UK News »
Latest news from Britain.
Immigrants face high-tech scans
IMMIGRANTS in Derbyshire are to undergo compulsory hi-tech facial scans as part of a national UK Border Agency crackdown on illegal workers. Information from the scans will be used for new identity cards for
Read More »ID cards and the snooper state
IT IS simply wrong of James Hall, CEO of the Identity & Passport Service, to suggest that the personal information stored on the National Identity Register is equivalent to the data already collected for
Read More »Freedom of Information Act to be extended
The Freedom of Information Act looks set to be extended to include four new bodies. The government has published its response to a consultation launched in October 2007 about which new organisations, if any,
Read More »Stop the War Coalition barred from Downing Street
Anti-war campaigners were refused access to Downing Street yesterday to deliver a letter calling for troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan. About 100 noisy demonstrators crossed Whitehall to take up a position in
Read More »DNA of thousands of innocent people held by police
MORE than ten people have their DNA recorded and stored by Redbridge Police every day, the Guardian can reveal. A total of 3,654 samples of genetic material were taken in the borough last year
Read More »IBM to build UK fingerprints database
The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has contracted IBM to build a database to support the Government’s switch to biometric passports.IBM will also provide a replacement for the UK Border Agency’s (UKBA) Immigration and
Read More »Proecutors review phone-hacking claims
Prosecutors are to look again at claims of alleged phone hacking by the News of the World, it was announced tonight. Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions, said he had ordered
Read More »News of the World phone-tapping – Did police ignore the evidence
SCOTLAND Yard was today studying allegations of large-scale, illegal phone-tapping of celebrities and politicians by the News of the World. The Metropolitan Police was urgently trying to “establish the facts” after claims that its
Read More »7 July bombing memorial to be unveiled
A memorial to the 52 people killed in the 7 July attacks in London will be officially unveiled today to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the bombings. The memorial, in Hyde Park in
Read More »BT abandons Phorm trials
UK telco has ditched trials of the controversial web-monitoring technology Phorm, but has not ruled out using it again in futureBT has shelved its commitment to controversial online behavioural monitoring software Phorm, in what
Read More »Concern over MI6 chief web details
The Liberal Democrats are calling for an inquiry into whether the new head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, should be allowed to take up his post after his wife apparently published personal details on
Read More »MoD faces Afghan civilian death pay-outs
The Ministry of Defence has paid out, or is considering, compensation in relation to at least 104 civilian deaths allegedly caused by the British Army in Afghanistan over the last 18 months, it has
Read More »Mandelson says No U-turn on ID cards
Home secretary Alan Johnson’s pledge that the government will not make ID cards compulsory is not a U-turn on policy, according to first secretary Lord Mandelson. The business minister said the government had “always
Read More »Police chief in charge of de Menezes shooting is handed ANOTHER promotion
The police chief who oversaw the bungled operation which resulted in the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes was yesterday made the third most powerful officer at Scotland Yard. Cressida Dick, 48, who
Read More »The astonishing amount of data gathered on every one of us
Ever wondered how much personal information is held about you? Well, it looks something like this… Stacked over two feet high and weighing 12kg (nearly two stone), this pile of more than 3,000 sheets
Read More »Labour government forces one million disabled workers to find work
The Brown Labour government is forcing a million disabled, sick and injured workers off social benefits. The vast majority are being driven into low paid employment or onto poor quality training schemes, at the
Read More »Britain’s child poverty disgrace
Official figures published today show that a quarter of children in London are from jobless households, adding fuel to criticism of the government’s attempts to end child poverty. The Office of National Statistics (ONS)
Read More »Challenge to BNP’s whites-only rule
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has challenged the fascist British National Party to address its membership criteria, on the basis that they contravene the Race Relations Act. The commission, which is headed by
Read More »Blair WAS involved in Iraq inquiry talks, minister says
Gordon Brown is to promise that much of the Iraq inquiry will be held in the open in an attempt to avert a damaging Commons defeat for the Government this Wednesday. Amid fury
Read More »Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number
The Guardian has obtained this police footage of Emily Apple and Val Swain being arrested by surveillance officers after asking for their badge numbers at the Kingsnorth climate camp last year. The two women
Read More »Blackwash outrage as MPs ‘publish’ their expenses
THE House of Commons last night stood accused of spending more than £2 million on a bungled cover-up, after publishing details of MPs’ expenses with huge swathes blacked out. Critics said the heavily-edited disclosure
Read More »Letter reveals Tony Blair knew of secret policy on terror interrogations
Tony Blair was aware of the existence of a secret interrogation policy which effectively led to British citizens, and others, being tortured during counter-terrorism investigations, the Guardian can reveal. The policy, devised in the
Read More »A blackout and a whitewash: MP’s expenses
Another huge own goal by Britain’s parliamentarians. Everybody knew that they were taking a rather generous view on their expenses, and when a request under the Freedom of Information Act threatened to expose it
Read More »New Poll Shows Human Rights Still Matter
Rising support for the British National party (BNP) has not dented widespread commitment among Britons to civil liberties, a poll out today shows. According to pollsters ComRes, who conducted research for civil liberties group
Read More »UK Iraq inquiry ‘must not be held in secret’
Gordon Brown was under intense pressure last night to throw open a new inquiry into the Iraq war to the public as families of soldiers who died, and anti-war MPs, reacted with horror to
Read More »
