Babak Belurs

Jumat, 09 Februari 2024

Queen Camilla gives health update on King Charles as Harry jokes with US crowd - The Independent

King doing ‘extremely well’ under circumstances, says Queen

The Queen has given a health update on the King as Prince Harry has been joking with a crowd in the US, just hours after his dash to the UK to reunite with his father.

Camilla was asked about Charles as she celebrated the work of charities at Salisbury Cathedral on Thursday evening in her first public engagement since her husband’s shock cancer diagnosis announcement. She replied: “He’s doing extremely well under the circumstances.”

The Duke of Sussex, meanwhile, made no mention of his father during his speech made in a surprise appearance at an NFL awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

Harry, 39, flew from Los Angeles to London on Monday evening after his father personally called him to share the health news. He was pictured on Tuesday arriving at Clarence House, where he reportedly spent under an hour with the 75-year-old monarch before returning home to California on Wednesday, having had no contact with his estranged brother Prince William.

It comes after the Prince of Wales spoke about his father’s diagnosis for the first time on Wednesday, expressing gratitude to the public for their support during a fundraising gala dinner.

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Queen says King doing ‘extremely well’

The Queen has said the King is doing “extremely well under the circumstances” after his cancer diagnosis, as she celebrated the work of charities at Salisbury Cathedral.

Camilla left Charles at Sandringham to fulfil her royal engagement tonight and among the first people she met were medical staff from Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Ben Abbott, 40, a critical care paramedic, said: “I do hope His Majesty is doing well Ma’am, we’re all really sad to hear the news.”

Camilla replied: “Well he’s doing extremely well under the circumstances.

“He’s very touched by all the letters and the messages the public have been sending from everywhere – that’s very cheering.”

<p>Queen Camilla attends a musical evening at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire</p> — Queen Camilla attends a musical evening at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire

Matt Mathers8 February 2024 19:09

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King Charles issues first public statement since cancer diagnosis

On Wednesday night, he broke his public silence to issue a statement to mark the 50th anniversary of independence of the former British colony Grenada.

Alex Ross reports:

Tara Cobham9 February 2024 10:00

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Harry jokes with crowd at Las Vegas awards ceremony hours after flying back from visiting Charles

Harry, 39, made no mention of his father and his cancer diagnosis during his speech, which saw him hand out the Walter Payton Man of the Year award to Pittsburgh Steelers defnder Cameron Heyward.

Holly Evans reports:

Tara Cobham9 February 2024 09:30

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Watch: King doing ‘extremely well’ under circumstances, says Queen

King doing ‘extremely well’ under circumstances, says Queen Camilla

Tara Cobham9 February 2024 09:00

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Latest ruling in Mirror phone-hacking claims due at High Court

The latest stage of phone-hacking claims featuring the publisher of the Daily Mirror and the Duke of Sussex is set to take place at the High Court.

In December, a judge ruled that phone hacking became “widespread and habitual” at Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) titles in the late 1990s and was practised “even to some extent” during the Leveson Inquiry into press standards in 2011.

Mr Justice Fancourt also concluded that Harry’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” by MGN, awarding him £140,600 in damages.

Jess Glass reports:

Tara Cobham9 February 2024 08:30

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Harry in Las Vegas to present NFL award

The Duke of Sussex has appeared at the NFL Honours in Las Vegas to present an award, just days after the King revealed his cancer diagnosis.

Harry appeared at the event to present Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward with the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

It comes after Harry flew thousands of miles from his Californian home to be at the King’s side on Tuesday, meeting with his father for around 45 minutes at Clarence House.

Cormac Pearson reports:

Tara Cobham9 February 2024 08:00

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King Charles’ health history in full as he begins cancer treatment

Buckingham Palace officials have announced that King Charles, 75, has been diagnosed with a “form of cancer” and is currently undergoing treatment.

In the 5 February announcement, the palace said that the King “is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure”.

Full report:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 07:00

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ICYMI: Prince Edward set to return to royal duties as brother King Charles fights cancer

Prince Edward will be returning to royal duties this week, as his brother Charles battles cancer.

The Prince of Wales, the Queen and other working royals are expected to step up their royal duties while the King undergoes treatment, following the shock announcement of his illness on Monday.

