Britain's Got Talent: 8.2 million watch Colin Thackery win BGT

Pic-The 89-year-old will donate some of his £250,000 to the Royal Hospital Chelsea/wp

Entertainment reporter(wp/bbc):::

Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery has become the oldest winner of Britain's Got Talent.

As well as winning a slot performing in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance, he will also bank a cheque for £250,000.

The 89-year-old singer said he would make a donation to the south London retirement and nursing home for former members of the British Army.

He admitted he had taken part in the programme "for a dare".

"One of the guys, as I was coming off the stage in our club dared me having sung after the curry lunch," explained Thackery, who is from Thorpe St Andrew in Norwich, on Britain's Got More Talent.

"He said, 'When are going to do it?' I said, 'What?' and he said 'Go on Britain's Got Talent'. I said ''Don't be silly'."After performing Love Changes Everything for the finale on Sunday night, Thackeray said he would "die happy" if he had the chance to sing for the Queen.

"I served my Queen for 25 years and to think I could sing for her would be the end," he told hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

According to overnight figures, an average 8.2 million people tuned in live to Sunday night's final, a 40% share of the audience.

That figure rises to 8.5 million when those watching on ITV+1 are included.

In 2018, an average of 8.7 million viewers tuned in live to watch Lost Voice Guy win the competition, the highest figures since 2015 when dancing dog act Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse were crowned.

When the show launched in 2007, more than 11 million watched opera singer Paul Potts crowned its first winner while an audience of 16.4 million saw Diversity dance their way to success in 2009, with 18.29 million tuning in for results show.

Masked Magician X was the runner-up and shocked the judges and audience by revealing he was actually former contestant Marc Spelmann, who appeared in the 2018 series but failed to make it to the final.

Spellman's big reveal was preceded by a video montage of his previous performances during which Ant is seen saying: "Imagine at the end he takes it off and it's someone we know?"

Close to tears, he told the audience: "It was always about hope. I'm never giving up. It's been an honour sharing X with you. I'm X," he said.Viewing figures peaked at over 10 million when the magician unmasked himself.

The final also included performances from former contestants, dance troupe Diversity and Susan Boyle - who sang a duet with Michael Ball.

"It feels very surreal, she said.Boyle also confirmed she is set to take part in a new special Britain's Got Talent: The Champions later in the year.

UK manufacturing sags as Brexit stockpile frenzy evaporates - PMI

Business reporter(wp/reuters):::
The Brexit stockpiling boom of early 2019 gave way in May to the steepest downturn in British manufacturing in almost three years as new orders dried up, boding poorly for economic growth in the second quarter, a survey showed on Monday.

The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.4 from 53.1 in April, its lowest level since July 2016 and worse than all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists that had pointed to a fall to 52.0.

Export orders dropped at the fastest pace since October 2014, the survey showed, reflecting global trade tensions and European businesses diverting supply chains away from Britain because of Brexit uncertainty, the PMI showed.

A separate survey from the ‘Make UK’ manufacturing organisation published on earlier Monday also suggested EU customers are turning their backs on Britain.

Britain’s economy picked up in early 2019, helped by the biggest rise in factory output in 20 years as companies raced to stockpile goods to avoid disruption to supply chains in the run-up to the original March 29 Brexit deadline.

But with Britain’s departure from the European Union postponed until Oct. 31, the boost from stockpiling has evaporated — putting manufacturing on course for a renewed downturn, data company IHS Markit said.

“New order inflows declined from both domestic and overseas markets, as already high stock levels at manufacturers and their clients led to difficulties in sustaining output levels and getting agreement on new contracts,” IHS Markit economist Rob Dobson said.

British factories cut jobs for a second month running in May and ran down backlogs of work at the fastest rate in six years, a poor omen for manufacturing output, the survey showed.

“The current manufacturing downturn may have further to run and will have negative ramifications for growth in the broader economy in the months ahead,” Dobson said.

Still, manufacturers struck a more optimistic tone for the longer term as expectations for future output struck an eight-month high, based on hope that worries around Brexit and global trade will eventually subside.

London Bridge terror attack: Services to mark two-year anniversary

Pic-Clockwise from top left: Chrissy Archibald, Sebastien Belanger, Kirsty Boden, Ignacio Echeverria, Sara Zelenak, Xavier Thomas, Alexandre Pigeard, James McMullan/wp/bbc


Special report(wp/bbc):::

Memorial services will be held at Southwark Cathedral to mark the second anniversary of the London Bridge terror attack.

Eight people were killed and 48 seriously injured after three men drove into pedestrians then stabbed people in Borough Market on 3 June 2017.

A memorial evensong will begin at 17:30 BST while a special prayer service will finish at the time the attack ended.

An inquest into the eight deaths has been adjourned until Tuesday.

Xavier Thomas, 45, Christine Archibald, 30, Sara Zelenak, 21, Sebastien Belanger, 36, James McMullan, 32, Kirsty Boden, 28, Alexandre Pigeard, 26, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39, were all killed in the attack.

Candles will be lit for those who died during evensong and the service will culminate with a procession to a newly planted "tree of healing".

The tree has been planted in the churchyard using compost created from floral tributes laid on London Bridge in the aftermath of the attack.

The later prayer service will begin at 21:58, the time attack the began, and will conclude with a moment of silence at 22:16.

Borough Market is open as usual but the market trustees said traders would be "quietly marking the second anniversary" with flags flying at half-mast.

The mayor of London said the anniversary would be "no less difficult" for those affected.

"Our thoughts are with the victims' families and all those who were injured," Sadiq Khan said.

Emergency services including the Met Police have also paid tribute to those who died, as well as recalling "the bravery of the officers and the public who confronted danger".

