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Gareth Corfield Transport Correspondent |
The boss of National Air Traffic Services (Nats) is facing calls to resign after an IT failure caused mayhem across British skies.
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled as engineers scrambled to restore a critical flight data processing system. The fault was fixed last night, but disruption is expected to continue for much of today, with more than 100 flights already cancelled.
Martin Rolfe, the boss of Nats, has presided over three meltdowns in four years. He insisted his organisation’s systems were fit for purpose but has been summoned to an urgent meeting with Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary.
Rolfe, who earns £1.5m a year, was described as an “overpaid failure” by Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operating officer.
Flights grounded at Heathrow |
All arrivals into Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton were suspended for several hours as a result of the fault, while every other British airport was subjected to restrictions intended to ease the burden on air traffic controllers.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers’ journeys were disrupted, with one at Glasgow complaining that their airline had left them “sitting like cattle” with minimal information.
After yesterday’s events, taxpayers and travellers alike will be asking what control the Government truly has over Nats through its 49 per cent shareholding in the privatised business.
Continue reading ➤
How IT meltdown left thousands stranded ➤
The air traffic control boss at centre of flight disruption ➤ |
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Henry Bodkin Jerusalem Correspondent |
Britain’s Chief Rabbi has warned that Labour’s sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank will put Jewish people in danger.
Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, accused Israeli settlers of “ethnic cleansing” yesterday, warning they would face the “full force” of British sanctions, including a ban on all goods produced in “illegal settlements in the occupied territories”. Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, described the new sanctions as a “truly dark day for British Jews”.
He accused the Government of ignoring “the deep concerns expressed by so many of us. These measures will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target.”
Israel responded to the sanctions by announcing the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem, marking the lowest point of British-Israeli relations since the birth of the Jewish state.
Britain, the country that ruled the Holy Land in the crucial decades leading up to Israeli independence, is now forbidden from a formal presence in the city.
The consulate, based in East Jerusalem, is effectively Britain’s embassy to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
Significant amounts of aid and development money flow through it for numerous projects to help keep the Palestinian people on their feet, including in Gaza.
Britain’s military contingent in Ramallah will be forced to stop its work helping to train Palestinian security forces.
The small British team of military and diplomatic officials at the international headquarters monitoring the Gaza ceasefire in Kiryat Gat will also be expelled.
The choice of British elected officials who will now be denied entry is revealing. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell lead a list of largely hard-Left political has-beens.
Israel hopes that banning Left-wing MPs will show that Britain’s sanctions are, in themselves, an act of extremism.
This report is available only to subscribers
Read the full story ➤
How Burnham’s Israel sanctions could backfire ➤
The ‘doomsday settlement’ that will encircle Jerusalem ➤ |
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David Blair The Foreign Secretary’s well-meaning gesture ignores the fact that Israelis believe ceding land will bring more terror, not peace Continue reading ➤
Philip Johnston The Welfare State is impoverishing our grandchildren Continue reading ➤
Chris Bennion Monty Don is irreplaceable on Gardeners’ World – he brought joy to our lives Continue reading ➤ |
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Phillipp-Anders Rau, Simon Lansmann and Frank-Ronald Bischoff |
The AfD’s breakthrough in Saxony-Anhalt has brought a new cast of politicians into Germany’s political mainstream, writes Jörg Luyken. Among the hard-Right party’s new state deputies are a former Stasi officer, an alleged pagan worshipper, and a convicted thief who has appeared in pornography. Yet the election has created a far more consequential problem for Berlin: the AfD could soon control a state intelligence service that once monitored the party itself. Continue reading ➤ |
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A cocktail-hour conversation with Christine Baranski, the American actress, at a London hotel – what could be more delightful? Mick Brown meets the TV legend known for The Gilded Age and The Good Wife, who is here to star in Noel Coward’s Hay Fever. They meet on the day the news of Dolly Parton’s death has broken. I had the great pleasure of working with her, Baranski says, she’s one of life’s great humans. From poor beginnings in Buffalo, Baranski built a prolific career, but shot to fame after Mamma Mia. No wonder she’s still in high demand at 74... Continue reading ➤ |
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When Alex Barthes was left paralysed from the neck down after a surfing accident, remote NHS care assessors ruled his condition was not complex enough to qualify for funding. That financial support would have helped him live independently, but instead, he was placed in a care home for the elderly – at just 43. As part of Telegraph Money’s campaign for in-person assessments, we tell Barthes’s story, and his battle to reclaim his independence. Continue reading ➤ |
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I’ve had some terrible hangovers, writes Tim Spector, but finding my sweet spot means I can drink sensibly without giving up the pleasure of a pint. I’ve cut out spirits, introduced alcohol-free days and increasingly swap in non-alcoholic beers. Here’s why I’m sticking with moderate drinking, and why I think alcohol has been unfairly demonised. Continue reading ➤ |
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Working out how much you need to save for retirement can mean complicated calculations or expensive financial advice. Our guide reveals a simple formula to work out your “magic pension number” – the amount of savings you need to aim for – quickly and how to get there. For subscribers only ➤ Here is another article that I hope you’ll find helpful this morning:
- Take advantage of the rain and use our expert’s guide to help your garden recover after scorching summer weather.
