
A Second World War plane soared over the funeral of Captain Sir Tom Moore in a military flypast as his family paid tribute to the 100-year-old veteran whose "message and spirit lives on".
The C-47 Dakota flew over Bedford Crematorium to mark the death of Captain Sir Tom, who raised more than £33 million for the NHS before his death on 2 February.
His coffin was draped in a Union Jack, with his Second World War service cap, a wreath from the Yorkshire Regiment, his war medals and knighthood placed on top.
Image:Soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment carry his coffin
Just eight members of his immediate family attended the funeral due to coronavirusrestrictions, which began with the flypast and a firing party of 14 each firing three rounds in unison.
His daughters Hannah Ingram-Moore and Lucy Teixeira gave emotional eulogies, while his grandchildren Benji, Georgia and Tom paid tributes and read poems.
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The service was also attended by his other grandson Max and two sons-in-law.
After a rendition of Captain Sir Tom's charity single, a version of You'll Never Walk Alone sung with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir, his daughter Lucy told of how proud she is of her father.
More from Tom Moore
Image:The hearse leaves his home in Bedfordshire
Image:Soldiers lift Captain Sir Tom Moore's coffin from the hearse
"Daddy, you always told us 'best foot forward' and true to your word that's what you did last year, raising a fortune for the NHS and walking your way into the nation's hearts," she said.
"Daddy, I am so proud of you, what you achieved your whole life and especially in the last year," she added through tears.
"You may be gone but your message and your spirit lives on."
Image:Only eight members of his family were present at Bedford Crematorium
Captain Sir Tom raised a fortune for the NHS by completing 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday in April.
His original hope was to raise just £1,000, but after capturing the nation's heart, he went on to surpass £30 million.
The veteran's other daughter Hannah, who managed his social media accounts and announced his death earlier this month, said the world had become "enthralled" by her father's spirit of hope, positivity and resilience.
Image:A C-47 Dakota flies over the funeral
Image:Members of the armed forces salute outside the funeral
She added: "We are so proud of the way you handled everything that happened.
"We have been so close as a family before this but we were thrust even closer together as the world became enthralled by your spirit of hope, positivity and resilience.
"They too saw your belief in kindness and the fundamental goodness of the human spirit."
Grandson Benji said "there is a piece of you in everything I do", while granddaughter Georgia read a poem called The Magician, which spoke of how he could achieve anything.
Image:Captain Sir Tom punches the air on his 100th birthday as a flypast goes over his home
The service, which was broadcast around the world, also included a specially recorded version of Smile by Michael Buble, music from Dame Vera Lynn, and ended with Frank Sinatra's My Way and a bugler playing The Last Post.
Six members of the Yorkshire Regiment carried Captain Sir Tom's coffin before it was committed for cremation.
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The family of Captain Sir Tom Moore have paid tribute to the NHS charity fundraiser at his funeral
The centenarian, who died after testing positive for COVID-19 and being treated for pneumonia, has asked for his epitaph to read: "I told you I was old", in reference to comedian Spike Milligan's famous tombstone that said "I told you I was ill".
Although the public were unable to pay tribute to him in person, an online condolence book has been signed by thousands of people.
“Someone will have to make extra cake and sandwiches, and it won’t be me.” Today we celebrate the life of our hero. We will be following Captain Tom’s wishes by enjoying a cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge cake. Please join us as we raise a cup to him. pic.twitter.com/c9F1xBFL9a
And others honoured the centenarian in their own ways from home.
The Arnold family from Hull hung flags in their windows alongside pictures of Sir Tom, while Alfie McAnespie, 13, rang the bell 100 times at a church in Chicksands, Bedfordshire, in honour of the 100-year-old.
As well as staying at home to protect the NHS, the Moore family have asked people to plant trees in Captain Sir Tom's memory.
They tweeted after the service asking people to raise their "cups of tea" to him, adding: "Today we celebrate the life of our hero".
Image:Order of service for the private ceremony at Bedford Crematorium
The family hopes the Trees for Tom initiative will result in a wood in his home county of Yorkshire and the reforestation of part of India, where he served during the Second World War with the Duke of Wellington Regiment.
It later merged with two others from Yorkshire, becoming the Yorkshire Regiment, with Sir Tom becoming an honorary colonel last August.
