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What happens next to the Conservative Party? - BBC News
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2024-07-06
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Rishi Sunak has made it clear he considers it his duty to stay in post as leader for a while - meaning he'll face Keir Starmer in Parliament.
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Politics
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What happens next to the Conservative Party?
Conservatives are pondering what the future looks like this weekend. The immediate answer is: it looks bleak. Rishi Sunak is still the party leader, and folk I talk to tell me he is up for sticking around for a couple of months, but perhaps not much longer. That would give the party the summer to work out who its next leader should be. The thing is that the whole rulebook for a leadership contest needs to be worked out by a party committee that doesn’t yet have people on it. It is called the 1922 Committee, and it will meet next week to decide who sits on its executive. It will then work out a timetable for a contest. The party board is also expected to meet early next week.
Here is the question that is being kicked around within the party this weekend: how long should the Tories take to find a replacement for Mr Sunak? Some argue they should follow the model from 2005. Michael Howard lost the general election to Tony Blair, but he stuck around for several months to give the party space for a longer debate and discussion about its future. David Cameron emerged in that time to beat the favourite David Davis, and went on to become prime minister in 2010. But others who suggest it needs to be a bit quicker look at 2010 to make their case. In 2010, when the now Lord Cameron became prime minister, Labour spent some time selecting a successor to Gordon Brown. Ed Miliband, now back as a cabinet minister, emerged as the winner. But some Tories think that by then, the new government had managed to frame a narrative about Labour overspending and the need for austerity - and Ed Miliband had lost the argument before he had started, because Messrs Cameron and Osborne had stolen a march on their opponents. Mr Sunak isn’t going to down tools straight away. I am told he is willing to remain leader for now, including doing Prime Minister’s Questions in the coming weeks, and putting questions to Sir Keir Starmer. To state the obvious, that won’t be easy for Mr Sunak – the man vanquished by the electorate, putting questions to the bloke who beat him. But he thinks it is his duty to serve his party in the short term at least. If things drag on longer than that, perhaps his patience will run out. Those within the party suggesting there needs to be an element of pace to all this look ahead to the prospect of a Budget in September, and think it would be sensible to have a new leader in place by then. That would also mean they would be in post for the Conservative Party conference a few weeks later. And the jockeying for position is underway already. The former home secretary Suella Braverman didn’t even wait for polling day to come and go before she was making her case. And today I spot in my email inbox an invite to former security minister Tom Tugendhat’s birthday celebrations. I have no doubt Mr Tugendhat - a former leadership contender - enjoys marking the passing of another year as much as the next person. But he’s holding the bash at a Westminster think tank on a weeknight. So it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think there might be a splash of politics to accompany a slice of birthday cake. He tells me he booked the room ages ago. For others this weekend, there is the more pressing matter of working out what comes next for them personally. One former cabinet minister who lost their seat texts me: “In the end there is no way to hold back a national political tsunami! Hopefully all a bump in the road when viewed from greater distance.” The soul searching begins here for the Conservative Party.
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Rishi Sunak accepts responsibility for historic Tory defeat - BBC News
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2024-07-06
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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In a speech outside Number 10, Mr Sunak said he would step down as party leader once arrangements for a successor are in place.
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Politics
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Rishi Sunak has apologised to the nation following the Conservative Party's general election defeat - the worst in its parliamentary history. Sir Keir Starmer has led the Labour Party to a landslide victory and will take over from Mr Sunak as the UK's prime minister. Accepting responsibility for the result, Mr Sunak said he heard voters' "anger" at his government. "To the country I would like to say first and foremost I am sorry," he said. "I have given this job my all but you have sent a clear signal that the government of the UK must change, and yours is the judgement that matters. "I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss." Mr Sunak delivered his speech outside Number 10, despite earlier rain - this time with a brolly on hand to avoid a repeat of his sodden election announcement in May. Mr Sunak said he would step down as party leader, adding "not immediately but once the formal arrangements for selecting my successor are in place". The MP for Richmond and Northallerton insisted there would be "an orderly transition" and also paid tribute to Sir Keir, whom he described as "a decent and public-spirited man who I respect". Having said goodbye to staff in Downing Street just before his speech, Mr Sunak then got into a car with his wife Akshata to travel to offer his resignation to the King. In an earlier victory speech in central London, Sir Keir said "change begins now", adding "it feels good, I have to be honest". With nearly all results declared, Labour is projected to form the next government, with a majority of 174. Currently they have 412 MPs, up 211 from the last election. The Tories are set for the worst result in their history. They have lost 250 seats and are currently on 121 seats. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss - whose brief, disastrous time in office led to a slump in Tory support from which it never recovered - lost her South West Norfolk seat to Labour by 630 votes. Ms Truss saw her huge 32,988 majority overturned, with the Reform candidate coming third with 9,958 votes. She is among dozens of senior Tories who have lost their seats, including Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and former minister Sir Jacob-Rees Mogg. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told the BBC a "large number of people who had previously voted Conservative have voted Reform" and the Conservatives now had to "think hard" about how to win back their support. Former minister Steve Baker, long a thorn in the side of Tory leaders over Brexit, expressed relief following the news he had lost his seat after 14 years as the MP for Wycombe. "Thank God, I am free - it's over," he said from the empty hall where the ballots had been counted overnight.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Steve Baker: Thank God, I am free, it's over and I am glad
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage won a seat in Parliament at his eighth attempt, in Clacton, promising "this is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you". Reform has five MPs - including chairman Richard Tice and former Tory Lee Anderson - and has finished second in many parts of the country, taking large amounts of votes from the Conservatives. In a victory speech in London, Sir Keir told cheering Labour supporters the country was waking up to "the sunlight of hope" which was "shining once again on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back". He added: “Now we can look forward – walk into the morning.” The Liberal Democrats have slightly fewer votes than Reform but have benefitted most from the Tory collapse, surging to a record 71 MPs, including the constituencies of three former Tory PMs - Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Theresa May. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: "This is a record-breaking night for the Liberal Democrats." He added: "We will now work hard to keep that trust with a focus on the issues that matter most to them, most of all the NHS and care." The Green Party of England and Wales now has four MPs, with co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay among the winners. But it has been a terrible night for the SNP, which has been reduced to just eight MPs so far. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has defeated his old party to retain his Islington North seat as an independent. But another high profile former Labour MP, George Galloway, failed to retain the Rochdale seat he won at a by-election in February, losing to Labour's Paul Waugh. Sir Keir Starmer's landslide is short of the 179 majority won by Tony Blair in 1997, with its vote share across the country up by just 2%, largely thanks to big gains in Scotland, according to polling expert Sir John Curtice. But it will mean a Labour prime minister in Downing Street for the first time since 2010 and a battle for the future direction of the Conservatives.
Sir Keir Starmer is set to be the next UK prime minister
Penny Mordaunt, who lost to Labour by just 780 votes, had been tipped to make another attempt to be Tory leader after the election. Admitting defeat, she said her party had lost because it "had failed to honour the trust people had placed in it". Her message was echoed by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, who told the BBC the Tories had “lost the trust of the British people by not delivering. That’s where it went wrong.” He added: “We have to regroup and reconnect and actually just be a unified Conservative Party.” The Conservatives have lost seats they have held since the 19th or early 20th century, across the shire counties of England. Former attorney general Sir Robert Buckland, the first Tory MP to lose his seat as results began rolling in, told the BBC his party was facing "electoral Armageddon" and Labour's victory was a "big vote for change". And he angrily lashed out at colleagues, such as former home secretary Suella Braverman, for what he called "spectacularly unprofessional and ill-disciplined" behaviour during the campaign. "I'm fed up of personal agendas and jockeying for position," he added, warning that the upcoming Tory leadership contest was "going to be like a group of bald men arguing over a comb".
The SNP is "not winning that argument" on Scottish independence, said First Minister John Swinney. "Opinion polls still show that about half the population in Scotland want our country to be independent," he told the BBC. "That's not manifested itself in the election result tonight and that's something we've got to look at very carefully as a party and to think about how we can remedy that situation."
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Newspaper headlines: 'Change begins' as Labour PM will 'fight until you believe again' - BBC News
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2024-07-06
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Saturday's front pages lead on Labour's historic election win, as Sir Keir Starmer becomes the UK's next prime minister.
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The Papers
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'Change begins' as Labour PM will 'fight until you believe again'
The Daily Mail likens it more to a civil war, external, as one former cabinet minister tells the paper the Conservatives "were left vulnerable by a Boris-shaped hole in their defences, through which Reform was able to stroll unchallenged". In his column in the paper, Boris Johnson sets out a 10-point plan on how the Tories can return to government as soon as possible, after what he calls "the atomic bomb that has detonated over the British political landscape". But the Tories will need to find a new leader first and according to the Daily Mirror, external the former home secretary, Suella Braverman, has already fired the starting pistol in a leadership race. The Guardian names, external the former business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, as another "near-certain contender". It claims her run "would most likely be characterised by her apparent ability to turn the most innocuous exchange into an argument". The Times adds James Cleverly, Dame Priti Patel, Victoria Atkins and Tom Tugendhat to the list of Tories said to be weighing up a leadership run, while the Sun says the former immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, could launch his bid on the Sunday morning political shows. But, whoever is running, one moderate Tory warns the Financial Times, external that "the leadership contest will be dominated by one question: how do you beat Reform?". Reflecting on what it calls the SNP's "hammering at the polls", the Scotsman, external says John Swinney has been "forced into rethinking" his party's approach to independence. The paper says he will have to "steer the Scottish National Party in a new direction, with a much-reduced crew". The National claims the result presents, external "an opportunity for a new start". It recommends the SNP refreshes the arguments for a new generation of independence voters. And, the front page of the Daily Express, external praises Rishi Sunak for displaying "warmth, generosity of spirit and true graciousness" as he stepped down, while also acknowledging that his successor is "undoubtedly decent and sincere".
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The far right came close to power in France. What about the rest of Europe? - BBC News
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2024-07-07
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Whatever the result of France's election, its impact will be seismic, says Europe editor Katya Adler.
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BBC InDepth
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In the 2002 Presidential election, some French voters clipped a clothes peg to their noses on their way to polling stations - a way of showing they’d vote for a candidate they didn’t really like, just to keep out the far right.
This was a far right that for years was led by Marine Le Pen’s father, with French former members of a Nazi-led Waffen SS unit in his party ranks.
Fast-forward to 2024, and Marine Le Pen’s ambition, 10 years in the making, to detoxify her father’s party – changing its name and trying hard to clean up its image - appears to have been a roaring success.
The cordon sanitaire now has a searing gash in it, after the leader of France’s centre-right Les Républicains struck a deal with the RN not to compete against each other this Sunday in specific constituencies. This was an earthquake in French politics.
Crucially for Marine Le Pen, those who support her aren’t embarrassed to admit it any more. The RN is no longer viewed as an extremist protest movement. For many, it offers a credible political programme, whatever its detractors claim.
French voters trust the RN more than any other party to manage their economy and (currently poor) public finances, according to an Ipsos poll for the Financial Times newspaper. This is despite the party’s lack of government experience and its largely unfunded tax-cutting and spending plans.
Which begs the question, when you observe the angst-ridden despair in liberal circles in Europe at the growing success of the so-called “New Right”: if traditional lawmakers had served their electorates better, perhaps there’d be less of an opening for European populists to walk into?
By populists, I mean politicians like Ms Le Pen who claim to listen to and speak on behalf of “ordinary people”, defending them against “the establishment”.
This “them and us” argument is extremely effective when voters feel anxious and ignored by governing powers. Just look at Donald Trump in the US, the sudden unexpected breakthrough of Reform UK in Thursday’s UK election and the huge success of Germany’s controversial anti-migration AfD party.
In France, many perceive President Macron - a former merchant banker - as arrogant, privileged and remote from the everyday cares of ordinary people outside the Paris bubble. A man who made difficult lives even tougher, they say, by raising the national pension age and trying to put up fuel prices, citing environmental concerns.
It must be a source of frustration for France’s president that his success at lowering unemployment rates and the billions of euros he spent trying to soften the economic effects of the Covid and energy crises seem largely forgotten.
Meanwhile, the RN concentrated much of its campaign on the cost-of-living crisis.
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Steal our ideas, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey tells government - BBC News
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2024-07-07
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Sir Ed also says his party will continue to argue for "fair votes" despite gaining many more MPs than Reform UK.
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Politics
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It "would be great" if the new Labour government took on Liberal Democrat policies, party leader Sir Ed Davey has said. After his party won 72 seats in the general election, he told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme Labour in opposition "stole" his party's idea of a windfall tax on the big oil and gas companies. He said the Lib Dems aimed to be a "constructive opposition" and to force the government to listen "by the strength of our arguments". Sir Ed repeated his call for an emergency budget to improve health and social care, saying his party would be "the voice of carers". After Reform UK won more votes but far fewer seats than the Lib Dems, Sir Ed also said he would go on arguing for "fair votes" and changing the electoral system to proportional representation.
"We want to improve our democracy, our politics is broken and so we're going to continue to make that case. "People will get voted in who you don't agree with... That's democracy, that's allowing the people to express their will," he added. The Lib Dems won their 72 seats - a record for the party - with 12.2% of the vote. Reform UK gained five MPs with 14.3% of the vote. Reform chairman Richard Tice, the new MP for Boston and Skegness, told BBC Radio Lincolnshire the election results had "highlighted the absurd flaws in the first-past-the-post system". "On a fair proportional representation system, we would get 94 seats, but instead we've just got five and that is patently unfair."
In his interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Ed rejected suggestions that the size of Labour's majority meant the government did not need to pay attention to the Lib Dems. He said: "We’ve managed over a number of years to persuade people to steal our policies and that’s a really good idea. "It was the Liberal Democrats who argued for a windfall tax on the huge profits of the oil and gas companies, made on the back of President Putin in his illegal invasion of Ukraine. "It was Liberal Democrats making that argument to help people with their energy bills, in three months after we made it, [the] Labour Party stole that idea. "So, I’m hoping, as we argue for health and care, we argue for ending the sewage scandal, we argue for action on the cost of living, that the Labour government will realise that we actually have the best arguments, the best policies and take them, and that would be great." Sir Ed said his party had put health and social care at the heart of its election campaign, and believed an emergency budget was needed "so we can start rescuing our NHS which is on its knees because of the Conservatives". Since taking office, both the prime minister and Health Secretary Wes Streeting have described the NHS as "broken". But the Lib Dem leader said he was disappointed that Labour’s manifesto had not mentioned family carers or unpaid carers "who are actually critical". His party would "be the voice of carers and we will challenge the government to make sure that they deliver for the millions of people looking after their loved ones", he said.
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The far right came close to power in France. What about the rest of Europe? - BBC News
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2024-07-08
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Whatever the result of France's election, its impact will be seismic, says Europe editor Katya Adler.
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BBC InDepth
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In the 2002 Presidential election, some French voters clipped a clothes peg to their noses on their way to polling stations - a way of showing they’d vote for a candidate they didn’t really like, just to keep out the far right.
This was a far right that for years was led by Marine Le Pen’s father, with French former members of a Nazi-led Waffen SS unit in his party ranks.
Fast-forward to 2024, and Marine Le Pen’s ambition, 10 years in the making, to detoxify her father’s party – changing its name and trying hard to clean up its image - appears to have been a roaring success.
The cordon sanitaire now has a searing gash in it, after the leader of France’s centre-right Les Républicains struck a deal with the RN not to compete against each other this Sunday in specific constituencies. This was an earthquake in French politics.
Crucially for Marine Le Pen, those who support her aren’t embarrassed to admit it any more. The RN is no longer viewed as an extremist protest movement. For many, it offers a credible political programme, whatever its detractors claim.
French voters trust the RN more than any other party to manage their economy and (currently poor) public finances, according to an Ipsos poll for the Financial Times newspaper. This is despite the party’s lack of government experience and its largely unfunded tax-cutting and spending plans.
Which begs the question, when you observe the angst-ridden despair in liberal circles in Europe at the growing success of the so-called “New Right”: if traditional lawmakers had served their electorates better, perhaps there’d be less of an opening for European populists to walk into?
By populists, I mean politicians like Ms Le Pen who claim to listen to and speak on behalf of “ordinary people”, defending them against “the establishment”.
This “them and us” argument is extremely effective when voters feel anxious and ignored by governing powers. Just look at Donald Trump in the US, the sudden unexpected breakthrough of Reform UK in Thursday’s UK election and the huge success of Germany’s controversial anti-migration AfD party.
In France, many perceive President Macron - a former merchant banker - as arrogant, privileged and remote from the everyday cares of ordinary people outside the Paris bubble. A man who made difficult lives even tougher, they say, by raising the national pension age and trying to put up fuel prices, citing environmental concerns.
It must be a source of frustration for France’s president that his success at lowering unemployment rates and the billions of euros he spent trying to soften the economic effects of the Covid and energy crises seem largely forgotten.
Meanwhile, the RN concentrated much of its campaign on the cost-of-living crisis.
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MoD to compensate thousands of veterans over hearing loss - BBC News
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2024-07-08
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The government has now agreed that up to 10,000 people discharged after 1987 could be eligible for compensation.
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UK
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MoD to compensate thousands of veterans over hearing loss
Barney Barnett joined the Royal Marines aged 16 and now suffers from tinnitus
Thousands more ex-servicemen and women will receive compensation for hearing loss suffered during training or combat, the BBC has learned. Military personnel are repeatedly exposed to loud noises, such as gunfire and bombing, during their careers. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has opposed many claims made by veterans experiencing hearing loss, arguing other sources of noise were to blame, individuals should have worn protection or their claims were too late. Now it has accepted exposure to noise in the military has been a cause of hearing loss and that people discharged after 1987 could be eligible for compensation. The MoD has been approached for comment. Between 2012 and 2020, the MoD paid £72m in compensation for military hearing loss, settling more than 9,000 cases. But it is likely this new court agreement will result in many more service people receiving payments, with up to 10,000 currently making claims.
Simon Ellis, from Hugh James solicitors, who is representing nearly 5,000 military personnel, called the development "ground-breaking". His firm expects many more claimants to come forward. "[Veterans] have had their careers prematurely ended, other employment opportunities denied to them, and their personal lives irrevocably changed," he said. "People who put their lives on the line in the service of our country should expect that they are not put in additional unnecessary danger by their employer." In a case last year which paved the way for the new scheme, James Barry, who is in his 30s, was awarded £700,000 after developing hearing loss and tinnitus. The MoD accepted it had a "duty of care" to veterans and abandoned its argument that claims should have been brought sooner. Barney Barnett, a 44-year-old ex-commando who joined the Royal Marines aged 16, also suffers from tinnitus and finds it hard to understand people when there is background noise. "It affects me every day, I tend not to moan about it, I just get on with it," he told the BBC. Mr Barnett served in Iraq and Afghanistan where he went on patrols from forward operating bases and was repeatedly involved in combat, sometimes as a sniper team commander. He told the BBC he had fired or been attacked with weapons including rifles, grenades, general purpose machine guns, light machine guns, 50 calibre machine guns, anti-tank missiles, mortars, and bombs. Videos he shared from conflicts abroad capture the roar of armoured vehicles or helicopters landing, punctured by constant gunfire. In one picture he can be seen wearing small earplugs, but he said that was a rare occurrence. He says he was either not given hearing protection or he was not able to wear it for operational reasons. “If you get engaged by the enemy, whether that's an IED, whether that's indirect fire, whether it's a burst of automatic fire, the last thing you have time to do is think about your hearing," he said. "Your main concern is those on the ground with you. Staying alive."
In 2014, Mr Barnett went before a military board and it was decided he was medically unfit to continue in the Royal Marines because of noise-induced hearing loss. He struggled to find work in civilian life and served with MI5. Later an online assessment for the security service deemed him unsuitable due to his poor hearing. He is now an operations director in a security firm but must avoid loud environments such as concerts. Mr Barnett's attempts to claim compensation began seven years ago and he hopes the new legal agreement with the MoD means it will now be resolved quickly. He says compensation would help him buy more advanced hearing aids and allow his life to move forward. "People don't see what we’ve been through," he said. "We've done our battling, we've been on operations, we've come home. "The government speeding this whole process up, as opposed to battling it out in court, will mean the world to people." The military introduced hearing protection in the 1970s but Nicholas Hill, an acoustics engineer who has given evidence in many cases, says it was difficult for soldiers to wear all the time. He said "every firearm ever made, if you fire it with unprotected ears, just once, can damage hearing".
A handful of cases will go to trial next year, to determine the level of compensation veterans should receive. Hugh James solicitors said after this is decided, any claimants will be able to resolve their cases without the need to go to court, if they can show their hearing loss resulted from service in the military. They must have served at some point after 1987 when a change in the law suspended legal immunity for the government in cases involving service personnel. The MoD agreement follows negotiations led by Hugh James solicitors and allows the government to continue fighting cases brought by other law firms, although sources close to the case believe this is unlikely to happen. The agreement was reached at the High Court on Monday and lawyers said it would not change with the incoming Labour government.
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Tories must win back Reform UK voters, says Suella Braverman - BBC News
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2024-07-09
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The ex-home secretary says Nigel Farage's party poses an "existential threat" to the Tory party.
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Politics
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Potential Tory leadership contender Suella Braverman has said her party must win back Reform UK voters if it is to recover from its crushing election defeat. The former home secretary, tipped to run in the contest to replace Rishi Sunak, said Nigel Farage's party posed an "existential threat" to the Tories. Warning that her party no longer had the "luxury of a monopoly" over right-wing voters, she added it needed to do more focus on “core Conservative policies”. But other senior Tories have cautioned against moving to the right, as the party seeks to recover from its lowest-ever base of MPs. Tory Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said that embracing Reform UK could prolong the party's stretch in opposition by "many, many years". "Nobody in the Conservative Party that I’ve personally spoken to thinks that’s a good idea," he added.
The Conservatives now have only 121 MPs, down 251, after an election drubbing that has posed big questions for the future direction of the party. The Conservative vote dropped from 13.9m at the last election in 2019 to just 6.8m. Reform UK, whose platform included a freeze on "non-essential immigration" and scrapping net zero rules, won won 4.1m votes and five MPs. Harrow East MP Bob Blackman has been chosen as the new chairman of the 1922 backbench committee, which sets the rules for the party leadership contest, replacing longtime chairman Sir Graham Brady, who did not stand for re-election as an MP. No Conservative MPs have yet announced their candidacy, with a debate under way over when and how the contest should take place. Alongside Mrs Braverman, other possible leadership contenders include former ministers Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, and Priti Patel. Two other former ministers, Robert Jenrick and Victoria Atkins, appeared on the Sunday political shows to offer their views on the future of the party, in a sign they are also thinking of running. Meanwhile, shadow home secretary Mr Cleverly has called for the party to "unite" and "get our act together". In an article for the Times newspaper, external, he said the Tories had "lost our well-deserved reputation for competence and good government" as the party was "too often preoccupied with infighting". He said the party "has always been at its best when it embraces being a broad church". "We lost voters to the left and the right, and we won’t win them all back if we narrow our offer," he added.
The Conservative post-mortem began at a Westminster conference of Popular Conservatism, the right-wing faction launched earlier this year by former PM Liz Truss, who lost her seat at last week's election. Speaking via video link from another right-wing conference in the US, Mrs Braverman urged the party to take a tougher line on immigration, cutting regulations and insulating government bodies from the “lunatic woke virus”. She said the rise of Reform UK was "all our own fault", as the Conservatives had failed to address “out of control population growth” in recent years. She added that the party should also leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), arguing it had prevented ministers from tackling illegal migration. She said Mr Farage's party, which began life less than five years ago as the Brexit Party, had succeeded in winning over "many of our traditional lifelong voters", posing "an existential threat to us electorally". “It’s no good denigrating Reform voters. It’s no good smearing the Reform party," she added. “They are now their voters, and we need to do everything we can to win them back."
Suella Braverman was beamed into the London conference from Washington DC
Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, who also lost his seat last week, offered a similar solution, arguing the "Conservative family", including Reform UK, had won 11 million votes combined at last week's poll. He added that the result was an "alarm bell against the arrogance of presumption that we thought we had a divine right to rule and a divine right to certain voters". "We didn't. We thought our core vote had nowhere else to go. They did. "And we cannot just assume that the pendulum will swing back to us or that all the Reform voters will suddenly repent. We need to win them over one way or another." However, Lord Houchen warned against embracing Reform UK, adding it would prolong the Tories' "road to redemption” with voters. Pointing out that his party lost a string of seats to the Liberal Democrats in Tory heartlands, he added the election "wasn’t an ideological one, it was about effective governance".
