Latest UK news

A-level results expected to improve
This year’s A-level results, published tomorrow, are expected to show another rise in the number of students passing and gaining the top grade. Last year, the pass rate was 89.1 per cent, while 17.8 per cent of entries were awarded an A grade.

Welsh Tories back student grants
The Welsh Conservatives have committed themselves to fighting for the outright abolition of tuition fees and the re-introduction of maintenance grants. The move follows a Welsh Assembly-commissioned report on student hardship which called for up-front fees to be scrapped and maintenance bursaries to be introduced. NUS Wales gave the news a cautious welcome.

Man in pants foils protest
The Animal Liberation Front was forced to abandon an attempt to break into a testing laboratory "by a maniac in Y-fronts" - and won itself the the Most Incompetent award in this year’s Mad Animal Rights Awards. The 13 awards are made by Seriously Ill for Medical Research, a group formed by people who might benefit from treatment developed as a result of animal research.