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The funeral cortege of Captain Sir Tom Moore set off from his home in Marston
Moretaine, travelling to Bedford Crematorium
He was knighted in July following his heroic fundraising efforts.
Once COVID-19 restrictions permit, his family plans to inter Captain Sir Tom's ashes in Yorkshire, with his parents and grandparents, in the Moore family plot.
A Second World War plane soared over the funeral of Captain Sir Tom Moore in a military flypast as his family paid tribute to the 100-year-old veteran whose "message and spirit lives on".
The C-47 Dakota flew over Bedford Crematorium to mark the death of Captain Sir Tom, who raised more than £33 million for the NHS before his death on 2 February.
His coffin was draped in a Union Jack, with his Second World War service cap, a wreath from the Yorkshire Regiment, his war medals and knighthood placed on top.
Image:Soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment carry his coffin
Just eight members of his immediate family attended the funeral due to coronavirusrestrictions, which began with the flypast and a firing party of 14 each firing three rounds in unison.
His daughters Hannah Ingram-Moore and Lucy Teixeira gave emotional eulogies, while his grandchildren Benji, Georgia and Tom paid tributes and read poems.
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The service was also attended by his other grandson Max and two sons-in-law.
After a rendition of Captain Sir Tom's charity single, a version of You'll Never Walk Alone sung with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir, his daughter Lucy told of how proud she is of her father.
More from Tom Moore
Image:The hearse leaves his home in Bedfordshire
Image:Soldiers lift Captain Sir Tom Moore's coffin from the hearse
"Daddy, you always told us 'best foot forward' and true to your word that's what you did last year, raising a fortune for the NHS and walking your way into the nation's hearts," she said.
"Daddy, I am so proud of you, what you achieved your whole life and especially in the last year," she added through tears.
"You may be gone but your message and your spirit lives on."
Image:Only eight members of his family were present at Bedford Crematorium
Captain Sir Tom raised a fortune for the NHS by completing 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday in April.
His original hope was to raise just £1,000, but after capturing the nation's heart, he went on to surpass £30 million.
The veteran's other daughter Hannah, who managed his social media accounts and announced his death earlier this month, said the world had become "enthralled" by her father's spirit of hope, positivity and resilience.
Image:A C-47 Dakota flies over the funeral
Image:Members of the armed forces salute outside the funeral
She added: "We are so proud of the way you handled everything that happened.
"We have been so close as a family before this but we were thrust even closer together as the world became enthralled by your spirit of hope, positivity and resilience.
"They too saw your belief in kindness and the fundamental goodness of the human spirit."
Grandson Benji said "there is a piece of you in everything I do", while granddaughter Georgia read a poem called The Magician, which spoke of how he could achieve anything.
Image:Captain Sir Tom punches the air on his 100th birthday as a flypast goes over his home
The service, which was broadcast around the world, also included a specially recorded version of Smile by Michael Buble, music from Dame Vera Lynn, and ended with Frank Sinatra's My Way and a bugler playing The Last Post.
Six members of the Yorkshire Regiment carried Captain Sir Tom's coffin before it was committed for cremation.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The family of Captain Sir Tom Moore have paid tribute to the NHS charity fundraiser at his funeral
The centenarian, who died after testing positive for COVID-19 and being treated for pneumonia, has asked for his epitaph to read: "I told you I was old", in reference to comedian Spike Milligan's famous tombstone that said "I told you I was ill".
Although the public were unable to pay tribute to him in person, an online condolence book has been signed by thousands of people.
“Someone will have to make extra cake and sandwiches, and it won’t be me.” Today we celebrate the life of our hero. We will be following Captain Tom’s wishes by enjoying a cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge cake. Please join us as we raise a cup to him. pic.twitter.com/c9F1xBFL9a
The family hopes the Trees for Tom initiative will result in a wood in his home county of Yorkshire and the reforestation of part of India, where he served during the Second World War with the Duke of Wellington Regiment.
It later merged with two others from Yorkshire, becoming the Yorkshire Regiment, with Sir Tom becoming an honorary colonel last August.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The funeral cortege of Captain Sir Tom Moore set off from his home in Marston
Moretaine, travelling to Bedford Crematorium
He was knighted in July following his heroic fundraising efforts.
