Western Morning News
Extra cash to help plug our potholes
DEVON’S roads are set to get a £3 million boost in a bid to help repair significant damage caused by torrid weather over the winter. The unexpected cash will be diverted to the county’s highways instead of its initial purpose of paying down a deficit...
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Watchdog to probe spike in price of heating oil
THE UK’s competition watchdog is probing concerns that households relying on heating oil are facing sudden price increases on the back of conflict in the Middle East. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had kicked off a review after...
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SW support ship gets ready for Iran war role
A WESTCOUNTRY-BASED naval auxiliary vessel is being prepared for potential deployment to the Mediterranean, as the Iran war continues. Falmouth-based amphibious landing vessel RFA Lyme Bay was yesterday being put in a state of ‘heightened readiness’...
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Suppliers warned over rising heating oil costs
THE competition watchdog has warned that it expects consumers who have ordered heating oil to receive it at the agreed price, as the Middle East conflict sends the cost of the fuel soaring. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it “won’t...
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AIRSHOW TO RETURN FOR 10TH YEAR
TORBAY is set to cash in on millions of pounds worth of business as the English Riviera Airshow celebrates its 10th birthday, writes Guy Henderson. The three days of displays and events are estimated to have brought at least £5 million of business to...
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Rural homes face heating oil price hike as war rages
HOUSEHOLDS that rely on heating oil are grappling with immediate rising costs as the Middle East conflict causes prices to soar. Home heating oil is used by around 1.5 million households in the UK, but sudden volatility in global oil trade has caused...
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SWW admits unfit water charge
SOUTH West Water has admitted supplying water unfit for human consumption after a parasitic outbreak in Devon. South West Water Ltd pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 70 (1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 to supplying water unfit for human...
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Million more pensioners face having to pay tax
UP to a million more pensioners are set to pay income tax as a result of frozen tax thresholds, the budget watchdog has predicted. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts, published for Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement yesterday,...
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Killer of gran took his own life ‘to avoid prison’
A COWARDLY killer took his own life because he did not want to spend the rest of it in prison, after telling his ex-wife what he had done, an inquest into his death heard. Adrian Lawrence leapt to his death after being spotted on the wrong side of the...
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Ministers consider curfew on social media
OVERNIGHT curfews on social media are among the measures the Government is considering to keep children safe online, as it hopes to begin a national discussion on the issue. The Government will also look at restricting children’s access to AI chatbots...
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DEVON RADIO SHOW BOLDLY GOES INTO ORBIT
A TORQUAY tattoo artist is etching his name across space after sending a song into orbit. Dave Perry, who was one of the presenters of the hit TV show Gamesmaster in the 1990s, now runs the Revolver Tattoo Rooms in Torquay. He also presents the ‘Dave...
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Shock as famed West brewery set to close
ONE of Cornwall’s best known and biggest breweries is set to close. International company Molson Coors has revealed plans to shut Sharp’s Brewery in Rock and has entered consultation with staff. The Carling brewer said the decision to close the...
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Government ‘determined’ to help farm businesses
NEARLY £350 million in funding for technology and green infrastructure is part of a “determined effort” to give farming the foundations it needs to grow, a minister has said. Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said funding for technology, innovation...
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School forced to close after devastating blaze
ASCHOOL in Devon has been forced to close “for the immediate future” after its building was severely damaged by a major blaze. The fire broke out at The Promise School in Okehampton, at around 3.30pm on Sunday, as reported in yesterday’s WMN. Devon &...
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School is left a charred wreck by massive blaze
AHUGE fire has severely damaged a new school in Devon, with firefighters still tackling the flames as the WMN went to press last night. The blaze erupted at The Promise School in Okehampton, a specialist school for 80 students which opened in June...
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Tragic death toll during cold spells is revealed
MORE than 2,500 deaths were linked to cold weather last winter, experts have said. Most of the deaths related to a six-day cold snap in January 2025, according to a new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report. It comes as many parts of the UK have...
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GIMME SHELTER: DEVON HOME OF ROLLING STONE FOR SALE
THE home of Rolling Stones legend Charlie Watts where he lived for 40 years until his death is being sold by his family – for £2.75 million. Halsdon House is an exceptional Grade II listed country residence with equestrian facilities set in 55 acres...
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COULD THERE BE A RARITY AMONG YOUR SPRING DAFFS?
GARDENERS could help bring a rare pink daffodil back into cultivation, as part of a project to map the spring blooms across the country. The Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘daffodil diaries’ scheme to map daffodils across the UK is back for a second...
