United Kingdom

    Charity Shelter said other basic needs can suffer a result of housing costs Large swathes of England are spending more than a third of their disposable income on rent, research has found. There is still a clear North – South divide with Londoners facing the highest housing costs. Spending more than a third of income on rent or mortgage can leave people unable to afford basic needs, according to housing charity Shelter. “Our chronic housing shortage means private renting is no longer a stepping stone for people starting out in life – it’s where a quarter of families have to live," said Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb. "With sky high rents eating up a huge chunk of people’s monthly income, it’s sadly no surprise that at Shelter we’re hearing from growing numbers of fam...

    A couple in Nottingham were shocked when a parking attendant issued them with a parking fine while they were cleaning the car in question with a valid permit. Swayne Smith, 46, was hovering the car when a traffic warden began inspecting the vehicle, and according to Smith and his girlfriend, Lorenda Simpson, the officer didn't follow the correct procedure. The permit was partially covered by a plastic bag when the attendant arrived, but the couple say that the warden should take five minutes before giving the vehicle a fine or talk to the owner if they are in attendance and request them to move it. Simpson filmed the incident on her phone, and captured the moment when the warden admitted he couldn't see the permit before issuing the £70 fine. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Si...

    The governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney gives a press conference, his first since the leave result of the European Union referendum, at the Bank of England in the City of London, Britain Thursday, June 30, 2016. The governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney gives a press conference, his first since the leave result of the European Union referendum, at the Bank of England in the City of London, Britain Thursday, June 30… Bank of England governor Mark Carney has bad news: The Brexit vote has so weakened the UK economy that he is predicting a period of low growth, inflation above 2%, and increased unemployment. Alongside the Bank’s new rate cut, it revealed in its quarterly Inflation Report that it is downgrading the UK’s growth forecast for 2017 to just 0.8% from t...

    Sharp rise in anti-semitic hate cases The number of anti-Semitic hate incidents rose by 11% in the first half of this year, with the Jewish community targeted three times a day on average. The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitism, said there was no obvious single cause for the rise. It recorded 557 hate incidents in the UK between the start of January and the end of June. There were 32 incidents of damage and desecration of Jewish property and 431 in the abusive behaviour category. This included verbal abuse, anti-Semitic graffiti, abuse via social media and one-off cases of hate mail. The CST also recorded 43 direct threats, and 10 cases of mass-mailed leaflets or emails. Social media has become an "essential tool" for those who wish to harass, abu...

    A Mirror survey of everyday products including milk, pasta, chicken, rice and cheese found the Aldi bill came to £13.01 - over a fiver less than Sainsbury’s where it cost £18.40. The same items were £16.05 at Asda, £17.88 at Morrisons and £17.62 at Tesco. Our survey follows a Trussell Trust report that revealed one in five parents will skip a meal this summer to make sure the kids don’t go hungry. We found a pack of two chicken breast fillets (300g) cost £1.79 at Aldi but was £3 at Morrisons and £2.95 at Sainsbury’s. Wholewheat pasta (500g) cost 49p at Aldi but was more double the price at Asda where it cost £1. And a 400g punnet of strawberries came to £1.29 at the budget chain but was £2 at Tesco. Out of 15 weekly essentials, Aldi was the cheapest for 12, more expensive ...

    Supermarkets have slashed the price of petrol and diesel by up to 2p per litre - seeing forecourt prices fall across the country. Asda has announced a national cap meaning motorists will not shell out more than 105.7ppl on unleaded and 106.7ppl on diesel across their 272 stations. Tesco rolled out a 2p drop that will come into effect from 5pm on Monday. Peter Cattell, fuel director for Tesco, said: "We know that lots of customers will have plans for the summer holidays, so we're dropping the price of our fuel to help them enjoy it even more. "This reduction of up to 2p per litre on petrol and diesel at all our 500 petrol filling stations will mean millions of customers save money by shopping at Tesco." Andy Peake, Asda's senior director for petrol, said the chain has dropp...

    A High Court judge has ruled the NHS can legally supply a game changing drug that prevents HIV. National Aids Trust (NAT) brought a challenge against NHS England that was being heard by Mr Justice Green in London. The case relates to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a highly effective anti-retroviral drug used to stop HIV from becoming established in the event of transmission. When taken consistently, PrEP has been shown to reduce the risk of infection in people who are at high risk by more than 90 per cent. A dispute arose earlier this year when NHS England said it would not routinely fund the drug because it was a preventative service and was therefore not its responsibility. It said local councils were in charge of funding preventative health services. After initially r...

    With a simple tap, money will fly out of your bank account and into the pockets of the landlord or restaurant owner. But sometimes your waiter, waitress or bartender won't present the card machine to you for you to tap. They'll ask to take your card so they can do it themselves. That's fine, right? Wrong. According to fraud expert Andrew Goodwill, you should never hand over your card in any circumstances. The founder of the Goodwill Group against CNP (card not present) fraud shared his advice with Mirror Online. He said: There is an unwritten code of good practice which is that when paying by either contactless card or by any other card, that the card should always be in the sight of the customer. If the card reader is not brought to you for the transaction to take place t...

    The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has warned that a terror attack in the UK is a case of "when, not if". Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said that he cannot promise an attack will not take place, despite being in charge of preventing them. Writing in the Mail on Sunday he said instead that he could offer reassurance by explaining what the police and security services were doing to protect the public. Speaking of the terrorist atrocities Europe has seen recently, Sir Bernard said: "I feel and understand that fear, and as the police officer in charge of preventing such an attack I know you want me to reassure you. "I am afraid I cannot do that entirely. Our threat level has been at 'Severe' for two years. It remains there. "It means an attack is highly likely - you cou...

    The UK’s exports have grown at a world-beating pace for the first time in nearly a decade, according to official figures, as businesses rapidly increased the share of goods they sold outside of the European Union. The success of British firms in repositioning to markets further afield has helped boost overall export growth above the global rate of expansion for the first time since 2006, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The UK’s success came at a fraught moment for global trade as a whole, as world export growth fell behind overall economic growth for the first time in 14 years. The figures suggested that the country's exporters were already moving towards non-EU markets ahead of this year's EU referendum result. While Britain has sold slightly more g...