In a year dominated by the B word and Trump (again) you’d be forgiven for thinking that nothing good actually happened, but it really hasn’t all been doom and gloom (honest). The entertainment world has served up plenty of feel-good moments over the last twelve months that have, momentarily at least, restored our faith in the human race. So as we bid farewell to a challenging twelve months on planet earth, let’s remind ourselves of the brilliant stuff that gave us all the feels in 2018.

1. The one where David Schwimmer responded to reports that his lookalike had been caught on camera nicking beer

There’s nothing funny about shoplifting because, you know, it’s against the law. But there was much merriment to be had in David Schwimmer’s response to an appeal for information about someone who looks very much like him making off with a crate of beer from a store in Blackpool.

The appeal - and the ‘Friends’ star’s video response - went viral, much to the amusement of us, less so for the culprit who was eventually arrested by police.

2. Rio Ferdinand’s son’s reaction to his dad’s proposal was just ❤️

Rio’s 12-year-old son Lorenz had him, his wife-to-be, and the rest of us in tears with his emotional response to his dad’s engagement to his girlfriend, former ‘TOWIE’ star Kate Wright.

Lorenz’s mother, and Rio’s first wife, Rebecca Ellison, died in 2015 at the age of 34 after battling breast cancer, and Kate is now a full-time step-mum to Lorenz and his two siblings. Beautiful.

3. Ant dressed as Kylie manages to upstage the actual, real Kylie 

We just can’t get this out of our head.

4. John Travolta became 50 Cent’s back-up dancer and we’ll never get over it

Not a year seems to go by without John Travolta gifting us a sensationally surreal showbiz moment, and 2018 was no exception. Previously, there was that Christmas album with his ‘Grease’ co-star Olivia Newton John, there were all of those terrible movies (‘Battlefield Earth’ anyone? Thought not), and yes, there was the legendary faux pas that was “the wickedly talented Adele Dazeem”.

The stakes were high, but boy, did John deliver in 2018 when he got his groove on up on stage with 50 Cent at a party in Cannes.

Ah, ah, ah, ah, givin’ us life, givin’ us life.

5. Danny and Dani Dyer were the king and queen of ‘Celebrity Gogglebox’

We demand they get their own show in 2019. But only on the condition that Danny keeps his trotters out of shot.

6. Pink stops her gig to comfort a grieving fan

There was a truly heartwarming moment during one of Pink’s gigs in Australia this year when she stopped her concert to console a grieving teen, who had lost her mother.

Leah Murphy, 14, held up a sign explaining what had happened, which caught the eye of the singer who then brought her show to a halt to chat with the teenager and share a hug. Gorgeous.

7. Chris Hemsworth Picks Up Hitchhiker In Australia. Takes Him To Destination In Helicopter

What a guy.

8. Victoria Beckham danced to ‘Spice Up Your Life’ and gave us hope that she would be part of those reunion plans

OK, so we now know VB won’t be on stage with the rest of the Spice gang next year, but this clip is still a glorious reminder that the former Posh Spice is a whole lot more fun than her perma-pout would suggest.

9. Harry Hill did what all of us wanted to do to Piers Morgan

Give that man a knighthood.

10. Kylie and Jason reunite

Misty-eyed didn’t even come close when the ‘Neighbours’ stars (and former lovers) reunited on stage at Hyde Park this summer to perform ‘Especially For You’. Now they’re back togeeeether, foreeeeever…

11. Before there was Holly, there was Julia Morris

Prior to Holly Willoughby bagging herself the job as Ant McPartlin’s replacement on ‘I’m A Celebrity’, our money was on Aussie comic Julia Morris stepping in.

Sure, she’s an unknown in the UK, but there’s a reason why she’s such a hit as one of the hosts on the Aussie version of the jungle-based show. Prepare your sides, people.

12. Ariana does Celine better than Celine

It’s been quite a year for Ariana Grande, but she still managed to find time to escort James Corden to work and treat us to her quite incredible Celine Dion impression (singing and talking like the Canadian songstress we might add).

Is there no end to her talents?

13. Mary Berry the rock star

No one ever notices the drummer in a band. Except in Rick Astley’s band. At Camp Bestival. Yes, that really is Mary Berry getting handy with the sticks.

14. Tom Cruise loves to skydive. James Corden, less so

That’ll teach him to agree to something in the spur of the moment.

15. Adele is still a very, very big fan of Beyoncé

Bey’s Coachella set went down rather well in the Adkins household.

16. Harry Styles’ fans show their pride 🌈

Midway through Harry Styles’ first date at London’s O2 arena, the audience transformed itself into a giant pride flag, providing a moving moment that any artist would be proud to have organised.

However, it wasn’t the former One Direction star, or even a member of his creative team who were behind the move, which was carefully choreographed by his fans themselves. Bravo.

17. ‘Contrapposto’ enters our vocab, thanks to Queer Eye’s Antoni

Well, it did once we’d got over the accompanying photo.

18. Cardi B shows how to deal with the haters during her iHeartRadio acceptance speech

Guess who’s having the last laugh?

19. And the award for sisterhood solidarity goes to... 

The TV cameras might have stopped rolling, but the moment when Best Actress nominees Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Meryl Streep and Sally Hawkins all came together for a group hug at this year’s Oscars was a beautiful moment of post-‘Me Too’ solidarity.

20. Daniel Kaluuya fanboying over Oprah is just...

“She smells amazing, I swear. Oprah is premium. You’ve got inhale deeply. Really deeply.” Now we want a sniff.

21. Neil Diamond’s fans restore our faith in humanity

When the legendary singer cancelled his tour after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, many of his fans donated the refunded ticket cost to research into the disease. His wife and manager spoke for all of us when she said: “My heart is so full of joy to see this silver lining.”

22. Adele really embraced her role as minister at Alan Carr’s wedding

And organiser. And host. And wedding singer. #FriendshipGoals

23. Terry from Bake Off’s beautiful open letter to fans thanking them for helping him cope with his wife’s death 

Terry Hartill might have left the ‘Bake Off’ tent in Spice Week, but that didn’t stop him from capturing the nation’s hearts.

The amateur baker, who lost his wife to cancer last year, penned a letter to thank fans for their kindness and support, revealing that it helped him cope with his grief. Heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. We love you Terry.

24. *That* speech by Viola Davis at the Women’s March in LA

Viola for President? Yes please.

While it has truly been a year of ‘WTF?’ moments on the news agenda, the people of the entertainment world have been giving Theresa May and co a run for their money in 2018. 

Don’t believe us? Well, this lot certainly proved that was the case... 

1. India Willoughby’s Dalek confession 

‘Celebrity Big Brother’ may now be consigned to the TV bustbin, but it was still serving up nuggets of bizarre TV gold up until the end. Eleven months on, and we’re still getting over housemate India Willoughby’s confession that ‘Doctor Who’ villains the Daleks apparently do it for her. 

2. Cheryl’s hand-licking

Cheryl left ‘X Factor’ viewers with some very confused feelings during her big comeback performance, when she seductively licked the tattoo on the side of her hand like a cat. We hope she used some anti-bac first. 