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Tourism tax ‘could add £100 to cost of holidays’
GOVERNMENT plans to allow a holiday tax would add an extra £100 or more on to the cost of a fortnight’s holiday in England, hospitality, leisure and hospitality bosses say. A group of some 200 industry bosses coordinated by the UKHospitality trade...
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No funding pledge for storm-hit community
THE prime minister has acknowledged communities have been “badly affected” in the wake of the severe damage wreaked on Torcross and the devastated Slapton Line – but he fell short of pledging any extra cash for repairs. The comments came in response...
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More troops head north to counter Putin threat
THE number of British troops in Norway will double as part of efforts to bolster defences in the High North against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Defence Secretary John Healey will also commit UK forces to Nato’s Arctic Sentry mission, the alliance’s...
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Local green energy projects get £1bn boost
RENEWABLE energy projects that cut bills and generate cash for local libraries, places of worship and community centres are to get a £1 billion boost. The Government and publicly owned Great British Energy are announcing the “local power plan” backed...
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Apprentice scheme to help boost trainees
YOUNG people who narrowly miss out on an apprenticeship are to be matched with similar opportunities under a pilot scheme announced by the Government. The university clearance-style system will be tested this year in a bid to help more young people...
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Trump set to boost revival of tin mine
PRESIDENT Donald Trump could be responsible for spurring the revival of Cornish tin mine, after its owners announced the United States government is lining up a £166 million investment. Cornish Metals, which bought the historic South Crofty mine, at...
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Voice-clone scam targets pensioners
CRIMINALS are using artificial intelligence (AI) to clone people’s voices and set up unauthorised direct debits over the phone experts have warned. National Trading Standards (NTS) said “advanced” voice cloning was part of an organised criminal...
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New heartbreak after latest storm battering
WESTCOUNTRY leaders have issued a desperate plea for financial help from the Government to cushion the latest blows from this winter’s storms. It comes after a 200-metre section of a coastal road in a Westcountry beauty spot washed away, after being...
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Bid to curb ‘forever chemicals’ in water
PROPOSALS to limit the levels of so-called forever chemicals in drinking water have been unveiled in the Government’s firstever plan to confront harmful toxins found widely in the environment. Called “forever chemicals” because they can take centuries...
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Police launch double death probe after bodies found
POLICE have launched an investigation following the deaths of a woman in Torquay and a man 150 miles away. Emergency services were called just before 4pm on Saturday after concerns were raised for a woman at an address in Shirburn Road, Torquay. The...
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Women’s pension payout is denied
WOMEN affected by the way changes to the state pension age were communicated have been told for the second time they will not receive compensation. Labour’s previous policy not to offer redress was reviewed after the rediscovery of a 2007 Department...
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MP’s plea to boost flood defences
ADEVON MP has pushed for greater financial support to tackle flooding, after telling Parliament that his part of the county was “submerged” amid this week’s storms. Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat member for Honiton and Sidmouth, addressed Prime...
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Chandra flood chaos
LARGE swathes of the Westcountry were left under water yesterday as Storm Chandra brought flooding chaos to parts of the region. Some towns and villages in East Devon were temporarily stranded after getting 67mm of rain in 12 hours, with 88mm of...
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AI facial recognition roll-out for West police
DEVON and Cornwall Police will be able to use live facial recognition vans as part of the biggest shake-up in policing in decades. An existing 10 vans in the country will rise to 50, rolled out nationwide, to catch criminals on police watchlists and...
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Storm breaches seafront rail defences
PART of the sea wall at Dawlish was damaged along with a Victorian pier at Teignmouth, after Storm Ingrid battered the Westcountry coast. A section of sea wall protecting the railway line near Dawlish station was reduced to rubble beside the train...
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STORM HELP ‘NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE’
THE leader of Cornwall Council has slammed the way the Government helps unitary authorities such as Cornwall following a major event like Storm Goretti. Liberal Democrat councillor Leigh Frost said the Bellwin system of funding – which reimburses...
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Coroner’s warning after girl, 2, drowns
ACORONER has warned of the dangers of leaving young children unattended near water after a two-year-old girl drowned in a river. Eva-Rose Wainwright was two years and five months old when she died on farmland in Lifton, Devon, on June 16 in...
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Drink-driver who killed gran is jailed
AMAN who killed a grandmother while driving dangerously and under the influence has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Jamie Hawken, 30, attended Truro Crown Court for sentencing, having previously appeared at Bodmin Magistrates Court in...
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SCHOOL EVACUATED IN BOMB ALERT
A SCHOOL in Devon was evacuated after a suspected bomb was found at a nearby building site. Pupils from Millbay Academy, in Plymouth, were moved after a 100 metre cordon was set up by police, after the force was called out to Martin Street at 11.40am...