Once COVID-19 restrictions permit, his family plans to inter Captain Sir Tom's ashes in Yorkshire, with his parents and grandparents, in the Moore family plot.
More than 2,600 households have been evacuated after an unexploded World War Two bomb was found in Exeter.
Officers were called to University of Exeter halls of residence on Glenthorne Road at about 09:20 GMT on Friday and declared a major incident.
More than 1,400 students were evacuated from 12 halls of residence after the explosive was found.
Devon and Cornwall Police said work was under way "for the controlled detonation of the device".
On Twitter, the university said the device was discovered by "builders on private land" next to the Streatham campus.
An initial cordon of 330ft (100m) was extended to 1,310ft (400m) on Saturday morning and people in about 2,600 households have been told to move.
UPDATE: Major incident, Exeter - More than 2,000 homes are being evacuated this morning in preparation for the detonation of a suspected WW2 bomb by the Army, discovered at a building site on Glenthorne Road yesterday https://t.co/WyEitf9bispic.twitter.com/dKaRf3BM3I
Bomb disposal experts started examining the device at about 10:00 GMT on Saturday to decide how to deal with it.
The explosive device is estimated to be about 8ft long (2.5m).
Police said a bomb disposal team "worked through the night to establish a walled mitigation structure".
Ch Insp Steve Alexander, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said the mitigation "box" was made using 400 tonnes of sand and "at some point today, all being well, there should be a big bang which will render this device safe".
He said: "It's reasonable to expect this bang will be heard quite a distance across Exeter, and it will be important for people not to report it to us as an incident as we are aware of what it is.
He also said anyone not asked to leave their homes should stay to comply with coronavirus lockdown rules.
The BBC's John Ayres said there had been "unusual scenes" of "hundreds of students with suitcases, all marching down the street towards St David's [railway] Station, away from the university and finding somewhere to go".
One student, Lucy, told the BBC she was in a hall just over 330ft (100m) away from the scene when she and neighbours were told to leave at about 18:00 on Friday, given dinner and moved to hotels.
She said: "We've been told we'll be staying here until Sunday."
She added: "I didn't think it was that big a deal until I realised how big it was and how people were taking it so seriously."
The university said it would "support those who are affected until the situation is resolved and buildings are reopened".
It said: "We will communicate directly later today by email with those students who have been relocated."
Work will continue today relating to the device which was found yesterday on private land at Glenthorne Road to the west of campus.From 9.00am this morning an expanded cordon will be in place. This is an additional measure to allow the authorities to undertake the necessary work
The university said on Friday night it could not say exactly how many students were moved as "obviously many students are not back on campus because of the Covid-19 situation".
Coastguard rescue officers, volunteers from Dartmoor Search and Rescue and members of disaster response charity Re:Act were among workers helping with the evacuation.
Re:Act said the evacuations were completed by about 11:00.
Devon County Council and Exeter City Council staff had been working to "support those in private residences to find alternative accommodation, providing support to those who are particularly at-risk or vulnerable", police said.
The majority were "staying with family or friends", officers added.
Roads have been closed in the area and city rail services disrupted as a result of the discovery.
The city was heavily attacked by German bombers in 19 raids during World War Two, particularly in May 1942 during the Baedecker Raids.
Ministers are set to announce a new mortgage guarantee scheme to help buyers on to the housing ladder, an intervention that experts have said is likely to push up house prices.
The scheme, which will be announced as part of Wednesday’s Budget, will allow buyers in England to obtain a mortgage with only 5 per cent of the property’s value to put down as a deposit.
The Treasury will guarantee a portion of the loans on homes worth up to £600,000, encouraging banks and building societies to begin providing riskier, higher loan-to-value mortgages again.
Lenders pulled their riskiest products as the economic outlook deteriorated in the months following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The new scheme will be available to existing homeowners as well as first-time buyers, with ministers anticipating that the latter group in particular will make use of high loan-to-value mortgages to get on to the housing ladder.
5
Number of mortgage deals available for buyers with a 5% deposit at the start of this month, down from 405 a year ago
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, said the scheme would help “generation rent to become generation buy.”
Neal Hudson, an independent market analyst, said the move would push up prices. “This makes an 8 per cent increase much more likely than an 8 per cent fall,” he said
The intervention would give lenders confidence that the government would act to prevent house prices falling, added Hudson.