3. ‘This Morning’ meets a sexy cow

‘This Morning’ almost had too many ‘WTF?’ moments to count in 2018, but they don’t get much more typically ’This Morning’ than when Holly and Phil met Britain’s sexiest cow. 

4. Charlie Sloth does a Kanye

Clearly having learned nothing from Kanye West’s 2009 VMAs drama, Radio 1 DJ Charlie Sloth decided it would be a good idea to storm the stage after losing out on a podcast award to Edith Bowman earlier this year, telling her to “fuck her life”. He subsequently left his Radio 1 show before the end of his contract and issued a full apology to Edith.  

5. Dani Dyer blowdries her eyelashes 

We’ve seen many odd beauty regimes in our time, but the sight of Dani Dyer using a blowdryer and cotton bud on her eyelashes had ‘Love Island’ viewers perplexed. Her explanation? She had false extensions on them and apparently washing them with baby shampoo and blowdrying them keeps them fluffy. Who knew?

6. Courtney Act’s wardrobe malfunction 

‘Drag Race’ alum Courtney Act was always going to make a bit of an entrance into the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house, but even she probably didn’t anticipate suffering the mother of all wardrobe malfunctions. 

7. Gemma Collins’ Now magazine interview  

Long before their whole sorry Stacey Solomon saga, Now magazine had a moment of sheer brilliance after a less than charming encounter with Gemma Collins. After The GC berated one of their journalists for daring to stray off the topic of her book during an interview, they printed the whole uncomfortable exchange in all its excruciating glory. 

8. Jessie J and Channing Tatum are an actual couple

Not content with winning a Chinese talent show, Jessie J shocked her homeland fans again in 2018 when she began dating actual Channing Tatum. A few months on and the unlikely pair’s relationship appears to be going from strength to strength.  

9. Cheryl reveals her ‘safeword’ live at the Brits

Another entry from the artist formerly known as Cheryl Cole on this year’s list. This one came as she and Liam Payne tried a little too hard to convince everyone else that their relationship was fine amid split rumours. Chezza might have said “don’t stop”, but we wanted her to do exactly that. 

10. Brenda Blethyn’s dog gets a little too close for comfort

2018 had barely just got started when Brenda Blethyn’s randy dog showed them both up during an appearance on ‘This Morning’. 

11. Lily Allen’s explanation for her feud with Cheryl

Lily gave a rather unexpected explanation for why her infamous feud with Cheryl all started, claiming in her autobiography it was because she hadn’t yet achieved orgasm. “Sorry Cheryl, I was angry because I hadn’t come yet,” she wrote. “I was jealous. I was frustrated,” she said. “I was struggling with my own issues around sexuality. I’d never even had an orgasm.” 

12. Clarence House gets dragged into Brendan Cole’s ‘Strictly’ exit

The Royal Family became an unlikely fall guy for Brendan’s axing from ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, when a tabloid newspaper reported that the pro’s decision to breach protocol and dance with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at a tea dance led to bosses’ decision to drop him. To make matters even more surreal, Clarence House later issued a statement on the matter, saying: “The Duchess thoroughly enjoyed her dance with Brendan just as much as she did her dance with Craig.”

13. Mary Berry reveals drugs arrest 

The former ‘Bake Off’ judge made a shocking revelation during an appearance on ‘The Graham Norton Show’, admitting she was once arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs through a US airport. Yes, that’s right, sweet, wholesome Mary was mistaken for a drugs mule. The mix up happened after security mistook the bags of sugar and flour she was carrying in her luggage for class A drugs.

14. Nick Knowles’ press ups 

Far be it from us to ever gym-shame anyone, but there was something distinctly worm-like about Nick’s jungle workouts.  

15. Iain Lee goes attacked by an owl

The latest entry into the ‘When Animals Attack Celebs’ hall of fame came courtesy of Iain, who wound up in A&E after a meeting with an owl turned vicious. On his radio show, Iain revealed he had lost a pint of blood in the attack, had had to have scratched on his head glued back together. But this wasn’t the random event to happen to Iain this year...

16. Iain Lee falls down a well

The presenter also fell down a well earlier in the year, leaving him in a neckbrace. We’ll let him explain this one: “There was a well, I’m stood at this well and I’ve got a 20 pence piece, I thought I will make a little wish.” Revealing the coin got stuck, he continued: “You know what I did? I’m such an idiot. I’m so embarrassed. What I did first of all was try to reach it leaning in head first. So there’s the rope with the bucket, I’m testing and pulling it and I think it’s going to take my weight and I go in feet first and.... I fell into the well. The water went up to just below my knee.”

17. Prue Leith doesn’t actually like baking

She may be the face of the biggest baking show on telly, but it turns out Victoria sponges and the like don’t actually float Prue Leith’s boat. The ‘Great British Bake Off’ judge told The Mirror she is “more interested in savoury cooking than baking”, and quite frankly we don’t know what to believe any more. 

18. Sinitta’s ‘X Factor’ press conference outfit 

Having spent weeks slagging off the new judging panel for ‘The X Factor’, Sinitta decided for a typically low-key entrance at the series press launch. 

19. Kim Cattrall and SJP go head-to-head

Kim Cattrall dashed any hope of a ‘Sex And The City’ reunion when she went to all-out war with former co-star Sarah Jessica Parker. The Samantha Jones actor branded SJP “cruel” and accused her of “exploiting” her brother’s death, as she posted a public tirade on Instagram. “Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend,” she wrote. Yep, think we got that one. 

20. Sharon Osbourne blasts ‘X Factor’, just weeks before her return

Now, don’t know about you, but the last thing we’d do before returning to work would be to slag off our job and our boss on national radio, but that’s exactly what now-former ‘X Factor’ judge Sharon Osbourne did. Somewhat unsurprisingly, she didn’t end up taking her planned seat on the panel during this year’s live shows.  

21. Kanye West’s pro-Trump rant in the Oval Office

Kanye West did many, many things that made headlines this year, but we’re still getting over him standing at the heart of the US Government in the White House and launching a tirade against liberals while President Donald Trump sat and nodded along. Peak 2018. 

22. Roxanne Pallett’s punch lies 

Undoubtedly one of the most shocking celebrity stories of the year saw ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ star Roxanne lie about being punched by fellow housemate Ryan Thomas. While we at home knew Ryan had not really hit her, the rest of the housemates believed her, and we were all dumbfounded with how she spun the playfight into something much more sinister. 

23. Nick Hewer mourns his ‘lovely barn owl’

We don’t think we’ve ever seen a more bizarre thing on Twitter. 

The best paid new jobs are being given to men as women are overlooked, new figures have indicated.

A report by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) found almost 400,000 jobs held by women in the public sector, banking and retail have been lost since 2011.

The charity warned of a “double-whammy” that has severely impacted female workers, who have lost out on the best paid jobs in the “new economy” and faced the worst of austerity measures in the public sector.

Benedict Dellot, head of the RSA Future Work Centre, believes the “cliché of tech bros” was “entirely warranted”.

He said: “The advent of autonomous vehicles, personal voice assistants and picking and packing machines in warehouses shows that the age of automation is well and truly upon us.

“Contrary to what many people believe, this has not led to widespread job losses.”

