United Kingdom

    Sterling trade-weighted index fell 1 percent to hit a three-week low on Monday, while the cost of hedging against swings over the coming month traded at its highest since late 2008 on growing concerns over whether Britain will stay in the European Union. Polling firm TNS said on Monday that the campaign to get Britain out of the European Union had a 2-point lead over the "Remain" campaign, while a YouGov poll for ITV showed that the "Leave" campaign had a 4 point lead. Bookmakers shortened their odds on Brexit in response, with betting website Betfair putting the chances of a vote to leave at 30 percent on Monday. The odds were at around 27 percent at the start of last week. Against the dollar, sterling was 0.6 percent lower at $1.4430, having fallen to $1.4352 in early As...

    The Royal College of Physicians has warned Brexit could harm patient care and public health, in a major intervention in the EU referendum debate (Picture: [copyright]) Britain’s EU membership has been good for the nation’s health, helped guarantee patient safety and supplied thousands of frontline staff for the NHS, leading medical organisations have said. In a major intervention in the EU referendum debate, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), the doctors’ professional body, representing 30,000 medics, has warned that Brexit could harm patient care and public health. Meanwhile, the British Medical Association (BMA), with nearly 150,000 members, despite remaining officially neutral, has published a document on the EU for doctors, which lists numerous benefits of Britain’...

    David Cameron has attacked Michael Gove and Boris Johnson for writing cheques they know will bounce after they claimed an extra £100 million a week would be freed up for the NHS if Britain quits the European Union. Diverting the UK's contribution to EU coffers would give the straining health service a "cash transfusion", the Justice Secretary and former London mayor have claimed. But the economic impact of Brexit would mean there is less money to pump into health care, the Prime Minister insisted. Mr Cameron said: "The Leave campaign is writing cheques they know will bounce, 9/10 economists say there'll be a profound shock if we leave the EU. That means there will be less money - not more. It's also why so many doctors and nurses support remaining in the EU." Leave campaig...

    A teenager is in hospital after jumping off a balcony during a theatre performance and landing on a spectator. The 18-year-old male is thought to have been watching Grease at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool when he plunged off the edge around 9.30pm. Audience members were said to have shouted and screamed as they watched him land on top of the female spectator. Robert Simmill, who was at the performance with his mother, girlfriend and her mother, told the Telegraph he saw a body fall 10 minutes into the second half. The 17-year-old, from Lancaster, said: “There was a loud thud as he hit the centre aisle. Everyone around got up and started screaming and shouting. People from the audience were shouting at the actors to stop. I looked up to the third tier as I was in the stall...

    A paraplegic woman has been penalised by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after resigning from a part-time job she sought herself but was unable to continue due to ill health. The woman had her benefits stopped after she gave up working eight hours a week for a consultancy agency. The DWP allow disabled people to receive sickness benefits if they are employed fewer than 16 hours a week and earn less than £115.50 for it. Speaking to the Guardian under the pseudonym Sarah Jones, she said she received written permission from the DWP to start work. But by March, Ms Jones told the DWP she had to resign because the job was taking a toll on her health. A month later, the DWP fraud department accused her of working without permission. Ms Jones was asked to fill in a "per...

    House prices, estate agents for sale and to let. Signs of faltering demand in the housing market are prompting estate agents and analysts to suggest England’s house price boom may be ending. Paul Smith, chief executive of the Haart agency — which has more than 100 branches — said: “We believe the nation has now neared the limit in terms of price rises.” Inquiries declined in April at their second-highest rate since 2008, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors — a trend that Mike Prew, equity analyst at investment bank Jefferies, said “signals this slowdown could morph into a period of sustained house price deflation”. Drops in this Rics measure are strongly correlated with price falls about a year later, Mr Prew added. “The balance of surveyors expecting...

    Buy-to-let clampdown explained: Four ways the UK tax changes would be bad for landlords. It has been just over six weeks since buy-to-let landlords were hit with tax changes designed to turn them away from investing in property. But even the potential for dents to profits have done little to dampen buyers’ appetites. Undeterred, bidders piled into the sale room at one of the country’s biggest property auctions this week. It was the biggest turnout auctioneers Allsop, one of Britain’s leading residential property auction houses, had seen since the start of the year. Between 1,500 and 2,000 buyers attended the central London event and competition for each lot was fierce, particularly for investment properties in London and the South East. Early on, one ex-council terrace hou...

    Prime Minister David Cameron has bought a used Nissan Micra costing £1,500 for his wife Samantha to use. Mr Cameron bought the blue, 2004 Micra from a used-car dealer in his constituency, the Witney Used Car Centre in Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire. As reported in the mail, reported the company’s owner Iain Harris as saying: I got a call on Friday night to say that the Prime Minister was on his way round to look at one of our cars. I thought it was one of my mates, winding me up. I couldn't believe it when he turned up. He spent about half an hour looking the car over. He said it had to be something made in the UK. I joked that he wouldn't want a red car. According to Mr Harris, the Prime Minister didn't look at any other cars, and said that he was looking for a runabout for ...

    House prices could take an 18% hit over the next two years and there will be an “economic shock” that will increase the cost of mortgages if the UK votes to leave the EU, George Osborne has warned. The chancellor said he would publish an official analysis next week saying house prices would be lower by at least 10% and up to 18% compared with what is expected if Britain remains in the EU. He made his claim as it emerged that property investors were inserting “Brexit clauses” in commercial deals to allow them to pull out. Speaking at the G7 summit in Japan, Osborne said: “If we leave the European Union, there will be an immediate economic shock that will hit financial markets. People will not know what the future looks like. “In the long term, the country and the people in ...

    A married teacher let out a bloodcurdling scream as she was jailed for a year after having sex with a schoolboy. Lauren Cox, 27, let out a screeching cry as a judge sentenced her to 12 months in prison today. The teacher admitted a having a 6-month-long sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy, which was discovered by his mother. Cox also said "I'm sorry" to her tearful family sitting in the public gallery as she was taken to the cells at Croydon Crown Court. An emotional exchange took place between the victim's mother, who undertook her own investigation to expose the abuse, and Cox's mother. Cox's mum burst into tears as her daughter was sentenced, and the victim's mum said to her as she exited the room: "I didn't have a choice, he is my son." Her mother replied: "You ...