Face-to-face GP appointments have been slashed and patient safety put at risk after Labour imposed changes to the booking process, doctors warn.

Since October 1 last year, all GP practices in England must accept queries and booking requests from an Online form from 8.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

But a new poll of 330 GPs and 242 practice managers found a third (32 per cent) have been forced to reduce the number of face-to-face appointments they deliver as a result.

Meanwhile, a quarter (25 per cent) think the new requirements have put patient safety at risk, the survey by GP magazines Pulse and Management In Practice found.

According to NHS England's own data, the proportion of GP appointments in England that were carried out face-to-face is on a steady downwards trend, while the proportion performed by phone or online has been rising steadily.

In June, 60.2 per cent of patients were seen face-to-face, compared to 62.9 per cent in June 2025 and 64.9 per cent in June 2024.

Patient groups and MPs have warned swapping face-to-face appointments for phone consultations could put people at serious risk

Jeremy Clarkson has said the harvest at his Diddly Squat Farm is 'f*****' as the country prepared for the year's fifth heatwave.

Mr Clarkson, 66, posted a screenshot of the BBC weather forecast for Chipping Norton to Instagram on Sunday afternoon with the caption: 'Harvest already f*****. May as well just enjoy it now.'

The forecast for the Oxfordshire village – near to where the former Top Gear presenter owns the land made famous by the Amazon Prime series Clarkson's Farm – showed a high of 29C on Sunday.

Chipping Norton is set to endure heat of up to 33C this week as Britain faces a fifth heatwave of the year, while temperatures could reach 36C in parts of East Anglia and the South East.

Mr Clarkson's farming show, which has been filming for a sixth series in recent months, has featured candid reflection on the difficult realities of British farming and will likely focus on the impact of this year's hot weather.

Last week the National Farmers' Union (NFU) warned

A convicted Islamic terrorist sentenced to death for plotting to kill an Egyptian Prime Minister is running a honey and food supply business in north London.

Yasser Al-Sirri, 63, a one-time member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, first came to Britain and claimed asylum in the 1990s following a failed assassination plot.

He was turned down but fought the decision repeatedly through the courts and appears to have won a three-decade battle to stay in Britain.

In 2021, the Appeal Court ruled in the his favour on condition he took refugee status

The Daily Mail has now tracked Al-Sirri down to a £500,000 flat in upmarket Maida Vale, west London.

He was also present at a honey business in north west London, where he works and appears to be the boss.

It has a few employees and provides wholesale food and drink products.

Staff members initially said that Al-Sirri was not in his office when a reporter visited, despite his car being parked in the driveway.

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Patient safety has been put at risk after Labour changes to GP appointment bookings led to fewer face–to–face consultations, doctors have warned.

Since October 1, all GP practices in England must accept queries and booking requests made online between 8.30am and 6pm on week days.

But a poll of 330 GPs and 242 practice managers found a third (32 per cent) had been forced to cut in–person appointments they deliver as a result.

Meanwhile, 25 per cent say the requirements have put patient safety at risk, the survey by journals Pulse and Management In Practice found, because dealing with patients remotely makes it less likely that GPs will spot symptoms of serious diseases such as cancer.

According to NHS England, the proportion of GP appointments in England carried out face to face is falling, while that of those by phone or online is rising. 

In June, 60.2 per cent of patients were seen in person, compared with 62.9 per cent in June 2025 and 64.9 per cent in June 2024.

Daily Mail

The new Education Secretary has vowed to launch a vocational 'revolution' as new figures revealed more than 50,000 teenagers will not receive any exam results this week.

Speaking ahead of A-level and T-level Results Day on Thursday, Lucy Powell said she will focus on technical and vocational pathways to tackle the number of young people not in employment, education or training (Neet).

The Department for Education (DfE) estimates that nearly 58,000 18-year-olds in England will get no results this week because they have dropped out of education and training, although some are in employment.

Mrs Powell said: 'It's a big number. We know that they're more likely to be not in education and employment for the years to come, already being out of the system.

'This is a clarion call for all of us in Government, and more widely, to really address this issue because this has a huge impact not just on those individuals for the rest of their lives but on society and the economy for years business and employers and society to come.'

She said 'pretty much' her first meeting as Education Secretary was with former health secretary Alan Milburn, who is leading a

Tokyo's former ambassador to Canberra has unleashed over Anthony Albanese's 'melons' comment about Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi.

In an episode of the Bush Deep podcast with Nikki Osborne, Albanese recalled being given a 'royal melon' by Takaichi during her first visit to Australia in May.

Osborne questioned whether the melons were 'smuggled' into Australia, to which Albanese joked that the Japanese leader has 'got a couple of melons' and made hand gestures.

Osborne joked that the Japanese leader was 'looking like Pamela Anderson' and Albanese said: 'She brought two, as you do... and they're beautiful.' 

On Monday, about a month after the comments were aired, Albanese pushed back against suggestions his remarks were a crude joke about her anatomy. 'This assertion is wrong.' 

