Author: Loveworld UK

Retail sales grew by a better than expected 0.8% in February but the figures failed to lift the gloom surrounding the high street. The update from Office for National Statistics (ONS) follows a bleak day for the sector on Wednesday as a series of chains reported tough trading amid a squeeze on household incomes.February’s performance was better than the 0.4% growth pencilled in by the City but the ONS also revised down January data to show sales shrank by 0.2%.ONS senior statistician Rhian Murphy said: “Retail sales did grow in February, with increases seen in food, non-store and fuel, but…

Theresa May has been urged to visit the factory of a UK security firm and explain why a French company is taking over their contract to make British passports. De La Rue boss Martin Sutherland said the Prime Minister and Home Secretary Amber Rudd should look workers “in the whites of the eyes” and defend the decision.His firm, which has produced UK passports for the last decade, said it lost in the tendering process to make new post-Brexit blue passports.Gemalto, a French company, has reportedly won the bid by undercutting competitors by £50m.Shares in De La Rue fell 6% after…

One year after the Westminster attack, memorials are taking place to remember the victims and survivors of the four terrorist attacks which took place across London last year. Fourteen people were killed and more than 100 others injured in attacks in Westminster, London Bridge and Borough Market, Finsbury Park mosque and Parsons Green tube station. Image: PC Keith Palmer, an officer of 15 years, ‘was proud to be a policeman’ Theresa May lay a wreath of purple and white flowers on Parliament Square, with a hand written note which read: “In memory of those who were lost, and in defiance…

Health workers are being urged to accept a pay deal for NHS staff worth up to 6.5% over three years after unions reached agreement with the Government. If accepted the deal will provide the first significant pay rise for around one million NHS staff in eight years. Doctors and dentists are not covered by the deal.Pay was frozen by the coalition Government for two years following the 2010 election and has risen at just 1% a year for the last five years. Image: Nurses, midwives, ambulance drivers and porters would all benefit from the increase The GMB – a general…

Moscow has condemned Britain’s decision to skip a Russian foreign ministry briefing on the Salisbury poisoning, with the US also snubbing the meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “another vivid example of the absurd situation when questions are asked and an unwillingness to hear even any answers is demonstrated”.Russia has intensified the war of words over the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, which has plunged ties between the two nations to their worst level since the Cold War.Moscow said the UK was either behind the poisoning or was unable to stop what it…

Unemployment rose by 24,000 to 1.45 million in the three months to January – but wage growth improved, official figures show. It is the second month in a row the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported an increase in the jobless total – a rare setback in a broad trend of falling unemployment going back to 2011.But hopes for an end to the cost-of-living squeeze for those who are in work were boosted as the figures showed wage growth – excluding bonuses – improving to 2.6%.That was the highest rate since November 2016, and up from 2.5% reported last…

The man suspected of carrying out a series of bombings in Texas has died after blowing himself up in his car as police closed in on him. Austin Police chief Brian Manley said the 24-year-old white male, who has not been named, had been tracked down to a hotel in Round Rock, near the US state’s capital.Officers were waiting for tactical teams to arrive to arrest the suspect when his vehicle began to drive away, Mr Manley said.Authorities followed the car, which ran into a ditch at the side of the road, and when a SWAT team approached the suspect…

Carpetright is exploring a rescue plan which would allow it to speed up the closure of underperforming stores. The beleaguered retailer, which employs 2,700 people in the UK, did not reveal the number of locations facing the axe though it has been suggested that around 100 are likely to be affected.Carpetright announced the strategy as it confirmed that it had secured £12.5m in funding from a major investor – confirming a report hours earlier on Sky News.It was the latest bleak update from the high street on a day which also saw a profit warning from menswear business Moss Bros…

Sky News has been given exclusive access to an interactive 3D model of the Grenfell Tower which aims to provide an unrivalled understanding of the fire that killed 71 people. The team of architects, designers and academic researchers are called Forensic Architecture, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, and they focus on investigating human rights violations throughout the world. Grenfell is their first project in the UK.The agency has scoured TV footage of the night, mobile phone data and witness testimony to recreate what people would have seen and heard and has used this to build a minute-by-minute account of…

Texas has been hit by its fifth explosion this month as police hunt a suspected serial bomber. A FedEx worker was injured after a package containing nails and shrapnel blew up at a distribution centre in the San Antonio town of Schertz.The package had reportedly been bound for Austin – the state capital where a series of blasts in March has so far killed two people.On Sunday, two men, aged 22 and 23, were seriously injured in an explosion involving a tripwire device. Video: Deadly Texas parcel bomb attacks ‘linked’ The FedEx employee is believed to have suffered non-life threatening…