Average pay for British public sector workers fell to a 19-year low in October, after adjusting for inflation, according to official data on Tuesday that underscored why so many are going on strike.

British nurses will go on strike this week, hitting already stretched hospitals and cranking up pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to quell the biggest wave of industrial action to hit the country in decades.

Britain's economy remains on course for a long-lasting recession on fallout from the highest inflation in decades, analysts said on Monday, even if official data showed growth in October.

The Ministry of Defence is also in talks with the National Health Service, Downing Street said, after ambulance drivers voted to join nurses in striking this month.

Pubs have been central to British communities for centuries, but their number has been dwindling for years and has plunged to its lowest ever level

The UK government Monday stressed the British Museum is legally forbidden from breaking up its vast collection, after a report said it could possibly hand the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece.

At a vast warehouse in the southern Dutch city of Roosendaal, automated cranes and driverless vehicles silently stack clothes for the French and Italian stores of retailer Primark, reducing the need for hard-to-come-by labour.

Around half of all employees in the sector are from non-professional backgrounds

The Supreme Committee is covering up after a Qatari official responsible for delivering the World Cup revealed that 400-500 migrant workers had died.

Chukwudubem Ifeajuna, a nurse in the south of England, loves his job, but next month will walk out for two days as part of British nurses' biggest ever strike action, which he says is necessary for staff and patient welfare alike.

Numerous other public and private sector staff, from lawyers to airport ground personnel, have also held strikes this year.

Twitter has proven itself a formidable ally for political activists and opposition groups, one whose reach and impact would be difficult to replace.

The online retail group has annual sales of almost £2.0 billion per year, and its chief executive was paid a £1.3 million bonus this year.

A group of 17 investors managing 3.2 trillion pounds ($3.82 trillion) have called on Britain's biggest listed employers to offer more support to low-paid workers as inflation drives a sharp rise in the cost of living.

UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has urged UK businesses to train local people while the CBI head wants more migrant workers boost economy growth.

British main opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer warned business bosses on Tuesday "the days of low pay and cheap labour" must end, putting him in line with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has also rejected calls for looser immigration rules.

The assembly has been crippled since February following the withdrawal of its largest pro-UK party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The UK has forecast its economy to shrink 1.4 percent next year, hit additionally by fallout from Brexit which has resulted in foreign workers returning home.

British inflation has jumped to a 41-year high on soaring energy and food bills in a worsening cost-of-living crisis, data showed Wednesday on the eve of a key budget.

Even in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which has the Arab world's largest economy and shares a land border with Qatar, fans said the costs were prohibitive.

British employers are planning the biggest pay hikes in a decade to fill roles but real-term wages will still grow more slowly than inflation, a survey showed on Monday.

British employers cut their hiring of permanent staff via recruitment firms for the first time in nearly two years in October as the country's political upheaval added to concerns about the economy, a survey showed on Thursday.

European workers squeezed by the soaring cost of living went on strike in Belgium and Greece on Wednesday, with stoppages threatening to paralyse parts of Britain, France and Spain in coming days.

Britain's biggest domestic bank Lloyds has offered UK staff a minimum 2,000 pounds ($2,242) pay rise, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, as lenders and employees across the sector begin annual pay talks that could see wage bills soar.

The settlement is the latest ripple effect from a major March 2021 ruling by Britain's Supreme Court classifying Uber drivers as employees.

The Prince of Wales is also the president of the English Football Association.

Elected for the first time to parliament in 2015, Rishi Sunak became Britain's youngest prime minister in more than 200 years on Monday, tasked with steering the country through an economic crisis and mounting anger among some voters.

Royal Mail could cut up to 10,000 jobs and warned of more layoffs if planned strikes go ahead, as the former British postal monopoly that is locked in a dispute with its largest union on Friday flagged even deeper losses this year, sending its shares as much as 17% lower.

Britain's new finance minister Jeremy Hunt faces an early test of his attempt to stem the crisis of confidence in Prime Minister Liz Truss on Monday when the bond market delivers its verdict on his weekend overhaul of her economic programme.

The Bank of England on Tuesday unveiled yet more measures aimed at calming markets rocked by a UK budget as it warned over risks to the nation's financial stability.