Medical tribunal suspends James Gilbert for eight months for the ‘serious misconduct’ it uncovered
A transplant surgeon found to have sexually harassed four colleagues has been suspended for eight months.
Three of the women James Gilbert, 47, harassed were trainees at the Oxford Transplant Centre, a medical tribunal heard.
Continue reading...Charge relates to speech in which Ricky Jones ‘appeared to … encourage others to act violently towards far-right protesters’, CPS says
The suspended Labour councillor Ricky Jones, 57, has been charged with one count of encouraging violent disorder after he was filmed addressing a crowd at a London demonstration on Wednesday evening.
Jaswant Narwal, the chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service – London North, said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised the Metropolitan police to charge Ricky Jones, 57, with one count of encouraging violent disorder.
Continue reading...Ulrike Schmidt says police have not investigated incident in Walthamstow, which was interrupted by passersby
A key organiser of Walthamstow’s mass anti-racism rally on Wednesday has said someone tried to break into her home after she received threats on social media from the far right.
Ulrike Schmidt, an activist with Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) and Amnesty International, said she woke up at 5am on Friday to the sounds of someone trying to break into her home in the north-east London borough.
Continue reading...Miscarriage of justice victims say money taken from compensation payouts is additional punishment
A government minister has ruled out reimbursing some victims of miscarriages of justice after living expenses for the time they spent in prison were deducted from their compensation payments.
Last year, the then justice secretary, Alex Chalk, scrapped the policy of making deductions from all future payouts after the case of Andrew Malkinson, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he believes swift processing of rioters in courts has deterring effect but says police are poised for any further disruption
Ministers will keep the Online Safety Act under review , a government minister has said, after the London mayor called it “not fit for purpose” in light of the spread of misinformation, which he said contributed to this month’s far-right riots.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the paymaster general, said Sadiq Khan raised a “legitimate policy challenge” when he told the Guardian there needed to be amendments to the Online Safety Act.
Our officers dealt with a fifth night of incidents such as criminal damage, disorder and arson. Those who are intent on causing disorder or committing offences, need to think of the consequences of their actions.
Yesterday we issued six images of people we want to speak to in relation to this recent disorder. One individual has since been identified and we thank the public for their assistance with this.
Continue reading...Campaigners warn of complacency about effects of habit picked up by celebrities and showcased on fashion catwalks
“It’s what makes life interesting, finding the balance between cigarettes and tofu,” said Gwyneth Paltrow, slightly surprisingly, back in 2013. Even more eyebrow-raising is the news that, in some quarters, smoking is coming back into fashion.
The harm that smoking does to our health is well researched and widely understood. It is known to increase the risk of at least 16 types of cancer and 94% of UK adults recognise smoking as a risk factor for cancer.
Continue reading...Whether comment on far-right rioters, Gaza or the climate crisis, one expert suspects a grand reveal is imminent
It began with the silhouette of a goat perched atop a narrow wall near Kew Bridge in London, with tumbling rocks signifying the animal’s perilous position.
Over the course of the week, more silhouettes began popping up around the capital: two elephants with their trunks reaching towards each other from blocked-out windows on the side of a house in Chelsea; three monkeys swinging across a bridge on Brick Lane; and a wolf howling towards the sky, painted onto the face of a satellite dish on Peckham’s Rye Lane.
Continue reading...Experts say addiction patients are being treated as second-class citizens as ‘essential’ Pabrinex is withdrawn
Doctors have warned that a severe shortage of an “essential” medicine used to help protect alcoholics from degenerative brain conditions could disproportionately affect “some of the most vulnerable” in society.
Pabrinex, a multivitamin injection, is used to protect heavy drinkers from conditions such as Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome, which can have symptoms similar to dementia. Doctors are concerned the incidence of these debilitating conditions may increase as a result of the shortages.
Continue reading...Corporation says journalist brought BBC ‘into disrepute’ and requests return of money paid since his arrest
The BBC has asked Huw Edwards to return £200,000 that he was paid following his arrest in November last year, after the disgraced presenter admitted making indecent images of children.
A statement from the corporation said Edwards, who announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II, had “undermined trust in the BBC and brought us into disrepute” and they wanted him to repay his salary.
Continue reading...Surge caused by rebound in market activity very likely to influence payouts for European outposts of banks
Bonuses for Wall Street’s investment bankers are forecast to jump as much as 35% this year – although experts have warned that payouts could be knocked by stock market volatility and an economic slowdown in the US.
Fresh predictions suggest that staff across a range of financial firms – including hedge funds, asset managers and investment banks – will see payouts rise for the first time in two years. It follows a rebound in business confidence and market activity, with companies more willing to take risks amid easing inflation that has started to translate into lower borrowing costs.
Continue reading...At Edinburgh fringe event, former first minister uses colourful language in recalling events that led to his resignation from Holyrood
The former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has admitted that he “fucked up” by sacking the Greens from his government.
Earlier this year, the Greens forced a vote on the Bute House agreement – the alliance of the Scottish National party and the Greens – over the ditching of a key climate pledge.
Continue reading...Exclusive: London mayor warns law must be revisited ‘very, very quickly’ due to falsehoods that contributed to unrest
Laws designed to counter misinformation are “not fit for purpose” and must be revisited after the spread of online falsehoods contributed to this month’s far-right riots, the mayor of London has said.
