Newly declassified papers show shocking role played by Britain in slaughter
A propaganda campaign orchestrated by Britain played a crucial part in one of the most brutal massacres of the postwar 20th century, shocking new evidence reveals.
British officials secretly deployed black propaganda in the 1960s to urge prominent Indonesians to “cut out” the “communist cancer”.
Continue reading...Energy firm and director Alexander Temerko have given £1.1m between them to Conservatives
French mayors and residents along the Normandy coast are campaigning to block a project for a cross-Channel electricity cable backed by a Ukrainian-born businessman who has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservative party.
Kwasi Kwarteng, Britain’s business secretary, is due to decide this week on whether to give the go-ahead to a £1.2bn project for the 148-mile cable between Normandy and Hampshire. The firm says the link, which will run through Portsmouth, could supply up to 5% of Britain’s electricity needs.
Continue reading...Expectant mothers tell helpline that midwives are advising them against vaccines despite threat posed by virus
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Pregnant women are being advised by some health professionals not to have the Covid vaccine despite an edict from the NHS that they should encourage them to get the jab. One in six of the most critically ill Covid patients requiring life-saving care are unvaccinated pregnant women, figures released last week show.
Yet messages sent to the Vaccines and Pregnancy helpline, launched on 20 August to help pregnant women navigate information about the vaccine, suggest that some midwives are advising against the jab.
Continue reading...A celebration of the achievements of the Britain’s oldest para veteran, who died last week aged 101
I first met Victor Gregg on a freezing afternoon in 2009 when we were to talk about his experiences in the second world war.
He was 90 and had sent me an email saying he would pick me up at Winchester station. When I arrived there was no sign of him. After 10 minutes a car parked up the road flashed its lights. It was Vic practising a routine he had learned more than 50 years earlier in the Western Desert, when Rifleman Gregg was assigned to Vladimir Peniakoff, the founder of “Popski’s Private Army”, a unit of British special forces. Vic’s job was to drive thousands of miles, alone, through the dunes, carrying stores and intelligence to Popski’s contacts. Vic said Popski had told him: “Before you go in, suss out how you are going to get out.” This was a life lesson for Vic, I had just been “sussed out” by him before going further.
Continue reading...Spending on security increased hugely in the wake of Jo Cox’s murder – but the problem is growing
The constituent who “sidled up” to an MP to describe his make of car and where he had been driving it over the weekend… Another who warned an MP that they knew which school her children attended… An MP forced to act as a security guard at his own constituency surgery, ejecting someone who had become aggressive and abusive… Family members confronted … Staff regularly abused.
As MPs contacted each other to discuss the horrific news that another of their number had been killed while fulfilling their basic duties, the list of their own grim experiences flowed immediately and at length. “Talking with colleagues this afternoon, there isn’t one of us, not one of us, who couldn’t give you a list of alarming examples of things that have been said or done in a constituency surgery,” said a cabinet minister.
Continue reading...After games boom in pandemic, gangs are using phishing and malware to cheat fans out of money and reveal their personal data
Players of online video games such as Roblox, Fortnite and Fifa are being warned to watch out for scammers, amid concerns that gangs are targeting the platforms.
Multiplayer games boomed during the pandemic lockdowns as people turned to socialising in virtual spaces.
Continue reading...Patel was speaking in Leigh-on-Sea after PM earlier laid wreath at front of Belfairs Methodist church, where Tory MP was fatally stabbed on Friday
Speaking today Priti Patel said: “We’re all struggling to come to terms with the fact that David Amess has been so cruelly taken away from all of us.
“Less than 24 hours ago David was in his own constituency doing a local advice surgery, which is something that all MPs do week in, week out.
Continue reading...British-Iranian mother of one could be sent back to jail ‘at any time’, warns MP
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has lost her latest appeal in Iran, meaning she could be sent back to prison “at any time”, her MP has said.
The Labour MP Tulip Siddiq said Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s sentence of one year plus a one-year travel ban had been “upheld with no court hearing”.
Continue reading...Former health secretary will no longer become special envoy for UN’s economic commission for Africa
Matt Hancock, the former UK health secretary, will no longer become a special envoy for the United Nations, after the job offer was withdrawn.
Hancock said on Tuesday he was “honoured” to be working with the UN’s economic commission for Africa (UNECA) to help the continent recover from the pandemic.
Continue reading...Campaigners fear net zero strategy is being hamstrung by Rishi Sunak, who refuses to provide adequate funding
Boris Johnson faces a significant test of his leadership before the Cop26 climate summit as the chancellor and business secretary are at war over the imminent plan for reaching net zero carbon dioxide emissions.
The government is poised to publish its long-awaited net zero strategy on Monday, setting out how the UK will meet its targets to cut CO2 emissions by 78% by 2035 and reach net zero by 2050. This will also include the heat and buildings strategy for insulating draughty homes and phasing out gas boilers, along with a massive expansion of offshore wind, and building electric vehicle charging networks.
Continue reading...Man, 25, in custody as police investigate ‘potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism’
The killing of the Conservative MP David Amess, who died after being stabbed several times at an open advice surgery for his constituents in Essex, has been declared as a terrorist incident.