Full report:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 06:00

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ICYMI: Tens of thousands diagnosed with cancer while being tested for another condition - like King Charles

Tens of thousands of patients are diagnosed with cancer while they are being tested for another condition, just like King Charles.

Latest figures show more than 27,000 people were being treated for cancer on the NHS after having what’s known as an incidental diagnosis – when the condition is found during testing or treatment for something else.

Full report:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 05:00

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‘Charlie’s angels’: Three women the King can count on in a crisis

After His Majesty’s cancer diagnosis, it falls to three doughty royals – Queen Camilla, Princess Anne and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh – to keep the royal show on the road, writes Clair Woodward

Read Clair’s piece in full here:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 04:00

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Keir Starmer defends Labour U-turn on £28bn green spending - BBC.com

By Paul Seddon

Keir Starmer confirms Labour is dropping its £28bn spending commitment.

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he had no choice but to ditch Labour's £28bn a year green investment pledge.

He defended the U-turn by claiming it was no longer affordable because the Tories had crashed the economy.

And he told the BBC Labour would still spend more than the Tories on green projects if it wins the election, and was committed to "clean power by 2030".

But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Labour's signature economic policy was "in tatters".

"That's what happens when you don't have a plan, and if you don't have a plan you can't deliver any change for the country."

He added that the Labour leader had "a proven track record of U-turning on major issues".

Labour's announcement represents a major scaling back of its plans to invest in green industries if it wins power, adding up around £4.7bn extra per year.

It follows weeks of confusion about the policy, which has come under growing Tory attacks ahead of the election, with Mr Sunak saying the borrowing required would force Labour to put up taxes.

The Labour leader said all the green plans announced so far by the party - including money for battery factories and "clean steel" production - would remain in place.

But grants and loans to help families to better insulate their homes will now be scaled back.

And the investment package will be part-funded by taxes on energy firms' profits, rather than entirely by more government borrowing.

The £28bn spending pledge, first announced in 2021, had already been significantly watered down by Labour.

Last June, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the spending target would only be met after 2027, instead of from the first year of a Labour government.

The party then included around £10bn a year of planned government spending in its figure, making the extra spending commitment compared to the Conservatives more like £18bn per year.

Now the party has confirmed that total extra investment compared to government plans will now be around £4.7bn per year.

It has also said it will be part-funded by keeping its higher proposed "windfall" tax on the profits of energy companies in place throughout its first term in office, if it wins power.

The party now says it hopes this will raise £10.8bn over five years to fund the plans, reducing the reliance on borrowing.

Speaking to the BBC, Sir Keir said changing the spending plans was "perfectly sensible," adding it would be "irresponsible" to ignore the economic situation.

"I can't ignore the fact the Conservatives have done huge damage to the economy," he added.

Labour has insisted the roll-back is necessary to allow the party to meet its spending rules, which say debt has to be falling as a share of the size of the economy in five years.

Speaking to the BBC, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Conservatives would be leaving a "bleak inheritance" and that she would not "make any apologies" for ensuring Labour's plans were " fully funded".

However the move to ditch the spending promise was criticised by left-wing campaign group Momentum and Unite, Labour's biggest union backer.

"This latest Starmer U-turn represents yet another capitulation to right-wing interests," a Momentum spokesperson said.

Unite leader Sharon Graham said: "The Labour movement has to stand up to the Conservatives' false accusations of fiscal irresponsibility."

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, said: "This is a massive backward step - for the climate, for the economy and for good quality jobs."

Where does this leave Labour's plans?

Getty Images

The consequences of Labour scaling back its green spending are hard to assess, as the party had never set out in detail where all the money would go.

It has confirmed its plan to fund grants for families to improve home insulation will now only cover five million homes over five years, instead of 19 million homes over a decade.

The funding allocated for this will be £13.2bn over five years, around double the amount currently committed by the government, but less than Labour had planned.

Pledges that remain unchanged include £1.8bn for nine "renewable-ready" ports.

Also staying is a pledge to spend £2bn on eight battery factories and £3bn on "clean" steel, figures that include assumed government spending.

A pledge to spend £500m a year on grants for companies bringing green jobs also remains - but the party has specified it won't start until 2026.

