Vaccine-beating variant is ‘realistic possibility’, say scientists, amid calls for contingency plans to be revealedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMinisters are being pressed to reveal what contingency plans are in place to …
UK can’t fight climate crisis with austerity, warns expert
Author of government study says Treasury resistance to green spending programmes could halt progress to net zero Imposing “premature austerity” again will undermine the fight against climate change and stop poorer households going green, one of the wor…
Six arrests after scuffles break out before Manchester United match against Leeds
Video on social media appears to show clashes on the street including a chair being thrown and someone being hit with a binSix arrests were made after scuffles broke out before Manchester United’s opening match of the Premier League season against visi…
‘‘Shooting has broken our hearts,’ says shattered Plymouth as city mourns its children’s innocence
Keyham’s tight-knit community says the government has ‘big questions’ to answer about gun controlFive-year-old Evie-Rae left her grandmother Terri’s side and carefully placed a pink candle and a teddy bear on the growing pile of tributes at the foot of…
In a family so dedicated to children’s charities, is Andrew now the reviled uncle? | Catherine Bennett
The prince consorted with a paedophile as his relatives defended victims of such peopleBalmoral: “Located in Royal Deeside,” we learn from the royal family website, this gigantic granite folly is “one of two personal and private residences owned by The…
UK MPs urged to ban ‘virginity repair’ surgery as well as virginity testing
Exclusive: abusive practice should also be outlawed in health bill to protect women, say gynaecologistsThe government’s pledge to outlaw virginity testing will be undermined unless fake surgery touted as “virginity repair” is also banned, the Royal Col…
Three hours wait for an ambulance? Cumbrian town fights to keep its service
Pennines residents fear plans to axe paramedics will endanger livesLiving in one of the remotest communities in England, the residents of Alston Moor in Cumbria count themselves lucky to be surrounded by the breathtaking peaks of the Pennines.But livin…
Will we reach herd immunity for the new coronavirus? | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters
It appears unlikely, but we should try to get as close as possibleThe Office for National Statistics Covid infection survey estimates that, either through vaccination or infection, an extraordinary 94% of adults now have antibodies to Sars-CoV-2.So why…
London’s cafe culture has left a sour taste for stressed residents
Licensing outdoor seats saved countless jobs but brings noise and antisocial behaviourContinental Europe has come to the UK – at least when the sun shines. In towns and cities all over the country, alfresco dining has exploded, with thousands of extra …
‘Saddam Hussein’s spies in London laid a trap – and sent my son Farzad to his death’
Nosrat Bazoft, mother of the Observer reporter executed by the tyrant in 1990, reveals for the first time how the unreported theft of a briefcase of documents on a secret Iraqi weapon may have sealed her son’s fate.Leaning back in a loose cotton shirt …