Daily Star pays tribute to singer Chris Rea, who passed away aged 74. Rea, known among others for his song Driving Home For Christmas, died after a short illness. The news came just days after she shared a post on Instagram from a car that read, “Going home for Christmas with a thousand memories,” the newspaper reported.
According to the Daily Mirror, King Henry III. Despite his “battle with cancer”, Charles is officially the “hardest working royal”. The newspaper reports that the monarch has achieved 532 decorations this year, hailing him as the “King of Industry”; that’s 330 more than the Prince of Wales.
Police chiefs are planning to crack down on non-criminal hate incidents after labeling them no longer “fit for purpose”, the Daily Telegraph reports. Police leaders have been warned that current legislation threatens freedom of expression and they plan to replace them with a “common sense” approach.
The Financial Times is ahead as London’s West End remains busy with British shoppers buying last-minute Christmas gifts. The report conveys the hope that this festive season will create some “economic magic” after “weak growth, high inflation and political uncertainty” in recent years have affected “consumer habits”.
According to the Guardian, families and supporters of Palestine Action hunger strikers asked Justice Minister David Lammy to meet with them to end the protest. The newspaper states that the protest “reached a dangerous stage” as the health condition of the strikers deteriorated.
i Paper leads a young worker diagnosed with silicosis in calling for a “total ban on quartz engineered stones” to “save other men like me from killer kitchens”. Luke Bunker, 29, lives with an incurable lung disease.
In a bid to save Britain’s vibrant High Streets, post offices will be part of a revamp aimed at “drawing shoppers back into town centres”, according to the Daily Express. The newspaper reported that post offices were chosen to fill the gap after the closure of banks.
A husband and five other men are accused of a string of sexual offenses against his ex-wife over a 13-year period, the Daily Mail reports.
Taxpayers will be kept in the dark about how much public money is spent on paid leave for union officials, the Times reports. The paper says the government has removed Labour’s power to limit “facility time” as part of workers’ rights reforms and will not require the NHS and schools to declare it. Elsewhere, boiling live lobsters and crabs will be banned under new animal rights reforms, with the government saying it is “not an acceptable method of killing”.
In a “new blow” to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince’s gun license has been revoked, the Sun reports. The newspaper says he agreed to give up his license after specialist police visited him at the Royal Lodge.
The Independent is calling on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to support the newspaper’s ambition to “defeat HIV by 2030” and urge him to lead the global fight against AIDS, which it says killed 630,000 people worldwide last year. The top of the photo shows a huge hole opening up in the Shropshire canal after heavy rain, swallowing boats and leaving a large ditch behind.
