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MPs declare sports and bookies as most common donors - BBC News | 2017-09-02 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Ladbrokes Coral companies appear 15 times for hospitality in the register of MPs' donations. | England | MPs have declared about £215,000 worth of gifts, benefits and hospitality
Sports and betting companies top the list of donors treating MPs to gifts and hospitality.
The Ladbrokes Coral group appeared 15 times in the register of members' interests, more than any other donor.
Out of 187 donations from UK sources registered by MPs, 58 were from the world of sport. A further 19 were from betting companies.
Ladbrokes Coral said it wanted MPs to take decisions "from a position of knowledge".
But campaigners for tighter rules on gambling said companies could use hospitality to lobby MPs not to change rules on fixed odds betting terminals.
MPs are required to declare any gifts, benefits and hospitality over a value of £300. The latest register was published on 29 August and most declarations date from the beginning of 2016 to July 2017.
The Ladbrokes Coral Group accounted for 15 entries including trips to Ascot, Doncaster and Cheltenham races, the Community Shield at Wembley and dinner at the Conservative Party conference.
Altogether, the group of companies donated £7,475-worth of hospitality to four MPs, Conservatives Philip Davies (eight occasions - totalling £3,685), Laurence Robertson (four occasions -£2,550) and Thérèse Coffey (twice - £890) and Labour's Conor McGinn (once - £350).
The total does not include any gifts or hospitality worth less than £300 as MPs do not have to declare this.
ITV appeared eight times and Channel 4 was mentioned five times. BBC Northern Ireland appears once.
While Ladbrokes Coral appeared most often it was not the biggest donor in terms of the value of its hospitality.
The largest individual donor in the section on "gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources" was the Road Haulage Association, which the register revealed funds a researcher in the office of Dover's Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke at a cost of £22,577.
Mr Elphicke said: "The researcher is looking at how we can be ready on day one for Brexit - particularly at the Dover front line.
"This is vital work for both my constituency and the haulage industry. No-one wants to see long queues of lorries at Dover.
"In this work the interests of the haulage industry and my constituency are strongly aligned. That's why we decided to join forces."
Matt Zarb-Cousin, spokesman for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, accused Ladbrokes Coral of being "desperate" to keep fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) at £100 a spin.
He said: "They will throw as much money as they can. It shows a lot about the strength of their argument that they need to wine and dine MPs."
The organisation wants to see the maximum stake on the terminals cut from £100 to £2 amid concerns vulnerable people can lose a lot of money very quickly.
Its founder Derek Webb has funded the Liberal Democrats and also appeared in previous registers of members' interests as a donor to Labour deputy leader Tom Watson.
The government is conducting a review into FOBTs.
A spokesman for Ladbrokes Coral said: "We employ over 25,000 people, we have a high street presence in nearly every constituency in the land and pay UK taxes of circa £55m per annum.
"Of course we engage with politicians, we want to make sure that when decisions are taken that affect our 25,000 people, they are done from a position of knowledge."
Mr Davies, MP for Shipley and one of the recipients of Ladbrokes' hospitality, said: "I am the elected chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Betting and Gaming - and a former bookmaker - so of course I meet with bookmakers.
"It would be rather extraordinary if I didn't."
Tewkesbury MP Mr Robertson said he did discuss FOBTs with Ladbrokes, but also other issues such as taxation and their relationship with horse racing.
He said: "Very many companies (including the BBC) provide hospitality as a means of lobbying MPs pretty well every day of the week, inside and outside the Palace of Westminster, at various sporting and other events, at party conferences and so on.
"Charities do similar. Some of it is declarable, if it is over the threshold, and some of it isn't.
"I represent the Cheltenham racecourse and am also joint chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Racing and Bloodstock, so have responsibilities in this area.
"Similar to most countries in the world, UK horse racing is very largely financially supported by bookmakers and there is a fear that curtailing their income by reducing the stakes on FOBTs could cause many shops to close which would, in turn, lead to a dramatic reduction in the funding of horse racing, which, contrary to popular belief, is a very poorly funded sport in the first place."
Dr Coffey and Mr McGinn have been approached for comment.
• None Fifth of MPs still employ family member | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41027964 | news_uk-england-41027964 |
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Aberdeenshire man 'kidnapped' in Vietnam is found safe and well - BBC News | 2017-10-21 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | He was with a group of friends who got out of a taxi which apparently sped off before Mr Leslie could step out of the car. | NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland | Connor Leslie was in Vietnam on holiday with a group of friends
A 23-year-old British man feared kidnapped in Vietnam has been found safe and well, relatives have said.
Connor Leslie, from Newtonhill in Aberdeenshire, was last seen at about 02:30 local time (21:30 BST on Friday) in Hanoi.
He was in the city with a group of friends who got out of a taxi which apparently sped off before Mr Leslie could step out of the car.
The Leslie family said he was fine and would continue his holiday.
It is understood he managed to make his own way back to his companions.
Friends and family could not contact him on his mobile after he went missing and his cousin said on Saturday afternoon that his messaging app had been offline for about 17 hours.
Members of Mr Leslie's family had shared information about his disappearance on Facebook after he was last seen at Tay Ho 395 on Lac Long Quan.
Mr Leslie's brother Ross told BBC Scotland his brother was fine other than having blisters on his feet.
Connor Leslie was last seen at Tay Ho 395 in northern Hanoi
His cousin Scott Leslie earlier said the whole family had been "absolutely terrified" waiting for news of Mr Leslie.
"He was in a taxi and his friends were getting out. Connor was the last to get out and the taxi driver just sped off before Connor could get out of the car," he told BBC Scotland.
It is understood that the group may have had an argument with the taxi driver about money.
Mr Leslie added: "It's fantastic news that he's been found."
Connor Leslie, who works in the oil and gas industry, was with a group of friends who were just starting their holiday in Vietnam.
His family said he would now continue with the holiday.
The group is expected to travel to Australia next. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41707291 | news_uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41707291 |
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Las Vegas shootings: Is the gunman a terrorist? - BBC News | 2017-10-03 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Debate gathers pace online about how to label the Mandalay Bay shooter. | US & Canada | Stephen Paddock has been identified by police as the man behind the deadliest shooting in modern US history
As details emerge about the Las Vegas gunman who killed at least 58 people and injured more than 500 others, an online debate has begun about why Stephen Paddock has not been labelled a terrorist.
Instead the 64-year-old who opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards an open-air music festival on Sunday evening has been described by news outlets as a "lone wolf", a "granddad", a "gambler", and a "former accountant", but not a terrorist.
We do not know yet what motivated Paddock to carry out the deadly attack. There has been no link found to international terrorism and no confirmation of mental illness.
Yet on social media, many have been pointing out that if Paddock had been a Muslim, the term "terrorist" would have been used almost immediately to describe him, as a link to Islamist terrorism would be assumed even without evidence.
Celebrities, TV personalities and academics have all been discussing why this hasn't happened in this case.
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According to Nevada state law, an "act of terrorism" is described as follows: "Any act that involves the use of violence intended to cause great bodily harm or death to the general population."
At federal level, the US defines "domestic terrorism" as activities that meet three criteria - "dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law", those that are intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or governments, and which occur primarily within the US.
The FBI, too, suggests there must be an intent to "intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives".
This element seems to be key - is the perpetrator of violence not only attempting to cause mass harm but trying to influence government or further a particular ideology?
Many on social media shared an image of a definition of Nevada state law and questioned why, despite the clear outline, the sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Joseph Lombardo said during a press conference about Paddock: "We do not know what his belief system was at this time. Right now, we believe it is a sole actor, a lone-wolf-type actor."
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On Twitter the phrase "lone wolf" has been used more than 200,000 times since Monday's attack. The words "terrorist attack" have been used more than 170,000 times as people argued about why there seemed to be a clear disparity between how white suspects and those of colour are described.
On Facebook the discussion has also been escalating. Mursal in Indonesia said: "He's not considered an international terrorist? Maybe because his face is not Arabic!"
Muslim American Facebook user Mahmoud ElAwadi expressed his sadness at hearing the news, but described how the attack would not affect white people in the way his family was affected by Islamist attacks.
"Every mass shooting means my wife's life is in danger because she chose to cover her hair, that my son will be attacked at school because his name is Mohamed, that my 4 year old daughter will be treated unfairly because she speaks Arabic, unless the terrorist is a white and Christian then suddenly he is a mentally sick person and everything is normal."
At the BBC there is clear guidance on the use of the words terrorist, or terrorism. BBC editorial guidance says:
"There is no agreed consensus on what constitutes a terrorist or terrorist act. The use of the word will frequently involve a value judgement.
"As such, we should not change the word 'terrorist' when quoting someone else, but we should avoid using it ourselves.
"This should not mean that we avoid conveying the reality and horror of a particular act; rather we should consider how our use of language will affect our reputation for objective journalism."
Despite an overwhelming majority of comments criticising officials and the media for not labelling Paddock a terrorist, there were some counter arguments and suggestions as to why.
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By UGC and Social News Team, additional reporting by BBC Reality Check | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41483943 | news_world-us-canada-41483943 |
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No 'magical solutions' for Theresa May's Brexit talks - BBC News | 2017-10-17 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | The EU wants answers on the money question before discussions can progress, says the BBC's Katya Adler. | Europe | Prime Minister Theresa May, seen here travelling to Brussels, wants to speed up the pace of Brexit talks
"Magic solutions" were the words used by one EU diplomat to describe what British Prime Minister Theresa May was looking for during her dinner in Brussels on Monday night.
These elusive solutions are meant to address what the UK sees as EU intransigence in moving to the next stage of Brexit negotiations: trade and transitions agreements.
For now the talks remain at stage one - agreeing the rough outline of a divorce deal, including what happens to Northern Ireland's borders, to EU citizens in the UK and vice versa and how big a divorce bill the UK will pay.
I stood outside the European Commission as the informal dinner between Theresa May and Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker began.
A number of Commission employees walked past me on their way home, eyebrows raised.
It's seen as ironic by many here that the British government came to Mr Juncker seeking help over Brexit.
That same Jean-Claude Juncker is painted almost as the devil incarnate by some British newspapers.
Mrs May and Mr Juncker embraced after their working dinner in Brussels
But the UK has caught glimpses of flexibility from the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, who was also at Monday night's dinner.
He recently raised the possibility of moving to stage two of the talks.
Although Mr Barnier complained last week of deadlock between the UK and EU over the Brexit divorce deal, he has recognised that good progress has been made on other issues.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michel Barnier: 'We've reached a state of deadlock which is very disturbing'
"Theresa May still doesn't understand how Brussels works," one diplomatic high level source complained to me.
"Even if the Commission thought it were time to move on to transition talks, EU member states are their master in this. And they won't budge on money."
And that's what it comes down to - money.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the prime minister in a phone call this weekend that she needs to elaborate on the Brexit speech she gave in Florence last month, when she insisted Britain would honour commitments made while it was an EU member.
But which financial commitments exactly? EU countries want to know.
