Summary

  • Updates on Friday 15 June

  1. What are the rules for stop-and-search?published at 14:53 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2023

    What are the rules on how and when you can be stopped and searched by the police?

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  2. How does the Covid inquiry work?published at 11:43 British Summer Time 7 June 2023

    The inquiry has heard from politicians, civil servants, public health experts and bereaved families.

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  3. Who is Shamima Begum and how can you lose your citizenship?published at 09:47 Greenwich Mean Time 23 November 2022

    Shamima Begum lost her appeal against the government's decision to remove her British citizenship.

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  4. Who has to pay to remove unsafe cladding?published at 16:45 British Summer Time 13 June 2022

    The government says firms, not leaseholders, must pay to remove unsafe cladding from all buildings

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  5. London Pride parade: History of gay rights in the UKpublished at 15:49 British Summer Time 10 June 2022

    The Pride parade in London takes place every summer. Pride events are held all over the world in support of LGBTQ rights. Find out about the history of gay rights in the UK.

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  6. How will the Police and Crime Bill change protests?published at 16:51 British Summer Time 28 April 2022

    New legislation that will change how protests are policed has passed through Parliament.

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  7. 'When one transgender person is hurt, we all feel it'published at 10:18 Greenwich Mean Time 19 November 2021

    Numbers released ahead of this year's Trans Day of Remembrance show a rise in transgender murders.

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  8. What is Extinction Rebellion and what does it want?published at 18:04 British Summer Time 14 October 2021

    Extinction Rebellion protesters are continuing to fight for climate change.

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  9. Police and MI5 failure a factor in terror killingspublished at 17:52 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt were stabbed by Usman Khan less than a year after he left prison.

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  10. Man shot dead near London Underground stationpublished at 15:43 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    A murder investigation has been launched by police, who are yet to make any arrests.

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  11. Agreement reached over Daniel Morgan murder reportpublished at 14:26 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    The release of a review of the case was held up after the Home Office cited national security issues.

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  12. Could Fishmongers' Hall attacker have been stopped?published at 13:33 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt were both killed by Usman Khan in London in November 2019.

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  13. West Ruislip to Windsorpublished at 12:48 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    Michael Portillo heads for leafy Hatch End, where he investigates an illustrator whose work was so popular in the 1920s and 30s that his name entered the English dictionary. William Heath Robinson’s great-nephew talks Michael through some of the mad contraptions the artist used to satirise technology.

    Michael’s next stop is Slough, where after World War I, three businessmen established a world first: an out-of-town trading estate with rail connections, power, water and premises. Today, 350 businesses operate from there, and its success has been replicated across the world. Michael meets one long-standing customer, Mars, who have been manufacturing their chocolate bars in Slough since 1932.

    Close by, in Stoke Poges, Michael visits a very different 1930s landmark, a unique and beautiful memorial garden comprising woodlands, rockeries and fountains. The Head Gardener enlists Michael’s help to plant a yew tree.

    From Slough, Michael makes tracks along the short branch line, which serves two towns, Windsor and Eton Central. At Windsor, Michael surveys the great walls of the castle, chief residence of the British monarch and the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. He looks back at the tumultuous events within those walls, when in 1936, King Edward VIII renounced the throne to marry an American divorcee.

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  14. Colchester to Chadwell Heathpublished at 12:37 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    Michael Portillo continues his Bradshaw’s-inspired journey through East Anglia, where he discovers the Essex origins of the BBC, joins the Women’s Land Army to pick damsons at Tiptree, and visits homes fit for heroes in Becontree.

    He begins close to Colchester at Abberton Reservoir, a man-made thousand-acre body of freshwater, begun in the year of his guidebook, 1936. He discovers how it was protected during the Second World War by hundreds of mines. It’s now an important wetland habitat for ducks, swans and water birds, and Michael spots a marsh harrier.

    In the village of Tiptree, Michael finds out how, as war loomed once again and men were called up to fight, women stepped up to take their places on the farm as part of a revived Women’s Land Army.

    From Chelmsford, Michael heads for the chocolate box village of Writtle, where he is surprised to discover Britain’s first regular scheduled radio broadcasting station in a tiny hut. Michael is intrigued by the technology of 1919.

    Next stop is Chadwell Heath in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham. A massive building programme after the First World War resulted in what was, at the time, the largest municipal housing estate in the world. Michael learns about the estate from residents past and present.

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  15. Independent primary school shuts due to Covid outbreakpublished at 11:43 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    Oakfield PrepImage source, Google

    An independent primary school in south-east London has closed due to an outbreak of coronavirus.

    Oakfield Prep School in Dulwich began sending pupils home on Wednesday after eight Year 6 pupils and two teachers tested positive for coronavirus.

    Half of the school, which sits across two separate sites, remained open until Thursday afternoon but has since closed.

    The school will re-open on 7 June, following the half-term break.

    The Department for Health, Lambeth Council and Public Health England have all been informed.

    Deborah Leek-Bailey, Head of Independent Schools at the Education Development Trust which runs Oakfield Prep, said she was "proud of the way" the school had handled the pandemic.

    She said: "It is clear to see that they constantly place the needs of the pupils at the core of their decision making. Pupil and staff safety is paramount."

  16. Man shot dead in street in Hornseypublished at 10:55 British Summer Time 28 May 2021

    HornseyImage source, Google

    A man has been shot dead in a north London street.

    Emergency services had been called to the junction between Turnpike Lane and Willoughby Road in Hornsey shortly after 01:00 over reports of a firearm being shot.

    The man, aged in his 20s, was found with a gunshot wound and despite the efforts of paramedics was pronounced dead at the scene at 01:55.

    The Met said his next of kin have been informed.

    No arrests have been made and crime scene remains in place in the area.