Asked if next week could set the record for the hottest day of the year so far, Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said it is “not beyond the realms of possibility”.
“There will be plenty of dry, fine and sunny weather through the weekend in the UK with high pressure still in charge, seeing some warmer temperatures, possibly seeing [temperatures in the] low-20s especially in the west,” he said.
“As we move towards next weekend there’s a signal for temperatures possibly getting towards the mid-20s.
“It is western areas that are looking likely to have the longer sunny periods, parts of Wales as well as the South West of England, but for the vast majority it will be feeling very pleasant with sunshine.”
Pollen levels also high
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Although it will be “slightly warmer than average”, the weather won’t reach heatwave level, he added.
But UV and pollen levels will also be high, the Met Office said.
Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland will miss out on some of the sunshine with isolated showers.
The hottest day of the year so far was Tuesday when 25.1C (77.1F) was recorded in Porthmadog in north Wales.
May was much drier than average, with only 55% of predicted rainfall (39mm) compared to the long-term average. May 2020 was slightly drier with just 32.8mm of rain.
Sir Keir Starmer has warned the UK has a “cohort of loners who are extreme and need to be factored in” as a leaked Home Office review said the UK should deal with extremism by focusing on concerning behaviours and activity rather than ideologies.
The prime minister said his government is “looking carefully where the key challenges” on extremism are, adding it is “very important” to focus on threats “so we can deploy our resource properly”.
“Obviously, that’s now informed with what I said last week in the aftermath of the Southport murders, where we’ve got the additional challenge, I think, of a cohort of loners who are extreme and they need to be factored in,” he said.
“So that’s the focus. In the end, what this comes down to is the safety and security of people across the United Kingdom, that’s my number one focus.”
Sir Keir was speaking after a leaked Home Office extremism review suggested the UK should be focusing on behaviours and activities such as spreading conspiracy theories, misogyny, influencing racism and involvement in “an online subculture called the manosphere”.
The Home Office said Islamism and extreme right-wing ideologies are the “most prominent” issues they are tackling today.
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In August, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Home Office was conducting a “rapid analytical spring on extremism” to map and monitor trends and inform the government’s approach to extremism.
The 18-year-old had been referred to the anti-terror Prevent programme three times but was not deemed as an extremist under the scheme’s criteria. And, although he pleaded guilty to murder, police were unable to identify Rudakubana’s motive, so his crimes fell outside the definition of terrorism.
Recommendations could be breach of freedom of speech
The leaked review, obtained ahead of its publication by the Policy Exchange thinktank, recommends reversing the guidance, introduced by then Home Secretary Suella Braverman, for police to reduce dealing with non-hate crime incidents.
It says a new crime, making “harmful communications” online illegal, should be introduced instead. The Conservative government rejected this on freedom of speech grounds.
Policy Exchange’s Paul Stott and Andrew Gilligan said recommendations to class claims of two-tier policing as a “right-wing extremist narrative” will also raise concerns over freedom of speech.
Dangerous individuals could be missed
They said including “behaviours” such as violence against women and girls, spreading misinformation and an interest in gore or extreme violence in the definition of extremism could “swamp already stretched counter-extremism staff and counter-terror police with thousands of new cases”.
This could increase the risk “that genuinely dangerous individuals are missed – it risks addressing symptoms, not causes”, Policy Exchange said.
The review itself admits many who display such behaviours are not extremists.
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Could the Southport killings have been prevented?
Review ‘downplays Islamism’
Following Rudakubana’s guilty plea last week, Sir Keir said the UK “faces a new threat” and the teenager represented a new kind of threat with “acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety”.
He said he would change the law, if needed, “to recognise this new and dangerous threat” and said a review of “our entire counter-extremism system” would take place “to make sure we have what we need to defeat it”.
The review also “de-centres and downplays Islamism, by far the greatest threat to national security”, Policy Exchange said.
It said environmental extremism and Hindu extremism should be tackled, as well as “left-wing, anarchist and single issue extremism”.
