Tehran is keen to see Britain do more to help with Afghan refugee crisis
Liz Truss has said she hopes Britain will soon be in a position to pay the £400m debt overdue to Iran, according to an Iranian account of the phone call between the foreign secretary and her Tehran counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
UK government officials have been exploring legal ways to pay Britain’s historical debt, although international economic sanctions on Iran have made it difficult.
Continue reading...Official Irish data suggests boost in trade on island of Ireland, but imports from Great Britain fell €2.3bn
The impact of the first year of Brexit on Ireland has been revealed after official data showed cross-border trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland jumped by €2.8bn (£2.3bn) in 2021.
Full-year figures from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office show that imports to Ireland from Northern Ireland were up 65% to €3.9bn, a rise of €1.5bn compared with 2020.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary says invasion by Putin could embolden Iran and China to expand their ambitions
The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has warned of a “dangerous moment for the world” as the “highly likely” prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine could embolden other countries such as Iran and China to expand their ambitions.
Speaking on Sky News, Truss said “we could be on the brink of a war in Europe, which would have severe consequences not just for the people of Russian and Ukraine but for the broader security in Europe”, adding she was “very worried”.
Continue reading...Under former Tory MP Rory Stewart’s plans, countries would take in an agreed number of refugees annually
Liberal democracies can regain their lost sense of shared moral purpose by agreeing to set a long-term internationally agreed target for the number of refugees they are each prepared to take each year, Rory Stewart, a former Conservative cabinet minister, has proposed.
Unveiling his plan to the Guardian, Stewart said: “Reforming the international resettlement coalition around the Afghan crisis presents a rare opportunity for key liberal democracies to restore their moral authority, form a workable international coalition, and deliver rapid, concrete, ethical results.”
Continue reading...JCVI advised vaccinating the age group last week, but government is still ‘reviewing’ the evidence
Plans to offer Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11 have been delayed by the government because the jabs have not been deemed urgent.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided more than a week ago to expand the vaccination programme to all that age group and handed its advice to ministers.
Continue reading...Plan proposes two ‘green freeports’ based around low-emission industries
UK ministers and the Scottish government have reached a deal over proposed freeports in Scotland, after months of disagreement over what No 10 has billed as one of the main economic benefits of Brexit.
The Scottish government had resisted the idea of freeports – specific areas that offer tax breaks and other incentives to investors – which are intended to revitalise deprived areas but have been accused of encouraging tax avoidance and lower regulation.
Continue reading...Telegram posts show far-right groups ‘emboldened’ by physical attack on Labour leader
The Metropolitan Police is investigating death threats against Keir Starmer made in the wake of Boris Johnson’s accusation that he “failed to prosecute” Jimmy Savile.
A cache of evidence documenting the threats was sent to Scotland Yard on Friday afternoon, including a number of apparently identifiable users on the messaging app Telegram who called for the Labour party leader to be hanged or “executed”.
Continue reading...The British anti-vax community is small – but well organised
The most comprehensive analysis of the UK’s anti-vax community reveals that just 0.32% of the population is active in the movement, contradicting its claim to represent “the 99%”.
The first analysis of its kind shows that the anti-vax movement is far smaller than expected, with about 220,000 unique active users identified within a network of 427 groups on the messaging app Telegram, its preferred platform.
Continue reading...The London mayor vows to oppose anyone who fails to understand deep problems at beleagured force, in wake of Cressida Dick resignation
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, today sets the stage for a dramatic showdown with the home secretary, Priti Patel, over who should be the next Metropolitan police commissioner as he vows to oppose anyone who does not understand the deep “cultural problems” within the beleaguered force.
Writing in the Observer, three days after his intervention forced Cressida Dick to abruptly resign, Khan says recent revelations of officers bragging about violence towards women and exchanging racist and Islamophobic messages rekindled personal memories of the “bad old days of the Met” during his own childhood.
Continue reading...Demands grow for government science chiefs to reveal evidence backing move to lift last protective measures
A future variant of Covid-19 could be much more dangerous and cause far higher numbers of deaths and cases of serious illness than Omicron, leading UK scientists have warned.
As a result, many of them say that caution needs to be taken in lifting the last Covid restrictions in England, as Boris Johnson plans to do next week.