EU sources emphasise they understand the British argument that it can't commit fully to a divorce bill until it knows what the future relationship with the EU will look like.
No-one expects the UK to agree a final sum until all negotiations are over. They say they don't need the i's dotted and the t's crossed.
But what the EU wants from the UK now is a list of liabilities it accepts - such as pension payments, contributions to multi-annual budgets and loans to countries like Ukraine and Turkey.
Reports in the UK of late have focused on Germany and France being the main blocks in the road to talks of transition and trade. But sources close to Mrs Merkel told me that, while a couple of EU countries are keen to move forward, the majority demand "more progress on the financial settlement first" .
This is EU-speak for wanting Britain to cough up more cash.
Of course German taxpayers are reluctant for the UK to pay a smaller sum than the EU is looking for. As the biggest net contributors to the EU budget, they know they'll be under pressure to make up the shortfall.
But smaller countries also clamour for UK feet to be held over the fire. A big hole in EU finances means they risk losing subsidies, grants and infrastructure budgets.
On Monday night post-dinner, when Mrs May's office jumped on Mr Juncker's joint statement with the prime minister agreeing that Brexit talks should be "accelerated in the coming months", EU eyes rolled again.
"We all want acceleration. That's hardly news," one European diplomat told me. "Time for talks are running out and we all - the UK and EU - want a deal but London has to move over on money or negotiations will move nowhere."
The working dinner on Monday raised eyebrows among some employees at the European Commission
The UK had hoped the EU would vote to start Brexit discussions on trade and transition deals at a summit of EU leaders later this week.
But the EU has no intention of allowing the UK to use the money issue as a bargaining chip when discussing their future relationship.
That's why Brussels insists on separating settling the UK's financial liabilities - which, it says, deal with past commitments - from discussions on trade and transition, which look to the future.
Talking about this to a group of European students last week, Mr Juncker said - imagine going into a bar, inviting your friends to a round of drinks and then telling them they have to pay the tab themselves.
That's how the EU views the divorce settlement with the UK.
The British government has signed up to the sequencing on Brexit talks. Now the EU says it must respect the plan.
Frustrated German MEP Jens Geier told me that blaming Germans or the French for lack of progress was ridiculous. The UK needed to bring concrete proposals to the table, he said.
Theresa May has been told that the EU will approve moving to stage two in December at the earliest - during the next EU summit.
But there is one condition: as the famous song from the film Cabaret goes, "money makes the world go around". The EU insists it is what will make Brexit talks accelerate too. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41650246 | news_world-europe-41650246 |
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Birmingham Islamic faith school guilty of sex discrimination - BBC News | 2017-10-13 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Appeal judges say Ofsted failed to identify the problem in schools across the country earlier. | Birmingham & Black Country | Anti-segregation protestors gathered outside the court at an earlier hearing
An Islamic faith school's policy of segregating boys and girls is unlawful sex discrimination, a court has ruled.
The case was heard at the Court of Appeal as Ofsted challenged a High Court ruling clearing the Al-Hijrah school in Birmingham of discrimination.
Ofsted's lawyers argued the segregation left girls "unprepared for life in modern Britain".
Appeal judges ruled the school was discriminating against its pupils contrary to the Equality Act.
However, the court did not accept the argument the school's policy had disadvantaged girls more than boys.
The appeal judges also made it clear the government and Ofsted had failed to identify the problem earlier and other schools operating similarly should be given time "to put their houses in order".
About 20 schools - Islamic, Jewish and Christian - are thought to have similar segregation policies.
From Year Five boys and girls are completely separated for lessons, breaks, trips and clubs
The three appeal judges heard boys and girls, aged four to 16, attend the Birmingham City Council-maintained Al-Hijrah school, in Bordesley Green.
But from Year Five, boys and girls are completely separated for lessons, breaks, school trips and school clubs.
In 2016, Ofsted ruled the school was inadequate and it was put in special measures, saying its policy of separating the sexes was discrimination under the 2010 Equality Act.
In November, High Court judge Mr Justice Jay overruled the inspectors, saying that they had taken an "erroneous" view on an issue "of considerable public importance".
Ofsted's Amanda Spielman said the policy failed to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain
Speaking after the Court of Appeal ruling Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, said educational institutions should never treat pupils less favourably because of their sex.
"The school is teaching boys and girls entirely separately, making them walk down separate corridors, and keeping them apart at all times," she said.
"This is discrimination and is wrong. It places these boys and girls at a disadvantage for life beyond the classroom and the workplace, and fails to prepare them for life in modern Britain," she said.
In the ruling, the appeal judges said Ofsted had made it clear if the appeal succeeded, "it will apply a consistent approach to all similarly organised schools".
Given their failure to identify the problem earlier, the education secretary and Ofsted had "de facto sanctioned and accepted a state of affairs which is unlawful" and should give the affected schools time to "put their houses in order", the judges said.
The ruling means state schools which segregate pupils risk being given a lower rating by Ofsted. It only applies to mixed-sex schools.
During the appeal hearing, Peter Oldham QC, speaking for Al-Hijrah's interim executive board, said the boys and girls at the school were treated entirely equally while segregated.
He said Ofsted did not claim separation was discrimination until 2016 and its actions were "the antithesis of proper public decision-making".
Birmingham City Council said the issue was about schools being inspected against unclear policy and guidelines
Birmingham City Council said it took the High Court action it had because it felt Al-Hijrah school had been held to a different standard than other schools with similar arrangements, which had not been downgraded by Ofsted as a consequence.
Colin Diamond, corporate director of children and young people at the Labour-run council, said the case had always been about fairness and consistency in the inspection process.
"We would therefore highlight comments made in this judgement about the secretary of state's and Ofsted's 'failure to identify the problem'," he said.
He added the council had a strong history of encouraging all schools to practise equality but if it was national policy that schools with gender separation were discriminating against pupils then local authorities and the schools needed to be told so they knew the standards they were being inspected against.
Speaking to Radio 4, Mr Diamond said: "In questioning the judgement itself, the logic whereby you can say having, in one part of our city here, a boys' school and a girls' school adjacent to each other, with a fence between them... so that's okay is it?
"Whereas it's not okay to have boys and girls in the same school, when parents have signed up for that form of Islamic education. We don't see the logic, the equity in any of that."
Matt Bennett, shadow cabinet member for children and family services, said the verdict did not reflect well on Al-Hijrah, the council, Ofsted or the DfE.
"It is now clear that practices breaching the Equality Act 2010 have been allowed to continue at this school, and others across the country. Action is now required at local and national level," he said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-41609861 | news_uk-england-birmingham-41609861 |
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The UK city where sex work is banned, but hasn't stopped - BBC News | 2017-10-13 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Hull is the UK's only city to have banned sex workers from its red light district. The council says the policy is working. An ex-sex worker disagrees. | Magazine | Hull is the UK's only city to have banned sex workers from its red light district, effectively making prostitution illegal. The council says the policy is working, but Millie, who once worked on the streets herself, says it increases the danger for the women involved.
Sex work "slithered" into Millie's life when she was in her twenties. "It happens quite slowly at first and then all of a sudden you're in this mad cyclone and you can't find your feet, you get lost," she says.
The cocky bravado of the women in Hull's red light district made it seem like an easy way of funding her drug addiction. But now, with more than five years on the streets behind her, she knows all that banter is just body armour against the violence and vileness that comes with the job.
"Oh, you must love sex," punters would say with a smirk. "No. I love heroin," was Millie's sharp retort. "There is no love of sex, working on the streets - it's always a last resort."
Millie's drug addiction began as a teenager, when she would steal her mum's sleeping pills and Valium. When her mum's mental illness was at its height, she would whisper menacing things through Millie's bedroom door at night: "There's evil inside you, I can see it. You are a demon, spawned from demon seed." The pills helped to block it all out. From there she graduated to ecstasy, opioids - and eventually, heroin.
"Then you get trapped in addiction because you end up needing the drugs to get through it, to block out the things you've had to do," says Millie.
She remembers how women would steel themselves for a night on Hessle Road - Hull's red light district - telling themselves that they wouldn't do anything for less than £60. But their resolve would weaken as soon as withdrawal symptoms set in. "When you're rattling you'll get in that car for less than £20 - you'd do it for a fiver, simple as that," says Millie.
When we meet, Millie has just finished reading a book about the Victorian serial killer, Jack the Ripper, and can relate to his victims. "Back then we were referred to as 'unfortunates'," she says. "We have different names now but still the same social problems: the poverty, the addiction, the violence."
In Hull, the fishing industry and the sex trade have always been intertwined, she says, the poorest women in the fishing community at risk of sliding into prostitution. Millie knows lots of sex workers today whose fathers were trawlermen in the 1970s, when the industry went into steep decline.
"Generation after generation of women from these fishing families are working the streets - it is a terrifying prospect."
But while Hull has celebrated its fishing heritage with statues and murals as UK City of Culture this year, it takes a hard line on the sex trade. Three years ago - not long after its status as 2017's city of culture had been confirmed - it became the only local authority in the UK to effectively make prostitution illegal.
An end-of-terrace mural on Hessle Road, created for Hull's year as UK City of Culture
It did this by obtaining powers from the county court to issue injunctions under Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972, to people found loitering, soliciting or having sex in the Hessle Road area. If they continue their anti-social behaviour they have broken the injunction, and can be arrested, prosecuted, and even jailed.
The policy currently affects more than 100 women. Last year the Lighthouse Project, a charity, had contact with 113 women working on the streets of Hull, and another 15 who had stopped - either temporarily or permanently. Women who break free may be back in a few years, charity workers say.
Millie, who has been out of the sex trade and clean from drugs for about 10 years, says Section 222 has forced the sex workers out of sight, making their lives more dangerous. To dodge police, they work increasingly in back streets or on isolated industrial estates - areas that are poorly lit and away from surveillance cameras.
"Even without Section 222 to contend with, it's lonely, it's frightening, it's degrading - and it's a secretive life," Millie says.
"I can understand that Hull City Council wants to clean up the streets, but I think the best way to do that is not an Asbo, or to victimise victims, I think it is to provide support and proper treatment and look at the social issues - the homelessness, the domestic violence, the exploitation, the drug addiction, the mental health problems."
Millie is one of 11 women who worked with the Lighthouse Project to produce An Untold Story, a book documenting the reality of being a sex worker in Hull. In the three-and-a-half years it took to prepare, five women working on the streets were murdered. Another 11, including two of the book's contributors, died from other causes - pneumonia, drug overdoses or other conditions resulting from years of sex work, and drug or alcohol abuse.
Sorry. It's only one word containing five letters. It's not enough, it will never be enough.
I miss being a mum. It's down to me that I'm not any more. I hold my hands up to all the mistakes and bad decisions I've made, but it's not enough. It will never be enough.
It's not just birthdays, but the silly little things, like making up daft songs about what we were having for tea and singing them all the way home from the shops. Or writing teeny tiny letters from the tooth fairy in minuscule writing, thanking them for an incredible tooth and to keep up the good work. That their tooth would be used to help build the fairy kingdom.