The argument over the future direction has also been reflected in a procedural debate over how the leader should be chosen. Re-elected Tory MP and former minister George Freeman has argued that the party's leadership rules, introduced in 1998, should be changed to strip party members of the final vote on the winner. He has suggested activists should whittle the longlist down to "three or four" candidates, with the party's MPs then picking the winner. But figures on the right of the party, including Mrs Braverman and Mr Rees-Mogg, have railed against the idea of taking the decision away from Tory members. There is also an argument under way over when the contest should take place. Increasingly, Conservatives have argued in favour of a longer contest, rather than rushing to choose a new leader over the summer. Speaking on Sunday, outgoing 1922 committee chairman Sir Graham said the need for a debate over the future leader needed to be balanced against the need to provide "effective opposition quite quickly". He added that he did not see "any need" to change the current voting process, under which MPs choose two final candidates that go to a members' vote. He added that this would require changing the party's constitution, and there was "unlikely to be majority" for this.
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The BBC faces serious questions over its handling of Huw Edwards - BBC News
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2024-08-01
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The presenter, among the BBC's best-known figures, resigned in April after being taken off air last year.
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Culture
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The BBC faces questions over why it did not sack Edwards
The man who was once the most trusted and most recognisable face of BBC journalism has pleaded guilty over images that show child sexual abuse - and the BBC has serious questions to answer. The director general faces some stark and uncomfortable truths. Most difficult to explain is why the BBC continued to pay Huw Edwards his vast salary for five months after he had been arrested. Edwards resigned in April citing medical advice. The BBC said in its statement that if Edwards had been charged, it would have acted. It’s true that a charge would have indicated prosecutors believed they had the evidence to convict. Edwards wasn’t charged until after he had resigned. But for many, his guilty pleas on Wednesday make it difficult to justify those months paying out a total of more than £200,000 of public money to the now former presenter of News at Ten and the lead presenter on so many landmark moments for the nation.
At the time of his arrest, Edwards had already been off air since July 2023, after the Sun newspaper had published claims he had paid a young person for sexually explicit images. Police found no evidence of criminal behaviour in relation to this and the current court case is unrelated. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has called an urgent meeting with the director general following Edwards' admission of guilt. This is yet another sign of the pressure on the corporation over its handling of the situation. One of the questions the government wants answering is about the use of taxpayers’ money in this way, as well as when decisions were taken and by whom. Why didn’t the BBC sack Edwards, in light of his arrest, instead of giving him the space to leave, apparently on his own terms, albeit with no pay off? There will have only been a handful of people in the room where these conversations were taking place. The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing. The decisions they took can’t have been easy and they will have been weighing up different scenarios - and competing advice. Imagine a situation in which an employee is sacked after being arrested on serious charges. Imagine then that they are found not guilty. Or imagine something worse; for an employee struggling with severe mental health problems and in a very vulnerable state. Where would an employer stand then? Senior HR and legal advisors will have advised the BBC it had a duty of care towards Edwards as an employee. They will likely also have said he would have a legal case against the corporation if he was sacked unfairly. The BBC says it was made aware of “significant risk to his health”. But it is difficult to see this specifically through an HR or legal prism. In the end, this was a judgement call for the people at the very top of the BBC and the optics are reputationally damaging. The BBC spent public money on a man now guilty of serious offences. Many people will believe the corporation made the wrong judgement. There is an added dimension to the story. Did the corporation also have a duty to its audiences to inform the public about the arrest, rather than sit on the information? This too is complex, especially when it concerns an employee struggling with his mental health. People who are arrested do have an expectation of a right to privacy. In certain cases, privacy can be outweighed by arguments around what’s in the public interest. It’s important to note that BBC News, where I’m employed, is editorially independent from the corporate side. We didn’t know about the arrest or charges until earlier this week when the story broke. Our job is to hold organisations to account, on behalf of the public - and that includes the BBC. We have had the freedom to cover the story without fear or favour throughout.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw4yr3xyv8lo
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news_articles_cw4yr3xyv8l
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Wales Coast Path: Mum and teenage son walk 1,200 miles - BBC News
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2024-08-10
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Finn, 13, and his mum Kerry-Anne have just completed a walk around the perimeter of Wales.
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Wales
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How to survive a 1,200 mile walk with your teenage son
Finn and Kerry-Anne spent 84 days walking the perimeter of Wales
Thirteen-year-old Finn and his mum Kerry-Anne have just completed the adventure of a lifetime, walking almost 1,200 miles around the perimeter of Wales. The pair spent 84 days carrying everything they needed to camp on their backs, sometimes in driving rain, before sleeping in a tent together each night - conditions that could test any relationship. "It was intense - in a good way," laughed Kerry-Anne. "It's a different level of connection, Finn couldn't go off and slam a door and go to his room, I couldn't walk away."
Finn - seen here camping on the Isle of Mull in 2017 - has been having adventures with his mum since he was small
Finn's "emotionally passionate" nature could at times be challenging, she said. "If you don't mind me saying," Kerry-Anne checked in with Finn. "Not at all," he replied. "We have arguments but you have to work hard to get over it," Kerry-Anne added. The pair are now back home in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, where they share a home with Finn's dad and Kerry-Anne's husband John. Kerry-Anne grew up in Llanmaes, Vale of Glamorgan, so the trip was an opportunity for her to revisit places from her childhood. The mother and son are used to spending lots of time together, as Finn is home-schooled, with exploring nature a big part of his education. "When he was young he was very unsettled," said Kerry-Anne, 45. "We've not had any diagnosis, but we think probably neurodivergent, external - you identify with that?" she asked Finn. She continued: "I noticed that getting outside was beneficial for him as much as it was for me... so I just wanted to make sure he was outside as much as he was in."
Finn is home-schooled and has always spent lots of time outdoors with his mum
When Finn was born Kerry-Anne decided to take a break from her career in academia and youth work. Then when the time came to put his name down for a school place she felt he was not ready. After lots of reading on the subject and discussions with her husband, a television floor manager, they decided on home-schooling. "It just worked for us," she said. "It has always been year by year and if Finn ever wanted to go to school - which he doesn't - it would be his decision."
Finn and his mum like to sleep out under the stars
The Wales walk was by no means the pair's first adventure. Since Finn was small they would go outside every day to observe the slow changing of the seasons and often picnic along or swim in the River Clyde near their home. "It wasn't always idyllic," said Kerry-Anne. "Sometimes one of us would be in a bad mood or not want to go. It is beautiful looking back on it, but anything with children is quite challenging at the time." Then when Finn was five, inspired by Alastair Humphreys' book Microadventures, they attempted to sleep out under the stars in just a bivvy bag, external for one night of each month of the year. In January, they slept in the snow in their back garden, in the summer they would sleep in the forest or on beaches.
Finn and Kerry-Anne spent their days walking and their nights sleeping together in a tent
They took on their first thru-hiking challenge when Finn was 10, spending four days walking the Isle of Arran Coastal Way before they had to head home when the wind snapped the poles of their tent. Then last year when Finn was 12, they really upped the ante, completing the UK's longest national trail, the 630-mile (1,013km) South West Coast Path. "Now that was challenging," recalled Finn. "I didn't realise what I was signing up for," he joked. But despite the extreme distance, he said he and his mum got on "quite well". "There were a few challenging moments," said Kerry-Anne. "Finn can make up a story that's five hours long and lasts the entire day."
Finn and his mum carried everything they needed for camping on their backs
"I struggle with that lack of mental space," admitted Kerry-Anne. At night they settled into a routine where Finn was responsible for getting water and the washing-up but apart from that, could read. Kerry-Anne's evenings were spent putting the tent up, organising dinner, showering, washing her underwear "because I only took a couple of pairs" and researching the next day's food stops and campsite before they both went to bed at 21:00. Each missed different things from their home life. "I was missing board games a great deal - we [he and his friends] like to play really, really complicated ones," said Finn. He said he also missed tofu which they found hard to come by. "We ate so much junk food, it was all convenience stores and we were eating mostly snack bars and things," she said. Despite these challenges, they decided to take on the Wales walk while still walking the South West Coast Path.
Some of Finn's favourite moments on his adventures involve food
A year after their first epic walk, Kerry-Anne and Finn set off again in April. They began with the 870-mile (1,400km) Wales Coast Path, which covers the entire country's coastline, followed by the 177-mile (285km) Offa's Dyke Path along the Wales-England border. Finn admitted he spent much of the time singing "I would walk 500 miles" from the Proclaimers song I'm Gonna Be (500 miles). Officially the route was 1,050 miles but they did closer to 1,180 because of detours to campsites and shops. Finn's Wales highlights included "getting to eat Cypriot halloumi and chips" in New Quay, Ceredigion, and "one of the best brownies I've had in my life" in Llangrannog, also in Ceredigion. "Sometimes the best days are not the ones with the most spectacular scenery, it's just how you feel on that day, how our relationship is or if you've slept well the night before," said Kerry-Anne. They also endured a lot of rain. "I wanted mum to Google how long it takes for water to [cause] trench foot," said Finn. "[My feet are] still a bit funny now to be honest."
Where did a 13-year-old boy find so much stamina? "From eating too much salt, sugar and saturated fat," joked Finn. Kerry-Anne said raising money for a charity he had chosen - the RNLI - was a good motivator. They have so far raised about £8,000. "He's probably got more energy than me now," she said. So what has Finn learnt from his adventures with his mum? "It's taught me about how good being outside is for your mental health essentially, I know that sounds a bit dull but I just felt really great after a day's walking," he said. And how has it affected their relationship? "Mum always knows what's best for me and she's always looking out for me," he said while ruffling her hair. "I feel like we've got a really strong connection," said Kerry-Anne. "We really like spending time in each other's company and our connection feels quite special."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1we2yygxl6o
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Wales Coast Path: Mum and teenage son walk 1,200 miles - BBC News
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2024-08-11
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Finn, 13, and his mum Kerry-Anne have just completed a walk around the perimeter of Wales.
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Wales
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How to survive a 1,200 mile walk with your teenage son
Finn and Kerry-Anne spent 84 days walking the perimeter of Wales
Thirteen-year-old Finn and his mum Kerry-Anne have just completed the adventure of a lifetime, walking almost 1,200 miles around the perimeter of Wales. The pair spent 84 days carrying everything they needed to camp on their backs, sometimes in driving rain, before sleeping in a tent together each night - conditions that could test any relationship. "It was intense - in a good way," laughed Kerry-Anne. "It's a different level of connection, Finn couldn't go off and slam a door and go to his room, I couldn't walk away."
Finn - seen here camping on the Isle of Mull in 2017 - has been having adventures with his mum since he was small
Finn's "emotionally passionate" nature could at times be challenging, she said. "If you don't mind me saying," Kerry-Anne checked in with Finn. "Not at all," he replied. "We have arguments but you have to work hard to get over it," Kerry-Anne added. The pair are now back home in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, where they share a home with Finn's dad and Kerry-Anne's husband John. Kerry-Anne grew up in Llanmaes, Vale of Glamorgan, so the trip was an opportunity for her to revisit places from her childhood. The mother and son are used to spending lots of time together, as Finn is home-schooled, with exploring nature a big part of his education. "When he was young he was very unsettled," said Kerry-Anne, 45. "We've not had any diagnosis, but we think probably neurodivergent, external - you identify with that?" she asked Finn. She continued: "I noticed that getting outside was beneficial for him as much as it was for me... so I just wanted to make sure he was outside as much as he was in."
Finn is home-schooled and has always spent lots of time outdoors with his mum
When Finn was born Kerry-Anne decided to take a break from her career in academia and youth work. Then when the time came to put his name down for a school place she felt he was not ready. After lots of reading on the subject and discussions with her husband, a television floor manager, they decided on home-schooling. "It just worked for us," she said. "It has always been year by year and if Finn ever wanted to go to school - which he doesn't - it would be his decision."
Finn and his mum like to sleep out under the stars
The Wales walk was by no means the pair's first adventure. Since Finn was small they would go outside every day to observe the slow changing of the seasons and often picnic along or swim in the River Clyde near their home. "It wasn't always idyllic," said Kerry-Anne. "Sometimes one of us would be in a bad mood or not want to go. It is beautiful looking back on it, but anything with children is quite challenging at the time." Then when Finn was five, inspired by Alastair Humphreys' book Microadventures, they attempted to sleep out under the stars in just a bivvy bag, external for one night of each month of the year. In January, they slept in the snow in their back garden, in the summer they would sleep in the forest or on beaches.
Finn and Kerry-Anne spent their days walking and their nights sleeping together in a tent
They took on their first thru-hiking challenge when Finn was 10, spending four days walking the Isle of Arran Coastal Way before they had to head home when the wind snapped the poles of their tent. Then last year when Finn was 12, they really upped the ante, completing the UK's longest national trail, the 630-mile (1,013km) South West Coast Path. "Now that was challenging," recalled Finn. "I didn't realise what I was signing up for," he joked. But despite the extreme distance, he said he and his mum got on "quite well". "There were a few challenging moments," said Kerry-Anne. "Finn can make up a story that's five hours long and lasts the entire day."
Finn and his mum carried everything they needed for camping on their backs
"I struggle with that lack of mental space," admitted Kerry-Anne. At night they settled into a routine where Finn was responsible for getting water and the washing-up but apart from that, could read. Kerry-Anne's evenings were spent putting the tent up, organising dinner, showering, washing her underwear "because I only took a couple of pairs" and researching the next day's food stops and campsite before they both went to bed at 21:00. Each missed different things from their home life. "I was missing board games a great deal - we [he and his friends] like to play really, really complicated ones," said Finn. He said he also missed tofu which they found hard to come by. "We ate so much junk food, it was all convenience stores and we were eating mostly snack bars and things," she said. Despite these challenges, they decided to take on the Wales walk while still walking the South West Coast Path.
Some of Finn's favourite moments on his adventures involve food
A year after their first epic walk, Kerry-Anne and Finn set off again in April. They began with the 870-mile (1,400km) Wales Coast Path, which covers the entire country's coastline, followed by the 177-mile (285km) Offa's Dyke Path along the Wales-England border. Finn admitted he spent much of the time singing "I would walk 500 miles" from the Proclaimers song I'm Gonna Be (500 miles). Officially the route was 1,050 miles but they did closer to 1,180 because of detours to campsites and shops. Finn's Wales highlights included "getting to eat Cypriot halloumi and chips" in New Quay, Ceredigion, and "one of the best brownies I've had in my life" in Llangrannog, also in Ceredigion. "Sometimes the best days are not the ones with the most spectacular scenery, it's just how you feel on that day, how our relationship is or if you've slept well the night before," said Kerry-Anne. They also endured a lot of rain. "I wanted mum to Google how long it takes for water to [cause] trench foot," said Finn. "[My feet are] still a bit funny now to be honest."
Where did a 13-year-old boy find so much stamina? "From eating too much salt, sugar and saturated fat," joked Finn. Kerry-Anne said raising money for a charity he had chosen - the RNLI - was a good motivator. They have so far raised about £8,000. "He's probably got more energy than me now," she said. So what has Finn learnt from his adventures with his mum? "It's taught me about how good being outside is for your mental health essentially, I know that sounds a bit dull but I just felt really great after a day's walking," he said. And how has it affected their relationship? "Mum always knows what's best for me and she's always looking out for me," he said while ruffling her hair. "I feel like we've got a really strong connection," said Kerry-Anne. "We really like spending time in each other's company and our connection feels quite special."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1we2yygxl6o
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news_articles_c1we2yygxl6
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Church of England paid off priest assessed as a risk to children - BBC News
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2024-08-13
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Concerns about Andrew Hindley were “open secret” among clergy, Blackburn Cathedral whistleblower tells BBC.
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England
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Priest thought to pose risk to children is paid off
Documents seen by the BBC show there had been concerns about Canon Hindley for years
The Church of England made a six-figure pay-off to a priest assessed as a potential risk to children and young people, a BBC investigation has found. Canon Andrew Hindley - who worked in Blackburn diocese from 1991 to 2021 - was subject to five police investigations, including into allegations of sexual assault. He has never been charged with any criminal offences and says he has never presented any safeguarding risk to anyone. A senior member of staff at Blackburn Cathedral resigned over the settlement and says concerns about the priest were “an open secret” among senior clergy. The former Bishop of Blackburn Julian Henderson described the financial settlement when he was in post as the “only option” left for the Church “to protect children and vulnerable young people from the risk Canon Hindley posed”. The archbishops of Canterbury and York have told the BBC they are “still working” to get Church processes right and “must learn” from past mistakes.
Despite many people we approached being unwilling to talk, our two-year investigation also found:
• None Restrictions on Canon Hindley, banning him from choir school and school visits, were never monitored
• None The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, backed a plan to close Blackburn Cathedral if the priest returned to work from suspension
• None Three Lancashire bishops complained “strings have been pulled and networks have been used to effect Canon Hindley’s ongoing ministry”
• None There were previous attempts to pay the priest to leave, dating back more than 15 years
In 2022, Canon Hindley was offered £240,000, the BBC understands. We do not know the final amount paid because the parties signed non-disclosure agreements keeping it secret. The Church of England said it was settling legal action brought by the priest in response to an earlier Church decision to force him to retire. But the BBC has seen evidence the Church tried several times over the years to pay off Canon Hindley. It was the “tipping point” for Rowena Pailing, who quit as the cathedral’s vice-dean and head of safeguarding, ending a nearly 20-year career with the Church of England. “I couldn't work for an organisation which put its own reputation and the protection of alleged abusers above the protection and care and listening to victims and survivors,” she tells the BBC, speaking publicly for the first time about the case. The message the payment sends to victims and survivors is “absolutely horrific… I was devastated”.
• None Support and information for anyone affected by these issues can be found at BBC Action Line
Rowena Pailing wrote to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to ask for their help
Mrs Pailing says that when she was offered the job in 2018 she was warned of “serious safeguarding concerns and allegations” over a priest, spanning “a long period of about 25 years”. She says she was assured there was a plan to deal with it. But after taking up the post “it became quite clear there was no plan” and quickly realised the Church of England was sitting on an open secret. Recalling an event at Lambeth Palace, home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, she says: “There was a bishop from another diocese who referred to the particular canon by name and asked if he was still up to his old tricks.” Internal Church of England documents, seen by the BBC, show there had been concerns about Blackburn Cathedral for years. A 2009 cathedral inspection concluded Canon Hindley “may pose a threat to young men” and to the cathedral’s name.
Over the years, Lancashire Police opened five investigations into Canon Hindley:
• None 1991: Allegation of sex with a 17-year-old boy when the age of consent for gay men was 21
• None 2000: Allegation of sex with a 15-year-old boy when the age of consent was 16 Both investigations were dropped after the alleged victims and the canon denied the allegations. Police took no further action in three other investigations. In each, Canon Hindley denied the allegations:
• None 2001: Allegation of sexual assault of a teenage boy three years earlier - a later report commissioned by the Church shows Canon Hindley had been accused of giving the alleged victim alcohol, encouraging him to watch pornography and touching his genitals
• None 2018: Allegations of sexual assaults at a party in the cathedral garden Lancashire Police says it assessed all available information and “where evidence was available investigations were undertaken and advice sought from the Crown Prosecution Service” but that “this did not result in any charges being brought”.
As well as police investigations, church leaders, with a duty of care to churchgoers and staff, commissioned several expert risk assessments into whether Canon Hindley posed a safeguarding risk. The repeated failure to definitively act on the findings of these risk assessments, and other warnings, is at the centre of our investigation. The Cathedral did suspend Canon Hindley at least twice and banned him from choir school, junior confirmation groups and school visits. But - according to a document we have seen - “the restrictions were never monitored”.
For years, he remained as Canon Sacrist, planning services and managing the vergers and servers, while living in a cathedral townhouse.
Canon Hindley says there was a campaign to drive him from the church
A review of cathedral residence arrangements in 2020 noted colleagues nicknamed him “Teflon”, implying complaints or allegations would never stick. Canon Hindley claims he was subjected to a campaign to drive him from the church “which was motivated by homophobia and personal agendas” and “the Church has allowed its safeguarding procedures to be hijacked, weaponised and misused”. Also in 2020, a report by a consultant clinical psychologist concluded there was “low to moderate risk of future inappropriate sexual behaviour” with risk increasing if Canon Hindley spent “prolonged periods of time alone in the company of young males”. It was the last in the series of risk assessments. Thirteen years earlier, the children’s charity the NSPCC had said Canon Hindley presented “a risk of significant harm to children and young people” and advised he “should have no unsupervised contact with children or young people”. It also recommended he attend a sex offender programme and his risk be reassessed - and if he failed to co-operate, the Church should think about ending his employment.
A review he commissioned by a social work researcher in 2007 said “it would be hard to sustain an argument of predatory targeting behaviour” but Canon Hindley “needs support on developing his boundaries in relation to work with children”. A judge also made some criticisms of the report, while considering an unrelated case. Referring to the criticisms, Canon Hindley has told the BBC the judge concluded the authors of the NSPCC report had failed to properly understand their role and remit and appeared to “equate homosexuality with a risk of paedophile abuse”. In 2017, Canon Hindley was offered a job in another diocese - but it was withdrawn after a risk assesssment found “significant safeguarding risks”. He remained in post at Blackburn.
Child protection expert Ian Elliott says our investigation exposes a clear failure to act on information presented by experienced professionals who had warned of the potential for significant harm.
Ian Elliott has carried out safeguarding reviews of religious groups across the world
“When you've commissioned a risk assessment, you've done it for a reason,” says Mr Elliott, who has carried out safeguarding reviews of religious institutions across the world. “I do not feel the Church of England is safe.” As a means of removing Canon Hindley, the Cathedral Chapter governing body voted in January 2021 to retire him on ill-health grounds, using an untested law from 1949. But he brought a claim in the High Court for judicial review of that decision. The cathedral then began legal proceedings to remove him from his cathedral townhouse, which he also opposed.
This pushback may explain why church leaders had not acted earlier. Internal papers show they had previously considered dismissing Canon Hindley but were worried about legal action. He was one of a small number of clerics holding what is called a freehold office which was abolished for new priests in 2007 and gives a more protected status than that of a regular employee. Rowena Pailing says that for senior clergy and the Church’s legal team, “the fear that was always named was a fear of litigation”. Blackburn diocese has told us that, prior to his forced retirement, it “explored every single option” for removing Canon Hindley but the only way it could have happened was if a complaint against him had been upheld at an internal church tribunal. Several attempts were made to take complaints to tribunals but all were refused permission to proceed. If allegations are at least a year old, permission from a senior church-appointed judge is needed before they can be heard by a tribunal. Several complaints against Canon Hindley were refused permission by those judges, including two in 2020. This led Mrs Pailing and other senior cathedral staff to write to the archbishops of Canterbury and York expressing their “profound concern” and asking them to intervene. The Church of England has told the BBC there was “no way in which they [the archbishops] could lawfully have intervened” in “a judicial decision taken by an independent judge”. Canon Hindley says that whenever his case has been considered objectively by an independent judicial decision-maker, “I have always been exonerated”. He claims that the “endlessly recycled false allegations” were all part of a homophobic campaign against him. Canon Hindley was an openly gay priest in a cathedral which some people we have spoken to describe as “conservative”. But we have talked to former colleagues who believe he used some of the homophobia he did experience to deflect challenges about his own behaviour.
A close family member of one of Canon Hindley’s alleged victims says that the Church had been afraid to act. She did not want to be identified and would not talk about her relative’s allegations against Canon Hindley. Joan - not her real name - says when her relative made a complaint of sexual misconduct against the priest, “the first reaction seemed to be one of a fear to take it on”. “That fear seemed to revolve around the likelihood that the Church could be brought down by this.” She recalls a letter from a previous Bishop of Blackburn advising the family “to move on”. “I thought that was quite an offensive thing to say to us. It was like sweeping it under the carpet.” The family felt “completely dismayed” that their complaint was never tackled, says Joan. “We don't know what the outcome would have been. But nobody tried.”
