Category Archives: Politics

DfID is a world leader in tackling poverty. Our international standing is weakened without it

Posted on by

We risk development priorities becoming secondary to other foreign policy interests, at a time when they’re needed most

The merger of the Department for International Development (DfID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) runs the very real risk of putting an abrupt end to the UK’s “superpower” status in international development.

Gone will be DfID’s clear articulation of purpose — the reduction and eventual elimination of global poverty — which has been a powerful motivating, unifying, and guiding force.

Continue reading...

Johnson makes U-turn on free school meals after Rashford campaign

Posted on by

‘Covid summer food fund’ announced after pressure from footballer and campaigners

Boris Johnson has been forced into a humbling U-turn over providing food vouchers for some of England’s poorest families after a campaign launched by the footballer Marcus Rashford threatened to engulf his government in another crisis.

In an embarrassing about-face, the prime minister said that on Tuesday he had called the England and Manchester United striker to explain the reversal, and made the remarkable claim that he had only become aware of Rashford’s interest in the issue earlier in the day.

Continue reading...

Public prosecutor faces legal action over Cummings’ Durham trip

Posted on by

Member of public seeks judicial review of Max Hill’s ‘inaction’ over alleged lockdown breaches

A judicial review is being sought over the failure of the director of public prosecutions, Max Hill, to investigate Dominic Cummings for alleged breaches of the coronavirus lockdown rules.

The complaint has been lodged on behalf of a member of the public, Martin Redston, who is concerned the DPP has shown insufficient independence from the government over the movements of Boris Johnson’s key adviser.

Continue reading...

Failure of Brexit talks could lead to terrorism intelligence delays, say Lords

Posted on by

Real-time access to EU police databases has not yet been agreed in the negotiations

The UK risks losing its real-time access to a watchlist of suspected terrorists if it does not strike a comprehensive Brexit deal on justice and security, peers have been told.

The concerns of the policing consequences of a collapse in Brexit talks were raised by members of the Lords EU security and justice sub-committee during questioning of the Home Office minister James Brokenshire.

Continue reading...

‘Political vandalism’: DfID and Foreign Office merger met with anger by UK charities

Posted on by

Unicef, Save the Children and Christian Aid among organisations warning move will harm those most in need and reduce UK’s power overseas

The prime minister’s announcement on Tuesday that the Department for International Development (DfID) will be merged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been met with widespread anger and disappointment among UK aid charities.

Stephanie Draper, the CEO of Bond, a UK network for international development NGOs, said the announcement on Tuesday, during the coronavirus pandemic, couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson says we shouldn’t edit our past. But Britain has been lying about it for decades | George Monbiot

Posted on by

If we really shouldn’t lie about our history, as the prime minister says, let’s finally open up about the atrocities of empire

When Boris Johnson claimed last week that removing statues is “to lie about our history”, you could almost admire his brass neck. This is the man who was sacked from his first job, on the Times, for lying about our history. He fabricated a quote from his own godfather, the historian Colin Lucas, to create a sensational front-page fiction about Edward II’s Rose Palace. A further lie about history – his own history – had him sacked from another job, as shadow arts minister under the Conservative leader Michael Howard.

But, Johnson tells us: “We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history”. Yet lies and erasures are crucial to the myths on which Britain’s official self-image is founded, and crucial to hiding the means by which those who still dominate us acquired their wealth and power.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus: UK has legal duty to review air pollution targets, say lawyers

Posted on by

Letter cites growing evidence of link between dirty air and Covid-19 infections and deaths

Growing evidence of a link between air pollution and the impact of coronavirus means the government has a legal obligation to urgently review its air quality strategy, according to lawyers.

In a letter to ministers, the lawyers argue that refusing to order a review would breach UK law, the precautionary principle and the European convention on human rights.

Continue reading...

Jo Cox’s sister calls for ‘compassion and kindness’ on anniversary of murder

Posted on by

Kim Leadbeater says there is still a lot of work to do on the issues that concerned the MP four years after her death

The sister of Jo Cox has said it is more important than ever that people “pull together with compassion and kindness” on the fourth anniversary of the MP’s murder.

Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed by far-right extremist Thomas Mair on 16 June 2016. She had been the Labour MP for Batley and Spen for just over a year when she was killed by Mair in Birstall, West Yorkshire, part of her constituency.

Continue reading...

Covid-19 can damage lungs of victims beyond recognition, expert says

Posted on by

Organs of some who die after over a month in hospital sustain ‘complete disruption’, peers told

Covid-19 can leave the lungs of people who died from the disease completely unrecognisable, a professor of cardiovascular science has told parliament.

It created such massive damage in those who spent more than a month in hospital that it resulted in “complete disruption of the lung architecture”, said Prof Mauro Giacca of King’s College London.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson: no reason why Brexit deal cannot be sealed in July

Posted on by

EU agrees to look for early common ground as PM asks it to ‘put a tiger in the tank’ of talks

Boris Johnson has said there is no reason why the outline of a Brexit deal cannot be sealed by the end of July, after he asked EU leaders at a video summit to “put a tiger in the tank” of stalled talks.