I miss being a Mum. My memories of my three children are tainted by guilt, filled with shame, saddened by regret.
Since the policy came into force, 29 women have been arrested and served with court orders and four have been prosecuted. Two women have been sentenced to jail; one to 14 days, the other to one month, though her sentence was suspended for a year. Five women are currently waiting for a court date. "Sending them to prison for two weeks won't do anything and it isn't even enough time to provide rehabilitation," argues Millie, who served short sentences in prison herself, and would go back on the streets the day she was released.
A couple of times a month, Millie goes out at night on a Lighthouse Project bus. Women who board it are given condoms, hot drinks and information on dangerous individuals - passed on by Ugly Mugs, a charity that collects reports of incidents from sex workers and fields them out to warn others.
"They come to unburden their day - they're telling me their problems and they're the same ones I faced," says Millie. She commiserates with them on painful anniversaries - the day their children were taken away by social services, or the last time they spoke to their parents.
But since Section 222 came into force, women have been more afraid to use outreach services, says Emma Crick, who led the Untold Stories Project.
During the day, Hessle Road is a busy shopping street
"Many times when I have been working in evening outreach, police are around and appear to be waiting for the women to get on or off the vehicle so they can target them," she says.
As a result of the strong police presence, Hull's sex workers have also become more dispersed, making it harder to offer them support services, Crick says.
The director of Ugly Mugs, Georgina Perry, says the charity has received just two incident reports for Hull in 2016/17 - well below average for a city of its size. In Nottingham, a similarly-sized city, 35 incidents were reported during the same period, she says.
"What we see in every authority where there is a heavy-handed enforcement approach is that the number of reports [to Ugly Mugs] goes down and the number of women then willing to take it to the police goes down too, because they are frightened about criminalisation," she says.
Perry brands Hull council's approach to sex workers a "quick and dirty way of superficially dealing with a problem that is about poverty and deprivation".
You're usually "sorting somebody out" [buying their drugs]. I was sorting out my boyfriend, and a couple of his mates. There's always spongers who just soak up everything that they can get hold of, drug-wise.
A lot of fellas, they say, "I'm looking after our lass," and, "I'm looking after my girl." No they're not! They don't want to miss out, so they need to be there when the punter drops her off. If not, they might not get anything.
By contrast, Graham Paddock, anti-social behaviour team leader at Hull City Council, says the ban has "been a success so far" and was renewed in December 2016 for another three years.
"We had reports of sexual intercourse in gardens and against fences, so we had to do something to protect the community," he says.
"We are never going to stamp out prostitution in Hull entirely, but at the end of the day we have to send a message out that that kind of behaviour will not be tolerated."
Doing sex work is known in Hull as "going down the lane", after the former red light district, Waterhouse Lane
Residents reported an improvement after the policy based on Section 222 was introduced, he says.
But is this a case of "victimising victims", as Millie puts it?
"I can see that argument, but I guess our number one responsibility is the local community being affected," Paddock replies.
He adds that police tactics have changed over time, so that it isn't just the women who are targeted.
"When it first came into place in 2014 we were concentrating a lot on the girls themselves, but it was always intended for anyone - whether it be pimps, partners, boyfriends - so I've noticed there's been a change recently where more punters are actually being served with the orders now."
No men have yet been prosecuted, however.
Slum housing on the edge of the red light district has been demolished in recent years, to make way for modern homes
A multi-agency group made up of representatives from the police, the council and charities - including the Lighthouse Project - is now meeting to discuss the best way of using Section 222, while also supporting the women involved in sex work. But Millie is frustrated that no-one with experience of sex work has been invited to take part. She thinks she could have made a useful contribution.
She would have argued that if the goal is to protect the local community, then the women and most of their clients are also members of the local community. And she would have underlined that they can be helped to find a way out of prostitution.
"The saying 'once a junkie always a junkie' isn't true - you can break free from addiction," she says. It wasn't easy - she relapsed many times - but after moving into a hostel and getting the right counselling, she started to claw back control of her life.
She remembers the first time she decided not to use her money to buy heroin - she bought a necklace instead. It was a silver cross with her mum's birthstone in it - amethyst.
"I remember the pride I felt - I wasn't used to feeling pride, it was an emotion I'd lost long ago."
Kate's been my ever-patient mentor for all the years I've volunteered for Lighthouse...
We continue our walk up the main road of the red light district in Hull, towards the next working girl, stood on the next street corner. The Lighthouse car pulls up in front of us again, playing a crazy game of leap frog with us, keeping Kate and I within sight.
Another working girl opens the side door as we arrive at the car. She's in a hurry so she just needs a hot drink and a goody bag, then she's on her way.
For the next two hours we stop and talk to every working girl we see. Most we know. Some are new.
When the night shift is over and I'm snuggled up under the duvet with my dog curled up behind my knees, my husband breathing rhythmically sleeping beside me, a man who's never once thrown my past in my face, I once again realise how fortunate I am.
Millie's name has been changed
See also: My work as a prostitute led me to oppose decriminalisation
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41533411 | news_magazine-41533411 |
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Arthur Collins acid trial: Ferne McCann's family 'told of baby news' - BBC News | 2017-10-25 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Acid attack accused Arthur Collins tells a jury he and his then girlfriend Ferne McCann were "really happy". | London | Arthur Collins says he was trying to prevent a date rape drug being used to spike clubbers' drinks
The ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann told her family she was pregnant hours before he sprayed a crowd of nightclub revellers with acid, a court has heard.
Arthur Collins, 25, the father of Ms McCann's unborn child, said they broke the news at a barbecue on 16 April.
In the early hours of 17 April, more than a dozen people were injured at the Mangle E8 club in Dalston, east London.
Mr Collins admits throwing the liquid but says he did not know it was acid.
Mr Collins and his co-accused, 21-year-old Andre Phoenix, deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent and actual bodily harm in relation to the incident, in which several people were disfigured.
Jurors at Wood Green Crown Court heard that Mr Collins had been in a serious relationship with The Only Way Is Essex star Ms McCann for about a year at the time, and had found out she was pregnant just weeks earlier.
"It was the happiest I have ever felt. We were both really happy," said Mr Collins, who was living with his parents in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.
The court heard how after breaking the news, Mr Collins left the barbecue to attend a LoveJuice event at Mangle.
Sixteen people were injured in the incident at Mangle
Mr Collins - who had entered the club wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Candy Killer" - told the jury he had been drinking at the venue but was not drunk.
CCTV footage of the alleged attack showed victims clutching their faces after Mr Collins was seen dousing revellers from a bottle with a substance later found to have contained a liquid with a rating of pH1 - indicating a strong acid.
Mr Collins told the jury he had thought the bottle actually contained a date rape drug.
He said he had snatched it after hearing two men planning to spike a woman's drink.
Mr Collins said: "I wanted to show them the drugs was gone so they wouldn't spike any girl's drink and show them there was nothing left in the bottle."
He said the men were "really aggressive" as they came towards him in a bid to get the bottle back.
"I remember undoing the bottle and I threw it at the males," he told the jury.
Before Mr Collins gave evidence on Wednesday, jurors were told a number of the charges against him and Mr Phoenix had been dropped following legal argument.
Mr Collins denies five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and nine counts of causing actual bodily harm against 14 people.
Mr Phoenix, of Clyde Road, Tottenham, north London, denies four counts of GBH and two counts of ABH.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41738216 | news_uk-england-london-41738216 |
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Growth up: Now get set for the Budget - BBC News | 2017-10-25 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Philip Hammond is in a more positive mood after better-than-expected economic data. He tells the BBC now is not the time to borrow more. | Business | They are not exactly hanging out the bunting at the Treasury, but today's better-than-expected economic growth figures have put a bit of a spring in the step of the chancellor.
And that is not just for economic reasons.
Philip Hammond is under increasing political pressure from cabinet colleagues to loosen the purse strings in his Budget on 22 November.
Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, has gone public, suggesting that the government should borrow more for housebuilding.
And another senior cabinet minister I spoke to, with excellent knowledge of the prime minister's thinking, also suggested to me that some fiscal largesse might be just what the country needs.
Philip Hammond is not of that view - and the better economic data will give him a little more headroom in the public finances without having to borrow more.
His hand has been strengthened.
In his interview with me, Mr Hammond made it clear that he remains a fiscal conservative, focused on "balancing the books" and bringing the deficit down to zero by the middle of the next decade.
I asked him whether he saw any merit in delay.
"Well, we've already moved the target for balancing the books out from 2020 to 2025, but continuing to drive down the deficit in a measured and sensible way over a period of years, so that we are living within our means, and reducing the debt we are passing on to our children, has to be the right way to go," Mr Hammond told me.
There is certainly a robust argument going on in government.
There are those who believe that Mrs May's administration needs some eye-catching initiatives.
And given that tax rises are difficult to push through Parliament (just remember what happened to those March plans to increase National Insurance contributions for the self-employed), borrowing more seems the easiest route to paying for popular policies.
Should we borrow to build?
Many economists believe that the present deficit of 2.6% is low enough to satisfy the markets that the government is fiscally competent and has public debts under a modicum of control.
And Mr Javid said that "taking advantage of record low interest rates can be the right thing if done sensibly".
That does not appear to be the view of Mr Hammond.
"The government's borrowing costs are not at record low levels, they've risen over the last six or eight months," he said.
That's because higher inflation has increased the cost of servicing the government's debt.
"But the most important point here is that we still have a very large deficit and we have a debt which is 90% of our national income. That leaves us very exposed to any future shocks to the economy.
"So we want to continue to get the deficit down in a measured and sensible way over the medium term, giving ourselves room to support the economy, support our public services, invest in Britain's future through productivity-stimulating investment, but still moving over time to get that deficit down and starting to see our debt shrinking as a share of our GDP, so we don't simply pass on an unsupportable debt to the next generation."
The government's approach to borrowing will be a vital to the tone and feel of the Budget.
As far as Mr Hammond is concerned, "living within our means" is still the key message he wants to emanate from the Treasury. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41754354 | news_business-41754354 |
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Kenya poll: A key moment for African democracy - BBC News | 2017-10-25 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | The presidential re-run in Kenya has massive implications both for the country and for Africa | Africa | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
This week's presidential election re-run in Kenya has implications not only for the country but also for much of the continent, says the BBC's new Africa editor, Fergal Keane.
The last days have passed in a swirl of chanting crowds, arguments in the courts, and meetings between powerful politicians and election commissioners. The tension ahead of the polls crackles like static on the streets of Nairobi.
At the Githurai junction on the city's outskirts, several thousand people gathered to cheer President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Passing cars were surrounded and plastered with party stickers. Briefly enmity flared. A man leaned out of a passing coach and drew his finger across his throat, shouting abuse at the President's supporters. They surged forward but bus and man were quickly gone.
The days tremble with rumours. The election may happen. Or it may not. The Independent Election Boundaries Commission has warned it can't guarantee a credible poll in the prevailing circumstances.