In 2020 - a year after being first alerted to concerns about Canon Hindley - Archbishop Welby attempted to intervene. Andrew Graystone, an advocate for survivors of abuse in the Church of England, says he was called by a senior member of clergy from Blackburn Cathedral. “The Archbishop [of Canterbury] had told them that the Church house lawyers wouldn't be able to resolve this, and the archbishop himself suggested that one way for this clergyman to go would be to, effectively, leak the story to the press,” he says. We asked the Church of England to comment on the suggestion of leaking to the press but it did not directly respond. In the end the idea was dropped. But Church leaders would go on to sanction even more drastic action - as Canon Hindley pushed to return to work, having been suspended pending the police investigation into the sexual assault allegations at the cathedral garden party. In July 2021, the then-Bishop of Blackburn, Julian Henderson, wrote to the canon saying he would have sacked him if he could, after the final risk assessment had found “the risk of inappropriate sexual behaviour to others as low to moderate”. Rt Rev Henderson said “this should never be said of a clerk in Holy Orders” and he made the startling threat that if Canon Hindley came back to work he was “prepared to close the ministry of the Cathedral”, with the agreement of the Dean and the archbishops of Canterbury and York.
Ian Elliott says that closing a cathedral “so that you can sideline someone against whom allegations of abuse have been made, is appalling and ridiculous”. “And if you can’t see that, then there’s a problem.” Rt Rev Henderson has told the BBC there was no way Canon Hindley could be allowed to return to ministry at the cathedral, and if he could not be prevented from returning, then the only option, albeit drastic, was to shut down the ministry at the cathedral. “It was the last lever left available to us to pull.” The BBC has also seen a letter from May 2020 signed by all three Lancashire bishops, complaining to the archbishops that “strings have been pulled and networks have been used to effect Canon Hindley’s ongoing ministry”. When we asked what this referred to, Rt Rev Henderson told us it was “almost impossible to understand” how a complaint against Canon Hindley had not been progressed to a church tribunal. “Therefore, it was natural to wonder whether other factors had been called into play that we knew nothing about.” In the end, the Church’s solution to get rid of Canon Hindley was to dismiss him on ill-health grounds, followed by a financial settlement. The case “highlighted on the BBC today is complicated and very difficult for everyone involved,” it says. But the BBC has seen evidence of several previous attempts to pay the priest to leave the ministry, going back to at least 2008. On one failed occasion “the lump sum offered was considered too small” by Canon Hindley, according to a Church document seen by the BBC.
“This individual has actually been paid a sum of money by the Church to retire from their position and to all intents of purposes has not been held to account in any way,” says Mr Elliott. Speaking to the BBC, the current Bishop of Blackburn, Philip North, says: “I don't think anybody can be quite happy with the way that that situation was resolved.” He was not in his current position at the time of the settlement and would not say if it was normal for a priest to be paid after retiring in such circumstances. “What really matters is the learning from that case, and the steps that we must take as a church in order to be safer into the future,” he says. At the centre of that are risk assessments. The Church of England says it is currently reviewing the regulations and guidance for it. “Priests can have a risk assessment which can indicate a level of risk” and “the powers of a diocesan bishop are limited,” says the bishop. “Now, that, for me, is a significant area of weakness. “When a risk assessment indicates a priest has a risk, we should be able to take action.” In a joint statement with Peter Howell-Jones, the Dean of Blackburn Cathedral, he has said the Church must listen “more closely than ever” to survivors of abuse “to ensure that the Church now, and in the future, is not hampered by its own processes from acting quickly and properly on serious safeguarding matters. Only then can this truly be a safe Church for everyone”. But Rowena Pailing, who is now adjusting to life outside ministry, says: “Bishops have an awful lot of power and if they want to do something, they can do it. “[So] I think for many of those senior clergy, when they said that they couldn't do it, what it meant was that they weren't brave enough to do it. “They had 25 years to sort it out. Quite frankly, if you never start the process of change, then of course it's never going to happen.”
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2gj77pvwwo
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US police officer pleads not guilty to murdering pregnant woman - BBC News
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2024-08-14
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The charges stem from the shooting of Ta'Kiya Young, 21, last August in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
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US & Canada
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US police officer pleads not guilty to murdering pregnant woman
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A police officer has appeared in court to plead not guilty to murdering a pregnant woman in Ohio. Ta'Kiya Young, 21, was around 25 weeks pregnant when she was shot last August. Her unborn daughter also died. On Wednesday, a judge set bond at $250,000 (£194,866) for Connor Grubb, the accused Blendon Township police officer. He posted bond the same day, court records show. The 29-year-old has been charged with four counts of murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and four counts of felonious assault. His lawyers say he fired in self-defence.
A grand jury found sufficient evidence to charge him on Tuesday. Bodycam video of last year's fatal encounter showed police approaching Ms Young in her car and attempting to stop her from driving away, so they could question her about alleged shoplifting. In the video, Ms Young appeared to drive toward the officer who fired the fatal shot as he commanded her to exit the car. Ms Young was suspected of shoplifting alcohol from a Kroger grocery store, investigators say. Detailing Mr Grubb's self-defence argument, his lawyers said: "When viewed through the eyes of a reasonable police officer, the evidence will show that our client's actions were justified, when there is video evidence that Officer Grubb was being hit by a moving vehicle." The local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) labour union on Tuesday slammed the indictment as "politically motivated". "We stand firm in advocating for an impartial justice system that focuses on truth and facts, not politics," said chapter president Brian Steel. "Like all law enforcement officers, Officer Grubb had to make a split-second decision, a reality all too familiar for those who serve to protect our communities," he also said, adding decisions were often made under "extreme pressure and often in life-threatening situations".
Responding to the indictment, Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said the force was immediately beginning a disciplinary process, in which it would review the facts and then decide the best course of action against the officer. "I want to be very clear: we're not passing any judgement on whether Officer Grubb acted properly. We haven't seen the evidence," Chief Belford said. A lawyer representing Ms Young's family, Sean Walton, called the arrest a "solemn victory in the pursuit of justice" and "yet another symbol of the urgent need for reform in police conduct and accountability". “The actions that led to the death of Ta’Kiya - the unnecessary aggression, the chilling commands that amounted to ‘comply or die’ - were there for us all to witness in dreadful clarity," he said. Ms Young's grandmother, Nadine Young, told CBS News that the past year had been very difficult for the family, including Ms Young's two young sons. "It's been agony, it's been like a whirlwind of hurt and pain," she said. Video from the 24 August 2023 encounter shows the two officers speaking with Ms Young for about one minute before the shot is fired. Both officers were in the car park for an unrelated call. Ms Young was the mother of two boys, aged six and three. She was due to give birth in November.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr40207zvd6o
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news_articles_cr40207zvd6
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Disney+ terms prevent allergy death lawsuit, Disney says - BBC News
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2024-08-14
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The entertainment giant says the terms of a free trial prevent it from being sued for wrongful death.
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Technology
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The allergy death allegedly took place at Disney World in Florida
Disney World is arguing a man cannot sue it over the death of his wife because of terms he signed up to in a free trial of Disney+. Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney and the owners of a restaurant after his wife died in 2023 from a severe allergic reaction after eating at the theme park. However, Disney argues its terms of use, which Mr Piccolo agreed to when creating his Disney account in 2019, means they have to settle out of court. “We are deeply saddened by the family’s loss and understand their grief," Disney said in a statement.
"Given that this restaurant is neither owned nor operated by Disney, we are merely defending ourselves against the plaintiff’s attorney’s attempt to include us in their lawsuit against the restaurant.” The couple had dined at Raglan Road, an Ireland-themed pub located at Disney Springs, a part of the vast Walt Disney World complex in Orlando, Florida. Representatives for Raglan Road and Mr Piccolo have been contacted for comment. Mr Piccolo alleges that the restaurant did not take enough care over his wife's severe allergies to dairy and nuts, despite being repeatedly told about them. Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan died in hospital later that day, 5 October 2023. According to the legal filing, her death was confirmed by a medical examiner "as a result of anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system." Mr Piccolo is suing Disney for a sum in excess of $50,000 plus legal costs. Disney wants the case in the courts to be halted,, external and for the dispute to be resolved out of court, in a process called arbitration. The entertainment company argues it cannot be taken to court because, in its terms of use, external, it says users agree to settle any disputes with the company via arbitration. It says Mr Piccolo agreed to these terms of use when he signed up to a one month free trial of its streaming service, Disney+, in 2019. Disney adds that Mr Piccolo accepted these terms again when using his Disney account to buy tickets for the theme park in 2023.
They say Disney's case "is based on the incredible argument that any person who signs up for a Disney+ account, even free trials that are not extended beyond the trial period, will have forever waived the right to a jury trial". The argument that this can be extended to wrongful death or personal injury claims "borders on the surreal," according to the legal filing., external They also argue that Mr Piccolo agreed to the Disney terms of use for himself, whereas he is now acting on behalf of his deceased wife, who never agreed to the terms.
"Disney is pushing the envelope of contract law," says Ernest Aduwa, partner at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, who are not involved in the proceedings. "The courts will have to consider, on balance, if the arbitration clause in a contract for a streaming service can really be applied to as serious an allegation of wrongful death through negligence at a theme park," he says. He adds: "Disney’s argument that accepting their terms and conditions for one product covers all interactions with that company is novel and potentially far reaching." Jibreel Tramboo, barrister at Church Court Chambers, says the terms in the Disney+ trial are a "weak argument for Disney to rely on". However, he says, the clause in the ticket purchase from 2023 may be a stronger case, "as there is a similar arbitration clause". "That may permit Disney to stay the case for arbitration," he says, "although there are many other threads that may prevent them going to arbitration given the delicate circumstances in this case."
Mr Piccolo wants the case to go in front of a jury in a court of law. Disney's motion to take the case out of court and decided by arbitration will be heard in front of a Florida judge in October. Arbitration means the dispute is overseen by a neutral third party who is not a judge. It is usually a quicker and cheaper process than a court case. "Disney understandably may want to benefit from the privacy and confidentiality that arbitration brings, rather than having a wrongful death suit heard in public with the associated publicity," says Jamie Cartwright, partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jl0ekjr0go
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news_articles_c8jl0ekjr0g
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Lamine Yamal's father stabbed multiple times - Spanish media reports - BBC News
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2024-08-15
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Mounir Nasraoui is in hospital and at least three people have been arrested, Spanish media reports.
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Europe
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Mounir Nasraoui (right) watched on as his teenage son set up the opening goal in Spain's 2-1 win over England in this summer's Euro final
The father of 17-year-old Spanish football star Lamine Yamal has reportedly been stabbed multiple times in a car park. According to reports in Spanish media, Mounir Nasraoui was attacked in the coastal town of Mataró, north of Barcelona, on Wednesday night by a group of people he had spoken to earlier in the day. Catalan police have confirmed three people were arrested on Wednesday and a fourth suspect was detained on Thursday morning. Mr Nasraoui was taken to hospital in Barcelona in a serious condition but is now said to be stable.
The reported attack took place near the Rocafonda neighbourhood where Yamal grew up. Earlier in the day, Mr Nasraoui is said to have had an argument with a group of people he had encountered while walking his dog, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. Hours later, he was approached by the same group in a car park and stabbed “multiple times”. The motivation for the stabbing is currently unknown. A report on sports website Relevo said Mr Nasraoui was set to remain in hospital for two or three days under observation. Lamine Yamal, Spain's youngest ever player, lit up Euro 2024 where he was named Young Player of the Tournament. The winger set up Nico Williams's opening goal as Spain beat England 2-1 in the final in Berlin. Shortly after Spain lifted the trophy, fans lined the streets of Mataró celebrating their young star. After spending his childhood in the town, Yamal spent some of his teenage years at Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70jwl090wpo
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news_articles_c70jwl090
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Disney+ terms prevent allergy death lawsuit, Disney says - BBC News
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2024-08-15
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The entertainment giant says the terms of a free trial prevent it from being sued for wrongful death.
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Technology
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The allergy death allegedly took place at Disney World in Florida
Disney World is arguing a man cannot sue it over the death of his wife because of terms he signed up to in a free trial of Disney+. Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney and the owners of a restaurant after his wife died in 2023 from a severe allergic reaction after eating at the theme park. However, Disney argues its terms of use, which Mr Piccolo agreed to when creating his Disney account in 2019, means they have to settle out of court. “We are deeply saddened by the family’s loss and understand their grief," Disney said in a statement.
"Given that this restaurant is neither owned nor operated by Disney, we are merely defending ourselves against the plaintiff’s attorney’s attempt to include us in their lawsuit against the restaurant.” The couple had dined at Raglan Road, an Ireland-themed pub located at Disney Springs, a part of the vast Walt Disney World complex in Orlando, Florida. Representatives for Raglan Road and Mr Piccolo have been contacted for comment. Mr Piccolo alleges that the restaurant did not take enough care over his wife's severe allergies to dairy and nuts, despite being repeatedly told about them. Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan died in hospital later that day, 5 October 2023. According to the legal filing, her death was confirmed by a medical examiner "as a result of anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system." Mr Piccolo is suing Disney for a sum in excess of $50,000 plus legal costs. Disney wants the case in the courts to be halted,, external and for the dispute to be resolved out of court, in a process called arbitration. The entertainment company argues it cannot be taken to court because, in its terms of use, external, it says users agree to settle any disputes with the company via arbitration. It says Mr Piccolo agreed to these terms of use when he signed up to a one month free trial of its streaming service, Disney+, in 2019. Disney adds that Mr Piccolo accepted these terms again when using his Disney account to buy tickets for the theme park in 2023.
They say Disney's case "is based on the incredible argument that any person who signs up for a Disney+ account, even free trials that are not extended beyond the trial period, will have forever waived the right to a jury trial". The argument that this can be extended to wrongful death or personal injury claims "borders on the surreal," according to the legal filing., external They also argue that Mr Piccolo agreed to the Disney terms of use for himself, whereas he is now acting on behalf of his deceased wife, who never agreed to the terms.
"Disney is pushing the envelope of contract law," says Ernest Aduwa, partner at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, who are not involved in the proceedings. "The courts will have to consider, on balance, if the arbitration clause in a contract for a streaming service can really be applied to as serious an allegation of wrongful death through negligence at a theme park," he says. He adds: "Disney’s argument that accepting their terms and conditions for one product covers all interactions with that company is novel and potentially far reaching." Jibreel Tramboo, barrister at Church Court Chambers, says the terms in the Disney+ trial are a "weak argument for Disney to rely on". However, he says, the clause in the ticket purchase from 2023 may be a stronger case, "as there is a similar arbitration clause". "That may permit Disney to stay the case for arbitration," he says, "although there are many other threads that may prevent them going to arbitration given the delicate circumstances in this case."
Mr Piccolo wants the case to go in front of a jury in a court of law. Disney's motion to take the case out of court and decided by arbitration will be heard in front of a Florida judge in October. Arbitration means the dispute is overseen by a neutral third party who is not a judge. It is usually a quicker and cheaper process than a court case. "Disney understandably may want to benefit from the privacy and confidentiality that arbitration brings, rather than having a wrongful death suit heard in public with the associated publicity," says Jamie Cartwright, partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jl0ekjr0go
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news_articles_c8jl0ekjr0g
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Grammy-winning producer seeks to dismiss rape lawsuit - BBC News
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2024-08-17
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The-Dream was accused of rape and sexual battery in June by a former protégé, Chanaaz Mangroe.
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Culture
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The-Dream has written songs for Rihanna, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West
Grammy award-winning producer and songwriter The-Dream is seeking to have large parts of a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him thrown out. The 47-year-old, born Terius Gesteelde-Diamant, was accused of rape and sexual battery in June by a former protégé, Chanaaz Mangroe, who performed as Channii Monroe. In response, Mr Gesteelde-Diamant, who has written songs for Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey, denied the allegations. On Friday, his legal representatives filed to have the case thrown out, calling the claims "a textbook example of a 'shotgun pleading'."
The term 'shotgun pleading' is used to describe a complaint which sets out multiple allegations without providing the other side with fair notice of the claims. In court documents seen by BBC News, the lawyers asked for multiple amendments to Ms Mangroe's complaint, insisting certain paragraphs are "immaterial" and "scandalous". They are seeking to dismiss the rape claim, arguing rape is not a separate civil cause of action under California law. They also argued the sex trafficking claim fails to allege required elements like a "commercial sex act". His legal representatives also asked for his label Contra Paris, LLC to be removed from the suit, as it is based in Delaware and therefore lacks personal jurisdiction in California. “The complaint is a textbook example of a ‘shotgun pleading’ and must be dismissed in its entirety for failing to attribute specific factual allegations to each defendant,” said Desirée F. Moore, an attorney representing Mr Gesteelde-Diamant. She added that Mangroe's complaint "contains dozens of allegations that are utterly irrelevant to her sexual battery and sex trafficking claims and are, instead, designed solely to smear Diamant's name and reputation." According to the lawsuit filed in June, Ms Mangroe says Mr Gesteelde-Diamant repeatedly forced her to have sex, throttled her and on one occasion filmed an intimate encounter and then threatened to show it to other people. According to the 60-page lawsuit, Ms Mangroe is seeking damages for "lost wages" and for "mental pain and anguish and severe emotional distress". Ms Mangroe, originally from the Netherlands and who worked in the US hoping to break through as a singer and songwriter, said in the lawsuit she first met Mr Gesteelde-Diamant in January 2015. The 33-year-old alleges he “subjected” her to “violent sexual encounters" that left her bruised; forced her into drinking “excessive amounts of alcohol”; strangled her to the point she "almost lost consciousness”; forced her into sexual acts in a movie theatre and raped her in a renovated sprinter van. She also says he “told her that he would make her the next Beyoncé and Rihanna”. Within days of that initial meeting, Ms Mangroe claims Mr Gesteelde-Diamant had begun pressuring her for sex, telling her it was “part of the process”, the lawsuit claims. The 33-year-old says he locked her in a dark room and “would only stop aggressively having sex with her once she said that she loved him”. Ms Mangroe alleges in the lawsuit that unwanted sexual encounters continued, while Mr Gesteelde-Diamant made her promises such as suggesting he could arrange for her to be the opening act of Beyoncé’s next tour, and Grammys. Mr Gesteelde-Diamant has won eight Grammy Awards and was nominated for the newly created category of Songwriter of the Year at the 65th Grammy Awards in February 2023. In a statement supplied by a representative of Mr Gesteelde-Diamant to the New York Times in June, he said the claims are "untrue and defamatory". "I oppose all forms of harassment and have always strived to help people realize their career goals," the statement said. "As someone committed to making a positive impact on my fellow artists and the world at large, I am deeply offended and saddened by these accusations.” A representative for Ms Mangroe told the BBC: "The Dream’s arguments seeking to dismiss Plaintiff’s allegations are wholly unpersuasive. We look forward to opposing the motions and proceeding to discovery in this case."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn02gewepzeo
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news_articles_cn02gewepze
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One child strip searched every 14 hours says new report - BBC News
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2024-08-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The children’s commissioner says 45% of searches carried out between 2018 and mid-2023 failed to have an appropriate adult present.
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UK
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Dame Rachel de Souza, children's commissioner for England, says her office will publish data annually until strip-search figures come down
Too many strip-searches of children in England and Wales are "unnecessary, unsafe and under-reported," a new report warns. Data gathered by Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza shows that, from 2018 to mid-2023, police conducted more than 3,300 child strip-searches. One in 20 did not comply with strict rules, including the need to have an appropriate adult present, the report found. It was also concluded that black children were more likely to be searched. A Home Office spokesperson said: "No child should ever be strip-searched without an appropriate adult, unless there is a risk of serious harm to themselves or others, nor should they ever be conducted on the basis of their race and ethnicity."
Police in England and Wales can carry out strip-searches - which involve the removal of someone's clothes - if guidelines are followed under stop-and-search powers or in custody. Officers have to ensure they act in a sensitive, proportionate way and an appropriate adult must be present. "My argument is, they should only be done if it's a life-threatening situation," Dame Rachel told BBC Breakfast. She added there should always be an "appropriate adult there" but that, between July 2022 and June 2023, "in 45% of cases, there are not". The report, which Dame Rachel said includes some previously unseen data, is part of a series commissioned following the high-profile case of Child Q - a 15-year-old schoolgirl strip-searched in 2020, at her school in Hackney, east London, having been wrongly accused of possessing cannabis. It prompted outrage when it emerged in 2022 and Dame Rachel told Radio 4's Today programme that she was told at the time "this was a one-off, so I used my data powers to find out whether that indeed was a one-off, and it was not". The commissioner said her office would continue to publish data "every year, and will not stop until both the numbers of inappropriate strip-searches come down".
• None More than 3,300 strip-searches of children were conducted by 44 police forces* in England and Wales between January 2018 and June 2023
• None A child was strip-searched every 14 hours under police stop and search powers
• None One in 20 strip-searches were not compliant with statutory codes of practice
• None Between July 2022 and June 2023, 47% of searches resulted in 'no further action’
Her report does show some improvements, with a lower number of overall strip-searches - 42% fewer in 2022 than in 2020 - and better safeguarding referrals. There was also a fall in the number of strip-searches on black children in the same period, but they were still four times more likely to be strip-searched than the overall child population. Dame Rachel told BBC Breakfast that police "have a big job to do here in terms of listening to young people, especially those that are from the black community and other communities, that are disproportionately in these figures". She said there are "groups of young people" who feel they are "picked on - and unfortunately, data like this shows that it does look like this is the case".
I met a mother who says her 14-year-old son was strip-searched while in custody in the south of England without an appropriate adult present. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing cannabis but claims it was a small amount for personal use. "He was strip-searched and then left naked in the cell," the boy's mother said. He was diagnosed with autism in primary school and now, in his twenties, is living with psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His mother says his mental health has been severely damaged by multiple stop and searches during his childhood and has accused police of targeting him because of his black ethnic heritage. "The police brutality that he's experienced, it's not something that professionals want to talk about and address with him." "One of the issues that we have is that where he's been brought up in predominantly white environments, he minimises a lot of the racism that happens to him."
Elaine Isadora Thomas is the Founder and CEO of The Mentoring Lab, a youth organisation in Hackney, which supports young people, parents and community groups from marginalised backgrounds. "This report is damning. It damages what we expect from police and the police service," she said. "If we're strip-searching young people, and it's disproportionately against young people who are from African and Caribbean backgrounds, then we're not looking at the root causes. "If we take a no strip-search approach, then we have to look at other options." The Home Office said the government has committed to introducing new safeguards for strip-searching children and young people in its manifesto and would carefully consider the Children's Commissioner’s recommendations to ensure police can keep people safe in a fair and proportionate way, with full regard for a child's dignity. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), which brings together leaders from forces across the country, says it's working with the Home Office, the College of Policing, and others to make changes to the codes of practice governing strip-searches. Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Mariner, the NPCC's lead for stop and search, said he agreed with the report's findings and that the group would be "refining existing training for officers that explicitly teach the trauma that these types of searches can have on individuals and communities".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2n8gx475yo
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news_articles_cx2n8gx475y
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Grammy-winning producer seeks to dismiss rape lawsuit - BBC News
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2024-08-18
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The-Dream was accused of rape and sexual battery in June by a former protégé, Chanaaz Mangroe.
|
Culture
|
The-Dream has written songs for Rihanna, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West
Grammy award-winning producer and songwriter The-Dream is seeking to have large parts of a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him thrown out. The 47-year-old, born Terius Gesteelde-Diamant, was accused of rape and sexual battery in June by a former protégé, Chanaaz Mangroe, who performed as Channii Monroe. In response, Mr Gesteelde-Diamant, who has written songs for Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey, denied the allegations. On Friday, his legal representatives filed to have the case thrown out, calling the claims "a textbook example of a 'shotgun pleading'."
