Pubs, bars and off-licences will be forced to ask under 21s for proof of identity under the Government’s latest crackdown on binge drinking, the Daily Mail reports.
Ministers will next week announce that alcohol retailers will be legally obliged to make compulsory checks if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that drinkers look under 21.
Current guidelines encourage this, but the Government wants to toughen up the law amid growing concerns about “binge drinking” among young people.
Pubs, bars …

Two people were killed today in a plane crash close to Oxford Airport, the BBC reports.
The two-seater plane came down and burst into flames, just after 14:00 at Grove Road in Bladon, close to the main A44.
The type of plane involved in the crash is not yet known.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch sent a team to the scene to investigate.

iPhone users can now become clients of a new loan company that allow people to borrow cash within minutes, using their phones, but the interest rate of the loans can be up to 3,000%, the Daily Mail reports.
Borrowers can access up to £1,000 from Wonga’s short-term loan app if they need bridging over before their next payday. But if they debt is not repaid rapidly, the £1,000 could turn to a debt of £2,861 within …

Conservative leader David Cameron announced plans today for a “cyber treat and assessment centre” to guard against attacks on the UK’s vital computer network, the Daily Mail reports.
Cameron pointed to the so-called “clickskrieg” attack on Estonia three years ago.
“As technology and computers and the internet become bigger and bigger parts of our lives, the effect of cyber warfare will become more pronounced,” he said. “You only have to look at the so-called “Clickskrieg” against Estonia …

Weather forecasters say that heavy snowfall and icy conditions will return after this weekend’s thaw and could last until April, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Despite temperatures expected to hit double figures in the south west of England for the first time this year, experts warned it could only be a brief respite from the wintery weather.
The warmer weather and predicted rain is expected to lead to flooding in parts of the United Kingdom in the coming …

Mayor of London Boris Johnson warned that thousands of high-earning bankers will flee City because of the Government’s taxation policy, Sky News reports.
Johnson wrote to Chancellor Alistair Darling asking for a meeting to discuss his introduction of a 50% income tax rate for top earners and a temporary 50% levy on banking bonuses over £25,000.
Johnson said that 9,000 bankers are planning to leave London because of the Government’s tax policy. Several companies have told him …

Families have less to spend than at any time over the past ten years, the Daily Mail reports.
An official analysis found that an average household paid £471 a week for everything from the cost of housing to buying lottery tickets in 2008, the lowest spending per home since 1999.
The statistics, released by the Office for National Statistics, reveal the amount that a typical family can afford has been falling since 2004.
Independent economists put the trend …

The Conservatives say that they would start cutting Whitehall spending plans from day one of a David Cameron Government, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said for the first time that Whitehall budgets for the financial year which starts in April would be ripped up. He confirmed that it meant some middle class tax breaks will be scrapped.
Osborne added that the Tories needed to show they were willing to start cutting costs immediately.
“Programmes that …

A senior figure in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a hardline Islamist group that the Government keeps “under continuous review” and the Conservatives want to ban, is teaching and preaching at a top university, The Times reports.
The Times has learnt that Reza Pankhurst, who was imprisoned in Egypt for membership of the group, is a teacher at the London School of Economics and regularly preaches to students at Friday prayers.
The group are supposedly barred from organising and speaking …

Millions face higher council tax and cuts in services because the black hole in local government pensions has soared to £60 billion, the Daily Mail reports.
Figures obtained under freedom of information show councils’ pension deficits have nearly trebled thanks to the recession.
Council tax bills in April next year will depend in part on a calculation of the size of the pensions black hole, due to take place this March.

Private and single sex schools continue to dominate league tables published today for last summer’s A level and GCSE results, The Times reports.
Of the top 50 schools with the highest scores at A level, all but three were in the independent sector. St Paul’s Girl’s School in London heads the table with an average of 267.4 points per A-level student, followed by Westminster School, Perse School for Girls in Cambridge and Guildford High School.
The three …

Researchers, who have published new estimates of monthly GDP, say that Britain’s economy could be out of recession, Sky News reports.
Figures from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research show a 0.3% rise in the three months ending in December. The latest growth figures come after a 0.2% rise in the three months ending in November.
But the country will have to wait until the end of January, when the Government’s official figures are released, …

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that the weather had brought the economy to a “standstill” – with estimates it was costing at least £600 million a day, the Independent reports.
Many parts of the UK have gone three weeks without rubbish collections due to the icy conditions. Major roads were closed, many airport runways shut and train services disrupted in the wake of the latest snowfall.
The FSB said there should now be talks between …

It was quite a surprise looking out the window this morning and seeing yet another layer of snow covering the ground and everything on it. Especially because yesterday the weather forecast didn’t predict snow for London.
However, about an inch of snow is covering south London at the moment, I assume there was a bit more in the morning, but fortunately this white hell has been melting quite rapidly. The Met Office are predicting that the …

Just when thousands of GCSE and A-level students thought it was safe to return to the exam hall another blanket of snow has stifled southern Britain, leaving roads closed and hundreds of schools unable to open, The Times reports.
On a day when school pupils are due to sit more than 200,000 crucial exam modules, teenagers were forced to wait anxiously for news on whether they will be allowed to sit the tests. For thousands in …

The Tories pledged to ditch the units system for labelling alcoholic drinks today, instead, details will be given on what volume of alcohol beverages contain, as well as how many calories, the Daily Mail reports.
The Conservatives are also unveiling proposals for tackling issues such as obesity, drug use and teenage pregnancy.
A payment by results scheme for local councils and NHS services would be introduced, with extra rewards for improving the health of the poorest.
Advertisers will …