Old friends I have spoken with express alarm at the rise in ethnic antagonism. International diplomats seem in a quandary - fearful of election day violence while acknowledging that the fresh poll was ordered by the country's highest court.
A billboard urges Kenyans to support President Uhuru Kenyatta in the forthcoming election
When I first reported from Africa, back in the Cold War days of the 1980s, there were only very occasional elections, usually resulting in the return of the incumbent with 90% or more of the vote.
So when Kenya had its first democratic election in 1992, it was easy to be carried along by enthusiasm for the new age. After all, President Daniel arap Moi had been in power for 14 years, during which time there had been a long spree of looting of state assets, worth billions, by an entrenched elite connected to the ruling party.
Political enemies were locked up and worse. But Moi was elected - twice. He knew how to manipulate tribal rivalries to his advantage - and his party machine had very deep pockets. Still there was now at least the possibility of democratic change.
Across Africa it seemed as if a new order of accountability was coming. The great kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko had been swept from power in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The apartheid state in South Africa was transformed into a multi-racial democracy.
I had met Mobutu and Moi and the leaders of the apartheid regime in South Africa and witnessed the brutality and bribery through which power was maintained in much of the continent. I had also listened to diplomats, among them representatives of Her Majesty's government, tell me that President Moi at least guaranteed stability in Kenya. He kept the tribes from tearing each other asunder.
The French would have told you the same thing about any of the despots they supported in Francophone Africa. It was an attitude of mind rooted in deeply patronising attitudes towards Africans, and it ignored the role of foreign interests in creating much of the mess.
But Africans were hungry for change. The Cold War had ended and with it the sorry history of support for despotic regimes by both the West and the Soviet bloc. Some of the new leaders came to power through war, but in those heady days of the late 1990s all the talk was of democratising.
The most remarkable movement in the continent's post-colonial history was not led by warlords or tribal chiefs but by a generation of Africans who believed their destiny would be shaped by their own actions. From Accra to Johannesburg to Nairobi, and thousands of points in-between, civil society began to mobilise.
I watched the Kenyan campaigner John Githongo forensically detail the corruption of the ruling elite and publish his results. In the remote Congolese village of Kachanga I met a women's association treating victims of mass rape and gathering evidence against the perpetrators.
The idealistic and energetic also mobilised around issues like the environment, economy, health and free media. The pace and dynamics of change were dictated by the internal realities of each state. But an overarching theme became apparent - the one-party state was becoming the exception.
The essential change was psychological. Young Africans saw themselves becoming agents of change much as their forebears had done in the years around, and just after, the end of colonialism. Two decades ago I could not have imagined the recent peaceful elections in Liberia, a state written off as irredeemably "failed".
But in a large swathe of the continent - central, eastern and much of southern Africa - I underestimated how efficiently the elites would take control of the machinery of modern democracy.
In different places they used different tactics - some buying up media outlets to promote their cause, others bribing enemies so that they became friends or manipulating ethnic antagonism into a weapon to be used on the campaign trail, and still more changing the law to extend presidential terms or silence outspoken opponents.
Some members of the new governments merely continued the corrupt practices of the old, siphoning off millions as the moribund economies of one-party states made the transition to a free market.
In South Africa it gave rise to a new class - the so called "tenderpreneurs" - whose connections to the powerful guaranteed lucrative government contracts.
Across much of this region - from the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Uganda, Rwanda, Eritrea and others - authoritarianism is on the rise. Elections are postponed, independent media are silenced, presidential term limits are expanded and opposition figures locked up.
It is in this regional context that Kenya's Chief Justice, David Maraga, emerges for many - if not for President Kenyatta's supporters - as a man of great courage.
The Supreme Court's decision to annul the elections because of irregularities in the electoral process, told the world that this Kenyan court would not accept a second-class democracy. Across Africa there was a sense of pride in this singular decision. Maraga was seen as speaking for the many who still stand for and demand accountable rulers and an independent civil service.
Since the Supreme Court decision tension has steadily risen. Elections are set for Thursday, but the opposition leader Raila Odinga refuses to take part.
It is possible to simultaneously take heart from the courage of the chief justice and the changed Africa he represents, and to be deeply worried about the escalating tension gripping the country in the wake of the court's decision.
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga is refusing to take part in the election
For Kenyans know that political violence often goes unpunished, particularly when the instigators are powerful people. So, often, does brazen corruption. The long struggle is not between political elites at the polling booth. It is a fight waged by a still resourceful civil society, independent judges and honest political campaigners to demand accountability.
The conduct of these elections and what happens in their aftermath matters hugely to Kenyans, millions of other Africans and the broader international community. An unstable Kenya has serious implications for the fight against terrorism in Somalia and, potentially, for the aid operations in South Sudan.
A peaceful resolution to this democratic crisis would be an example to the continent. Mr Githongo told me that "democracy is entering a dark tunnel but there might just be light at the other side".
The struggle to protect the gains made by honest men and women across this region is entering a critical phase. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41722084 | news_world-africa-41722084 |
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Aberdeenshire man 'kidnapped' in Vietnam is found safe and well - BBC News | 2017-10-22 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | He was with a group of friends who got out of a taxi which apparently sped off before Mr Leslie could step out of the car. | NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland | Connor Leslie was in Vietnam on holiday with a group of friends
A 23-year-old British man feared kidnapped in Vietnam has been found safe and well, relatives have said.
Connor Leslie, from Newtonhill in Aberdeenshire, was last seen at about 02:30 local time (21:30 BST on Friday) in Hanoi.
He was in the city with a group of friends who got out of a taxi which apparently sped off before Mr Leslie could step out of the car.
The Leslie family said he was fine and would continue his holiday.
It is understood he managed to make his own way back to his companions.
Friends and family could not contact him on his mobile after he went missing and his cousin said on Saturday afternoon that his messaging app had been offline for about 17 hours.
Members of Mr Leslie's family had shared information about his disappearance on Facebook after he was last seen at Tay Ho 395 on Lac Long Quan.
Mr Leslie's brother Ross told BBC Scotland his brother was fine other than having blisters on his feet.
Connor Leslie was last seen at Tay Ho 395 in northern Hanoi
His cousin Scott Leslie earlier said the whole family had been "absolutely terrified" waiting for news of Mr Leslie.
"He was in a taxi and his friends were getting out. Connor was the last to get out and the taxi driver just sped off before Connor could get out of the car," he told BBC Scotland.
It is understood that the group may have had an argument with the taxi driver about money.
Mr Leslie added: "It's fantastic news that he's been found."
Connor Leslie, who works in the oil and gas industry, was with a group of friends who were just starting their holiday in Vietnam.
His family said he would now continue with the holiday.
The group is expected to travel to Australia next. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41707291 | news_uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41707291 |
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The UK city where sex work is banned, but hasn't stopped - BBC News | 2017-10-14 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Hull is the UK's only city to have banned sex workers from its red light district. The council says the policy is working. An ex-sex worker disagrees. | Magazine | Hull is the UK's only city to have banned sex workers from its red light district, effectively making prostitution illegal. The council says the policy is working, but Millie, who once worked on the streets herself, says it increases the danger for the women involved.
Sex work "slithered" into Millie's life when she was in her twenties. "It happens quite slowly at first and then all of a sudden you're in this mad cyclone and you can't find your feet, you get lost," she says.
The cocky bravado of the women in Hull's red light district made it seem like an easy way of funding her drug addiction. But now, with more than five years on the streets behind her, she knows all that banter is just body armour against the violence and vileness that comes with the job.
"Oh, you must love sex," punters would say with a smirk. "No. I love heroin," was Millie's sharp retort. "There is no love of sex, working on the streets - it's always a last resort."
Millie's drug addiction began as a teenager, when she would steal her mum's sleeping pills and Valium. When her mum's mental illness was at its height, she would whisper menacing things through Millie's bedroom door at night: "There's evil inside you, I can see it. You are a demon, spawned from demon seed." The pills helped to block it all out. From there she graduated to ecstasy, opioids - and eventually, heroin.
"Then you get trapped in addiction because you end up needing the drugs to get through it, to block out the things you've had to do," says Millie.
She remembers how women would steel themselves for a night on Hessle Road - Hull's red light district - telling themselves that they wouldn't do anything for less than £60. But their resolve would weaken as soon as withdrawal symptoms set in. "When you're rattling you'll get in that car for less than £20 - you'd do it for a fiver, simple as that," says Millie.
When we meet, Millie has just finished reading a book about the Victorian serial killer, Jack the Ripper, and can relate to his victims. "Back then we were referred to as 'unfortunates'," she says. "We have different names now but still the same social problems: the poverty, the addiction, the violence."
In Hull, the fishing industry and the sex trade have always been intertwined, she says, the poorest women in the fishing community at risk of sliding into prostitution. Millie knows lots of sex workers today whose fathers were trawlermen in the 1970s, when the industry went into steep decline.
"Generation after generation of women from these fishing families are working the streets - it is a terrifying prospect."
But while Hull has celebrated its fishing heritage with statues and murals as UK City of Culture this year, it takes a hard line on the sex trade. Three years ago - not long after its status as 2017's city of culture had been confirmed - it became the only local authority in the UK to effectively make prostitution illegal.
An end-of-terrace mural on Hessle Road, created for Hull's year as UK City of Culture
It did this by obtaining powers from the county court to issue injunctions under Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972, to people found loitering, soliciting or having sex in the Hessle Road area. If they continue their anti-social behaviour they have broken the injunction, and can be arrested, prosecuted, and even jailed.
The policy currently affects more than 100 women. Last year the Lighthouse Project, a charity, had contact with 113 women working on the streets of Hull, and another 15 who had stopped - either temporarily or permanently. Women who break free may be back in a few years, charity workers say.
Millie, who has been out of the sex trade and clean from drugs for about 10 years, says Section 222 has forced the sex workers out of sight, making their lives more dangerous. To dodge police, they work increasingly in back streets or on isolated industrial estates - areas that are poorly lit and away from surveillance cameras.
"Even without Section 222 to contend with, it's lonely, it's frightening, it's degrading - and it's a secretive life," Millie says.
"I can understand that Hull City Council wants to clean up the streets, but I think the best way to do that is not an Asbo, or to victimise victims, I think it is to provide support and proper treatment and look at the social issues - the homelessness, the domestic violence, the exploitation, the drug addiction, the mental health problems."
Millie is one of 11 women who worked with the Lighthouse Project to produce An Untold Story, a book documenting the reality of being a sex worker in Hull. In the three-and-a-half years it took to prepare, five women working on the streets were murdered. Another 11, including two of the book's contributors, died from other causes - pneumonia, drug overdoses or other conditions resulting from years of sex work, and drug or alcohol abuse.
Sorry. It's only one word containing five letters. It's not enough, it will never be enough.
I miss being a mum. It's down to me that I'm not any more. I hold my hands up to all the mistakes and bad decisions I've made, but it's not enough. It will never be enough.
