6:32 am, June 10, 2024
Labour promises school breakfast clubs will save parents £400 a year
Labour has said its commitment to delivering free breakfast clubs in primary schools will save parents more than £400 a year and cut almost half a million days of school absence.
In the first phase of the party’s childcare plan, it promises to slash absence and save primary school parents hundreds of pounds a year.
By Labour’s estimates, for parents who already pay for alternative before-school childcare such as childminders, funded breakfast clubs could cut the cost by up to £50 a week, delivering savings of almost £2,000 across a school year.
Sunak sets out plan for 8,000 more ‘bobbies on the beat’
Rishi Sunak has promised to recruit 8,000 more neighbourhood police officers, paid for by hiking the cost of visas if the Conservatives win the General Election.
The prime minister said ‘more bobbies on the beat’ with greater powers would help drive down crime.
The Tories said the plan would be funded in part by increasing visa fees by 25% and making overseas students pay a higher level of immigration health surcharge.
Tributes paid after body found in Greek island search for Michael Mosley
Tributes have been paid after a body was found in the search for TV doctor and columnist Michael Mosley.
The 67-year-old TV personality was with friends at Agios Nikolaos beach on Symi on Wednesday, before going off alone for a walk. Mosley’s body was discovered beneath a fence that runs around a bar on Agia Marina beach, surrounded by hilly, rocky terrain.
His co-presenter on BBC series Trust Me, I’m A Doctor Chris van Tulleken hailed him as ‘one of the most important broadcasters of the last few decades’ as he paid tribute.
Lucy Letby to go on trial accused of the attempted murder of a baby girl
Child serial killer Lucy Letby will go on trial today over an allegation that she attempted to murder a baby girl.
In August 2023, Letby, 34, of Hereford, was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six other infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
The jury in Letby’s 10-month trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children. On Monday at the same court, she will be retried over one of those counts – an allegation that she tried to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.
Political parties urged to combat potholes
Political parties are being urged to prioritise potholes in their manifesto commitments.
A campaign group named the Pothole Partnership called for a limit on temporary road repairs, and for funding to tackle potholes to be accelerated and increased. It also wants road maintenance funding to be ringfenced and councils to adhere to UK-wide repair and inspection standards.
The AA, which is part of the partnership, said potholes are viewed as the most important transport issue by the vast majority of drivers.
Listen to this week’s Car Dealer Podcast
Jon Reay and Rebecca Chaplin are joined by Marketing Delivery’s Jeremy Evans this week, as they chat about Caffyns’ profits dropping, Fisker taking on new dealers and Chinese EVs. You can listen to the podcast on your favourite streaming services, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Macron dissolves French parliament and calls snap election after EU vote defeat
President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved the lower house of France’s parliament in a surprise announcement sending voters back to the polls in the coming weeks to choose legislators, after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far right in the European elections.
The legislative elections will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.
The announcement came after the first projected results from France put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union’s parliamentary elections, handing a chastening loss to Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes.
Generative AI expected to dominate at ‘momentous’ Apple conference
Apple is expected to unveil a wide range of new generative artificial intelligence tools on Monday night, as it looks to rival Google, Microsoft and Samsung in embracing the emerging technology.
After hinting at it for several months, and while many of their biggest rivals have rolled out a range of new generative AI tools, WWDC (Worldwide Developers’ Conference) is finally expected to be the moment Apple lays out its plans for using the technology.
Experts say this will be a big moment for the tech sector as a whole, given the widespread use of Apple devices. How generative AI is embedded into the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac computers and other devices will have a substantial impact on the future of the emerging technology.
Weather
Rain in the east will clear to showers this afternoon, reports BBC Weather, while the rest of the UK will have variable cloud and showers. The south-west will be the driest and brightest. Cool with highs of 18 degrees in the south-west.
A dry night for most, although some parts of north Wales, northern England and northern Scotland will be cloudier with a few showers.