With unemployment at its lowest level in 45 years and many good quality jobs being created in the technology sector, Dellot added that “forces of creative destruction can be brutal for those on the losing side.”

The research has found that just one in 20 new coders and programmers are women and the RSA head felt this is one example of the mounting evidence that reflects women being left behind in the new economy.

“We knew that the tech industry was highly gendered but the scale of the problem is shocking” he said.

The RSA’s Field Guide to the Future of Work found programmers and software developers as well as HR managers and directors were among the top 20 fastest growing occupations, while retail cashiers and checkout operators were among the fastest shrinking.

Female workers have further lost out because of the fall in private-sector roles such as retail cashiers, personal assistants and hairdressers, according to the analysis.

In spite of the bleak situation, Dellot said there is still time to prevent the crisis worsening as many jobs are yet to be affected in this early stage of automation.

The RSA executive said we must now look to government, employers and educators to ensure that everyone can have “shares in the spoils of new technology”. 

Suggested solutions include establishing Personal Training Accounts to power lifelong learning and career changes, experimenting with Job Security Councils - to give workers more say about which technology is utilised within the workplace and shifting away from “excessive monitoring and surveillance in the workplace”. 

The government’s immigration minister is to visit Dover on Saturday after Home Secretary Sajid Javid declared the rising number of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel a “major incident”.

Caroline Nokes will be joined by the Kent port’s MP Charlie Elphicke, who has called for more patrol boats in the Channel to tackle trafficking gangs.

But there were calls for the Royal Navy to be sent in, with one MP warning that the crisis could otherwise escalate into a “catastrophe”.

It came as Javid cancelled a family holiday to return to work handling the government’s response.

Javid earlier asked for an urgent call with his French counterpart to address the problem following a Christmas period which has seen a spate of attempts by migrants to cross to the UK by boat.

After two boats carrying 12 men from Syria and Iran were intercepted while they attempted to make the crossing on Friday, Javid also appointed a “gold commander” to oversee the situation and give daily updates.

He has also held a conference call with officials in the Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and the National Crime Agency (NCA) – where he was briefed on the latest intelligence and action being taken.

Javid has also asked the Border Force to provide information on whether more vessels will act as a deterrent or encourage more people to make the crossing.

Independent MP and Commons Home Affairs Committee member John Woodcock said he should go further, telling The Sun: “The public is losing confidence in the struggling Border Force. It’s time to stop the rot by sending in the Royal Navy.

“If the civilian force can’t cope, the Navy must stop this crisis becoming a catastrophe.”

And another committee member, Tory Tim Loughton told the paper: “There is a serious security implication, as this is a likely route undesirables who have been fighting in Syria will use if they want to return to the UK.

“Of course there is now a case for the Royal Navy to be brought in to do border protection in the Channel.”

On Friday, Border Force officials brought the 12 men to shore at Dover and handed them over to immigration officials to be interviewed.

An inflatable boat, carrying one Syrian and three Iranians, was reported to the Coastguard at around 3am. And at around 9am a second boat, which was carrying eight Iranians, was also spotted.

On Christmas Day, more than 40 migrants tried to cross the sea and enter the UK.

Boxing Day saw three more migrants intercepted in a small boat, and on Thursday an inflatable boat carrying nine people was rescued by a lifeboat crew three miles off the coast of Sandgate in Kent.

Nokes and Elphicke are to discuss the situation with Border Force officers in Dover.

Elphicke said: “For too long the Home Office has not been taking this seriously enough and the crisis has continued to escalate to unprecedented levels.

“So it’s welcome that the Home Secretary has rightly declared the situation a ‘major incident’, taken personal control and appointed a gold commander.

“Now we need a clear strategy to defeat the traffickers. Let’s start by bringing back our cutters to the English Channel.”

Elphicke called on the French authorities to “match the Home Secretary’s determination” by stepping up action on their side of the English Channel to stop trafficking networks and prevent people attempting dangerous crossings.

Human rights group Amnesty UK’s refugee and migrant rights programme director Steve Valdez-Symonds said: “It’s extremely worrying that women, men and children have been compelled to undertake such very dangerous sea crossings in an attempt to find a place of safety and security.

“The Home Secretary needs to understand that we’re in this situation because of the persistent refusal of our Government and others to share responsibility in providing asylum and safe passage to people fleeing desperate situations.

“This has left people with no other option than to take extreme risks to find safety – often at the hands of ruthless or careless smuggling gangs.

UPDATE:  AJ Pritchard’s Brother Curtis Forced To Pull Out Of Irish ‘Strictly’ After Nightclub Attack

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ professional AJ Pritchard and his brother Curtis have been beaten up in an “unprovoked” nightclub attack. 

AJ and his younger sibling, who is a dancer on the Irish version of ‘Strictly’, had been enjoying a night out at Nakatcha in Cheshire when they were allegedly attacked by a group of eight men. 

AJ, 24, has been left with cuts and bruises to several parts of his body after the attack, while Curtis, 22, has to undergo an emergency operation to his knee over the next few days.

A spokesperson for the brothers told The Sun: “AJ and Curtis were assaulted in an unprovoked attack. Curtis is to undergo an emergency operation to correct damage to his knee. AJ received bruising to his face, arms, body and legs.”

A statement from police revealed that two more people had also been injured in the attack. 

“The four victims were taken to hospital for treatment. All have since been discharged,” they said. 

“Officers arrested a 20-year-old man from Crewe on suspicion of assault. He has been released under investigation pending further inquiries.”

The brothers, who had been at home in Cheshire for Christmas, have received a wave of support on social media, including from many of AJ’s ‘Strictly’ co-stars.

AJ has just finished work on the most recent series of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, where he was partnered with Paralympian Lauren Steadman.

He became the youngest pro to join the BBC show when he first appeared in 2016, aged just 21. 

Curtis has appeared on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ in Ireland since 2017, and has partnered model Thalia Heffernan and businesswoman Norah Casey.

Two drones found by police near Gatwick Airport have been ruled out of involvement in the incident which disrupted hundreds of flights before Christmas, Sussex chief constable Giles York has said.

York told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that police have searched 26 potential launch sites for drones near the airport but do not believe they have found the drone believed to have been flown near runways on December 19 and 20.

“I don’t think we have found the drone responsible for this at this time,” said the Chief Constable.

“I think the fact that we have found two drones so far as a result of this does show the extent of the search that has been carried out. I am led to believe that we are able to rules those drones out of this investigation at this time.”

York said he was “absolutely certain that there was a drone flying throughout the period that the airport was closed”.

Police received 115 reports of sightings in the area, including 92 which have been confirmed as coming from “credible people”, he said.

He told Today: “Of course, we will have launched our own Sussex Police drones at the time with a view to investigate, with a view to engage, with a view to survey the area looking for the drone, so there could be some level of confusion there.”

York also said he was “really sorry” for Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk, who said they felt “violated” after being questioned for 36 hours in custody before being ruled out of involvement in the disruption of Gatwick.

However, he said he was “convinced that the grounds for arrest – the lawful suspicion – in the first instance was well founded”.

The Chief Constable said: “I am really sorry for what he went through, but the reason why we held him was so that we could dispel everything in the first instance. What might have been worse as an experience for him would have been to be released under investigation still.

