
Grenfell victims: Those who lost their lives in the fire
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1 year agoon
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adminThe final report into the deadly Grenfell Tower fire will be published today – more than seven years after the disaster.
The long-running inquiry will present its findings on the 2017 blaze at the west London tower block, which claimed the lives of 72 people.
Victims of the fire ranged in age from an unborn baby to an 84-year-old woman.
These are their stories.
Anthony “Tony” Disson, 65

The 65-year-old retired lorry driver had lived on the 10th floor of Grenfell Tower for eight years.
In a statement, Mr Disson’s family described him as a “real family man”.
They said: “Tony was the most generous person you could ever meet, he didn’t have much but would always be there to help people.”
Ali Yawar Jafari, 82

Ali Yawar Jafari lived on the 10th floor and tried to escape the tower with his wife and daughter when the fire broke out.
They got in a lift but Mr Jafari got out on the 10th floor after suffering breathing difficulties. He was later pulled from the building by firefighters but pronounced dead at the scene.
His family said he was “loved and will be greatly missed by his family and the wider community”.
Abdeslam Sebbar, 77
Abdeslam Sebbar’s remains were found in his flat on the 11th floor.
The 77-year-old died from the inhalation of fumes.
Denis Murphy, 56

Pic: Metropolitan Police
Denis Murphy lived on the 14th floor of Grenfell Tower, in flat 11, and called his family to say he was trapped during the blaze.
In a statement, Mr Murphy’s family said: “The pain, loss and sorrow we feel is indescribable and we have been left devastated with a gaping hole in our hearts that can never be filled.
“To us, he was an inspiration and an amazing, selfless caring person and we feel lucky and blessed that he was part of our family.”
Zainab Deen, 32, and Jeremiah Deen, two


Pic: Metropolitan Police
The 32-year-old, who lived on the 14th floor of Grenfell Tower, was on the phone with her brother until 4am on the day of the fire.
Ms Deen’s two-year-old son Jeremiah was also killed in the blaze.
Originally from Sierra Leone, Ms Deen was described as a “beautiful, loving lady”.
Zainu and Maria Deen, Jeremiah’s grandparents, said: “You spent a moment in our arms, but you will last a lifetime in our hearts.”
Mohammad Alhajali, 23

A civil engineering student who lived on the 14th floor with his older brother Omar, who managed to escape from the fire, Mr Alhajali called a friend in Syria, asking him to say goodbye to his family, who he had been unable to reach.
Mr Alhajali had fled Syria with his two brothers in 2014 to start a new life in London, studying at the University of West London. He had hoped to return one day to help the country.
His friend lost contact with him at 5am. He sent one final message saying: “The fire is here now goodbye.”
A family statement read at his funeral service said he “loved London and the people he met here”.
Mr Alhajali was described as “a loving and caring person” who was “always showing support and solidarity for friends and family stuck back in Syria”.
Steve Power, 63

The 63-year-old was said to be reluctant to leave his two dogs. It is understood that he remained in his flat on the 15th floor.
His children said: “Our dad was nothing short of a character. He left some sort of impression on everyone, like Marmite. The majority loved him.”
Hamid Kani, 61

The 61-year-old Iranian lived alone on the 15th floor of Grenfell Tower, but his body was recovered on the 23rd floor – suggesting he fled upstairs in search of safety.
In a statement, his family, who all live in Iran, said he would be remembered “for his wit, compassion and devotion to his family and friends”.
They added: “No words can express our sorrow for his loss and the way he left us. He will always be part of our lives and his memory will live on.”
Deborah “Debbie” Lamprell, 45

Pic: Metropolitan Police
Debbie Lamprell lived on the 16th floor and worked front of house at Opera Holland Park.
The 45-year-old went to the top floor of the building with a group of 12 people when the fire broke out and called the emergency services.
She was described by her mother as “a wonderful, precious daughter, always smiling and helping others”.
Marjorie Vital, 68, and Ernie Vital, 50

