An academic who is a critic of the price of renewable power is to lead an independent review into the cost of energy amid concerns about rising bills (Caroline Wheeler writes). Oxford professor Dieter Helm has been chosen by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to carry out the inquiry which he said will “sort out the facts from the myths about the cost of energy”.
The Tories had pledged a review into the industry in their manifesto, promising it would be the first step towards “competitive and affordable energy costs”. The choice of Helm will be controversial to some because of his criticism of wind and solar power. On his website he has said wind farms and solar technology were “expensive” and highlighted the “sheer cost” of electricity generated from renewable sources.
Meghan and Harry in Africa
Prince Harry and girlfriend Meghan Markle arrived in Botswana yesterday on a trip to celebrate the actress’s 36th birthday. Speculation was high that Harry would propose — Prince William got engaged in Kenya in 2010.
Children ‘binge’ on social media
Parents should stop children consuming social media “like junk food” during the holidays, according to the children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield. She said children’s time online should be regulated in the same way as their diets are. “None of us as parents would want our children to eat junk food all the time. For the same reasons, we shouldn’t want out children to do the same with their online time,” she told The Observer.
Separately, the chief inspector of schools, Amanda Spielman, warned children are being wrapped in cotton wool as a result of health and safety policies, and are failing to develop the necessary “resilience” and “grit” needed to cope with everyday risks.
Advertisement
Ex-aide: I was not ‘PM’s brain’
Nick Timothy, one of Theresa May’s former chiefs of staff, has blamed sexism for “absurd and insulting” claims that he had been the prime minister’s ”brain”. Timothy, 37, said he had shaved off his beard to look younger.
Trust’s u-turn on gay badges
The National Trust has scrapped a controversial rule that forced volunteers at a stately home in Norfolk to wear a gay pride badge. The charity said it was committed to its campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of homosexuality being decriminalised, but said that wearing the badges was now optional.
Shooting death in Chelmsford
A man has died after a shooting outside a filling station. The 34-year-old was shot in the chest as he stood next to another man, 25, outside the BP garage on Baddow Road, Chelmsford, yesterday morning. A blue Ford Fiesta drove away from the scene. Essex police said they believed the victim knew his killer.
Gay marriage in Ulster ‘inevitable’
Ireland’s first openly gay leader, Leo Varadkar, declared yesterday it was “only a matter of time” before same-sex marriage was introduced in Northern Ireland — the only part of the British Isles where it is still illegal. The Republic voted to allow same-sex marriage in 2015.
Quake rocks the Highlands
The Scottish Highlands have been hit by their biggest earthquake in three decades. The tremor, of 3.8 magnitude, struck in the Moidart area just before 3.45pm on Friday and also affected west Scotland, said the British Geological Survey. The biggest quake, in 1880, registered 5.2.
Advertisement
‘Lure of Isis’ in new TV drama
Peter Kosminsky, the writer and director of The State, a new TV drama series about British recruits to Isis, has dismissed the notion that “every single person who went there is psychotic or insane”. He aims to show why some Britons give up life in a democracy. It is on Channel 4 from August 20.
Bride seeks return of ring
A newlywed is asking for the return of her engagement ring after it was stolen from her maid of honour’s car. Lusea Warner Gale designed the white gold and diamond ring to mesh with her wedding ring, but it was taken as she married James Gale in the 14th-century church in Symondsbury, Dorset, on Wednesday.