On April 24, 2024, UK Day will focus on:
● The British royal war horse broke off, and London ran bloodied and injured many people
● Sunak pledges to increase UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030
● Six people were arrested in a riot sparked by St George's Day celebrations in central London
● Zoopla statistics show that the number of properties for sale in the UK's coastal areas will surge in 2023
The British royal war horse broke off, and London ran bloodily and injured many people
According to the latest reports from a number of British media today (April 24), when the British Royal Cavalry was conducting daily morning exercises at the Horse Guards parade ground in Whitehall, a number of horses suddenly broke off the reins, and the rider was thrown to the ground, and then galloped in central London, and the public witnessed one of the horses with blood on his chest.
Witnesses said a horse galloped across the road, crashed into a bus and car parked on the side of the road, and then sped away. Witnesses said people were screaming and running in all directions as the horse galloped towards them.
Bashir Aden, a 48-year-old construction worker, said a soldier fell to the ground after his horse rushed towards a car. The man fell to the ground and screamed in pain. There was blood everywhere on the cars parked on the side of the road. ”
Military sources said it was extremely unusual for the RAS's horses to be so frightened, as they were well-trained and accustomed to being close to traffic and crowds.
After the incident, Buckingham Palace Road was closed and a cordon was set up near the scene. While the ambulance personnel were treating the wounded soldiers, a blue tent was set up at the scene.
At the time of writing, four people were injured in three different locations in central London. All horses have been captured.
Sunak pledges: to increase UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030
On April 23, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he would increase defense spending by another billion pounds, increasing to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.
Britain's opposition Labour Party has also said it will target 2.5% of GDP for defense spending, as economic conditions permit.
According to the plan, British defence spending will gradually increase over the next six years, reaching £87.1 billion by 2030, £23 billion more than this year's budget, Downing Street said.
Sunak stressed that the UK is "not on the brink of war", but that the additional spending will make the UK's defence industry combat-ready.
The chart below shows NATO countries' defense spending as a percentage of GDP in 2023, with the UK spending 2.07% of GDP last year and expected to reach 2.3% this year.
St George's Day celebrations in central London sparked violence and six people were arrested
Every year on April 23, St. George's Day, the patron saint of England, was celebrated on the day of violence in central London – a crowd of people attending the festival clashed with police near Downing Street, resulting in the arrest of six people.
Footage from the scene released by the Metropolitan Police showed many people marching forward in the streets near Downing Street, wearing St. George's flags and singing songs and shouting slogans.
The mounted police intervened after a small number of people tried to pass through the cordon set up by the police for the area of activity. Clashes erupted, and in the midst of the scuffle, a man with an umbrella hit a police horse.
According to the Metropolitan Police, one man was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and one man was arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace while drunk. Four others were arrested outside the Whitehall Bar, three of them on suspicion of assaulting first responders.
Zoopla statistics show a surge in the number of properties for sale in the UK's coastal areas in 2023
The BBC, citing Zoopla statistics, pointed out that in 2023, the number of properties for sale in the UK's seaside areas increased by a fifth. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset saw particularly strong growth in the number of properties for sale, with prices rising by 20% in the last year.
In the South West of England, the number of properties for sale is around 2.5 times higher than in the spring of 2022.
Some areas of Wales, such as Caerphilly and Vale of Glamorgan, where Cardiff can be commuted to, have also seen a significant increase in the number of properties for sale. The same is true in rural areas of the East Midlands, such as the southern Lincolnshire and Derbyshire peak districts.