Josh Halliday

England

North of England Editor at The Guardian

Acting North of England editor, @guardian. @LUFC fan from Bradford, @sunderlanduni alumni. DMs open.

Articles

Britons increasingly swapping Med’s busy hotspots for ‘destination dupes’

4 days ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday |Olivia Lee |Mary Novakovich

It will take more than a TikTok trend to break Britons’ love affair with Mediterranean beaches. But latest figures show travellers are increasingly swapping Málaga for North Macedonia and Benidorm for the Balkans as part of a social media craze for “destination dupes”. Flights from the UK to Bosnia and Herzegovina soared by 284% in 2024 compared with the previous year, while trips to Montenegro increased by 164%.
Dissidents in UK warn of growing Iran danger amid alleged Israel embassy plot

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday

Iranian dissidents in the UK have warned that Tehran is growing “more aggressive and dangerous” overseas as it emerged that the Israeli embassy in London was the target of a major alleged terror plot. Four Iranian men are being questioned by police on suspicion of planning to target what police have only described publicly as a “specific premises”. However, multiple sources said Israel’s embassy in Kensington, west London, was the building in question.
Man charged with murder after stabbing at Lloyds branch in Derby

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday

A man has been charged with the murder of a “humble, quiet and kind” bank customer in Derby city centre. Haybe Nur Cabdiraxmaan, 47, has been charged with murdering Gurvinder Johal, 37, who died after a stabbing inside a Lloyds bank branch in St Peter’s Street shortly after 2.30pm on Tuesday. Cabdiraxmaan, from Mickleover, in Derby, was due to appear at Southern Derbyshire magistrates court on Thursday.
Mother of autistic boy left with £10,000 debt after breaching DWP rules by £1.92 a week

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday

It was three weeks after Christmas when the bombshell letter arrived. Guy Shahar and his wife, Oksana, looked at each other in stunned disbelief. They had followed the Guardian’s investigation into the carer’s allowance scandal that has left thousands of families with crippling debts and criminal records. Not once did they think they would join them. “Important,” it read in big bold type. “You have been paid more carer’s allowance than you are entitled to. You now need to pay this money back”.
English local elections: Farage says ‘it’s the beginning of the end of the Conservative party’ after sweeping Reform wins - as it happened

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Amy Sedghi |Andrew Sparrow |Kate Lamb |Severin Carrell |Josh Halliday |Robyn Vinter | +1 more

Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureStarmer is still talking about defence, and Ukraine. Still no mention of Runcorn …Keir Starmer speaking at a defence firm in Bedfordshire this morning. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty ImagesKeir Starmer is in Luton this morning, where he is now speaking to a group of apprentices. His comments are being broadcast live, but so far he has not said anything about the Runcorn defeat, or any of the other results.
‘They really are all horrible’: displeasure in Runcorn despite Reform’s jubilation

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday |Ben Quinn |Mark Brown

The boss, as aides call him, was on his way. It was 2.30am and Nigel Farage had arrived at a Cheshire leisure centre, ready to declare victory in the closely-fought Runcorn and Helsby byelection. But as camera crews gathered, Reform UK officials who were ready to welcome their leader frantically scrambled back to the ballot boxes. The result, it seemed, was too close to call.
Reform wins Runcorn and Helsby byelection in blow to Labour

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has dramatically won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection by just six votes in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership. The hard-right party narrowly overturned Labour’s 14,700-vote majority in the first full-scale electoral test of Starmer’s government. The result, which came on a night when Reform UK was expected to gain hundreds of council seats across England, is one of the smallest margins of victory in recent UK political history.
‘Despicable’ former scout leader jailed for 46 years for sexual abuse

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday

A “despicable” 81-year-old former scout leader has been jailed for 46 years for sexually abusing scores of young boys before going on the run for nearly three decades. Richard Burrows, an ex-school housemaster, was convicted earlier this year of 97 offences against 24 children between 1968 and 1995. Burrows spent nearly 27 years at large after fleeing to Thailand shortly before he was due to appear in court in 1997.
Labour fights to hold on to Runcorn in byelection despite Reform surge

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday

Labour’s candidate in Thursday’s Runcorn and Helsby byelection has insisted the contest is “definitely still in play” as Reform UK became odds-on favourite to win. Two polls have suggested Nigel Farage’s party is on track to overturn Labour’s 14,700 majority in the first electoral test of Keir Starmer’s premiership. It would mark one of the biggest swings in voter opinion in recent UK political history and would be a significant blow to Starmer in one of Labour’s safest seats.
‘Labour have done nothing but lie’: grievances fuel Runcorn byelection battle

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Josh Halliday |Olivia Lee

It’s lunchtime on St George’s Day and the Royal pub in Runcorn is a festival of flags, fags and Farage. “I’m sorry,” says Mike Kneale, a painter, as he explains which party he will back in this week’s crucial byelection: “But it’s Nigel Farage.”The Reform UK leader’s Cheshire cat grin leaps out from billboards and doormats all over this constituency, where his party is odds-on to win its fifth MP and deliver a blow to Keir Starmer.