It's not just birthdays, but the silly little things, like making up daft songs about what we were having for tea and singing them all the way home from the shops. Or writing teeny tiny letters from the tooth fairy in minuscule writing, thanking them for an incredible tooth and to keep up the good work. That their tooth would be used to help build the fairy kingdom.
I miss being a Mum. My memories of my three children are tainted by guilt, filled with shame, saddened by regret.
Since the policy came into force, 29 women have been arrested and served with court orders and four have been prosecuted. Two women have been sentenced to jail; one to 14 days, the other to one month, though her sentence was suspended for a year. Five women are currently waiting for a court date. "Sending them to prison for two weeks won't do anything and it isn't even enough time to provide rehabilitation," argues Millie, who served short sentences in prison herself, and would go back on the streets the day she was released.
A couple of times a month, Millie goes out at night on a Lighthouse Project bus. Women who board it are given condoms, hot drinks and information on dangerous individuals - passed on by Ugly Mugs, a charity that collects reports of incidents from sex workers and fields them out to warn others.
"They come to unburden their day - they're telling me their problems and they're the same ones I faced," says Millie. She commiserates with them on painful anniversaries - the day their children were taken away by social services, or the last time they spoke to their parents.
But since Section 222 came into force, women have been more afraid to use outreach services, says Emma Crick, who led the Untold Stories Project.
During the day, Hessle Road is a busy shopping street
"Many times when I have been working in evening outreach, police are around and appear to be waiting for the women to get on or off the vehicle so they can target them," she says.
As a result of the strong police presence, Hull's sex workers have also become more dispersed, making it harder to offer them support services, Crick says.
The director of Ugly Mugs, Georgina Perry, says the charity has received just two incident reports for Hull in 2016/17 - well below average for a city of its size. In Nottingham, a similarly-sized city, 35 incidents were reported during the same period, she says.
"What we see in every authority where there is a heavy-handed enforcement approach is that the number of reports [to Ugly Mugs] goes down and the number of women then willing to take it to the police goes down too, because they are frightened about criminalisation," she says.
Perry brands Hull council's approach to sex workers a "quick and dirty way of superficially dealing with a problem that is about poverty and deprivation".
You're usually "sorting somebody out" [buying their drugs]. I was sorting out my boyfriend, and a couple of his mates. There's always spongers who just soak up everything that they can get hold of, drug-wise.
A lot of fellas, they say, "I'm looking after our lass," and, "I'm looking after my girl." No they're not! They don't want to miss out, so they need to be there when the punter drops her off. If not, they might not get anything.
By contrast, Graham Paddock, anti-social behaviour team leader at Hull City Council, says the ban has "been a success so far" and was renewed in December 2016 for another three years.
"We had reports of sexual intercourse in gardens and against fences, so we had to do something to protect the community," he says.
"We are never going to stamp out prostitution in Hull entirely, but at the end of the day we have to send a message out that that kind of behaviour will not be tolerated."
Doing sex work is known in Hull as "going down the lane", after the former red light district, Waterhouse Lane
Residents reported an improvement after the policy based on Section 222 was introduced, he says.
But is this a case of "victimising victims", as Millie puts it?
"I can see that argument, but I guess our number one responsibility is the local community being affected," Paddock replies.
He adds that police tactics have changed over time, so that it isn't just the women who are targeted.
"When it first came into place in 2014 we were concentrating a lot on the girls themselves, but it was always intended for anyone - whether it be pimps, partners, boyfriends - so I've noticed there's been a change recently where more punters are actually being served with the orders now."
No men have yet been prosecuted, however.
Slum housing on the edge of the red light district has been demolished in recent years, to make way for modern homes
A multi-agency group made up of representatives from the police, the council and charities - including the Lighthouse Project - is now meeting to discuss the best way of using Section 222, while also supporting the women involved in sex work. But Millie is frustrated that no-one with experience of sex work has been invited to take part. She thinks she could have made a useful contribution.
She would have argued that if the goal is to protect the local community, then the women and most of their clients are also members of the local community. And she would have underlined that they can be helped to find a way out of prostitution.
"The saying 'once a junkie always a junkie' isn't true - you can break free from addiction," she says. It wasn't easy - she relapsed many times - but after moving into a hostel and getting the right counselling, she started to claw back control of her life.
She remembers the first time she decided not to use her money to buy heroin - she bought a necklace instead. It was a silver cross with her mum's birthstone in it - amethyst.
"I remember the pride I felt - I wasn't used to feeling pride, it was an emotion I'd lost long ago."
Kate's been my ever-patient mentor for all the years I've volunteered for Lighthouse...
We continue our walk up the main road of the red light district in Hull, towards the next working girl, stood on the next street corner. The Lighthouse car pulls up in front of us again, playing a crazy game of leap frog with us, keeping Kate and I within sight.
Another working girl opens the side door as we arrive at the car. She's in a hurry so she just needs a hot drink and a goody bag, then she's on her way.
For the next two hours we stop and talk to every working girl we see. Most we know. Some are new.
When the night shift is over and I'm snuggled up under the duvet with my dog curled up behind my knees, my husband breathing rhythmically sleeping beside me, a man who's never once thrown my past in my face, I once again realise how fortunate I am.
Millie's name has been changed
See also: My work as a prostitute led me to oppose decriminalisation
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41533411 | news_magazine-41533411 |
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From fluffy pillows to concrete: The uses of captured CO2 - BBC News | 2017-10-10 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Carbon emissions contribute to global warming, so could tech that removes them from the air slow the process? | Business | Your fluffy pillows and memory foam mattress could be helping to reduce CO2
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are contributing to global warming, so could technologies removing some of the gas from the atmosphere help slow the process?
When you tuck yourself into bed tonight - curling up on your memory foam mattress and fluffy pillows - consider this: you could be helping to reduce climate change.
This is because CO2 can now be captured from the air and stored in a range of everyday items in your home and on the street.
It can be used to make plastics for a whole host of things: the insulation in your fridge-freezer; the paint on your car; the soles of your shoes; and the binding of that new book you haven't read yet.
Even the concrete your street is made of could contain captured CO2.
UK-based Econic Technologies has invented a way of encouraging CO2 - a typically unreactive gas - to react with the petrochemical raw materials used in the making of many plastics.
In this catalysed form, the CO2 can make up to 50% of the ingredients needed for making plastic. And recycling existing CO2 in this way reduces the amount of new CO2 emissions usually resulting from the process.
"Our aim is that by 2026, the technology will be used to make at least 30% of the polyols [the units making up plastic] made globally, and that would reduce CO2 emission by 3.5 million tonnes each year," explains Rowena Sellens, chief executive of Econic Technologies.
"This is equivalent to taking more than two million cars off the road."
CarbonCure's Robert Niven thinks his firm's concrete is far more environmentally friendly
The company is currently working with partners in industry to introduce its technology to market.
Canadian company CarbonCure Technologies is recycling CO2 and putting it into concrete.
CarbonCure takes waste CO2 from industrial emitters - such as fertiliser producers - and injects controlled doses of the liquid gas directly into the concrete truck or mixer.
The reaction that takes place creates calcium carbonate particles that become permanently bound within the concrete - and make the concrete up to 20% stronger.
Today, CarbonCure's technology is installed in more than 60 concrete plants across Canada and the US, supplying hundreds of construction projects.
Another company, Carbon Engineering, captures CO2 and uses it to make diesel and jet fuel. While Carbon Clean Solutions, in the Indian port of Tuticorin, captures CO2 from a coal-fired power plant and turns it into soda ash (sodium carbonate), an ingredient in fertilisers, synthetic detergents and dyes.
But will such carbon capture efforts really make much difference?
Simply put, levels of "greenhouse gases" - CO2, methane and nitrous oxide are the main ones - have been rising rapidly because we've been burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - to make electricity and power our transportation, amongst other human activities.
Should we be reducing the amount of CO2 used in making plastics, or simply using less plastic?
At the 2015 Paris climate conference, 195 countries agreed to try to keep global temperatures to within 2C of pre-industrial times by reducing emissions.
But to achieve this target by 2030, the world needs to cut emissions - CO2 accounts for about 70% - by 12 to 14 gigatonnes per year, says John Christensen, director of a partnership between the UN Environment Programme and the Technical University of Denmark.
Econic, by contrast, hopes that by 2026, its technology will be responsible for reducing CO2 emissions by 3.5 million tonnes each year.
And CarbonCure has demonstrated that its technology can help a typical medium-sized concrete producer reduce CO2 emissions by 900 tonnes a year. Globally, the concrete industry could reduce CO2 emissions by more than 700 million tonnes a year, the company believes.
"It's great to have these options coming up," says Mr Christensen, "but there's no silver bullet, no single solution."
Greenpeace's Doug Parr thinks renewable energy is a better way to reduce CO2 emissions
Environmentalists are also concerned that such carbon capture technologies merely delay the fundamental shift society needs to make to become a low-carbon economy. A plastics factory producing less CO2 is still environmentally unfriendly, the argument goes.
"Research into new technologies and approaches that can help reduce carbon emissions is vital, but it must not become an excuse to delay action on tackling the root of the problem - our dependence on fossil fuels," says Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK.
"A process that appears to reduce emissions or increase efficiency can lock us into maintaining industries that could be replaced with much greener options."
In addition, Mr Christensen points out that these carbon capture technologies tend to be very costly because they are so small-scale.
"The advances are positive but it's far from what is needed," he argues.
Another challenge is what to do with the recycled carbon. Some have suggested burying it in the ground or deep under the ocean, but the consequences of this are not fully understood.
So it's better to reduce the amount of emissions we produce in the first place through increased use of renewable energies, such as wind, hydro and solar power, environmentalists argue. This could reduce emissions by up to 50% of the amount needed.
"Use all the technologies available to bend the [emissions] curve down. Then carbon capture can come in," says Mr Christensen.
"It could have an important role to play." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41550446 | news_business-41550446 |
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Data is not the new oil - BBC News | 2017-10-10 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | There are vital differences between the power of tech firms today and oil barons a century ago | Entertainment & Arts | Unlike oil, which is finite, data is a super-abundant resource in a post-industrial economy
How do you know when a pithy phrase or seductive idea has become fashionable in policy circles? When The Economist devotes a briefing to it.
In a briefing and accompanying editorial earlier this summer, that distinguished newspaper (it's a magazine, but still calls itself a newspaper, and I'm happy to indulge such eccentricity) argued that data is today what oil was a century ago.
As The Economist put it, "A new commodity spawns a lucrative, fast-growing industry, prompting anti-trust regulators to step in to restrain those who control its flow." Never mind that data isn't particularly new (though the volume may be) - this argument does, at first glance, have much to recommend it.
Just as a century ago those who got to the oil in the ground were able to amass vast wealth, establish near monopolies, and build the future economy on their own precious resource, so data companies like Facebook and Google are able to do similar now. With oil in the 20th century, a consensus eventually grew that it would be up to regulators to intervene and break up the oligopolies - or oiliogopolies - that threatened an excessive concentration of power.