Sadiq Khan, one of the UK’s most senior Muslim politicians, said ministers should act “very, very quickly” to review the Online Safety Act after the violent unrest in England and Belfast over the past week. There have been calls to hasten the act’s implementation.
Continue reading...Retired welder William Morgan thought to be oldest person charged as a result of recent unrest
A man thought to be the oldest person charged for taking part in the far-right-led riots, and two brothers who looted a library, were among those jailed on Thursday for their part in a crime “committed against the whole community”.
William Nelson Morgan, 69, was sentenced to 32 months in prison, having previously admitted violent disorder and carrying a cosh during a riot on County Road in Liverpool on Saturday.
Continue reading...Nuclear site awaits sentencing over breaches that it admitted could have threatened national security
Sellafield has apologised after pleading guilty to criminal charges relating to a string of cybersecurity failings at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site, which it admitted could have threatened national security.
Among the failings at the vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria was the discovery that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attacks, Westminster magistrates court in London heard.
Continue reading...Latest housing data show 151,630 children in temporary accommodation – the most since records began
More than 150,000 children in England are living in temporary accommodation, prompting calls for the government to address what it calls a “national scandal”.
Living in temporary accommodation is considered a form of homelessness and can involve people staying in hostel or bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation.
Continue reading...The Elon Musk-owned platform remains a vital tool for politicians despite misinformation about disorder in Britain
When Keir Starmer was running to be Labour leader in 2020, his aides seriously considered whether they should leave Twitter for good.
A number of those who remain close to Starmer as prime minister were then enthusiastic about moving off the platform. The party was still feeling wounded by the brutal election campaign and by the bitterness of the way it had been conducted on social media.
Continue reading...Tom Doherty, 67, messaged his family to say he had fallen and could not move shortly before they lost contact
The family of a retired British doctor have issued an urgent appeal after he went missing in the French Pyrenees almost 48 hours ago.
Tom Doherty, 67, from St Albans, was hiking and camping near Col d’Escots when his family lost contact with him on Tuesday evening, just after he sent messages saying he had fallen and couldn’t move.
Continue reading...Anti-racism demonstrators turned out in large numbers on Wednesday, as threat of mass far-right disorder fizzled out
Prime minister Keir Starmer has resisted calls for parliament to be recalled, but the Northern Ireland assembly in Stormont will convene a plenary session today at noon to discuss recent scenes of violent disorder on the streets of Belfast.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is set to lead a rally outside the meeting in opposition to the rioting, PA Media reports.
We’re four weeks into a Labour government. One of our promises in the manifesto was we want to increase police numbers in neighbourhood policing. We think that’s been hollowed out over the last 14 years.
We know we’ve got a lot of young officers in service because there was a massive cut to the police in the last 14 years. At the tail end of the previous government, they did increase numbers again, but that’s a lot of young, inexperienced officers, who are doing a remarkable job, I have to say.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: More than 100 far-right rallies were anticipated at immigration centres, lawyers’ offices, and charities. Instead, a tide of anti-racist counter-protesters took to the streets
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Good morning. It was billed as a night of bigotry and bloodshed: more than 100 far-right rallies were anticipated across England and Wales, with the potential for the worst unrest of the last two weeks. Shops were boarded up, and workers stayed at home; 41 of 43 local police force areas were preparing for the threat of violence. But something else happened, instead.
In Birmingham and Bristol, Southampton and Sheffield, and in many other towns and cities besides, anti-racist protesters gathered in their hundreds and thousands to stand up against the extremists. And while handfuls of far-right sympathisers did come out in some places, they were almost universally outnumbered. In many places, they simply didn’t turn up at all. At the end of the night, and with very few reports of trouble, the counter-protesters went home peacefully, their message sent with absolute clarity.
Opioids | Millions of people are addicted to, or at risk of becoming dependent on, prescription opioid painkillers, according to international research. The study found that one in three people taking opioids including codeine and oxycodone show symptoms of being dependent on them.
UK news | Shamima Begum’s legal fight to restore her UK citizenship has received a significant blow after the supreme court refused to hear an appeal. Three judges from the UK’s final court of appeal ruled “the grounds of appeal do not raise an arguable point of law”.
Austria | Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna this week have been cancelled over an apparent plot to launch an attack on a public event in the Vienna area. Austrian authorities said they had arrested a 19-year-old man for allegedly planning an Islamist attack.
Reform UK | The chair of Reform UK, Zia Yusuf, was a member of the Conservatives until last week when party officials were approached by the Guardian. Richard Fuller, the Conservative party chair, emailed Yusuf to tell him his membership had been revoked last Friday afternoon.
Travel | The huge passenger vessels sometimes known as “cruisezillas” are getting bigger than ever, according to new research finding that the world’s largest cruise ships have doubled in size since 2000. If the industry’s growth does not slow, the biggest ships in 2050 will be eight times larger than the Titanic.
Continue reading...Thousands took to the streets to take part in anti-racism protests in London, Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, thanked “police officers working tonight to protect and support local communities” after large-scale far-right riots failed to materialise, while thousands of anti-racism protesters took to the streets in several English cities on Wednesday to oppose days of far-right violence.
In many towns and cities shops were boarded up over fears of further rioting after a week of violent disorder which started in Southport on 30 July, but in most places, planned anti-immigration protests did not take place.
Continue reading...