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Former chancellor and veteran Labour politician Alistair Darling has died aged 70. The long-serving MP died after spending time in hospital being treated for cancer, a spokesman for his family said. A statement issued on behalf of his family said: “The death of Alistair Darling, a former chancellor of the Exchequer and long-serving member of the Labour cabinet, was announced in Edinburgh today. “Mr Darling, the much-loved husband of Margaret

The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died at the age of 65, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke announced in an Instagram post. She wrote: “I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger has been described as “one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs” following his death at the age of 100. Mr Kissinger, who served under former presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, died at his home in Connecticut, his consultancy firm said. The diplomat played a key role in foreign policy in the United States during the Cold War and

Matt Hancock is expected to contest accusations made about his performance as health secretary during the pandemic as he appears before the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. The ex-minister’s evidence is expected to take up the whole of Thursday’s sitting hours following repeated criticism made against him by a number of other witnesses. The former Tory MP, who now sits as an independent after losing the party whip for appearing on ITV’s

Visitors have one final opportunity to say goodbye to Britain’s only giant pandas before zoo keepers get them ready to make their way back to China. Yang Guang and Tian Tian have lived at Edinburgh Zoo since 2011 as part of a 10-year agreement between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Access to the panda enclosure will be restricted from 3.30pm on Thursday

More than a quarter of UK adults say they are likely to use buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) to help ease spending over the festive period, Citizens Advice has found. The charity said it was braced to provide debt support in the New Year as some 28% of consumers – the equivalent of 15.1 million people – plan to use the unregulated credit for Christmas spending, rising to 56% of parents with primary

GPs must be given more support to delivery continuity of care for patients, the safety investigator has recommended. The Health Service Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) looked into whether patients could see the same GP and whether records reflected they had come back repeatedly with the same problem. It comes after a man who had recovered from breast cancer visited his GP surgery repeatedly with back pain and also went to

Henry Kissinger, the US secretary of state who dominated foreign policy under former presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, has died aged 100, his consulting firm Kissinger Associates said. The firm said in a statement Mr Kissinger died at his home in Connecticut and is survived by his wife Nancy, two children, David and Elizabeth and his five grandchildren. Mr Kissinger was born in southern Germany in 1923 before he

The number of mortgages approved for home buyers picked up last month after interest rates were held steady and mortgage increases eased. Bank of England figures showed that 47,400 mortgages were approved for house purchases in October. The Bank’s monthly Money And Credit report revealed the improvement from the eight-month low of 43,300 recorded in September. It also showed that 23,700 remortgaging approvals were recorded in October, recovering from 20,600