And Policy Exchange said it has “ignored, even repudiated” recommendations by previous Prevent reviewer William Shawcross that the programme is the wrong place for dealing with the psychologically unstable.
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1:33
‘Southport must be a line in the sand,’ the PM says
Government focused on Islamism and right-wing ideologies
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The counter-extremism sprint sought to comprehensively assess the challenge facing our country and lay the foundations for a new approach to tackling extremism – so we can stop people being drawn towards hateful ideologies.
“This includes tackling Islamism and extreme right-wing ideologies, which are the most prominent today.
“The findings from the sprint have not been formally agreed by ministers and we are considering a wide range of potential next steps arising from that work.”
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “By extending the definition of extremism so widely, the government risks losing focus on ideologically motivated terrorists who pose the most risk to life.
“In fact, the Shawcross Review of Prevent made clear that counter-extremism and the counterterrorism strategy should be more focused on terrorist ideology, not less.
“Prevent must be equipped to deal with the terrorist threats in our society, and we should not be dialling back efforts to confront this.
“What the government seems to be planning is a backwards step in the interests of the political correctness we know Keir Starmer loves.
“Starmer wants the thought police to stop anyone telling uncomfortable truths that he and his left-wing lawyer friends don’t like.”
In an update on Monday, the force announced that “extensive and detailed searches” of the river and harbour had concluded.
But wider inquiries to find the sisters continue, including searches of coastal areas in the north and south of Aberdeen.
Superintendent David Howieson said any further information received by police will be “acted upon”.
He added: “Our thoughts are very much with their family at what is a very difficult time.”
Investigating officers previously said there had been “no evidence” of the women leaving the immediate area and there had been nothing to suggest “suspicious circumstances or criminality”.
The police revealed that the sisters – who are part of a set of triplets and originally from Hungary – visited the bridge where they were last seen about 12 hours before they disappeared.
They also sent a text message to their landlady on the morning they vanished, indicating they would not be returning to the flat.
In a statement released via Police Scotland earlier this month, the women’s family said: “This has been a very worrying and upsetting time for our family.
“We are really worried about Eliza and Henrietta and all we want is for them to be found.”
The Traitors finalist Alexander Dragonetti has inspired more than £30,000 in charity donations after opening up about his late brother’s learning disabilities on the show.
Mr Dragonetti told fellow contestants during the BBC show’s final that he would be donate some of the prize money to Mencap, an organisation that supports people with learning disabilities, if he won.
The former British diplomat said his late brother, who had Global Developmental Delay and autism, used to go to summer camps set up by the organisation, and that he would “love to put some money their way to keep it going”.
The 38-year-old failed to win the series, losing out to project manager Jake Brown and former soldier Leanne Quigley for the £94,600 prize pot.
But Mencap says he has inspired more than 2,000 people to make donations since the final, raising £31,000.
Mencap’s chief executive Jon Sparkes said the charity was “really grateful to Alexander for courageously sharing his personal story”.
He added: “Despite not winning on Friday night Alexander remained faithful to the end and captured the hearts of the nation – he is our champion!
“Telling his story has inspired a tremendous wave of generosity from the public. Their overwhelming support for Mencap has been incredible, with generous donations around £30,000.
“These donations are needed more now than ever as people with a learning disability continue to face extensive inequalities every day.
“We know that when the experiences of people with a learning disability, and their loved ones, are represented in the media, it helps to change attitudes and make our society more inclusive,” Mr Sparkes added.
“We loved watching Alexander’s journey throughout the show and want to thank him for all that he’s done.”
‘This way, you still win’
The charity also shared some comments from anonymous donors inspired by the contestant.
One read: “My son is non verbal autistic and severe learning difficulties. I have a monthly donation but this one is for Alexander, it’s what you wanted and this way, you still win. National treasure.”
“I have always had family friends with learning disabilities but it was Alexander from the traitors that inspired me to donate,” another read.
Another donator wrote: “I’m the parent of a child with learning disabilities who will need care in the future and I worry about his future when I’m gone every day.
“I also was moved by Alexander’s story on the traitors and wanted to donate to his cause even though he hadn’t won.”