“We are able to exhaust all our lines of inquiry on that first instance and, however hard it is, able to release him from police custody saying he is no longer a suspect in this line of inquiry.

“That’s why we took the time – in order to allow him the best opportunity to put his life back on the rails.”

York confirmed that military technology was now in place at Gatwick, though he declined to identify the nature of the equipment. He said that systems currently in place today are “dramatically different to what was in place a week ago.”

Asked whether he could rule out a repeat of last week’s disruption, York said he doesn’t think anything can be ruled out of happening again.

“But what we can say is what is at the heart of this is ensuring it is safe for the aircraft to take off and that’s the different position that Gatwick Airport finds itself in today,” he added.

From homework asking students to list the benefits of slavery, to black students being suspended from school for wearing dreadlocks, 2018 saw a slew of headlines exposing apparent racial bias across schools in the UK.

These startling reports, combined with statistics suggesting racial disparity from the media to the boardroom, leave campaigners convinced that individual incidents are symptomatic of deeply ingrained inequalities across the establishment.

In other words, diversity and inclusion have a long way to go, especially in our education system.

New research suggests that teachers in London are biased against white working class and black Caribbean boys, resulting in education think tank LKMco calling for urgent steps to be taken to tackle the impact of social inequality on the two groups’ academic achievements. 

The ‘Boys on Track’ study found that unconscious prejudices affect the way they are disciplined at school, how their work is assessed, and the academic ability set that they are put in.

The bias was echoed in a GCSE sociology book, officially approved by the AQA exam board, which came under fire for ‘offensive’ statements about Caribbean families including the claims that Caribbean men are “largely absent” and working class students lack the appropriate attitudes to succeed academically.

On 8 October, a day after HuffPost UK revealed this, the exam board announced the discontinuation of sales pending further investigation into the matter.

The description in the book, published in AQA GCSE (9-1) Sociology by Rosie Owens and Ian Woodfield, reinforced negative stereotypes. Campaigners expressed anger and disappointment at the text, referring to it as “divisive” and “racist” without being supported by statistics and demonstrable research. 

The text also contained offensive statements about African and Chinese families, as well as the working class, we found.

In November, a secondary school that asked pupils to list the “pros and cons” of slavery for homework was slammed by parents who described it as “racist, inappropriate and offensive”.

The exercise was given to Year 11 GCSE pupils, aged between 15 and 16, by a history teacher at the Hazeley Academy in Milton Keynes, and was derived from an AQA teacher’s guide on “Britain: migration, empires and people” study topic.

In the module, students are asked to examine the reasons why the British Empire pursued the transatlantic slave trade instead of piracy, with the stated aim to show how “plantations proved to be more profitable than piracy”.

In a homework assignment for the course seen by HuffPost UK, a teacher at Hazeley Academy asked students to list the “pros” and “cons” of slavery in a table. 

Sabrina Aries, the mother of a student who complained that the exercise was inappropriate, said she swiftly raised the issue with the headteacher, both via email and in person. 

After her complaint on 10 September, she received a response apologising “for any upset caused by the homework.”

But speaking to HuffPost, the 38-year-old said students are yet to be addressed about the homework, or why the exercise was problematic. This has since been her main concern about the incident.

“The response from the school was that they’re sorry, there hadn’t been an intention to offend anybody and the teachers were going to have a conversation with the students in class about why the wording was incorrect and why it needed to be addressed,” she said.  

This isn’t the first time the AQA course has come under scrutiny. In an article for The Independent published in 2017, history teacher Hasnet Lais criticised the “whitewashing of the UK curriculum”, referring to the same batch of AQA resources and the “Work for the Migration” module.

In 2015 poll of 450 BAME teachers, 62% stated they did not believe that schools treated BAME pupils fairly.

‘Barriers report: The impact of racism on BME teachers’, conducted by Runnymede Trust and commissioned by the National Education Union, also found that incidents of racism in some schools were being dealt with as ‘behavioural’ issues.

One teacher said “incidents with students are recorded, but staff have no idea of situations or how to deal with race.”

In November 2018, a 15-year-old student at St Michael’s Catholic College in Southwark was allegedly suspended for putting up a poster questioning the importance of Remembrance Day, in comparison to of the school’s perceived lack of regard for Black History month, on the school premises.

“37 million people died during WW1, but 60 million people died during slavery. Why should I care about Remembrance, when they can’t show any respect for us during Black history month?,” it read.

The student’s mother Cherie Johnson, speaking to Simon Woolley of political organisation Operation Black Vote, claimed that staff labelled her daughter a racist and threatened to expel her permanently if the family went to the media with what transpired. The matter has not been reported by any UK media before now. 

“What do I do?,” the mother lamented.

Expressing concern that the suspension would have a detrimental impact upon upcoming GCSE mock preparation, Johnson disputed the school’s claim that the material was racist.

“My child is at a critical age, exams around the corner, and now this,” she said. “The school called me up and said that my daughter was sending racist material around the school but this is not racist. It’s just a reflection of what some young people feel. It’s challenging but how is this racist?”

Three accusations were levelled at the student, according to OBV: vandalising school property, distributing material with inappropriate and offensive language and behaviour contrary to the ethos of the college.

Since then, it is understood by HuffPost UK that the student has been reinstated after allegedly being taught in a Pupil Referral Unit for two weeks. 

The college has not responded to multiple attempts to obtain comment between 15 November and 19 December.

Its local authority, Southwark council, declined to provide a statement as they “do not see any merit in addressing the matter”. 

In the Runnymede School Report Race, Education and Inequality in Contemporary Britain (2015), Uvanney Maylor of the University of Bedfordshire described the “negative/racist positioning of African-Caribbean students in the classroom”.

“Teacher education, preoccupied with enabling student teachers to acquire professional competence and achieve qualified teacher status (QTS), negates the education of Black students per se and does not acknowledge Black students as an ethnically diverse group with differential attainment with high and low attainment evident amongst Black African and African-Caribbean students.

“Also absent from the education of student teachers is an acute awareness of the diverse range of ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds of pupils (including Black students) in English schools,” she wrote.

According to the Race Disparity Audit (2017), Black Caribbean pupils were around three times as likely to be permanently excluded than White British pupils (0.29% compared with 0.10%) and around twice as likely to receive a fixed period exclusion (10.1% compared with 5.2%) than White British pupils.

In September 2017, 12-year-old Chikayzea Flanders, now 13, was excluded from secondary school for wearing dreadlocks - a hairstyle common among people of African-Caribbean descent and an observance of the Rastafarian faith.

The family, who are of Caribbean descent, were advised to cut the dreadlocks off, as it “violated the school’s appearance policy”.

The boy’s mother, Tuesday Flanders took Fulham Boys School to court after her son was told he would be suspended unless complied.

This September, she won a legal battle against the school and its decision was overturned - though her son had long settled in a new school by then.

“I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment, it was a hard fight but it’s good that we got the outcome we wanted,” Flanders told HuffPost UK.

“This wasn’t about winning or taking the school to court.

“It was about my son and other young boys or girls, who have been or will be persecuted because of their hair or the colour of their skin.”

