UK

Harry Potter fans who gathered at King’s Cross hoping for the annual Hogwarts Express announcement have been left disappointed. Boos rang out after the usual tannoy address and departure board listing failed to materialise. The event usually draws hundreds of fans – many in fancy dress – to mark the start of term at the

A former Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with sexual assault and rape of a woman he is alleged to have met while on duty. Mark Tyrrell, 55, is charged with 15 counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. The former Met Police officer

Sir Keir Starmer has defended cutting the winter fuel allowance for 10 million pensioners as he faces pressure to rethink the move. The government announced last month the universal payment to pensioners, worth between £100 and £300 a year, would be restricted to just those who receive pension credit. Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves

Scotland’s health secretary has rubbished claims he tried to buy Oasis tickets during a panel discussion on Alzheimer’s disease at the SNP conference. Neil Gray branded the report “total nonsense”, explaining he made a joke and was instead “fully focused on chairing and contributing” to the session. However, those behind the Sunday Mail article are

Titanic’s iconic bow has lost part of its metal railings – with a 15ft section now lying on the sea floor. The bow featured in the scene from the 1997 film where Jack had his “king of the world” moment and held Rose over the front of the ship. However, an expedition to the wreck

Adele has told her fans she will not see them “for an incredibly long time”, after finishing the final show of her European tour in Munich, Germany. The 36-year-old told fans she “needs a rest” and wanted to “live my new life I’ve been building”. Image: Adele with sports agent Rich Paul last year. Pic:

Sixty-seven children lived in Grenfell Tower when the west London block caught fire in June 2017. Eighteen of them never got a chance to grow up. For many of the others, the traumatic loss, anxiety and PTSD that followed the disaster has shaped their childhoods and young adult lives. They lost friends, family and everything

UK inflation has eased to 2% – increasing the prospect of an interest rate cut this summer. The consumer prices index (CPI) rate for the year to May was confirmed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday. The figure indicates that prices are still rising, but at the slowest pace since spring 2021.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh have released a new portrait to mark their 25th wedding anniversary. The royal couple are dressed down in the relaxed shot taken in the gardens of their Surrey home, Bagshot Park, by photographer Chris Jelf. Prince Edward, 60, is the youngest of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince

The general election may be “the last chance” to fix the UK’s “broken renting system”, housing organisations have warned as they called on party leaders to come up with bolder solutions to the crisis. In an open letter to Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, groups representing tenants said thousands more people “face homelessness, poverty

A billionaire donor who backed Boris Johnson at the last election said he will be voting for Labour next month because the Tories’ record has left him in “despair”. Jon Caudwell, who founded Phones4U, gave half a million pounds to the Conservatives in 2019 to avoid what he called “the disaster that would have been

A search is ongoing for a British teenager who has been missing in Tenerife since Monday. Jay Slater, 19, from Lancashire, had been on holiday on the Spanish island. He had told a friend, Lucy, that he planned to walk back to his accommodation following a night out after missing a bus – a journey

Sir Ian McKellen has been forced to cancel two nights of his West End play after suffering a fall during Monday’s performance, but fans have been assured he’s “recovering well”. The Lord of the Rings actor, 85, is currently starring as John Falstaff in a production of Player Kings at the Noel Coward Theatre, London.

Labour is on course for a 256-seat majority at the general election while the Tories are heading for their worst-ever defeat, according to a new poll. In its first MRP model of the 2024 campaign, Ipsos estimated Sir Keir Starmer’s party could win 453 seats and the Conservatives 115. If correct, that would hand Labour

A man has been flown to hospital after locals reportedly pulled him from the rubble of a house that was destroyed in a suspected gas explosion. The police said a 57-year-old man was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle with serious burn injuries after the blast in Kirkland Walk, Middlesbrough, at about 12.40pm

An E.coli outbreak that has made more than 200 people sick has been traced to lettuce – so is it safe to eat? The Food Standards Agency (FSA) told Sky News it is “too early to determine” how the lettuce leaves may have become contaminated – but it is “confident” that is the source. Three

The arrival of the Victorian railway turned Swindon into one of the fastest-growing industrial towns in the UK. Workers flocked to the thriving Wiltshire hub from all over Britain. In more recent times, Swindon has been attracting people from further afield – so many, in fact, that one in five of the town’s population was