Many impressive thinkers have detected similarities between data today and oil in yesteryear. John Thornhill, the Financial Times's Innovation Editor, has used the example of Alaska to argue that data companies should pay a universal basic income, another idea that has become highly fashionable in policy circles.
A drilling crew poses for a photograph at Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas where the first Texas oil gusher was discovered in 1901.
At first I was taken by the parallels between data and oil. But now I'm not so sure. As I argued in a series of tweets last week, there are such important differences between data today and oil a century ago that the comparison, while catchy, risks spreading a misunderstanding of how these new technology super-firms operate - and what to do about their power.
The first big difference is one of supply. There is a finite amount of oil in the ground, albeit that is still plenty, and we probably haven't found all of it. But data is virtually infinite. Its supply is super-abundant. In terms of basic supply, data is more like sunlight than oil: there is so much of it that our principal concern should be more what to do with it than where to find more, or how to share that which we've already found.
Data can also be re-used, and the same data can be used by different people for different reasons. Say I invented a new email address. I might use that to register for a music service, where I left a footprint of my taste in music; a social media platform on which I upload photos of my baby son; and a search engine, where I indulge my fascination with reggae.
If, through that email address, a data company were able to access information about me or my friends, the music service, the social network and the search engine might all benefit from that one email address and all that is connected to it. This is different from oil. If a major oil company get to an oil field in, say, Texas, they alone will have control of the oil there - and once they've used it up, it's gone.
This points to another key difference: who controls the commodity. There are very legitimate fears about the use and abuse of personal data online - for instance, by foreign powers trying to influence elections. And very few people have a really clear idea about the digital footprint they have left online. If they did know, they might become obsessed with security. I know a few data fanatics who own several phones and indulge data-savvy habits, such as avoiding all text messages in favour of WhatsApp, which is encrypted.
But data is something which - in theory if not in practice - the user can control, and which ideally - though again the practice falls well short - spreads by consent. Going back to that oil company, it's largely up to them how they deploy the oil in the ground beneath Texas: how many barrels they take out every day, what price they sell it for, who they sell it to.
With my email address, it's up to me whether to give it to that music service, social network, or search engine. If I don't want people to know that I have an unhealthy obsession with bands such as The Wailers, The Pioneers and The Ethiopians, I can keep digitally schtum.
Now, I realise that in practice, very few people feel they have control over their personal data online; and retrieving your data isn't exactly easy. If I tried to reclaim, or wipe from the face of the earth, all the personal data that I've handed over to data companies, it'd be a full time job for the rest of my life and I'd never actually achieve it. That said, it is largely as a result of my choices that these firms have so much of my personal data.
Servers for data storage in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, which is trying to make a name for itself in the business of data centres - warehouses that consume enormous amounts of energy to store the information of 3.2 billion internet users.
The final key difference is that the data industry is much faster to evolve than the oil industry was. Innovation is in the very DNA of big data companies, some of whose lifespans are pitifully short. As a result, regulation is much harder. That briefing in The Economist actually makes the point well that a previous model of regulation may not necessarily work for these new companies, who are forever adapting. That is not to say they should not be regulated; rather, that regulating them is something we haven't yet worked out how to do.
It is because the debate over regulation of these companies is so live that I think we need to interrogate superficially attractive ideas such as 'data is the new oil'. In fact, whereas finite but plentiful oil supplied a raw material for the industrial economy, data is a super-abundant resource in a post-industrial economy. Data companies increasingly control, and redefine, the nature of our public domain, rather than power our transport, or heat our homes.
Data today has something important in common with oil a century ago. But the tech titans are more media moguls than oil barons. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41559076 | news_entertainment-arts-41559076 |
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'I quit Google and launched a business with my mum' - BBC News | 2017-10-10 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | How Munaf Kapadia runs a successful "pop up" restaurant at his family home in Mumbai. | Business | Munaf Kapadia runs a successful "pop up" restaurant at his family's home in Mumbai. His mother also works as head chef.
While watching TV one Sunday afternoon back in 2014, Munaf Kapadia had an argument with his mother that would change his life.
The then 25-year-old Google employee wanted to watch US cartoon the Simpsons, but as usual, his mother Nafisa preferred to see her favourite Indian soap opera and switched channels.
His mum had lots of skills, but in his view she spent too much time watching bad TV.
Diners usually eat Bohri food from the same large platter, or "thaal"
Determined to get her doing something more meaningful, he struck upon an idea.
Nafisa had always been good at cooking "Bohri" food, an Indian cuisine that is much feted, but hardly served anywhere in their home city of Mumbai.
And so he decided to email 50 friends, inviting them for lunch at the family home.
"We settled on a group of eight friends of friends, and served them my mom's food," recalls Mr Kapadia, now 28.
"Then we started doing it every Saturday and Sunday, opening it up to the public and charging like a restaurant. That's how The Bohri Kitchen was born."
Members of the public dine at the Kapadias' home every weekend
Traditionally, Bohri cuisine has only been available within the Dawoodi Bohra community, a small Muslim sect that lives in parts of India and Pakistan.
As Mr Kapadia says, "you literally had to beg Bohri friends or gatecrash Bohri weddings" to get a spoonful of it.
It blends Gujarati, Parsi, Mughlai and Maharastrian influences, and is often enjoyed by groups of friends or families, who eat from the same large steel platter, or "thaal".
For his first "pop-up" lunch, Mr Kapadia charged guests 700 rupees (£8, $11) per head for a traditional seven-course banquet. By the time they had finished eating he knew the idea had potential.
Mutton Khichda - goat meat cooked with dal and rice along with various Indian spices
"I was really shocked, but they actually hugged my mom. They said, 'aunty, you have magic in your hands, this food is outstanding!'."
He adds: "I saw the glint in my mom's eyes when she got that acknowledgement, which she is not used to, because we in the family take her cooking for granted.
"That's when I decided to just keep on doing this, I thought let's try to keep getting new people exposed to my mother's cooking skills."
So Mr Kapadia quit his marketing job at Google, and in January 2015 launched the "The Bohri Kitchen" as a brand.
Thanks to word-of-mouth publicity and some good reviews, it quickly gained a reputation among adventurous young food-lovers.
Mr Kapadia now charges 1,500 rupees per meal, typically offering lunches and occasional dinners at his parents' home.
He has also launched a separate takeaway and catering business, which operates through the week, and employs three members of staff from outside the family.
The firm recently broke into profit and is now looking to open outlets across India.
More The Boss features, which every week profile a different business leader from around the world:
But it hasn't all been plain sailing. For one thing, it took Mr Kapadia a while to get used to hosting strangers in his home.
"We started a 'no serial killer policy', so customers can't just book a seat, they have to ask for it," he says. We then do a background check by calling them up and asking a few questions to make sure they're legitimate."
There have been other challenges too, including convincing his parents that he wasn't crazy for leaving his job at Google, and learning how to hire good staff.
"My biggest challenge now is ensuring that our takeaway produces the same quality of food that my mother makes at home."
Bohri Kitchen samosas are stuffed with smoked lamb mince, coriander, onion and lemon
Ravinder Yadav, of management consultancy Technopak Advisors, says that many Indian food businesses struggle to build a loyal customer base.
"These days, consumers in India have plenty of options when it comes to eating out. So making sure you know who your consumer is, and creating something that they will keep coming back to, is vital, even for the biggest brands."
Still, he says in some respects things are getting easier.
"Finding investment is less of a challenge in India nowadays. And the government is making it easier to do business, so it's simpler to get the licenses you need and to meet other regulations.''
The dessert Doodhi Halwa is made by slow-cooking calabashes in milk, with dry fruits and sugar
India's food services industry is also expanding fast. In the past decade, consumer spending power has grown, along with people's appetite for eating out and ordering takeaways.
Mr Kapadia's mother, the hidden culinary talent behind The Bohri Kitchen, says that the business has brought out a different side of her personality.
"I have never looked at this from a business angle, it's just something that I love doing," she says.
"And when guests say my food reminds them of home, it's amazing. I get a lot of satisfaction and happiness."
But has her son managed to wean her off her TV habit? Not likely, she says with a giggle.
"I still watch all my favourite soaps while cooking for our guests."
You can hear an interview with Munaf Kapadia on The Big Debate on BBC Asian Network, Monday 9 October. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41467962 | news_business-41467962 |
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Richard Thaler and the economics of how we live - BBC News | 2017-10-10 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Behavioural economics is giving us a much better understanding of why things don’t happen in the way we expect. | Business | Changing the positioning of healthier foods can change shopping habits
How do you get people to eat more healthily?
You could construct some powerful arguments about how an obesity epidemic is leading to more diseases such as Type II diabetes and coronary heart conditions.
You could put large red traffic light signs on unhealthy foods and engage in expensive public information campaigns warning that overeating products high in salt, sugar and fat can reduce life expectancy.
Or you could just change where you put the salad boxes on the supermarket shelves.
The last option is an example of nudge theory at work, a theory popularised and developed by Richard Thaler, the University of Chicago economist who was today announced as this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics.
Prof Thaler's central insight is that we are not the rational beings beloved of more traditional economic theory.
Given two options, we are likely to pick the wrong one even if that means making ourselves less well off.
Lack of thinking time, habit and poor decision making mean that even when presented with a factual analysis (for example on healthy eating) we are still likely to pick burger and chips.
We're hungry, we're in a hurry and burger and chips is what we always buy.
Nudge theory takes account of this, based as it is on the simple premise that people will often choose what is easiest over what is wisest.
Tests have shown that putting healthier foods on a higher shelf increases sales. The food is more likely to be in someone's eye line and therefore "nudge" that person towards the purchase - whether they had any idea about the obesity argument or not.
Such theories, which sit in a big bucket of academic study called "behavioural economics", are what Prof Thaler is famous for.
So famous that the government now has its own Behavioural Insights Team, otherwise known as the "nudge unit".
It helps formulate policies, for example on pensions, to try and make us behave "more rationally" and push us towards better outcomes.
Shoppers will spend more on a credit or debit card in a food shop compared with cash
One of its projects revealed that charitable giving via your pay packet - called payroll giving - increased dramatically if people were told who else in their peer group (maybe Facebook friends) were also giving via that method.
Attaching a picture of "mates giving money" also improved the level of charitable donations. We tend to like doing what our friends like doing - called the peer group norm.
Prof Thaler also gave us the concept of "mental accounting" - that we will tend to divide our expenditure into separate blocks even though they come from the same source.
For example, we will spend more on a credit or debit card in a food shop compared with cash even though all the money ultimately comes from our earnings.
Then there is his work on the "planner-doer" syndrome - that we lack self-control, will act in our own short-term self-interest and need extra incentives to plan long term than simply being told that, rationally, it is good idea.
How many times do we let that gym membership lapse, despite our best intentions?
Having just received news of the award, Prof Thaler told me that his job was to "add human beings" to economic theory.
And today he has been rewarded, both via the recognition of the Nobel Prize and by the not inconsiderable sum of £845,000 in prize money.