Marjorie Vital lived on the 16th floor of Grenfell Tower in a flat she shared with her son, Ernie.
She had lived there almost since the tower was built in the 70s and had worked in the textile industry for many years after coming to the UK from Dominica.
Her family said: “She was a beautiful, joyful, independent, intelligent, kind-hearted, sensitive individual who dedicated her life to her children.”
Her son Ernie’s family said he worked in the catering industry: “He was a creative individual who pursued a creative life. He was a proud, humble, mature and independent man. He was a loyal son and a law-abiding citizen who maintained good relationships with all those he met in society.
“He will be remembered as a kind, sensitive and caring person with a warm-hearted smile.”
Joseph Daniels, 69

Joseph Daniels lived on the 16th floor of Grenfell Tower and reportedly suffered from dementia, so was confused and could not be persuaded by his son to leave the building.
His son, who escaped the fire, said on the first day of the Grenfell inquiry: “The events of that night took his life and all trace of his existence from this world.”
Sheila Smith, 84

The 84-year-old’s body was recovered on the 16th floor of the tower, where she had lived for 34 years.
Sheila had two sons, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren and was said to be a “very active and well-respected” member of the community.
Her family said: “Sheila was cycling around London, performing yoga daily and swimming regularly in the Kensington Leisure Centre until she was 80 years old.
“As a family we are heartbroken as to this senseless tragedy that took her far too early, and will do all we can to honour her name.”
Kamru Miah, 79, Rabeya Begum, 64, Husna Begum, 22, Mohammed Hanif, 26, and Mohammed Hamid, 29

Rabeya Begum (left) and Husna Begum

Husna Begum (left) and Komru Miah

Mohammed Hanif

Mohammed Hamid
Kamru Miah lived on the 17th floor with his wife Rabeya Begum, their daughter Husna Begum and two sons, Mohammed Hanif and Mohammed Hamid.
Mr Miah had difficulty walking and his grown-up children stayed in the tower because they knew their parents were not mobile enough to escape – all five of them died.
They were said to be on the phone with relatives throughout the blaze.
Khadija Khalloufi, 52

Khadija Khalloufi died after she became separated from her husband, Sabah Abdullah, as they tried to escape from their flat on the 17th floor.
Due to the crush and panic in the stairwell, they were split up between the 16th and 15th floors. Mr Abdullah survived.
Vincent Chiejina, 60

Vincent Chiejina lived on the 17th floor and was identified by his DNA.
The 60-year-old’s provisional cause of death was given as “consistent with the effects of fire”.
Isaac Paulos, five

Pic: Metropolitan Police
The schoolboy’s body was discovered on the 13th floor – five levels below the flat where he lived with his family, who he was separated from during the fire.
In a statement, Isaac’s family said they would “miss our kind, energetic, generous little boy”.
They added: “He was such a good boy who was loved by his friends and family. We will miss him forever, but we know God is looking after him now and that he is safe in heaven.”
Birkti Haftom, 29, and Biruk Haftom, 12

Pic: Metropolitan Police

Pic: Metropolitan Police
Birkti and her 12-year-old son Biruk lived on the 18th floor of the building.
The 29-year-old’s family described her as a “generous, caring, loving mother, partner, sister, aunty and friend” who will be “missed by us all forever”.
Biruk was described as “a loving, pure-hearted boy, wise beyond his years and known for his politeness, kind heart and his love for his family and friends.”
Their family added: “Berkti and Biruk left an everlasting legacy full of lovely memories and their contagious laughter and charisma will live in our hearts forever.
“We are deeply hurt and heartbroken our angels were taken from us so cruelly, so young. We will not rest until justice is served!”
Sakina Afrasehabi, 65, and Fatemeh Afrasiabi, 59

Pic: Metropolitan Police

Sakina Afrasehabi lived with her younger sister Fatima in Grenfell Tower.
Sakina’s Iranian family have said she was disabled and could only move with a walking stick – but she had no choice but to live on the 18th floor of the building.
Her family said: “Sakina was a loving mother of five, who is much missed by all of us. She was completely selfless in all she did and always put other people first.”
Fatemeh’s nephew Shahrokh said he spoke on the phone to his aunt as the fire spread to the upper floors, who pleaded with him to seek help, but in the final minutes, she was quieter and then the phone disconnected.
Mohamednur Tuccu, 44, Amal Ahmedin, 35, Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, three, and Amna Mahmud Idris, 27

Mohamednur Tuccu

Amal Ahmedin
Mohamednur Tuccu and his wife and daughter, Amal Ahmedin, and Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, were breaking their Ramadan fast with Amal’s cousin Amna Mahmud Idris and their friends when the blaze broke out.
A family statement said: “This has been a very distressing time for us as a family, but we are relieved that Amal, Amaya and Amna [Mahmud Idris] have been identified following the tragic fire. They will now be laid to rest.”

Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin

Amna Mahmud Idris
Ms Idris’s husband Ibrahim told the hearing: “She came to live with me in the UK in March 2016. After one year I lost her forever.”
Eslah Elgwahry, 64, and Mariem Elgwahry, 27

Mariem Elgwahry
Eslah Elgwahry lived with her 27-year-old daughter Mariem on the 19th floor.
Soon after the fire, a friend of her daughter shared an appeal on social media, writing: “Last someone heard from her was 2.30am, she was with her mum.”
Eslah’s remains were found on the 23rd floor, four floors higher than her flat. Mariem also died in the fire.
Mary “Sissy” Mendy, 52, and Khadija “Ya-Haddy Sisi” Saye, 24

Mary Mendy
Also known as Sissy, Gambia-born Mary Mendy was with her daughter, artist and photographer Khadija Saye, also known as Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, on the 20th floor of the tower.
Ms Mendy’s sister said in a tribute: “Your heart was pure, your soul was one of a kind. You will be missed for a lifetime.”

Khadija Saye. Pic: PA
At the time of the blaze Ms Saye’s work was part of an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, and has since been displayed at the Tate Britain.
Her friend, the now foreign secretary David Lammy, called her “a wonderful young woman” and “a talented artist”.
Jessica Urbano Ramirez, 12

Jessica was at home on the 20th floor of the tower block when the fire broke out.
A family statement said: “Our little girl was loving, kind-hearted and caring. She brought joy to everyone who met her and her laugh was contagious.”
Omar Belkadi, 32, Farah Hamdan, 31, Leena Belkadi, six months, and Malak Belkadi, seven

Omar Belkadi

Farah Hamdan and six-month-old Leena Belkadi

Malek Belkaldi with Tazmin Belkaldi, who survived
Omar Belkadi lived on the 20th floor of Grenfell Tower with his wife Farah Hamdan and their three children.
They died in the fire along with two of their children, Leena and Malak Belkadi, but their daughter Tazmin survived.
Abdulaziz El Wahabi, 52, Faouzia El Wahabi, 41, Yasin El Wahabi, 20, Nur Huda El Wahabi, 16, and Medhi El Wahabi, 8

Mehdi El-Wahabi (centre), his father Abdulaziz (top left), mother Faouzia (bottom right), brother Yasin (top right), and sister Nur Huda ( bottom left)
Abdulaziz El Wahabi lived on the 21st floor with his wife Faouzia and their three children, Yasin, Nur Huda, and Mehdi.
Mrs El Wahabi’s niece later said: “They died in a building that should not have got to that extent to burn in that way – and that’s something we’re going to have to live with forever and it’s scary.”
Their family said: “Yasin was a lovable, bubbly and caring young man. He would lend his hand to anyone who asked for help. He was loved by so many and his contagious smile will always be etched on our minds and hearts.
“Nur Huda was a lovable, smart and kind person. She had a lot of potential and that can be recognised in her GCSE exam results. We are proud of her and will continue on remembering her and all our family and friends who have died in this tragedy.”
“Mehdi was a calm and friendly young boy who loved his family very much. He was loved by staff and pupils at his school who held a beautiful memorial and made a plaque in memory of him.”
Logan Gomes, stillborn

Unborn baby Logan Gomes was officially recorded by police as a victim of the Grenfell Tower fire.
His mother Andreia Gomes, who was seven months pregnant, lived on the 21st floor with her husband and two daughters – they all managed to escape but Logan was stillborn in hospital on 14 June. He had been due on 21 August.
Speaking on the first day of the Grenfell inquiry, his father Marcio Gomes said he and his wife had prepared for their son’s arrival by painting “twinkle twinkle little star, do you know how loved you are?” on the wall.
Logan’s sister Luana, now aged 19, told Sky News she feels guilty she survived the fire.
Raymond “Moses” Bernard, 63

