Day: January 4, 2017

    The Queen has given an honour to a member of her staff as she continues to recover from a heavy cold. Queen Elizabeth missed church services on Christmas Day and New Years Day due to ill health, prompting growing concern about her health. A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told The Independent the Queen had presented the honour to her member of staff in person and she was continuing to recuperate. She is continuing to recuperate and she is dealing with her regular red boxes of official papers, a spokesperson for the palace said. The court circular, who makes the official record of royal engagements, recorded that the monarch made Ray Wheaton, the Queen's Page of the Chambers, a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order. Referred to as the LVO, the honour is in the Queen's ...

    A six-day strike by drivers on Southern Railway has been halved but unions warn there is likely to be further action in the long-running dispute over driver-only trains. Members of the Aslef union were due to walk out from Tuesday 10 January which have halted services for the entire week but now say they action will end early and trains will be running as normal from the 14th. But General Secretary Mick Whelan said the move did not mean the union was rolling back and warned of further strikes. He said the union's executive will meet later in the month and there was a likelihood more strikes will be called. The union said it had reduced the stoppage out of consideration for how long the dispute will last and its effect on passengers. Southern Railway customers have suffe...