The term 'shotgun pleading' is used to describe a complaint which sets out multiple allegations without providing the other side with fair notice of the claims. In court documents seen by BBC News, the lawyers asked for multiple amendments to Ms Mangroe's complaint, insisting certain paragraphs are "immaterial" and "scandalous". They are seeking to dismiss the rape claim, arguing rape is not a separate civil cause of action under California law. They also argued the sex trafficking claim fails to allege required elements like a "commercial sex act". His legal representatives also asked for his label Contra Paris, LLC to be removed from the suit, as it is based in Delaware and therefore lacks personal jurisdiction in California. “The complaint is a textbook example of a ‘shotgun pleading’ and must be dismissed in its entirety for failing to attribute specific factual allegations to each defendant,” said Desirée F. Moore, an attorney representing Mr Gesteelde-Diamant. She added that Mangroe's complaint "contains dozens of allegations that are utterly irrelevant to her sexual battery and sex trafficking claims and are, instead, designed solely to smear Diamant's name and reputation." According to the lawsuit filed in June, Ms Mangroe says Mr Gesteelde-Diamant repeatedly forced her to have sex, throttled her and on one occasion filmed an intimate encounter and then threatened to show it to other people. According to the 60-page lawsuit, Ms Mangroe is seeking damages for "lost wages" and for "mental pain and anguish and severe emotional distress". Ms Mangroe, originally from the Netherlands and who worked in the US hoping to break through as a singer and songwriter, said in the lawsuit she first met Mr Gesteelde-Diamant in January 2015. The 33-year-old alleges he “subjected” her to “violent sexual encounters" that left her bruised; forced her into drinking “excessive amounts of alcohol”; strangled her to the point she "almost lost consciousness”; forced her into sexual acts in a movie theatre and raped her in a renovated sprinter van. She also says he “told her that he would make her the next Beyoncé and Rihanna”. Within days of that initial meeting, Ms Mangroe claims Mr Gesteelde-Diamant had begun pressuring her for sex, telling her it was “part of the process”, the lawsuit claims. The 33-year-old says he locked her in a dark room and “would only stop aggressively having sex with her once she said that she loved him”. Ms Mangroe alleges in the lawsuit that unwanted sexual encounters continued, while Mr Gesteelde-Diamant made her promises such as suggesting he could arrange for her to be the opening act of Beyoncé’s next tour, and Grammys. Mr Gesteelde-Diamant has won eight Grammy Awards and was nominated for the newly created category of Songwriter of the Year at the 65th Grammy Awards in February 2023. In a statement supplied by a representative of Mr Gesteelde-Diamant to the New York Times in June, he said the claims are "untrue and defamatory". "I oppose all forms of harassment and have always strived to help people realize their career goals," the statement said. "As someone committed to making a positive impact on my fellow artists and the world at large, I am deeply offended and saddened by these accusations.” A representative for Ms Mangroe told the BBC: "The Dream’s arguments seeking to dismiss Plaintiff’s allegations are wholly unpersuasive. We look forward to opposing the motions and proceeding to discovery in this case."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn02gewepzeo
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news_articles_cn02gewepze
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One child strip searched every 14 hours says new report - BBC News
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2024-08-19
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The children’s commissioner says 45% of searches carried out between 2018 and mid-2023 failed to have an appropriate adult present.
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UK
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Dame Rachel de Souza, children's commissioner for England, says her office will publish data annually until strip-search figures come down
Too many strip-searches of children in England and Wales are "unnecessary, unsafe and under-reported," a new report warns. Data gathered by Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza shows that, from 2018 to mid-2023, police conducted more than 3,300 child strip-searches. One in 20 did not comply with strict rules, including the need to have an appropriate adult present, the report found. It was also concluded that black children were more likely to be searched. A Home Office spokesperson said: "No child should ever be strip-searched without an appropriate adult, unless there is a risk of serious harm to themselves or others, nor should they ever be conducted on the basis of their race and ethnicity."
Police in England and Wales can carry out strip-searches - which involve the removal of someone's clothes - if guidelines are followed under stop-and-search powers or in custody. Officers have to ensure they act in a sensitive, proportionate way and an appropriate adult must be present. "My argument is, they should only be done if it's a life-threatening situation," Dame Rachel told BBC Breakfast. She added there should always be an "appropriate adult there" but that, between July 2022 and June 2023, "in 45% of cases, there are not". The report, which Dame Rachel said includes some previously unseen data, is part of a series commissioned following the high-profile case of Child Q - a 15-year-old schoolgirl strip-searched in 2020, at her school in Hackney, east London, having been wrongly accused of possessing cannabis. It prompted outrage when it emerged in 2022 and Dame Rachel told Radio 4's Today programme that she was told at the time "this was a one-off, so I used my data powers to find out whether that indeed was a one-off, and it was not". The commissioner said her office would continue to publish data "every year, and will not stop until both the numbers of inappropriate strip-searches come down".
• None More than 3,300 strip-searches of children were conducted by 44 police forces* in England and Wales between January 2018 and June 2023
• None A child was strip-searched every 14 hours under police stop and search powers
• None One in 20 strip-searches were not compliant with statutory codes of practice
• None Between July 2022 and June 2023, 47% of searches resulted in 'no further action’
Her report does show some improvements, with a lower number of overall strip-searches - 42% fewer in 2022 than in 2020 - and better safeguarding referrals. There was also a fall in the number of strip-searches on black children in the same period, but they were still four times more likely to be strip-searched than the overall child population. Dame Rachel told BBC Breakfast that police "have a big job to do here in terms of listening to young people, especially those that are from the black community and other communities, that are disproportionately in these figures". She said there are "groups of young people" who feel they are "picked on - and unfortunately, data like this shows that it does look like this is the case".
I met a mother who says her 14-year-old son was strip-searched while in custody in the south of England without an appropriate adult present. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing cannabis but claims it was a small amount for personal use. "He was strip-searched and then left naked in the cell," the boy's mother said. He was diagnosed with autism in primary school and now, in his twenties, is living with psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His mother says his mental health has been severely damaged by multiple stop and searches during his childhood and has accused police of targeting him because of his black ethnic heritage. "The police brutality that he's experienced, it's not something that professionals want to talk about and address with him." "One of the issues that we have is that where he's been brought up in predominantly white environments, he minimises a lot of the racism that happens to him."
Elaine Isadora Thomas is the Founder and CEO of The Mentoring Lab, a youth organisation in Hackney, which supports young people, parents and community groups from marginalised backgrounds. "This report is damning. It damages what we expect from police and the police service," she said. "If we're strip-searching young people, and it's disproportionately against young people who are from African and Caribbean backgrounds, then we're not looking at the root causes. "If we take a no strip-search approach, then we have to look at other options." The Home Office said the government has committed to introducing new safeguards for strip-searching children and young people in its manifesto and would carefully consider the Children's Commissioner’s recommendations to ensure police can keep people safe in a fair and proportionate way, with full regard for a child's dignity. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), which brings together leaders from forces across the country, says it's working with the Home Office, the College of Policing, and others to make changes to the codes of practice governing strip-searches. Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Mariner, the NPCC's lead for stop and search, said he agreed with the report's findings and that the group would be "refining existing training for officers that explicitly teach the trauma that these types of searches can have on individuals and communities".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2n8gx475yo
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news_articles_cx2n8gx475y
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Manston: Migrants illegally held and humiliated, High Court told - BBC News
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2024-08-02
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Migrants were unlawfully held at Manston and humiliated, their lawyer has told the High Court.
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Kent
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Concerns were raised about overcrowding at Manston in 2022
A group of 96 migrants were unlawfully detained at a Kent processing centre and subjected to ill-treatment by staff and humiliation, their lawyer has told the High Court. The claims have been brought against the Home Office, which is yet to formally file a defence. Allegations included that migrants held at Manston between September and November 2022 did not have access to menstruation products, had severe bleeding in pregnancy and miscarriage and struggled to breastfeed. A Home Office spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while there are ongoing legal proceedings.”
It is understood that proceedings have been paused until October, amid efforts to reach settlements. Agata Patyna, representing the migrants, said in written arguments the group included unaccompanied children, women who were pregnant at the time of detention, vulnerable people with mental health conditions and disabilities and victims of trafficking, sexual offences and torture. She said cases involved alleged “breaches of fundamental rights, including the right to liberty and prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment”. All 96 people made protection claims in the UK, with 54 recognised as refugees or given humanitarian protection, she said. The court was told the migrants should be given anonymity “to protect their legitimate interests, safety, privacy and welfare” and in relation to the “highly personal, distressing information” allegedly linked to their treatment. They were also made over the humiliation of Muslim women by having to remove their hijabs in front of others and of a Muslim child having to eat non-Halal meat. One child was left with an “ongoing fear of going to the toilet on their own, without an adult present, in consequence of the trauma suffered while detained”, the court heard.
Manston is used to process arrivals of people who enter the UK after crossing the Channel
On Friday, Judge John Dagnell concluded granting anonymity to the migrants was “necessary to secure proper administration of justice” and to protect their interests. He said: “It does seem to me that I should also bear in mind that, particularly in the light of recent events, there are sections of the populace who may be adversely inclined to asylum seekers.” Concerns were raised about overcrowding at Manston in 2022. The former military base is used to process arrivals of people who have entered the UK after crossing the English Channel by boat. In November 2022, 4,000 people were at the site, which had a capacity of 1,600. Overcrowding with “unacceptable conditions” had also been flagged by inspectors a month earlier. The Home Office previously said that improvements have since been made.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0dmdxnxz9eo
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news_articles_c0dmdxnxz9e
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'England and Ollie Pope can prepare for life without Ben Stokes' - BBC Sport
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2024-08-20
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https://www.facebook.com/BBCSport/
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England have made no secret of their long-term Ashes planning, and now they can prepare for the unthinkable - life without Ben Stokes.
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England
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'Pope and England's chance to prepare for life without Stokes'
Ollie Pope (right) will lead England for the first time in the absence of the injured Ben Stokes
A lot has happened in the 23 days since England last played Test cricket. They have sacked a white-ball coach and lost an opener, fast bowler and captain to injuries. The English game is mourning the death of Graham Thorpe. How apt, then, that another Surrey batter will lead England in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Manchester on Wednesday. While Ollie Pope becomes the 82nd man to captain England in a Test, this will remain Ben Stokes’ team. When Stokes arrived at Emirates Old Trafford on Monday - shades on, white sweater draped across his shoulders like a cape, flanked by four members of the England party dressed in their black training gear, it was hard not to think of the wounded don surrounded by his henchmen.
England do not change captain very often. Since 2009, only four men have led England in Tests. In the same time, there have been seven different UK prime ministers. The need for a stand-in has been rare, too. An England captain has not sat out through injury since Michael Vaughan 17 years ago, and just once in England’s past 177 Tests has the full-time skipper missed a match - when Joe Root was at the birth of his second child in 2020. On that occasion, Root left a note for his deputy Stokes telling him to “do it your way”, and England promptly dropped Stuart Broad. The have been no such ructions this time around.
Ben Stokes will remain with the England squad throughout the Sri Lanka series
Pope will have been on high alert for the near two years he has been vice-captain, given the state of Stokes’ left knee before he finally had surgery in November. How ironic that once the knee is fixed, Stokes has succumbed to a hamstring injury. Old Trafford will end a run of 32 consecutive Tests for Stokes, the longest in his 105-match career. For all of their talk of Ashes planning, Stokes’ injury has thrown England the opportunity to prepare for the Doomsday scenario of the captain being unavailable for the trip to Australia in little over a year’s time. Without the need for a conclave, Pope was anointed as next in line for the Pakistan tour in 2022. The 26-year-old was first touted as a future England captain by his former Surrey team-mate Scott Borthwick, who is close enough to Stokes to have been best man at his wedding. England team manager Wayne Bentley has carried around Pope’s captaincy blazer for the past year, just in case he had to step up in an emergency. Pope has led England in warm-up matches, was very publicly involved in selection meetings on the outfield during the tour of India earlier this year and most recently has taken charge of Surrey in the T20 Blast, to go with one County Championship match three years ago. Clearly, his experience of leadership in professional cricket is limited, but such is the way for modern England captains. There is no shortage of knowledge around him, especially with Stokes remaining in the dressing room throughout this three-match series. There is perhaps an argument Stokes should have stayed away to allow Pope to stand on his own two feet, even if Pope says Stokes won’t be a “backseat driver”.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'One of the greatest honours' - Ollie Pope on England cricket captaincy
While it is always intriguing to see how a new skipper goes about things, England’s method is ingrained, so we are unlikely to witness any radical changes. It is a blow to lose Stokes’ aura, personality and tactical creativity, yet it is also invaluable for Pope to learn the job in the event of another injury to the skipper, or for when Stokes is captain no more. What Pope will soon realise, if he isn’t already well aware, is losing Ben Stokes the captain is as problematic as losing Ben Stokes the all-rounder. In that sense, Stokes really is irreplaceable. When Stokes’ knee problems were at their worst, England either muddled through with Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali as all-rounders, or lost a little balance by fielding only four specialist bowlers. It is therefore slightly curious that, on this occasion, England have chosen to replace Stokes with a seamer in Matthew Potts. If, say, Stokes had been fit to bat but not bowl, England probably would have reverted to only four bowlers, as they have in the past. We can guess at the reasoning. With all due respect to Sri Lanka, England may feel they can get away with a slightly longer tail than if this was the first Ashes Test in Perth. Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith has already shown his potential to bat in the top six and Woakes, at seven, is probably the next best all-rounder in the country behind Stokes. Three Tests in three weeks is another reason to spread the pace-bowling load across four men, rather than three. If the balance of the England team is sub-optimal, then so is asking Dan Lawrence to open in place of the injured Zak Crawley.
That is not to say Lawrence does not deserve his chance. He has spent so long making drinks as the spare batter he could apply for a job as a barista, and his attacking instincts make him a natural component of Bazball. He came through the ranks at Essex as an opener and, should Crawley remain out for a while or Lawrence make an irresistible case to remain in the team, his off-breaks will be useful in Pakistan in October. Again, if the opposition were stronger or the stakes higher, perhaps England would have opted for a specialist like Keaton Jennings. There are, then, stand-ins everywhere you look. Pope the captain, Lawrence the opener, Potts the seamer. Harry Brook is the substitute vice-captain. Old Trafford has history for such scenarios. In 1999, Mark Butcher, another Surrey batter, deputised for the injured Nasser Hussain as England captain against New Zealand before being dropped for the next Test. Pope will not suffer the same fate. He and England must take the chance to prepare for the unthinkable - life without Ben Stokes.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c89we4w10jzo
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rt_cricket_articles_c89we4w10jz
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'England and Ollie Pope can prepare for life without Ben Stokes' - BBC Sport
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2024-08-21
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https://www.facebook.com/BBCSport/
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England have made no secret of their long-term Ashes planning, and now they can prepare for the unthinkable - life without Ben Stokes.
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England
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'Pope and England's chance to prepare for life without Stokes'
Ollie Pope (right) will lead England for the first time in the absence of the injured Ben Stokes
A lot has happened in the 23 days since England last played Test cricket. They have sacked a white-ball coach and lost an opener, fast bowler and captain to injuries. The English game is mourning the death of Graham Thorpe. How apt, then, that another Surrey batter will lead England in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Manchester on Wednesday. While Ollie Pope becomes the 82nd man to captain England in a Test, this will remain Ben Stokes’ team. When Stokes arrived at Emirates Old Trafford on Monday - shades on, white sweater draped across his shoulders like a cape, flanked by four members of the England party dressed in their black training gear, it was hard not to think of the wounded don surrounded by his henchmen.
England do not change captain very often. Since 2009, only four men have led England in Tests. In the same time, there have been seven different UK prime ministers. The need for a stand-in has been rare, too. An England captain has not sat out through injury since Michael Vaughan 17 years ago, and just once in England’s past 177 Tests has the full-time skipper missed a match - when Joe Root was at the birth of his second child in 2020. On that occasion, Root left a note for his deputy Stokes telling him to “do it your way”, and England promptly dropped Stuart Broad. The have been no such ructions this time around.
Ben Stokes will remain with the England squad throughout the Sri Lanka series
Pope will have been on high alert for the near two years he has been vice-captain, given the state of Stokes’ left knee before he finally had surgery in November. How ironic that once the knee is fixed, Stokes has succumbed to a hamstring injury. Old Trafford will end a run of 32 consecutive Tests for Stokes, the longest in his 105-match career. For all of their talk of Ashes planning, Stokes’ injury has thrown England the opportunity to prepare for the Doomsday scenario of the captain being unavailable for the trip to Australia in little over a year’s time. Without the need for a conclave, Pope was anointed as next in line for the Pakistan tour in 2022. The 26-year-old was first touted as a future England captain by his former Surrey team-mate Scott Borthwick, who is close enough to Stokes to have been best man at his wedding. England team manager Wayne Bentley has carried around Pope’s captaincy blazer for the past year, just in case he had to step up in an emergency. Pope has led England in warm-up matches, was very publicly involved in selection meetings on the outfield during the tour of India earlier this year and most recently has taken charge of Surrey in the T20 Blast, to go with one County Championship match three years ago. Clearly, his experience of leadership in professional cricket is limited, but such is the way for modern England captains. There is no shortage of knowledge around him, especially with Stokes remaining in the dressing room throughout this three-match series. There is perhaps an argument Stokes should have stayed away to allow Pope to stand on his own two feet, even if Pope says Stokes won’t be a “backseat driver”.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'One of the greatest honours' - Ollie Pope on England cricket captaincy
While it is always intriguing to see how a new skipper goes about things, England’s method is ingrained, so we are unlikely to witness any radical changes. It is a blow to lose Stokes’ aura, personality and tactical creativity, yet it is also invaluable for Pope to learn the job in the event of another injury to the skipper, or for when Stokes is captain no more. What Pope will soon realise, if he isn’t already well aware, is losing Ben Stokes the captain is as problematic as losing Ben Stokes the all-rounder. In that sense, Stokes really is irreplaceable. When Stokes’ knee problems were at their worst, England either muddled through with Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali as all-rounders, or lost a little balance by fielding only four specialist bowlers. It is therefore slightly curious that, on this occasion, England have chosen to replace Stokes with a seamer in Matthew Potts. If, say, Stokes had been fit to bat but not bowl, England probably would have reverted to only four bowlers, as they have in the past. We can guess at the reasoning. With all due respect to Sri Lanka, England may feel they can get away with a slightly longer tail than if this was the first Ashes Test in Perth. Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith has already shown his potential to bat in the top six and Woakes, at seven, is probably the next best all-rounder in the country behind Stokes. Three Tests in three weeks is another reason to spread the pace-bowling load across four men, rather than three. If the balance of the England team is sub-optimal, then so is asking Dan Lawrence to open in place of the injured Zak Crawley.
That is not to say Lawrence does not deserve his chance. He has spent so long making drinks as the spare batter he could apply for a job as a barista, and his attacking instincts make him a natural component of Bazball. He came through the ranks at Essex as an opener and, should Crawley remain out for a while or Lawrence make an irresistible case to remain in the team, his off-breaks will be useful in Pakistan in October. Again, if the opposition were stronger or the stakes higher, perhaps England would have opted for a specialist like Keaton Jennings. There are, then, stand-ins everywhere you look. Pope the captain, Lawrence the opener, Potts the seamer. Harry Brook is the substitute vice-captain. Old Trafford has history for such scenarios. In 1999, Mark Butcher, another Surrey batter, deputised for the injured Nasser Hussain as England captain against New Zealand before being dropped for the next Test. Pope will not suffer the same fate. He and England must take the chance to prepare for the unthinkable - life without Ben Stokes.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c89we4w10jzo
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Massive Attack in Bristol: Band hope Clifton Down gig will change music industry - BBC News
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2024-08-23
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The band say their home town show in Bristol this weekend will be the lowest-carbon gig of its scale ever performed.
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Culture
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The gig Massive Attack hope will change the music industry
Massive Attack's Daddy G and 3D are playing their first home town show for five years
Massive Attack helped redefine British music in the 1990s. Now the seminal Bristol band are trying to change the music industry's record on climate action, which they say has been stuck for too long. Massive Attack hope their fans won't notice much unusual about their mini-festival this weekend - their first show in their home city for five years. "If it goes according to plan, it will just feel like a normal gig to most people," band member Robert Del Naja says. "No-one will know the difference. They will come to the gig, it will rain, there will be great music, it will be a visual spectacle, they'll leave and they’re happy."
The band have been travelling to their summer European tour dates by train and ferry
Fans might spot a few changes from other gigs, though. All the food will be vegan. All the loos will be compostable. If they're really observant, people might spot (electric) vans containing large batteries occasionally recharging other large batteries around the site, instead of having diesel generators to power the stage and stalls. Perhaps the biggest difference will not be in the show but outside. There's no car park. Instead, the 34,000 attendees are strongly encouraged to walk, cycle or get public transport - including on one of five special trains laid on to take people back across the south-west at the end of the bank holiday Sunday night. Massive Attack say the one-day show will be the lowest-carbon concert of its scale ever held, and want it to provide a template for the rest of the live music industry to follow. "This experiment, by its very virtue of being here, is hopefully going to create some activity," Del Naja says. "And it's a sector which has a lot to say about climate change, but unfortunately it's not doing much about it."
The band released the acclaimed albums Blue Lines, Protection and Mezzanine in the 1990s
In the 90s, Massive Attack led a wave of delirious downbeat dance music dubbed trip-hop, with hits like Unfinished Sympathy and Teardrop. Back then, few people gave serious thought to the environmental impact of touring. "We're very aware of the polluting we've done, which is why we're doing this." Del Naja, also known as 3D, is the driving force behind the group’s drive to be as sustainable as possible. Bandmate Grant Marshall, or Daddy G, is fully on board too. Why do they feel so strongly? "It’s simple," Marshall says. "It's because there's only one planet, and we've got to try and save it. "Everybody knows what's going on, and if we can do our bit to try and save something for the future, then it seems like a no brainer." The Bristol concert comes five years after Massive Attack commissioned the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to write a report setting out a roadmap for “super low carbon live music”. They are now attempting to put as much of that as possible into practice.
Other measures being taken include:
• None free electric shuttle buses to and from Bristol's two main stations
• None a separate bar and toilets as an incentive for people who have travelled from outside Bristol by train
• None all food outlets are plant-based and with compostable cutlery and serving items, with food waste minimised, and nothing going to landfill
The band are disappointed by how much attention others in the music industry have paid to the research they commissioned. "It's been five years and no-one’s shown much interest," Del Naja says. "A couple of bands, a couple of promoters, but very little interest. "In fact, most other promoters say 'we've got our own report', which is slightly ridiculous because those reports are written by their own team. So that's been really quite frustrating. "The other frustration is that there's a whole cluster of NGOs [non-governmental organisations] that have been built over the last 10 years that take a lot of public money to talk about how they may reduce emissions in the future, and to do impact reports. We've already done an impact report. It's publicly available, external. "You don't need to do another impact report. We don't need any more pledging. We don't need to take more public money to do this. It already exists. The best thing to do is put it into action. So I find that frustrating. "But it also means that the sector itself, and particularly the most powerful agents in the sector, the big promoters, don't get to do anything. They can just keep parking it - another five years, another five years, while we write another impact report. "So we've tried to bypass that, leap over it all and just put it as much into action as we possibly can."
Massive Attack say the Bristol show could be their last in their home city
Other bands have been taking action. Coldplay have said their 12-step plan - including eye-catching initiatives like a kinetic dancefloor and electricity-generating bicycles among other measures - cut the carbon emissions of their last world tour by 59%. That figure was verified by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Environmental Solutions Initiative, but didn't take audience travel into account. Massive Attack say they have found ways to cut emissions on their current European tour, as well as for the one-off Bristol show. They have cut down on equipment so they take two trucks on the road instead of the previous six. "And we're traveling by train as much as we can across Europe," Del Naja says. "That's the bit we're trying to do ourselves. And every festival we go to, we try to encourage the promoters to look at the technology we've employed and we show them the Tyndall report."
• None BBC Travel: The band that doesn't want you to drive to their concerts
Even before commissioning that research, they were asking promoters to make changes to cut emissions – such as the last time they headlined a mini-festival on Bristol's Clifton Down, eight years ago. "We had our arguments then," Del Naja says, but they were met by "that fear of the bottom line being affected by every decision you make". "It hasn’t been so difficult this time," he says. They have now got others on board, like transport and power firms. GWR is laying on the extra late-night trains, and Ecotricity is supplying 100% renewable electricity to the site through the batteries. "I think the only time we’ll know it’s worked is when we walk off stage and there's been no power cuts in between," Del Naja says. "That's going to be the moment I'm waiting for. We bow off stage, lights out, great, no interruptions." More research will be compiled afterwards about what worked and what didn’t, which Del Naja hopes will be "transformational" for the industry.
