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Shabir Ahmed was freed from prison last month after he was found guilty of 30 child rape offences |
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Charles Hymas Home Affairs Editor |
Pakistan has warned that it could stop taking back illegal migrants if Britain tries to force it to accept Shabir Ahmed, the grooming gang ringleader.
Senior Pakistani government officials told The Telegraph they had provided Britain with “gold standard” service in helping it to return nearly 1,500 rejected asylum seekers, visa overstayers and immigration offenders to Pakistan in the past year.
They said Britain’s insistence that Pakistan should take back Ahmed after his release from a 22-year jail sentence for 30 child rape offences was jeopardising these agreements as well as wider collaboration on intelligence, security and organised crime.
It is understood Pakistani officials are particularly aggrieved at suggestions by government sources that Britain is prepared to impose sanctions, including visa bans on Pakistanis seeking to come to the country, and to withhold foreign aid, if Pakistan continues to refuse to take back Ahmed.
The warning could not have come at a worse time for Andy Burnham, in the midst of a prisons crisis that he is partly hoping to solve by deporting more foreign offenders.
Before he became Prime Minister, he urged ministers to review “all possible options” to deport Ahmed and said they should “consider nothing is off the table”.
He has also ordered Alex Norris, the Justice Secretary, to find more space in overcrowded prisons and thus reduce the need for the early release of more criminals, including two of the killers of Pc Andrew Harper.
There were more than 10,000 foreign prisoners in jails in England and Wales as of June 30, of whom more than 300 were Pakistanis. This report is available only to subscribers.
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Traveller caravans take over a cricket club ground in Devon |
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Nick Gutteridge Senior Political Correspondent |
Angela Rayner has been accused of softening planning rules for traveller sites by leaving councils fewer ways to block them.
The Housing Secretary announced a significant shake-up of England’s planning rules yesterday in an attempt to kick-start housebuilding.
Buried in the small print were changes to the guidance around traveller sites that were seized upon by the Tories.
Sir James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, said the removal of wording about potential environmental damage would make it harder for councils and locals to resist planning applications.
He told The Telegraph the reforms meant more communities would be “forced to tolerate law-breaking from a small minority of travellers”.
Government sources insisted that Rayner had simultaneously tightened up the rules around unauthorised developments which would make it harder for travellers to get retrospective permission for their camps.
A Labour spokesman added: “The Tories left our planning system in a mess. Not only has this Labour Government put in place incredibly strong safeguards for developments in the green belt, our planning changes have strengthened national policy on intentional unauthorised development.”
The row comes amid a 73 per cent rise in the number of unauthorised traveller caravans across England since January 2020, from 2,860 to 4,950.
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Charles Moore If Cambridge University had properly looked into its young professor much earlier, he would have been spared public shame Continue reading ➤
Suzanne Moore Burnham must call an election before voters become sick of him Continue reading ➤
Celia Walden No woman should ever have the menopause ‘explained’ to her Continue reading ➤ |
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• The decision to strip men of the right to a prostate cancer test “will cost lives”, a leading expert has warned. Prof Chris Booth said Britain already had higher death rates from prostate cancer than other Western countries and and rates would now get worse.
• Britain could be hit by floods after weeks of drought, forecasters have said. Heavy rain is expected on Thursday, with the chance of surface flooding in areas where rainfall is particularly intense.
• Russia has threatened Britain with consequences after British-made drones were used by Ukraine in strikes on Russian territory for the first time. Moscow’s embassy in London said Britain would pay a “higher price” should it continue to support Kyiv.
• Hayden Panettiere, the actress best known for her role in Heroes, has died of a suspected overdose. Audio has been released of an emergency call made from the scene, and you can read Panettiere’s obituary here.