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Plymouth bidding for UK City of Culture title
PLYMOUTH is to bid for the title of UK City of Culture 2029 with a chance to land £10 million to fund a year of events. Bid leaders say it is a great opportunity to showcase the city and its people with a yearlong celebration of the arts, heritage,...
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Red alert as storm hits West
ARARE ‘red’ warning for dangerous winds was issued for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly last night as Storm Goretti made landfall. The Exeter-based Met Office issued the warning yesterday, saying forecast “violent gusts” of up to 100mph posed a...
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AMBER STORM ALERT FOR THE FAR WEST
THE Met Office has issued a “danger to life” warning as stormy weather is expected to bring strong winds to Cornwall. The weather forecaster said the storm, which has officially been named Storm Goretti by Meteo France, may bring a spell of very...
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New SW warning for Storm Goretti
THE Met Office has issued a “danger to life” warning for a storm expected to bring strong winds to the South West. The storm, which has officially been named Storm Goretti by Meteo France, will batter Devon and Cornwall with strong winds. A weather...
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Gas outage – second homes hold up engineers
EMPTY second homes are causing delays for engineers battling to restore supplies to parts of Devon hit by a gas outage in freezing weather. As thousands of homes in the South Hams continue to struggle without gas, as another cold weather front...
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BULLSEYE! TIVERTON’S FINEST INTO THE DARTS SEMI-FINALS
RYAN Searle booked his place in the Darts World Championship semi finals by again showing his class in a 5-2 victory over number five seed Jonny Clayton. Searle, who had not dropped a set in reaching the last eight, will face the winner of last...
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Cold alert upgraded to amber for South West
AFREEZING start to the new year has seen a cold weather health alert for the South West upgraded from yellow to amber. Chilly conditions are set to persist, meteorologists have warned, with concerns over potential impacts on the health of vulnerable...
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HOUSE OF FRASER STORE TO CLOSE
PLYMOUTH’S huge House of Fraser store is to close in the spring of next year with staff fearing they will lose their jobs. Signs appeared in the city centre store today saying “this store will be closing in March 2026”. Shoppers are advised to shop...
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No10 denies burying farm tax news at Christmas
DOWNING Street denied trying to bury a U-turn by changing inheritance tax policy during the Christmas week, and said the move came after “open dialogue” with the farming sector. The Government will end farmers’ full relief from inheritance tax in...
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Pothole compensation claims nearly double
POTHOLE compensation claims made to councils in Britain have spiked by 90% in three years, according to new analysis. RAC research found 53,015 claims were submitted to 177 local authorities in 2024, compared with 27,731 claims in 2021. The RAC...
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KING INVOKES WARTIME SPIRIT IN MESSAGE
THE King has used his Christmas message to urge the nation to “never lose sight” in a divisive world of the Second World War values of “courage and sacrifice” and community spirit. In the wake of the Bondi Beach shootings and the Manchester synagogue...
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‘Relief’ for farms as tax rates eased after protests
THE Government will raise the inheritance tax relief threshold for farmers from £1 million to £2.5 million in a climbdown following months of protest. The change to the reforms initially unveiled at Labour’s first Budget last year comes after...
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OUTFITS TURNING HEADS AT PARADE
THE midwinter solstice was celebrated with ‘misrule’ as thousands came together in Penzance to ‘turn the world upside down’. The longest night of the year saw fire, beasts and masked revellers filling the streets for the return of the increasingly...
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‘Bewildered’ farm sector needs profitable new deal
THE farming sector is “bewildered and frightened”, with inheritance tax and farming payment changes causing significant ongoing concern, a review for the Government has found. The farm profitability report by former National Farmers’ Union president...
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HARD TO BELIEVE RIGHT NOW, BUT 2025 WAS THE SUNNIEST YEAR ON RECORD
THE weather may be particularly dull and overcast at the moment, but there have been enough clear skies over the past 12 months for 2025 to rank as the UK’s sunniest year on record. The country had clocked up 1,622 hours of sunshine by December 15,...
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The violent Devon past of parade attacker
AN ex-Royal Marine who drove his car through a crowd of people at Liverpool FC’s victory parade trained in Devon and previously appeared at court in Exeter. Paul Doyle, 54, was jailed for 21 years and six months yesterday at Liverpool Crown Court,...
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Christmas getaway set for record high traffic
THIS year’s Christmas getaway on the roads is expected to be the busiest on record, new figures suggest. The AA has forecast that traffic for all journey purposes in the run-up to December 25 will peak on Friday, when about 24.4 million cars are...
