Mandelson File Release Unprecedented Display Of Transparency Minister Says

Sir Keir Starmer’s Government is braced for further embarrassment as hundreds of documents covering Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment and activities as ambassador to the US are expected to be published on Monday. The massive release of files is the second relating to Sir Keir’s decision to give the prestigious Washington job to Lord Mandelson rather than a career diplomat. Cabinet minister James Murray said there would be an “unprecedented” volume of information given to Parliament. Officials have compared […]

1 June 2026

National News

Great Grandmother Gets UK First Cancer Treatment On Tumour Deemed Untreatable

A great-grandmother thought to have inoperable cancer has become the first person in the UK to receive treatment using a novel technique. Brenda Iveson, from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, was told that usual cancer treatments would not work for the six-centimetre tumour in her liver. But medics at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust offered the 92-year-old a minimally invasive procedure. She was given robotic-guided electrochemotherapy – a treatment that combines a small dose of chemotherapy […]

1 June 2026

National News

Declan Rice Vows Arsenal Will Be Coming Back For More During Bus Parade

Declan Rice celebrated Arsenal’s Premier League title success by rapping to ‘Ice Ice Baby’ on their open-top bus – and then vowed his side are “coming back for more” next season. England midfielder Rice grabbed a microphone and belted out the Vanilla Ice classic as thousands upon thousands of Gunners fans lined the streets of north London. The party was jumping despite their Champions League penalty shoot-out heartbreak against Paris St Germain less than 24 […]

31 May 2026

National News

Britains Got Talent Judge KSI Quits YouTube Collective Sidemen

Social media star and Britain’s Got Talent judge KSI has announced he is leaving the YouTube collective Sidemen. The 32-year-old, whose real name is Olajide Olatunji, has made football, comedy and challenge videos with the group since 2013, and his departure was confirmed to the Press Association by his representatives amid rumours the announcement may have been part of a bet. In a post on YouTube, KSI said: “This is honestly the hardest video I’ve ever had to […]

31 May 2026

Yvette Cooper To Visit China And India Amid Global Crises

2

National News

Yvette Cooper To Visit China And India Amid Global Crises

The Foreign Secretary will travel to China and India this week as the UK seeks to strengthen relations with both countries. Yvette Cooper will meet Chinese vice-president Han Zheng and foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Tuesday, before visiting the southern city of Shenzhen, a major technology hub near Hong Kong. She will then travel to Delhi to meet her Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday along with businesspeople and academics. Her discussions in both countries are […]

31 May 2026 2

National News

Nine In 10 Parents Back Social Media Ban For Children Says Technology Secretary

Parents overwhelmingly back Australian-style restrictions on social media for children, the Technology Secretary has said. Ministers are considering a ban on social media for under-16s and more than 80,000 people have responded to a consultation on whether to introduce restrictions. One option is an Australian-style ban that forbids children under 16 from having social media accounts. Other proposals in the consultation are app curfews and limits on more addictive features. In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Technology […]

31 May 2026

National News

Minister Rejects Streeting Call To Consider National Insurance Cut

A senior minister has warned of “consequences” for public spending of any cut to national insurance after Wes Streeting suggested the move as a way to boost employment. The Labour leadership hopeful suggested a “targeted reduction” of employers’ national insurance contributions in an interview with the Sunday Times as a way to “actively incentivise” hiring, particularly of young people. Labour’s first budget increased employers’ contributions, which the party’s opponents and some businesses say made it […]

31 May 2026

National News

Nicola Sturgeon Says Murrell Has Never Explained His Embezzlement Crimes To Her

Nicola Sturgeon has said her estranged husband Peter Murrell has never explained to her why he embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP as she spoke of the “trauma” she has gone through. The former Scottish first minister also said she feels like she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit” after Murrell pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh this week to embezzling the sum from the SNP between 2010 and […]

31 May 2026

National News

UKs Biggest Rail Operator Back In Public Ownership

Govia Thameslink becomes part of Great British Railways The UK’s largest train operator’s services have been taken into public ownership. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander heralded the nationalisation of GoviaThameslinkRailway (GTR) as “a defining moment in our reform of the railway”. GTR services carry more passengers than any other operator in the UK, accounting for one in six train journeys in Britain. Its four brands – Southern,Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express – cover large swathes of south-east England […]

31 May 2026

Drivetime with Simon Jones

National News