Raymond Bernard, known to friends as Moses, lived on the 21st floor of the tower and often stayed with his partner, Karen McMillan, on a different floor of the block.
Dubbed a “hero”, he offered shelter to six people in his flat as the fire raged and was discovered alongside them.
His family said: “Gone but not forgotten, you are so dearly loved by us all and will sadly be missed by many. May you rest in eternal peace, with love always.”
Ligaya Moore, 78

Ligaya Moore, from the Philippines, had been a resident of Grenfell Tower for more than 40 years. She had lived alone in her flat on the 21st floor since the death of her husband some years earlier.
In a statement, her family said: “43 years ago, Aunt Ligaya, DITE, as we fondly called her, lived her dream – to live and work in London.
“She endured being away from family – not able to attend her mother’s funeral – but in exchange of all the loneliness and homesickness, she met the love of her life, Jim Moore, a British national, had a new family, acquired new friends, and built a new life in London.
“But the dream turned into a nightmare on that fateful night of June 14, when the Grenfell Tower was consumed in flames. At this time, she was already living by herself in this building, as her husband had passed away several years back.
“The jolly, bubbly person, the lady who loves to dance and who laughed her heart out, succumbed to a fire which turned her laughter into silence.”
Hashim Kedir, 44, Nura Jemal, 35, Yahya Hashim, 13, Firdaws Hashim, 12, and Yaqub Hashim, six

Hashim Kedir. Pic: Metropolitan Police

Nura Jemal. Pic: Metropolitan Police

Firdaws (left) and her brother Yahya

Yaqub Hashim. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Hashim Kedir and Nura Jemal lived on the 22nd floor with their children, Yahya, Firdaws, and Yaqub Hashim.
Mr Kedir’s sister described him as her “role model”, saying he was “giving and sharing until his last day”. She described him as “making friends so easily; age, gender, religion, ethnicity or social status didn’t matter”.
A statement on behalf of Ms Jemal’s family said: “You appreciated even the smallest things in life. And your joy was contagious. Being around you could lighten up anyone’s day in a matter of seconds.”
Yahya’s aunt described him as her “most kind, handsome, pure-hearted, sweet nephew”. She said: “Everyone that met you used to fall in love with your politeness and pure-heartedness”.
Firdaws was described as “intelligent, wise, eloquent and beautiful” with “the voice of an angel”.
And Yaqub’s extended family described him as an “energetic, sporty, funny, smart and cute boy”.
Sirria Choucair, 60, Bassem Choucair, 40, Nadia Choucair, 33, Fatima Choucair, 11, Mierna Choucair, 13, and Zainab Choucair, three

Sirria Choucair

Bassem Choucair
Sirria Choucair died along with her daughter Nadia Choucair, son-in-law Bassem and her three grandchildren, Fatima, Mierna, and Zainab.

Nadia Choucair

Fatima (left), Mierna (middle) and Zaynab (right)
Bassem’s sister-in-law, Sawsan, spoke to him on the phone when the fire started.
She said: “It was just two seconds, he said ‘yeah’ and there was lots of screaming in the background.”
Marco Gottardi, 27, and Gloria Trevisan, 26

The Italian architectural assistant lived on the 23rd floor with his girlfriend, architect Gloria Trevisan. The pair had moved from Venice to London around four months before the fire to look for jobs after graduating from the University of Padua.
Mr Gottardi’s cousin posted a message on Facebook the day after the fire, writing: “I don’t have no news from them since last night and their mobile phones are off. I’m praying to God they make it out safely.”
Ms Trevisan spent her final moments on the phone to her mother, telling her: “I had my whole life ahead of me. It’s not fair. I don’t want to die.”
Hesham Rahman, 57

Hesham Rahman lived by himself in a flat on the 23rd floor and was last in contact with his family at 3am on the night of the fire. He had diabetes which made it difficult for him to walk downstairs.
He told his family he could smell smoke, adding: “Don’t worry, as soon as I’m out I’ll let you know. The police are coming to get me, I’ve spoken to them. It’s going to be okay.”
Mohamed Neda, 57

Mohamed Neda’s wife and son escaped to safety and were taken to hospital after the fire broke out. They said he had been on the top floor of the building trying to help people.
His body was found outside the tower block, and he died as a result of multiple injuries consistent with a fall.
Speaking on the first day of the Grenfell inquiry, his brother said that losing his “best friend and role model” had brought his world crashing down.
Mr Neda’s absence “is a void that cannot be filled”, he said, adding: “The only thing I know is that my brother was a hero. He puts others first – that is the memory I will hold in my heart for as long as I live.”
Gary Maunders, 57

