Civil rights stalwart Colin Prescod says term risks avoiding real conversation about racism and systemic behaviour
The outgoing chair of the Institute of Race Relations has decried the widespread use of “nonsense” unconscious bias training, claiming it is an obvious sidestepping of tackling racial injustice.
The civil rights stalwart Colin Prescod, who is stepping down after 43 years, likened the modish phrase to the 1970s term “racial awareness”.
Continue reading...UK PM expected to urge leaders at Munich Security Conference to ‘double down on our military support’ for Kyiv
Rishi Sunak will call on world leaders to ensure a “lasting peace” for Ukraine with the establishment of a new Nato charter to help the country defend itself “again and again” in the face of any future declarations of war by Russia.
Fresh from hosting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in the UK last week, Sunak is expected to call for countries to “double down on our military support” and warn that “the security and sovereignty of every nation” is at stake.
Continue reading...Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says negotiations should be led by ‘getting it right and not timelines’ as Sinn Féin president says indications are ‘heartening’
Labour will offer Rishi Sunak the additional votes he needs to get a Northern Ireland protocol deal through parliament, the shadow justice secretary has said.
Steve Reed told reporters:
We’ll wait and see what the government is coming forward with. It’s very important for everybody in the United Kingdom that this problem is resolved. It’s a problem that is of this government’s own making, of course.
He added:
We have got the prime minister today in Northern Ireland, we hope with a deal to resolve the issues around the Northern Ireland protocol.
What we do not want to happen is that that self-same prime minister then rips up the Human Rights Act, which underpins the Good Friday agreement, because if he puts peace in Northern Ireland in peril in that way, that is an act of unforgivable irresponsibility for which you would never be forgiven.
Continue reading...Alison Rose becomes group’s second-highest-paid boss as bank reports largest profits since 2007
NatWest has been accused of “unjust” profiteering as it handed its boss Alison Rose a £5.2m pay package and upped its bonus pool for bankers, after the bailed out lender made its biggest profit since 2007 on the back of higher mortgage costs for customers.
The bank – which is still 44% owned by the taxpayer – revealed on Friday that Rose’s pay had soared by 46% from £3.6m a year earlier, partly because of the higher value of shares doled out as part of her long-term incentive plan.
Continue reading...Former victims’ commissioner Vera Baird says revelations likely to hamper future missing person cases
The release of sensitive details about the missing woman Nicola Bulley was “as sexist as it comes”, the former victims’ commissioner has said, as Lancashire police come under further pressure over their handling of the case.
Dame Vera Baird condemned the force’s “dreadful” decision to divulge medical information about Bulley, saying it was “the biggest error that I have seen for quite a long time”.
Continue reading...Jeffrey Donaldson says ‘big moment’ looming in Rishi Sunak’s effort to cut a post-Brexit deal with EU
The Democratic Unionist party has kept on track Rishi Sunak’s attempt to change the Northern Ireland protocol, declaring “progress” in Downing Street’s talks with the EU.
Jeffrey Donaldson said on Friday a “big moment” was looming in the UK’s effort to cut a deal with Brussels over Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. The DUP leader said his party would withhold judgment on any deal – which is expected next week – until it had seen the text.
Continue reading...Office of Rail and Road figures expose how train companies use legal loophole to under-report cancellations
One of the north of England’s main railway companies has a cancellation rate almost three times higher than officially recorded, figures show.
A government body that collates information about train reliability released the stats on Friday after it wrote to train companies over concerns that they were taking advantage of a legal loophole to vastly under-report cancellations.
Continue reading...Deputy first minister urges party to unite and ‘anchor SNP in mainstream of Scottish politics’
John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister and one of the Scottish National party’s longest-serving senior figures, has called for the party to unite and focus on concerns of mainstream voters as he ruled himself out of the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon.
Swinney, who is widely respected among the SNP membership and was its leader 20 years ago, said the party needed “a fresh perspective” after Sturgeon’s shock resignation on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Joseph Watts also given four-year football ban after admitting to assault at end of north London derby
A 35-year-old man has been ordered to pay compensation to the Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale after assaulting him at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the end of the north London derby.
Ramsdale, 24, was kicked in the back shortly after Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-0 in a Premier League match on 15 January.
Continue reading...Country came near median of 163 countries on Index of Impunity, higher than Hungary and Singapore
The US scores surprisingly badly in a new ranking system charting abuses of power by nation states, launched by a group co-chaired by former UK foreign secretary David Miliband.
