Local news

Ansar Ahmed Ullah:   21 July, 2025 — Shuchishmita Maitra Auhona, a remarkable 20-year-old from Barking, London, has secured a coveted place at the University of Oxford to pursue a DPhil (PhD) in Medical Sciences — a rare achievement attained directly from a Bachelor’s degree, with no Master’s required. The daughter of Engr. Dr Sukanta Maitra and Kanika Mukherjee, Auhona completed ...

The mayor of London has been cleared of wrongdoing in accepting free tickets worth around £3,000 to a Taylor Swift concert last August. An independent investigation concluded that Sir Sadiq Khan did not breach the Greater London Authority (GLA) code of conduct, and that he had exercised an appropriate degree of caution. The Tories asked the GLA’s monitoring officer Rory ...

  The Save Bricklane Campaign Group has called on the council’s planning committee not to grant permission for the construction of any commercial building on the Truman Brewery Complex in Bricklane. The group’s leaders made this call at a press conference held at the Hason Raja Centre in east London on Friday (July 18). They said that the people of ...

    Former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain has suggested the BBC cancelled her cooking shows as she no longer fit the corporation’s “very neat box”. Hussain was a fixture on the broadcaster’s schedules ever since she won the baking competition in 2015, but earlier this year revealed the BBC no longer “wanted to commission” her show. The chef, whose shows included Nadiya’s British Food Adventure, Nadiya’s Everyday Baking and Nadiya’s Everyday Spices, ...

  Ansar Ahmed Ullah:    July 17, 2025 — British MP Bob Blackman has submitted an Early Day Motion (EDM) in the UK Parliament calling on the interim government of Bangladesh to prioritise the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission amidst ongoing political and social instability in the South Asian nation. The EDM, tabled on 16 July, notes the efforts ...

A government minister has said he could send in his own appointees to take over decision-making at an east London council. Local government minister Jim McMahon said he welcomed “early progress” at Tower Hamlets Council after he sent in a group of overseers in to drive improvements. But he said if more improvements aren’t made, he could still choose to ...

Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of plotting a fresh war on motorists after an official accidentally leaked a document containing a proposal to reduce parking spaces in London. The official was photographed on the tube reading a Transport for London (TfL) document which outlined a series of anti-motorist proposals. Cutting the number of car parking spaces available in the ...

An aircraft exploded moments after take-off at the international airport, near Southend–on–Sea in Essex. The plane, believed to be a Beech B200 Super King aircraft, was departing Southend Airport for the Netherlands on Sunday when it crashed close to the runway. The force has now confirmed that four people – thought to be two pilots and two passengers – were ...

An aircraft has crashed at London Southend Airport. Essex Police said it was alerted to a 12-metre plane on fire at the site in Southend-on-Sea shortly before 16:00 BST on Sunday. The East of England Ambulance Service said four crews were at the scene including a rapid response vehicle, a hazardous area response vehicle and a senior paramedic. A spokesperson ...

Brits can expect 31C weather again on Sunday as the UK is hit by its third heatwave of the year. The soaring temperatures are a slight respite from the 33.1C recorded on Saturday in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, but still mark a sweaty UK summer so far. Scotland recorded its hottest day of the year yesterday, with 32C reached in Aviemore in ...