London and Berlin have signed an agreement allowing German people smugglers organising the transport of migrants across the Channel to the UK to be penalised. So far, German law has not provided for sanctions for smuggling people into non-EU countries, the BBC reported today.more

The price of Christmas dinner for four has shot up 6.5% this year, far outstripping inflation, according to industry experts. Market researchers Kantar found a festive feast will set you back £32.57, up from approximately £30.58 last year.more

Thousands more people have been priced out of the car insurance market over the past year, according to estimates from Citizens Advice. The charity estimates from research it commissioned that around 2.6 million people across the UK do not drive as they cannot afford the cost of cover.more

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces greater state commitment to stability in the Middle East, according to a Downing Street release yesterday. Starmer was in the United Arab Emirates, where he met with President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.more

Marriages between first cousins would be banned in the UK under a proposal to be tabled in Parliament. Conservative former minister Richard Holden said such marriages have been linked to a higher rate of birth defects and can also “reinforce negative structures and control women”.more

Most services are operating normally over the festive period apart from on the bank holidays but Transport for London advises passengers to check before they travel. Transport for London has confirmed its Christmas and new year timetables, which will mean some disruption for a week and a half. more

Just two hours from London, Mersea in Essex has been crowned one of the UK's top spots to settle down, with its charming pastel beach huts, untamed coastlines, lush countryside, top-notch eateries, and quaint homes, according to Muddy Stilettos. Dubbed a 'scenic island', Mersea is celebrated for its extensive unspoiled shores and its reputation as the home of the nation's finest oysters.more

The number of job vacancies in November fell at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic, as business confidence slumped to its lowest level in almost two years, according to two new reports.more

Images of arrested people who were innocent of any crimes are still being stored in a police database that may be used for facial recognition purposes, an official report has warned.more

Only half of the Home Office’s recent asylum decisions have met its own internal quality checks, significantly fewer than before Rishi Sunak’s push to clear a backlog of old claims.more

Britain will limit engagement with the Georgian government and restrict defence cooperation, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Monday in a statement condemning violence against protestors and journalists there, APA reports citing Reuters.more

The UK shipped enough of a bee-killing insecticide overseas to spray an area bigger than England, a Greenpeace investigation found.more

More settled but cooler conditions will greet much of the UK this week as the clean-up operation from Storm Darragh gets under way. Winds will gradually ease with noticeably less rainfall by Wednesday but temperatures will stay in the single figures, the Met Office said.more

The Sunday Times has released its school guide for 2025, finding which UK schools are the highest-achieving. The list saw several schools in London get a spot on the list. The anticipated list is created to be a guide for parents so they can compare the performance of a given school with other schools in the same town, local authority or nationally.more

Britain has welcomed the fall of the "barbaric regime" in Syria and called for a "restoration of peace and stability", Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement yesterday.more

A new weight-loss jab will be rolled out on the NHS in England - but it could take 12 years for everyone to receive it, the NHS drugs advisory body says. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) final draft guidance on Mounjaro has recommended it starts being given from March, alongside advice on diet and exercise.more

The quintessential British tradition of drinking tea seems to be fading away, writes BBC. Sales of ordinary tea stood at £377m in 2023, leaving it far behind instant coffee, at almost £1bn.more

London shops lost a record £15 million of items due to a shoplifting epidemic sweeping across the capital. Shoplifters are 20 per cent less likely to be arrested than they were a decade ago, a London Assembly Member has highlighted.more

UK house prices rose for the fifth month in a row in November to hit a new record high of £298,083, according to Halifax Property values rose by 1.3% month on month, but on an annual basis house prices increased by 4.8% in November, accelerating from 4% growth in October.more

Muhammad has become the most popular baby name for boys in England and Wales for the first time, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed. Noah beaten into second place for boys, while Olivia keeps top slot for girls.more

The town of Woodbridge in Suffolk has been crowned the happiest place to live in Great Britain, topping our annual Happy at Home Index for the very first time. Now in its 13th year, we surveyed over 35,000 people across Great Britain to find out exactly what they love (or don’t love) about where they live.more

Police Scotland has scrapped plans that would have seen many frontline officers and staff having to shave off facial hair. The clean-shaven policy was due to be introduced in May last year but caused controversy and its implementation was postponed for 12 months.more

A unique exhibition has launched at London's King's Cross Theatre that is sure to interest fans of fashion history. ‘Vogue: Inventing the Runway’ includes the work of more than 60 designers such as Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Louis Vuitton, taking a closer look at the evolution of fashion shows, which have evolved from intimate presentations over the years into spectacular shows.more

The Met Office has issued a rare red weather warning for wind as Storm Darragh approaches the UK. The warning is in place from 03:00 to 11:00 GMT on Saturday, covering western and southern coastal regions of Wales, as well as the Bristol Channel including parts of Bristol and Cardiff.more

Searches for post-retirement jobs in the UK have risen by 16% in the past year as pensioners face higher living costs, with further significant regional differences in job-seeking trends shown in new research – up by 900% in one southern UK city.more