But Shingo Yamagami, Japan's former ambassador to Australia, said the interview had undermined the Prime Minister's reputation in Japan. 

According to Yamagami, Takaichi is no stranger to derogatory remarks about her body and gender from China and her political opponents, 'the last thing she expected was to be so casually mocked by the trusted leader of Japan's special strategic partner'.

An American college student was murdered in her apartment by her abusive boyfriend before he was arrested in Germany as he attempted to flee to his home country of India, police said.

University of Arizona student Julissa Rubi Salazar, 19, was found dead with signs of trauma in her Tucson, Arizona, apartment on Thursday around 4pm after her parents requested a welfare check, according to the Tucson Police Department. 

The 19-year-old was first discovered by the fire department, which requested police backup after suspecting she had been murdered. 

Detectives examined evidence in the apartment and conducted interviews to determine that Salazar's boyfriend, University of Arizona student Varun Batchigari, 20, was the primary suspect. 

Authorities obtained a first-degree murder and kidnapping warrant for Batchigari's arrest, which was obtained by KOLD. 

According to the warrant, Salazar was discovered on the floor of the apartment with a blanket pulled up to her neck, which had strangulation and scratch marks. 

When detectives interviewed the young woman's roommates, they were told that she had been planning to break up

Amid growing scrutiny of the UK prison system, many have started to question whether the institution effectively deters crime. What do you think? Have your say in the Morning Mail poll.

Vote now and you'll find the final results in tomorrow's Morning Mail newsletter.

As a boy of seven, Matthew Jukes was pressed into service as a wine waiter, welcoming guests to his parents' Brussels home with glasses of Veuve Clicquot champagne.

Next, he found himself pouring a white German riesling, and after that a red volnay from Burgundy. He was permitted to take a surreptitious sip of each.

It sent him scurrying to the bookcase. 'I went a bit Boy Scout and got the atlas out and thought it was fascinating you could have three very different drinks from around the world,' he recalled years later. 'It made me super-curious about wine.' 

That precocious inquisitiveness, that thirst for knowledge about wine, may not immediately have fired what was to become a lifelong passion – there was an early plan to be an astrophysicist. 

But Matthew, nevertheless, went on to become one of Britain's busiest and most influential experts.

And his sudden death while on holiday in Portugal aged 58 has shocked an industry where he was a veritable star. In a brilliant 40-year career, he combined the roles of critic, author, columnist, broadcaster, wine buyer, entrepreneur and charity fundraiser.

A gifted communicator with an infectious enthusiasm, he also caused a

Margaret Thatcher backed an extraordinary secret plan to wipe out South America's cocaine crops by unleashing swarms of leaf-eating moths over drug cartel plantations, newly released files reveal.

The scheme, developed during the height of Britain's war on drugs, would have seen thousands of insects bred by scientists at Porton Down in Wiltshire and air-dropped from helicopters over coca fields in Peru.

Government papers released by the National Archives show Thatcher's administration spent around £100,000 exploring the idea in a bid to curb the flow of the Class A drug reaching Britain.

At the centre of the plan was Eloria noyesi, a species of moth whose larvae feed almost exclusively on coca leaves, the raw ingredient used to produce cocaine.

Unlike most insects, the moth can consume coca leaves safely and process the chemicals without suffering any ill effects.

Officials believed the insect could provide a cheap and effective biological weapon against powerful drug trafficking organisations operating across Peru.

Documents from 1989 show military scientists were tasked with investigating ways to breed the moths in huge numbers before releasing them over illicit plantations.

According to Foreign

Russia stepped up attacks on Ukraine over the weekend amid intelligence warnings that Putin could invade Nato countries in Eastern Europe.

More than 200 missiles and drones hit Ukraine, which is running short of vital air defences, in a blitz on Saturday night.

The coastal town of Odesa bore the brunt, with a dozen injured and the city's largest sports arena, the Chornomorets Stadium, damaged.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the seaport had been hit, adding: 'In this way, the Russians are at war with the world's food security.'

Missiles also struck a high-rise apartment block in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, according to reports.

Footage showed smoke rising from the ten-storey building as officials said three people had died and 37 were wounded in the eastern city.

In response, Ukrainian drones killed five people and injured 24 in Russia's border region of Belgorod.

It came as US intelligence warned Vladimir Putin could order an attack on a Baltic state within weeks.

Daily Mail

If you're looking for a way to avoid your strawberries going off, here's an unexpected suggestion – use seaweed.

An edible coating made from seaweed can keep the fruit at its best for at least four days at room temperature, say scientists, outperforming uncoated berries stored in a fridge.

The discovery was made by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, who say it could help cut spoilage, large scale food waste and reliance on refrigeration.

The coating is made from agar, a substance derived from red seaweed that is widely used as an alternative to gelatin and as a thickener.

On its own, agar forms a thick gel, but when the team combined it with zinc, an essential nutrient, and tannic acid, a naturally occurring plant compound, the material transformed – self-assembling into tiny microparticles that create a thin protective layer around the fruit.

Strawberries could last longer with the help of an unexpected ingredient

Daily Mail