Cranswick launches independent review after pig cruelty claims
Last week footage that appeared to show workers at one of Cranswick's farms in Lincolnshire abusing piglets was published by the Animal Justice Project (AJP), prompting the company to suspend use of the farm.
According to AJP, workers were filmed holding piglets by their hind legs and slamming them to the ground, using a banned method of killing the animals known as 'piglet thumping'.
In its preliminary results for 2025, Cranswick said it aimed to have the most stringent animal health and wellbeing standards in the sector. It added that it took seriously 'any
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
How Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes £50million Carrington refurbishment and nods to Man United's glorious past can help deliver a 'winning culture' in Ruben Amorim's side
Every few years, Manchester United like to take assorted media and other guests behind the scenes at their Carrington training ground HQ. They always do so with a sense of pride. Chief executive Ed Woodward once enthusiastically pointed to a bank of screens in the recruitment department, explaining the global data had provided 804 options for a new right-back and had concluded a £50million outlay on Aaron-Wan Bissaka as being the best deal. After Woodward left, director of football John Murtough was tour host in 2023. He let slip the club would no longer be Patsy's in the transfer market and enter protracted negotiations with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy for Harry Kane. Instead, they signed Rasmus Hojlund for £72million. Given that recent history, it was a somewhat cynical bunch of hacks who gathered at Carrington on Friday as United rolled out the red carpet to show off a £50million refurbishment that co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes will trigger a 'winning culture' at English football's biggest club. We probably won't have the definitive answer for a good while yet. Leicester City think they have the best training ground in Europe but it's not done them much good with two relegations in the last three seasons. To be fair though, United have presented their case admirably that a happy workplace will transfer to results on the pitch. Make no mistake, there are plenty of bells and whistles at the new Carrington. Underwater treadmills, F1 simulator games, sleep pods, live performance tracking in the gym, smart urinals, a barber's and menu options to make a five-star restaurant jealous. A padel court is coming soon at the request of the players. Space has been created so that personnel who previously worked at Old Trafford can now be based at Carrington. Movers include big-hitters like CEO Omar Berrada and figures in the commercial department. The intention is to make the club feel as United as its name would suggest. What made this tour feel different to others, and should give confidence to fans that a genuine rebuild is possible, is that the hierarchy have been happy to cede control to experts and allowed themselves to be advised rather than pretending to already know it all. Cutting the ribbon, Sir Jim even made a joke about having to listen to so many suggestions from manager Ruben Amorim about what the new place should look like. Amorim laughed along, slightly nervously, but he'll be pleased his input was taken into account. Arguably the most important voice during the tour was that of Patrick Campbell, a senior architect working for the renowned Sir Norman Foster. Architects love light and Campbell repeatedly stressed the need to make Carrington – variously compared to a gloomy dungeon or hospital – a brighter, more joyful place in which to work every day. The canteen area with giant windows overlooking the training pitches and a barber shop in the corner where players can invite their personal hair stylists is a space players will want to stay together after training. That extra time chatting in comfort or playing F1 chair can be important for building team spirit. Remember, Luke Shaw complained on the US tour that the culture in past seasons has been 'toxic'. Berrada will have seen a holistic approach work at Manchester City. To that end, United's new treatment room has changed location so injured players are not tucked away and ignored. They now have a space large enough to work on their rehab together. They can also see the training pitches, both providing extra motivation to get fit, but also giving a sense in the meantime of still being part of the family. Likewise, the under-23s dressing-room is no longer in a separate building but along the corridor from the first-team. Enough to give the feel of being part of the same firmament. There are enough examples of United past to remind the current players – including summer signings Bryan Mbuemo and Matheus Cunha with Benjamin Sesko due to follow – of who they are representing. Sir Alex Ferguson unveiled a plaque by the main entrance in honour of receptionist Kath Phipps who greeted visitors to United for 55 years before her death last year. He chatted animatedly afterwards on a sofa in the first-floor lounge to his old captain Bryan Robson – both seemed delighted to be back. The spiral staircase linking the ground floor to the first floor is flanked by some of United's trophies and a bust of Sir Matt Busby, the manager who made it all possible. Nobody, regardless of age, will be able to walk up or down through the day without glancing at them. The £50million question of course is whether it will ultimately make any difference to United's ambitions to first return to the Champions League, and then win their first Premier League title since Fergie left in 2013. Of all the players on United's books, 39-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Tom Heaton is probably best qualified to say. He started at the club aged 11 and was turning pro when United first moved to Carrington in 2000. He was part of the squad that won the Champions League under Ferguson in 2008 before furthering his career as first-choice with Burnley and Aston Villa, returning to Old Trafford in 2001. 'It felt like a pivotal moment when we moved to Carrington. They were incredible facilities for that time, but the game evolves,' says Heaton. 'By the end, it wasn't quite up to what we wanted. 'We went away from the main building last season so they could rebuild and walking back through the door, we have all been blown away. We've been given an opportunity in terms of having world-class facilities. 'It is true people make a building and players on the pitch bring results. But the building can provide the help and stability into providing those performances and I think everyone is excited.' United are nothing if not ambitious. Sir Jim likened the club brand to Coca-Cola and Apple as he presented the new facility. The new media centre has been designed to meet UEFA specifications to hold Champions League press conferences, even though the team finished 15th last season. It was only at the start of last year that Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a 27.7% share in United. Whilst the billionaire has grand schemes ahead, like making Old Trafford the Wembley of the North, this is his first completed project. He was treated respectfully by captain Bruno Fernandes and the players who attended on Friday – Rasmus Hojlund greeted him with a strong handshake and a 'Hello Mr Chairman'. They know, in the words of Diogo Dalot, that they have 'no excuses' now they've been provided with a perfect working environment. 'Everywhere I go, however remote from the Gobi desert to northern Greenland, I bump into Manchester United fans,' said Sir Jim.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Teachers' £19m trade union away days funded by taxpayer
