Day: January 24, 2018

    An ambulance service received an inappropriate call from a woman concerned over how to store a cracked egg. The East Midlands Ambulance Service have since released a video asking people to resist making irresponsible calls. A dead fox and someone who asked ambulance staff to make them breakfast were among other reasons behind inappropriate 999 calls that were made in the last six months. Simon Tomlinson, General Manager for the EAMS Emergency Operations Centres, reminded people to only dial 999 in the event of a serious emergency. He said: When you call 999 because someone is unconscious, not breathing, having chest pains or has the symptoms of a stroke, you are making the right call. Our emergency call handlers are trained to deliver life-saving instructions ove...

    Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) has said it will return all previous donations from the Presidents Club after allegations of sexual harassment at a fundraiser. The charity intervened after claims female staff at a male-only dinner held last week at the Dorchester Hotel were groped, sexually harassed and propositioned. A spokesperson for GOSH said: We are shocked to hear of the behaviour reported at the Presidents Club Charitable Trust fundraising dinner. We would never knowingly accept donations raised in this way. We have had no involvement in the organisation of this event, nor attended and we were never due to receive any money from it. All monies raised in our name go to support vital work. However, due to the wholly unacceptable nature of the event we ar...

    Henry Bolton says he is struggling financially partly because the Ukip party he leads does not cover his expenses. The beleaguered leader lives in a flat in a hotel in Folkestone but does not get a salary from the party and he admits that his resources are running low. His reputation has been hit hard by his relationship with the 25-year-old model Jo Marney, who was roundly criticised for her racist tweets about Meghan Markle, prince Harry's fiancee. In the wake of that move, the party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) refused to pay him a modest monthly stipend to cover his expenses as leader. There are bills to be paid and all my savings have just about gone. There is absolutely nothing convenient in any of this for me. I am not doing it for the money,...

    Angry Tory MPs attacked the Scottish government tonight for telling its officials to fly the Union Flag just once a year. The historic emblem was replaced by the blue-and-white Scottish Saltire for several Royal birthdays, including the Queen's, in new guidance issued by Holyrood. The guidance recommends the Union flag flies over government buildings only on Remembrance Sunday, down from 15 occasions a year. Tory ex-minister Iain Duncan Smith claimed the guidance was outrageous and tawdry while backbencher Jacob Rees Mogg complained it smacks of small-mindedness. Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser accused First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of trying to eradicate the Union Flag and appealing to extreme elements of the nationalist movement. Under 2017 guidance, on Royal bir...