- Yesterday, our Frontbencher newsletter brought readers an exclusive interview with Tim Montgomerie, who has decided to leave Reform UK. You can read that newsletter here.
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James Warrington Media and Telecoms Editor |
Readers may recall the halcyon days when families would gather around the TV of an evening. From Doctor Who to Dallas, telly had a way of bringing us together.
Those days are long gone, however. Britons now consume media on their own almost half the time, according to new figures published today, suggesting family TV time has been replaced by solo viewing. This increased isolation is even more pronounced among 16- to 34-year-olds, who now spend a whopping 2 hours 45 minutes every day glued to their own screen.
It’s a symptom of the explosion of streaming, which has revolutionised TV and handed viewers a wealth of choice. The rise of the smartphone and video-sharing apps such as YouTube and TikTok mean our sources of entertainment have only multiplied further.
Modern media has also become more personalised. As viewers are dragged ever further into their own online bubbles, we’re losing our shared experiences. Is that a price worth paying?
Read the full story ➤
Do you still watch television as a family? Or do you believe that the ritual will make a comeback? Whatever your thoughts, let us know.
Share your views here ➤ |
School of lifeEvery weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
Prince George has arrived at Eton. A fine education awaits at the nation’s most mythologised school, alma mater of Robert Walpole, George Orwell, Boris Johnson and Captain Hook. Yet according to old boy Guy Walters, that education has been missing something important. “It is time the school admitted girls,” he argued, recalling that “when I left, I knew almost nothing about how to deal with women”.
Well, I went to a co-ed state school, and it certainly didn’t prevent me – or most of my friends – from being awkward, bashful, clueless and clumsy around members of the opposite sex. A case could be made that this is the affliction simply known as “being a teenager”.
Some readers were sceptical, too. “Changing something that works simply to ‘move with the times’ is vain and tokenistic,” wrote Des Morgan. “Walters’s complaint that the school didn’t teach him about women does not prove his argument.
“He appears not to be a fan of ‘longevity’, or those who seek to [preserve] their memories in privileged aspic. For centuries, however, Eton has turned out well-educated, rounded individuals (with a few scoundrels to boot). Long may this continue.”
Adam Anstice added: “I went to Millfield, one of this country’s first co-educational public schools. I left knowing very little about girls, and with a social terror of them. Admittedly, there were boys and girls there who thrived in each other’s company, but many others did not.
“The opposite sex can be a major distraction to teenagers in all sorts of ways. My wife and I sent our son and daughter to single-sex public schools, and neither of them appears to have suffered academically or socially as a result.”
For Stuart Harrington, however, “single-sex schools cannot, by definition, fully prepare young people for the society they will enter after they leave. In almost every workplace, university, community and social setting, men and women learn, work and solve problems together. Indeed, outside a handful of legitimate exceptions, enforced segregation by sex is considered unlawful.
“The ability to communicate, collaborate and build respectful relationships with the opposite sex is a fundamental life skill. Co-educational schools provide daily opportunities to develop this naturally, alongside academic learning.” Do you agree? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1000 | King Olaf is defeated at the Battle of Svolder, one of the greatest naval battles of the Viking Age, and leaps to his death overboard
1776 | The United Colonies is renamed the United States of America
1993 | Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization agree to recognise each other (you can see how we covered this below)
2015 | Queen Elizabeth II becomes Britain’s longest-reigning monarch after 63 years and seven months on the throne
Birthdays: Luka Modrić (40), Michael Bublé (50), Hugh Grant (65)
Plus, in the news today, archaeologists have unveiled what they believe is the biggest wall mosaic ever found in the ancient Roman world. Where was it discovered?
1. Pompeii
2. Bath
3. Rome
4. London
Click one of the options to reveal the answer... |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was ALIGHTING. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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