Worcestershire police investigate St George flags on roundabouts
He added the practice, which has been supported by some residents, was "costing tax payers money"."As the cabinet member for highways for Worcestershire County Council, I will be seeking criminal damages so that every other tax payer in the county does not pay for this," Cllr Perks said.West Mercia Police confirmed they were investigating the daubing of roundabouts in Bromsgrove.On Monday, a video of a man painting a red cross onto a mini roundabout in the town circulated on social media.In the video, a police car is seen pulling up to the man for a few seconds before driving off.Insp Richard Field from the West Mercia force said: "Painting roundabouts is not only dangerous to drivers and pedestrians, but it also amounts to criminal damage. "We are working closely with partners, including Worcestershire County Council, to tackle this issue and investigate where appropriate."
In Worcester, landscape gardener Tom Conway told BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester he believed he had put up about 400 flags in the city."The morale in the community seemed low and, ever since we did it, people have driven past and shown nothing but love and happiness," he said.Mr Conway added he thought the UK should be more like the United States, and fly the flag proud.
'Heated debate'
On Tuesday, Perks said climbing up lampposts and attaching flags to them "may not be the best thing to do, mostly because it's dangerous and could cause damage".He suggested people could show their pride by flying the flag in their gardens, on cars, in home windows and on "community buildings where agreed by the whole community".He said, however, there was no specific plan to take the flags down. Ed Kimberley, who is a Labour Worcester City councillor for Warndon and Elbury Park, said he had been contacted by residents who disagreed with the flags."Is this a positive message of patriotism or is it something more sinister?" he said."If it is a message of positivity, then why is the debate heated?"
Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ice cream man stabbed to death in north-west London named by police
An ice cream seller who was stabbed to death in north-west London has been named by the Metropolitan Police as 41-year-old Shazad Khan. Mr Khan was pronounced dead at the scene after officers responded to reports of an altercation in Monks Park in Wembley at 6.10pm on Tuesday. His family have been informed and a murder investigation was launched, the Met said. A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder in the early hours of Wednesday, while a 31-year-old woman was also arrested at the scene for conspiracy to murder, the force said. Both individuals remain in custody. Local residents told the PA news agency that Mr Khan was well known in the area for selling ice creams in a van. Asim Mahmood Butt, 39, who lives in nearby Tokyngton Avenue, said he was childhood friends with the victim. Speaking at the scene, he said: 'I got a call from one of my cousins. 'This guy, we know him – he's a famous ice cream guy. He got stabbed yesterday. 'I came here and his body was still here, and police had cordoned off the area. 'We don't know the reason why, but all that we know is that a guy with a grey hoodie stabbed him eight times. That's what I've been told. 'I know his brothers as well – they're all local. We all used to play cricket and football here in Monks Park. 'He started (selling) ice cream about a year ago.' Mr Butt said the victim was married and had a young daughter. The victim's ice cream van, which had been parked on the road at the time of the incident, was well known locally for having a large teddy bear, the witness added. A second witness, who did not want to be named, said the ice cream van was towed away from the scene in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A blue forensics tent and a number of Met officers could be seen inside a police cordon in Monks Park on Wednesday afternoon. Removal vehicles also took away a separate white van and blue car. Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, local policing commander for north-west London, said: 'Our thoughts remain with Shazad's family and friends at this unimaginably difficult time. 'This incident will rightly cause concern across the community, but intelligence at this stage leads us to believe there is no wider threat to the public. 'Detectives are conducting a thorough and fast-paced investigation, and locals can expect to see an uptick in police presence in the area. 'Anyone with any information – particularly dashcam or doorbell footage from the time of the incident – is urged to speak to us as a matter of urgency.'
