Christian and Muslim groups say medics who refuse to help patients die not protected in England and Wales bill
A significant proportion of NHS medical staff are likely to exercise a conscience clause if assisted dying is legalised by parliament.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill stipulates that no doctor would be under any obligation to participate in assisted dying.
Continue reading...Matthew Pennycook says Tory position now unclear on cap on tax rises that was in place when Kemi Badenoch was local government minister
A minister has criticised her Tory shadow for talking about “joy” in the health sector about the funding it received.
Karin Smyth, a health minister, said it was a strange word to use given the state of NHS finances left by the last government.
Many in the health sector would have been pleased to hear the announcement of the extra funding going into the NHS [in the budget], only for the joy to be struck down by the realisation of a broken manifesto promise not to raise national insurance contributions.
This was only compounded further on the discovery that a raft of frontline care providers – care homes, hospices, care charities, pharmacies, GPS, to name but a few – found themselves not exempt from the NI rises, leaving them with crippling staff bills and the threat of closure and redundancies.
He talks about joy. There was no joy when we inherited the mess that they left back in July.
The chancellor took into account the impact of changes to national insurance when she allocated an extra £26bn to the Department of Health and Social Care.
There are well established processes for agreeing funding allocations across the system, we are going through those processes now with this issue in mind.
The British government needs to start now indicating for them what they believe is the tipping point at which they believe a referendum would be called.
Continue reading...Lawrence Hecker, 93, self-admitted serial child molester, grapples with Alzheimer’s dementia and had trial delayed
With less than a month to go before his latest scheduled trial date, a self-admitted serial child molester and retired Roman Catholic priest from New Orleans remains competent to proceed with his oft-delayed rape and kidnapping case – albeit marginally as the 93-year-old grapples with Alzheimer’s dementia, according to his most recent medical evaluation.
A pair of doctors who evaluated Lawrence Hecker on 6 November made it a point to note that his illness is “a chronic and progressive disease”, suggesting additional delays beyond several already seen in the case create a risk that the clergyman declines into a state of legal incompetence preventing him from ever standing trial given his advanced age.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war here and all our coverage of Israel’s war on Lebanon here
Overnight the IDF announced that six soldiers had been killed in clashes with Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon.
The Times of Israel reports “it was one of the heaviest single-day losses in the operation that began in late September,” and that “according to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with at least four Hezbollah operatives inside a building in a village in southern Lebanon.”
Continue reading...Corruption watchdog rules out further investigation into racism within the force despite evidence of historical racial discrimination
WARNING: This article contains offensive content
A corruption watchdog has closed an investigation into racism within the Northern Territory police force’s elite tactical response group with no adverse findings despite uncovering historical evidence of race-based discrimination.
The probe was triggered after former constable Zachary Rolfe attempted to prove the force’s ingrained culture of racism, using as evidence a historical racist mock-award handed out in the group to the officer who behaved “most like an Aboriginal”.
Continue reading...Candidates to receive $5 per vote from public funding, while parties and independents will receive $30,000 per MP and $15,000 per senator each
Donation and electoral spending caps could pass parliament as early as this fortnight, with Labor confident the Coalition will help it block campaigns of the size run by Clive Palmer at the national level and teal independents at the local level.
But the bill, to be introduced next week, could spark outrage from independents, emerging and minor parties, with plans to increase public funding of elections from $3.35 a vote to $5.
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Continue reading...Formula One’s iconic Monaco Grand Prix will remain on the calendar until at least 2031 after a six-year extension was announced on Thursday, with a date change to June that also avoids future clashes with the Indianapolis 500.
The race around the streets of Monte Carlo was part of the first world championship season in 1950 and has been present since, with the exception of 2020 during the global pandemic.
Continue reading...Louise Haigh says she hopes to ensure a repeat of the air traffic control failure of August 2023 never happens again
Airline passengers will benefit from tougher enforcement of consumer protection laws following an inquiry into the August 2023 air traffic control meltdown, transport secretary Louise Haigh has said.
She said she wants to ensure “all passengers feel confident when they fly”.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch says its evidence suggests Israel has committed a war crime against civilians. Plus, Mark Zuckerberg drops a cover of Get Low with T-Pain
Good morning.
Israel has been accused of crimes against humanity over its use of evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of civilians in Gaza, in a report by Human Rights Watch.
How much of Gaza’s population has been displaced? More than 90%, with many civilians forced to move multiple times.
What do the Geneva conventions say about displacement? That in occupied territories, civilians must be displaced only in exceptional circumstances – but Israel has used evacuation orders repeatedly.
What’s Gaetz’s background? As a member of the Maga-aligned Freedom Caucus in the House, he led the successful charge to oust the former Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy from his role.
Why else might he be controversial? Though charges were never brought, he was investigated by the justice department in a sex-trafficking case involving children, and by the House ethics committee over allegations including sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. He denies wrongdoing.
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