United Kingdom

    This year winter arrived early in the UK, with temperatures plunging well below freezing before November was even out. So is an extra cold winter on the cards? Forecasting months ahead is fraught with difficulty, but some scientists believe that the warm autumn in the Arctic may portend a cold winter for North America and northern Europe. As summer came to a close, Arctic sea-ice melted to its second lowest extent on record, allowing ocean waters to release more heat to the atmosphere. By November temperatures in the Arctic had rocketed to a staggering 20 degrees higher than average. The rising Arctic temperatures that threaten polar bears could be sending wintry weather our way. Much of that heat has raised temperatures in the stratosphere and this is likely to weaken the...

    Theresa May’s leather trousers have almost sold out in the wake of her famous photo shoot. The website of British designer Amanda Wakeley shows the £995 trousers are now only available in size 12 in black, with other colours and sizes completely sold out. But Christmas shoppers might strike lucky in Oxfam. Tory MP Richard Benyon tweeted cheekily this morning: Just off to charity shop with my leather trousers.  

    Chancellor  Hammond gave the Treasury select committee this afternoon when asked if Britain could stick to the two-year Article 50 timeline that would see the country leave the EU in March 2019 with no transitional deal. The further we go into this discussion, the more likely it is that we will mutually conclude that we need a longer period to deliver, the chancellor of the exchequer told MPs. That was the first admission by any senior minister in Prime Minister Theresa May's government that Brexit is going to be harder, take longer, and cost more than previously thought. Adding infrastructure, staff, and a regulatory framework to create new customs procedures at British ports alone will add hundreds of millions of pounds to the cost of operating the customs services, he s...

    Disposable incomes are expected to fall due to prices rising faster than wages. Inflation has hit its highest level in more than two years thanks to the sharp depreciation of the pound since the Brexit vote, according to the latest prices report from the Office for National Statistics. The Consumer Prices Index rose 1.2 per cent in the year to November, up from 0.9 per cent in October and more than the 1.1 per cent increase City of London analysts had expected. That was the fastest rate of increase since October 2014. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel prices, was 1.4 per cent, up from 1.2 per cent in the previous month. The ONS said two of the main contributors to the increase in the headline rate since October were rises in clothing and motor fuel pr...

    A former Cabinet minister was banned from Number 10 after criticising Theresa May for wearing a £1,000 pair of trousers, explosive text messages have revealed. Sacked education secretary Nicky Morgan was referred to as that woman in the messages from Fiona Hill, the Prime Minister’s joint chief of staff. Ms Hill had previously met with Ms Morgan and fellow Tory Alistair Burt and invited them to a meeting with Mrs May about their views on Brexit next week. But text messages obtained by the Mail on Sunday show that Ms Hill texted Mr Burt to tell him Don't bring that woman to No 10 again" after she spoke out about the premier's decision to pose in Amanda Wakeley-designed "bitter chocolate trousers. Ms Morgan, however, found out about the message and sent the aide a stinging r...

    A neo Nazi group set to be banned in the UK has been described by the Home Secretary as racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic. National Action will this week become the first group engaged in extreme right-wing activities to be proscribed under British terrorism laws. It means anyone who is a member or seeks support for the group faces arrest. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "I am clear that the safety and security of our families, communities and country comes first. So today I am taking action to proscribe the neo-Nazi group National Action. This will mean that being a member of, or inviting support for, this organisation will be a criminal offence. National Action is a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes ...

    Theresa May has refused calls to force all shops to close on Boxing Day, saying it is not the Government’s job to tell businesses how they should run their shows. MPs will hold a Westminster Hall debate on a petition with more than 140,000 signatures calling for a ban on all retail premises opening the day after Christmas, on the basis that it exploits low paid workers. The British Retail Consortium says Boxing Day has been a popular shopping day for years. UK shoppers spent £3.74 billion in the Boxing Day sales in 2015, according to research from VoucherCodes.co.uk and the Centre for Retail Research - a 6 per cent increase on 2014. Labour's Helen Jones, who chairs the Petitions Committee, said the current system of Boxing Day sales exploits lower paid workers and deprives...

    How great would it be if you could travel to the other side of the Atlantic in the same amount of time it takes you to get to work in the morning? While this sounds like the stuff dreams are made of, those dreams might just become reality soon thanks to the invention of the new Antipode plane, which professes to be capable of transporting passengers from London to New York in TWENTY MINUTES. Seriously, drying my hair takes longer than that. This new plane could fly from the UK to New York in 20 minutesBut the rocket jet could seriously achieve such a feat. As METRO reports, the plane would travel at supersonic speeds after take off, which would probably feel more like blast off, and would ultimately reach an acceleration of a staggering 24 times the speed of sound. Concord...

    A second legal bid could soon be launched in a bid to derail Brexit, this time in the Irish courts. Jolyon Maugham QC, a barrister who advised Ed Miliband on tax policy and is now campaigning for a second EU referendum, is attempting to raise £70,000 in public donations. He aims to bring an action in the Irish High Court in which he hopes to establish whether an Article 50 notification sent by the UK to Brussels could be overturned at a future date. He is taking on the Irish government, the European Council and the European Commission and he is hoping UK MEPs who want the UK to remain in the EU will spearhead his legal action. The move follows the four-day hearing in the UK Supreme Court on an appeal by the UK Government against a High Court ruling demanding more Article 5...

    The bold proposal would mean only zero- or low-carbon vehicles being sold after a set cut-off date, dramatically reducing air pollution and potentially saving thousands of lives. The move would form part of a broader and revolutionary package of measures to transform Britain into a low-carbon nation. Other ideas Mr Corbyn is exploring include smashing the dominance of the “big six” energy firms by allowing any individual who generates electricity to sell it to their neighbours. There is also a proposal for a new system to turbo-charge the upgrading of British homes to make them more energy-efficient, saving people hundreds of pounds on energy bills. The policies would help Mr Corbyn fulfil a pledge to create an energy policy “for the 60 million, not the big six” and make t...