In a boost for the prime minister’s plans to secure a deal by the end of the summer, the EU leaders agreed to strive to find early common ground on trade and security to avoid unnecessary economic chaos next year.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s racism inquiry: have previous ones changed anything?

Posted on by

The PM’s commission will be the latest in a line of initiatives examining race inequalities

Boris Johnson has announced a “cross-governmental commission” into racial disparities in education, health and criminal justice. It is the latest of a series of reports into ethnic injustices over recent years.

Continue reading...

WHO cautions against further lifting of lockdown in England

Posted on by

Exclusive: senior official says contact tracing should be more effective before measures eased

England’s coronavirus lockdown should not be further lifted until the government’s contact-tracing system has proven to be “robust and effective”, the World Health Organization has said after widespread criticism of the first results of the new tracking operation.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong activists urge UK to spell out extended visa offer

Posted on by

NGO demands more details on Boris Johnson’s ‘vague and imprecise’ commitment

Hong Kong democracy campaigners are pressing the Foreign Office to spell out how Boris Johnson’s “vague and imprecise commitment” will give a path to British citizenship to millions of residents.

It came as Johnson wrote to seven former UK foreign secretaries saying he is trying to build a global groundswell of opposition to Chinese plans to impose a new security law in Hong Kong.

Continue reading...

Nazir Afzal joins legal fight for new inquiry into Dominic Cummings

Posted on by

Ex-regional chief prosecutor urges CPS to pursue case after PM’s aide breached lockdown

Nazir Afzal, a former regional chief prosecutor, has joined a legal campaign for a new investigation into Dominic Cummings over alleged breaches of the coronavirus lockdown rules.

Afzal has urged his former employers at the Crown Prosecution Service, and the police, to pursue a case against the prime minister’s chief aide over his trips to Durham and Barnard Castle during the peak of the outbreak.

Continue reading...

Scientists report flaws in WHO-funded study on 2-metre distancing

Posted on by

Mistakes mean findings should not be used as evidence for relaxing rule, say professors

Senior scientists have reported flaws in an influential World Health Organization-commissioned study into the risks of coronavirus infection and say it should not be used as evidence for relaxing the UK’s 2-metre physical distancing rule.

Critics of the distancing advice, which states that people should keep at least 2 metres apart, believe it is too cautious. They seized on the research commissioned by the WHO, which suggested a reduction from 2 metres to 1 would raise infection risk only marginally, from 1.3% to 2.6%.

Continue reading...

The Lancet’s editor: ‘The UK’s response to coronavirus is the greatest science policy failure for a generation’

Posted on by

Richard Horton does not hold back in his criticism of the UK’s response to the pandemic and the medical establishment’s part in backing fatal government decisions

There is a school of thought that says now is not the time to criticise the government and its scientific advisers about the way they have handled the Covid-19 pandemic. Wait until all the facts are known and the crisis has subsided, goes this thinking, and then we can analyse the performance of those involved. It’s safe to say that Richard Horton, the editor of the influential medical journal the Lancet, is not part of this school.

An outspoken critic of what he sees as the medical science establishment’s acquiescence to government, he has written a book that he calls a “reckoning” for the “missed opportunities and appalling misjudgments” here and abroad that have led to “the avoidable deaths of tens of thousands of citizens”. 

Continue reading...

Rightwing protesters clash with police in central London

Posted on by

Arrests made as ‘guard our monuments’ demonstrators chant ‘Eng-ger-land’ and throw bottles

At least five people have been arrested in clashes between protesters and police in central London at a demonstration against perceived slights to British national heritage.

Scotland Yard said that as of 5pm on Saturday, they had arrested five people for offences including violent disorder, assault on police, possession of an offensive weapon, being drunk and disorderly and possession of class A drugs.

Continue reading...

Grenfell relative draws comparisons between fire and Covid-19 response

Posted on by

Families of 72 victims of tower block blaze will mark third anniversary of blaze this weekend

A bereaved relative has drawn parallels between the coronavirus crisis and the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire before the third anniversary of the disaster.

Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle Hesham Rahman died in the blaze, said the pandemic had been tough for many of the bereaved and survivors of the fire, which killed 72 people.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson ‘stoking fear and division’ ahead of BLM protests

Posted on by

Critics say PM’s claim that George Floyd protests ‘hijacked by extremists’ is dangerous

Boris Johnson was accused of “stoking fear and division” ahead of a weekend of Black Lives Matter demonstrations after he unequivocally condemned the removal of historic statues and claimed the protests had been “hijacked by extremists intent on violence”.

As statues – including of Winston Churchill – were boarded up to protect them ahead of planned marches, the prime minister tweeted his opposition to those calling for memorials with links to slavery and racism to be torn down.

Continue reading...

Johnson’s ‘culture war’ trap seems designed for Corbyn, not Starmer

Posted on by

As No 10 hopes to divide Labour on statues and TV archives, its leader has made practical demands on race inequality

Boris Johnson appeared to have had his say about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests earlier this week, telling the nation in a carefully phrased article for the black newspaper the Voice: “I hear you.”

Yet on Friday morning, he dramatically returned to the fray, tweeting that taking down controversial statues was to “lie about our history” and warning would-be protesters: “The only responsible course of action is to stay away.”

Continue reading...