#uk
27 stories
Asylum Seekers Housed in UK Hotels Have Halved in a Year
Hotel accommodation fell from over 32,000 people to just over 16,000, with asylum claims down a fifth and small boat arrivals lower than last year.
Birmingham Seeks an Injunction Against Flags on Its Lamp-Posts
The council had been accused of giving 'free rein' to the Raise the Colours campaign. Oxfordshire won a similar order in July.
The Bank of England Is Being Handed a Legal Duty to Foster Stablecoins
A statutory secondary objective, subordinate to financial stability, with an annual report to parliament — after sustained criticism of the Bank's caution.
UK Tells Meta It Expects British Children to Get the American Protections
Pat McFadden says he does not want US teenagers to have 'a higher rate of protection' — including a default two-hour daily limit.
Plug-In Solar Panels Reach UK High Streets After a Quiet Rule Change
A one-panel kit costs £699 and needs no electrician. The government is betting that cheap, imperfect solar beats no solar at all.
Britain Will Spend Two Years Recushioning Trains It Bought for £1.6bn
More than 60,000 'ironing board' seats will be replaced — a decade after the department that procured them was warned about the seats.
Unpaid Energy Bills Have Reached £6bn, and Everyone Else Is Covering It
Bills rise 4% in October and a forecast 9% more in January. Households in debt without a plan owe more than a typical annual bill.
Britain's Energy Bills Are Staying High, and Nobody Will Say Why
Bills hit a three-year high per unit. The forecasts show them barely moving by 2030 — and the regulator still refuses to publish a medium-term projection.
Would You Pay £20 a Month for an Algorithm to Pick Your Friends?
Paid social clubs are spreading across UK cities as third spaces close and 40% of adults under 30 report feeling lonely.
A New 10p Enters Circulation for the First Time in Four Years
The capercaillie on the reverse is at risk of extinction in Britain for the second time. More coins will be struck than there are birds left.
40% of UK Bank-to-Exchange Transfers Are Blocked, Policy Group Tells Parliament
Bitcoin Policy UK's evidence to a parliamentary inquiry says nothing has improved in three years — and blames rules that treat all 'crypto' as one thing.
I'm Called the Black Farmer Because There Are So Few of Us
In Defra's most recent survey of England's principal farmers, 99.7% described themselves as white. That is a recruitment problem, not a coincidence.