• Finally, in yesterday’s episode of The Daily T, Camilla Tominey and Tim Stanley reflected on journalistic duty, personal guilt and institutional hypocrisy surrounding the death of Jason Arday, the former Cambridge professor. |
The summer 2026 is clearly and dearly starting to cost us, writes Ollie Corfe, Senior Data Journalist. A property’s exposure to environmental risk – from droughts and wildfires to flooding and coastal erosion – is only going to rise in prominence on estate agents’ brochures. Here, The Telegraph’s data team maps out this worrying new postcode lottery for anyone looking to buy, hold or pass on a house in future. Continue reading ➤ |
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Carlos the Jackal at a Paris courthouse in 2001, appearing to relish the notoriety |
He was once the world’s most notorious terrorist, and the idea of meeting him put me on edge, writes Joby Warrick. Carlos the Jackal boasted of killing 83 people. At 26, he stormed an oil conference in Vienna and took dozens of oil ministers hostage. Now, I finally had a chance to ask questions I had puzzled over while researching my book about the outlaw. Does the now-elderly Carlos feel remorse as he looks back on his violent career? For subscribers only ➤ |
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The idea that apprenticeships are predominantly a leg up for the disadvantaged arose from successive governments’ attempts to cure youth unemployment by focusing on technical skills. Now, middle-class students are seeing apprenticeships as one of the last solid paths to a well-paid job. The numbers are clear: last year there were 3,370 more apprentices under 25 from the richest postcodes compared with the poorest. Continue reading ➤ |
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Tim Wonnacott hasn’t watched a single second of Bargain Hunt since his abrupt exit in 2015. Yet the 12 years he spent hosting the beloved BBC show are not lost on him. The 75-year-old auctioneer is instead focusing his efforts on selling his quirky antiques collection, but is alarmed from afar by the impact of cancel culture, and what it means for men of his vintage. Continue reading ➤ |
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Unlike immediate pain from a broken bone or a nasty burn, aches tend to develop subtly, making them easier to dismiss or ignore. Even so, just because an issue is rumbling in the background doesn’t mean it isn’t important to get it checked out. Dr Wendy White, an NHS GP, reveals the four aches she wishes her patients didn’t overlook – from headaches to backaches – and what they could mean.
Continue reading ➤
Here is another article to get your day started on the right track:
- A bowl of breakfast cereal is a staple of a Briton’s daily diet. It’s quick to prepare and affordable, but not particularly healthy. Here are the worst cereals for your gut, and what to eat instead.
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Richard Gray, of Gray-Nicolls, compares the Jessop replica with the modern monster usually wielded by Harry Brook |
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Nick Hoult Chief Cricket Correspondent |
“It looks like a snooker cue.” That was the verdict of one of our professional cricketer volunteers when presented with a bat from 1902.
The challenge was to see how many sixes a modern player could hit with a bat that is the exact replica of the one Gilbert Jessop used in 1902 to score the fastest Test hundred by an England player, a record that still stands today.
Our volunteers were London Spirit batsmen Kiran Carlson, who hit a six onto the Mound Stand roof at Lord’s a week before we filmed our experiment, and James Coles, one of the most promising prospects in English cricket. They took on the task using a bat specially handmade for us by Gray-Nicolls using the dimensions of Jessop’s original bat which is housed in the Lord’s museum.
Kiran Carlson hits a shot with a replica of Jessop’s bat |
We were allowed to use the main square out in the middle at Lord’s, and the players were fresh from a hitting session in training – in other words, fully warmed up. What happened next? Well, we gave them six balls each and let’s just say they both came away with a greater appreciation of Jessop’s talent after having a go with his “snooker cue”.
Continue reading ➤
Watch the video in full here ➤ |
Waving goodbye to handshakes
While Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, is away, Joe Burgis is on hand to share an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Joe writes:
When did hugging become de rigueur? That’s what Nicholas Young wanted to know when he wrote: “The habit of hugging between men is both unmanly and un-British. Unfortunately, some of my friends in the theatre take offence if I don’t hug on greeting them… I fear that, after 2,000 years, the simple handshake is at risk of extinction.”
That would indeed be a shame. Where did it all go wrong? John Carter had an idea. “I believe the behaviour of professional footballers has contributed to the situation. There was a time when a goal-scorer might receive a brief handshake from a team-mate, or a pat on the shoulder, before returning to the centre spot. Now a choreographed display of jubilation takes place with gestures, ‘dances’ and, of course, mass hugging.”
Nick Hely-Hutchinson made an interesting point: “I have particular difficulties with dexterity, which makes the traditional handshake something of an effort. I persevere: no alternative greeting brings with it that other essential ingredient – eye contact. Looking someone straight in the eye is the most valuable part of this brief encounter.”
Having lived in kissing countries such as France and Colombia, I sympathised with Sam Kendall-Marsden: “Whatever the virtues or otherwise of hugging, the Italian cheek kiss has proved both challenging and embarrassing. As I am not versed in the art of il bacio, a clumsy lunge to the right rather than the left resulted in a slightly more intimate encounter than either I or my counterpart intended. We’ve stuck to firm handshakes ever since.” Would you miss handshakes? What’s your preferred greeting? Let me know here and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1940 | The Hardest Day during the Battle of Britain (and our front page coverage the following day below)
1983 | Samantha Druce, aged 12 years and 119 days, becomes the youngest female to swim the Channel
2016 | Usain Bolt wins gold in the 200m for the third successive Olympics, in 19.78s
2023 | Lucy Letby is found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more
Birthdays: Edward Norton (57), Christian Slater (57), Huw Edwards (65)
Plus, a googly-eyed “fox head”, bought for £50 at an antiques market, has sold for £60,000 after turning out to be that of an extinct species of which mammal?
1. Asiatic lion
2. Tasmanian tiger
3. American badger
4. Atlas bear
Click on one of the above options to reveal the answer |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was CROTCHETY. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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