Gary Maunders was found among the victims on the 23rd floor.
The 57-year-old is believed to have been with his friend Deborah Lamprell, who lived on the 19th floor and was also among the victims.
Abufars Mohamed Ibrahim, 39, Isra Ibrahim, 33, and Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanosi, 73

Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanosi
Abufars Mohamed Ibrahim lived on the 23rd floor with his sister Isra and his mother Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanosi. They were all killed in the blaze.
Ms Ahmed, a 73-year-old pensioner, came to the UK as a refugee from Sudan.
Rania Ibrahim, 30, Fethia Hassan, four, and Hania Hassan, three

Mother of two Rania Ibrahim, died along with her daughters Fethia and Hania Hassan.
She was seen running into a smoke-filled corridor to seek help, then looking out of the window to the street below.

Hania Hassan (left) and Fethia Hassan
Her husband was not in Grenfell Tower at the time of the blaze as he was away in Egypt.
Victoria “Vicky” King, 71, and Alexandra Atala, 40

Pic: Metropolitan Police

Pic: Metropolitan Police
Victoria King lived in Grenfell Tower with her 40-year-old daughter Alexandra Atala – they were the final two victims of the blaze to be identified.
Penny Pearce, Ms King’s sister and Ms Atala’s aunt, said: “Eventually, thanks to the Salvation Army family tracing, I was able to get in touch with her and my niece, Alexandra, living in Grenfell Tower.
“If this had not been the case, no family member would have known they had perished as no-one knew they were still living there.”
In a statement, their family said: “We were devastated to hear of our sister, Vicky’s, fate, and that of her daughter, Alexandra, in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
“Some comfort can come from the knowledge that she and Alexandra were devoted to one another and spent so many mutually supportive years together.
“They died at each other’s side and now they can rest together in peace. We will remember them always.”
Maria Del Pilar Burton, 74

Pic: PA
Maria was rescued from the 19th floor but died in hospital in January 2018 from medical complications. She spent seven months in hospital following the fire.

Sky News will have full coverage of the Grenfell report on all platforms
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UK
Schools must be ‘brave enough’ to talk about knives – as Harvey Willgoose’s killer is sentenced
Published
3 hours agoon
October 22, 2025By
admin
Schools need to be “brave enough” to talk about knives, Sky News has been told, as the killer of Sheffield teenager Harvey Willgoose is sentenced today.
The 15-year-old was stabbed outside the school canteen at All Saints Catholic high school by a fellow pupil in February this year.
His killer, who was also 15 and cannot be identified for legal reasons, had brought a 13cm hunting knife into school.

Harvey Willgoose. Pic: Sophie Willgoose
Following Harvey’s murder, his parents Caroline and Mark Willgoose told Sky News they wanted to see knife arches in “all secondary schools and colleges”.
“It’s 100% a conversation, I think, that we need to be empowered and brave enough to have,” says Katie Crook, associate vice principal of Penistone Grammar School.
The school, which teaches 2,000 pupils, is just a few miles away from where Harvey was killed.
After being contacted by the Willgoose family, it has decided to install a knife arch.
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The arch – essentially a walk-through metal detector – has been described as a “reassuring tool” and “real success” by school leaders.
“We’re really lucky here that we don’t have a knife crime problem – but we are on the forefront with safeguarding initiatives,” says Mrs Crook.
“I didn’t really think we needed one at first,” says Izzy, 14. “But then I guess at Harvey’s school they wouldn’t think that either and then it did actually happen.”

