4 d. ago ‘A black hole’: families and police say tech giants delay investigations in child abuse and drug cases

US law enforcement officers say Meta and Snapchat routinely delay or reject warrants. The companies disagreeMax Osterman was 18 when he connected with a drug dealer on Snapchat who used the handle skyhigh.303. Max would message him whenever he wanted to buy Percocet, and they would meet. After about a year, and just days after their last exchange, Max collapsed. The pills he ordered had been laced with fentanyl. He died from the overdose in February 2021 at his home in Broomfield, Colorado.The dealer continued selling prescription painkillers until 2023, when he was jailed on two drug distribution convictions. When handing down the sentence, the judge said he was responsible for four deaths, yet he never faced charges for supplying the pills that killed Max. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Black holes to be shown in action in first 3D movies created using AI

Experts in black hole astronomy and artificial intelligence will combine for the project at Heriot-Watt University.

Culture

6 d. ago Reeves’s rejection of North Sea job cuts claim a ‘new low’, say Flynn

The Chancellor said she does not believe 1,000 jobs are being lost every month in the oil and gas sector.

Politics

1 week ago £22 milllion 'black hole' in London council's finances sparks tax hike and spending cuts warning

Council leader says town hall’s situation is ‘incredibly difficult’

Economics

1 week ago Found another black hole, Chancellor? Reeves says she 'reserves the right' to hammer Britain with MORE taxes as she is grilled by MPs over Budget lies scandal

Rachel Reeves pointedly refused to repeat the explicit guarantee she gave - and then broke - in the wake of her first eye-watering raid last year.

Economics

2 w. ago Thousands of patients see NHS hospital referrals lost in ‘black hole’

One retired NHS worker said he felt ‘stuck in limbo’ to see a specialist for his back and hip pains

Science

2 w. ago Thousands of patients in England at risk as GP referrals vanish into NHS ‘black hole’

Exclusive: Healthwatch study discovered 14% of cases are not put on hospital waiting lists for treatment GPs requested for themOne in seven people in England who need hospital care are not receiving it because the referral by their GP gets lost, rejected or delayed, the NHS’s own patient watchdog has found.Three-quarters (75%) of these patients trapped in this “referrals black hole” suffer harm to their physical or mental health as a result of not being added to the waiting list for tests or treatment. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Rachel Reeves warned by OBR that UK's 'frightening' borrowing binge will be unaffordable

The comments from the OBR are the latest broadside following its revelation Reeves knew months ago that there was no black hole in this year's public finances.

Events

2 w. ago Chancellor told 'frightening' borrowing binge will become unaffordable

The comments from the OBR are the latest broadside following its revelation Reeves knew months ago that there was no black hole in this year's public finances.

Politics

2 w. ago Rachel Reeves escapes ministerial ethics probe over Budget lies as standards tsar rejects Farage's demand for Chancellor to be investigated

Reform leader Nigel Farage had demanded the Chancellor be investigated for saying there was a black hole in the public finances of more than £20billion, which it later emerged did not exist.

Politics

2 w. ago There’s a black hole where central banks’ theory of inflation should be

Old assumptions about expectations and targets can no longer be relied upon

Economics

2 w. ago Black hole mystery is SOLVED: Terrifying simulation reveals how voids generate intense light that can be detected from billions of light

Astrophysicists in New York have created terrifying simulations of how black holes naturally create dazzling displays detected from billions of light years away.

Events

3 w. ago Reeves accused of forcing OBR chief to quit after watchdog revealed truth about Budget black hole

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Rachel Reeves for forcing Richard Hughes to resign as chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) because he revealed that she had potentially misled the public over the existence of a spending black hole

Politics

3 w. ago EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Queen's son fumes at Keir and 'useless' Chancellor

Sir Keir Starmer 's insistence that he and his Chancellor did not mislead the public over last week's Budget shambles has failed to convince Queen Camilla's son Tom Parker Bowles.

Politics

3 w. ago OBR board member says Reeves did not mislead public on Budget

UK chancellor’s fiscal warnings backed by David Miles a day after economic watchdog’s chair resigns

Politics

3 w. ago OBR confronted Treasury about ‘unhelpful’ policy leaks before Reeves’ Budget

The economy watchdog raised concerns with the Treasury about the amount of information being leaked ahead of the chancellor’s statement

Events

3 w. ago OBR says Reeves calling public finances ‘very challenging’ before Budget was not misleading

Fiscal watchdog faces Treasury committee after accidental publication of key report prompted chair to resign

Economics

3 w. ago OBR says Reeves did not mislead public over Budget forecasts

Fiscal watchdog faces Treasury committee after accidental publication of key report prompted chair to resign

Politics

3 w. ago UK Government was ‘digging its own black hole’ before Budget, says Flynn

The Chancellor has been accused of misleading the public ahead of the Budget.

Politics

3 w. ago It’s under fire from left and right – but Labour’s workers' rights bill is a huge achievement | Polly Toynbee

It makes no sense for union leaders to cry betrayal when it will be their members who benefit from these sorely needed reformsThe wall of sound shouting “liar” at the chancellor is a bizarre Westminster frenzy. Stand back from the hysteria and ask this question: how can Rachel Reeves be accused of raising more money than necessary when there is still pitifully little to go round in every department at her cabinet table? It’s a weird Tory ramp that she lied about a black hole when we can see it everywhere in the real world. She could have raised more.As the prime minister, Keir Starmer, pleads the case for all that was Labour-flavoured in the budget, the week also brought a breakthrough for Labour’s flagship employment rights bill. Shamelessly stymied by the Lords’ Tory majority, the government watered down a clause on so-called day-one rights that would have given workers protection from unfair dismissal from the day they walked into a job. That legal right will now kick in at six m...

Economics