The death of the 69-year-old veteran backbencher brought heartfelt tributes from all parties. Just five years after the murder of Jo Cox, it also prompted renewed worries about the security risks for MPs in an increasingly rancorous and polarised political era.
Continue reading...Property in Chorley suffered severe fire, with deceased believed to be a man in his 50s
A man has died after a house collapsed following an explosion in Lancashire. Emergency services were called to reports of a house fire in Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley, at about 1.20pm on Friday.
A spokesman for Lancashire constabulary confirmed that one person had died in the incident, believed to be a man in his 50s. The spokesman said: “His next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time.”
Continue reading...As attendance of President Xi of China hangs in balance, UK and US launch frantic round of meetings
The UK, the US and the EU are embarking on a frantic round of climate diplomacy in a last-ditch attempt to bring key countries into a deal on greenhouse gas emissions before the Cop26 climate summit.
Alok Sharma, the UK cabinet minister who will preside over the talks, has meetings planned with representatives of China after questions were raised over whether the president, Xi Jinping, would attend Cop26 in person, as well as the other G20 big emitters yet to produce plans on emission cuts before the summit, which opens in Glasgow on 31 October.
Continue reading...UK residents abroad are shocked at the lack of mask wearing back home, and point fingers at the government’s blase approach
Compared with some other countries, along with high numbers of Covid cases and deaths, the UK has relatively relaxed Covid restrictions, with no mandatory vaccine passports, no social distancing measures, and no mask mandate in England.
Four people from the UK and in Europe share their views on the country’s approach to Covid restrictions compared with others they are visiting or living in.
Continue reading...Brussels has been ‘preparing for worst’, with options ranging from tariffs on UK imports to ditching deal
David Frost, the UK’s Brexit minister, has warned there is a big gap between the EU and the UK negotiating positions as he enters talks with the European Commission over changes to the arrangements for trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The EU has offered to sweep away most customs and health checks on animal and plant products entering Northern Ireland under a revision of the current system but both sides privately recognise that fundamental differences remain between their visions for the future.
Continue reading...Man arrested on suspicion of murder after Conservative MP attacked during regular surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex
The Conservative MP Sir David Amess has died after he was stabbed several times during a surgery at his constituency in Essex, police have said.
Amess, 69, an MP since 1983 who had represented Southend West in Essex since 1997, was attacked at a church in Leigh-on-Sea. He is the second MP to be killed in just over five years, after the murder of Jo Cox.
Continue reading...Analysis: as Covid cases reach 40,000 a day, scientists think normalisation is partly to blame for the lack of public reaction
It is one of the conundrums of the current phase of the Covid pandemic: the UK has among the highest number of infections across the world and a death toll that continues to steadily climb, yet the national mood seems sanguine. So is this down to British stoicism, a Keep Calm and Carry on mentality?
Not according to experts. They talk of many factors being at play – and warn it may not last.
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The first single from her divorce-focused new album 30 is quintessential Adele: piano, romantic recrimination, and soaring vocal work
Adele’s statement announcing the release of her fourth album was published on social media earlier this week. In it, the singer doesn’t talk much about music, more about her emotional state during the album’s making, provoked, one assumes, by the breakdown of her marriage: “absolute mess and inner turmoil … consumed by grief”. She compared the album she made amid it to friends coming over with “a bottle of wine and a takeaway” and offering earthy, if astrologically based, advice: “It’s your Saturn return, babes, fuck it.”
It all sounds thoroughly grim, but it also has a hint of reassurance about it for her fans, who come to Adele in record-breaking numbers for relatable heartbreak – the musical equivalent of an old friend in the pub, tearfully relating the latest chapter in their reliably disastrous love life as they demolish a third glass of pinot grigio. For one thing, it underlines that she has fresh heartbreak to write about, which had been an issue with her last album, 25, on which she was forced to rake over the same relationship that had inspired its predecessor for material. For another, her fans might have cause to be alarmed by what the cover of Vogue refers to as “a new look, a new love, a new sound”. How reliably relatable can Adele now be, with her home in LA, her squad of Hollywood A-list pals, her three-times-a-day exercise regime and, the Vogue profile suggests, an employee on hand with a different pair of shoes should the singer want to change out of her heels? It’s a statement that, consciously or otherwise, sends out a message: “Business as usual babes, fuck it.”
Continue reading...Overheard comment suggests anger at possible no-shows at Cop26 by leaders of countries with worst CO2 emissions
The Queen has criticised world leaders’ inaction on addressing the climate crisis, admitting she is “irritated” by individuals who “talk but don’t do”.
She made the remarks, which were picked up on a livestream, at the opening of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff on Thursday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: UK institution was in line for huge donation but has paused talks due to concerns Gulf state used hacking software
The University of Cambridge has broken off talks with the United Arab Emirates over a record £400m collaboration after claims about the Gulf state’s use of controversial Pegasus hacking software, the university’s vice-chancellor has said.
The proposed deal, hailed by the university in July as a “potential strategic partnership … helping to solve some of the greatest challenges facing our planet” – would have included the largest donation of its kind in the university’s history, spanning a decade and involving direct investment from the UAE of more than £310m.
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