For middle-aged users, it will be ‘even harder to discern the truth’ among extremist content, expert says
Experts fear the decision by Meta to drop professional factcheckers from Facebook will exacerbate so-called boomer radicalisation in the UK.
Even before what Keir Starmer described as “far-right riots” in England last summer, alarm bells were ringing amid fears older people were even more susceptible to misinformation and radicalisation than younger “digital natives”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Voters overall are downbeat about politics and almost two-thirds think ‘the UK’s best years are behind us’
One in five generation Z and millennial Britons prefer strong leaders without elections to democracy, and voters overall are feeling downbeat about politics, a report has found.
The polling, due to be published next week as part of the FGS Global Radar report, found that overall 14% of people agreed with the statement: “The best system for running a country effectively is a strong leader who doesn’t have to bother with elections,” rather than the alternative: “The best system for running a country effectively is democracy.”
Continue reading...DfE urged to delay ending funding of popular programme so that hundreds of students can complete their courses
• Axing the Latin excellence scheme: a classic mistake
State school pupils taking GCSE Latin may be forced to drop the subject or even have to teach themselves after the government ends funding for a popular programme that has increased the numbers learning Latin across England.
School leaders, scholars and authors are urging the Department for Education to offer a reprieve to the Latin excellenceprogramme, to enable hundreds of students to complete their GCSE courses and allow schools time to find additional support.
Continue reading...Diplomats have advised the UK prime minister to have a face-saving response just in case he comes low down on the list at the inauguration
Donald Trump may invite populist rightwing leaders from Europe such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to the White House before Keir Starmer, senior UK diplomats believe.
Downing Street and the Foreign Office are eagerly pressing for the prime minister to be at the head of the traditional “beauty parade” of overseas leaders who are called to see the new president in the days after the inauguration on 20 January. Representations are being made via the UK embassy in Washington.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer accuses opposition leader of spending ‘a lot of time on social media over Christmas’
When Kemi Badenoch used prime minister’s questions this week to echo Elon Musk’s demands for a new inquiry into sexual grooming gangs, the MPs behind her were trying to interpret the intentions of their fledgling leader. Was it a long-held view? A short-term move to wrong-foot Labour or appeal to Reform voters? A sign she was adopting a more radical politics?
There was one point, however, that seemed to unite those with differing theories about their leader’s motives. Her decision to warn Keir Starmer that refusing a fresh inquiry could prompt speculation about a “cover-up” was the kind of political gamble they had expected her to be willing to take.
Continue reading...Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage are among those who have earned large sums from broadcasters, but a tightening of rules on MPs’ outside interests is being considered
MPs would no longer be able to rake in huge sums that can see them more than double their parliamentary salaries by signing contracts with media outlets, under plans being considered by ministers.
The Observer has been told that talks on further tightening rules on MPs’ outside interests, including media contracts, will be started by leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, at a hearing of the all-party standards committee on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Technology secretary Peter Kyle has the task of making Britain a leading player in the AI revolution, but says economic growth will not come at the cost of online safety
With the NHS still struggling, a prisons crisis still teetering and Britain’s borrowing costs soaring, there are few easy jobs going in Keir Starmer’s cabinet at present.
But even in such difficult times, the task of convincing Silicon Valley’s finest to help make Britain a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution – all while one leading tech boss uses the Labour government as a regular punching bag and others ostentatiously move closer to Donald Trump – is among the most challenging.
Continue reading...Senior cabinet minister promises not to dilute new measures despite Zuckerberg’s attacks on countries ‘censoring’ content
Britain’s new laws to boost safety and tackle hate speech online are “not up for negotiation”, a senior government minister has warned, after Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg vowed to join Donald Trump to pressure countries they regard as “censoring” content.
In an interview with the Observer, Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, said that the recent laws designed to make online platforms safer for children and vulnerable people would never be diluted to help the government woo big tech companies to the UK in its defining pursuit for economic growth.
Continue reading...Chancellor’s mission to Beijing weighted with greater expectations
Rachel Reeves hailed a new era of “respectful and consistent future relations with China” as pressure grew on the embattled chancellor to deliver on her government’s central promise to fire up UK economic growth.
After meeting China’s vice-premier, He Lifeng, in Beijing, Reeves said Britain’s relationship with the world’s second largest economy would be “frank and open on areas where we disagree”, while stressing it would be pragmatic in “finding opportunities for safe trade and investment”.
Continue reading...Retail assistants on low pay using YoungOnes platform docked cash or told to wait up to 30 days for earnings
Retail assistants have accused a gig economy firm of “holding them to ransom” by making them pay a fee if they want to receive their wages within a month.
A new payment system brought in by YoungOnes, which supplies “freelance” retail assistants to many well-known high street stores, charges gig workers 4.8% of their earnings to be paid in one minute or 2.9% to be paid in three days. If they decline, they typically have to wait 30 days. Previously the workers were paid in three days, without a charge.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Departures will add to scrutiny of party leader after Elon Musk said he was ‘not up to the job’
A group of 10 councillors representing Reform UK have given notice of their intention to resign en masse in protest at Nigel Farage’s leadership.