Joe, 15, says he did find the knife arch “intimidating” at first.
“But after using it a couple of times,” he says, “it’s just like walking through a doorway”.
“And it’s that extra layer of, like, you feel secure in school.”
After Harvey’s death, then home secretary Yvette Cooper said that she would support schools in the use of knife arches.
But there remains no official government policy or national guidance on their use.
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Some headteachers who spoke with Sky News feel knife arches aren’t the answer – saying the issue required a societal approach.
Others said knife arches themselves were a significant expense to schools.
But Mrs Crook says they are “well worth the funding” if they prevent “a student making a catastrophic decision”.
“I’m a parent and, of course, my focus every day is keeping our students safe, just as I want my son to be kept safe in his setting and his school.”
Mrs Crook says she thinks schools would “welcome” a discussion at “national level” about the use of knife arches and other knife-related deterrents in schools.
“It’s sad, though that this is what it’s come to, that we’re having lockdown drills in the UK, in our school settings.
“But I suppose some might argue that has been needed for a long time.”
UK
Shrinking herds and rising costs: The beef market is in turmoil – and inflation is spiralling
Published
5 hours agoon
October 22, 2025By
admin
If you eat beef, and ever stop to wonder where and how it’s produced, Jonathan Chapman’s farm in the Chiltern Hills west of London is what you might imagine.
A small native herd, eating only the pasture beneath their hooves in a meadow fringed by beech trees, their leaves turning to match the copper coats of the Ruby Red Devons, selected for slaughter only after fattening naturally during a contented if short existence.
But this bucolic scene belies the turmoil in the beef market, where herds are shrinking, costs are rising, and even the promise of the highest prices in years, driven by the steepest price increase of any foodstuff, is not enough to tempt many farmers to invest.

For centuries, a symbolic staple of the British lunch table, beef now tells us a story about spiralling inflation and structural decline in agriculture.
Mr Chapman has been raising beef for just over a decade. A former champion eventing rider with a livery yard near Chalfont St Giles, the main challenge when he shifted his attention from horses to cows was that prices were too low.
“Ten years ago, the deadweight carcass price for beef was £3.60 a kilo. We might clear £60 a head of cattle,” he says. “The only way we could make the sums add up was to process and sell the meat ourselves.”
Processing a carcass doubles the revenue, from around £2,000 at today’s prices to £4,000. That insight saw his farm sprout a butchery and farm shop under the Native Beef brand. Today, they process two animals a week and sell or store every cut on site, from fillet to dripping.
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Today, farmgate prices are nearly double what they were in 2015 at £6.50 a kilo, down slightly from the April peak of almost £7, but still up around 25% in a year.

For consumers that has made paying more than £5 for a pack of mince the norm. For farmers, rising prices reflect rising costs, long-term trends, and structural changes to the subsidy regime since Brexit.
“Supply and demand is the short answer,” says Mr Chapman.
“Cow numbers have been falling roughly 3% a year for the last decade, probably in this country. Since Brexit, there is virtually no direct support for food in this country. Well over 50% of the beef supply would have come from the dairy herd, but that’s been reducing because farmers just couldn’t make money.”

Political, environmental and economic forces
Beef farmers also face the same costs of trading as every other business. The rise in employers’ national insurance and the minimum wage have increased labour costs, and energy prices remain above the long-term average.
Then there is the weather, the inescapable variable in agriculture that this year delivered a historically dry summer, leaving pastures dormant, reducing hay and silage yields and forcing up feed costs.
Native Beef is not immune to these forces. Mr Chapman has reduced his suckler herd from 110 to 90, culling older cows to reduce costs this winter. If repeated nationally, the full impact of that reduction will only be fully clear in three years’ time, when fewer calves will reach maturity for sale, potentially keeping prices high.
That lag demonstrates one of the challenges in bringing prices down.
Basic economics says high prices ought to provide an opportunity and prompt increased supply, but there is no quick fix. Calves take nine months to gestate and another 20 to 24 months to reach maturity, and without certainty about price, there is greater risk.
There is another long-term issue weighing on farmers of all kinds: inheritance tax. The ending of the exemption for agriculture, announced in the last budget and due to be imposed from next April, has undermined confidence.
Neil Shand of the National Beef Association cites farmers who are spending what available capital they have on expensive life insurance to protect their estates, rather than expanding their herds.
“The farmgate price is such that we should be in an environment that we should be in a great place to expand, there is a market there that wants the product,” he says. “But the inheritance tax challenge has made everyone terrified to invest in something that will be more heavily taxed in the future.”

