South West Water identifies ‘damaged valve’ as possible cause of cryptosporidium contamination in Brixham area

Health officials are expecting more cases of a waterborne disease in Devon, as an MP said “heads are going to roll” over the outbreak and that the anger among residents was “palpable”.

The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed 46 cases of cryptosporidium infection in the Brixham area, while more than 100 other people have reported symptoms, including diarrhoea, stomach pains and dehydration.

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© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

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© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Met Office says heavy rain and sudden flooding could occur in affected areas and cause transport disruption

Thunderstorm warnings have been issued by the Met Office across England and Wales for Saturday afternoon and continuing into the evening.

A yellow weather warning is in place between 1pm and 8pm, covering large parts of Wales and south-west England.

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© Photograph: Kathy deWitt/Alamy

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© Photograph: Kathy deWitt/Alamy

Exclusive: FoI request reveals Arts Council updated guidance after discussing Gaza conflict with DCMS

Arts Council England (ACE) issued a warning that “political statements” could break funding agreements after discussions with the government about artists speaking out over the Israel-Gaza war, newly released documents suggest.

A freedom of information request made by the actors’ union Equity has revealed that the conflict was discussed in a meeting between ACE and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in December.

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© Photograph: Kay Roxby/Alamy

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© Photograph: Kay Roxby/Alamy

Exclusive: Experts call for higher taxes and tougher regulation as research shows cost to NHS, other public services and economy

The cost of alcohol abuse is laid bare in a new study that shows £27bn a year being spent in England on the health and social harms of drinking.

The research that found the extra burden on the NHS, social services, the criminal justice system and the labour market cost at least 37% more than in 2003, when comparable research by the Cabinet Office estimated the costs at between £18.5bn and £20bn.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

FirstGroup submits application for alternative route between capital and Rochdale

Plans for an alternative direct train service between Greater Manchester and London have been launched, promising competitive fares, by the transport group that already runs the main Avanti service linking the cities.

Trains straight from London Euston to Rochdale will run from 2027, if approved, under FirstGroup’s Lumo brand, calling first at Warrington and going via Manchester Victoria.

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© Photograph: David Parry/PA

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© Photograph: David Parry/PA

History project tells stories about the lives of women who ran B&Bs in Morecambe

It is true that a postwar northern seaside landlady could be direct, insist on full-board guests being back for tea at 5pm or get nothing, and have no plug sockets in case someone had the wild idea of using a hairdryer.

But were they the unflinching, arms-folded battleaxes often depicted in popular culture? “They generally weren’t,” said the local historian David Evans. “They were firm with their rules but they were fair, they were kind and the important thing for them was that someone enjoyed their holiday and would come back again.”

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© Photograph: Olivia Hemingway/Historic England Archive, Olivia

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© Photograph: Olivia Hemingway/Historic England Archive, Olivia

Popularity of traditional holiday memento hit by smartphones, ‘rude rock’ and rising price of stamps

A trip to the British seaside may not always have been something to write home about, but these days you might struggle even if you wanted to.

At the Little Gems gift shop in Blackpool town centre, all the usual seaside wares are on display – beach towels, plastic buckets and spades, sticks of rock – but one item is notably missing.

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© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Little change at top between 2021 and 2022 but European names such as Nova beginning to gain favour

New entries to the list of top 100 baby names in England and Wales for 2022 suggest European names are gradually gaining favour, data from the Office for National Statistics shows.

While girls’ names remained largely unchanged from 2021, with Olivia top (most popular with mothers aged 25 and older), followed by Amelia (most popular with mothers aged under 25), Isla and Ava, more unusual names are creeping in.

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© Photograph: JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

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© Photograph: JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Ahmed Alid, 45, stabbed Terence Carney, 70, and tried to kill another man in attacks described as terrorism

A terrorist who murdered a pensioner in Hartlepool town centre as “revenge” for “the people of Gaza” has been jailed for 45 years.

Ahmed Alid, 45, an asylum seeker from Morocco, stabbed 70-year-old Terence Carney, a complete stranger he encountered on the street, on 15 October.

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© Photograph: Counter Terror Police/PA

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© Photograph: Counter Terror Police/PA

Authorities confirm 46 cases and warn of weeks-long disruption as firms in Brixham hit by cancellations before school half-term

Cases of an illness caused by a microscopic parasite in a Devon harbour town could continue for a further two weeks, experts said, with businesses predicting thousands of pounds of losses as school half-term approaches.

The comments came as the UK Health Security Agency confirmed that cases of cryptosporidium infection in the Brixham area had more than doubled from 22 to 46, with more than 100 others reporting symptoms of the disease.

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© Photograph: Kevin Britland/Alamy

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© Photograph: Kevin Britland/Alamy

One in 10 officials to be based in city within three years and 70-strong team will increase to 500

The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, has announced a big expansion of its operations in Leeds, with one in 10 officials to be based in the West Yorkshire city within three years.

Bailey said the 70-strong team at the central bank’s northern hub would swell sevenfold to 500 by 2027 through a combination of voluntary relocation and local recruitment.

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© Photograph: Teamjackson/Getty Images/iStockphoto

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© Photograph: Teamjackson/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Education select committee concerned that excessive workload is driving teachers out of profession

Teachers’ workloads are being increasingly stretched by their pupils’ mental health and family difficulties, according to MPs who were critical of the government’s efforts to tackle chronic staff shortages in England’s schools.