UK house price growth cools unexpectedly in May - Nationwide

Business reporter(wp/reuters):::

British house price growth cooled unexpectedly in May to its slowest rate in three months, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Friday, countering other signs the housing market may be past the worst of its pre-Brexit slowdown.

House prices increased 0.6% in May compared with a year ago after rising by 0.9% in April. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a 1.2% rise in May.

House prices in May fell 0.2% from April, when they grew 0.3% on the month Nationwide said.

The figures looked at odds with other tenative signs that activity in housing market is gradually picking after slowing sharply through 2018.

While house prices have been rising across the country as a whole, prices in London have fallen according to various indicators, hit by unaffordable prices for many buyers, tax changes and Brexit uncertainty.

“Nationwide’s data confirm that house prices remain on an essentially flat trend, primarily because Brexit uncertainty has instilled some caution among buyers,” economist Samuel Tombs from Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

“The trend likely won’t improve in the next couple of months, given the political deadlock in Westminster.”

Mortgage lending data for April from the Bank of England, which had improved in recent months, is due at 0830 GMT.

Conservtive Party faces historically worst election result in Brexit crisis - poll

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::
Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party would suffer its worst general election result if a vote were held now, according to an opinion poll, as voters frustrated with the deadlock over Brexit rejected the main political parties.

The Conservatives, one of the most successful parties in the western world, would slump to third place in a nationwide vote with 19 percent, its lowest place since the party was founded almost 200 years ago, the YouGov poll for The Times newspaper showed.

The Labour Party, which is led by socialist Jeremy Corbyn and has been pushing for a softer version of Brexit, would also finish third with 19 percent of the vote, its worst performance since 1918, according to the poll.

The main beneficiaries of the swing against the two main parties would be the political parties that took unequivocal positions for or against Brexit. Voters appear to be abandoning the Conservatives and Labour, which in their own ways have been trying to offer some sort of compromise on Brexit.

The Lib Dems, which has campaigned on a straightforward demand for a new referendum, aiming to reverse Brexit, would emerge as the largest political party with 24 percent of the vote, the poll showed.

The next largest party would be Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which has only existed for a few months and supports a clean break with the European Union, with 22 percent of the vote.

The results underscore the growing polarisation of British politics, pointing to yet more uncertainty after the country was thrust into its biggest political crisis since World War Two, when voters opted in a referendum to leave the EU in 2016.

The United Kingdom was supposed to have left on March 29 but it remains a member of the EU and its politicians are still arguing over how, when or even whether the country will leave the club it joined in 1973.

May was forced to resign as prime minister last week after three years of trying but failing to pull Britain out of the EU, setting off a contest among lawmakers to replace her.

The Conservatives have ruled alone or in coalition for 63 years in the last century. The party, founded in 1834, has never finished outside the top two parties in a nationwide vote.

NO-DEAL BREXIT?

Leading candidates to become Britain’s next prime minister have said Britain should be ready to leave the EU with no withdrawal deal at all - a move opposed by a majority in parliament and one that the Bank of England has said could be akin to the 1970s oil shock.

One of the candidates, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said it would be “political suicide” to pursue a no-deal Brexit, a reprimand to front-runner Boris Johnson who said last week that Britain should leave with or without a deal by the end of October.

The Confederation of British Industry, Britain’s main lobby group for business, wrote an open letter to the leadership candidates on Thursday evening, warning them they will forfeit the right to be regarded as the leader of the party of business if they fail to secure a Brexit deal.Labour has since edged closer to a position that could make it possible to call off Brexit, but has stopped short of calling for a new referendum in all circumstances and has said a general election is its preferred outcome.

Britain’s next national election is not due until 2022 although one could be called earlier in certain circumstances such as if a motion of no confidence in the government is passed by a simple majority.

Bank of England's Ramsden sees weak growth in mid-2019

Banking&Finance reporter(wp/reuters):::

Britain’s economy is likely to see slow growth through the middle of this year before picking up towards the end of 2019, Bank of England (BoE) Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said in an interview published on Saturday.

“Given where the labour market is, given that real incomes are beginning to see some pick-up, growth might be weak in the middle of this year and then start to pick up,” Ramsden told Scotland’s Press and Journal newspaper during a trip to Inverness.In a speech to local businesses on Thursday, Ramsden said he expected growth to be a bit weaker than the BoE had forecast at the start of May due to slower investment and subdued economic productivity.

“Businesses might be more cautious to start investing again at the kind of pace that we are forecasting, because we see investment picking up to 5% or so next year. It’s currently falling on a year earlier,” he told the newspaper.

The BoE forecast in early May that the economy would grow by 1.5% this year and 1.6% in 2020 if Brexit goes smoothly.

Quarterly growth was a robust 0.5% in the first three months of 2019, but the BoE predicts this will drop to 0.2% during the current quarter as the temporary boost from pre-Brexit stockpiling fades.

A speech delivered by The Duke of Sussex at the opening game of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, fans here and around the world, welcome to the Oval for the opening game of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.

The first ever cricket World Cup took place in England in 1975 and I'm delighted that the UK will once again play host to this wonderful global sporting event featuring ten incredible teams who, thanks to the UK’s cultural diversity, will feel as though they are competing in front of a home crowd every time they take to the field.

Cities across England and Wales will come alive over the next six weeks as World Cup fever sweeps the nation once more and I am sure that the players will show their appreciation with some fantastic performances and great sportsmanship.

Good luck to all of the teams and thank you to everyone who has played a part in making this tournament happen.

Here’s to a brilliant six weeks of sport. Trust me, you won’t want to miss any of it.

I am now honoured to declare the ICC Mens Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales – OPEN!

ROYAL PRESS