A dad who died just hours before the birth of his daughter could have been saved, a coroner has ruled. On the morning of 7 June last year, Rebecca Moss went to wake up her partner, Thomas Gibson, telling him “wake up, it’s baby day” as she was due to give birth by elective Caesarean

Residents in Hackney have been urged to remain indoors and shut their windows after a fire sent clouds of black smoke into the sky. More than a dozen fire engines and around 100 firefighters attended the scene after reports of “significant amounts of smoke” coming from a four-storey block of flats in Dalston, north east

A major cause of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been discovered which could be treated with existing drugs. The breakthrough was described as a “massive step forwards” by researchers. IBD is the umbrella term for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and such conditions are becoming more prevalent. As recently as 2022, more than 500,000 people

A girl is still fighting for her life in a critical condition a week after she was shot at a London restaurant, police say. The nine-year-old was inside eating dinner with her family when she was shot by a lone attacker on a motorbike. Three men sat outside, aged 37, 42 and 44, were also

The King is “frustrated” about the speed of his cancer recovery and is “pushing” staff and doctors to be able to return to duties, according to his nephew, Peter Phillips. However, Mr Phillips – the son of Princess Anne, the Princess Royal – says the monarch is in “good spirits” and remains “pragmatic”. He made

A 12-year-old boy has been arrested after a teenage girl was stabbed in Kent, police have said. Officers and paramedics were called to Adelaide Drive in Sittingbourne at 3.55pm on Friday after reports of a stabbing, according to Kent Police. They found the girl with knife wounds at the scene and rushed her to hospital

The Prince and Princess of Wales are “extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support” after Kate revealed she is receiving treatment for cancer. Kensington Palace said the future king and queen are “enormously touched” by the outpouring of “kind messages” from across the world following the release of Kate’s emotional video message on Friday.

The Princess of Wales said she and Prince William have been doing everything they can to “process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family” after revealing she is receiving cancer treatment. The future queen added it has “taken time” to explain her diagnosis to her children George, Charlotte and Louis in

Kate, Princess of Wales, has revealed she has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing preventative chemotherapy. In a personal message, the 42-year-old said planned abdominal surgery in January was successful and it was initially thought her condition was non-cancerous. But tests after the operation found cancer had been present, she said, adding: “This of

Police are investigating alleged racist comments made by a major Tory party donor about former Labour MP Diane Abbott. The remarks were made by businessman Frank Hester during a company meeting, where he said Ms Abbott made him “want to hate all black women” and she “should be shot”. A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said

Sir Keir Starmer has backed criticism of Nike for changing the cross of St George on the back of the new England kit. The Labour leader called on the sports manufacturer to switch the multicolour flag back to the original one. His comments come after a social media storm over the change, with calls on

The family of a British woman who has been missing for three years in the US Virgin Islands are pleading for help from President Biden to find her. Sarm Heslop, a former air hostess from Southampton, was living what seemed to be her dream life in the US Virgin Islands, a group of Caribbean islands

Greggs says it is “experiencing issues accepting payments” amid reports shops have been forced to shut across the country. In a statement, the bakery chain added: “We are working to resolve this as soon as possible.” Users on X around the country reported that their local branches were shut or heavily affected. “Greggs in Westminster

Within weeks of Yadi Zhang’s arrival in London in September 2017, Jian Wen had left her job and room in a Chinese takeaway and moved into a £5m six-bedroom house near Hampstead Heath. The women, who claimed to run an international jewellery business trading in diamonds and antiques in countries including Japan, Thailand and China,

The Prince of Wales has made reference to his wife’s expertise while visiting a homelessness project in Sheffield. When the topic of childhood was raised by the city council’s chief executive Kate Josephs, William immediately remarked on the success of Kate’s early years projects. Holding his palms out and smiling, he said: “We’re venturing into

A photograph of the late Queen, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, was “digitally enhanced at source”, according to Getty Images. The picture agency says it has added an editor’s note to the image, which was shared by Kensington Palace in April 2023 on what would have been the late Queen’s 97th birthday. The palace shared