While some of the issues are domestic, the UK is not alone.
Beef prices are rising in the US and Europe too, but that is small consolation to the consumer, and none at all to the cow.
UK
‘Don’t tell anyone’: Manager at UK’s largest housing association told staff to fake fire safety files
Published
6 hours agoon
October 22, 2025By
admin
“No one can listen to our calls?” a manager from Clarion, the UK’s largest housing association, asks one of her team on a recording that has been leaked to Sky News.
“Don’t tell anyone I told you this,” she goes on – before instructing him how to pretend he’s put up an important fire safety notice in one of their buildings.
“Just put it up on a plain bit of wall … take a picture,” she says, telling him that she’ll “come and find” him if it turns out she can’t trust him.

She brags about her management style. “I’m trying to help you hit your targets,” she says – adding: “My team is always on point, we always meet our targets.”
The recording will add to fears of residents of social housing that their safety is not taken seriously by landlords.
The conversation took place in 2022. It was reported to Clarion’s HR team in September 2023. However, an investigation only began in September 2024 when the recording was sent to Clarion management.
The manager involved was only sacked this summer – almost two years after it was first raised with Clarion.
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A Clarion spokesperson told Sky News: “In 2023, our HR team received an email from a former employee raising concerns, but no supporting evidence was provided despite our request. When an audio recording was shared with us in September 2024, we immediately launched a full investigation, which led to the dismissal of a staff member.
“It is deeply regrettable that information was not shared sooner, as this would have enabled earlier action. Building safety remains our top priority across all Clarion homes.”

They added that their “investigation included interviews of all relevant team members to ensure this was an isolated incident”.
The fire safety notice being discussed in the recording was a poster advising residents who have disabilities or vulnerabilities to contact Clarion.
The need for a building owner to identify people who will need additional help in the event of a fire is part of compliance with new regulations introduced since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 killed 72 people.
Disabled and vulnerable residents must be identified so that a “person-centred fire risk assessment” can be drawn up by the fire brigade.
Those documents should then be stored in a box on the ground floor of high-rise buildings so firefighters can easily access them in an emergency.
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Arnold Tarling
Experts warn safety failures are industry-wide
Arnold Tarling, a chartered surveyor, says the consequence of the information not being available in the event of a fire could be “death or serious injury”.
However, he says he isn’t surprised by the recording we have obtained. He believes cutting corners on fire safety “will be industry-wide” for several reasons.
“Money saving, couldn’t care less, lessons haven’t been learned, ‘it won’t happen to me,'” he says, describing an attitude he says he encounters across the housing sector.
He believes there needs to be stricter enforcement but also says workers in the industry must be prepared to call out wrongdoing.
“The fire brigade, the building safety regulator, whoever it is, needs to check, do spot checks and enforce. But when you’ve got a file which has been faked, how do you know that it’s been faked? So these issues will just simply slip through and won’t get corrected,” he warns.

‘Those in power don’t care enough’
Edward Daffarn, who survived the Grenfell fire, told Sky News that complacency about fire safety “is actually a widespread problem that still prevails”.
“I stood underneath the burning carcass of Grenfell in the days after the fire and I was absolutely convinced that it would be the catalyst for societal change,” he said.
However, more than eight years on, a new competence and conduct standard for social housing is yet to come into force and will not be fully implemented for another three to four years.
“The only conclusion I can come to is that those in power, those people who have the power to make the change necessary, really don’t care enough about people that live in social housing,” Mr Daffarn claimed.

Kwajo Tweneboa
Clarion central to government’s housing plans
As a major home builder Clarion will be one of the companies needed if the government is to deliver its ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament.
Housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa told Sky News: “I do worry about the fact that they are going to be in charge of housing thousands of more people up and down the country.
“They are also my landlords and it’s an absolute disgrace that five years into me campaigning, there’s still situations like this.”
A company spokesperson said: “Clarion continues to invest heavily in maintaining and improving our homes, and as a strategic partner of Homes England we are committed to playing our part in building safe, affordable homes that help tackle the housing crisis and give people a place they can call home.”
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “These allegations show a total disregard of vulnerable people whose lives and safety depend on strict fire safety laws.
“We are tackling the poor treatment of social housing tenants using lessons learned from the Grenfell Tower tragedy, so it can never happen again.
“Those breaking the law can already face prosecution for criminal offences including prison sentences and we’re introducing new laws so that residential personal emergency evacuation plans are required for all high-rise homes – with funding to help social landlords provide these for tenants – and ensure staff managing social housing have the skills and training to keep residents safe.”
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