Trade union 'away days' for teaching staff are costing the UK taxpayer almost £19m a year, figures show. Analysis of Government data by the TaxPayers' Alliance shows some education staff are spending all of their working hours undertaking activities for their trade union, known as 'facility time'. All public sector organisations that employ more than 49 full-time staff are required to submit data on the use of facility time in their organisation. Activities covered can include bargaining over pay and planning strike action. Strike days are unpaid and counted separately. Teachers' trade unions include the National Education Union (NEU), NASUWT (The Teachers' Union), and National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). The NEU, the UK's largest teaching union, launched 593 days of local strike action last year, representing a seven-fold jump over the past five years. In total, the UK taxpayer spent £18.9m on facility time last year for staff across 631 education bodies, including schools and universities. This is up around 4 per cent on 2023, when the taxpayer bill for facility time in the education sector reached £18.1m. The Open University recorded the highest facility time bill in 2024, with almost £600,000 spent on fulfilling trade union roles in working hours. Universities in financial crisis Staff at Russell Group universities were among those given taxpayer-funded time away from their jobs to carry out union work last year, costing more than £1m in total. That includes nearly £439,000 spent on facility time for staff at the University of Manchester, £350,000 at the University of Leeds and £297,000 at the University of Edinburgh. At 55 education organisations, some staff spent 100 per cent of their working hours on their trade union duties, the figures show. Meanwhile, six universities had multiple staff working all of their working hours on trade union activities, including the University of Bristol, where five employees were recorded as spending 100 per cent of their time as union representatives. The higher education sector is grappling with a worsening financial crisis that has pushed around 43 per cent of universities into deficit last year, according to Telegraph analysis. Baroness Smith, the universities minister, told The Telegraph in May that many universities have 'lost sight over their responsibility to protect public money' as they fail to rein in spending despite demanding support from the Government. Growing trade union activity among teachers has also pushed up the bill for facility time in schools, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance analysis. Multi-academy trusts spending heavily on facility time last year included the Wessex Multi Academy Trust, which spent more than £261,000, and the Kemnal Academies Trust, which spent nearly £197,000. The Telegraph revealed last month that local walkouts by school staff have surged in recent years, resulting in almost 600 days of lost teaching in 2024. Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Parents will be dismayed to learn that while classrooms sit empty and strikes disrupt children's education, taxpayers are still picking up the bill for teachers to spend lesson time on union duties. 'Facility time is a luxury the education sector can't afford. With schools losing hundreds of teaching days to walkouts and universities deep in financial trouble, every penny should go to front-line teaching, not subsidising union activism. 'Ministers must take a firm stance and ensure that taxpayer-funded institutions prioritise students' needs instead of funding teaching staff who spend their time on union duties.' Taxpayers have funded trade union facility time since the Employment Protection Act of 1975. Additional regulations that came into force in 2017 now require public sector bodies to publish information on such spending. Esther McVey, a Cabinet Office minister in the previous Conservative government, wrote to councils with high spending levels last year and urged them to consider introducing a cap on facility time. She called on local authorities to take lessons from the civil service, which saw spending on facility time drop from 0.26 per cent of total pay costs in 2012 to 0.05 per cent in 2024, which she claimed 'shows how it is lawful and possible to achieve this'.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
M&S click and collect finally returns months after cyberattack
The click and collect service at Marks & Spencer has finally been restored almost four months after the brand was hit by a major cyberattack. Online ordering on the company's website and mobile app was suspended on 25 April, when contactless payments and click and collect systems stopped working in stores. The retail giant resumed online orders to addresses after six weeks but the click and collect service, which allows customers to order online and pick up the items in an M&S shop, was the last to be restored. The M&S website now states on a page about the cyber incident: 'Our fashion, home and beauty range is now available for home delivery to the UK, and flowers and gifting are now available for home delivery to England, Scotland and Wales. 'Click & Collect is now available for online orders.' The retailer has not yet commented on the cause of the delay. Click and collect depends on integration between online ordering platforms, inventory management, payment systems and in-store logistics, The Times reported. It is thought the cyberattack disrupted these systems, making it harder for M&S to get click and collect secure again. The attack, which began in late April, left M&S unable to take online orders for over six weeks. M&S estimates the attack will cost around £300 million in lost profits, but expects to recover up to half through cost management, insurance, and other measures. The incident led to the theft of personal customer data, potentially including names, email addresses, postal addresses, and dates of birth. Hacking groups called DragonForce and Scattered Spider have been connected to the attack. Marks & Spencer's chair Archie Norman, speaking at a business and trade select committee in July, said it was 'not an overstatement to describe it as traumatic'. He added: 'We're still in the rebuild mode and will be for some time to come.' He said the ordeal was 'like an out-of-body experience' and that he had not experienced "anything quite like this" before in his extensive time working in the corporate world. "It's fair to say that everybody at M&S experienced it, like our ordinary shop colleagues working in ways they hadn't worked for 30 years, working extra hours just to try and keep the show on the road,' he said. "For a week probably the cyber team had no sleep, or three hours a night.'