The show is pioneering for the way it is trying to combine a wide range of environmentally-friendly measures, according to Adam Corner, a Bristol-based writer and researcher on climate and culture. Many of the technologies and techniques have been tried out by other festivals and events. Some, like putting on special late trains, are more unusual. "It showcases what's possible, because there’s been a little bit of commentary from people saying, well it's great they're doing it, but can you replicate it for other shows?" he says. Many people in the music and creative industries agree that things could and should be improved - and some artists and organisers and bodies have been trying for years - but progress has been slow, he says. "Other industries have got clearer plans and central targets, so you can see progress being made. Whereas, I think with lots of individual [music] events and acts, it's been slower for all this to come together and be co-ordinated. "So the more that we can see all the pieces of the puzzle in place, and what that looks like, it really does help show other events what's possible - without necessarily assuming that everyone can do all of it straight away. "Someone needs to go first in putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn497kq89jdo
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news_articles_cn497kq89jd
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Massive Attack in Bristol: Band hope Clifton Down gig will change music industry - BBC News
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2024-08-24
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The band say their home town show in Bristol this weekend will be the lowest-carbon gig of its scale ever performed.
|
Culture
|
The gig Massive Attack hope will change the music industry
Massive Attack's Daddy G and 3D are playing their first home town show for five years
Massive Attack helped redefine British music in the 1990s. Now the seminal Bristol band are trying to change the music industry's record on climate action, which they say has been stuck for too long. Massive Attack hope their fans won't notice much unusual about their mini-festival this weekend - their first show in their home city for five years. "If it goes according to plan, it will just feel like a normal gig to most people," band member Robert Del Naja says. "No-one will know the difference. They will come to the gig, it will rain, there will be great music, it will be a visual spectacle, they'll leave and they’re happy."
The band have been travelling to their summer European tour dates by train and ferry
Fans might spot a few changes from other gigs, though. All the food will be vegan. All the loos will be compostable. If they're really observant, people might spot (electric) vans containing large batteries occasionally recharging other large batteries around the site, instead of having diesel generators to power the stage and stalls. Perhaps the biggest difference will not be in the show but outside. There's no car park. Instead, the 34,000 attendees are strongly encouraged to walk, cycle or get public transport - including on one of five special trains laid on to take people back across the south-west at the end of the bank holiday Sunday night. Massive Attack say the one-day show will be the lowest-carbon concert of its scale ever held, and want it to provide a template for the rest of the live music industry to follow. "This experiment, by its very virtue of being here, is hopefully going to create some activity," Del Naja says. "And it's a sector which has a lot to say about climate change, but unfortunately it's not doing much about it."
The band released the acclaimed albums Blue Lines, Protection and Mezzanine in the 1990s
In the 90s, Massive Attack led a wave of delirious downbeat dance music dubbed trip-hop, with hits like Unfinished Sympathy and Teardrop. Back then, few people gave serious thought to the environmental impact of touring. "We're very aware of the polluting we've done, which is why we're doing this." Del Naja, also known as 3D, is the driving force behind the group’s drive to be as sustainable as possible. Bandmate Grant Marshall, or Daddy G, is fully on board too. Why do they feel so strongly? "It’s simple," Marshall says. "It's because there's only one planet, and we've got to try and save it. "Everybody knows what's going on, and if we can do our bit to try and save something for the future, then it seems like a no brainer." The Bristol concert comes five years after Massive Attack commissioned the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to write a report setting out a roadmap for “super low carbon live music”. They are now attempting to put as much of that as possible into practice.
Other measures being taken include:
• None free electric shuttle buses to and from Bristol's two main stations
• None a separate bar and toilets as an incentive for people who have travelled from outside Bristol by train
• None all food outlets are plant-based and with compostable cutlery and serving items, with food waste minimised, and nothing going to landfill
The band are disappointed by how much attention others in the music industry have paid to the research they commissioned. "It's been five years and no-one’s shown much interest," Del Naja says. "A couple of bands, a couple of promoters, but very little interest. "In fact, most other promoters say 'we've got our own report', which is slightly ridiculous because those reports are written by their own team. So that's been really quite frustrating. "The other frustration is that there's a whole cluster of NGOs [non-governmental organisations] that have been built over the last 10 years that take a lot of public money to talk about how they may reduce emissions in the future, and to do impact reports. We've already done an impact report. It's publicly available, external. "You don't need to do another impact report. We don't need any more pledging. We don't need to take more public money to do this. It already exists. The best thing to do is put it into action. So I find that frustrating. "But it also means that the sector itself, and particularly the most powerful agents in the sector, the big promoters, don't get to do anything. They can just keep parking it - another five years, another five years, while we write another impact report. "So we've tried to bypass that, leap over it all and just put it as much into action as we possibly can."
Massive Attack say the Bristol show could be their last in their home city
Other bands have been taking action. Coldplay have said their 12-step plan - including eye-catching initiatives like a kinetic dancefloor and electricity-generating bicycles among other measures - cut the carbon emissions of their last world tour by 59%. That figure was verified by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Environmental Solutions Initiative, but didn't take audience travel into account. Massive Attack say they have found ways to cut emissions on their current European tour, as well as for the one-off Bristol show. They have cut down on equipment so they take two trucks on the road instead of the previous six. "And we're traveling by train as much as we can across Europe," Del Naja says. "That's the bit we're trying to do ourselves. And every festival we go to, we try to encourage the promoters to look at the technology we've employed and we show them the Tyndall report."
• None BBC Travel: The band that doesn't want you to drive to their concerts
Even before commissioning that research, they were asking promoters to make changes to cut emissions – such as the last time they headlined a mini-festival on Bristol's Clifton Down, eight years ago. "We had our arguments then," Del Naja says, but they were met by "that fear of the bottom line being affected by every decision you make". "It hasn’t been so difficult this time," he says. They have now got others on board, like transport and power firms. GWR is laying on the extra late-night trains, and Ecotricity is supplying 100% renewable electricity to the site through the batteries. "I think the only time we’ll know it’s worked is when we walk off stage and there's been no power cuts in between," Del Naja says. "That's going to be the moment I'm waiting for. We bow off stage, lights out, great, no interruptions." More research will be compiled afterwards about what worked and what didn’t, which Del Naja hopes will be "transformational" for the industry.
The show is pioneering for the way it is trying to combine a wide range of environmentally-friendly measures, according to Adam Corner, a Bristol-based writer and researcher on climate and culture. Many of the technologies and techniques have been tried out by other festivals and events. Some, like putting on special late trains, are more unusual. "It showcases what's possible, because there’s been a little bit of commentary from people saying, well it's great they're doing it, but can you replicate it for other shows?" he says. Many people in the music and creative industries agree that things could and should be improved - and some artists and organisers and bodies have been trying for years - but progress has been slow, he says. "Other industries have got clearer plans and central targets, so you can see progress being made. Whereas, I think with lots of individual [music] events and acts, it's been slower for all this to come together and be co-ordinated. "So the more that we can see all the pieces of the puzzle in place, and what that looks like, it really does help show other events what's possible - without necessarily assuming that everyone can do all of it straight away. "Someone needs to go first in putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn497kq89jdo
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news_articles_cn497kq89jd
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Arsenal put down title marker with victory at Aston Villa - BBC Sport
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2024-08-24
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https://www.facebook.com/BBCSport/
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Arsenal keeper David Raya's brilliance allows Mikel Arteta's side to make a powerful early title statement, writes Phil McNulty.
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Premier League
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Raya's brilliance allows Arsenal to put down marker
Arsenal keeper David Raya makes his wonder save from Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins
Arsenal's match at Aston Villa may have been only their second of the new Premier League season, but for manager Mikel Arteta it groaned under the weight of significance. Arteta and Arsenal are now painfully aware of the levels of perfection required to cross the bridge from second place to champions, having fallen short to Manchester City in the past two seasons. And if there is one opponent guaranteed to bring that task into even sharper focus it is Aston Villa, who inflicted the biggest damage on the Gunners' title aspirations with a league double last season. The loss at Villa Park in December came only days after Manchester City suffered a similar fate in this hostile environment. It was the 2-0 defeat by Villa at Emirates Stadium in mid-April that effectively ended Arsenal's chances, handing the initiative back to Pep Guardiola's side with inevitable results. So Arsenal wanted to make an early statement of intent while proving lessons have been learned and the improvements required - in this case, actually beating Aston Villa - are in place. It was achieved in a 2-0 win that was a mixture of grit, good fortune and moments of brilliance, namely goalkeeper David Raya's stunning second-half save from Ollie Watkins, with the score goalless, that proved to be the game's pivotal moment. Watkins, uncharacteristically wasteful in front of England interim manager Lee Carsley, had already fired a golden chance wide in the first half when he thought his moment of redemption had arrived after 54 minutes.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and his players celebrate after victory at Aston Villa
Watkins was perfectly placed to score with a diving header when Amadou Onana's shot bounced out after deflecting on to the bar off Gabriel. Raya was grounded and stranded at his right-hand post. The finish looked a formality. Instead, Raya recovered brilliantly, springing to his left to make a magnificent one-handed save, special not just for the execution but for the way he retrieved his position and refused to give up what looked like a lost cause. Raya said: "Everyone is a hero because we work together. It's not just me saving the ball. It was a crucial moment in the game when it was 0-0. They had chances and I was there. "I'm on the floor so I try to get up and I can't reach it. I just see Ollie going in so I react quickly. It's just a repetition of things. You do drills and have to save one ball and get up to save another. This time it paid off. It was a reaction one. I don't think it's my best save.” Watkins should have scored but take nothing away from Raya, showing once again why Arteta ruthlessly moved England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale aside last season. On such moments, matters can be decided. And so it proved. And in matches of such fine margins, the vital signs are always examined for the qualities that can make champions. Arsenal produced them by cashing in on Raya's work to carve out a win that will taste especially sweet after the treatment meted out to them by Villa last season.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins was left in disbelief after David Raya's stop
Arteta's changes also made a difference. Leandro Trossard gave them a 67th-minute lead against the run of play, producing a smooth right-foot finish past Villa keeper Emi Martinez to score with his first touch after replacing Gabriel Martinelli. It is almost impossible to move at Villa Park without hearing Argentina's World Cup-winning keeper celebrated as "the world's number one" but he momentarily flouted the lofty billing with a desperately weak attempt to save Thomas Partey's shot 10 minutes later. That doubled Arsenal's advantage to confirm a win of huge importance. Forget that this is only Arsenal's second game. The celebrations at the end between Arteta, his players and their fans gave a measure of what it meant. Arsenal were nowhere near the top of their game, often lacking fluency, but the old adage states that any team with designs on the big prizes wins when short of their best. This applied here. The Gunners still occasionally look like a team in need of a reliable finisher but they can make that argument redundant when they still have so many goals in their side. Whether Arteta addresses the issue before the transfer window closes remains to be seen. Villa will feel their wounds were self-inflicted and that defeat was harsh, with plenty to encourage the passionate home support, whose expectations were tangible throughout as they look forward to Champions League football this season. They had arguably the game's outstanding performer in Morgan Rogers, the 22-year-old showing his great potential by occasionally over-powering Arsenal with his surging runs, allied to an ability to overcome challenges with the quality of his dribbling. In the end, though, this was Arsenal's day. The Gunners may not have been the better team. Indeed, for periods, they were pushed back and uncomfortable. But this was a win they desired desperately, achieved in the manner that will have delighted Arteta for the character and steel on show.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckgwyewg4geo
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NT Australian election: Pet crocodile ban in the spotlight - BBC News
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2024-08-24
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The Northern Territory is one of the last places in the country crocodiles can be kept as pets.
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Australia
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This Australian election is about cost of living, crime - and pet crocs
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Having a pet crocodile in the backyard sounds like a far-fetched Australian fable – like riding kangaroos to school or the existence of drop bears. But in the Northern Territory (NT), it’s a reality. And Trevor Sullivan has 11 of the reptiles sharing his tropical home in Batchelor, about an hour south of Darwin. Among them is Big Jack, who is named after a Jack in the Box toy due to his alarming propensity for lunging. Despite his antics, the giant predator is adored, having joined Mr Sullivan’s household as a hatchling the same day his daughter was born 22 years ago. “He’s been part of our family ever since… [my daughter] refers to him as brother.” Also on the 80-acre property is Cricket, still a tiny critter, and Shah, who - at the complete other end of the scale - is more than a century old and has truly lived a life. “He’s possibly seen two world wars and maybe federation in Australia [in 1901],” Mr Sullivan says of the 4.7m (15.4ft) beast. He claims Shah once killed a man, has been used for scientific research, was almost poisoned to death at a bird park, and lost half his bottom jaw in a fight at a Queensland crocodile farm, all before joining Mr Sullivan a few years ago. The 60-year-old lights up as he tells the BBC about his crocodiles: “There's nothing like them... crocodiles are the Harley Davidson of pets.” But as the famously quirky region heads to the polls on Saturday, the right to own a pet croc has turned into a somewhat unlikely – and very Territory – election issue. The cost of living, housing and crime are the prime concerns for many voters, but Mr Sullivan is one of scores left heartbroken after the governing Labor Party moved to ban crocodiles as pets. It is one of the last places in the country the practice is allowed, but the government says they're concerned for the wellbeing of both humans and the reptiles. The Country Liberal Party opposition, however, has pledged its support for the practice and has promised a review of the “rushed” decision if elected.
About 250,000 people call the NT home, but relatively few of them own crocodiles. The environment minister's office said they could not provide a figure because the government is in election caretaker mode, but previous estimates have put the number of permit holders at around 100. Many of the captive crocs are raised from hatchlings, others rehomed from farms or after causing trouble in the wild. Regulations have long dictated strict conditions about where, and under what conditions, the animals can be kept. For example, hatchlings can only live in urban areas until they are 60cm long – usually about a year old – at which point they must be handed over to authorities or moved to a property outside the town limits. Under those rules, however, owners were not required to have any special training or knowledge to keep the beasts. Tom Hayes says owning – or “saving” – a crocodile is part of the Territory’s appeal, and one of the factors which drew his young family to the Darwin region, from Queensland, earlier this year. The 40-year-old grew up taking trips to the NT with his dad, fishing in the Mary River alongside giant crocodiles, instilling a love of predators and, eventually, a dream to have his own one day. “I'm not just some dude that wants a crocodile [for] when I'm having a barbecue with my mates on the weekend," the tattooist and self-styled conservationist told the BBC. “I wanted to have somewhere I could bring these poor old buggers and they could just live their lives out - happy, fed… not having to worry about people shooting them.”
He was in process of adopting a mega croc when the NT government announced it would not be issuing any new permits to keep the reptiles as pets. It has left Mr Hayes reeling and the crocodile he’d hoped to rescue at risk of being put down. NT Environment Minister Kate Worden said the decision was made "after public consultation" and "taking into account personal safety and animal welfare concerns". Existing permits will remain valid, but transfers of permits will not be allowed. "Let's remember they are an apex predator and probably not one that's best kept for captivity," Ms Worden told reporters, adding that there were instances of crocodiles attacking their owners in the region. The new rules bring the NT in in line with every other state and territory in Australia - except, oddly, Victoria, which is well outside of the comfortable climate of a saltwater crocodile. Animal activists, who had been pushing for the change, say it’s a big win. While some of the people keeping crocodiles “may have good intentions”, no wild animal can have its needs fully met in captivity, argues Olivia Charlton, from World Animal Protection. “There is no way to replicate the space and freedom these crocodiles would have in the wild, particularly given they live for up to 70 years,” she said in a statement. Charles Giliam, from the RSPCA NT, said the dangerous nature of crocodiles also made it extremely hard for authorities to regulate the program and ensure the reptiles had an acceptable standard of living and medical care. “I only know one vet who’s prepared to work with crocodiles,” he said, as an example.
The NT is home to the biggest saltwater crocodile population in the world
But croc owners say they had no idea the change was coming and are distressed over what may now happen to their pets. “I don't think you spend many nights on the couch watching TV, snuggling with your four-and-a-half-meter crocodile… but there's still that emotional attachment,” Mr Hayes says. They accuse the government of hiding the change in a broader Crocodile Management Plan to avoid doing true consultation on the issue. The opposition environment spokeswoman Jo Hersey said "the [Country Liberal Party] supports the rights of Territorians to own crocs as pets under a permit system" and has promised the party will look at the rules if elected.
Both Mr Hayes and Mr Sullivan said there is broad support for greater training and education requirements for permit holders. But they say the reptiles are surprisingly easy to care for – and reject arguments that keeping them as pets is harmful. “In the wild, they have a stretch of territory and they then have to fight to keep it. They’re forever hunting for food, forever chasing off their enemies or trying to keep their girlfriend sorted and life’s pretty tough going,” Mr Sullivan says. “In captivity, if they got a good enclosure, plenty of water, sunlight, a bit of shade, and food on a regular basis, they just love it. “I have a river running through my property and I actually have wild crocs always trying to get in and join my mob.”
Chief Minister Eva Lawler and Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro are vying to lead the Territory
The decision to end the practice is particularly bad timing for Mr Sullivan. He listed his home and his menagerie for sale last year, so he could join his partner in New Zealand. “It is a bit like a Willy Wonka story – I want some young kids, of the right nature, to take on a property full of wildlife.” But that’s left him with a quandary that belongs in a maths textbook: If you have 80 acres and 11 crocodiles on the market, but zero permits available to transfer, what’s the answer? There is “not a chance” he’ll euthanise his crocs, he says. “I'll have to stay on the property until I die, or until something else changes.” His hope is resting on the election of a CLP government on Saturday, adding he thinks it is an issue which will galvanise voters. But Mr Hayes, on the other hand, hopes it isn’t. There are greater issues at play which should decide votes, he explains, and he is optimistic that both parties will come to see sense anyway. “Whoever's in needs to really look at it… It's an attack on the Territory way of life.”
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Arsenal put down title marker with victory at Aston Villa - BBC Sport
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2024-08-25
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https://www.facebook.com/BBCSport/
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Arsenal keeper David Raya's brilliance allows Mikel Arteta's side to make a powerful early title statement, writes Phil McNulty.
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Premier League
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Raya's brilliance allows Arsenal to put down marker
Arsenal keeper David Raya makes his wonder save from Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins
Arsenal's match at Aston Villa may have been only their second of the new Premier League season, but for manager Mikel Arteta it groaned under the weight of significance. Arteta and Arsenal are now painfully aware of the levels of perfection required to cross the bridge from second place to champions, having fallen short to Manchester City in the past two seasons. And if there is one opponent guaranteed to bring that task into even sharper focus it is Aston Villa, who inflicted the biggest damage on the Gunners' title aspirations with a league double last season. The loss at Villa Park in December came only days after Manchester City suffered a similar fate in this hostile environment. It was the 2-0 defeat by Villa at Emirates Stadium in mid-April that effectively ended Arsenal's chances, handing the initiative back to Pep Guardiola's side with inevitable results. So Arsenal wanted to make an early statement of intent while proving lessons have been learned and the improvements required - in this case, actually beating Aston Villa - are in place. It was achieved in a 2-0 win that was a mixture of grit, good fortune and moments of brilliance, namely goalkeeper David Raya's stunning second-half save from Ollie Watkins, with the score goalless, that proved to be the game's pivotal moment. Watkins, uncharacteristically wasteful in front of England interim manager Lee Carsley, had already fired a golden chance wide in the first half when he thought his moment of redemption had arrived after 54 minutes.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and his players celebrate after victory at Aston Villa
Watkins was perfectly placed to score with a diving header when Amadou Onana's shot bounced out after deflecting on to the bar off Gabriel. Raya was grounded and stranded at his right-hand post. The finish looked a formality. Instead, Raya recovered brilliantly, springing to his left to make a magnificent one-handed save, special not just for the execution but for the way he retrieved his position and refused to give up what looked like a lost cause. Raya said: "Everyone is a hero because we work together. It's not just me saving the ball. It was a crucial moment in the game when it was 0-0. They had chances and I was there. "I'm on the floor so I try to get up and I can't reach it. I just see Ollie going in so I react quickly. It's just a repetition of things. You do drills and have to save one ball and get up to save another. This time it paid off. It was a reaction one. I don't think it's my best save.” Watkins should have scored but take nothing away from Raya, showing once again why Arteta ruthlessly moved England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale aside last season. On such moments, matters can be decided. And so it proved. And in matches of such fine margins, the vital signs are always examined for the qualities that can make champions. Arsenal produced them by cashing in on Raya's work to carve out a win that will taste especially sweet after the treatment meted out to them by Villa last season.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins was left in disbelief after David Raya's stop
Arteta's changes also made a difference. Leandro Trossard gave them a 67th-minute lead against the run of play, producing a smooth right-foot finish past Villa keeper Emi Martinez to score with his first touch after replacing Gabriel Martinelli. It is almost impossible to move at Villa Park without hearing Argentina's World Cup-winning keeper celebrated as "the world's number one" but he momentarily flouted the lofty billing with a desperately weak attempt to save Thomas Partey's shot 10 minutes later. That doubled Arsenal's advantage to confirm a win of huge importance. Forget that this is only Arsenal's second game. The celebrations at the end between Arteta, his players and their fans gave a measure of what it meant. Arsenal were nowhere near the top of their game, often lacking fluency, but the old adage states that any team with designs on the big prizes wins when short of their best. This applied here. The Gunners still occasionally look like a team in need of a reliable finisher but they can make that argument redundant when they still have so many goals in their side. Whether Arteta addresses the issue before the transfer window closes remains to be seen. Villa will feel their wounds were self-inflicted and that defeat was harsh, with plenty to encourage the passionate home support, whose expectations were tangible throughout as they look forward to Champions League football this season. They had arguably the game's outstanding performer in Morgan Rogers, the 22-year-old showing his great potential by occasionally over-powering Arsenal with his surging runs, allied to an ability to overcome challenges with the quality of his dribbling. In the end, though, this was Arsenal's day. The Gunners may not have been the better team. Indeed, for periods, they were pushed back and uncomfortable. But this was a win they desired desperately, achieved in the manner that will have delighted Arteta for the character and steel on show.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckgwyewg4geo
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Gains on Russian soil shape Ukraine independence celebrations - BBC News
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2024-08-26
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Ukrainians celebrated Independence Day and Ukraine's recent incursion into Russia's Kursk region.
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Europe
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Along with all Ukrainians celebrating their Independence Day, 19-year-old student Yuliia Vyshnivska had been warned of an increased threat of Russian strikes. But it had not stopped her and hundreds of others making their way up to an exposed rooftop for an open-air musical display of defiance in the heart of Kyiv. “I heard on the radio the Americans were warning that the Russians will bomb you today, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, they want to kill us'," she said, as the setting sun illuminated the patterns of her traditional outfit, the vyshyvanka. "But we’re used to it and know we live in this dangerous situation, so we are not scared." As a dozen orchestral musicians, clad in black, pumped out high-octane takes on classic Ukrainian tunes, I mentioned one thing that is different from their last two Independence Days at war: Ukraine has now entered and taken Russian territory. “When we saw this news from Kursk, from Russian region, it was an amazing event. It's like a miracle for us. We are so happy with it," Ms Vyshnivska said. She said the fate that Russians on the border were now suffering, displaced and in danger, was a natural consequence of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago. “From that moment on we started hating them and now... we want to kill them. And it’s awful. I understand that it's not okay for humans to say this, but we hate them, and we can’t think in any other way because they want to kill us.”
Yuliia Vyshnivska: “We live in this dangerous situation, so we are not scared”
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended a number of Independence Day events in the capital, gave a pre-recorded address from the Sumy region – just across the border from the newly gained Russian territory. "Russia waged war on us. It violated not only sovereign borders, but also the limits of cruelty and common sense,” he told his people. “It was endlessly seeking one thing: to destroy us. And what the enemy brought to our land has now returned to its home." Nearly three weeks into the Kursk incursion, Ukraine has consolidated much of the Russian land it seized rapidly in the surprise operation. An estimated 10,000 elite Ukrainian troops burst across the border on 6 August, taking more ground in a matter of days than Russia had won in Ukraine so far this year. Since the operation began, the BBC has kept in touch with one of the Ukrainian fighters now in Russia. In his latest messages to us, Serhiy - a pseudonym - revealed that the situation was tougher now. “Russia has gotten stronger. We see this in the number of strikes by drones, artillery, and aviation. Their sabotage and reconnaissance groups began to operate too,” he wrote. All meant the Ukrainians were taking more casualties, he said. “At the beginning of the operation, we were on the rise. We had minimal losses. Now, because of the Russians’ firepower, we are losing a lot of guys. Moreover, the Russians here are fighting for their land, just as we are fighting for ours.” Serhiy says his earlier elation is giving way to some scepticism. “Many of us do not understand the meaning of this operation. It's one thing to fight for Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. It's a different matter for the Kursk region, which we don't need.” President Zelensky had said the Kursk operation aimed to capture Russian soldiers - which led to a prisoner swap and the release of 115 Ukrainians on Saturday - among other goals he could not disclose. He had also said the operation was a preventative strike to deter Russian attacks towards Sumy. Despite the sense of justice and retribution the Kursk incursion has brought, it remains a risky strategy for Kyiv. The rapid gains must be considered alongside losses in the east of Ukraine, where Russia continues to make ground in a grinding battle. Moscow’s troops are drawing nearer to the city of Pokrovsk, which was home to around 60,000 before the fighting. It is one of the biggest cities in the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control and is an important hub for the defending forces. “It’s a really difficult situation,” 23-year-old Nazar Voytenkov, a former TV journalist who is now a volunteer with the 33rd Mechanised Brigade defending Pokrovsk, told us on a crackly phone line. I asked if he was aware of Russians troops being diverted to defend their own soil. “No, no, I don't feel that. I think Russians have a big resource of troops in the Kursk region and elsewhere in Russia, and they’re using them in this operation that the Ukrainian forces started." I asked if it had relieved any pressure on Ukrainian troops in the area - a key hope of Kyiv's. “I don't feel like it’s become easier. We still have enemies in all directions and just last week, they tried again to approach," he explained. “They used approximately 10 armoured vehicles and infantry to capture our positions, but we made a nice defence. We won this battle, and now we wait for their next fight. So no, they're still here.”