Asked how he would spend the money Prof Thaler gave a succinct answer. "Irrationally." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41550434 | news_business-41550434 |
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Harvey Weinstein: George Clooney says alleged behaviour is 'indefensible' - BBC News | 2017-10-10 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | The actor joins a list of stars condemning Harvey Weinstein after claims of sexual harassment. | Entertainment & Arts | George Clooney has called the alleged actions of Weinstein 'indefensible'.
George Clooney and Jennifer Lawrence have joined the list of Hollywood stars condemning Harvey Weinstein.
The co-founder of The Weinstein Company faces sexual harassment claims dating back nearly three decades, which came to light in the New York Times.
Clooney, whose big-screen big break was a Weinstein film, said the producer's alleged actions were "indefensible".
Weinstein, who has been fired by the board of his company, disputes the New York Times report.
He has vowed to take legal action against the newspaper, which said in the report that he had reached at least eight settlements with women.
Jennifer Lawrence, who won an Oscar for his film Silver Linings Playbook, has also now spoken about the allegations, saying she was "deeply disturbed".
Jennifer Lawrence with Harvey Weinstein at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2013
Clooney, who was given his first big movie role as an actor by Weinstein in 1996's From Dusk Till Dawn and as a director in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, said he was previously unaware of the allegations.
"The part we're hearing now about eight women being paid off, I didn't hear anything about that and I don't know anyone that did," he said in an interview with The Daily Beast.
"That's a whole other level and there's no way you can reconcile that. There's nothing to say except that it's indefensible."
Clooney said he had known Weinstein for 20 years. "We've had dinners, we've been on location together, we've had arguments. But I can tell you that I've never seen any of this behaviour - ever," he said.
"Maybe that's what good will come out of this - that not just in Hollywood, although Hollywood is now the focus, but in all of these cases the victims will feel that they will be listened to, and that they don't need to be afraid."
Lawrence also released a statement, five years on from working with Weinstein on Silver Linings Playbook, for which she won the best actress Oscar.
"I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein's behaviour," she told Variety.
"I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting."
Jessica Chastain said she had been "warned" about working with Weinstein
Actress Jessica Chastain, who has appeared in The Martian and Zero Dark Thirty, also spoke out on Tuesday, saying she had been "warned" about working with Weinstein.
Unlike others in the industry, who have said they were not aware of his alleged actions, the Oscar winner tweeted her reaction.
"I was warned from the beginning. The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again."
She also responded on social media to a statement from Kate Winslet, who said the allegations made her "angry", and also noted that more men should be speaking up.
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Actress Emma Watson also tweeted on Tuesday afternoon about women being sexually harassed, but did not elaborate on what she was referring to.
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Cillian Murphy, whose TV drama Peaky Blinders is distributed by The Weinstein Company in the US, said the alleged behaviour was "appalling".
"It's great that it's been exposed and I admire all of these women that have come forward," he told BBC 5 live's Afternoon Edition. "We can't allow behaviour like that to be in our industry or in any industry really.
"When people are honest and speak up, that's all that people need to do. It shouldn't be tolerated in any walk of life so why should it be tolerated in the entertainment industry?"
Over the weekend, Weinstein stepped down from the board of directors at the US charity Robin Hood, which describes itself as "New York City's largest poverty-fighting organisation", the charity told BBC News.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41567216 | news_entertainment-arts-41567216 |
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Catalonia independence declaration signed and suspended - BBC News | 2017-10-10 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Catalan leaders sign a declaration of independence from Spain - but suspend it to allow talks. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and other regional leaders have signed a declaration of independence from Spain, following the disputed referendum.
However, they say the move will not be implemented for several weeks to allow talks with the government in Madrid.
The document calls for Catalonia to be recognised as an "independent and sovereign state".
The move was immediately dismissed by the Spanish central government in Madrid.
A 1 October referendum in the north-eastern province - which Catalan leaders say resulted in a Yes vote for independence - was declared invalid by Spain's Constitutional Court.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament in Barcelona that the region had won the right to be independent as a result of the vote.
The referendum resulted in almost 90% of voters backing independence, Catalan officials say. But anti-independence voters largely boycotted the ballot - which had a reported turnout of 43% - and there were several reports of irregularities.
National police were involved in violent scenes as they manhandled voters while implementing the legal ruling banning the referendum.
A pro-independence rally was held near the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona
The declaration reads: "We call on all states and international organisations to recognise the Catalan republic as an independent and sovereign state.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Pablo Insa Iglesias and Elisabeth Besó sit on opposite sides of the argument
Mr Puigdemont told the regional parliament that the "people's will" was to break away from Madrid, but he also said he wanted to "de-escalate" the tension around the issue.
"We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. The only way forward is democracy and peace," he told deputies.
But he also said Catalonia was being denied the right to self-determination, and paying too much in taxes to the central government in Madrid.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria responded to Tuesday's developments by saying: "Neither Mr Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim... to impose mediation.
"Any dialogue between democrats has to take place within the law."
She added: "After having come so far, and taken Catalonia to the greatest level of tension in its history, President Puigdemont has now subjected his autonomous region to its greatest level of uncertainty.
"The speech the president... gave today is that of a person who does not know where he is, where he's going, nor who he wants to go there with."
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called an extraordinary cabinet meeting for Wednesday morning to address the latest moves in the crisis.
By the BBC's Tom Burridge, in Barcelona
As Catalonia's leader announced he would declare independence, thousands of his supporters, watching his speech nearby, on a big screen, were euphoric.
But seconds later - when Carles Puigdemont qualified his announcement - and said the declaration would be suspended for several weeks, the disappointment was visible in the crowd.
Mr Puigdemont's language was stark, claiming that he had to follow the will of the Catalan people.
But he is playing for time - offering a window for the possibility of dialogue with Madrid.
His ultimate aim, to pressure the Spanish government to allow a legitimate referendum, remains.
But it's highly unlikely that the Spanish government will accept that and there are signals now that its patience is wearing thin.
Catalonia's centre-right, centre-left coalition government only had a majority of MPs in the regional parliament with the support of another small pro-independence party, on the far left. That party is unhappy that there has been no clear declaration of independence. And so Catalonia's awkward coalition of pro-independence parties feels more fragile.
Independence supporters had been sharing the Catalan hashtag #10ODeclaració (10 October Declaration) on Twitter, amid expectations that Mr Puigdemont would ask parliament to declare independence on the basis of the referendum law it passed last month.
But influential figures including Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged Mr Puigdemont to step back from declaring independence.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What do Scottish nationalists think about Catalonia?
Catalonia, a part of the Spanish state for centuries but with its own distinct language and culture, enjoys broad autonomy under the Spanish constitution.
However, a 2005 amendment redefining the region as a "nation", boosting the status of the Catalan language and increasing local control over taxes and the judiciary, was reversed by the Constitutional Court in 2010.
The economic crisis further fuelled discontent and pro-independence parties took power in the region in the 2015 elections.
Catalonia is is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, accounting for a quarter of the country's exports. But a stream of companies have announced plans to move their head offices out of Catalonia in response to the crisis.
The European Union has made clear that should Catalonia split from Spain, the region would cease to be part of the EU.
Are you in the region? E-mail us at [email protected] your stories.
You can also contact us in the following ways: | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41574172 | news_world-europe-41574172 |
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Weinstein and the media's shame - BBC News | 2017-10-10 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Harvey Weinstein sacked after sexual harassment claims. A cascade of allegations is swirling. | Entertainment & Arts | Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar-winning film producer accused of sexually harassing female employees, has been fired by the board of his company.
Harvey Weinstein has denied many of the allegations against him, but in such a convoluted and incoherent manner that it is not too soon to conclude his behaviour over the course of a storied career has, at times, been disgusting.
Now that he has been sacked by the company named after him and his brother, a cascade of allegations is swirling and many people who have been loyal to him over the years are suddenly questioning why they bothered.
It is hard not to see the allegations against Weinstein in the light of similarly tawdry claims made against the late Fox News boss Roger Ailes, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly, comedian Bill Cosby, and even the President, Donald Trump, who - we should remind ourselves - stands accused of sexually exploitative behaviour by many women. Those allegations are unproven and Trump denies them.
Changing attitudes to the behaviour of powerful men are driving a cultural shift, which most people will consider long overdue if it means that bullying and intimidation in exchange for sexual favours is no longer so widespread.
I wonder too if the advent of social media is making more women feel able to speak out: perhaps the capacity for an accusation to go viral, and so garner both attention and support from a vast global audience in a matter of seconds, incentivises honesty where women might previously have feared the consequences of speaking out.
But it would be a dereliction of duty to ignore that these allegations are pouring forth from the American media and creative industries.
The painful fact is, many, many people were aware of Weinstein's behaviour for years. He was, as the saying goes, hiding in plain sight, no doubt protected to some extent by his friendships with famous people and his ability to hand out internships to the likes of Malia Obama (who as far as we know was treated with the utmost civility). That he was a major supporter of Hillary Clinton will have done him little harm, too.
Weinstein was also protected by sheer force of character. The few times I've met him in New York he was declaiming at a party, raconteuring his way through Manhattan's most starry joints, a sun around which other stars would orbit. It's pathetic, of course, but one reason those who knew about his sordid malefactions didn't speak out is because he was their host, and they enjoyed his parties.
There is outrage in American media circles now - though many would say it pales in comparison to the outrage that attended the claims of rampant sexual harassment at Fox News. To that extent, this scandal - revealed by that other icon of liberal America, The New York Times - is in fact a test of liberal America. If late night TV hosts and their boosters in the media don't pour the same opprobrium on Weinstein as they have on, for instance, O'Reilly, they could stand accused of double standards.
Why are all these scandals erupting in the media? There's no firm evidence that sexual intimidation is more prevalent in, say, Hollywood than Wall Street. But if - and it is a big if - it is, I wonder if that's because the likes of Weinstein are part of an economy within an economy in the creative industries: they buy and sell fame.
Weinstein was the kind of man who used his power to be a gateway to both financial riches and fame: he controlled access to huge audiences, with all the money that can bring. If some of the claims made by actresses are true, it may be that Weinstein was - unforgivably - allowed to get away with it because of his power. Not just his power to make people very rich; also, his power to make them very famous.
That's the same power Roger Ailes had. Do this sexual favour for me, his sick argument allegedly went, and you'll have a better chance of ending up on screen.
If more women feel prepared to speak out, and fewer lecherous men are allowed to get away with exchanging sexual favours for fame and riches, some good may yet come from the turpitudinous exploits of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41558556 | news_entertainment-arts-41558556 |
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Las Vegas shootings: Is the gunman a terrorist? - BBC News | 2017-10-04 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Debate gathers pace online about how to label the Mandalay Bay shooter. | US & Canada | Stephen Paddock has been identified by police as the man behind the deadliest shooting in modern US history
As details emerge about the Las Vegas gunman who killed at least 58 people and injured more than 500 others, an online debate has begun about why Stephen Paddock has not been labelled a terrorist.
