News

  The world's first car running on a biofuel made from WHISKY residue has had its first successful test drive. The fuel - biobutanol - is a brand new type of sustainable fuel and is designed to be a direct replacement for petrol and diesel. It is produced from draff - the sugar-rich kernels of barley which are soaked in water to facilitate the fermentation process necessary for whisky production. The other main ingredient is pot ale, the copper-containing yeasty...

  Thousands of twitchers have flocked to a remote quarry on the edge of a village to try and get a glimpse of a bird rarely spotted in the UK. Bird watchers came out in their numbers when they descended on the site in order to get a sighting of the European bee-eater. The yellow, blue and brown beauty is more often found in southern Europe and North Africa, and the last time one was spotted in Nottinghamshire was back...

A juror who overslept by eight hours costing the tax-payer £12,000 has found himself in the dock in front of an angry judge. Robert Mace, 36, was fined after he delayed the start of a baby shaking trial by one day after he told a top judge that he had overslept - but couldn't explain why. The trial was set to start at Hull Crown Court, East Yorks., of a man accused of shaking a baby when he caused the...

A new poll has shown that the Labour party are storming ahead in the polls, leaving the Conservatives behind, as the party is still licking its wounds from the poor election performance. Jeremy Corbyn is now pushing hard to become the next PM. The YouGov poll, the first by the pollsters since the Election result, has put Labour on 46 per cent and the Conservatives on 38 per cent. Way behind are UKIP on 4 per cent and the Lib...

  An extremely rare breed of seahorse has been found in British waters. The Short Snouted Seahorse - scientific name Hippocampus Hippocampus - was found by experts off the coast of Devon. Its native habitat is the south west waters but there has been a sharp decline in sightings and it is currently endangered. It is now normally found in the Mediterranean and grows to between 7cm and 13cm long. Mark Parry, community Seagrass initiative project manager at the National...

GMB members are angry enough to have given a mandate for the earliest possible strike date The first ever Sellafield Firefighters’ strike will go ahead this month after talks between GMB, the union for nuclear workers, and Sellafield Ltd broke down. Discussions lasted just 30 minutes – including two adjournments. GMB members are so angry they have given a mandate for the earliest possible strike date later this month. The Sellafield Strike Committee will decide tomorrow the date for the...

Strain on the budget of the Metropolitan Police was recognised by the London Assembly today – as Members formally supported the Met’s application to the Home Office for one-off financial support. Due to the recent unprecedented events in the capital, the Assembly agreed the Chair should write to the Home Secretary to highlight the need for the special grant. Joanne McCartney AM, who proposed the amended motion, said: “In recent months we have seen some horrific scenes in our city. Our...

The Iraq war and the fall-out afterwards has left a dark stain on Blair's time as PM. His legacy will forever be tainted by the war and the reasons for it. Now the man who led the investigation into the war has broken his silence. Sir John Chilcot has said he doesn't think Tony Blair was “straight with the nation” about his decisions in the run-up to the Iraq war. The chairman of the public inquiry into the 2003 conflict...

A lucky pilot has told of his miracle escape when he plummeted 2,300ft to earth after a wing on his microlight collapsed in mid-air. Eric Rhodes, 57, managed to radio his wife Denise, 65, as his aircraft was falling to tell her: "I love you lots, sweetheart. Goodbye, I'm going to die." Incredibly, seconds before he hit the ground, Eric managed to manoeuvre the two-seater microlight to avoid two lakes and a cluster of trees to crash land in a...