UK News

Today, as the first comprehensive analysis of how the UK’s historic buildings are used by businesses is published, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has launched Heritage Enterprise, a pioneering new funding programme designed to stimulate local economic growth by unlocking the commercial potential of unused historic buildings and sites.

With a commitment of at least £25 million per annum over the next five years, HLF’s new scheme will empower not-for-profit organisations, such as community groups and social enterprises to work in partnership with the private sector to rescue and...

A week after the first reports of birds covered in a sticky glue-like substance being washed up on South West beaches, wildlife charities have today confirmed that the number of dead has passed 1,000. This is in addition to the 200-plus birds in the care of the RSPCA and South Devon Seabird Trust.

The substance has been identified as polyisobutene (PIB) by researchers at Plymouth University. It is the second time in just three months that PIB has killed hundreds of seabirds in the South West.

In this latest incident birds have been found in a wide area from Dodman Point to...

The number of cattle slaughtered because of TB has risen again this month bringing the total number of cattle culled to 186,664 (from January 2008 – Jan 2013 in Great Britain). In the latest up-to-date figures released on 17 April by Defra, 3,215 cattle were slaughtered across Great Britain in January, meaning a 24.2 per cent increase on the same time last year, and the month-on-month figures also show a jump. And in Wales the picture has worsened considerably despite a vaccination programme for badgers, which had its first year in 2012. The number of cattle compulsorily slaughtered there...

A gun carriage bearing Baroness Thatcher's coffin made its way to from the Houses of Parliament to St Paul's Cathedral this morning in a ceremonial procession to her funeral. Thousands of people gathered along the route of the funeral procession, mostly to pay respects to the former Prime Minister (1979-1990), who passed away at the age of 87 following a stroke.

However, some boos have been heard as the coffin passed certain sections of the crowd and anti-Thatcher protesters turned their backs as her coffin passed by. Patricia Welsh, a 69-year-old retired youth worker, joined the...