Author: SKYNEWS

A total ban on under-16s owning smartphones should be considered by the next government, according to a report from MPs.The House of Commons Education Committee also called for a statutory ban on mobile phones in schools. It argued that screen time was harmful to children’s mental and physical health, and both schools and parents needed clear guidance from the government on the issue.Earlier this year, the Department for Education issued guidance, which is non-statutory, instructing headteachers on how to ban the use of phones during lessons and break and lunch periods.However, the committee has said this does not go far…

A high-profile literary festival has dropped its sponsorship with a company accused of investing billions in fossil fuels and businesses linked to the Israeli defence industry.Hay Festival said on Friday it had suspended its sponsorship with investment management firm Baillie Gifford after figures including comedian Nish Kumar, singer Charlotte Church and Labour MP Dawn Butler pulled out of the event. The festival is currently taking place in Wales until 2 June.The group Fossil Free Books had urged Baillie Gifford to divest from the fossil fuel industry, in which campaigners claimed it had between £2.5bn and £5bn invested. Image: The offices…

Lynn Barber has seen the lot. Across six decades as a celebrity interviewer, she’s navigated a death threat*, a stand-off with a star best known for playing an amiable TV doctor and a wild animal at the dinner table.Now, a sticky conversation with Joan Collins and a run-in with the actress’s “dragon” PR has led Barber to a stark showbiz realisation. Barber tells Sky News: “I’m not up for celebrity interviews any more.”She goes on: “I’ve turned down a lot of ideas I’ve been sent. It was rare for me to agree to do Joan Collins, and it was only…

A judge has rejected a request by Alec Baldwin to dismiss his criminal charge relating to the fatal shooting on the set of Rust.Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer upheld an indictment charging Baldwin with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, in 2021. The New Mexico judge rejected defence arguments that prosecutors flouted the rules of grand jury proceedings to divert attention away from exculpatory evidence and witnesses. Image: Halyna Hutchins. Pic: Shutterstock Prosecutors denied the accusations and said Baldwin made “shameless” attempts to escape culpability, highlighting contradictions in his statements to law enforcement, to…

Growth in the UK’s powerhouse services sector has cooled by more than expected to its weakest level in six months, according to a closely-watched survey of businesses.As campaigning got under way for a general election that is widely expected to be dominated by the economy, the S&P Global UK Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) suggested an overall slowing in the pace of business activity. The index, in which any reading above 50 represents growth, came in at 52.8 for May – down on the 54.1 score achieved the previous month.Money latest: Fashion brand to charge £8.99 for returnsThe survey of…

Compared with Hollywood, Grimsby is perhaps more fish factory than dream factory – but just like La La Land, the Lincolnshire port town is aiming for the stars with ambitious plans to become a go-to location for filmmakers.”Build it and hopefully they will come,” is the belief of Emma Lingard, a resident who once worked in TV but is now a manager at Associated British Ports (ABP), the owners of Grimsby Docks. “Every producer or location manager that has come to us is saying that London is overpriced,” she says. “They’re finding there are too many other productions jostling for…

In the 15-year scandal of the Post Office, this may be remembered as the day that hundreds of sub-postmasters, subject to the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, were finally heard.In Westminster, the Post Office Offences Act was being rushed through parliament, included in the ‘wash-up’ triggered by the general election. Come early evening, when it formally received Royal Assent, as if by legislative magic, around 700 wrongful convictions were erased. Before that, a mile or so east at Aldwych House, Paula Vennells finally faced the sub-postmasters’ questions, on her third and final day of evidence at the…

It’s not just your lifelong politicans who enter the fray when it comes to election time.With the next general election now confirmed for July, there are already some faces in the mix you might recognise from other walks of life. They wouldn’t be the first from the worlds of entertainment and sport to venture into politics – the late Oscar-winner Glenda Jackson won a seat for Labour in the 1992 election, as did TV personality Gyles Brandreth for the Conservatives.And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was known as a comedian and actor before assuming his current role in 2019.Here are some…

After avoiding public scrutiny for nearly a decade, Paula Vennells, the former Post Office boss, finally faced questions about her role in the most widespread miscarriage of justice that Britain has ever seen.She has been giving evidence at the Post Office Horizon Inquiry for the last three days – and today she was accused by lawyers of talking “rubbish” and being in “la la land”. Sky’s Jonathan Samuels spoke to Sky’s business correspondent Paul Kelso who’s been at the Post Office Inquiry for us.Plus, a record number of Conservative MPs have now said they are not standing in July’s general…

Cassie has broken her silence after video emerged of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking her in a hotel hallway.The model and singer, 37, said she would “always be recovering from my past” and urged her followers on Instagram to “open your heart to believing victims the first time”. It comes after footage obtained by CNN earlier this week showed her being punched and kicked in a hotel hallway in Los Angeles by rapper and record executive Combs.The CCTV footage from 5 March 2016 shows Combs wearing only a white towel as he beats his then girlfriend and protege. Image:…