6 h. ago West Dunbartonshire Council reveals budget cut proposals as it bids to plug £7.7m gap

A raft of proposals have been put forward, including removing footway gritting, reducing public toilets and cuts to organisations including Women's Aid.

Economics

49 h. ago Trump administration shuts down national database documenting police misconduct

Database, first proposed by Trump in 2020 and created by Biden administration in 2023, is now offlineDonald Trump’s second presidential administration shut down a national database that tracked misconduct by federal police, a resource that policing reform advocates hailed as essential to prevent officers with misconduct records from being able to move undetected between agencies.The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), which stored police records documenting misconduct, is now unavailable, the Washington Post first reported. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Sam Fender: People Watching review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Polydor)On his third album, produced by the War on Drugs, the North Shields singer-songwriter shows just how gifted he is at pairing stadium choruses with sharp, bleak vignettesSam Fender’s third album ends with a track called Remember My Name. It’s clearly a very personal song, about its author’s late grandfather – even revealing the address of his council house, 11 Walk Avenue. The northern British references – “Chasing a cross in from the wing / Our boy’s a whippet, he’s faster than anything” – are amplified both by Fender’s Geordie vowels and the backing, provided by the Easington Colliery brass band. It’s all very specific and individual – you really don’t hear brass bands, or indeed the mention of whippets in pop very often – and yet Remember My Name seems to have something of the self-fulfilling prophecy about it. You can immediately imagine its soaring melody being sung en masse by a huge festival audience, which is, one suspects, precisely the destiny that awaits it.It’s a...

Politics

4 d. ago Pete Hegseth orders Pentagon to cut 8 percent of budget for each of the next five years

The cuts could amount to tens of billions of dollars

Politics

4 d. ago Trump defense chief reportedly orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping budget cuts – US politics live

Pete Hegseth orders leaders to develop plans to cut 8% of budget in each of next five years, Washington Post reportsAs Donald Trump’s administration continues to fire thousands of federal workers and radically slash federal spending, some Republicans are growing unnerved, Axios reports.As the cuts start to hit GOP lawmakers’ districts and states, some have told Axios there is a larger conflict brewing over the constitutional issue of whether the president can bypass Congress on such decisions.I think you’re going to see a clash when they start abolishing [agencies]. Say like USAid, right? We authorized that. That’s a creature of Congress. If they try to do something like that, then you’re going to get into a constitutional argument or crisis.Before making cuts rashly, the administration should be studying and staffing to see what the consequences are. Measure twice before cutting. They have had to backtrack multiple times.We all want efficiencies, there is a way to do it, and the wa...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump administration reportedly orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping defense budget cuts – live

Hegseth orders senior leaders at the Pentagon to develop plans to cut 8% of the defense budget in each of the next five years, the Washington Post reportsAs Donald Trump’s administration continues to fire thousands of federal workers and radically slash federal spending, some Republicans are growing unnerved, Axios reports.As the cuts start to hit GOP lawmakers’ districts and states, some have told Axios there is a larger conflict brewing over the constitutional issue of whether the president can bypass Congress on such decisions.I think you’re going to see a clash when they start abolishing [agencies]. Say like USAid, right? We authorized that. That’s a creature of Congress. If they try to do something like that, then you’re going to get into a constitutional argument or crisis.Before making cuts rashly, the administration should be studying and staffing to see what the consequences are. Measure twice before cutting. They have had to backtrack multiple times.We all want efficiencie...

Politics

4 d. ago Despite DOGE budget cut crusade, Trump has already spent $10.7 million of taxpayer money on golf trips: report

Since being sworn in for the second time on January 20, the president has reportedly spent all four weekends on the green, and played golf at his own properties on nine of his first 30 days in office

Economics

5 d. ago Almost 800 householders on list to secure one of 44 new Stirling Council homes

Council officials revealed the "huge demand" for properties in the area - with 790 applying for homes on the site in St Ninians.

Society

5 d. ago Scottish golf course John McGinn helped spare from closure a year ago is under threat again

Dalmuir Municipal targeted once more by West Dunbartonshire Council

Events

6 d. ago Met Police still facing ‘substantial tough choices’ over cuts despite £83m windfall

Funding rises from local and central government are not enough to plug the budget gap, the Metropolitan Police has warned

Economics

6 d. ago TikTok chef Spudman claims he's had 'offers' to move out of his beloved town as he wages campaign to keep his stall after council revealed it wants to put a flowerbed in its place

Ben Newman, 39, who sells £5 jacket potatoes from his trailer in Tamworth, Staffordshire, has gained 4million followers on TikTok, where he shares clips about his business.

Politics

6 d. ago Axe falls on Scottish club legend as 38y/o shown door amid budget cut

Jags board act in wake of 3-0 defeat by Raith

Politics

6 d. ago Britain’s biggest police force facing ‘substantial tough choices’ over cuts

Funding rises from local and central government are not enough to plug the budget gap, the Metropolitan Police has warned.

Events

7 d. ago London council tax: Bills to rise by almost £100 as cheapest and most expensive boroughs revealed

Lib-Dem boroughs at top of table - while Labour councils issue cheapest bills

Economics