The party had never specified how much it would spend on GB Energy, the publicly-owned clean generation company it wants to set up.

It has now confirmed this will be an "initial" £8.3bn over five years, including £3.3bn for councils and community groups to become "owners of local power".

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2024-02-09 09:15:18Z
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Keir Starmer: The politics of a U-turn - BBC.com

By Chris Mason@ChrisMasonBBC

After weeks of speculation, the Labour leader says the party is dropping its spending commitment.

Is changing your mind a good idea?

Labour has moved fairly recently into a new headquarters about 15 minutes from Parliament.

I was invited there to interview Sir Keir Starmer about his decision to bin a long standing promise to spend £28bn a year on the green industries of the future.

This is a U-turn where every degree of the twist has played out in plain sight.

A number - £28bn - announced in 2021.

It was then diluted in its intended delivery last summer.

And finally binned this week.

Why?

Because, in the end, the party felt shackled to a number they felt could only be a political negative; they were never likely to achieve that level of spending anyway, given their self-imposed economic rules.

And meanwhile critics said it was a number that would lead to vast borrowing or tax rises.

Add to that senior figures tying themselves in knots and contradicting each other in public about whether the policy was a goner or not. Something had to give, and pretty quickly.

But attempting to articulate that next to nothing will change in practical outcome - as Sir Keir does - while junking the headline figure, isn't an easy argument to make.

Even if this number that has been causing them so much grief included, according to their projections, vast sums, they had not actually worked out how to spend.

But Conservative folk text me to claim Labour's position amounts to at least partially blaming the change on Tory tax cuts which Labour themselves support and won't reverse, and question the costings of the policies they remain committed to.

Labour counter with what about Liz Truss and her crashing of the economy?

All of which poses this question: was it naïve for Labour to ever commit to £28bn in the first place?

Labour's leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, told us on BBC Newscast that £28bn had been "arbitrary."

But back to that question I asked at the start; is changing your mind a good thing or a bad thing?

Keir Starmer said in all the places he had worked, the only place that regards changing your mind when circumstances change as a bad thing is Westminster. It even has a label that I used earlier: a U-turn.

He reckons what he is doing amounts to a pragmatic shift which acknowledges changing circumstances.

The Conservatives say he is forever changing his mind.

But the Conservatives have themselves done plenty of about turns.

On HS2, on electric cars, on railway station ticket staff, on a bonfire of old EU era laws to name just a few.

Maybe the original ideas were good ones. Maybe they weren't.

But is switching from one to the other inherently bad?

The challenge for an opposition leader, attempting to define themselves in the minds of voters, is they start from a low base - people not knowing much about them.

If you then change your mind a lot, as Keir Starmer has, that process of introducing yourself and what you're all about, gets harder.

You can be portrayed as not believing in anything.

Sir Keir's opponents hope the breadth of his changes of mind - on bankers' bonuses, childcare in England and overseas aid, to mention just three since he's been leader - is a vulnerability they can expose.

They see £28bn as the latest case study.

Labour calculate a short stint of being accused of a U turn is better than months of being lambasted over that big number, £28bn.

It is perhaps also true that political opponents attack a party for making U-turns when they lack alternative lines of attack.

Not least because a U-turn, often but not always, switches that opponent from a position you oppose to the one you have yourself.

And so the U-turn removes the point of difference.

Which brings me back to a phrase I struggle to shift from my head to describe Labour's approach in recent months.

A phrase first uttered into my ear at the Labour Conference last autumn.

"We need to be the smallest possible moving target".

Critics say Labour is eroding its points of difference with the Conservatives. The very thing, they argue, it should be about.

For others, it's about shaking off points of difference that can be weaponised by opponents.

After an awkward few weeks, Labour has removed a target in removing a promise.

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2024-02-09 08:01:22Z
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UK weather LIVE: More snow, ice and rain on the way as weather warnings continue - The Independent

Related: Waves crash over runway at Shetland’s Sumburgh airport as 85mph winds batter UK

More snow, ice and rain is on its way to the UK as the country continues to face weather warnings over the weekend.

Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice will continue across most of Scotland on Friday and Saturday with the Met Office urging people to be cautious.

