A leading gastroenterologist, academics and several professionals across different fields are among the various Indian-origin achievers in the UK named in the Queen's annual Birthday Honours list released today.
Parveen June Kumar has been conferred the prestigious Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to medicine and medical education.
The 74-year-old Professor of Medicine and Education, Barts and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, is the co-editor and author of a revolutionary 1989 textbook, Kumar and Clarks Clinical Medicine, which is credited with improvements in the education of medical students, doctors and nurses in training both at home and abroad.
Among the Indian-origin Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), include Aisha Kulwant Gill, Professor of Criminology, University of Roehampton, for services to tackling forced marriage, honour crimes and violence against women.
"Her contribution to effecting social change is as a passionate advocate for women suffering gender based violence, as a grassroots campaigner, an expert adviser on policy interventions and as a highly respected academic," reads Gills citation.
Shamit Saggar, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Essex, has also been conferred a CBE for services to social science and public policy.
The UK Cabinet Office said to mark the centenary year of the honours, this years awards are the most diverse ever with 10 per cent of the successful candidates from black and minority ethnic (BAME) background, the highest ever. In total 1,109 people have received honours, which are bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II to mark her official birthday celebrations in the second week of June.
Some of the high-profile recipients this year include ex-Beatle band member Sir Paul McCartney and Harry Potter author J K Rowling, who have been conferred the highest- ranking honour of Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour, which entitles them to add CH after their name.
Among the other Indian-origin professionals recognised this year include Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBEs) conferred upon are Sital Singh Dhillon, Head of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University, for services to higher education; Dr Kamaljit Kaur Hothi, Head of Colleague Volunteering and Group Fundraising, Lloyds Banking Group, for services to diversity in the banking sector.
Arvind Michael Kapur, Chairman, National Space Centre and Founder-Director, Signum Corporate Communications Ltd, for services to science, technology, business and enterprise; Chandrakant Kataria, Group Chief Executive, East Midlands Housing Group, for services to housing in the East Midlands; and Dr Nikesh Kotecha, CEO, Morningside Pharmaceuticals, for services to entrepreneurship, innovation in pharmaceutical services and philanthropy are among other Indian-origin professionals recognised for their contribution.
The other recipients of an OBE include Ramesh Dulichandbhai Mehta, President of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), for services to the NHS.
"I am grateful for such a recognition and share the achievement with all my colleagues, friends and family members who have supported me for the years," said Dr Mehta, a prominent campaigner for Indian-origin doctors in the UK.
The others made OBE are Harinder Singh Pattar, headteacher, The Heathland School, London, for services to education; Nardeep Sharma, CEO, The Thrive Partnership Academy Trust, for services to education; Rakesh Sharma, Chief Executive, Ultra Electonics, for services to defence capability; Mahendra Pratap Singh Varma, for services to cardiology in Northern Ireland; and Sandeep Singh Virdee, founder-director, Darbar Arts Culture and Heritage Trust, for services to the promotion of Indian musical heritage in the UK.
This years Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs) include an Indian as part of the overseas list, Annabel Mehta, president of non-governmental organisation Apnalaya, for services to the community and under-privileged in Mumbai.
The UK-based MBEs include Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry, for services to the Asian community in the UK; Vilasgauri Ratilal Dhanani, for voluntary and charitable services; Pamal Jeet Hayre, for public service; Surinder Singh Jandu, for services to community cohesion; Dr Nikita Kanani, for services to primary care.
The other MBEs include Dr Serbjit Kaur, for services to dentistry; Vikas Kumar, for services to the arts and culture; Pritpal Singh Nagi, for services to business and charity in Staffordshire; Nitin Palan, for services to interfaith relations; Anjna Morarji Patel, for services to the parking profession; Sazeda Patel, for services to the community in Blackburn; Dr Bharti Rajput, for services to podiatry and the economy in Dundee.
Tejinder Kumar Sharma, for services to Hindi Literature and to Community Cohesion in London; Dr Shobba Srivastava, for voluntary service to community cohesion in North East England; and Deepak Verma, for services to the arts, also receive an MBE.
The Medallist of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) completes the 2017 honours list with Bula Chakravarty-Agbo, for services to the arts; Uma Nalayini Fernandes, for voluntary service to community healthcare in Middlesex; Suraj Bhan Khandelwal, for services to business and the community in Leicester; Vinod Mathuradas Kotecha, for services to the Asian community; and Mohinder Singh Sangha, for services to the community in Leicester.
The UK's Honours and Appointments Secretariat receive around 10,000 enquiries from members of the public each year, resulting in around 3,000 nominations for the honours every year. In addition to nominations from the public, government departments ask schools, hospitals, local authorities and similar organisations for suggestions of potential candidates.
The Queens official birthday celebrations will be marked by the traditional Trooping of the Colour parade near Buckingham Palace this weekend.
