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There is “deeply troubling” evidence of bullying, harassment and discrimination in fire and rescue services across England, with inspectors warning that what has been uncovered may just be “the tip of the iceberg”. Staff recalled racist, sexist and homophobic comments and behaviours which had gone unchallenged or been dismissed as “banter”, according to a report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) The report, which

Everton manager Sean Dyche is confident he will not be distracted by allegations of financial rule-breaking at the club. The Premier League has referred the Toffees to an independent commission over an alleged breach of its Financial Fair Play regulations. Everton have denied wrongdoing and say they will “robustly defend” their position but the development does have the potential to disrupt the team as they battle for Premier League survival.

A man has been found guilty of fatally shooting nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel as he chased a convicted drug dealer into her home in Liverpool. Thomas Cashman, 34, admitted being a “high-level” cannabis dealer but denied being the gunman in the incident, which also injured Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel, 46, and Joseph Nee, the intended target, in Dovecot on August 22 last year. A jury at Manchester Crown Court found him

Sir Keir Starmer branded Rishi Sunak “Mr One Percent” as the Labour leader launched his party’s campaign for the May local elections. With Labour hoping to pick up seats in the May 4 polls in England, Sir Keir sought to contrast its approach with the Tories’ decision in the Budget to ease pension taxes for the well-off with the scrapping of the tax-free lifetime allowance cap. Speaking in Swindon, Wiltshire,

Notorious prisoner Charles Bronson has lost a Parole Board bid to be freed from jail. The decision comes after one of the UK’s longest-serving prisoners – who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014 – took part in one of the country’s first public parole hearings earlier this month. In a document detailing the decision published on Thursday, the Parole Board said: “After considering the circumstances of his offending, the

Rishi Sunak has expressed his concern about a report suggesting some secondary schools are not informing parents as soon as a child questions their gender identity. The Prime Minister said it is important that parents “know what’s going on” as he pledged that Government guidance for schools in relation to transgender issues will be published “for the summer term”. Safeguarding principles are being “routinely disregarded in many secondary schools” when

The government has today (March 30) announced £381m of funding for new ‘local’ electric car chargers. Revealed as part of a wider ‘transport decarbonisation’ package, the government has set up the £381m ‘local electric vehicle infrastructure (LEVI) fund. An additional £15m has also been put aside for residential on-street chargers. The government says that the two schemes will ‘support the installation of tens and thousands of new chargers across the country’. Each region is allocated

Orlando Bloom has praised the strength of the Ukrainian people as he met the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and encouraged him to “go win” the war. The British actor, 46, who is a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, travelled to Kyiv in his first visit back to Ukraine since 2016. In the meeting, Bloom told Mr Zelensky it is “remarkable to see how you are holding this country” and said it was