Two British academics, Dr Remi Joseph-Salisbury and Dr Laura Connolly,  recently argued that schools that ban dreadlocks and braiding hairstyles are using slave-era techniques to “maintain white supremacy”.

The research paper claims that attempts to police black hair have colonial origins whereby “slave masters shaved enslaved people’s hair and jealous white women cut the hair of black enslaved women”.

The Fulham Boys case echoes the 2011 high court battle in which Gregory’s Catholic Science College in north-London was ruled against, after refusing entry to an 11-year-old black boy - known as ‘G’ - on his first day of school for wearing cornrows.

The secondary school argued that the hairstyle did not comply with the strict uniform policy, also suggesting that the braids would encourage “gang culture”.

Campaigners felt as though the above instances were examples of racism and bias within UK schools.

Vini Lander of Edge Hill University has argued that there is a resurgence of racism in schools and it may well be linked to teachers’ lack of education and understanding about race and ethnicity.

“The erasure of race from the initial teacher training standards and the diminution of university-based teacher education in tandem with a colourblind stance has served to compound teachers’ ignorance about racism, how it operates and how policy and practice serve to embed the dominant discourse leaving BME pupils the victims of racism in their everyday school lives,” he has written.

In December, a Surrey-based academy allegedly threatened to internally exclude one of its pupils for wearing a hairstyle called ‘bantu knots’, otherwise known as ‘chiney bumps’.

Again, this hairstyle is a traditional African hairstyle that can be traced back to the 1800s. It’s a popular choice for black women across different cultures. 

The student’s older brother made a Facebook post, now deleted, outlining the school’s actions. Accompanied by a photograph of his sister’s hairstyle, he wrote: “Now as you can see from the pictures below she is clearly wearing her hair in natural ‘African’ form and yet this is unacceptable according to her school.

“Again reinforcing the stereotype that anything near African or black is below the standards of acceptability.”

The school’s uniform stipulated that hair must be “smart”, “sensible” with “extreme” styles being disallowed.

Within hours, he said the headteacher swiftly apologised to the student and her mother during a meeting.  

Speaking to HuffPost UK, the student’s brother said “my mother managed to have a meeting today with the headmistress and an apology was made and threat of isolation removed.

“Although I am not completely happy with the apology, as it seemed it was more for damage control and public perception, I will however not take this forward if the promises are kept. I think for now it would be best to (...) to allow my sister to continue as she is.”

Multiple efforts to contact the academy involved between have not been answered.

These cases fuel ongoing concern held by many about the policing of black hair, both in the education system and beyond. Through the implication that black hairstyles are ‘undisciplined’ or illegitimate, school policies feed into a broader narrative that black people themselves lack discipline and ought to be subjected to baseless scrutiny.

A Runnymede Trust report from 2015 entitled ‘Race, Education and Inequality in Contemporary Britain’ found that five out of every six students, white and BAME, have heard racist comments or seen racist behaviour in school.

In October, video footage of a Syrian refugee being attacked went viral. The 15-year-old boy was pushed to the ground before having water poured on his face.

His sister had also endured bullying at the school, according to the family’s lawyer.

HuffPost UK later learned that the scared teen had approached his MP a few weeks ago in person, begging for protection from the bullying.

The incident happened at the Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield on October 25, and was reported to police the following day.

Just days after this incident, a Guardian analysis revealed that a record number of children are being excluded for racist bullying this year.

This prompted calls for an urgent government intervention to tackle bigotry and prejudice in schools across Britain.

Last year, 4,590 cases of racial abuse among school students were deemed serious enough to warrant fixed or permanent exclusion, up from 4,085 in the previous year.

But this is not a new phenomenon. In 2014, The Independent reported that 1400 children contacted the charity Childline to seek counselling for racist bullying. This was reported as a 69% increase on the previous year. 

The children and young people phoned in about racism in their school and reported that teachers were making the situation worse or ignoring their complaints. Black and ethnic minority teachers currently account for around 10% of teaching staff in the UK.

AJ Pritchard’s brother Curtis has been forced to pull out of the Irish version of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, after the pair were beaten up in an “unprovoked” nightclub attack. 

Bosses for ‘Dancing With The Stars’ have confirmed professional dancer Curtis will not be able to participate in the upcoming series, after sustaining a leg injury in the attack. 

He is currently awaiting surgery after a group of eight men allegedly targeted him and AJ during a night out in Cheshire, and will not recover in time for the series launch next month. 

An RTE spokesperson told The Mirror: “Dancing with the Stars pro dancer Curtis Pritchard was involved in an incident on 26 December 2018. As a result of the injuries sustained, he will not have recovered in time for the launch of the new series, which will air 6 January 2019.

“Dancing with the Stars wish Curtis a speedy recovery.”

They added: “A replacement for Curtis on the show is currently being arranged by ShinAwiL and we look forward to welcoming Curtis back when he recovers.”

Curtis, 22, has appeared on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ in Ireland since 2017, and has partnered model Thalia Heffernan and businesswoman Norah Casey.

He will undergo his knee operation over the coming days.

A spokesperson for the brothers, who had been at home for Christmas, also confirmed AJ received bruising to his face, arms, body and legs in the attack.

A statement from police revealed that two more people had also been injured in the attack. 

“The four victims were taken to hospital for treatment. All have since been discharged,” they said. 

Over the 12 days of Christmas, HuffPost UK will host a series of blogs from individuals at the centre of some of 2018′s biggest news stories. Today, charity worker and Hastings foodbank volunteer Natalie Williams writes on how Universal Credit has blighted thousands she works with, and what they need in 2019. To find out more, follow our hashtag #HuffPost12Days

When Universal Credit arrived in Hastings two years ago, 11 days before Christmas 2016, we anticipated that foodbank referrals would go up. What we didn’t expect was that they would spiral to the point where we would find ourselves often giving out more than a tonne of food per two-hour session.

We didn’t expect that we would see an 106% increase in foodbank use during these two years of Universal Credit, compared to the two years before it came to Hastings.

We didn’t expect to give out over 170,000 meals in these last two years.

We didn’t expect to see such a huge increase in people in work needing the foodbank. It’s shocked us to see care workers, builders, teaching assistants and nurses referred to us.

We didn’t expect so many people falling behind on their rent, getting into debt, or genuinely choosing between feeding their children or themselves.

We didn’t expect to see so much brokenness in people’s eyes, so much stress and anxiety, such an increase in mental health problems.

We didn’t expect for it to become normal to us to be giving food to people who tell us we are their last hope and, in a small number of cases, all that’s standing between them and suicide.

The toll this takes on volunteers, let alone those we help, is huge. It’s not unusual for volunteers to be reduced to tears at the end of a session. It has become common for us to hear people say, “I never expected that I’d end up needing the foodbank.” Some of the desperation we see and the stories we hear stay with us long after we’ve closed our doors for the day.

What worries us most as we go into 2019 is that we still have thousands of people in Hastings yet to come onto Universal Credit – almost 14,000 in total, about half of whom are currently on Employment Support Allowance, which is given to people who are have an illness or disability that affects their ability to work.

So far only those who are new benefits claimants or who have had a change in their circumstances in the last two years have gone onto UC. Many of the most vulnerable are yet to come onto the new benefits system. That’s not just the case in Hastings, but across the country.