SANDHYA R, a 47-year-old councillor from Pala municipality in Kerala’s Kottayam district, has been working in London for the past nine months on a dependent visa after mounting debts forced her to seek work abroad.
Her situation worsened in April when her husband, Vinukumar, also 47, died of a suspected heart attack at his East Ham residence in the UK, Onmanorama reported.
Sandhya has been unable to afford repatriating the body to India or arranging a burial in the UK. The body remains in a hospital mortuary. She was elected from Murikkumpuzha ward on a CPI ticket and is currently the chairperson of the Public Works Standing Committee in Pala.
A post-graduate and former temporary UP school teacher, she left for the UK in September 2024 after selling the family’s house and vehicles due to financial losses in the share market and online loans.
She told Onmanorama that her husband had lost his phone and struggled to maintain contact before his death. Sandhya had briefly returned to Pala in February 2025 to vote in a no-confidence motion that unseated then chairman Shaju Thuruthan. She said her party arranged her travel.
Though a British Malayali charity offered help for the funeral, she declined after rumours spread in her hometown that she was profiting from the funds. “I didn’t take a penny from anyone,” she said.
Municipal chairman Thomas Peter and councillors Neena George and Maya Pradeep confirmed that ward and committee functions continue in her absence. Sandhya said she is in touch with residents and wants to secure a better job to support her daughters, aged 19 and 15. “That’s my only goal now,” she said.
A three-vehicle collision on Tavistock Road in Plymouth led to significant traffic disruption on Thursday, May 15.
The crash occurred at around 11:00 BST and prompted an immediate response from Devon and Cornwall Police, the fire service, and paramedics. Emergency services attended the scene to manage the incident and assess those involved.
According to a witness, it appeared that one vehicle had collided with the rear of another. Photographs from the scene showed emergency crews present amid long queues of traffic.
The collision resulted in the closure of all southbound lanes on Tavistock Road between William Prance Road and Manadon Roundabout, causing substantial delays for motorists. The roads and traffic monitoring service Inrix reported the incident at 11:27 BST, confirming slow traffic and lane closures in the affected area.
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Police stated that investigations into the cause of the crash are ongoing. The road remained closed for several hours to allow emergency services to clear the scene safely.
By 14:30 BST, Tavistock Road was reopened to traffic. No further details have been released regarding any injuries sustained or the circumstances leading up to the crash.
Drivers were advised to follow local traffic updates and seek alternative routes during the closure.
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The FCA said the money will be returned to investors as soon as possible. (Photo: Reuters)
THE Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has secured confiscation orders totalling £305,284 from Raheel Mirza, Cameron Vickers and Opeyemi Solaja for their roles in an investment fraud. The orders cover all their remaining assets.
The confiscation proceedings against a fourth defendant, Reuben Akpojaro, have been adjourned.
The FCA said the money will be returned to investors as soon as possible. Failure to pay could lead to imprisonment.
Between June 2016 and January 2020, the defendants cold-called individuals and persuaded them to invest in a shell company.
They claimed to trade client money in binary options, but the funds were used to fund their lifestyles.
In 2023, the four were convicted and sentenced to a combined 24 and a half years.
Steve Smart, executive director, Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said: “We are committed to fighting financial crime, including denying criminals their ill-gotten gains. We’ve already successfully prosecuted these individuals for their part in a scam that conned 120 people out of their money. We’re now seeking to recover as much as we can for victims.”
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Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said at a Downing Street press conference that the changes were necessary as male prisons in England and Wales are expected to run out of space by November.
THOUSANDS of criminals, including domestic abusers and sexual offenders recalled to prison for breaching licence conditions, will be released after 28 days under new emergency measures to manage the prison capacity crisis.
Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said at a Downing Street press conference that the changes were necessary as male prisons in England and Wales are expected to run out of space by November. “That would lead to a total breakdown of law and order,” she said.
The policy applies to offenders originally sentenced to between one and four years. Terrorists and those assessed by the police, prison and probation services as high risk or those who have committed serious further offences will be excluded, The Times reported.
Mahmood said the change “buys us the time we need to introduce the sentencing that — alongside our record prison building plans — will end the crisis in our prisons for good.”
According to The Times, the number of prison spaces has dropped below 500, with jails operating at 99 per cent capacity. The Ministry of Justice said those being recalled for minor infractions, such as missing appointments or failing to notify changes in circumstances, are clogging up the system. Currently, 13,583 people — 15 per cent of the prison population — are in jail after recall, up from 100 in 1993.
Victims commissioner Baroness Newlove told The Times: “Victims will understandably feel unnerved and bewildered… reducing time served on recall can only place victims and the wider public at an unnecessary risk of harm.”