It comes as about 10cm of snow was measured by the Met Office in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland, on Thursday, while 9cm was recorded in West Yorkshire.

Dozens of schools were forced to shut due to the adverse weather conditions, with several closures continuing in Yorkshire on Friday.

A total of 43.2mm of rainfall was measured in Harbertonford, South Devon, almost half of the average the area usually gets in February, and rain is forecasted for much of the country on Friday.

Dan Stroud, Met Office operational meteorologist, said: “We’ve had the worst of it but it’s still not completely clear. Where we have falling snow we see there is a risk of a few icy patches on roads.

“The focus is probably starting to shift more towards ice, people should still be cautious.”

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Latest weather pictures

<p>Heavy snow in Allenheads, Northumberland</p> — Heavy snow in Allenheads, Northumberland

<p>People walk their dog through a snow covered park in Buxton</p> — People walk their dog through a snow covered park in Buxton

<p>People walk past a puddle as they walk along the Southbank in the rain</p> — People walk past a puddle as they walk along the Southbank in the rain

<p>Jogger runs through snow in Knaresborough, in North Yorkshire</p> — Jogger runs through snow in Knaresborough, in North Yorkshire

Athena Stavrou9 February 2024 09:06

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Today’s weather forecast

Good morning and here is the Met Office’s latest weather forecast for Friday:

Wintry showers continuing in the far north, with a band of rain and mainly hill snow across central areas moving northwards through the day. Cloudier in the south with some showers, these locally heavy. Mild in the south, colder elsewhere.

Rain and hill snow persisting across north and east Scotland. Elsewhere, patchy cloudy with some showers or longer spells of rain. Fog patches may develop underneath the clearest spells.

Athena Stavrou9 February 2024 08:30

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Weather warnings continue

Several weather warnings are expected to remain in place going into the weekend as more rain, snow and ice are predicted to wreak havoc on the UK.

Two yellow weather warnings for snow and ice will continue across most of Scotland on Friday and Saturday until 6pm with the Met Office urging people to be cautious.

The warning comes with a chance of power cuts, ice-related injuries and travel delays.

Much of wider Britain is expecting more heavy rain with hundreds of flood alerts in place for Friday.

Athena Stavrou9 February 2024 08:17

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ICYMI: Snow starts to fall across parts of UK with worst still to come

Snow has started to fall across parts of the UK with the worst still to come on Thursday, forecasters have said.

Dozens of schools have closed in northern England and north Wales and travel disruption is expected throughout the day.

Full report:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 07:00

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Snow mapped: Where will wintry showers hit UK this week as temperatures plunge to -10C

These maps show the parts of the country where snow is most likely to fall:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 06:00

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World’s largest offshore wind farm delayed by bad weather

The opening of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, off the north-east coast of England, could be delayed due to poor weather.

The wind farm had originally started producing its first power in October last year, with commercial operations set to start this year.

Full report:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 05:00

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ICYMI: Experts explain extreme weather as UK prepares for stormiest winter on record

Full report:

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 04:00

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ICYMI: New UN weather agency chief says rate of global warming is speeding up

The new chief of the World Meteorological Organization said it looks to her that the rate of human-caused climate change is accelerating and that warming has triggered more Arctic cold outbreaks in North America and Europe, weighing in on two issues that divide climate scientists.

In her first sit-down interview since taking office last month, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told The Associated Press that even though her agency said last year was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the world must “keep on with its ambition of trying not to reach 1.5” degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) on a longer-term basis, not just one year. “We have a trend that is really worrying. The trend is very clear.”

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 03:00

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ICYMI: Snow starts to fall across parts of UK with worst still to come

Snow has started to fall across parts of the UK with the worst still to come on Thursday, forecasters have said.

Dozens of schools have closed in northern England and north Wales and travel disruption is expected throughout the day.

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 02:00

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ICYMI: Millions of drivers would still get behind the wheel despite heavy snow – survey

Nearly two our of five (39%) motorists would still get behind the wheel regardless of the amount of snow on the roads, new research suggests.

The RAC, which commissioned the survey, warned that driving during extreme weather “can carry huge risks”.

Matt Mathers9 February 2024 01:00

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