The education select committee said it was “concerned that since the pandemic teachers are spending more time on addressing issues that would typically fall outside the remit of schools, including family conflict resolution and mental health support,” and called for the government to support better provision inside and outside schools.

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© Photograph: David Jones/PA

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© Photograph: David Jones/PA

Analysis by Office for Students says increasing number will need to make significant changes to their funding model

An increasing number of universities in England face “a material risk of closure” unless they dramatically cut costs or merge over the next few years, according to the higher education regulator’s annual health check.

The report by the Office for Students (OfS) paints a bleak picture of universities overreliant on international students to plug the gaps left by the declining income from domestic student fees, with the OfS warning that 40% of England’s universities are expected to run budget deficits this year.

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© Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

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© Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Protesters call for rent controls as 2,682 households evicted in first quarter of 2024 in England and Wales

Bailiffs are evicting more renting households than at any time in the last six years, the Ministry of Justice has said, as protesters chanted for rent controls outside the HQ of Britain’s biggest listed private landlord.

More than 100 members of the London Renters Union (LRU) set off red and blue smoke canisters as they descended on the glass and steel office of the property firm Grainger, which rents out more than 10,000 homes in the UK bringing in a 28% pretax profit margin on nearly £100m a year in rent.

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© Photograph: Rob Booth/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Rob Booth/The Guardian

Museum of Homelessness features treasured belongings and first-hand accounts of homeless people

What makes an item so immensely valuable that it belongs in a museum, carefully preserved for future generations? Britain’s heritage institutions may be full of historic and priceless objects, but at what is claimed to be the world’s first museum dedicated to homelessness, which opens to the public in London on 24 May, the treasured artefacts are very different.

There is a bent and much repaired stick, originally made from two pieces of scrap wood, that for its owner was a walking aid, defensive weapon and cherished companion before he donated it, with great sacrifice, to the museum. There is the skeleton of an old shopping trolley that once carried all its owner’s worldly possessions before he offered it to help transport supplies for those in need during the Covid crisis.

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© Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Council says primary school in Brixham shut due to having no drinking water as cases of cryptosporidiosis investigated

A primary school in south Devon has closed as it does not have drinking water as officials investigate a local outbreak of a disease that causes sickness and diarrhoea.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 22 cases of cryptosporidiosis, a waterborne disease caused by a microscopic parasite, had been confirmed in Brixham and more were expected. Other reported cases of diarrhoea and vomiting among residents and visitors to the town are under investigation.

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© Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

Child thought to have fallen from upper floor of block in Plaistow shortly before 6am

A six-year-old boy has died after falling from the upper floor of a tower block in east London.

The child is said to have fallen from a height at New City Road, Plaistow, shortly before 6am on Thursday.

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© Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Education secretary says new guidance will not stop schools teaching children about gender-reassignment surgery

• UK politics live – latest updates

Children will be allowed to learn about trans people who have undergone gender reassignment surgery but not “gender ideology”, the education secretary has said.

Gillian Keegan said government guidance on sex education was aimed at stopping “gender ideology” that was “ignoring biological sex” being used in some schools.

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© Photograph: Lucy North/PA

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© Photograph: Lucy North/PA

Nelson Shardey, 74, has lived in the UK since 1977 and ran a Merseyside newsagent for 31 years

A former shopkeeper described as a Merseyside “local legend” is pursuing a legal challenge against the Home Office after he was refused indefinite leave to remain, despite living in the UK for more than 45 years.

Nelson Shardey, 74, came to the UK from Ghana at the age of 28 on a student visa in 1977 and has lived in the country ever since. The retired newsagent, who has two sons living in the UK, has no access to public funds or pension credits after the Home Office refused to grant him indefinite leave to remain and wrongly advised him to apply for the Windrush scheme.

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© Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

One-size-fits-all guidance will lead to some children accessing information via internet searches

When it comes to sex education in schools in England, teachers and experts agree on one thing: using age alone to determine what topics to cover and what to avoid risks leaving some children more vulnerable.

Headlines announcing the new guidance, to be published under consultation this week, focused on its bar on teaching sex education in primary schools to children earlier than year 5, when they are aged 9.

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© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

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© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Daniel Graham, 38, also pleaded not guilty to causing damage to Hadrian’s Wall while Adam Carruthers, 31, entered no plea

A man has pleaded not guilty to felling the Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland and causing damage to Hadrian’s Wall last September.

Daniel Graham, 38, of Carlisle and Adam Carruthers, 31, of Wigton attended a hearing at Newcastle magistrates court on Wednesday after being charged with criminal damage for allegedly cutting down the tree.

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© Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Dr. Hilary Cass published a landmark report that led to restrictions on youth gender care in Britain. U.S. health groups said it did not change their support of the care.

© Tori Ferenc for The New York Times

The change followed a sweeping review by England’s National Health Service that found “remarkably weak” evidence for youth gender treatments.

© Iain Masterton/Alamy Live News

When Ruby Reynolds and her father found a fossil on an English beach, they didn’t know it belonged to an 82-foot ichthyosaur that swam during the days of the dinosaurs.

Five European countries have recently restricted hormone treatments for adolescents with gender distress. They have not banned the care, unlike many U.S. states.

© Tori Ferenc for The New York Times