The US comes close to the median of 163 countries ranked in the Index of Impunity, reflecting a poor record on discrimination, inequality and access to democracy. The country’s arms exports and record of violence are an even bigger negative factor.
Continue reading...Visit suggests announcement of UK-EU solution on Northern Ireland could come as early as Friday
Rishi Sunak arrived in Belfast on Thursday night, in a sign that a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol is imminent.
The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will also travel to Brussels on Friday for talks with the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič.
Continue reading...Former PM will warn in Tokyo ‘free world is in danger’ in apparent attempt to put pressure on Rishi Sunak
Britain and the rest of the G7 should urgently agree a tough package of sanctions to impose on China if it escalates military tensions with Taiwan, Liz Truss will argue, as she uses her first public overseas speech to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak.
Speaking in Tokyo on Friday, the former prime minister will urge her successor to be more hawkish in standing up to Beijing, warning coordinated action is needed to block “the rise of a totalitarian China” given “the free world is in danger”.
Continue reading...SNP scraps conference on first minister’s proposal to use next general election as ‘de facto referendum’
Senior figures in the Scottish National party believe Nicola Sturgeon’s shock resignation could delay their effort to stage another independence referendum by at least five years.
The party’s national executive committee confirmed on Thursday evening that Sturgeon’s plan – to stage a special conference on her proposals to use the next election as a single-issue “de facto referendum” on independence – had been scrapped.
Continue reading...Joseph Corré speaks out as family and friends pay tribute to designer at memorial service in London
Dame Vivienne Westwood’s son has called for his mother’s “dear friend” Julian Assange to be freed during an address at the late designer’s memorial.
In a tribute delivered from the pulpit at Southwark Cathedral, the activist Joseph Corré praised his mother’s clothes, their relationship and her legacy. “To Vivienne, punk was a political idea not a social one,” he said, before criticising the “trumped up accusations from a corrupt establishment” that had meant that, despite the family’s best efforts, Assange was not present at the service.
Continue reading...SNP politicians fear quarrel weighing on leadership contest, while any compromise could break coalition with Greens
The future of transgender rights in Scotland remains in limbo, as SNP politicians warn that a leadership contest must not become dominated by ongoing rows on gender recognition reform.
Meanwhile, Scottish Greens sources suggest that any rowback on reform could lead to the collapse of the party’s power-sharing agreement with the SNP.
Continue reading...Strikes to begin on 16 March after union rejects offers from train operators and Network Rail
The RMT union has announced further national strikes and wider action on the railways after rejecting offers from both train operators and Network Rail last week.
The union’s 40,000 members across Network Rail and 14 train operators will strike on 16 March. Train staff will walk out for three further days, on 18 and 30 March and 1 April.
Continue reading...Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group call this a ‘conflict of interest’ in preliminary hearing
The team behind the Covid inquiry has insisted there is no conflict of interest in having a PR firm which worked on Whitehall’s response to the pandemic running a listening exercise with bereaved families.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group reacted with dismay after their concerns were dismissed, saying they were “unbelievably let down”.
Continue reading...Stephen Flynn suggests party conference on next steps to push independence could now be delayed
A senior ally of Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed as “nonsense” suggestions Keir Starmer privately fought against the former leader’s handling of antisemitism while in his shadow cabinet.
Diane Abbott, who at the time was shadow home secretary, disputed the defence levied by supporters of Starmer that he spoke up about the issue at the time, given the criticism he has faced for serving in Corbyn’s top team as shadow Brexit secretary.
Continue reading...Corbyn ally says suggestions Starmer challenged handling of issue while in shadow cabinet are ‘nonsense’
A senior ally of Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed as “nonsense” suggestions Keir Starmer privately fought against the former leader’s handling of antisemitism while in his shadow cabinet.
Diane Abbott, who at the time was shadow home secretary, disputed the defence levied by Starmer supporters that he had spoken up about the issue at the time, given the criticism he has faced for serving in Corbyn’s top team as shadow Brexit secretary.
Continue reading...Westminster chief and president say conference on outgoing leader’s strategy should be delayed
Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation could prompt a major rethink around her plans to fight the next UK general election as a de facto referendum on independence, the Scottish National party’s leader in Westminster has suggested.
After the shock announcement of the first minister’s departure on Wednesday, Stephen Flynn said the special conference due to be held next month on Sturgeon’s plan should be pushed back to give the new leader time to set out their intentions.
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