r/uknews

He was part of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long\_Range\_Desert\_Group

https://archive.is/5CrVK

"I’ve always thought you can tell something about a country by what it learns to walk past. And, somewhere along the way, we’ve got used to seeing people sleeping rough on our streets.

We see people bedded down in doorways and sat outside stations, carrying their lives in rucksacks and with sleeping bags on their backs. And I think most people have the same reaction: this isn’t right; it shouldn’t be happening here. But we’ve lived with it for so long that something that used to shock us now feels like part of the scenery.

That’s not on the public. It’s on us as politicians. For decades, Westminster has treated rough sleeping like a problem to step around rather than solve. It’s a philosophy that took hold in the 1980s and came back full force in the era of austerity: this idea that rough sleeping is just a fact of life rather than something government has a responsibility to end.

I’ve never accepted that. Britain is the fifth largest economy in the world. We’ve built the NHS, developed life-saving vaccines and invented the world wide web. But it’s somehow beyond us to get our own people off the streets? I don’t believe it for a minute. We did it during the pandemic. We got people out of the cold because, as a country, we decided it had to be done. We can do it again.

That’s why the first thing I announced when I became prime minister was a commitment to end rough sleeping. Not to manage it, not to reduce it – but to end it. And today, we’re taking the first step in getting it done.

We’re putting £442m behind a national drive in England to get everyone in for Christmas. I don’t want Whitehall trying to dictate how every penny of that is spent. The people who know what will work in Newcastle, Liverpool or Plymouth are the people who live there and see the problem first-hand every day. I’ll expect every person to be offered a route off the streets, but beyond that it will be up to local leaders to decide what type of support their community needs most.

But I also know from my time in Manchester that public money alone won’t solve this. Ending rough sleeping has to be something we all take responsibility for. That means councils, charities, businesses, faith groups and local communities all pulling together. And, even more importantly, it means all of us asking what we can do to help.

So alongside the money we’re putting in, I’m asking leaders across society to get behind this national drive. Because if we all play our part – if we all put care of people at the heart of what we do – we can bring some of that hope back to our communities. No matter who they are or what they’ve been through, every person sleeping rough deserves a chance to get back on their feet – and, together, that’s exactly what we’ll give them.

I don’t pretend this is a permanent fix – far from it. It’s not enough just to help people when they fall on hard times. It’s our job to catch people long before they hit the pavement, and that means dealing with the multitude of reasons why someone might be sleeping rough in the first place.

That’s why we’re reforming education so every young person, whatever their talents, has a route to a good job. It’s why we’re reindustrialising our towns and cities to make sure we get good growth in every postcode. It’s why we’ve committed to the biggest housebuilding programme since the second world war. And it’s why we’ll keep transferring power back to the local people who are closest to the problems they face and are best placed to solve them.

But today is about making that crucial first step. It’s about giving people a safe place to sleep tonight, and hope that tomorrow might be different. And, fundamentally, it’s about answering that defining question: what kind of country do we want Britain to be?"

A man has appeared in court after being charged in connection with the sexual assault of two girls in Kenilworth.

Ahmad Hania was detained after police were called on Monday evening to a hotel in the town where they located both victims.

Hania, of King Edward Road in Nuneaton, was arrested that night at his home and has been charged with a series of sexual offences, Warwickshire Police said.

The Syrian national appeared at Coventry Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning and was remanded in custody. He is next due to appear at Warwick Crown Court on 17 September.

He has been charged with sexual assault on a female, one count of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16 and one count of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16.

The girls and their families are being supported by specially trained officers who are keeping them updated on the case, police confirmed.

Three men have admitted to planning a shooting in the West Midlands, which saw shots fired at an address.

The shooting took place on Talke Road, in the Bescot area of Walsall, in the early hours of March 13, 2024.

West Midlands Police (WMP) said the incident took place at around 4am that day.

Thankfully, no one was injured.

An investigation was launched by detectives, who discovered Mohammed Khan, aged 20, Junaid Shabir, 21, and Haider Shabir, 23, had conspired together to plan the shooting.

The incident followed an altercation earlier that month.

All three defendants initially pleaded not guilty to the charges put to them.

However, on the first day of their planned trial last Wednesday, August 12, at Wolverhampton Crown Court, they pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

The men are due to be sentenced at a later date.

https://archive.is/tKnzT

Women who served in the British military have told ITV News they endured a toxic culture where sexual abuse was an everyday threat and complaints were routinely ignored.

Two women, who have recently left the armed forces, told us they have 'lost count' of the number of times they were sexually assaulted during their time serving.

One of them, who served in the Army for decades, told us the abuse was at its worst in the senior ranks.

Nearly two thirds of servicewomen have experienced sexualised behaviour in the space of a year according to the latest Ministry of Defence (MOD) figures released in 2025.

Those behaviours include leering and inappropriate jokes to the most serious sexual offences like groping, harassment and rape.

The MOD says it is determined to root out criminality, bullying and misogyny, with almost 300 service personnel having been kicked out of the organisation over the last three years for 'unacceptable behaviours'.