August 2006 in Britain and Ireland

__NOTOC__ August 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - →

This page deals with current events in the English-speaking places of Europe. These are England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar.

10 August 2006 (Thursday)

• MI5 raises the UK threat level to critical for the first time as 21 arrests are made in the disrupted [...] plot to target as many as 10 planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US. (BBC) (Guardian)
• Heathrow Airport is closed to most incoming European flights as a result on bans on flights of three hours or less. Congestion builds due to ban most types of hand luggage. 1

9 August 2006 (Wednesday)

• John Reid states that critics of the UK government's anti-terror policies "just don't get it" and that Britain was facing "probably the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of the second world war" (Guardian)
• Two brothers are convicted of murdering Damilola Taylor in November 2000. (BBC News)
• Labour MP Jim Sheridan resigns his post as a parliamentary private secretary to the defence team in protest over the government policy in the Middle East. 2

8 August 2006 (Tuesday)

• England defeat Pakistan by 167 runs to clinch the series in the Third Test at Headingley (Cricinfo)
• Three men, including the Royal Correspondent of the News of the World newspaper, are arrested following allegations of phone-tapping of staff in Prince Charles's household (BBC)