Category Archives: Politics

Failings in Leicester are doomed to be repeated | Letters

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Readers respond to the reimposition of lockdown in the city after a surge in Covid-19 cases

Living and working in Leicester city centre we find ourselves in a new social experiment (Leicester forced into local lockdown to combat surge in Covid-19 cases, 30 June). We were all surprised to learn from Matt Hancock of an increased infection rate in a daily briefing on 19 June. Since then we’ve been the focus of speculation, and now of action. Our store opened two weeks ago, a Monday morning that saw two-hour queues snaking around the city-centre streets. Shops including ours are now closed again, and bars and barbers have put their reopening plans on ice. The community overall has patiently respected a sensible and cautious return of safe behaviours.

But there is a problem: Leicester has huge poverty and inequalities. Living and working conditions are extremely challenging for many families trying to do their best and follow guidance. Government financial support has not reached many as they fall through the gaps. National health messages just have not reached many BAME communities. All of this was only made worse by our own elected mayor breaking lockdown rules, and admitting he didn’t understand them, which only enhanced the Cummings effect. Did Leicester ever stand a chance? I think not.
James Hempsall
Director, Hempsall’s, Leicester

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Boris Johnson warns against annexation in Israeli newspaper article

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International pressure on Israel escalates as Netanyahu misses self-imposed target date

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has missed his self-imposed target date for annexation of occupied Palestinian territories, as France warned of “consequences” and Boris Johnson made an appeal to Israel to reconsider the move in an article in the Hebrew media.

Johnson, who described himself in the opinion piece as a “passionate defender of Israel”, said any annexation would be a “violation of international law”, adding the UK would not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders in the West Bank that were not agreed by both Israelis and Palestinians.

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Air pollution likely to make coronavirus worse, say UK government advisers

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Experts say further investigation of link is urgently required and may be relevant to managing pandemic

Air pollution is likely to be increasing the number and severity of Covid-19 infections, according to the UK government’s expert advisers.

In a report published on Wednesday, the experts said further investigation of the link between dirty air and the coronavirus pandemic was “urgently required” and may be relevant to how the pandemic is managed.

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‘Office for talent’ to be set up for scientists who want to work in UK

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Unit based in No 10 will help researchers navigate post-Brexit immigration system

Downing Street is to set up a cross-departmental unit called the “office for talent” as a way to help leading scientists, researchers and others live and work in the UK in the post-Brexit immigration system.

The plan, which the Liberal Democrats said was simply trying to make up the damage caused by Brexit, is intended to “ensure excellent customer service across the immigration system”, a government announcement said.

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‘New deal’ risks fuelling emissions and eroding building standards

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Green campaigners and housing experts warn Boris Johnson’s recovery plan could swiftly become a liability

Boris Johnson’s plan to build tens of thousands of new homes risks locking in high carbon emissions for decades to come, if they are built to today’s poor efficiency standards instead of being designed for net zero carbon.

The prime minister’s plans to “build, build, build” form the centrepiece of his “new deal” to lift Britain’s economy out of the coronavirus recession. About £12bn will go to building 180,000 new homes to relieve the housing crisis, while new hospitals and schools will be constructed to improve degraded public services.

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Starmer overtakes Johnson as preferred choice for prime minister

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Opinium poll also shows Labour more trusted over Covid-19 response

Labour leader Keir Starmer has overtaken Boris Johnson as the public preferred choice for Prime Minister, according to the latest Opinium poll for The Observer.

Starmer is preferred to lead the country by 37% of voters polled on Thursday and Friday last week, compared with 35% who say Johnson would be the best Prime Minister.

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Russia offered bounty to kill UK soldiers

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Moscow accused of trying to give money to the Taliban as part of its campaign to destabilise America and its allies

The Russian intelligence unit behind the attempted murder in Salisbury of the former double agent Sergei Skripal secretly offered to pay Taliban-linked fighters to kill British and American soldiers in Afghanistan, according to US reports.