Domestic abuse commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs said: “You are not sent to prison for four years if you do not pose significant danger… Re-releasing them back into the community after 28 days is simply unacceptable.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said Labour was “siding with criminals over the public” and should instead focus on the 17,000 people on remand and deporting the 10,350 foreign criminals in UK prisons.
Amy Rees, interim permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, said failure to enact the measures would be “intolerable” and could force courts to release dangerous offenders on bail due to lack of space.
The policy is expected to create 1,400 places and remain in place until the government’s wider sentencing reforms begin next spring. Construction on three new prisons will begin this year, adding 5,000 places, but the government still faces a projected shortfall of 9,500 by 2028.
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They traced its likely path through a prominent landowning family
A document long believed to be a mere copy of Magna Carta has been identified as a rare original dating back to 1300, making it one of the most valuable historical manuscripts in existence, according to British academics.
The discovery was made after researchers in the UK examined digitised images of the document, which has been held in Harvard Law School’s library since 1946. At the time, the manuscript was purchased for just $27.50 – approximately £7 at the then exchange rate – and described as a damp-stained 14th-century copy. Today, that sum would be roughly $450 (£339) adjusted for inflation.
However, medieval history professors David Carpenter of King's College London and Nicholas Vincent of the University of East Anglia now believe the manuscript is an original Magna Carta from the year 1300, issued during the reign of King Edward I.
“This is a fantastic discovery,” said Professor Carpenter, who first began analysing the document after encountering its digitised version on Harvard’s website. “It is the last Magna Carta... It deserves celebration, not as some mere copy, stained and faded, but as an original of one of the most significant documents in world constitutional history – a cornerstone of freedoms past, present and yet to be won.”
Professor Carpenter said he was “absolutely astonished” by the finding and by the fact that the manuscript’s true nature had gone unrecognised for decades. “That it was sold for peanuts and forgotten is incredible,” he added.
Magna Carta, first issued by King John in 1215, is widely regarded as a foundational document in the history of constitutional law. It established the principle that everyone, including the monarch, was subject to the law, and it granted basic liberties and protections to the king’s subjects. The charter has had a lasting influence, shaping constitutional frameworks in countries around the world.
The academics hope that the newly authenticated Magna Carta will be made available for public viewingHarvard
Following the 1215 version, the charter was reissued multiple times by successive monarchs, culminating in the 1300 edition issued under King Edward I. During this period, it is believed that around 200 original copies were produced and distributed across England. Only 25 of these originals are known to survive today, from the various editions between 1215 and 1300. Most are in the UK, with two in the US National Archives in Washington DC and one in Parliament House, Canberra.
“It is an icon both of the Western political tradition and of constitutional law,” said Professor Vincent. “If you asked anybody what the most famous single document in the history of the world is, they would probably name Magna Carta.”
The professors now believe the document discovered at Harvard originated in the town of Appleby, Cumbria. They traced its likely path through a prominent landowning family, the Lowthers, who are thought to have passed the manuscript to Thomas Clarkson, a leading anti-slavery campaigner in the 1780s. From there, the document entered the Maynard family estate.
In late 1945, Air Vice-Marshal Forster Maynard sold it at auction through Sotheby’s, where it was purchased by a London bookseller for £42. Harvard Law School acquired it months later for a fraction of that price, and it was catalogued as HLS MS 172 – a “copy made in 1327”.
The manuscript will become one of the most significant items in Harvard’s collectionHarvard
To determine the manuscript’s authenticity, Professors Carpenter and Vincent spent over a year analysing the text and comparing it to the six other known originals from the 1300 issue. Due to its faded condition, they did not work directly from the original but instead examined images taken using ultraviolet and spectral imaging techniques.
They found that the handwriting, dimensions and phrasing of the manuscript all matched the characteristics of the confirmed 1300 versions. The exact wording was critical to establishing its authenticity, as the text of Magna Carta was slightly altered with each reissue. The Harvard manuscript passed these tests “with flying colours”.
The value of the document could be extremely high. In 2007, a 1297 version of Magna Carta sold at auction in New York for $21 million – around £10.5 million at the time. While Professor Vincent declined to estimate the exact value of the Harvard version, he acknowledged it could be worth a similar figure.
Amanda Watson, assistant dean for library services at Harvard Law School, praised the discovery and the work of the academics involved. “This exemplifies what happens when collections are opened to brilliant scholars,” she said. “Behind every scholarly revelation stands the essential work of librarians, who not only collect and preserve materials, but create pathways that otherwise would remain hidden.”
The academics hope that the newly authenticated Magna Carta will be made available for public viewing, allowing more people to appreciate its historical significance.
“This document speaks to the very roots of legal liberty,” said Professor Carpenter. “It is more than just a piece of parchment – it’s a living symbol of the rights we enjoy and continue to fight for today.”
If confirmed by additional verification and widely recognised as an original, the manuscript will become one of the most significant items in Harvard’s collection and a key artefact in the history of global democracy.