Thousands of us could be getting our parcels dropped off by a drone rather than a human by the end of next year.
It may only a few weeks after it was revealed that the little shopping delivery robots dropping off Co-op groceries to Greater Manchester residents would be rolling out to more areas of our region, but it now looks like we’re taking yet another step closer to what living life in the future would look like.
And that’s because Amazon has announced it’s launching a drone delivery service in the UK next year.
Already a futuristic reality over in the US states of California and Texas, the American technology giant announced yesterday, as it unveiled its new generation of drones at its HQ in Seattle, that it intends to introduce autonomous aircraft delivery in Britain and Italy sometime “in late 2024”.
The company said it will begin using the currently-unmanned airborne vehicles for distributing goods from some of its same-day delivery sites, one of which will be in the UK, but no location for this site has been revealed yet.
Amazon said it hopes to be delivering 500 million packages via drone worldwide each year by the end of the decade.
This ambitious announcement comes up to a decade after the company first publicly-announced that it was setting its sights on the skies back in 2013, and nearly seven years after it previously trialled an early version of the ‘Prime Air’ delivery system down in Cambridgeshire in 2016 – but since then, it’s fair to say progress has been slow.
Following from what it learned during the 2016 trial, Amazon has said it doesn’t intend to relaunch the drone delivery service from standalone centres, and will be integrating the drones into its existing network instead.
Amazon is launching a drone delivery service in the UK / Credit: Amazon
Announcing the expansion of its autonomous delivery service this week, Amazon said in a statement: “As part of our continued efforts to innovate for customers, we are excited to announce the expansion of Prime Air delivery internationally, for the first time outside the US.
“We have been delivering packages by drone for almost a year in California and in Texas and we have built a safe, reliable delivery service and have partnered very closely with regulators and communities, so we will continue with that collaboration into the future to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers and the communities we serve.”
Amazon will be working with the UK Government and aviation authorities to reintroduce the drones into the UK airspace.
The futuristic service could be in flight by the end of 2024 / Credit: Amazon
Aviation minister Baroness Vere called Amazon’s announcement this week “fantastic”.
“Amazon’s announcement today is a fantastic example of government and industry coming together to achieve our shared vision for commercial drones to be commonplace in the UK by 2030,” Baroness Vere said in a statement.
“Not only will this help boost the economy, offering consumers even more choice while helping keep the environment clean with zero emission technology, but it will also build our understanding of how to best use the new technology safely and securely.”
Featured Image – Amazon
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Same-sex penguin couple to raise rare baby chick together at Chester Zoo
Emily Sergeant
10 rare baby penguin chicks have hatched at Chester Zoo, and one of them has some rather unique parents.
The rare new arrivals are highly-threatened Humboldt penguins, which is one of the most at-risk out of the world’s 17 species of penguin, and began hatching from their eggs throughout April, but since then, they have spent their first few weeks of life tucked away in their nest burrows.
Humboldt penguins – which are ound on the rocky coastal shores of Peru and Chile – are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as they face a number of threats in the wild, including climate change, overfishing, and rising ocean temperatures.
Commonly with penguins, both mum and dad share feeding and parenting duties.
Keepers at Chester Zoo support the parents by providing plenty of extra fish, which the adult penguins swallow, blend into a protein-rich soup, and then regurgitate to feed the chicks.
But in what is a heartwarming development, one of the chicks is being raised by a same-sex penguin couple, Scampi and Flounder, as the devoted duo were seen to step in to help raise one of two eggs laid by another penguin pair, Wotsit and Peach.
The zoo’s bird experts carefully shared the eggs between the two nests to help give both chicks the best possible start and help improve chances of successful fledging, and now keepers say the chicks are just ‘days away’ from taking the plunge into their very first swimming lessons at the zoo’s Penguin Island habitat.
10 rare Humboldt penguins have hatched at Chester Zoo / Credit: Chester Zoo
As part of a long-standing zoo tradition, conservationists pick a different naming theme for the chicks each year, and this year’s cohort have been named after stars and celestial wonders – with some of the chicks being Ursa, Alcyone, Orion, Dorado, and Cassiopeia.
“10 chicks hatching in one season marks a bumper year for the penguins here,” commented Zoe Sweetman, who is the Team Manager of Penguins at Chester Zoo.
“It’s fantastic news for the species and a brilliant success for the international conservation breeding programme. The fluffy new arrivals are all being looked after brilliantly by their parents, having nearly quadrupled in size since they first emerged.
“They’re now days away from a really exciting milestone – their very first swimming lessons, which is always a thrill to witness as they dive into the pool for the very first time.”
Featured Image – Chester Zoo
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Bob Vylan dropped from Manchester music festival following Glastonbury controversy
Danny Jones
English punk rap duo Bob Vylan have been dropped from an upcoming music festival in Manchester following the recent controversy surrounding their set at Glastonbury 2025.
The media storm surrounding their much-talked-about and heavily televised Glasto appearance has seen them reportedly dropped by their agency and their US Visas cancelled, along with multiple concerts – one of those being right here in Greater Manchester.
Bob Vylan were scheduled to play RADAR Fest at Victoria Warehouse in Stretford this weekend, but now the organisers have informed gig-goers that the artists will not be performing in their planned slot on Saturday.
The alternative music event did provide any additional details, posting nothing but this image:
For anyone unaware, Vylan were heavily criticised for the pro-Palestine chants, which Glastonbury itself has deemed as having “crossed a line”, labelling the chants against the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as antisemitic.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also commented on the situation.
In addition to RADAR, Vylan were also due to appear at Kave Fest in France the following Sunday, 6 July, but the music event has also decided not to host them.
The BBC also opted not to broadcast Northern Irish band Kneecap as part of their coverage this year, as the Belfast rap trio have also been outspoken on the issue, among many other musicians of late.
Responding to the decision on social media not long after the news broke, the act simply shared the post on their Instagram story along with the caption: “Silence is not an option. We will be fine, the people of Palestine are hurting. Manchester, we will be back.”
Emily Sergeant -
20th October 2023 