This weekend’s celebrations were undoubtedly invigorated by the recent success on Russian soil, but Ukraine’s path to next year's Independence Day is no clearer and remains lined with danger and uncertainty. “This is just a monotonous, monotonous genocide,” Oleksandr Mykhed, one of Ukraine's leading authors, declared quietly. We met him in a cavernous exhibition building that used to house a museum to Lenin. He had just finished a lecture on his new book, which examines how the country’s great classical writers would consider the latest Russian invasion. You would be hard pressed to find a better location to symbolise Ukraine’s evolution since becoming independent in 1991 and its determination not to be dragged back into Moscow’s orbit. Of the Russians, Mr Mykhed said: “They want each and every missile strike to be called ‘another missile strike’. They want the whole world to get used to it and to make it routine, to make it ordinary. So that it would be the ‘ordinary genocide'." I asked him what hope Ukrainians could cling to as they endured the coming 12 months until their next Independence Day. “This is time for a clear understanding of what the true patriotism is. And we know what it is like," he said. His argument was that despite the mental and physical scars and deep collective grief, everyone had a duty to be strong and ensure Ukraine’s survival. “You might be tired for sure, everything might be depressed, but still - you have to save your country," the Ukrainian author said.
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Don't expect Starmer's Tory attacks to fade away - BBC News
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2024-08-27
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The prime minister's gloomy speech in the Downing Street garden sets the tone for a difficult autumn Budget.
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Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. PM says Labour's first budget will be painful
The 2024 general election concluded just 54 days ago. The next general election is probably more than 1,700 days away. And yet the campaign is already under way. That’s one lesson to take from the new prime minister’s deliberately gloomy speech in the Downing Street garden this morning. Ironically enough, given this was a speech in which Sir Keir Starmer decried the past 14 years of Conservative government, his is an approach which consciously apes that of David Cameron after he took office in 2010. Senior advisers to Sir Keir believe that Mr Cameron secured his Conservative victory at the 2015 election in his first few months as prime minister in 2010, when he and his team relentlessly criticised their inheritance from Labour. That’s not to say it is merely a strategic tribute act when the prime minister castigates the “black hole” he says he was left by his predecessor. Speak to Labour officials who have spent the summer at work in Whitehall and they bristle with palpable anger at what they have uncovered. That’s a view vigorously contested by the Conservatives, who say that Sir Keir is using attacks on them as justification for inevitable tax rises he was not candid about during the election campaign. That’s an argument that is likely to play out over not just the coming months but the coming years. Don’t expect Labour’s attacks on the Conservative record to fade away as this government beds in. The Conservatives were still wielding Labour MP Liam Byrne’s infamous “there is no money” note at this year’s general election, 14 years after he left it on a desk at the Treasury for his successor. And only last week one of the party’s social media accounts attacked Gordon Brown for the decision to sell the UK’s gold reserves a quarter of a century ago.
Of course it’s one thing for the prime minister to advance arguments about why he is forced to make decisions that are “difficult” (he used that word six times in his speech this morning) and “tough” (three times). It’s another to persuade people that those decisions are correct and fair once he’s taken them. Politically, the thorniest segment of Sir Keir’s speech was probably his justification of the decision, announced just before parliament’s summer break, to means-test the winter fuel payment for the first time. He stressed that he “didn’t want to” do it, but argued that it was “a choice we had to take”, framing it as a trade-off between saving money there or improving the NHS, public transport and other public services. Whether that argument is enough to withstand the inevitable unease from Sir Keir’s own MPs and ministers as temperatures drop over the winter is another matter. The Treasury is looking at extending the hardship fund for households struggling with the cost of living, currently due to end at the end of September, in an attempt to ensure that the poorest pensioners are not affected by Sir Keir’s hard-nosed decision-making. Yet as the prime minister acknowledged today, this is just one of what are likely to be several more painful announcements, with tax rises and spending cuts in Rachel Reeves’ budget on 30 October now seemingly inevitable. Some of those same “working people” protected by Labour's commitment not to increase the main three taxes - VAT, national insurance and income tax - may well find that taxes are increasing on their property or their pensions. Each of those measures is also likely to mean disappointed demographic groups, anxious taxpayers, and jittery new MPs’ email inboxes filling up with complaints. It is also worth remembering that when Sir Keir argues that he has no choice but to take these decisions, that is partly a consequence of other choices he has made - for example not to increase the main rates of income tax, VAT or national insurance; to enforce fiscal rules requiring debt to fall; and to settle pay disputes with public sector workers in the hope doing so will damage the economy less over the medium and long term. Nor will Sir Keir’s diciest moments politically over the coming months necessarily all be a result of big tax and spend decisions he makes. The squall over the past week about roles in government for Labour-affiliated figures is given short shrift by the prime minister’s supporters - as it was Sir Keir in the press conference following his speech - but it is a reminder that when you’re in government potentially damaging issues can fly out of the left-field. For now, the prime minister is able to be not just a player but a commentator, analysing the situation his new government confronts. But as the political pace picks up again, that role will soon be returned to the commentators who matter most of all - the voters.
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Why do we care so much about Oasis? - BBC News
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2024-08-27
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The rock band defined the Cool Britannia movement and had the best-selling British album of the 90s.
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Culture
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Why do we care so much about Oasis?
"He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup." Noel Gallagher’s glorious quote about Liam in April of 2009 was perhaps a sign that even the notoriously combative brothers might have a breaking point. It came four months later, in a particularly bad-tempered gig in Paris (August seems to be the month of all the major Oasis moments). No one was very surprised when Noel finally walked out - even at their peak, the friction was part of their fame. Oasis were more than just a massively popular band, they were a soap opera with two of rock and roll’s most charismatic combatants. A recent eight-part BBC podcast about the rise and fall of Oasis was divided up, not by albums or tours but eight famous fights.
Oasis pictured in 1996, left to right: Alan White, Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs, Liam Gallagher, Paul McGuigan, Noel Gallagher
It is, however, worth remembering just how famous they were. For anyone who either did not live through it or went out of their way to avoid it, Oasis were, at their peak in the mid-90s, almost inescapable. What’s the Story (Morning Glory) was the biggest British album of that decade, selling five million copies in the UK and 22 million worldwide. Thirteen years before their fractious finale in 2009, they were in August of 1996 at the height of their imperial phase. Over two nights, 250,000 watched them headline at Knebworth in what was the high water mark of Britpop. The rest of the bill: Manic Street Preachers, The Prodigy, The Charlatans, The Chemical Brothers, Ocean Colour Scene, Cast, were just that - the rest of the bill. In February 1996, Oasis performed Don’t Look Back in Anger and its B-side - a cover of Slade’s Cum on Feel the Noize - on Top of the Pops, making them one of the only bands to perform two songs in one episode in the show's history. And in the newspapers, they appeared almost every day.
When Tony Blair won a landslide victory in 1997, he held a celebratory drinks reception at Number 10. The photograph of him, smiling, shaking hands with an equally cheery Noel Gallagher became the defining image of that short lived honeymoon, Cool Britannia - a surge of pride in British culture in the late 1990s. "I was 30, off me head on drugs, and everyone telling me we were the greatest band since who knows," Noel recalled. "Then the prime minister invites you round for a glass of wine. It all becomes part of the high.
• None Oasis tickets and everything you need to know about the reunion tour This was the last hurrah of pre-internet culture when prominence on the charts, TV and newspapers was a guarantee that pretty much everyone in the country, whether they liked you or not, would know about you. Noel was right when he said: "You have to see us in league with The Rolling Stones now. Everybody’s heard of the Stones, everybody knows what they sound like, everybody knows what they do." There was only one direction it could go. When the band began work on their next album, Be Here Now, What’s The Story (Morning Glory) was still at number five in the US Billboard Chart. When it was released in August of 1997, the initial excitement quickly subsided. What is perhaps remarkable is that they managed to stay together so long.
Fans have been taking selfies at a new Oasis mural in Manchester following the announcement of the tour
When Noel was asked about the idea of an opera about Oasis he said: "I don’t think two blokes having the same argument for 16 years over and over is the stuff of opera. Oasis: The Opera would be very short." But even at their most fractious, they were still a force. Watching them at Glastonbury in 2004, I remember even those who had just turned up out of curiosity knew all the words. In an age of Spotify and private playlists that doesn’t really happen in quite the same way. "You can’t get bored of 15,000 people shouting for Wonderwall. That’s better than drugs," as Noel put it. Now 15 years on, Oasis have staged another August moment - looking forward to August of 2025. The 250,000 fans from Knebworth in 1996 are now in their 40s and 50s but plenty have managed to pass on some of their fervour to their children. There are many 20-somethings who know all the words to Wonderwall, but to get there, we need 12 months without a major falling out. A wary fan might be best trying to get tickets for one of the early dates of the tour.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23le394y3jo
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Next shop workers win equal pay claim - BBC News
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2024-08-27
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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In-store staff, who are mostly women, should be paid the same as warehouse workers, a tribunal rules.
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Business
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'We did it!' Next shop workers win equal pay claim
Helen Scarsbrook should not have been paid less than men working in Next's warehouses, the tribunal found
More than 3,500 current and former workers at Next have won the final stage of a six-year legal battle for equal pay. An employment tribunal said store staff, who are predominantly women, should not have been paid at lower rates than employees in warehouses, where just over half the staff are male. Lawyers for the shop staff described the judgement as "hugely significant" and the amount of back-pay owed could amount to more than £30m. However, Next said it would appeal against the ruling.
Next argued that pay rates for warehouse workers were higher than for retail workers in the wider labour market, justifying the different rates at the company. But the employment tribunal rejected that argument as a justification for the pay difference. According to the tribunal's ruling, between 2012 and 2023, 77.5% of Next's retail consultants were female, while 52.75% of warehouse operators were male. The tribunal accepted that the difference in pay rates between the jobs was not down to "direct discrimination", including the "conscious or subconscious influence of gender" on pay decisions, but was caused by efforts to "reduce cost and enhance profit". It ruled that the "business need was not sufficiently great as to overcome the discriminatory effect of lower basic pay". The ruling means women such as Helen Scarsbrook, who has worked for Next for more than 20 years, are in line to receive thousands of pounds of compensation for the pay they missed out on. "We did it!" the 68-year-old from Eastleigh, near Southampton, one of the lead claimants in the case, said. “It has been a long six years battling for the equal pay we all felt we rightly deserved but today we can say we won. "Anyone who works in retail knows that it is a physically and emotionally tough job," she said. "We do lots of heavy lifting, the same as the men do in the warehouse. We lift the same boxes they lift."
Add to that the unpredictability of customers who are sometimes wonderful but sometimes challenging, she said. "It’s an enjoyable job, but it’s not easy and it’s really undervalued financially and I just thought 'it has to stop'," she told the BBC. Ms Scarsbrook put in her claim in 2018 and should receive compensation for being paid less than her male counterparts in the warehouse going back six years, to 2012. It is likely to amount to several thousand pounds, which would let her pay off her car loan, take a "very nice" holiday or perhaps retire, she told the BBC. Elizabeth George, barrister and partner at the law firm Leigh Day representing the workers, said the ruling would come as a "huge encouragement" to workers in other sectors. "Retail isn't the only sector where you have jobs that are divided along clear gender lines and you see the male-dominated market is attracting a higher rate than the female-dominated roles," she said. Workers at five of the UK's largest supermarkets, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and the Co-op, are also pursuing equal pay cases, with the firms using the same arguments as Next around market pay rates to counter them. Ms George said she believed the judgement could prompt further cases, for example in the care sector, hospitality or construction. There have already been cases in the public sector over lower pay for workers, including teaching assistants and dinner ladies paid less than men employed in refuse collection and similar roles.
In a statement, Next said: "This is the first equal pay group action in the private sector to reach a decision at tribunal level and raises a number of important points of legal principle." The firm emphasised that no cases alleging direct discrimination against female staff were upheld and that the tribunal found "there was no conscious or sub-conscious gender influence in the way Next set pay rates". More than 80% of Next's store staff are women. Barrister Ms George said: "[The tribunal] rightly found that Next could have afforded to pay a higher rate but chose not to and that the reason for that was purely financial." The argument around market rates was essentially "circular" Ms George said, suggesting women should be paid less because they were already currently being paid less elsewhere.
Leigh Day said that the claimants' contracts would now be changed to reflect fairer rates of pay. In other areas where there was a mismatch, for example over different ways of calculating night payments, paid rest breaks for warehouse staff and Sunday pay, better terms would also be extended to shop staff. However, it was not yet clear whether other staff, not directly involved in the case, would see their employment terms upgraded automatically, she said. The process of calculating what claimants were owed as back-pay should begin as soon as possible, said Ms George.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj0817jd9dqo
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news_articles_cj0817jd9dq
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England v Sri Lanka: Ollie Pope wants to 'reward' his side with runs - BBC Sport
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2024-08-28
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https://www.facebook.com/BBCSport/
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Stand-in captain Ollie Pope wants to "reward" his England side by scoring runs in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's.
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Cricket
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Captain Pope looking to 'reward' England with runs
Ollie Pope averages 34.64 from his 47 Tests for England
Stand-in captain Ollie Pope wants to "reward" his England side by scoring runs in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's. Leading England in place of the injured Ben Stokes, Pope won his first match in charge, the series opener at Old Trafford last week. But the 26-year-old, batting at number three, managed scores of only six in both innings in Manchester. "I learned how I can have my batting and captaincy separate," Pope told BBC Sport. "For me, it is about as soon as we get off the pitch, drawing a line under that and then focus on batting." Pope has been vice-captain to Stokes for almost two years and will be in charge for the entire series against Sri Lanka after the all-rounder was ruled out with a hamstring injury.
Though part of the management team and clearly with his place in the side not under any immediate threat, there is still an argument that Pope's spot in the England side is the least secure of the regular top six. "The runs didn't come for me but for the team to get the win, that's the most important thing," he added. "Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, I can put some good scores together and reward the team with some runs."
And Pope, who averages 34.64 from his 47 Tests, has sought the advice of Joe Root on combining the twin roles of captaincy and batting. Root, 33, led England in a record 64 Tests before he was replaced by Stokes in 2022. He averaged 46.44 with the bat as skipper, going through an incredible patch of form towards the end of his tenure, even though his team's results were deteriorating. "It's nothing massive, but it's about finding a way to get into your old routine of how you go out and bat," said Pope. "It's just making sure that I keep doing what has brought success over the last couple of years and having that on repeat. It's just finding a way to compartmentalise. "Chatting to Rooty, he's obviously got a great cricket brain and is England's best batter so we just bounce a few ideas off each other." England's Test side has undergone significant upheaval over the past year. With injuries to Stokes, opener Zak Crawley and pace bowler Mark Wood, only four of the side that played in the final Ashes Test against Australia will line up at Lord's on Thursday. The latest change is a recall for Olly Stone to play his first Test in more than years in place of Wood, who has been ruled out of the rest of the series with a hamstring injury.
Stone, 30, has been dogged by injuries since he made his Test debut in 2019. This will be only his fourth cap in five years, all against different opponents. Overall, the Nottinghamshire man has had four stress fractures in his back, leading him to a career-saving operation to insert two screws in his spine. On Tuesday he revealed the role pilates has played in his return to full fitness. While not possessing the lightning pace of Wood, Stone is still capable of bowling at 90mph. "He's feeling really good about his body and his bowling," said Pope. "He's such an exciting bowler, someone who has really impressed when he's pulled the Test shirt on before so hopefully he can really excel now. "He's going to love every bit of being out here this week, being back playing Test cricket. be ready to go and very excited." Sri Lanka have made two changes to the side beaten in Manchester. Batter Pathum Nissanka will play his first Test in two years in place of Kusal Mendis, while Lahiru Kumara, a bowler of genuine pace, replaces left-armer Vishwa Fernando. Dinesh Chandimal, who was struck on the thumb by Mark Wood in the first Test, may not keep with wicket, with the gloves passed to Nishan Madushka. "We gave a good fight in the first Test, but that's not enough," said captain Dhananjaya de Silva. "We have to be more accurate with our plans. "I was confident before Old Trafford, but we couldn't deliver our best."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cpqjy4erx0ro
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rt_cricket_articles_cpqjy4erx0r
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Why do we care so much about Oasis? - BBC News
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2024-08-28
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The rock band defined the Cool Britannia movement and had the best-selling British album of the 90s.
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Culture
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Why do we care so much about Oasis?
"He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup." Noel Gallagher’s glorious quote about Liam in April of 2009 was perhaps a sign that even the notoriously combative brothers might have a breaking point. It came four months later, in a particularly bad-tempered gig in Paris (August seems to be the month of all the major Oasis moments). No one was very surprised when Noel finally walked out - even at their peak, the friction was part of their fame. Oasis were more than just a massively popular band, they were a soap opera with two of rock and roll’s most charismatic combatants. A recent eight-part BBC podcast about the rise and fall of Oasis was divided up, not by albums or tours but eight famous fights.
Oasis pictured in 1996, left to right: Alan White, Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs, Liam Gallagher, Paul McGuigan, Noel Gallagher
It is, however, worth remembering just how famous they were. For anyone who either did not live through it or went out of their way to avoid it, Oasis were, at their peak in the mid-90s, almost inescapable. What’s the Story (Morning Glory) was the biggest British album of that decade, selling five million copies in the UK and 22 million worldwide. Thirteen years before their fractious finale in 2009, they were in August of 1996 at the height of their imperial phase. Over two nights, 250,000 watched them headline at Knebworth in what was the high water mark of Britpop. The rest of the bill: Manic Street Preachers, The Prodigy, The Charlatans, The Chemical Brothers, Ocean Colour Scene, Cast, were just that - the rest of the bill. In February 1996, Oasis performed Don’t Look Back in Anger and its B-side - a cover of Slade’s Cum on Feel the Noize - on Top of the Pops, making them one of the only bands to perform two songs in one episode in the show's history. And in the newspapers, they appeared almost every day.
When Tony Blair won a landslide victory in 1997, he held a celebratory drinks reception at Number 10. The photograph of him, smiling, shaking hands with an equally cheery Noel Gallagher became the defining image of that short lived honeymoon, Cool Britannia - a surge of pride in British culture in the late 1990s. "I was 30, off me head on drugs, and everyone telling me we were the greatest band since who knows," Noel recalled. "Then the prime minister invites you round for a glass of wine. It all becomes part of the high.
• None Oasis tickets and everything you need to know about the reunion tour This was the last hurrah of pre-internet culture when prominence on the charts, TV and newspapers was a guarantee that pretty much everyone in the country, whether they liked you or not, would know about you. Noel was right when he said: "You have to see us in league with The Rolling Stones now. Everybody’s heard of the Stones, everybody knows what they sound like, everybody knows what they do." There was only one direction it could go. When the band began work on their next album, Be Here Now, What’s The Story (Morning Glory) was still at number five in the US Billboard Chart. When it was released in August of 1997, the initial excitement quickly subsided. What is perhaps remarkable is that they managed to stay together so long.
Fans have been taking selfies at a new Oasis mural in Manchester following the announcement of the tour
When Noel was asked about the idea of an opera about Oasis he said: "I don’t think two blokes having the same argument for 16 years over and over is the stuff of opera. Oasis: The Opera would be very short." But even at their most fractious, they were still a force. Watching them at Glastonbury in 2004, I remember even those who had just turned up out of curiosity knew all the words. In an age of Spotify and private playlists that doesn’t really happen in quite the same way. "You can’t get bored of 15,000 people shouting for Wonderwall. That’s better than drugs," as Noel put it. Now 15 years on, Oasis have staged another August moment - looking forward to August of 2025. The 250,000 fans from Knebworth in 1996 are now in their 40s and 50s but plenty have managed to pass on some of their fervour to their children. There are many 20-somethings who know all the words to Wonderwall, but to get there, we need 12 months without a major falling out. A wary fan might be best trying to get tickets for one of the early dates of the tour.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23le394y3jo
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Lucy Letby: Questions grow in debate on killer's convictions - BBC News
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2024-08-29
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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A number of experts are raising concerns about evidence presented in the neonatal nurse's trials.
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England
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Former nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of killing seven babies in her care and attempting to kill seven others
Lucy Letby has become arguably the most notorious serial killer of modern times. Convicted of killing seven babies in her care and attempting to kill seven others – the former neonatal nurse will die in prison. But for some time now, a growing number of experts have been raising concerns about her trials, claiming that vital evidence may have been misinterpreted. Others insist that much of the debate is misguided and there is no evidence to show that the trial was in any way unfair or unreliable.
An inquiry into the Countess of Chester Hospital and the NHS’s handling of the whole matter is set to begin on 10 September. Letby’s murder trial last year was one of the longest in British legal history, following a six-year police investigation - and was followed by a retrial after a verdict on allegations concerning one baby could not be reached.
The nurse, pictured under arrest at her Chester home in 2018
Six expert medical witnesses and many former colleagues testified against her. Thousands of documents were presented by the prosecution and pored over in many months of painstaking examination. Their case was wide ranging, including blood test results which showed that two babies had been given an insulin overdose, X-rays which indicated that air had been injected into seven others, while others still were shown to have been force-fed with milk. Then there were the notes at Letby's house which appeared to contain confessions - one reading "I am evil" - and the frequent social media searches she made for the families of the babies who had died, which lawyers maintained was the nurse showing a morbid curiosity to witness the effect she had on their lives. A staffing rota also showed she had been on duty for every suspicious death or collapse between June 2015 and June 2016. The rota was a key part of the case – a striking visual symbol of the case against her. But a number of statisticians have publicly questioned its usefulness. One is Peter Green, a professor of statistics and a former President of the Royal Statistical Society. "The chart appears to be very convincing, but there are a number of issues with it," he said. "A big thing is that it only describes 25 of the bad events which happened in this period. "It doesn’t include any of the events that happened when Lucy was not on duty."
Lucy Letby appeared at two separate trials over the last two years
There were at least six other deaths and numerous collapses. Prof Green said the chart also does not reflect the fact that Letby was working extra shifts. "It’s a natural human thing. We all see patterns that are not there," he said. "The danger is that this evidence can be very compelling to the non-professional, and over interpreted." Another crucial part of the prosecution's case were blood samples from babies who had collapsed with low blood sugar. They showed exceptionally high levels of insulin and low levels of a substance called C-peptide. That combination is only generally seen when the body takes in synthetic insulin, leading to the charge that Letby had deliberately poisoned the babies by adding it to their nursery feed bags. An expert in paediatric diabetes told the nurse's trial fluctuations in the readings were unusual. Prof Alan Wayne Jones, an expert in forensic toxicology, is one of those who has challenged the results. He pointed out that the test used measures the body’s reaction to insulin rather than the substance itself. "The problem is that the method of analysis used [in these two cases] was probably perfectly good from a clinical point of view, but not a forensic toxicology point of view," he said. "That test cannot differentiate between synthetic insulin and insulin produced by the pancreas."
The testing lab’s own website states that if synthetic insulin is suspected, the results should be verified externally by a specialist centre. Clinicians at the Countess of Chester did not do that because thankfully both babies recovered. At the time, there was no suspicion of deliberate harm. Prof Jones said he has no doubt they suffered sharp drops in blood sugar levels, but that there could be another natural explanation for why that had happened. Others have also questioned the charge that Letby injected air into babies' blood vessels with often fatal consequences. They were each found to have air bubbles in their blood, known as an embolism. A number of clinicians also described witnessing unusual and sudden rashes in these infants. The prosecution quoted a paper on the phenomenon, written in 1989 by Canadian neonatologist Dr Shoo Lee, which described a distinctive rash of bright pink blood vessels against a blue skin as an indicator of air embolism. But in April at Letby’s Court of Appeal hearing, Dr Lee spoke for the defence. The defence claimed the distinctive rash he had outlined did not appear to be that described by witnesses in her case. Dr Lee was not called at the original trial. The defence did not call any expert witnesses – just Letby herself and the hospital plumber, who testified that there had been drainage problems in the unit. By contrast, six expert witnesses testified for the prosecution. Much of the case relied on the testimony of Dr Dewi Evans, a former paediatric consultant with decades of experience as an expert witness.