“If the government is effectively taking a stake in the market, they are not going to want prices to crash. There’s a bit of mixed messaging about who they are trying to help; my suspicion is that they are trying to help the market,” he said.
Bankers warned the government against encouraging irresponsible lending when the prime minister first signalled plans to introduce a new guarantee scheme last October.
Prices and transactions have surged to record levels over the past 12 months, in part thanks to the government’s introduction of a stamp duty holiday in July, which has raised the threshold for paying the tax from £125,000 to £500,000. The holiday had originally been set to end in March, but is set to be extended until June according to a report in the Times.
The new mortgage guarantee scheme will be available from April. A similar scheme in 2013 that ran for four years was used by more than 100,000 buyers.
Ministers also introduced an equity loan scheme in 2013, which has been running ever since. Buyers using that scheme, due to end in 2023, have been able to buy new-build homes with a deposit of as little as 5 per cent.
Dominic Agace, chief executive of Winkworth, the estate agent, said the mortgage guarantee would help first-time buyers re-enter a market that has become dominated by wealthier buyers.
“First-time buyers have been missing out as banks chose to focus on perceived higher quality loans. For a healthy property market, the first rung of the ladder needs to be working and this will ensure that,” he said.
The number of mortgage deals available for buyers with a 5 per cent deposit fell from 405 in February 2020 to just 5 at the start of this month, according to data from Moneyfacts, the comparison website.
However, other deals popular with first-time buyers have started to recover more quickly in recent months after a drop at the start of the pandemic. The number of 90 per cent loan-to-value deals climbed from a trough of 70 last July to 248 this month, though it is still lower than the same time last year.
Tributes have been paid to Captain Sir Tom Moore by his family at his funeral.
Hannah Ingram-Moore described her father as "a beacon of light and hope to the world".
His other daughter Lucy Teixeira said: "Daddy, I am so proud of you. You may be gone but your message and your spirit lives on."
The service for the 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden, began with him being honoured by the military.
Six Yorkshire Regiment members carried the Army veteran's coffin, draped in the union jack, and an honour guard fired three volleys.
Reuters
Reuters
After the military honours, which included a flypast from a World War Two-era plane, his family followed the coffin into the crematorium for the private service.
Ms Teixeira and Ms Ingram-Moore were joined by Capt Sir Tom's four grandchildren and his sons-in-law.
The service opened with a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone, which Capt Sir Tom recorded with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir.
The celebrant conducting the funeral described him as "a proud British veteran and a gentleman".
Following the White Cliffs Of Dover by Dame Vera Lynn, his daughter Lucy Teixeira told the service she was "proud" of her father.
"You always told us to put your best foot forward and that's what you did last year," she said.
A version of the song Smile, recorded especially for the funeral by singer Michael Buble, was also played.
Capt Sir Tom died with coronavirus earlier this month.
My Way by Frank Sinatra was heard toward the end of the service, as requested by Capt Sir Tom, who said he liked the line about "having too few regrets to mention".
As his coffin was carried by the Yorkshire Regiment solders, a C-47 Dakota, part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, soared past in tribute to the man whose charity efforts inspired people across the UK.
PA Media
A bugler sounded The Last Post when the service concluded, and St Mary's Church in Marston Moretaine, Captain Sir Tom's home village, led others across the country in ringing their bells 100 times.
A post on his Twitter page read: "So even if tomorrow is my last day, if all those I loved are waiting for me then that tomorrow will be a good day too" while the Yorkshire Regiment posted it was "proud" to be representing the British Army at the funeral.
They said it was a "solemn, dignified and fitting tribute to a man who inspired millions".
Lucy Teixeira
Final resting place
The veteran had spent the last few months of his life writing a book which he had planned to publish just before his 101st birthday.
A section was released, in which he said he would "like to watch my own funeral from a distance" and laugh at "everyone making a lot of fuss over me".
"I want the service to end with My Way by Frank Sinatra because I always did things my way and I especially like the line about having too few regrets to mention," he wrote.
Captain Sir Tom was originally from Keighley near Bradford, and his family said that once Covid-19 restrictions allow, his ashes will be interred in Yorkshire, where he will rest with his parents and grandparents in the Moore family plot.
Getty Images
Reuters
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