February 2023

He wrote a string of classic pop songs including I Say A Little Prayer and Walk On By Burt Bacharach, the composer of classic pop songs including I Say A Little Prayer and Walk On By, has died at the age of 94. His publicist confirmed to the PA news agency that he died surrounded […]

The Church of England’s general synod has voted in favour of offering blessings to same-sex couples in civil partnerships and marriages. The Church of England’s general synod has voted in favour of offering blessings to same-sex couples in civil partnerships and marriages. A marathon near-eight hour debate across two days ended in a vote for

Ambulances across England have improved their response times for reaching people who called 999, new data shows. The average response time in January for ambulances dealing with the most urgent category 1 incidents, such as cardiac arrest, was eight minutes and 30 seconds, down from 10 minutes and 57 seconds in December. The target standard

Twitter users around the world have reported being unable to tweet or follow other accounts because of a bug linked to new limits on user activity on the platform. On Wednesday users began reporting seeing a message saying “rate limit exceeded” – meaning they had hit the site’s limit for the number of tweets or

Titles incorporating themes of mental health lead the shortlist for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for 2023. The winner, which will be selected from a total of 18 books across three categories and voted for by Waterstones booksellers, will be announced during a ceremony on March 30. With six books nominated in each category, the

House prices are starting to reflect the shift in demand in the market, according to surveyors. Agreed sales, house prices and new instructions to sell homes remained on a downward trend in January, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said. Property professionals’ expectations suggest this picture is likely to remain in place for a

Around 70 members of the UK International Search and Rescue Team have arrived in Turkey to assist with the search operation as the death toll from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake approached 12,000. The team of volunteers, which included firefighters, medics, engineers and vets, was joined by crews from at least 24 countries. UK International Search

Urgent action is needed to create “climate-ready” homes, according to a major insurer. Aviva said properties should be retrofitted and built resiliently to withstand extreme weather. The company said it wants to see strengthened planning policies to avoid development in high-risk areas and requirements to embed resilience measures where developments are granted. Aviva is calling

Consumers have been warned only to buy e-bikes and e-scooters from reputable retailers following a dramatic surge in house fires caused by unsafe batteries and chargers. An “alarming spate” of fires has been attributed to non-compliant lithium-ion batteries used in the bikes and scooters, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) warned. The number of fires