That is why we’re pleased to hear our MP Amber Rudd, the recently appointed work and pensions secretary, say she wants to make UC work for each individual, rather than meet the timetable she inherited for its rollout.

The national charity I work for, Jubilee+, has been campaigning and lobbying politicians for over a year now for a pause in the rollout of UC. I met with Amber Rudd in mid-December for a candid, constructive conversation about the impact of Universal Credit not just locally, but nationally. Not just on the most vulnerable, but on those in work who can no longer make ends meet as the cost of living rises and wages stagnate.

On behalf of Jubilee+ I asked her to consider a number of changes that would improve Universal Credit, such as ensuring the Government measures not just UC’s effectiveness at getting people into work, but also whether it causes a significant number of claimants to experience greater hardship.

We would like her to go further than this and adopt a new measure of poverty in general, such as the one put forward recently by the Social Metrics Commission, which has been formulated by charities and think-tanks across the political spectrum and therefore has a good chance of achieving cross-party support.

This would mean politicians could stop arguing about how we measure poverty and start thinking seriously about how to tackle it. If the Government wants to demonstrate that it cares about people who are struggling, it simply must measure whether more people are becoming poor.

The aim of UC is to get people into work – based on the belief that work is the best route out of poverty. But so far, according to the Centre for Social Justice, Universal Credit has only seen a 7% increase in getting people into work within six months compared to the previous benefits system. What’s more, that includes people who have only picked up a shift here and there within that six months.

Insisting that claimants should take zero-hour contracts to avoid being sanctioned may push up the numbers in terms of people ‘finding work’ within six months of being on UC, but it won’t alleviate poverty. Employment figures continue to rise, which is good, but the number of working people in poverty is rising even faster, which is shocking.

If UC gets people into work but leaves them in poverty, that surely cannot be defined as success.

We would like to see significant reforms of Universal Credit in 2019. The work and pensions secretary has admitted it requires more than just “tinkering”. What we need now is a pause while the flaws in the system are fixed, and quickly.

This won’t help the thousands of people already on Universal Credit, but it might mean that the most vulnerable yet to come onto it are spared the misery that we’ve seen at foodbanks and other church-based projects across the country over the last couple of years.

Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in cold blood. CNN’s Maria Ressa has had her licence revoked for questioning the Rodrigo Duterte’s statements about the war on drugs. Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are in prison for investigating murders by the Myanmar army. Staff at the Capital Gazette worked through the night in a car park after a gunman attacked their offices, killing five of their colleagues.

Time’s choices for People of the Year 2018 are a stark reminder that journalists, and freedom of expression as a whole, are under attack as never before.

This is reality, not just opinion. A metric developed by ARTICLE 19, which uses 32 indicators to measure and track freedom of expression, provides empirical evidence of the decline in freedom of expression over the last decade.  There has been a noticeably sharp fall in the three years up to 2017, and leading this decline has been a narrowing of media freedom, which has reduced at a greater rate than related aspects of free speech assessed by the metric. 2018 has been an especially challenging year.

One of the factors driving this decline is a rise in ‘strongman’ politics – the coming to power of autocratic leaders whose aggressive tactics include imprisoning journalists and activists, condemning political opposition as anti-state, and attempting to control what their citizens can see, hear and read on the Internet. The current wave of “strongmen” includes Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Brazil’s president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro.

These leaders often evoke both the language of patriotism and anti-terror laws, appealing to nationalists while positioning their opponents as enemies of the state by undermining any criticism as treasonous.  

Unsurprisingly their first target is the media. In Turkey, the Erdogan regime has set out to destroy the independent media, with the closure of over 150 media outlets. Erdogan cites counterterrorism to position his critics as the enemies of state; hundreds of journalists, academics and activists have been charged with vague anti-terror offences since the attempted coup in 2016.

Similarly, in Hungary the pro-government media has accused journalists critical of the Orban government of being the mouthpiece of George Soros. Orban has called Soros a “national security risk” and “a public enemy”, and the passing of a controversial law to restrict the work of NGOs has been seen as a direct attack on Soros. Orban’s comments are part of the strongman playbook; explicitly anti-semitic, openly discriminating against minority ethnic groups, women and LGBT people.

In recent years we have seen leaders around the world display open contempt for the media, normalising and thereby encouraging the violence that many journalists face.  This includes US President Donald Trump, who has relentlessly attacked the media, descending into hitherto unheard rhetoric by an incumbent President calling the media “the enemy of the people”. These verbals attacks have worsened an already hostile environment for journalists in the US. Despite its strong constitutional protection, media freedom in the US is declining and this has global implications.

Trump’s announcement that the US would not be seeking sanctions against Saudi Arabia following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, delivered a clear message to the world: A journalist’s life is worth nothing when pitched against power and business; states can act with impunity as long as they have something to offer the US.

Trump’s other contribution to the strongman playbook is making accusations of ‘fake news’ the go-to excuse for any political leader who finds themselves the subject of media criticism. This is not a new tactic – authoritarian leaders have used laws and other means  for centuries to silence criticism by declaring it false But thanks to Trump, the phrase has been globally adopted and legitimised. It has been used by Nicolas Maduro to dismiss criticism of changes to Venezuela’s constitution; by the Chinese state agency, Xinhua, to deny reports of torture; and by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to refute a report on torture by Amnesty International.  Most recently, Brazil’s President-in-waiting, Bolsanaro, has threatened to withdraw government advertising from Folha de São Paulo after the newspaper ran stories about the spread of misinformation via WhatsApp by his financial backers.

While many of us are concerned about the proliferation of unverified or inaccurate content on the web, ‘fake news’ is being weaponized by some governments who want to control what the media is allowed to report.  In the current political climate we can expect to see more laws that claim to tackle ‘fake news’, yet many of them will undoubtedly be used to chill free speech and debate.

Freedom of expression is a right from which other human rights flow, and its decline is a wake-up call: I argue that defending this right is a challenge to us all.  Despite the threat of violence and arrests, we still see people challenging power through protest - whether women’s marches in the Americas calling for an end to sexual violence, political protests in Kenya or vigils in Myanmar demanding human rights reforms. Yet to defend freedom of expression against the threat of the strongman in politics, we need robust independent judiciaries that can consistently defend the rights of citizens against the erosion of public freedoms which underpin  healthy and diverse civil societies. We have seen encouraging signs in Kenya where the judiciary are checking executive power, but in 2019 we need to hear more from global leaders who stand for an invigorated international community.  It is they who will provide a much needed antidote to isolationism and self interest, embracing diversity and the courage of citizens who are willing to speak truth to power.  

The strongman may be on the rise, but this particular fight is being met by those who value the freedom to speak and the freedom to know across the world.

Thomas Hughes is Executive Director of international freedom of expression organisation ARTICLE 19

AJ Pritchard’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ co-stars have shown their support after he and his brother were the victims of an “unprovoked” nightclub attack. 

Many of the professional dancers said they were “disgusted” after AJ and his younger sibling Curtis were allegedly targeted by a group of eight men during a night out in Cheshire. 

The likes of Giovanni Pernice, Aljaz Skorjanec, Neil and Katya Jones and Dianne Buswell took to Twitter to send their well wishes to AJ and Curtis, who sustained a number of injuries in the attack. 

