UK

A Spotify executive has spoken out about the scrapping of Harry and Meghan’s $20m (£15m) deal with the streaming service, calling the royal couple “f****** grifters”. Bill Simmons, who is head of podcast innovation and monetisation, criticised the pair after it was announced they were being dropped by Spotify for reportedly not creating enough content.

Teachers will go on strike for another two days this school term, the National Education Union has announced. The union’s national executive said two walkouts by its members will take place on Wednesday 5 July and Friday 7 July. Members of the NEU previously went on strike on three dates in February and three dates

The King is taking part in the first Trooping the Colour of his reign to mark his inaugural birthday parade. He is the first monarch in more than 30 years to take part in the ceremony on horseback. Watch live: Trooping the Colour celebrating King Charles III’s Birthday He will take the royal salute as

The King’s first Birthday Honours list has been issued with former footballer Ian Wright and fashion editor Dame Anna Wintour among those recognised. Other well-known faces being given honours include the television presenter Davina McCall and the Line of Duty actor Vicky McClure. The highest award, Companion of Honour, has been given to the Booker

The operator of Britain’s electricity system says it is to keep a scheme that aims to help prevent blackouts for the coming winter. National Grid ESO said it was “prudent to maintain” the demand flexibility service (DFS), which was introduced in 2022 in the wake of Europe’s gas squeeze caused by the war in Ukraine.

Household supplier E.On Next has been told to pay £4m back to its customers following a review that found customer service weaknesses at every company in the sector. Ofgem ordered the money be shared by 500,000 households in compensation for the firm’s “unacceptable” call services. It works out at £8 each. An additional £1m is

Two police officers who followed two teenage boys minutes before they were killed in a crash in Cardiff have been served with gross misconduct notices, the Independent Office for Police Conduct said. The officers were in a marked van and had followed Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, on an electric bike before it

Some military personnel and their families have been forced to use food banks as high inflation and rising costs tip members of the Armed Forces into crisis, Sky News can reveal. An unofficial food bank even exists at a large Royal Air Force base in Lincolnshire, a defence source said. The voluntary facility at RAF

Manchester City have won their first ever Champions League and the Treble after a 1-0 win over Inter. Midfielder Rodri scored from 15 yards out in the 68th minute to secure a victory over the Italian side in Istanbul – capping an unforgettable season for Pep Guardiola’s side. They outpaced closest rivals Arsenal to comfortably

It reads like a declaration of war – but in reality, Friday’s resignation statement matters because Boris Johnson is throwing in the towel on his political career. Yes, there are hints of a third political comeback in his kinetic resignation statement. “Never write him off,” say the pundits in the cheap seats. Yes, there will

Police are continuing the search for a 21-year-old woman who has been missing for a week in Northern Ireland. Chloe Mitchell was last seen on CCTV in the early hours of 3 June in Ballymena town centre in County Antrim. A 26-year-old man has since been arrested in Lurgan, Co Armagh, and police say he

Nurse Lucy Letby ”sabotaged” the care of a baby boy to get her crush’s attention, a court has heard. Letby, 33, is alleged to have murdered the newborn triplet, known as Child O, on her first shift back at the Countess of Chester Hospital following a holiday in Ibiza with friends in June 2016. Her trial

West Ham won their first major trophy in more than 40 years in dramatic fashion after a 90th-minute winner over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final. Jarrod Bowen secured a 2-1 victory for the east London side as the tense final in Prague seemed to be heading into extra time. The Hammers had opened

The family of a mother-of-five killed by her “obsessed” former partner have told an inquest that police missed a chance to prevent her death. Sherrie Milnes was pronounced dead when police and paramedics went to her Weymouth flat on 1 April 2021. Her ex-partner Steven Doughty, 54, was found dead at his home the same

What began as a mysterious respiratory illness spreading through the city of Wuhan in China in December 2019 became a global health emergency by the end of January 2020. As coronavirus began to spread rapidly across the globe, governments around the world scrambled to try to slow the rate of infection and contain the virus.

The chair of the COVID inquiry says it is up to her to decide what evidence is “relevant or potentially relevant” amid a legal row with the government over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages. Baroness Hallett refused to withdraw her order for the government to hand over unredacted material for her investigation as she formally opened

The government is still being “too slow” to recover taxpayer money lost to fraud and error over the pandemic, MPs have said. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said Whitehall needs a “step change” in its approach to risk in order to prevent a similar “panic response” in the future. In a wide-ranging report,

Kidney disease could become a public health emergency without more government funding, a charity has warned. The illness already costs the UK economy £7bn a year, according to a new report by Kidney Research UK, and that could rise to £13.9bn in the next decade if no action is taken. That covers the direct cost

The King is giving up his home on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. He bought Llwynywermod, a farmhouse near Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, for £1.2m in 2007 via the Duchy of Cornwall. When he was Prince of Wales, he used it as a base for his regular visits to the nation – but now the title

Inspections and searches have been continuing of the sightseeing boat at the centre of the investigation into the death of a teenager and child pulled from the sea in Bournemouth. The boat has been impounded by Dorset Police after the incident on Wednesday, where a 12-year-old girl from Buckinghamshire and a 17-year-old boy from Southampton