The revelation piles pressure on the UK to take robust action against the Kremlin amid continuing anger over the government’s delay in publishing a key report on Russian attempts to destabilise the UK.

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Putin is up to no good. But Johnson needs little help in creating chaos | Nick Cohen

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The ‘gobocracy’ that surrounds the PM is capable of doing Russia’s work for it

As Boris Johnson is leading Britain’s first government of pundits, “a gobocracy”, if you like, it is worth repeating Humbert Wolfe’s scathing poem on the press: “You cannot hope to bribe or twist,/ thank God! the British journalist./ But, seeing what the man will do/ unbribed, there’s no occasion to.”

In a gobocracy, there’s no need to become too conspiratorial about why a prime minister betrays his country. Put a Telegraph columnist in charge, throw in Michael Gove from the Times and Dominic Cummings from Vote Leave’s propaganda arm, and their bottomless cynicism and instinctive charlatanism will bring ruin with or without foreign assistance.

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Lisa Nandy leads calls for sanctions on Israel over West Bank annexations

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Labour hardens stance to apply imports ban if highly controversial proposals go ahead in face of mounting international opposition

The UK must ban the import of goods from illegal settlements in the West Bank if the Israeli government presses ahead with annexation plans this week, Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, has said.

The move would be a “major step” and require “courage that so far ministers have not been willing to show”, she told the Observer. But “such a blatant breach of international law must have consequences”.

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Micheál Martin becomes Irish taoiseach in historic coalition

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Fianna Fáil leader forms government with Fine Gael and Greens vowing end to ‘civil war politics’

The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has been elected as the Republic of Ireland’s taoiseach – prime minister – after the formation of an historic coalition government.

The three-way coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green party is the first time the first two parties – former civil war rivals – have been in government together.

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Combining diplomacy and development will make UK aid’s work even better | Anne-Marie Trevelyan

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Concerns have been raised about the plan to merge the Foreign Office and DfID. Here’s why I am confident it will help us lead the way on aid

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan is the UK’s international development secretary

I have seen the enormous difference made by UK aid during my time as international development secretary. The UK is rightly respected and admired around the world for this work, which saves and changes lives in developing countries every day.

The power of our commitment to spend 0.7% of our gross national income on aid – and our expertise in this field – will not diminish when the Department for International Development (DfID) merges with the Foreign Office in September. The prime minister has made it crystal clear that UK aid’s mission to reduce poverty will be central to the new department’s mission.

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UK coronavirus live: council workers appeal for calm after ‘frightening’ levels of abuse on coast

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Three stabbed in Bournemouth fight; 186 people die of Covid-19 since yesterday; police injured breaking up London music event

Boris Johnson urged people to stop “taking too many liberties with the guidance” after a major incident was declared on the south coast yesterday, warning people “the virus is still out there”.

The prime minister said on Friday:

Let me be very clear about the scenes in Bournemouth - it’s very important for people to understand if you look at what’s happening elsewhere in the world where people have been coming out of lockdown.

I’m afraid what you’re also seeing is people taking too many liberties with the guidance, mingling too much, not observing social distancing.

You may think you’re not going to get it and you’re immortal and invincible and so on. And very likely that’s true, particularly if you’re a young person.

“But the bug you carry can kill elderly people particularly. It’s still dangerous. The virus is still out there.

With the virus now more under control – at least for now – Boris Johnson will use a major speech next week to switch the focus back to the “people’s priorities” of December’s Tory manifesto: including a rash of infrastructure projects aimed at “levelling up” Britain.

“We’re going to be building loads of stuff,” said one Whitehall source.

Related: Boris Johnson hopes bullish approach can bring back the 'bustle'

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‘We’ve bought the wrong satellites’: UK tech gamble baffles experts

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Bid for 20% of OneWeb to replace Galileo after Brexit ‘looks like nationalism trumping industrial policy’

The UK government’s plan to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in a satellite broadband company has been described as “nonsensical” by experts, who say the company doesn’t even make the right type of satellite the country needs after Brexit.

