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Another teacher — this time from Hampshire in the south of England – has written to express his concerns about the exam results u-turn: I do feel for able students at low performing schools, but this is probably a significant minority of students, and should have been looked at individually. Grade inflation will hurt all […]

In his memoir Boone, the legendary US oilman T Boone Pickens recalled casting envious glances towards the North Sea from his station in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the 1970s, there was oil to be had, and the British government was issuing exploration licences. “I couldn’t help thinking about the great possibilities across the […]

Britain’s economy has been officially confirmed in recession for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis as the coronavirus pandemic plunges the country into the deepest slump on record. The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic prosperity, fell in the three months to the end of […]

Online political advertisements could require labels for the first time under plans unveiled by the government, in an effort to inject more transparency into digital campaigning. The rules would require a “digital imprint”, revealing who is behind the message, to be included on formal campaign ads as well as “organic” content made by certain campaigners […]

Labour has called for grouse shooting to be licensed after a big increase in illegal killings of birds of prey during the coronavirus lockdown, the majority of which, investigators say, are linked to the sport. As the grouse shooting season, known as the Glorious 12th, officially began on Wednesday, the shadow environment secretary, Luke Pollard, […]

Ministers made an 11th-hour bid to stave off a revolt over the handling of exam results on Tuesday night, granting pupils in England the right to use mock exam results if they are unhappy with their grades. The intervention, on the eve of the release of 730,000 A-level results decided by an algorithm on Thursday, […]

Britain’s television news broadcasters have been criticised by opposition MPs and campaigners over their coverage of migrants crossing the Channel, with claims that some of their reports dehumanise those taking the risk to make the journey. Footage of Sky News and BBC Breakfast teams approaching and filming small boats trying to navigate the busy waters […]

The Scottish Conservatives have appointed Ruth Davidson as their leader in Holyrood, hours before she was due to face Nicola Sturgeon again at first minister’s questions. The announcement on Tuesday evening comes nearly a year after Davidson quit suddenly as leader of the Scottish party, partly in protest at Boris Johnson’s election as UK leader […]

The government has been urged to demonstrate there was no favouritism at play in awarding Serco a contact-tracing contract worth £108m, as a leaked memo revealed the outsourcing firm was enlisted to help with the Covid-19 response as early as January. Serco is facing growing calls to be axed from any future involvement in contact-tracing […]

If the Conservatives thought they knew a way to ruin Keir Starmer’s prospects of becoming prime minister, the onslaught would have begun already. Under Boris Johnson’s management, Downing Street is a campaigning machine with a sideline in government. The absence of attack on the opposition leader is unlikely to express non-partisan reticence. The better explanation […]

More than 100,000 Scottish exam grades which were marked down last week will be reinstated, by restoring results to those recommended by teachers, Scotland’s education secretary, John Swinney, has said. Swinney made an emergency statement at Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon after a furious row erupted last week when the Scottish Qualifications Authority announced it had […]

What a pleasure to have the news agenda still dictated by former drivetime radio presenter Nigel Farage, who resists the suggestion that it’s time to declare an emergency in his career by announcing: “It’s time to declare an emergency in the Channel.” Initially it was to be hoped there would be only one wave of […]

A lot of people are talking about Tory sleaziness with regard to the recent Lords nominations. But is there, perhaps, an even bigger Tory sleaze issue that should be addressed?Caroline, by email I moved to this country in 1990 and one of the ways I got to grips with this strange new land was by […]

Mike Bartlett’s 2017 play Albion returned to London’s Almeida theatre in February, the week after Britain left the EU. It didn’t mention Brexit but the story reflected its mournful divisions. Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck and dwarfed the drama’s concerns of nationhood, patriotism and nostalgic notions of Englishness. Or did it? “Some were saying in […]

Sturgeon says she will not speak about the exam situation, which she will leave to John Swinney’s emergency statement later. She says that 253 cases have been identified in Aberdeen since 26 July, 165 associated with one cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs. The rate of increase appears to be slowing down, she says. She says […]

There is nothing a politician fears more than the organised public wrath of a group of articulate parents, headteachers and the ex-chief inspector of schools. The approaching furore over A-level and GCSE results, when up to 40% of teacher predictions in England are likely to be downgraded, suggests we have a long, hot summer of […]