Author: Loveworld UK

One of Britain’s biggest engineering conglomerates is examining a potential transatlantic merger of its healthcare business‎ amid speculation that it could become the next London-listed target for an activist investor. Sky News has learnt that Smiths Group, which has a market capitalisation of £6.8‎bn, has been holding preliminary talks with companies including Nasdaq-listed ICU Medical about a possible combination of their healthcare operations.The discussions, which have been led by Andy Reynolds Smith, Smiths Group’s chief executive, are said to have been “very early stage” and not restricted to ICU.The structure of any deal with ICU, which makes devices used in…

Flights are delayed at Stansted Airport after lightning hit the aircraft fuelling system, leaving planes unable to refuel. In a statement on Twitter, a Stansted Airport spokesman said: “Due to an earlier lightning strike the aircraft fuelling system was unavailable for a period this morning.”Engineers have been on site and have now restored the system, however flights may still be subject to diversion, delay or cancellation.”We apologise for the inconvenience and advise all passengers to check with their airlines for their latest flight updates.” No one about to offer updates, hundreds of us huddled together in departures, airport is boiling…

It has been a month since TSB began a long-planned IT upgrade to move 1.3 billion customer records away from its old parent company Lloyds and on to a platform created by its new Spanish owners Sabadell.  But the move went disastrously wrong, with up to 1.9 million customers locked out of their accounts. And weeks later, Sky News has found the problems are far from over – with fraudsters exploiting the confusion to access customers’ money.Ewan Monaghan, a teacher from St Albans, says he and his wife were among those locked out four weeks ago, for a few days…

The mother of a teenage girl who died after becoming ill at the Mutiny Festival has warned people not to take drugs. Georgia Jones, 18, had a “45-minute fit” and was taken to hospital after “taking two pills” at the Hampshire music event on Saturday.The teenager and a 20-year-old man named locally as Tommy Cowan both died, as organisers warned of a “bad batch” of drugs at the annual two-day gathering in Portsmouth.Mr Cowan is said to have recently become a father.Another person is in a critical condition and 12 others have been treated at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in…

Electric storms have swept through the UK, creating dramatic skyscapes worthy of a Hollywood film. After a sunny start to the Bank Holiday weekend, with temperatures reaching 27C (80.6F), Saturday’s balmy evening eventually broke into a violent thunderstorm accompanied by heavy rain. Image: A streak of lightning illuminates London’s Shard. Pic. Matthew Smith The UK was struck by lightning between 15,000 and 20,000 times, according to Met Office meteorologist Charlie Powell.He said: “Temperatures overnight did not fall much below 15 or 16 degrees.”For the end of May that’s a pretty hot and humid night, so everything was primed.”We had some…

By Darren McCaffrey, Ireland Correspondent in Letterkenny, Co. DonegalOn Ireland’s north west coast, Donegal is a long way from Dublin and it thinks very differently too. A largely rural county, farming, fishing and tourism sustain the local economy here.It is a place where the Church stills hold sway.Donegal voted overwhelmingly to insert the Eighth Amendment in the Irish constitution back in 1983.Today, it defied the national picture by becoming the only constituency wanting to keep it. Image: Donegal was the only area of Ireland to vote against the reform Opinion here is spilt, the local victory of no in the…

Guy Hands, the private equity tycoon, is exploring a £2.5bn bid for Quintain, the London-based property group, in an effort to establish an £8bn UK-wide real estate empire. Sky News has learnt that Mr Hands’ buyout firm, Terra Firma Capital Partners, is examining an offer for Quintain‎ through Annington, the giant residential property group it has controlled since 2012.Initial bids are due for Quintain, which is owned by Lone Star Funds, another private equity firm, early next month, and City sources expect a deluge of interest in it.The company has planning permission ‎for thousands of rental homes in the area…

Sir Richard Branson has said he is undergoing astronaut training and is just months away from being catapulted into space. The 67-year-old Virgin boss has set his sights on turning commercial space travel into a reality since he founded Virgin Galactic and hopes to be among the first space tourists.”We’re talking about months not years – so it’s close. There are exciting times ahead,” he told BBC Radio 4’s You And Yours, to be broadcast on Monday.”I’m going for astronaut training, I’m going for fitness training, centrifuge and other training so that my body will hopefully cope well when I…

“All changed, changed utterly,” wrote the Irish poet William Butler Yates. He was referring to the aftermath of the Easter Rising over British rule in 1916. A century later, his homeland has undergone a social and cultural upheaval. The place they once called “Catholic Ireland” has shaken off its past.Contraception, divorce and same-sex relations were all still illegal in 1980. By the mid-nineties, they had legalised contraception and voted for divorce.They had to wait another 20 years for a referendum on same-sex marriage. People described that result – 62% for and 38% against – as “a watershed”.Others dared to suggest…

The family of legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly have urged Jurgen Klopp not to change his attacking philosophy ahead of tonight’s Champions League final against Real Madrid. The Anfield club have scored the most goals in this season’s competition, averaging over three a game, and stand on the brink of securing their sixth European Cup in Kiev.Within the club’s 125-year history it is Shankly who is credited with transforming their fortunes laying the foundations for domestic and then European glory through the 60s, 70s and 80s. Image: Shankly celebrates his team’s 1965 2-1 win over Leeds Utd As a young…