Author: SKYNEWS

The education secretary has said private schools have themselves to blame for closures – not the government’s VAT policy.Bridget Phillipson said some private schools have failed to balance their books over a number of years as she denied they had closed because the government is making them pay 20% VAT on fees from January. Two schools in Scotland, Kilgraston and Cedars, this week became the first to close since Labour came into power, citing the uncertainty over the policy as part of their reasons.But Ms Phillipson dismissed that, telling Sky News: “I think what we’ve seen is that private schools…

Some of the biggest social media platforms are failing to detect and remove dangerous suicide and self-harm content, according to a study.The Molly Rose Foundation found that of more than 12 million content moderation decisions made by six of the biggest platforms, over 95% of them were detected and removed by only two sites – Pinterest and TikTok. The other four platforms that featured in the report were Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and X, formerly Twitter.The foundation said it found the response of most platforms to such content was “inconsistent, uneven and unfit for purpose”.The charity said Meta’s Instagram and Facebook…

Footage of Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff shortly after his Top Gear crash has been shown for the first time, revealing the extent of his injuries.The TV presenter and former England cricket all-rounder sustained serious facial injuries and broken ribs after a crash while filming Top Gear at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey, in December 2022. The incident happened midway through the filming of the second season of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams, which aired yesterday on BBC One.The programme showed footage Flintoff filmed of himself a week-and-a-half after the accident. Image: Pic: BBC “Genuinely should not be here after what happened,” he said…

The owner of Paddy Power is in talks to buy the consumer arm of London-listed Playtech in a deal that could be worth about £2bn.Sky News has learnt that Flutter Entertainment, which recently moved its primary listing to the US, is in discussions to buy Snaitech, one of Italy’s biggest gambling companies. It was unclear on Wednesday how advanced the talks were, but one source suggested that they were sufficiently detailed that Playtech would be required to publicly confirm them.A formal agreement is unlikely to be reached until at least next month.If completed, a deal would value Snaitech at a…

Older people who feel their life still has purpose are less likely to get memory loss, a survey has suggested.More than 900 people were tracked for an average of 14 years in the US state of Illinois, to see whether they developed mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. MCI is classed as the stage between an age-related decline in memory and thinking and a dementia diagnosis.Factors taken into account when assessing a feeling of purpose included relating positively to others, personal growth, self-acceptance, autonomy and mastery of one’s environment.An international team of researchers found people who developed MCI showed a…

Disgraced BBC newsreader Huw Edwards is banned from unsupervised contact with children and talking to youngsters online as he awaits sentencing. The 62-year-old was granted conditional bail after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children between December 2020 and August 2021 last month.Edwards, who was the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader before he resigned in April, was warned “all options”, including an immediate jail term, would be considered when he is sentenced on 16 September.According to court records seen by Sky News, Edwards’s bail conditions also ban him from contacting Alex Williams, a 25-year-old paedophile, from Merthyr…

One of Britain’s leading challenger banks has agreed to hand out its inaugural dividend after reporting a bumper profit in its last financial year.Sky News understands that Oaknorth, which is chaired by the former chairman of the City watchdog, Lord Turner, notified investors last week that it would distribute roughly $40m (£31.2m) as a special dividend. The payout will unlock a capital return for shareholders in Oaknorth for the first time.Money latest: Heinz could bring back snackLaunched in 2015, the bank is among a group of lenders – along with Monzo and Starling Bank – founded after the 2008 financial…

Scientists say there could be water on Mars underground, and more than enough to fill the planet’s oceans.Scientists from California universities San Diego and Berkeley say evidence suggests there is a large reservoir of liquid water under the planet’s surface. Using data from NASA’s InSight lander – which carried out a four-year-long mission that ended in 2022 – they wrote that the amount of groundwater could cover all of Mars to a depth of one to two kilometres.But the researchers warned it isn’t straightforward to find it. They believe the water is located in the rocks that form the midcrust…

Catfish presenter Nev Schulman says he is “lucky to be here” after breaking his neck in a crash involving his bike and a truck.The 39-year-old said the incident last week happened as he was on his way to collect his son from school in New York, adding he was expected to make a full recovery. He announced the news by sharing a series of photos and videos on Instagram of him wearing a neck brace in hospital as well as an X-ray of the break.In other clips he can be seen trying to stand up with assistance, gently hugging his…

The heads of the UK’s most valuable companies are being paid more than ever before – with the average chief executive paid more than 100 times that of the average worker, according to analysis from the High Pay Centre thinktank.The CEOs of the most valuable firms listed on the London Stock Exchange – the companies comprising the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 index – received an average 2.2% pay rise bringing median pay to £4.19m. It’s the highest sum ever recorded.Money blog: Unusually cheap package holidays on offerAverage pay is calculated by adding all the pay cheques and dividing…