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‘Tidal wave of flu’ hits record high in hospitals
THE number of people in hospital in England with flu remains at a record level for this time of year and has jumped by 55% in a week, NHS figures show. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said “there is a tidal wave of flu tearing through our hospitals” as...
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STORM FORCE: BRAM SWEEPS WEST
STORM Bram brought flooding, travel disruption and power cuts to much of the Westcountry yesterday. Strong winds saw large waves battering coastal areas, while heavy rainfall resulted in widespread surface water on roads and fields. The impact of the...
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Police among three injured in serious crash on A30
TWO police officers were seriously injured in a crash on the A30 in Cornwall which left another man requiring hospital treatment. The three-vehicle crash took place on the A30, between Hayle and Angarrack. A police source said that the devastating...
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‘Danger to life’ weather warning
THE Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for wind and rain for South West England, with strong gusts expected to hit the region from this evening into tomorrow afternoon. The wind alert will come into effect from around 10pm today and remain...
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‘Hit and miss’ treatment of infections in older people
INFECTIONS in older people must be taken “much more seriously”, with current approaches being “hit and miss”, England’s chief medical officer has said. Professor Sir Chris Whitty said older people are “underserved” when it comes to care and research...
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SHINING A LIGHT ON MINING FUTURE
“THERE is a real palpable sense that Cornwall has arrived into the lexicon of Westminster and we have done so not as a Dickensian Oliver Twist character but as a region, area, country – choose the word as you feel – that is going to fundamentally...
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Fears over ‘cancer-link pesticides’ in fruit and veg
CANCER-LINKED pesticides have been found in common UK fruits and vegetables, prompting public health concerns among campaigners. The UK Government tested 3,482 food and drink samples for pesticide residues last year, purchased from a range of sources...
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Warning on ‘crisis of loneliness’ for elderly
MORE than a million older people in the UK could be spending Christmas Day alone, according to research by Age UK which the charity’s ambassador Dame Joanna Lumley branded a “crisis hidden in plain sight”. The actor and campaigner warned the “silence...
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Thousands are caught flouting bus lane rules
MORE than 5,000 drivers were caught flouting restrictions on a new traffic filter in Exeter – before being handed warning letters, as part of a campaign to prioritise safer and cleaner journeys for residents. In the first month of enforcement at the...
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Zero asylum seekers in hotels across most of West
NO asylum seekers are being housed in hotels in Cornwall or across most of Devon, according to the latest Home Office figures. The figures show that the only Westcountry authority district which recorded asylum seekers housed in a hotel was East Devon...
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West police dealing with 60 protests every month
DEVON and Cornwall Police are dealing with around 60 protests a month as a result of community unrest, a police and crime panel has been told. Police and Crime Commissioner for the region, Alison Hernandez, said many of the protests were small, but...
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ARISTOCRAT IS IN SEARCH OF A BRIDE *
ACONTROVERSIAL Westcountry aristocrat has launched an appeal to find a bride – who must be a good ballroom dancer and can fire a shotgun. Sir Benjamin Slade, 79, says his new wife would need to be at least 20 years younger – meaning women in their 60s...
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GROUNDBREAKING SUPPORT FOR CORNISH MINING
UK production of key minerals used in laptops, phones and electric cars will be boosted as part of a £50 million plan to reduce British industries’ reliance on China. Sir Keir Starmer launched a new critical minerals strategy on Sunday with the aim of...
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Emissions limit of 1.5C ‘no longer plausible’
GLOBAL carbon emissions from fossil fuels are set to rise 1.1% in 2025 to record highs, research has found. New analysis led by Westcountry experts finds that many countries are shifting to clean energy, but that is not enough to offset the growth in...
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Thousands call on MPs to speak up for farming
APUBLIC letter-writing campaign launched by the NFU to highlight the devastating impact of the family farm tax has garnered huge support, with more than 12,000 letters sent to 551 MPs in just 12 days urging them to “speak up for farming”. The letters...
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MY LITTLE PONY FOR CHRISTMAS?
ADORABLE photos show one of the world’s smallest ever ponies born in the UK – just 24 inches tall. Shetland foal Pam weighed 17kg at birth – about the same as a springer spaniel. Pam was born at Glenda Spooner Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre, in...
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SW REMEMBERS THE FALLEN
EIGHTY years after the end of the Second World War, thousands of people around the Westcountry marked Remembrance Sunday by taking part in parades, wreath-laying and church services around the region. Many of them shrugged off yesterday’s inclement...
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Flu jab SOS issued over fears of rise in deaths
THOUSANDS of people could die from flu this winter, experts have warned, after figures suggested the number of flu deaths more than doubled last year. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) estimates show that deaths from flu in England stood at 7,757 last...
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