The investment in OneWeb, first reported on Thursday night, is intended to mitigate against the UK losing access to the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system.

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Angela Merkel: UK must live with consequences of weaker ties to EU

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German leader signals trade compromise less likely as she hardens tone on no-deal Brexit

The UK will have to “live with the consequences” of Boris Johnson ditching Theresa May’s plan to maintain close economic ties with the EU after Brexit, Angela Merkel has said, hardening her tone over the prospect of a no-deal scenario at the end of the year.

After more than three years in which the German chancellor repeatedly emphasised her openness to a deal that would maintain the UK’s current flows of trade with the bloc, she suggested the door leading to such a compromise had now closed.

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Rebecca Long-Bailey sacking reignites Labour turmoil over antisemitism

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Swift decision by Keir Starmer is praised by Jewish groups but condemned by Labour left

Keir Starmer is facing a showdown with the left of Labour after his decisive sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey reignited the party’s internal turmoil over the issue of antisemitism.

In a swift move, Long-Bailey was summarily dismissed as shadow education secretary for sending an approving tweet about an interview in which the actor Maxine Peake said the US police tactic of kneeling on someone’s neck was taught by the Israeli secret service.

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Boris Johnson backs Robert Jenrick despite planning row

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Senior MP says questions remain over links between housing secretary and Richard Desmond

Boris Johnson has full confidence in the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, Downing Street has insisted, despite fresh revelations about his relationship with the billionaire property developer Richard Desmond, in documents published this week.

Pressed about Jenrick’s role in rushing through a decision on the development, allowing Desmond to avoid a £45m payment under the community infrastructure levy, Johnson’s official spokesman signalled that No 10 had no concerns.

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EU parliament leader: Boris Johnson seems unwilling to find compromise in Brexit talks

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Exclusive: David Sassoli says UK appeared unenthusiastic in recent trade negotiations

Boris Johnson appeared unwilling to compromise in order to secure a trade and security deal with Brussels when he joined EU leaders for a summit last week, one of the three who attended the meeting has told the Guardian.

David Sassoli, the president of the European parliament, punctured a recent outbreak of optimism over a potential deal by warning that the EU had been left concerned at the end of a video conference call by the lack of “enthusiasm” to find common ground on the most contentious issues.

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DfID merger: experts warn of brain drain and damage to UK’s global standing

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Research into similar exercises in other countries has shown they lead to an exodus of talent and a loss of influence with key partners

Aid experts have warned of a brain drain of senior staff from the Department for International Development when it merges with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which could damage the UK’s international standing.

Downing Street is facing growing anger from DfID staff over the timing of the merger announcement last week, and the manner in which it was done. The merger had been long trailed, but was announced without union consultation and with many staff finding out from the media.

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Authors call for removal of Booker prize vice-president over ‘homophobic’ views

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Emma Nicholson’s views on same-sex marriage raised as concern by writers and one former Booker winner

Damian Barr is leading a charge of writers, including one former Booker prize winner, who are calling on the Booker Foundation to remove the allegedly “homophobic” peer Emma Nicholson from her position as vice-president.

Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne, who voted against the same-sex marriage bill in 2013, is the widow of the late former chairman of Booker, Sir Michael Caine, who helped establish the prize. She is currently a vice-president of the Booker Foundation, and a former trustee of the prize.

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Rise of Iran hardliners threatens nuclear diplomacy, Europe warned

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Improved economic deal could strengthen hand of Tehran’s reformists, says report

European diplomats are being urged to restart shuttle diplomacy with Iran after the US presidential election in November or risk Tehran hardliners gaining still wider control of Iran’s many layers of government and its economy.

The European 3 (E3) – Germany, France and the UK - managed to maintain their unity at a meeting on Friday at which they agreed to keep the nuclear deal alive, oppose a US plan for the snapback of sanctions and possibly limit the lifting of the UN conventional arms embargo on Iran due to take place in the autumn.

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