Author: SKYNEWS

A migrant boat artwork by Banksy which appeared at Glastonbury Festival has been labelled “vile” and “not funny” by the home secretary, James Cleverly.Speaking to Matt Barbet on Sky News Breakfast, Mr Cleverly said: “There are a bunch of people that are joking and celebrating about criminal actions which cost lives. Image: Pic: AP/Celebrity Photos UK/Cover Images “People die in the Mediterranean, they die on the Channel. This is not funny. It is vile. This is a celebration of the loss of life in the Channel.”The art installation featured an inflatable lifeboat filled with migrant dummies in orange life jackets…

Average house prices are still unaffordable for the typical earner, the UK’s largest building society has said.Despite wages rising above the rate of inflation in recent months and house prices falling from the record high of summer 2022, “housing affordability is still stretched”, Nationwide said. Money latest: New Wotsits and Monster Munch flavours launch today – but you should read small printA greater proportion of take-home pay is going on mortgage bills, according to the lender’s house price index.Someone earning the average UK income seeking to buy their first home with a deposit worth 20% of the asking price will…

Taylor Swift is getting her own exhibition at the V&A Museum in London this summer.The show – titled Taylor Swift: Songbook Trail – will feature costumes, awards and items from her childhood – with many on display for the first time. Image: Pic: PA The temporary exhibition will be made up of different stops on a tour, each showcasing a moment in Swift’s 20-year music career, taking visitors on a journey through the permanent galleries at the museum.Many of the objects are on loan from Taylor Swift’s own personal archive.Swift is currently travelling the world with her Eras Tour, bringing…

It is the first big moment of election night. The exit poll is the moment millions tune in for a first sniff of the eventual result of the general election. And in Election 2024 this poll, with its impressive track record, sometimes down to a margin of only a few seats, will, once again, be a key part of broadcasters’ coverage – including here at Sky News – on Thursday night. The current model was devised in 2005 by Professor John Curtice and statistician David Firth and it has been consistently reliable, bar 2015 when the seat numbers suggested a hung…

Justin Timberlake has appeared to joke about his recent drink-driving arrest at a concert in Boston.The Grammy Award-winning pop star was arrested in Sag Harbor, a wealthy village in the Hamptons in New York State last month. In a video shared on social media over the weekend, Timberlake tells a crowd at Boston’s TD Garden arena: “Is there anyone here that is driving, no I’m just kidding.”Fans appear to laugh and cheer as he continues to address the crowd. YouTube This content is provided by YouTube, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we…

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says there’s a conspiracy of silence this election – that all of the major political parties aren’t being honest enough about their fiscal plans this election.And they have a point. Most obviously (and this is the main thing the IFS is complaining about) none of the major manifestos – from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative parties – have been clear about how they will fill an impending black hole in the government’s spending plans. No need to go into all the gritty details, but the overarching point is that all government spending…

Glastonbury 2024 has come to an end, with US singer-songwriter SZA closing the show on the Pyramid Stage following a spectacular weekend of celebrity cameos, fireworks and crowd-surfing.And music, of course. Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Little Simz, Shania Twain, Janelle Monae and Cyndi Lauper were among the big names performing, and that was just on the main stage – which is one of more than 100 across Glastonbury’s massive Worthy Farm site in Somerset. Image: SZA closed the festival. Pic: Yui Mok/PA It has been a record-breaking year. With SZA’s nature-inspired set on Sunday following Lipa’s on Friday, this year’s event…

As the latest reduction in the energy price cap takes effect, households are being warned of a big lift in bills ahead due to higher wholesale gas prices.The cap, which limits what suppliers can charge per unit of energy, fell by 7% overnight in the wake of the latest three-month review by industry regulator Ofgem. The reduction meant that typical 12-month bills will be around £500 cheaper than a year ago.It left the average bill at £1,568 – a figure that will apply until the result of the next review takes effect in October.However, a report by the Energy &…

Bansky has claimed responsibility for a migrant boat artwork that appeared above the crowds during a set at Glastonbury.The inflatable boat was filled with dummies designed to look like migrants attempting to cross the Channel. It was hoisted above the crowd and passed around by festival-goers during the Idles’ performance on the Other Stage at Worthy Farm on Friday night.The boat appeared again during rapper Little Simz’s set as she performed on the Pyramid stage on Saturday. Image: Little Simz on stage at Glastonbury. Pic: AP Banksy later posted a video of the boat on his Instagram page – appearing…

The outgoing boss of Boots is leaving to run Veonet, one of Europe’s largest chains of ophthalmology clinics.Sky News has learnt that Sebastian James is to become the new group chief executive of Veonet, which is owned by the private equity firm PAI Partners and Canada’s Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. He will leave Boots in November, as Sky News revealed on Saturday, and will join Veonet soon afterwards, insiders said.Veonet was acquired by its current owners in early 2022 from Nordic Capital, another buyout firm.In the UK, Veonet owns SpaMedica, which performs eye operations such as cataract removals for the…