Continue reading...Fifty years since they were deported to Mauritius by the UK, Chagossians are still fighting for their homeland
Returning to their birthplace after decades of enforced exile, five Chagossians leapt from a motor launch on to the palm-shaded beach of Peros Banhos atoll on Saturday afternoon, kissed the pale sand and stood – hands joined together – in thanksgiving prayers.
For Olivier Bancoult, Lisbey Elyse, Marie Suzelle Baptiste, Rosemonde Bertin and Marcel Humbert, it was the moment they had long anticipated – the first time they could step ashore without close monitoring by British officials.
Continue reading...Paul Bayes, retiring bishop of Liverpool, calls for an end to ‘rancid and dangerous’ political culture in Britain
Today’s political culture is “rancid and dangerous” and Boris Johnson should be ashamed of telling a lie that led to street violence, a senior Church of England bishop has said.
Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, said the UK was facing a “struggle between those in whose interest it is to fragment society and those who want to sustain the common good”.
Continue reading...Another former Conservative leader piles pressure on prime minister over Partygate allegations
The former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has warned Boris Johnson it will be hard to cling to power if the Metropolitan police finds he breached Covid rules.
The comments from the senior Tory will ratchet up pressure on the prime minister to resign if he broke the law, after Johnson received a questionnaire from the Met on Friday regarding alleged parties in Downing Street.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson contacted over alleged parties that took place while the UK was under strict Covid curbs
Boris Johnson has been sent a questionnaire by Scotland Yard over alleged parties in Downing Street, in a move that could raise fresh concerns among Tory MPs about his leadership.
No 10 confirmed late on Friday night that the prime minister received the document, and vowed he would respond to it “as required”.
Continue reading...There was precedent for a commissioner determined to root out misbehaviour. Failure to follow it cost her the top job
When Robert Mark was appointed commissioner of the Metropolitan police in the 1970s he wryly suggested his ambition was to ensure the service arrested more criminals than it employed.
In the five years of his leadership (1972 to 1977) Mark’s success can be measured by the 50 criminal officers he put before a court, and the nearly 500 others who were swept out of the organisation as a result of his ruthless uncovering of the entrenched and institutionalised corruption which had protected them for too long.
Sandra Laville, a former Guardian crime correspondent, is now its environment correspondent
Continue reading...Exclusive: presiding officer Alison Johnstone says it will be disappointing if parliament cannot attract more female politicians
It will be “really disappointing” if the Scottish parliament cannot attract more female politicians within the next five years, says Holyrood’s presiding officer, as she launches Holyrood’s first women’s audit to investigate barriers to representation and participation.
Alison Johnstone, the former Scottish Green politician who was elected last May to the position of presiding officer – the Holyrood equivalent of the Commons speaker – also suggests that political parties are falling short in selecting female candidates. She signals that the hybrid working arrangements used during lockdown and which suited working women in particular could become permanent.
Continue reading...Chief to leave role two years early after London’s mayor accused her of failing to deal with misogyny and racism in the force
Cressida Dick has been forced out as head of the Metropolitan police after London’s mayor accused her of failing to deal with a culture of misogyny and racism within Britain’s biggest force.
Dick’s dramatic resignation was announced just hours after she told a radio phone in that she would stay in post and had a plan to rid the Met of its toxic culture. But when City Hall let her aides know the plan was inadequate, the commissioner decided to boycott a showdown meeting set for 4.30pm and quit instead.
Continue reading...Analysis: The letters have seemingly stopped but MPs may be keeping their pens dry for strategic reasons
As MPs wheeled their suitcases on to trains for a short recess, those with lingering doubts about Boris Johnson’s leadership tucked their letter-writing pens back into their pockets.
They seem unlikely to come out again until the Metropolitan police determine whether the prime minister committed any criminal offence by attending a number of Downing Street gatherings.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary issues warning as Sergei Lavrov describes UK’s contribution to talks as ‘just slogans’
The British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has personally warned Moscow of tough sanctions that are to be imposed if Russia attacks Ukraine, during tense talks that Russia’s top diplomat said were like a conversation of “the mute with the deaf”.
The British sanctions package remained under government review on Thursday, somewhat undermining Truss’s threat as she led a British diplomatic effort to head off a potential Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Can two strangers, one anti-abortion, the other pro-choice, find some common ground?
David, 31, near Norwich
Occupation Anti-abortion campaigner
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