News

Dozens of schoolboys were preparing for a dressing down today after around 50 wore skirts to school in protest at a 'no shorts' policy. The teens - aged from Years 7 to 11 - formed a mass protest the day after five boys wore skirts on the hottest day of the year. Parents have criticised the 'inflexible' uniform policy at ISCA College in Exeter, Devon, which insists that boys wear long trousers despite the heat. The five boys who wore...

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Mr Tusk said the EU is "slowly turning the corner". "We are witnessing the return of the EU rather as a solution, not a problem." He continued: "The Brexit negotiations started three days ago. It is a most difficult process, for which the EU is well prepared. "You can hear different predictions coming from different people about the possible outcome of these negotiations - hard Brexit, soft Brexit or no deal. "Some of...

The Tory Government, as was, has been dealt another huge blow as the High Court judged that it’s benefit cap is illegal and unfairly discriminates against single parents who have young children. This will cause the Conservative Party even more headaches and will probably force, another, u-turn of Government policy. The cap limited the total benefit a household could receive to £20k and up to £23k in the capital. The case was bravely brought by four lone parents who believed...

New figures show more than ten thousand support staff jobs lost GMB, the union for school support staff, today said that children’s education was suffering as support staff bear the brunt of school funding cuts. New figures reveal that the overall school workforce in England fell in 2016. This was the first reduction in education employment since 2011, when the records were compiled on a different basis. The number of support staff declined from 462,200 in 2015 to 450,900 in...

Today's Queen’s Speech was stripped of so many of Theresa May’s unpopular manifesto promises such as winter fuel allowance cuts that it seemed Her Majesty couldn’t be bothered to put her customary regal crown and furs on to get down to business but appeared in a powder blue outfit fit for her dash to catch the 2.30pm first race at Royal Ascot, more importantly. Instead of their vote losing and controversial manifesto commitments, Conservatives were briefing that they would seek policies...

A former drug addict has helped transform Afghanistan's notorious heroin fields into fruit farms - and created a new energy bar in the process. James Brett, 47, has spent years working with the Taliban, tribal elders, governments, donors and farmers to replace the deadly opium poppy crop with fruit trees. He has persuaded 22,000 farmers to stop growing poppies - the source of much of the world's heroin - and start growing pomegranates and mulberries. The inspirational entrepreneur has now...

The national media's coverage of the Day of Rage protests could be well off the mark after reports emerged that there are likely to be more "press than protesters" at the event. Media outlets have reacted with rage this morning accusing the far left of "hijacking" the grief of Grenfell Tower victims. The Daily Express cited concerns that the UK’s emergency services are already “overstretched and exhausted” in its coverage. It also ran a quote from Tory MEP Daniel Hannan who...

Theresa May’s “coalition of chaos” looked in real trouble today on the eve of the Queen’s speech with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party looking in doubt today - ten days after she announced a vote support deal had been agreed. The day after Brexit talks began, Theresa May faces any chance of a Westminster majority crumbling as DUP sources told Sky News that talks "haven't proceeded in a way that DUP would have expected." The Queen will speak in the...

A Syrian family now settled in the UK paid £45 to smuggle their baby to Lebanon in a suitcase as they fled their war torn village. Zak Al Halak, 34, his wife Ghaliya, 25, and their three children Amneh, five, Omar, three, and Zineddine, one, are just one of 15 Syrian families who have found refuge in the UK last year. As part of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme, the family now lives in Brightlingsea, Essex. As the country...