Letby worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neo-natal unit
He said he had read 18 research papers in total on air embolism, highlighting different indications. In other words, he was not just relying on Dr Lee’s report. He also pointed out that his findings were backed up in court by a radiologist and a neonatal pathologist. He added that the cases on the rota were there because, after reviewing all the deaths and collapses, he thought only they were suspicious or unexpected. He said he had not known at that point that Letby had been on duty and this had only been revealed afterwards by Cheshire Police. Dr Evans also made the point that none of those raising concerns had seen the patient notes. The Court of Appeal spent three days listening to the defence and prosecution arguments but ultimately rejected the case, and a 58-page judgement explains their conclusion, external. In the case of Dr Lee’s testimony, the court found that Dr Evans had relied on numerous sources to come to his conclusions, including those other research papers, X-rays and the opinions of other experts. The Crown Prosecution Service said two juries and three appeal court judges had now "reviewed the evidence against Lucy Letby and she has been convicted on 15 separate counts following two separate trials". "In May, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to appeal on all grounds – rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed," a representative added.
Veteran MP Sir David Davis is among those who have cast doubts
None of this has convinced those fighting to have it heard again, who point to previous occasions when the Appeal Court has got it wrong. Veteran MP Sir David Davis has a history of championing successful miscarriage of justice cases. Most recently, he helped Mike Lynch, the tech entrepreneur who successfully fought a 12-year legal battle in the USA, but died after a freak storm engulfed his yacht earlier this month. Sir David said he had started off by thinking that Letby was guilty. His doubts began in May after he raised a question in the House of Commons on why a critical piece in an American magazine was not allowed to be published here. This was before the second trial and British contempt laws do not allow publication of anything which could influence the jury. "It was only the fact that I got authoritative calls from people who really know about statistics, about medicine, about science, about law, and I’d never had anything like this happen before," he said "I started to think – it’s a terrible crime, but if they’ve got it wrong, it’s a terrible miscarriage of justice." Sir David said he believed other possibilities for the deaths could have included a lack of staffing and training on the unit and an infectious outbreak, possibly linked to the faulty drainage discussed in the trial. "All of us find it easier to believe that a villain has killed people rather than a system or a random act," he said. He is now reading through thousands of documents detailing the trial before making a decision on whether to take the case up and press for the Criminal Cases Review Commission to get involved. Sir David said he already believes that the trial was flawed but by itself that does not mean Letby is not guilty. He added that he will not take it further unless he comes to the conclusion that she was probably innocent. Some of the parents of the babies who died have spoken of their pain at seeing doubts being raised on the convictions. Sir David said he does think about this and understands that they have gone through years of suffering. But he said if the conviction is proved to be unsafe, it is important to look at other reasons which may have led to what happened. "If we have got this wrong it’s not just that we’ve put a young woman in prison for the rest of her life effectively, it is also that we haven’t answered why these babies died, and why other babies may die," he said.
Statistician Professor Peter Green said he fears the convictions could be unsafe
But others question the basis for claims that the trial was flawed. Barrister Tim Owen KC has spent 40 years as a defence lawyer, and worked on many cases which he successfully referred back to the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He also co-hosts a legal podcast, Double Jeopardy, which has examined the Letby debate. Much has been made of the fact that the Letby case relied on circumstantial evidence and no-one definitively saw her harming any of the babies. Mr Owen said this point is far less relevant than many might think. "Some people believe that circumstantial evidence isn’t really evidence," he said. "A circumstantial case can be a powerful case but in order to understand it, you have to look at the totality. "You can’t just pick one little bit and say, 'Oh look at that, that’s unreliable,' or 'That doesn’t prove anything'." Mr Owen said no-one knows exactly why the two expert witnesses instructed by Letby’s defence team were never called. He said one conclusion would have to be that the defence decided the testimony would not help their case. He stressed he had no personal view on Letby’s guilt or innocence and underlined that he had dealt with many miscarriages of justice, but added that as it stands, there is no proof that this is one. "There needs to be something new and compelling which calls into question the fundamental case theory presented to the jury at two trials,” he said, adding that so far, he has not seen that. "I’m seeing lots of people putting forward theories. They are making assumptions without the solid basis for it." But still the questions continue. This week a private letter signed by 24 experts asked for the forthcoming Letby inquiry to either be delayed or to change its terms of reference to reflect the current debate. One of the signatories, statistician Prof Peter Green, said he too has no view on Letby’s guilt. "I have no idea whether she is innocent or not," he said. "My concern is simply about the possibility that this was not a safe conviction." "I don’t know whether she’s guilty or not," he said. "I don’t think anyone knows except Lucy Letby."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39k44n8j1mo
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news_articles_c39k44n8j1m
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SNP conference: Can John Swinney unite fractured party? - BBC News
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2024-08-29
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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John Swinney will address the SNP conference for the first time as first minister this weekend.
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Scotland Politics
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John Swinney addresses his first SNP conference as first minister this weekend
The SNP has spent the summer licking its wounds after that bruising general election defeat on 4 July. The day after the party lost 39 seats and half a million votes, John Swinney admitted a period of "soul-searching" would be needed. The first minister has been speaking to party members around the country over the last couple of months, seeking feedback, analysing what went wrong and considering what’s next. In the aftermath of the election, Mr Swinney said the SNP needed to be healed and "needs to heal its relationship with the people of Scotland".
That prospect looks all the more difficult now, given the party of government at Holyrood is facing down some severe financial challenges, both in the immediate future - and longer term. The leadership goes to its conference this weekend, as it prepares to announce a raft of spending cuts when MSPs return from recess next week. Universal winter fuel payments, funding for nature restoration and cheaper rail fares have been hit already - and there is more to come.
Privately - and in some cases publicly - senior Scottish government figures are very downbeat. The scale of the challenge to balance this year's budget will, they say, mean painful choices. And there'll be no let up for 2025/26, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warning "things will get worse before they get better". Tough financial decisions at Westminster of course have a knock-on effect for Scotland's grant funding. Meanwhile, the issues that divided the SNP prior to the election are well-rehearsed - they include the pursuit of gender recognition legislation and its strategy over independence. A sense of dissatisfaction with the leadership, seen by some as closed off and unwilling to listen to the wider membership, also bred resentment for years. More recently the implosion of the power sharing deal with the Greens and the subsequent resignation of Humza Yousaf created a sense of instability. And since the election, the decision for the Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson to meet with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK caused an internal backlash. And that is the backdrop to which John Swinney will address the SNP conference for the first time as first minister. He has two main challenges - the first is to try to unite and motivate the membership. The second is to lay out a new vision for government. Neither of those are going to be easy.
With no clear route to delivering a second referendum - and Mr Swinney himself admitting after the election that the party is failing to win the argument with the public - the glue that bound the so-called broad church of SNP members now threatens to come unstuck. Meanwhile, the first minister’s vision for the future needs to convince more than just his own party. It has to be one that can persuade voters to re-elect the SNP at the 2026 Holyrood elections. That is a tough ask for a government that will have been in power for almost two decades by then. And Mr Swinney isn’t exactly a fresh face, having been a senior figure in both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s administrations. Is he really the man to be bring about the transformation of the SNP that many in the party say is required? And can he really deliver that when many of the key posts in his own Cabinet are filled by those who served under Nicola Sturgeon? Several of those MPs who lost their seats in July now believe the same fate awaits their Holyrood colleagues. Some of those MSPs believe it too. Mr Swinney’s ultimate test is to prove them wrong.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyx6vn1dpko
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news_articles_cwyx6vn1d
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Manston: Migrants illegally held and humiliated, High Court told - BBC News
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2024-08-03
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Migrants were unlawfully held at Manston and humiliated, their lawyer has told the High Court.
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Kent
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Concerns were raised about overcrowding at Manston in 2022
A group of 96 migrants were unlawfully detained at a Kent processing centre and subjected to ill-treatment by staff and humiliation, their lawyer has told the High Court. The claims have been brought against the Home Office, which is yet to formally file a defence. Allegations included that migrants held at Manston between September and November 2022 did not have access to menstruation products, had severe bleeding in pregnancy and miscarriage and struggled to breastfeed. A Home Office spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while there are ongoing legal proceedings.”
It is understood that proceedings have been paused until October, amid efforts to reach settlements. Agata Patyna, representing the migrants, said in written arguments the group included unaccompanied children, women who were pregnant at the time of detention, vulnerable people with mental health conditions and disabilities and victims of trafficking, sexual offences and torture. She said cases involved alleged “breaches of fundamental rights, including the right to liberty and prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment”. All 96 people made protection claims in the UK, with 54 recognised as refugees or given humanitarian protection, she said. The court was told the migrants should be given anonymity “to protect their legitimate interests, safety, privacy and welfare” and in relation to the “highly personal, distressing information” allegedly linked to their treatment. They were also made over the humiliation of Muslim women by having to remove their hijabs in front of others and of a Muslim child having to eat non-Halal meat. One child was left with an “ongoing fear of going to the toilet on their own, without an adult present, in consequence of the trauma suffered while detained”, the court heard.
Manston is used to process arrivals of people who enter the UK after crossing the Channel
On Friday, Judge John Dagnell concluded granting anonymity to the migrants was “necessary to secure proper administration of justice” and to protect their interests. He said: “It does seem to me that I should also bear in mind that, particularly in the light of recent events, there are sections of the populace who may be adversely inclined to asylum seekers.” Concerns were raised about overcrowding at Manston in 2022. The former military base is used to process arrivals of people who have entered the UK after crossing the English Channel by boat. In November 2022, 4,000 people were at the site, which had a capacity of 1,600. Overcrowding with “unacceptable conditions” had also been flagged by inspectors a month earlier. The Home Office previously said that improvements have since been made.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0dmdxnxz9eo
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news_articles_c0dmdxnxz9e
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SNP conference: Can John Swinney unite fractured party? - BBC News
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2024-08-30
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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John Swinney will address the SNP conference for the first time as first minister this weekend.
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Scotland Politics
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John Swinney addresses his first SNP conference as first minister this weekend
The SNP has spent the summer licking its wounds after that bruising general election defeat on 4 July. The day after the party lost 39 seats and half a million votes, John Swinney admitted a period of "soul-searching" would be needed. The first minister has been speaking to party members around the country over the last couple of months, seeking feedback, analysing what went wrong and considering what’s next. In the aftermath of the election, Mr Swinney said the SNP needed to be healed and "needs to heal its relationship with the people of Scotland".
That prospect looks all the more difficult now, given the party of government at Holyrood is facing down some severe financial challenges, both in the immediate future - and longer term. The leadership goes to its conference this weekend, as it prepares to announce a raft of spending cuts when MSPs return from recess next week. Universal winter fuel payments, funding for nature restoration and cheaper rail fares have been hit already - and there is more to come.
Privately - and in some cases publicly - senior Scottish government figures are very downbeat. The scale of the challenge to balance this year's budget will, they say, mean painful choices. And there'll be no let up for 2025/26, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warning "things will get worse before they get better". Tough financial decisions at Westminster of course have a knock-on effect for Scotland's grant funding. Meanwhile, the issues that divided the SNP prior to the election are well-rehearsed - they include the pursuit of gender recognition legislation and its strategy over independence. A sense of dissatisfaction with the leadership, seen by some as closed off and unwilling to listen to the wider membership, also bred resentment for years. More recently the implosion of the power sharing deal with the Greens and the subsequent resignation of Humza Yousaf created a sense of instability. And since the election, the decision for the Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson to meet with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK caused an internal backlash. And that is the backdrop to which John Swinney will address the SNP conference for the first time as first minister. He has two main challenges - the first is to try to unite and motivate the membership. The second is to lay out a new vision for government. Neither of those are going to be easy.
With no clear route to delivering a second referendum - and Mr Swinney himself admitting after the election that the party is failing to win the argument with the public - the glue that bound the so-called broad church of SNP members now threatens to come unstuck. Meanwhile, the first minister’s vision for the future needs to convince more than just his own party. It has to be one that can persuade voters to re-elect the SNP at the 2026 Holyrood elections. That is a tough ask for a government that will have been in power for almost two decades by then. And Mr Swinney isn’t exactly a fresh face, having been a senior figure in both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s administrations. Is he really the man to be bring about the transformation of the SNP that many in the party say is required? And can he really deliver that when many of the key posts in his own Cabinet are filled by those who served under Nicola Sturgeon? Several of those MPs who lost their seats in July now believe the same fate awaits their Holyrood colleagues. Some of those MSPs believe it too. Mr Swinney’s ultimate test is to prove them wrong.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyx6vn1dpko
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news_articles_cwyx6vn1d
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Newspaper headlines: Anger at PM's 'cigs ban plan' and removal of 'Maggie's portrait' - BBC News
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2024-08-30
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Sir Keir Starmer's plan to curb outdoor smoking has not gone down well, according to some papers.
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The Papers
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Anger at PM's 'cigs ban plan' and removal of 'Maggie's portrait'
Many of the front pages feature reaction to the news the government is considering curbs on outdoor smoking. The Metro, external says pubs have labelled the idea "bonkers". "Has Sir Keir sounded the death knell of our pubs?" asks the Daily Express, external. The Guardian, external says the prime minister is on a "collision course" with the hospitality sector over the plans. The head of the JW Lees Brewery, William Lees-Jones, is quoted as saying the idea was a "bolt from the blue" and has not been discussed with the industry. But the paper also goes on to say health experts and the public back the measure. On its front page, the Daily Telegraph, external says workers are to get the right to "demand" a four-day week. The paper claims that under the plans, expected to be outlined by ministers this autumn, the balance of power is to be shifted with companies legally obliged to offer flexible working from day one, except where it is not feasible. A Labour source is quoted as saying it could help productivity. The Conservatives tell the paper businesses will be left "petrified". The main story in the Times, external is the plan for the NHS to go into offices and workplaces in England to weigh and measure people as part of a drive to improve the nation's health. The checks are for the over forties - and there's a particular focus on getting men to come forward, as they're traditionally more likely to avoid going to the doctor. The story is also in the Daily Mirror, It's dubbed the scheme the "middle age MoT" .
People working in several sectors will soon be given the opportunity to have a free health-check at work
The Sun, external reports that Princes William and Harry both attended the funeral of their uncle, Lord Robert Fellowes, yesterday - but the paper says they were "not seen talking to each other". The relationship between the brothers has been strained since Harry and Meghan chose to step back from Royal duties. The paper says the pair sat separately at the back of the church at Snettisham in Norfolk. The Daily Mail, external leads on a story that Sir Keir Starmer has removed a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from a study inside Number 10, after apparently finding it "unsettling". The painting was commissioned by Gordon Brown and unveiled in 2009. The paper says some Conservative figures have called the move "petty". Several of the papers have picked up on research which says people who catch up on lost sleep at the weekends may potentially lower their risk of heart disease by up to 20%. The findings, which were presented at the European Society of Cardiology, used data involving more than 90,000 adults in the UK. The British Heart Foundation is quoted in the Telegraph, external saying the report demonstrates the importance of getting at least seven hours of sleep a night. The Daily Mail, external says this research should "put to bed" the argument of whether extra sleep is good or bad for you. And the Guardian, external says that, for many, no Christmas is complete without the Terry's chocolate orange. But the makers are being accused of "messing with perfection" after announcing a spinoff - a plain milk chocolate version of the ball. The manufacturers say it is part of their plan to move "beyond orange". But the paper says fans of the original product have been left asking simply "why?"
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyw96d16zdo
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news_articles_cwyw96d16zd
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Can 24-hour drinking zones transform a city? - BBC News
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2024-08-04
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Montreal is planning to allow bars and clubs to stay open all night, but opinions are mixed.
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Business
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Bars and clubs in Montreal must currently close by 3am
When Frank Sinatra sang about “a city that never sleeps”, he probably wasn’t thinking about the economic boost that busy nightlife can provide to a metropolis. Yet a growing number of cities around the world are increasingly homing in on ways to strengthen their night-time economy. Around 100 cities now have some form of “night mayor” or “night tsar” in place, to spur this work. But most of those cities, including London, Sydney, and Sinatra’s beloved New York, are not up all night. In other words, they don’t allow bars and nightclubs to remain open, and serve alcohol, 24 hours a day. Nonetheless, later this year, Montreal - Canada’s second-largest city - is planning to take the leap into 24-hour nightlife.
Following in the footsteps of Berlin and Tokyo, venues in a new all-night district in Montreal's city centre will be licensed to remain open, and serve alcohol, throughout the night. City officials say the move will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue. Currently bars and clubs in the city have to close by 3am. Montreal will become the first city in Canada to allow 24-hour drinking. In Toronto venues have to close by 2am, and it is 3am in Vancouver. In the US, Las Vegas and New Orleans have long allowed bars and clubs to stay open all night. While in New York the cut off time is 4am, and in Los Angeles it is 2am. On the other side of the Atlantic, pubs in London still typically close at 11pm. The city does, however, have a handful of nightclubs and bars that stay open all night, thanks to flexible licensing laws. On a warm Friday evening in July, the centre of Montreal is bustling; busy bars and restaurants line the wide, pedestrianised streets. “This is an opportunity for economic growth,” says Ericka Alneus, the city councillor behind the 24-hour plan. “But it’s also to present, and reinforce, the cultural scene.” In 2022, the annual financial value of Montreal’s nightlife was estimated to be worth C$2.25bn ($1.6bn; £1.3bn), according to advocacy group MTL 24/24. It says that from this, C$121m went in tax to the government. Clearly, Ms Alneus hopes those figures will increase when venues are allowed to stay open all night. But not everyone is supportive of the change: “We don’t have enough security for it,” says one concerned reveller. A fellow citizen is worried about the practical implications: “It’s nice for people who like to party, but the Metro closes at 1.30am,” she says. “There has to be some kind of way people can go back home.”
City councillor Ericka Alneus believes the move to 24-hour opening will give Montreal an economic boost
Sergio Da Silva’s live music bar, Turbo Haus Club, is located on Saint Denis Street in Old Montreal. He says the planned changes haven’t been sufficiently considered. “You can't just say, 'here are some 24-hour bars, go nuts!'. "There's no infrastructure to uphold it. There's no 24-hour public transport, there's no extra security. “Then, there’s the cost of living. If people can't afford to go out, no matter what 24-hour policy you put in, it doesn't change anything,” he adds. As the sun sets outside a different bar, L'ile Noire, owner Michel Lavallée disagrees - he has a different take on the closing-time situation. “In Montreal, we close at 3am. People are drunk at 1am - and they're super-drunk at 3am. “One of the problems we have is, at 3am it's like madness. But if you expand the hours, there’s less problems, less demand for security,” he explains. Ms Alneus agrees. She says the fact that so many bars and clubs all currently close at 3am presents problems for the police. She believes by allowing 24-hour drinking, those venues that don’t wish to stay open all night will be able to close at different times across the night. She maintains staggering closing time will bring “a bit more safety in nightlife areas”.
Sergio Da Silva is concerned the 24-hour opening proposal has not been fully considered
Mirik Milan, a club promoter and festival organiser, was appointed as night mayor for Amsterdam in 2012. He says that during his six years in charge, alcohol-related violence and reports of nuisance fell by 20% and 30% respectively. Those statistics, he says, were vital for local politicians to demonstrate to voters that “we really managed the night in a better way”. Mr Milan has gone on to co-found VibeLab, a nightlife consultancy advising governments around the world. He says that when a city embraces nightlife as one of its key cultural assets, it can have billions of dollars of positive impact on the local economy. “It drives tourism. It brings in a lot of creative operators and businesses that want to be located in that city. And that has a huge impact on the city as a whole."
Lutz Leichsenring, co-founder at VibeLab, has been instrumental in promoting nightlife as part of Berlin’s Clubcommission - the organisation which, since 2000, has represented approximately 280 nightclubs in the German capital. “One of the strongest arguments for nightlife is that it attracts talented and skilled workers,” he says. “It's just a very important factor why people would relocate to a city, or would like to stay in a city and not move away." Mr Leichsenring adds that the increased temperatures brought about by climate change will only make the nighttime economy more important during summer months for many cities. He maintains everything “from construction, to education, and cultural gatherings” will increasingly move to cooler nighttime hours. “The night needs to be governed better, because the more you shift to that - to the night - the more conflicts you create, because people also want to sleep at night.”
Some drinkers in central Montreal remain concerned about nighttime travel, with public transport in the city not currently available throughout the night
Meanwhile, efforts to transform cities into all-night zones have – in some cases - proved disappointing. In 2017, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his 24-hour city proposal, appointing US comedian Amy Lamé “to champion nightlife”. Both were criticised earlier this year, external after suggesting they had succeeded in their vision, with social media-users expressing their frustration with the hashtag 'LameLondon' on X. The work of Sydney’s night mayor has also faced scepticism. , external Sticking to a nightlife plan isn’t always easy, particularly when governments change, says Jess Reia, assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia. “The challenge is how to keep good policies after administration change - instead of having a pilot project for a few years, and then ending up with nothing,” she says. Back in Montreal, there is no start date yet for 24-hour opening. Ms Alneus says the intention is to launch some time in the autumn. "We are trying to be trailblazers, and to push forward something that everybody enjoys." she says. "There are venues, artists, initiatives and performances at night-time that should have the light on them - for the economic growth of the city, but also for the cultural identity of Montreal."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckdgqpy0lyeo
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news_articles_ckdgqpy0lye
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Can 24-hour drinking zones transform a city? - BBC News
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2024-08-05
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Montreal is planning to allow bars and clubs to stay open all night, but opinions are mixed.
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Business
|
Bars and clubs in Montreal must currently close by 3am
When Frank Sinatra sang about “a city that never sleeps”, he probably wasn’t thinking about the economic boost that busy nightlife can provide to a metropolis. Yet a growing number of cities around the world are increasingly homing in on ways to strengthen their night-time economy. Around 100 cities now have some form of “night mayor” or “night tsar” in place, to spur this work. But most of those cities, including London, Sydney, and Sinatra’s beloved New York, are not up all night. In other words, they don’t allow bars and nightclubs to remain open, and serve alcohol, 24 hours a day. Nonetheless, later this year, Montreal - Canada’s second-largest city - is planning to take the leap into 24-hour nightlife.
Following in the footsteps of Berlin and Tokyo, venues in a new all-night district in Montreal's city centre will be licensed to remain open, and serve alcohol, throughout the night. City officials say the move will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue. Currently bars and clubs in the city have to close by 3am. Montreal will become the first city in Canada to allow 24-hour drinking. In Toronto venues have to close by 2am, and it is 3am in Vancouver. In the US, Las Vegas and New Orleans have long allowed bars and clubs to stay open all night. While in New York the cut off time is 4am, and in Los Angeles it is 2am. On the other side of the Atlantic, pubs in London still typically close at 11pm. The city does, however, have a handful of nightclubs and bars that stay open all night, thanks to flexible licensing laws. On a warm Friday evening in July, the centre of Montreal is bustling; busy bars and restaurants line the wide, pedestrianised streets. “This is an opportunity for economic growth,” says Ericka Alneus, the city councillor behind the 24-hour plan. “But it’s also to present, and reinforce, the cultural scene.” In 2022, the annual financial value of Montreal’s nightlife was estimated to be worth C$2.25bn ($1.6bn; £1.3bn), according to advocacy group MTL 24/24. It says that from this, C$121m went in tax to the government. Clearly, Ms Alneus hopes those figures will increase when venues are allowed to stay open all night. But not everyone is supportive of the change: “We don’t have enough security for it,” says one concerned reveller. A fellow citizen is worried about the practical implications: “It’s nice for people who like to party, but the Metro closes at 1.30am,” she says. “There has to be some kind of way people can go back home.”