The resignations will add to pressure on the Reform leader after Elon Musk said he was “not up to the job”. They are timed to overshadow the party’s south-east conference this weekend.
Continue reading...Committee says it wants urgent update on support for hospitals declaring critical incidents under winter pressure
MPs have written to Wes Streeting, the health secretary, asking for his action plan to help the 14 hospitals declaring critical incidents under winter pressure.
The health and social care committee wrote to Streeting on Friday asking him to spell out “what specific immediate additional support, including financial support” would be provided to trusts declaring critical incidents.
Continue reading...Morgan McSweeney met EU counterparts before Christmas as Downing Street poised to hire new foreign adviser
Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, made a below-the-radar trip to Brussels last month, as No 10 prepares to appoint its own foreign affairs adviser to help bolster the Downing Street policy operation.
As the UK’s attempts at a “reset” with the EU continue behind closed doors, No 10’s most senior aide made the trip to meet counterparts in Brussels before Christmas.
Continue reading...Culture secretary says it should go ahead despite pressure for it to be cancelled over Taliban’s treatment of women
England should be allowed to play next month’s cricket match against Afghanistan, the culture and sport secretary has said, despite calls for a boycott over the Taliban government’s treatment of women.
Lisa Nandy backed a decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to allow the game to go ahead, saying on Friday that cancelling it would “deny sports fans the opportunity that they love”.
Continue reading...There are also fears electronic travel authorisation will threaten post-peace tourism sector in Northern Ireland
The UK Home Office’s already burdened immigration services could be overwhelmed this summer when a new visa-waiver system comes into force for European business travellers and tourists in April, a leading law firm has said.
There have also been fresh warnings that the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) requirements could threaten the post-peace tourism sector in Northern Ireland, with Americans and Europeans travelling to Dublin and beyond deciding not to bother crossing the border because of the red tape.
Continue reading...Resale prices could be capped at 30% over face value, while resale websites face greater legal obligations
The price at which tickets for live events can be resold is to be capped under “gamechanging” proposals put forward by the government to crack down on touting in the sector.
In a move hailed by music industry figures, the culture minister, Lisa Nandy, has launched a consultation that she said would end the “misery” of fans being exploited by touts, some of whom have made huge profits by selling hundreds of tickets a year.
Continue reading...Martin Rosenbaum fought for 18 months to reveal who had supported nominations of two former special advisers
The reasons given for a peerage awarded by Boris Johnson have been described as “inadequate” and a “mystery” by a freedom of information campaigner after an 18-month struggle.
Charlotte Owen, a former special adviser in the Conservative government, was appointed to the House of Lords in Johnson’s resignation honours list in 2023.
Continue reading...Labour’s description of 16,400 ‘immigration offenders and foreign criminals’ angers campaigners
Keir Starmer has boasted of deporting a record number of refused asylum seekers and overseas criminals since scrapping the Rwanda scheme, using language that has dismayed human rights campaigners.
The Home Office said on Thursday it had returned more than 16,400 “immigration offenders and foreign criminals” since the election in July, the highest six-month total since 2018.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretary plays down idea of Trump taking control, in speech exposing differences with president-elect
The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said a US military seizure of Greenland is not going to happen, as he played down Donald Trump’s threats to seize the territory from Denmark.
“No Nato countries have gone to war [with each other] since the establishment of Nato, and I do not envisage that,” he said, adding: “It is not going to happen.”
Continue reading...Foreign secretary says Trump’s comments should be understood as reflection of his concerns about Arctic security
Good morning. For the first time in six months, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, was put up by No 10 to do the morning broadcast interview round – ahead of a speech he is giving later. At PMQs yesterday, perhaps surprisingly, Keir Starmer was not asked about Donald Trump’s suggestion that he might invade Greenland, an autonomous territory that belongs to Denmark. The French and German governments have both condemned Trump’s comments. But, in an interview with the Today programme, Lammy was rather more diplomatic.
Lammy said that, although Trump’s language could be “destabilising”, he did not always do what he threatened. Asked about Trump’s comments, Lammy said:
I think that we know from Donald Trump’s first term that the intensity of his rhetoric, and the unpredictability sometimes of what he says, can be destabilising. He did it with Nato. But in fact, in practice, he sent more troops to Europe under his administration. He sent the first Javelins [anti-tank weapons] and weapons to Ukraine under his administration.
Lammy said that Trump would not use military force to seize Greenland – despite suggesting he might. Asked if the UK should be following France and Germany in saying this would be unacceptable, Lammy replied:
Let’s be serious … It’s not going to happen because no Nato allies have gone to war since the birth of Nato which Ernest Bevin, my great predecessor, was part of.
Lammy said Trump’s comments should be understood as reflection of his concerns about Arctic security. He explained:
Here, I suspect on Greenland, what he’s targeting is his concerns about Russia and China in the Arctic, his concerns about national economic security. He recognises, I’m sure, that in the end, Greenland today is a Kingdom of Denmark. There is a debate in Greenland about their own self determination. But behind it, I think, are his concerns about the Arctic. Of course, the US has troops and a base on Greenland. So it has got a stake in that Arctic region.
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