The Independent - March 09, 2025

In this issue

March 09, 2025

More than 1,000 claimants die waiting for their benefits

More than 1,000 sick and disabled benefit claimants died while waiting to receive vital payments last year, The Independent can reveal, laying bare the crisis in the welfare system.

4 mins

Millions of workers face £3 an hour sick pay despite bill

Campaigners urge government to do more in new legislation

4 mins

Trump's Scottish golf resort vandalised in Gaza protest

Donald Trump's Turnberry golf resort in Scotland has been vandalised by activists in response to his recent statements on Gaza.

2 mins

Pro-Palestine activist comes down from Elizabeth Tower

A man who scaled the clock tower of Big Ben yesterday morning came down just after midnight today, having spent hours barefoot and holding a Palestine flag on the Elizabeth Tower. Pictures from the scene showed the man being lifted to the ground in a cherry picker.

1 min

Civil servants who aren't up to scratch face Labour axe

Under-performing civil servants could be enticed to leave their jobs, and senior officials will have their pay linked to performance, under new government plans. Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden has said that the state is not match-fit to rise to the moment our country faces” as he said ministers will fundamentally reshape” the service.

2 mins

Nato can survive without ‘naive' Trump, says Wallace

Ex-defence secretary says Russian economy is near collapse

2 mins

Phillips told not to apply for job 'as she was pregnant'

Jess Phillips has revealed she was told not to apply for a job because she was pregnant.

2 mins

England star: We can't take eye off the ball over equality

Marking International Women’s Day, Lionesses captain Leah Williamson opens up about the gender discrimination she has faced but strikes a note of hope in the push for change

4 mins

Reform's expulsion of MP has exposed bitter civil war

David Maddox reports on the messy infighting at the party

6 mins

Former BNP activist trains children to 'fight' the state

Minors s taught to fire air pistais and explosive arrowheads

2 mins

Inside the spy ring waging Putin's war on British soil

Mark Hollingsworth looks at the origins of the Bulgarian freelance spy ring and how even the suburbs of Norfolk are now not immune from the sinister spying of Putin’s agents

6 mins

Junta chief says Myanmar to hold an election by January

Military is struggling to keep control four years after coup

1 min

Dozen injured as three men open gunfire in Toronto pub

A dozen people were injured in a shooting at an eastern Toronto pub in what police called a reckless act of violence by three men who entered the bar and fired randomly without warning.

1 min

Israeli tourist is one of two women gang-raped in India

An Israeli tourist and an Indian homestay operator were gangraped and a man was killed during an attack in southern India.

2 mins

Canada is on a war footing as the US becomes its enemy

America is no longer a member of the free world. That is the almost unbearable truth that has been revealed over the past two months.

4 mins

Mercurial Nunez rises to Slot's call to rescue Reds

Arne Slot had talked his way into trouble. When an ignominious defeat beckoned for Liverpool, he may have talked them out of it. Confined to the directors’ box for his verbal assault on Michael Oliver after the Merseyside derby, Slot’s touchline ban did not prevent him going to the dressing room at half-time. However angry he was, his words changed the game.

4 mins

France dismantle Ireland as title race takes shock twist

France overcame the injury loss of Antoine Dupont to blow open the Six Nations title race by extinguishing Ireland’s grand slam dream with a crushing 42-27 win in Dublin.

3 mins

Scotland survive fightback to beat beleaguered Wales

Tom Jordan and Blair Kinghorn both scored doubles in Scotland’s five-try 35-29 victory over Wales at Murrayfield as the visitors went down to a 16th consecutive Test defeat and a 10th straight loss in the Six Nations.

2 mins

Beauty is only skin deep

As children beg parents for 50 retinol creams and obsess over serums, mum-of-two Charlotte Cripps looks at how skincare for tweens took over and why she’s stepping back

5 mins

California's secret outliers

The Channel Islands are home to rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, wildlife and very few visitors, discovers Ellie Seymour

6 mins

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The Independent has been at the frontline of journalism since 1986, with its mission to challenge and debate always ahead of its time. The Independent is free-thinking and free of bias in an increasingly fragmented world where communities locally, regionally and across continents are disenfranchised with traditional establishments. They want real facts and frank opinions delivered first-hand from a news source that is ready to stand for something, not everything.