A spokesperson for the brothers, who had been at home for Christmas, confirmed AJ received bruising to his face, arms, body and legs in the attack.

Curtis is also awaiting an operation to his knee, after it was damaged by the pair’s attackers. 

His injuries have meant he has had to pull out of the upcoming series of Ireland’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’, where he has appeared as a professional dancer since 2017. 

An RTE spokesperson told The Mirror: “Dancing with the Stars pro dancer Curtis Pritchard was involved in an incident on 26 December 2018. As a result of the injuries sustained, he will not have recovered in time for the launch of the new series, which will air 6 January 2019.

“Dancing with the Stars wish Curtis a speedy recovery.”

They added: “A replacement for Curtis on the show is currently being arranged by ShinAwiL and we look forward to welcoming Curtis back when he recovers.”

A statement from police revealed that two more people had also been injured in the attack, while a 20-year-old man from Crewe had been arrested on suspicion of assault.

“He has been released under investigation pending further inquiries,” they said. 

Phillip Schofield is doubting the chances of infamous quitter Gemma Collins making the first ‘Dancing On Ice’ live show. 

The ‘TOWIE’ star is one of the 12 celebrities taking to the ice for the new series of the ITV skating show, but Phillip is concerned she will withdraw from the competition before it begins on 6 January. 

Speaking to The Sun, the ‘Dancing On Ice’ presenter said: “I’ve said it to Gemma, ‘If you make the first show it’ll be a miracle’, and she does seem very committed.

“We all know Gemma for being a bit of a quitter so I’m hoping she’ll be there for that first show.”

He continued: “I think the nation is intrigued to see Gemma.

“I think she is surprisingly good - so I think that would be great to see.”

Gemma famously quit ‘I’m a Celebrity’ after just three days in 2014, and has previously admitted she is worried about injuring herself on ‘DOI’.

She said: “Knowing me I’m going to break my leg, my arms and my back all in one week, but let’s hope I do it in style.”

However, last week, she insisted she was determined to be taken seriously on the show, and prove to people she is more than the “fat joke”. 

She said: “Everyone thinks I’m the fat joke on the show but whatever’s going to happen in my life, I can do this.

“I can do it. And I’m going to prove every fucker out there wrong. People will be eating their words. That’s how I feel.”

Among the other competitors on the new series of ‘Dancing On Ice’ are former ‘Strictly’ pro James Jordan, ‘Love Island’ finalist Wes Nelson and ‘Coronation Street’ star Jane Danson.

‘Dancing On Ice’ begins on Sunday 6 January on ITV. 

A house on the most expensive street in Britain will set you back a cool £15.6 million on average, new figures reveal.

Ilchester Place which is situated next to Holland Park in London’s Kensington and Chelsea, has been crowned the most expensive residential street in a study by Lloyds Bank.

The research found every region in England and Wales has at least one “million pound street” – where the average home is valued at £1 million-plus.

There are 75 million pound streets in England, but Llys Helyg Drive in Llandudno is the only street in Wales to have an average house price above a million.

Of the top 20 most expensive streets, 10 are in London - and seven are in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Andrew Mason, mortgage director at Lloyds Bank, said the prime London boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea continue to top the tables.

He said: “Seven addresses in these two areas alone come with an average price tag of more than £11 million and three cost more than £13 million.

“Although half of the 20 most expensive streets are in London, regions across England and Wales now all have at least one million pound street.”

The most expensive streets in Yorkshire and the Humber are mainly clustered around the “golden triangle” between Harrogate, Wetherby and north Leeds.

Fulwith Mill Lane in the HG2 postcode of Harrogate has the most expensive homes in Yorkshire and the Humber, priced at £1.6 million on average.

In the north-west, the majority of expensive streets are located in Alderley Edge, Altrincham, Macclesfield and Knutsford.

Congleton Road in the SK9 postcode of Alderley Edge is the most expensive street with homes selling, on average, for £2.3 million.

In the north-east, Runnymede Road in the NE20 postcode of Newcastle-upon-Tyne has the highest average house price at £1 million.

Cour D’Honneur in the LE15 postcode in Burley, Oakham is the most expensive street in the East Midlands with an average price of £1.5 million.

In the West Midlands, Rising Lane in the B94 postcode of Solihull, with an average house price of £1.9 million was found to be the most expensive address.

In East Anglia, Cambridge dominates the most expensive streets. Storeys Way is the most expensive street in the area with an average house price of £2.2 million.

In the south-west, Panorama Road in the BH13 postcode of Sandbanks, Poole, has the highest price tags at £2.6 million on average.

The extreme house prices are in stark contrast to what some people can afford, 2018 has been a terrible year for homelessness, with an estimated 170,000 with no fixed address now living in the UK.

Ministers have spent more than £100 million on ferries to ease potential problems in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Documents outlining the £107.7 million agreements say increased border checks in UK ports after Brexit could “cause delivery of critical goods to be delayed” in the event of no deal.

The spending, authorised by officials without a proper tender process, was described as “complete madness” by the Liberal Democrats.

The party said it showed public money was being spent recklessly in a last-minute bid to prepare for a no-deal outcome.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has signed contracts with French firm Brittany Ferries, Danish company DFDS and the UK’s Seaborne to ease pressure on Dover.

The additional crossings are understood to be the equivalent of around 10% of the current traffic on the Dover Strait and will see ports in Poole, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Immingham and Felixstowe used.

[READ MORE: The government’s ever-expanding Brexit ‘to do list’ shows the chaos ahead]

Contracts were not put out to tender, with the DfT saying it was a “situation of extreme urgency” brought about by “unforeseeable events”.

DFDS was awarded a contract worth £47.3 million, while Seaborne Freight was given a £13.8 million deal.

The contract with Brittany Ferries is worth £46.6 million, with the company adding 19 return sailings to three routes between the UK and France.

More sailings will travel between Roscoff and Plymouth, Cherbourg and Poole, and Le Havre and Portsmouth, representing a 50% increase on its current schedule.

Christophe Mathieu, Brittany Ferries chief executive, said: “Our priority is to prepare for a no-deal Brexit and to create additional capacity.

“By increasing the number of rotations on routes like Le Havre - Portsmouth we will be able to meet the Department for Transport’s Brexit requirement.

“We will also work hard to minimise impact on existing Brittany Ferries freight customers and passengers, although there may be some changes to some sailing times, for which we apologise in advance.”

A spokesperson for the DfT said: “This significant extra capacity is a small but important element of the Department for Transport’s no-deal Brexit planning.

“While remaining committed to working to ensure a deal is reached successfully, the department is helping ensure the rest of government are fully prepared for a range of scenarios, including a particular focus on a potential no-deal and to mitigate the impact of any Brexit outcome on all transport modes.”

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: “It is complete madness to see the government recklessly handing over £100 million on preparing British ports for a no-deal scenario.

“The government has the power to stop no-deal at any time but instead is spending millions on last-minute contracts.”

Eloise Todd, leader of the Best for Britain campaign for a second EU referendum, said: “The truth is no-deal is not inevitable. This government has a real choice to make for our country and it does not have to toy with a cliff-edge Brexit.

