Almost three-quarters of British expatriates living in Spain are considering returning home because of the economic crisis, according to a new survey.

Falling property prices, a weak pound, and fears over job security are forcing those living abroad to rethink the move.

Britons residing in Spain are suffering the most financially, with four in five complaining that the drop in the value of the pound against the euro has left them worse off.

The East Midlands, Essex, Norfolk, and Yorkshire are among the areas worst hit with 8ins of snow overnight (20cm).

Sussex, Kent and Surrey were also badly hit and are braced for another 8ins dump today, with the possibility of snow drifts whipped up by gale force 8 winds.
The Christmas getaway has been brought to a standstill with motorists struggling to get home to loved ones on the busiest travel day of the holidays, as conditions caused numerous accidents which have led to road closures.

The proportion of the population who are foreign-born has almost doubled in the past two decades to 11 per cent, or 6.7million people.

One of the key factors behind Britain’s population increase has been the flow of migrant workers from Poland, Lithuania and six other Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004.

At the same time, the percentage of children being born to foreign mothers has also reached new levels, reported Jil Matheson, the national statistician.

Until yesterday Swindon was stuck squarely between Bristol and Reading on the M4 corridor in Wiltshire. Now it has moved one step closer to Silicon Valley with plans to become Britain’s first wi-fi town, and free internet access for its 186,000-strong population.

No one within the borough boundary will be out of range of a wireless connection after April next year, when 1,400 access points will be placed on street lamps to form the “Swindon mesh”. The aim, according to the leader of the borough council, which is backing the project, is for the region to show the way for the rest of England.

Intense weather conditions in Wales and southern England brought an abrupt end to an unusually mild autumn, with isolated flooding in south-western England and severe winds in coastal regions.

Drama was not confined to the south-west, however, with a fast rescue craft from an unnamed North Sea oil rig running aground at Britain’s most easterly point.

Three men were rescued unhurt from the vessel by Lowestoft lifeboat on Friday night after the craft became stuck on a disused jetty at Ness Point in Suffolk, an RNLI spokeswoman said.

A nationwide postal strike will go ahead on Thursday and Friday, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) says.

The action, to begin at 0400 BST, comes amid a row over pay, conditions and Royal Mail’s modernisation plans.

The CWU has said it will also announce further strike dates – expected to be revealed on Thursday afternoon.

The union criticised Royal Mail bosses and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson for not getting involved in talks to end the dispute.

The UK population has passed 61 million for the first time, according to the Office for National Statistics.

There were 408,000 more people living in the UK in 2008, taking the population to 61.4 million.

For the first time in almost a decade, changes in birth and death rates have overtaken immigration as the biggest factor affecting population growth.

Overall migration levels – the numbers of people arriving minus those leaving – fell by 44% to 118,000.

Travel companies are expecting a surge in last–minute bookings to Europe after the Met Office reversed its predictions for a barbecue summer.

The Met Office said today that it expects more rain for August – in contrast to its positive summer forecast in April when it claimed that Britain was “odds-on for a barbecue summer”.

Britain is one of the most expensive destinations in Europe for holidaymakers because of the high cost of day-to-day spending, a survey shows.

Those holidaying in the UK will have to fork out around £71 a day for such items as meals out, postcards, drinks, newspapers and ice cream, a survey by Teletext Holidays found.

The £71 figure is one of the highest in Europe and compares unfavourably with the best-value destinations Turkey (£61 for daily expenditure) and Spain (nearly £65).

When it comes to ageing, our increasing life expectancy suggests we should plan for the future. But partly as a result of our Western youth-oriented culture, it is too often common practice to ignore the latter part of the life cycle.

The good news is that nowadays ageing is a more upbeat prospect than ever before. There has been an explosion of lifestyle choices, medical advances and improved retirement housing.

UK unemployment rose by a record 281,000 to 2.38 million, in the three months to May, the Office for National Statistics has said.

The jobless rate increased to 7.6%, the highest in more than 10 years.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit increased by 23,800 in June to 1.56 million, which was less than analysts had forecast.

Businesses have been cutting jobs as they seek to reduce costs in the wake of the global downturn.

The sunshine lifestyle has long tempted many Britons to uproot and make a new start on the costas of Spain. But now as the Spanish economy suffers and the opportunities there dry up, many of the expats are coming home.

Bare grey concrete beams criss-cross the sky above a building site on the Costa Blanca.

They form the skeleton of an apartment block outside Torrevieja that developers once hoped to fill with sun-tanned expats. But it stands half-built, like a stopped clock.

The Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports has gone into administration after failing to make a number of payments to sporting organisations.

The administrator Deloitte said that it would shortly cease broadcasting to customers in Great Britain but would continue to operate elsewhere.

They said they would immediately stop collecting subscription payments.

About 200 employees involved with the British operations will be made redundant, the firm said.

Britain’s oldest surviving World War I soldier celebrated his 111th birthday Wednesday — with a pub lunch.

Harry Patch, a machine-gunner who fought in the notorious Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium, joined the British Army at age 18 and was sent to the trenches six months later.

He spent four months fighting there in horrific conditions in 1917 before being seriously injured in a shell explosion which killed three of his friends.

In a bid to attract tourists, Southern Railways has tried to compare the city – recently described as one of the most “depressed” in the south of England by Boris Johnson – to the sun-kissed Mediterranean island. Posters put up at all 169 stations run by the operator depict various destinations covered by its services.

It calls London ‘the New Europe’, Brighton in East Sussex ‘the new Barcelona’, and dubs Chichester, West Sussex, ‘the new Copenhagen’.

A woman has cancelled her church wedding and country house reception after discovering her fiance is a secret porn star.

Haylie Hocking, 27, only found out that strapping 30-year-old fitness fanatic Jason Brake made adult films just weeks before the big day.

A friend organising her hen night searched online for a male stripper and spotted Jason with a woman in a porn movie.

Now Haylie has called her vicar to cancel the wedding.

Half of all women who sunbathe topless risk prosecution by failing to check if it is against local laws, the Foreign Office warned this week.

The research found that hundreds of thousands of women risk fines, imprisonment or prosecution each year by failing to adhere to local laws. In total, a quarter of the 2000 women surveyed admitted to sunbathing topless on holiday

British director Michael Radford, who made the Oscar-nominated “Il Postino” set in Italy, said he is planning a sort of follow-up that will be set during the 1936-39 Spanish civil war.

“La Mula” (“The Mule”) is the story of a Francoist soldier, Juan Castro, who is more concerned with the condition of one his mules than with winning the war.

He is ready to cross the battle lines for the animal, and eventually becomes a war hero.

Hoteliers have cut room rates by up to a quarter in the past year in an attempt to encourage people to holiday in Britain, according to research by Trivago, an online comparison website.

The average price of a double room in Manchester has fallen by 22 per cent to £78 this month, compared with £143 in June 2008. Rates in Edinburgh have fallen by 25 per cent to £110 over the same period, and in Glasgow by nine per cent to £85.

Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union walked out at the start of a 48-hour stoppage which will cause travel chaos across the capital.

The union expects the entire network to come to a halt, causing huge problems for millions of commuters and visitors and costing businesses tens of millions of pounds.

Leaders of the union met London Underground (LU) managers at the offices of the conciliation service Acas all day but failed to find a breakthrough in time to stop the strike going ahead.