Thousands of Britons took to the sea and rivers on Saturday to demand an end to sewage pollution by water companies, highlighting a topic that is likely to be an issue at the next general election. A national "paddle-out" at 12 locations across the United Kingdom, including Brighton in the south, Windermere in the Lake District, Plymouth in the south west and Edinburgh in Scotland, was organised by campaign groups Surfers Against Sewage and Ocean Activists.

Musicians are facing a postcode lottery of noise complaints, industry leaders have warned, after a member of the classical chart-topping choir Mediaeval Baebes was handed a noise abatement notice for playing music in her flat. Fiona Fey was told she had created “excessive noise from the playing of musical instruments that is audible and detectable from your property” and that she must cease making any more “noise from the property in the form of playing loud music”.

Most of the baby's DNA comes from their two parents, with a small percentage from a donor.

Rocket and launch services company Orbex announced yesterday that construction has begun at Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland, making this the first vertical launch spaceport to be built on the UK mainland. It was also confirmed that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will contribute £3 million to support the development of Sutherland Spaceport, completing a public investment package that also includes £9m from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the Scottish Government, and £2.55m that the UK Space Agency announced in 2018.

The Mayor of London has announced a £3.5m one-off free meals scheme during school holidays and weekends for children from low-income families. The mayor's office said the emergency funding was set to run for 12 months. The money will go to charities and partners in the capital, with an estimated 6.9 million extra meals set to be provided under the plans.

A giant "get well soon" message has been carved by a mystery artist into snow on a Sheffield hospital's roof. The words, accompanied by a huge smiley face, appeared on the top of of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital car park. Hospital visitor Joe Dawson posted the image on social media and said it had "really cheered everyone" and described the unknown snow-artist as a "legend".

The study by King’s researchers suggests that predatory birds in urban spaces are vulnerable to changes in human activities that support prey populations.

Free school meals will be offered to all primary school pupils across London for a year under plans by Sadiq Khan to tackle what he said was a failure by ministers to step up support during the cost of living crisis. The move will come into force from September, saving families about £440 for every child and benefiting 270,000 children, City Hall estimates.

Rape jokes, racism, bullying - if you've picked up a controller, or scrolled a mouse, to dabble in some online gaming then you've likely come across plenty. The gaming industry, like others where people interact online, has been trying to figure out how to get to grips with behaviour like this for years.

App Store prices are going up in the United Kingdom and several other countries starting on February 13, Apple announced today. The changes are being implemented due to shifts in taxes and foreign exchange rates.

Biodiversity defenders have sounded the alarm about the United Kingdom government's Monday decision to provide another so-called "emergency" exception for the use of an outlawed neonicotinoid pesticide lethal to bees.

The Intellectual Property Office said the practice might break criminal and civil law.

Revised online safety bill proposes fines of 10% of revenue but drops harmful communications offence.

A hundred UK companies have signed up for a permanent four-day working week for all their employees with no loss of pay, a milestone in the campaign to fundamentally change Britain’s approach to work. The 100 companies employ 2,600 staff – a tiny fraction of the UK’s working population – but the 4 Day Week Campaign group is hoping they will be the vanguard of a major shift.

New research has found that more than half of gamers asked (52%) are now sharing new gaming purchases with friends and 62% say they are not buying new games at all - instead focusing on secondhand purchases or freebies.

The Bank of England has warned the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, as it raised interest rates by the most in 33 years. It warned the UK would face a "very challenging" two-year slump with unemployment nearly doubling by 2025. Bank boss Andrew Bailey warned of a "tough road ahead" for UK households, but said it had to act forcefully now or things "will be worse later on".

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Sunday he will not run to lead the Conservative Party, ending a short-lived, high-profile attempt to return to the prime minister's job he was ousted from little more than three months ago. His withdrawal leaves former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak the strong favorite to become Britain's next prime minister — the third this year — at a time of political turmoil and severe economic challenges. He could win the contest as soon as Monday.

Amazon shoppers in the UK could receive a share of £900m in compensation, once a legal claim is submitted against the technology giant. The proposed claim alleges the company breached competition law and caused customers to pay higher prices. It is being led by consumer-rights champion Julie Hunter, who says products sold on Amazon.co.uk and the Amazon app obscured better-value deals.

The cost of decommissioning the UK’s 20th-century nuclear waste could rise to £260bn as the aged and degrading sites present growing challenges, according to analysis presented to an international group of experts. As the government pursues nuclear energy with the promise of a new generation of reactors, the cost of safely cleaning up waste from previous generations of power stations is soaring.

The British government on Wednesday said it would cap wholesale electricity and gas costs for businesses at less than half the market rate from next month, helping relieve the pressure of soaring energy costs but adding to the government's fast-rising spending.