The Sun
6 minutes ago
- The Sun
Labour want to use you & your home as cash cows – so council spending can keep spiralling and migrants can keep coming
NO one can say that this government is short of ideas. It is just that every single one of them involves one thing: How to extract even more of our money. 3 3 This week alone has seen a bewildering number of proposals dangled before us, many of which revolve around using our homes as cash cows. One day we learned that Rachel Reeves is considering replacing stamp duty and council tax with a new property tax which would be levied annually on our homes, proportionate to their current value. Then it turned out that actually this new tax wouldn't necessarily mean abolishing council tax — it would run alongside it, raising money from any home sold for more than £500,000. If fact, it transpired that we could face rising council tax bills. Angela Rayner reportedly wants them ratcheted up in more prosperous areas in order to subsidise poorer ones. Then came another suggestion: That higher-value homes might lose their exemption from capital gains tax. It could mean anyone selling a family home having to pay 24 per cent of the profit they have made on their property since they bought it, possibly decades ago. The Chancellor seems to have it in her head that Britain is in the midst of a housing crisis caused by greedy Baby Boomers — those born between the mid- 1940s and 1960s. They have monopolised the housing stock, and therefore she is justified in milking them for all they are worth. It is the same mentality that saw the Bolsheviks blaming the middle classes for every ill and sending them off to the gulags after the Russian Revolution. Is Labour's National Insurance hike a tax on working people? Last year's Budget already meted out punishment for buy to let investors, who were whacked with a two per cent rise in stamp duty. Now Reeves is coming for owner-occupiers too. But it shouldn't take her too much to realise that her proposals would make the housing crisis even worse. If you levy CGT on the sales of family homes, it will act as a huge disincentive for people to sell up and downsize. Why bother, when much of the capital you hoped to release would be gobbled up by the taxman? Punitive taxes on property ownership are just a wealth tax by another name, but they would hit millions of pensioners who are asset-rich but cash-poor. Just because a house has rocketed in value since it was bought in the 1970s doesn't mean that its owner feels wealthy. It is still the same house, whatever it is worth. The real reason for the housing crisis is low rates of house building combined with high rates of migration. 'PUNISHING HOMEOWNERS' When you are building fewer than 200,000 new homes a year but allowing the population to swell by 700,000 a year, it is a recipe for acute shortage. You can't solve that by punishing homeowners. As for council tax, Reeves seems to think that homeowners are getting a free ride. True, it is wrong that in one case a £36million mansion in Kensington was found to have a lower council tax bill than a flat out near Heathrow airport. But overall, council taxpayers have been stung in recent years. According to the Taxpayers' Alliance, the average bill rose by 79 per cent in real terms, ie adjusted for inflation, between 1993/94 and 2023/24. The odd absurdity in the council tax system should not be used as an excuse to push up bills for millions of homeowners. Over the years we have faced higher and higher bills for an ever-lousier service. The more we pay, the more our bins seem to go unemptied and deeper the potholes on our streets. Councils like to blame rising social care costs for their poor finances, but that is only part of the story. 3 Other important factors are poor investments in commercial property made by many councils, and the soaring cost of over-generous local government pension schemes. Freedom of information requests to 300 councils last year revealed that a quarter of what we pay in council tax is disappearing straight into council workers' pension funds. In one case, Basingstoke and Deane Council was found to be paying more into staff pensions than it was raising in council tax. Another reason we are paying more but getting less is lousy productivity. Astonishingly, some councils think the way to right this is to move workers to a four-day week — which they foolishly think will magically lead to them producing more. I have a better idea. Shift unproductive workers on to a zero-hour week. That might just help encourage the rest to put in a bit more effort. 'FLAPPING AROUND' The Government is flapping around for ways of raising extra revenue because Labour backbenchers have made it impossible to cut public spending. Reeves' plan to trim a modest £5billion from the benefits bill was quickly reversed when Keir Starmer realised he could suffer the humiliation of a Commons defeat. That has put an end to Reeves' efforts to balance the books with a combination of spending cuts as well as tax rises. Now, we are just getting the tax rises instead. We are being hammered because Labour MPs refuse to believe there is any such thing as wasteful public spending. Sadly, there is — and it permeates every area of government. But clearly the current government isn't going to do anything about it.
The Sun
6 minutes ago
- The Sun
Husband of mum killed by falling tree branch pays emotional tribute to ‘love of my life'
THE husband of a woman killed by a falling tree branch has paid tribute to the "love of my life". Wasim Kauser described his wife as the "most beautiful woman in the world" and his "one and only". 4 4 4 Madia Kauser, 32, tragically died after reportedly pushed her five-year-old daughter out of the way of the falling branch on August 11. The couple and their two children had been out on a walk in Witton Country Park, Blackburn, Lancashire, when the beech tree branch fell. Her husband, Wasim, 32, has since delivered a touching tribute. Mr Kauser said in a tribute issued by police: "My wife, a mother-of-two, a daughter, sister and a friend we lost to a tragic event that came on the way home from a family day out in the park. "She was the most beautiful woman in the world, she did everything for our two children, she did everything she could for anyone and would bring smiles whenever she entered the room. "She was my comfort, my partner in life and the love of my life. "We have so many great memories, went through pain together and started a family together. "Honestly, I feel completely lost without her and I do not know how to put into words how much I miss her face, her character and her presence. My one and only." Their daughter was reportedly in a push chair which Madia managed to shove out of the way, saving the child's life. Wasim was playing football with the pair's nine-year-old son nearby. He previously told The Sun about how he desperately tried to save his wife as she took her last few breaths. Wasim said: "I was playing football with my son and kicked the ball in the wrong direction and we were going after it. "I heard a crack and the tree just came down. There was no wind, nothing. "She was hit by a branch but it had the full weight of the tree behind it and that is why the council had to cut it all down. "I rushed to her. I tried to save her, she was still breathing." Paramedics and doctors from the local hospital rushed to the scene but nothing could be done to save her. Wasim added: "I cannot praise the paramedics enough. They were there in six minutes and the doctors came from the local hospital but nothing could be done. "I have spoken to someone at the coroners office and they tell me she had chest fractures and her lungs had collapsed. "The tree she was hit by was standing straight not even leaning and then it just came down. "She has left us. Now there is just me and my children." Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has since removed the remainder of the tree, as well as trimming back nearby tree branches. A Lancashire Police spokesman said Madia's death was not being treated as suspicious and a file would be prepared for the coroner. Police are carrying out a joint investigation with the Health and Safety Executive, and have appealed for witnesses. 4