“The only way forward for the country right now is to put the decision back to the people and put the public at the heart of the decision over our future. People have been locked out of the Brexit process since the 2016 vote - it’s time to bring them back in and let them decide our future.”

One man has died and 23 people have been taken to hospital after a bus overturned in the Scottish Borders.

The single-vehicle crash happened on the A6089, between Carfraemill and Gordon, at around 10.50am on Saturday.

Police Scotland said the private minibus was carrying 23 adult passengers plus the driver on a journey from Newtongrange to Kelso.

One male passenger died while 22 passengers and the driver are being treated in hospital. The extent of injuries is not known.

Those injured are being treated at Borders General Hospital, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow.

Police said the crash was declared a major incident with the Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, NHS Scotland and Scottish Borders Council involved.

Chief Inspector Steven Duncan said: “We’re providing ongoing support to the family of the man who tragically lost his life, along with those who have been injured and their families.

“Our Road Policing Unit, together with partners, are currently working to establish the full circumstances surrounding this.

“We’d ask anyone who may be concerned that a loved one has been affected, or anyone who could help with our investigation, to get in touch immediately via 101 and quote incident number 1369 of 29th December.”

A teenager died after falling from a bridge into oncoming traffic on a motorway, police said.

The woman, believed to be 18 and from Wakefield, died on the M1 near Ossett on Friday night, according to West Yorkshire Police.

Witnesses are being sought after emergency services were called at 7.15pm.

The victim has not been formally identified.

A force statement said: “Police are appealing for witnesses following the death of a woman in an incident on the M1 near Ossett.

“Emergency services were called at 7.15pm last night [December 28] to reports that a woman had fallen from the roundabout bridge over the M1 at Junction 40 and been hit by a number of vehicles on the southbound carriageway.

“The woman was confirmed deceased at the scene.

“She has yet to be formally identified but is believed to be an 18-year-old woman from the Wakefield area.”

All road closures were lifted on Saturday.

New Year’s Eve partygoers have been warned over “toxic” fake spirits that could lead to blindness.

Cheap and dangerous counterfeit alcohol is being sold by rogue retailers, as well as licensed pubs and clubs, the Local Government Association (LGA) said.

The LGA, which represents 370 councils in England and Wales, said it was issuing a fresh warning after several local authorities seized fake vodka which contained industrial strength levels of alcohol.

The strength of the substances could have led to vomiting, permanent blindness, kidney or liver problems, and in extreme cases, death.

Revellers and shoppers are being advised to look out for the “tell-tale” signs of counterfeit substances, including unfamiliar brand names, spelling mistakes and misshapen labels. 

Cllr Morris Bright, Vice Chairman of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said it was “appalling” that rogue traders were willing to “play roulette with the health and wellbeing of their customers by prioritising quick profits above safety.”

“We want people to enjoy their New Year’s Eve celebrations, but anyone buying alcohol needs to look out for signs it could be fake because it could leave them seriously ill and, in extreme cases, cost them their life,” Bright added.

“People are advised to only buy alcohol from reputable outlets and be wary of any items being sold at suspiciously cheap prices, as they could be counterfeit.

“Councils target businesses selling fake alcohol all year round, but generally step up operations in the run-up to the festive period when rogue sellers often seek to exploit demand.

“Anyone selling illegal alcohol should think twice about stocking these dangerous drinks as we will always seek to prosecute irresponsible traders and encourage the public to report any suspicious business activities.

“Counterfeit alcohol is not only a serious danger to health, it harms legitimate traders and threatens livelihoods, with the counterfeit market funding organised criminal gangs.”

Anyone who thinks they have consumed fake alcohol should seek medical advice. The incident should also be reported to the local environmental health officer, by calling Citizens Advice on 03454 04 05 06, or the Customs Hotline on 0800 59 5000.

Most of the country will be treated to dry weather on New Year’s Eve, according to a Met Office meteorologist.

Simon Partridge, forecaster at the national weather service, said the outlook for Monday is overall, “not too bad”, with the chance of some showers in some parts of the UK.

He told the Press Association: “High pressure is going to be in charge of the UK like it has been for the last week.

“It will be a little bit windy in the far north, but mostly dry.”

Some regions may experience a little rain, but temperatures will remain above freezing, Partridge said.

He added: “There may be some odd spots of drizzle on the western coasts, but the places most likely to be wet for the midnight moment are Northern Ireland and western Scotland.

“There may be a little bit of light rain in the North West.

“Temperatures will generally be around three to five degrees in the east of the UK, and further west, five to seven degrees.”

Large crowds are expected to gather in London and Edinburgh as the cities herald in 2019 with big celebrations.

Partridge said both cities will remain chilly, but dry for the most part, with the small chance of rain in the Scottish capital.

He said: “London will be dry and cloudy, with temperatures expected to be as low as five or six degrees.

“Take a coat if you’re going to be watching the fireworks on the Thames.

“Edinburgh will be mainly dry, but there is a chance of rain; a slim chance, but there is that risk.

“It will be cloudier than London, with a westerly breeze, and temperatures of around five to seven degrees.”

Into the new year, some parts of the UK could start to feel a chill, with what Mr Partridge called “a cooler spell for the east and Northern Ireland”.

Temperatures will be “mainly about where they should be” for the time of year, but cooler compared to recent weeks and the milder weather over the festive season.

Dame June Whitfield has died at the age of 93, her agent has confirmed.

The comic actor passed away peacefully on Friday night.

Dame June rose to prominence through roles in sitcoms ‘Terry and June’ and ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, and had myriad stage and screen credits to her name.

In the 1990s she appeared in American hit ‘Friends’, and more recently had a guest role in ‘EastEnders’.

Television producer, Jon Plowman, who worked on episodes of ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ and the 2016 film version, tweeted to say he was “very sad” to hear that Whitfield had died.

“There was no-one with more warmth or a better ability to just ‘place’ a line, always an act of utter precision. Hit after hit! Take it from Here Terry and June Absolutely Fabulous over seven decade. A great loss,” he said.

Broadcaster Danny Baker hailed Whitfield as “formidable, dependable, inimitable. A rock. A gem.”

Comedian and impressionist Rory Bremner also paid tribute to Dame June on Twitter, saying she was the “go-to comedy actress for three generations”.

“From 60s radio to 70s, 80s, even 90s TV. Always graceful and elegant with a real comic glint in her eye and (absolutely) fabulous timing,” he added.

In a statement, Shane Allen, controller of BBC Comedy, said: “June Whitfield was the North Star of British comedy.

“Her spectacular career is unparalleled in its longevity, with seven decades of being a key element in numerous high profile and successful shows.

“She was the go-to female comedy performer of her generation and was always in demand from the cream of British comedy.

“She led the way for female comedy and we owe her enormous respect. Our thoughts go out to family and friends at this sad time.”

And comedian Miranda Hart tweeted that Dame June Whitfield’s death was: “So very sad.”

She added: “I once sent a letter to many actors as a budding (I mean desperate) comedy actor to ask for sponsorship for the Edinburgh Festival.

“Dame June replied. Fifteen years later when I met her she had all my letters and the notes of the show she sponsored.

“I cried then too.”