City councillor Ericka Alneus believes the move to 24-hour opening will give Montreal an economic boost
Sergio Da Silva’s live music bar, Turbo Haus Club, is located on Saint Denis Street in Old Montreal. He says the planned changes haven’t been sufficiently considered. “You can't just say, 'here are some 24-hour bars, go nuts!'. "There's no infrastructure to uphold it. There's no 24-hour public transport, there's no extra security. “Then, there’s the cost of living. If people can't afford to go out, no matter what 24-hour policy you put in, it doesn't change anything,” he adds. As the sun sets outside a different bar, L'ile Noire, owner Michel Lavallée disagrees - he has a different take on the closing-time situation. “In Montreal, we close at 3am. People are drunk at 1am - and they're super-drunk at 3am. “One of the problems we have is, at 3am it's like madness. But if you expand the hours, there’s less problems, less demand for security,” he explains. Ms Alneus agrees. She says the fact that so many bars and clubs all currently close at 3am presents problems for the police. She believes by allowing 24-hour drinking, those venues that don’t wish to stay open all night will be able to close at different times across the night. She maintains staggering closing time will bring “a bit more safety in nightlife areas”.
Sergio Da Silva is concerned the 24-hour opening proposal has not been fully considered
Mirik Milan, a club promoter and festival organiser, was appointed as night mayor for Amsterdam in 2012. He says that during his six years in charge, alcohol-related violence and reports of nuisance fell by 20% and 30% respectively. Those statistics, he says, were vital for local politicians to demonstrate to voters that “we really managed the night in a better way”. Mr Milan has gone on to co-found VibeLab, a nightlife consultancy advising governments around the world. He says that when a city embraces nightlife as one of its key cultural assets, it can have billions of dollars of positive impact on the local economy. “It drives tourism. It brings in a lot of creative operators and businesses that want to be located in that city. And that has a huge impact on the city as a whole."
Lutz Leichsenring, co-founder at VibeLab, has been instrumental in promoting nightlife as part of Berlin’s Clubcommission - the organisation which, since 2000, has represented approximately 280 nightclubs in the German capital. “One of the strongest arguments for nightlife is that it attracts talented and skilled workers,” he says. “It's just a very important factor why people would relocate to a city, or would like to stay in a city and not move away." Mr Leichsenring adds that the increased temperatures brought about by climate change will only make the nighttime economy more important during summer months for many cities. He maintains everything “from construction, to education, and cultural gatherings” will increasingly move to cooler nighttime hours. “The night needs to be governed better, because the more you shift to that - to the night - the more conflicts you create, because people also want to sleep at night.”
Some drinkers in central Montreal remain concerned about nighttime travel, with public transport in the city not currently available throughout the night
Meanwhile, efforts to transform cities into all-night zones have – in some cases - proved disappointing. In 2017, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his 24-hour city proposal, appointing US comedian Amy Lamé “to champion nightlife”. Both were criticised earlier this year, external after suggesting they had succeeded in their vision, with social media-users expressing their frustration with the hashtag 'LameLondon' on X. The work of Sydney’s night mayor has also faced scepticism. , external Sticking to a nightlife plan isn’t always easy, particularly when governments change, says Jess Reia, assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia. “The challenge is how to keep good policies after administration change - instead of having a pilot project for a few years, and then ending up with nothing,” she says. Back in Montreal, there is no start date yet for 24-hour opening. Ms Alneus says the intention is to launch some time in the autumn. "We are trying to be trailblazers, and to push forward something that everybody enjoys." she says. "There are venues, artists, initiatives and performances at night-time that should have the light on them - for the economic growth of the city, but also for the cultural identity of Montreal."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckdgqpy0lyeo
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news_articles_ckdgqpy0lye
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Google's online search monopoly is illegal, US judge rules - BBC News
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2024-08-05
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The decision is a major blow to Alphabet, Google's parent company, and could reshape how technology giants operate.
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US & Canada
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A US judge has ruled Google acted illegally to crush its competition and maintain a monopoly on online search and related advertising. The landmark decision on Monday is a major blow to Alphabet, Google's parent company, and could reshape how technology giants do business. Google was sued by the US Department of Justice in 2020 over its control of about 90% of the online search market. It is one of several lawsuits that have been filed against the big tech companies as US antitrust authorities attempt to strengthen competition in the industry.
This case has at times been described as posing an existential threat to Google and its owner given its dominance of the search and online advertising business. It is unclear yet what penalties Google and Alphabet will face as a result of the decision. The fines or other remedies will be decided in a future hearing. The government has asked for "structural relief" - which could, in theory at least, mean the break-up of the company. In his decision, US District Judge Amit Mehta said Google had paid billions to ensure it is the default search engine on smartphones and browsers. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote in his 277-page opinion. Alphabet said it plans to appeal against the ruling. “This decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available," the statement from the company said. US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the country's top prosecutor, hailed the ruling as a "historic win for the American people". “No company - no matter how large or influential - is above the law," Mr Garland said in a statement on Monday. "The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.” Federal antitrust regulators have filed other pending lawsuits against Big Tech companies - including Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Amazon.com and Apple Inc - accusing them of operating unlawful monopolies. Monday's ruling comes after a 10-week trial in Washington DC, in which prosecutors accused Google of spending billions of dollars annually to Apple, Samsung, Mozilla and others to be pre-installed as the default search engine across platforms. The US said Google typically pays more than $10bn (£7.8bn) a year for that privilege, securing its access to a steady stream of user data that helped maintain its hold on the market. Doing so, prosecutors said, meant other companies have not had the opportunity or resources to meaningfully compete. "The best testimony for that, for the importance of defaults, is Google's cheque book," argued Department of Justice lawyer Kenneth Dintzer during the trial. Google's search engine is a big revenue generator for the company, bringing in billions of dollars thanks in large part to advertising displayed on its results pages. Google's lawyers defended the company by saying that users are attracted to their search engine because they find it useful, and that Google is investing to make it better for consumers. “Google is winning because it’s better,” said Google's lawyer John Schmidtlein during closing arguments earlier this year. Mr Schmidtlein also argued during the trial that Google still faces intense competition, not just from general search engine firms, such as Microsoft's Bing, but more specialised sites and apps that people use to find restaurants, airline flights and more. In his ruling, Judge Mehta concluded that being the default search engine is "extremely valuable real estate" for Google. "Even if a new entrant were positioned from a quality standpoint to bid for the default when an agreement expires, such a firm could compete only if it were prepared to pay partners upwards of billions of dollars in revenue share," Judge Mehta wrote. Another case against the technology company over its advertising technology is scheduled to go to trial in September. In Europe, meanwhile, Google has been fined billions in monopoly cases.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0k44x6mge3o
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Mosque leaders find moments of hope after violent disorder - BBC News
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2024-08-05
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Photos of mosque worshippers reaching out to an angry mob have been widely shared on social media.
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Liverpool
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Images of Liverpool Muslims sharing food with protesters outside a mosque went viral
Among the many stark images emerging from the recent wave of unrest across England were photos of Muslims embracing protesters outside the UK's oldest mosque. A demonstration was held outside the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool at the end of a week in which misinformation about the Southport attacks was blamed for stoking Islamophobia. A counter-demonstration drew a several hundred more people and, once the situation had calmed, mosque volunteer Adam Kelwick and other worshippers crossed over in an attempt to speak to those present. The mosque’s chairman Dr Abdul Hamid, a family doctor, believes there is a "fear of the unknown", adding: "If they don’t get answers, they will try to find any excuse to label you."
Protesters and mosque worshippers met and spoke together
Scratching below the surface of what was going on, Mr Kelwick said he found people not to have been motivated by anything in particular - rather just lashing out in a state of general frustration. He said: "None of the people who I spoke to mentioned Southport. "I don’t think they knew what they were protesting about - I think they’re just angry, fed up."
In fact, he said there were "beautiful interactions" as the group from the mosque were able to "break bread" and listen to some people's concerns in "deep conversations". Photographs showed the sharing of food, hugs and handshakes were among the more positive posts being shared widely on social media. "Some of the most vocal protesters, after everyone else had gone, came inside the mosque for a little tour," Mr Kelwick added.
People from the mosque and those who had gathered to demonstrate shared handshakes and food
Dr Hamid, who works as a GP in a deprived area of Liverpool, said: "The far right are a spectrum so there are those who are very, very extreme but there are people who have certain issues, whether political or personal, and they need to vent that. "If you don’t provide them with a platform to do that, they will go on to the streets." Mr Kelwick, who became a Muslim in 1999, has engaged with several groups in open mosque forums during the past decade, discussing the impact of grooming gangs among other topics. And he said there was nearly always progress. "Every single event has had people who are very angry - shouting sometimes - very upset, but everyone comes together after a time," he said. He remembered how one man nearly broke down in tears after being invited to a restaurant meal following an event. "He said no one had treated him like that before. All we had done was buy him a kebab."
The Liverpool mosque was founded by an English lawyer who converted to Islam in 1887
Mr Kelwick, who saw some of Saturday’s later clashes on the city’s Pier Head from a distance, said it was not a situation for "bridge-building". "There are thugs among them but there are also genuine concerns," he said. "The priority has to be safety and security and everyone needs to calm down." However, mosque leaders are conscious that there is less hope for others. Ibrahim Syed, a coordinator with Liverpool Region Mosque Network, said engagement with some groups "was encouraging to see" but the more extreme far-right activists should be banned "like other Islamist groups". Speaking after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met religious leaders in the region, he said: “There is the argument that the police already have the powers to stop the violence. "But what I think it’s important to note is that actually their words of hate and polarisation also need to be controlled."
Police made several arrests during the violence in Liverpool on Saturday
Initially set up in 1887, the Liverpool Muslim institute was recently renamed the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque after its founder William Quilliam, a lawyer born in the port city. While recovering from illness, he converted to Islam after a trip to Morocco and adopted the name Abdullah. Mr Kelwick told how the mosque faced angry mobs in the Victorian era but Quilliam had an "open door" policy, eager to engage with the wider city through charity and educational efforts. He said worshippers were still following in those footsteps by being involved in the "ridding of ignorance and bringing people together". Dr Hamid said the widely-shared images of the friendly exchanges could help "drown out the negativity". "There might be people in that far-right spectrum that will think twice," he said. "We’re not going to be able to change everyone’s mind, but that positivity can spread like wildfire." Mr Kelwick said some people had been dismissive and sceptical about the mosque's efforts and dismissed the social media coverage as attention-seeking. But Mr Kelwick said perhaps they were missing the point. He added: "Yes, I am doing this for publicity because I want this message of hope and coming together to get out as far as possible."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c84jjv7kp1wo
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news_articles_c84jjv7kp1
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Can 24-hour drinking zones transform a city? - BBC News
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2024-08-06
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Montreal is planning to allow bars and clubs to stay open all night, but opinions are mixed.
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Business
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Bars and clubs in Montreal must currently close by 3am
When Frank Sinatra sang about “a city that never sleeps”, he probably wasn’t thinking about the economic boost that busy nightlife can provide to a metropolis. Yet a growing number of cities around the world are increasingly homing in on ways to strengthen their night-time economy. Around 100 cities now have some form of “night mayor” or “night tsar” in place, to spur this work. But most of those cities, including London, Sydney, and Sinatra’s beloved New York, are not up all night. In other words, they don’t allow bars and nightclubs to remain open, and serve alcohol, 24 hours a day. Nonetheless, later this year, Montreal - Canada’s second-largest city - is planning to take the leap into 24-hour nightlife.
Following in the footsteps of Berlin and Tokyo, venues in a new all-night district in Montreal's city centre will be licensed to remain open, and serve alcohol, throughout the night. City officials say the move will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue. Currently bars and clubs in the city have to close by 3am. Montreal will become the first city in Canada to allow 24-hour drinking. In Toronto venues have to close by 2am, and it is 3am in Vancouver. In the US, Las Vegas and New Orleans have long allowed bars and clubs to stay open all night. While in New York the cut off time is 4am, and in Los Angeles it is 2am. On the other side of the Atlantic, pubs in London still typically close at 11pm. The city does, however, have a handful of nightclubs and bars that stay open all night, thanks to flexible licensing laws. On a warm Friday evening in July, the centre of Montreal is bustling; busy bars and restaurants line the wide, pedestrianised streets. “This is an opportunity for economic growth,” says Ericka Alneus, the city councillor behind the 24-hour plan. “But it’s also to present, and reinforce, the cultural scene.” In 2022, the annual financial value of Montreal’s nightlife was estimated to be worth C$2.25bn ($1.6bn; £1.3bn), according to advocacy group MTL 24/24. It says that from this, C$121m went in tax to the government. Clearly, Ms Alneus hopes those figures will increase when venues are allowed to stay open all night. But not everyone is supportive of the change: “We don’t have enough security for it,” says one concerned reveller. A fellow citizen is worried about the practical implications: “It’s nice for people who like to party, but the Metro closes at 1.30am,” she says. “There has to be some kind of way people can go back home.”
City councillor Ericka Alneus believes the move to 24-hour opening will give Montreal an economic boost
Sergio Da Silva’s live music bar, Turbo Haus Club, is located on Saint Denis Street in Old Montreal. He says the planned changes haven’t been sufficiently considered. “You can't just say, 'here are some 24-hour bars, go nuts!'. "There's no infrastructure to uphold it. There's no 24-hour public transport, there's no extra security. “Then, there’s the cost of living. If people can't afford to go out, no matter what 24-hour policy you put in, it doesn't change anything,” he adds. As the sun sets outside a different bar, L'ile Noire, owner Michel Lavallée disagrees - he has a different take on the closing-time situation. “In Montreal, we close at 3am. People are drunk at 1am - and they're super-drunk at 3am. “One of the problems we have is, at 3am it's like madness. But if you expand the hours, there’s less problems, less demand for security,” he explains. Ms Alneus agrees. She says the fact that so many bars and clubs all currently close at 3am presents problems for the police. She believes by allowing 24-hour drinking, those venues that don’t wish to stay open all night will be able to close at different times across the night. She maintains staggering closing time will bring “a bit more safety in nightlife areas”.
Sergio Da Silva is concerned the 24-hour opening proposal has not been fully considered
Mirik Milan, a club promoter and festival organiser, was appointed as night mayor for Amsterdam in 2012. He says that during his six years in charge, alcohol-related violence and reports of nuisance fell by 20% and 30% respectively. Those statistics, he says, were vital for local politicians to demonstrate to voters that “we really managed the night in a better way”. Mr Milan has gone on to co-found VibeLab, a nightlife consultancy advising governments around the world. He says that when a city embraces nightlife as one of its key cultural assets, it can have billions of dollars of positive impact on the local economy. “It drives tourism. It brings in a lot of creative operators and businesses that want to be located in that city. And that has a huge impact on the city as a whole."
Lutz Leichsenring, co-founder at VibeLab, has been instrumental in promoting nightlife as part of Berlin’s Clubcommission - the organisation which, since 2000, has represented approximately 280 nightclubs in the German capital. “One of the strongest arguments for nightlife is that it attracts talented and skilled workers,” he says. “It's just a very important factor why people would relocate to a city, or would like to stay in a city and not move away." Mr Leichsenring adds that the increased temperatures brought about by climate change will only make the nighttime economy more important during summer months for many cities. He maintains everything “from construction, to education, and cultural gatherings” will increasingly move to cooler nighttime hours. “The night needs to be governed better, because the more you shift to that - to the night - the more conflicts you create, because people also want to sleep at night.”
Some drinkers in central Montreal remain concerned about nighttime travel, with public transport in the city not currently available throughout the night
Meanwhile, efforts to transform cities into all-night zones have – in some cases - proved disappointing. In 2017, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his 24-hour city proposal, appointing US comedian Amy Lamé “to champion nightlife”. Both were criticised earlier this year, external after suggesting they had succeeded in their vision, with social media-users expressing their frustration with the hashtag 'LameLondon' on X. The work of Sydney’s night mayor has also faced scepticism. , external Sticking to a nightlife plan isn’t always easy, particularly when governments change, says Jess Reia, assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia. “The challenge is how to keep good policies after administration change - instead of having a pilot project for a few years, and then ending up with nothing,” she says. Back in Montreal, there is no start date yet for 24-hour opening. Ms Alneus says the intention is to launch some time in the autumn. "We are trying to be trailblazers, and to push forward something that everybody enjoys." she says. "There are venues, artists, initiatives and performances at night-time that should have the light on them - for the economic growth of the city, but also for the cultural identity of Montreal."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckdgqpy0lyeo
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Google's online search monopoly is illegal, US judge rules - BBC News
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2024-08-06
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The decision is a major blow to Alphabet, Google's parent company, and could reshape how technology giants operate.
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US & Canada
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A US judge has ruled Google acted illegally to crush its competition and maintain a monopoly on online search and related advertising. The landmark decision on Monday is a major blow to Alphabet, Google's parent company, and could reshape how technology giants do business. Google was sued by the US Department of Justice in 2020 over its control of about 90% of the online search market. It is one of several lawsuits that have been filed against the big tech companies as US antitrust authorities attempt to strengthen competition in the industry.
This case has at times been described as posing an existential threat to Google and its owner given its dominance of the search and online advertising business. It is unclear yet what penalties Google and Alphabet will face as a result of the decision. The fines or other remedies will be decided in a future hearing. The government has asked for "structural relief" - which could, in theory at least, mean the break-up of the company. In his decision, US District Judge Amit Mehta said Google had paid billions to ensure it is the default search engine on smartphones and browsers. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote in his 277-page opinion. Alphabet said it plans to appeal against the ruling. “This decision recognises that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available," the statement from the company said. US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the country's top prosecutor, hailed the ruling as a "historic win for the American people". “No company - no matter how large or influential - is above the law," Mr Garland said in a statement on Monday. "The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.” Federal antitrust regulators have filed other pending lawsuits against Big Tech companies - including Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Amazon.com and Apple Inc - accusing them of operating unlawful monopolies. Monday's ruling comes after a 10-week trial in Washington DC, in which prosecutors accused Google of spending billions of dollars annually to Apple, Samsung, Mozilla and others to be pre-installed as the default search engine across platforms. The US said Google typically pays more than $10bn (£7.8bn) a year for that privilege, securing its access to a steady stream of user data that helped maintain its hold on the market. Doing so, prosecutors said, meant other companies have not had the opportunity or resources to meaningfully compete. "The best testimony for that, for the importance of defaults, is Google's cheque book," argued Department of Justice lawyer Kenneth Dintzer during the trial. Google's search engine is a big revenue generator for the company, bringing in billions of dollars thanks in large part to advertising displayed on its results pages. Google's lawyers defended the company by saying that users are attracted to their search engine because they find it useful, and that Google is investing to make it better for consumers. “Google is winning because it’s better,” said Google's lawyer John Schmidtlein during closing arguments earlier this year. Mr Schmidtlein also argued during the trial that Google still faces intense competition, not just from general search engine firms, such as Microsoft's Bing, but more specialised sites and apps that people use to find restaurants, airline flights and more. In his ruling, Judge Mehta concluded that being the default search engine is "extremely valuable real estate" for Google. "Even if a new entrant were positioned from a quality standpoint to bid for the default when an agreement expires, such a firm could compete only if it were prepared to pay partners upwards of billions of dollars in revenue share," Judge Mehta wrote. Another case against the technology company over its advertising technology is scheduled to go to trial in September. In Europe, meanwhile, Google has been fined billions in monopoly cases.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0k44x6mge3o
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Mosque leaders find moments of hope after violent disorder - BBC News
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2024-08-06
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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Photos of mosque worshippers reaching out to an angry mob have been widely shared on social media.
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Liverpool
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Images of Liverpool Muslims sharing food with protesters outside a mosque went viral
Among the many stark images emerging from the recent wave of unrest across England were photos of Muslims embracing protesters outside the UK's oldest mosque. A demonstration was held outside the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool at the end of a week in which misinformation about the Southport attacks was blamed for stoking Islamophobia. A counter-demonstration drew a several hundred more people and, once the situation had calmed, mosque volunteer Adam Kelwick and other worshippers crossed over in an attempt to speak to those present. The mosque’s chairman Dr Abdul Hamid, a family doctor, believes there is a "fear of the unknown", adding: "If they don’t get answers, they will try to find any excuse to label you."
Protesters and mosque worshippers met and spoke together
Scratching below the surface of what was going on, Mr Kelwick said he found people not to have been motivated by anything in particular - rather just lashing out in a state of general frustration. He said: "None of the people who I spoke to mentioned Southport. "I don’t think they knew what they were protesting about - I think they’re just angry, fed up."
In fact, he said there were "beautiful interactions" as the group from the mosque were able to "break bread" and listen to some people's concerns in "deep conversations". Photographs showed the sharing of food, hugs and handshakes were among the more positive posts being shared widely on social media. "Some of the most vocal protesters, after everyone else had gone, came inside the mosque for a little tour," Mr Kelwick added.
People from the mosque and those who had gathered to demonstrate shared handshakes and food
Dr Hamid, who works as a GP in a deprived area of Liverpool, said: "The far right are a spectrum so there are those who are very, very extreme but there are people who have certain issues, whether political or personal, and they need to vent that. "If you don’t provide them with a platform to do that, they will go on to the streets." Mr Kelwick, who became a Muslim in 1999, has engaged with several groups in open mosque forums during the past decade, discussing the impact of grooming gangs among other topics. And he said there was nearly always progress. "Every single event has had people who are very angry - shouting sometimes - very upset, but everyone comes together after a time," he said. He remembered how one man nearly broke down in tears after being invited to a restaurant meal following an event. "He said no one had treated him like that before. All we had done was buy him a kebab."
The Liverpool mosque was founded by an English lawyer who converted to Islam in 1887
Mr Kelwick, who saw some of Saturday’s later clashes on the city’s Pier Head from a distance, said it was not a situation for "bridge-building". "There are thugs among them but there are also genuine concerns," he said. "The priority has to be safety and security and everyone needs to calm down." However, mosque leaders are conscious that there is less hope for others. Ibrahim Syed, a coordinator with Liverpool Region Mosque Network, said engagement with some groups "was encouraging to see" but the more extreme far-right activists should be banned "like other Islamist groups". Speaking after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met religious leaders in the region, he said: “There is the argument that the police already have the powers to stop the violence. "But what I think it’s important to note is that actually their words of hate and polarisation also need to be controlled."
Police made several arrests during the violence in Liverpool on Saturday
Initially set up in 1887, the Liverpool Muslim institute was recently renamed the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque after its founder William Quilliam, a lawyer born in the port city. While recovering from illness, he converted to Islam after a trip to Morocco and adopted the name Abdullah. Mr Kelwick told how the mosque faced angry mobs in the Victorian era but Quilliam had an "open door" policy, eager to engage with the wider city through charity and educational efforts. He said worshippers were still following in those footsteps by being involved in the "ridding of ignorance and bringing people together". Dr Hamid said the widely-shared images of the friendly exchanges could help "drown out the negativity". "There might be people in that far-right spectrum that will think twice," he said. "We’re not going to be able to change everyone’s mind, but that positivity can spread like wildfire." Mr Kelwick said some people had been dismissive and sceptical about the mosque's efforts and dismissed the social media coverage as attention-seeking. But Mr Kelwick said perhaps they were missing the point. He added: "Yes, I am doing this for publicity because I want this message of hope and coming together to get out as far as possible."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c84jjv7kp1wo
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Rapper Travis Scott released without charge in Paris - BBC News
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2024-08-09
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https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews
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The US artist had been held in custody for 36 hours after a fight with his bodyguard.
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Newsbeat
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Travis Scott had earlier been seen at the Team USA v Serbia basketball semi-final
Rapper Travis Scott has been released from custody in Paris without charge, French authorities have said, after fighting with his bodyguard. The 33-year-old US star was alleged to have attacked a security guard who attempted to break up the two men at the five-star George V hotel on Friday morning. Mr Scott was held in custody for 36 hours before being released by police. French prosecutors confirmed he had been let go and the case had been dropped because the offence had been "insufficiently established".
On Thursday evening, Mr Scott, real name Jacques Bermon Webster, was photographed at Team USA's Olympic basketball match against Serbia. He was pictured next to American businessman Michael Rubin and fellow rapper Quavo, former frontman of hip-hop group Migos. Earlier this year, Mr Scott was arrested in Miami in relation to an argument on a private yacht. Showbiz news site TMZ has reported that prosecutors dropped a charge of disorderly intoxication, external against him, but he still faces a count of trespassing.
Mr Scott is a 10-time Grammy Award nominee and one of the biggest hip-hop acts in the world. He was previously in a relationship with Kylie Jenner and the pair have two children together. In 2021, 10 fans died in a crowd surge at his Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas. He did not face criminal charges over their deaths, but remains involved in civil cases alleging that organisers were at fault. Last year, he scored his first UK number one album with Utopia, which was released a week after a planned show in front of Egypt's pyramids was cancelled.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnvyj7d4n8do
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