Instead the 64-year-old who opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards an open-air music festival on Sunday evening has been described by news outlets as a "lone wolf", a "granddad", a "gambler", and a "former accountant", but not a terrorist.
We do not know yet what motivated Paddock to carry out the deadly attack. There has been no link found to international terrorism and no confirmation of mental illness.
Yet on social media, many have been pointing out that if Paddock had been a Muslim, the term "terrorist" would have been used almost immediately to describe him, as a link to Islamist terrorism would be assumed even without evidence.
Celebrities, TV personalities and academics have all been discussing why this hasn't happened in this case.
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According to Nevada state law, an "act of terrorism" is described as follows: "Any act that involves the use of violence intended to cause great bodily harm or death to the general population."
At federal level, the US defines "domestic terrorism" as activities that meet three criteria - "dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law", those that are intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or governments, and which occur primarily within the US.
The FBI, too, suggests there must be an intent to "intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives".
This element seems to be key - is the perpetrator of violence not only attempting to cause mass harm but trying to influence government or further a particular ideology?
Many on social media shared an image of a definition of Nevada state law and questioned why, despite the clear outline, the sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Joseph Lombardo said during a press conference about Paddock: "We do not know what his belief system was at this time. Right now, we believe it is a sole actor, a lone-wolf-type actor."
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On Twitter the phrase "lone wolf" has been used more than 200,000 times since Monday's attack. The words "terrorist attack" have been used more than 170,000 times as people argued about why there seemed to be a clear disparity between how white suspects and those of colour are described.
On Facebook the discussion has also been escalating. Mursal in Indonesia said: "He's not considered an international terrorist? Maybe because his face is not Arabic!"
Muslim American Facebook user Mahmoud ElAwadi expressed his sadness at hearing the news, but described how the attack would not affect white people in the way his family was affected by Islamist attacks.
"Every mass shooting means my wife's life is in danger because she chose to cover her hair, that my son will be attacked at school because his name is Mohamed, that my 4 year old daughter will be treated unfairly because she speaks Arabic, unless the terrorist is a white and Christian then suddenly he is a mentally sick person and everything is normal."
At the BBC there is clear guidance on the use of the words terrorist, or terrorism. BBC editorial guidance says:
"There is no agreed consensus on what constitutes a terrorist or terrorist act. The use of the word will frequently involve a value judgement.
"As such, we should not change the word 'terrorist' when quoting someone else, but we should avoid using it ourselves.
"This should not mean that we avoid conveying the reality and horror of a particular act; rather we should consider how our use of language will affect our reputation for objective journalism."
Despite an overwhelming majority of comments criticising officials and the media for not labelling Paddock a terrorist, there were some counter arguments and suggestions as to why.
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By UGC and Social News Team, additional reporting by BBC Reality Check | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41483943 | news_world-us-canada-41483943 |
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Does Cambridge University need to widen a 'whitewashed' reading list? - BBC News | 2017-10-26 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Some Cambridge University students don't want to just study books by white authors - but who should be on their reading list? | UK | A group of 100 Cambridge students have called for the university to include more black and ethnic minority writers in its English Literature curriculum, leading to a row over race. But the university has condemned the backlash and says it supports debate over its reading list.
The literary row started with a letter written in June by the students to the university's English faculty, asking it to "decolonise" its curriculum by including more BME writers.
The letter, mainly signed by white students, stated: "This is not a call for the exclusion of white men from reading lists... it is a call to recentre the lives of other marginalised writers."
One of the students, Lola Olufemi, women's officer for Cambridge University's student union, then explained the position in an article for the university's student newspaper Varsity. She wrote that it was "simply not enough" for the university to offer one optional course to read post-colonial BME texts at the end of a three year degree.
Her picture was splashed on the front page of the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday under the headline: "Student forces Cambridge to drop white authors". The paper then faced criticism for "twisting the facts" and "demonising" Ms Olufemi.
The university has responded by saying it supports "robust academic debate" and that "very early" academic discussions had already been held on this issue.
But for now it said, there "has been no decision to alter the way English is taught at the University of Cambridge".
So what do students studying English Literature at Cambridge read and why?
The course outline advises students they will be studying a full range of "English literature from the Middle Ages to the present day".
Across the three years, it lists four compulsory papers that must be taken by all students:
There are also more than 20 optional papers - "which change regularly", with lecturers providing suggested reading lists and students making decisions on what books to study based on that guidance.
But some students say all too often they are steered towards white, male writers.
One of the lecturers is Dr Priyamvada Gopal, who teaches postcolonial literature. She says she has noticed "more assertiveness" from students about what kinds of issues they want to explore.
Because many have not learned about the British Empire while at school, she says, this makes them keen to study books that examine the issues of Britishness or Englishness, and "how that relates to questions of race, immigration and even class".
So what should be on the agenda? Dr Gopal has five books she suggests are worthy of inclusion:
Recommended reading from Dr Priyamvada Gopal, Reader in Anglophone Literatures and Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge:
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano was a black African writer whose experiences as a slave prompted him to become involved in Britain's abolition movement. His autobiography was first published in 1789 and was immensely popular.
The son of an Indian father and a Scottish-Indian mother, Sam Selvon moved to England in 1950 after serving in the Trinidadian navy. The Lonely Londoners is perhaps his best-known and commercially most successful novel and was his first to address the migrant experience.
Caribbean intellectual and political activist Cyril Lionel Robert James moved to England from Trinidad in 1932. Six years later he published the historical account, The Black Jacobins, his seminal work on the Haitian slave revolt.
Born in London to an English mother and Nigerian father, Bernardine Evaristo is an award-winning author and current professor of creative writing at Brunel University London. Published in 2001, The Emperor's Babe is a mash-up of culture and history, set in Roman London. The Times crowned it the "Book of the Decade".
Indian-born Suniti Namjoshi's first book of fiction, Feminist Fables, was published in 1981. An important figure in contemporary Indian literature in English, she is known for exploring issues of gender, sexual and cultural identity.
Mariam said the discussion "had been happening in non-academic circles for a long time"
Mariam Ansar, who helped draft the open letter, said it came as a "result of years of frustration felt as an undergraduate, as a student of colour studying English at Cambridge".
The 22-year-old from Bradford graduated this summer and said: "This discussion had been happening in non-academic circles for a long time."
Fellow graduate Rebecca Hirst, 21, from Chester, said: "At the moment a system exists at Cambridge whereby a student could complete an entire literature degree without studying the writings of a person of colour or the context of slavery and colonialism in any depth."
Lizzie said adding to the list of authors would help "challenge" conceptions of Englishness
Cambridge student Lizzie Bowes, 19, from Peterborough, criticised those who are "too quick" to fall back on the argument that there are no BME authors of the same calibre as William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer or John Milton.
"As a BME student myself, being constantly told that BME authors are excluded from the canon and the curriculum simply because they're 'not good enough' is hugely disheartening and alienating," she said.
Miss Bowes said adding to the list of authors would help students "challenge and interrogate the dominant conceptions of Englishness".
Stella Swain, in her second year at Cambridge, pointed to the "disturbing lack" of non-white authors on the course and said it made the English Literature degree appear "archaic".
Finley claims most academics "don't seem to take BME writers into consideration"
Cambridge student Finley Kidd, 19, from Norwich, who signed the letter, said the problems with the English literature curriculum begins well before university level.
She said: "Britain's history of colonialism, empire, and institutional racism is one such context that has been so fundamental in shaping our literature that we can make no excuses for ignoring it.
"My high school English curriculum was similarly whitewashed. I have had some incredible lecturers and supervisors during my degree who have encouraged my reading of authors such as Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, but the majority of academics I've come across don't seem to take BME writers into consideration.
"The onus should not be on students to reach beyond reading lists - many may not realise they are even allowed [to do so] - but on academics to diversify their reading lists." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41749939 | news_uk-41749939 |
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Arthur Collins acid trial: Ferne McCann's family 'told of baby news' - BBC News | 2017-10-26 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Acid attack accused Arthur Collins tells a jury he and his then girlfriend Ferne McCann were "really happy". | London | Arthur Collins says he was trying to prevent a date rape drug being used to spike clubbers' drinks
The ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann told her family she was pregnant hours before he sprayed a crowd of nightclub revellers with acid, a court has heard.
Arthur Collins, 25, the father of Ms McCann's unborn child, said they broke the news at a barbecue on 16 April.
In the early hours of 17 April, more than a dozen people were injured at the Mangle E8 club in Dalston, east London.
Mr Collins admits throwing the liquid but says he did not know it was acid.
Mr Collins and his co-accused, 21-year-old Andre Phoenix, deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent and actual bodily harm in relation to the incident, in which several people were disfigured.
Jurors at Wood Green Crown Court heard that Mr Collins had been in a serious relationship with The Only Way Is Essex star Ms McCann for about a year at the time, and had found out she was pregnant just weeks earlier.
"It was the happiest I have ever felt. We were both really happy," said Mr Collins, who was living with his parents in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.
The court heard how after breaking the news, Mr Collins left the barbecue to attend a LoveJuice event at Mangle.
Sixteen people were injured in the incident at Mangle
Mr Collins - who had entered the club wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Candy Killer" - told the jury he had been drinking at the venue but was not drunk.
CCTV footage of the alleged attack showed victims clutching their faces after Mr Collins was seen dousing revellers from a bottle with a substance later found to have contained a liquid with a rating of pH1 - indicating a strong acid.
Mr Collins told the jury he had thought the bottle actually contained a date rape drug.
He said he had snatched it after hearing two men planning to spike a woman's drink.
Mr Collins said: "I wanted to show them the drugs was gone so they wouldn't spike any girl's drink and show them there was nothing left in the bottle."
He said the men were "really aggressive" as they came towards him in a bid to get the bottle back.
"I remember undoing the bottle and I threw it at the males," he told the jury.
Before Mr Collins gave evidence on Wednesday, jurors were told a number of the charges against him and Mr Phoenix had been dropped following legal argument.
Mr Collins denies five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and nine counts of causing actual bodily harm against 14 people.
Mr Phoenix, of Clyde Road, Tottenham, north London, denies four counts of GBH and two counts of ABH.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41738216 | news_uk-england-london-41738216 |
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Growth up: Now get set for the Budget - BBC News | 2017-10-26 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Philip Hammond is in a more positive mood after better-than-expected economic data. He tells the BBC now is not the time to borrow more. | Business | They are not exactly hanging out the bunting at the Treasury, but today's better-than-expected economic growth figures have put a bit of a spring in the step of the chancellor.
And that is not just for economic reasons.
Philip Hammond is under increasing political pressure from cabinet colleagues to loosen the purse strings in his Budget on 22 November.
Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, has gone public, suggesting that the government should borrow more for housebuilding.
And another senior cabinet minister I spoke to, with excellent knowledge of the prime minister's thinking, also suggested to me that some fiscal largesse might be just what the country needs.
Philip Hammond is not of that view - and the better economic data will give him a little more headroom in the public finances without having to borrow more.
His hand has been strengthened.
In his interview with me, Mr Hammond made it clear that he remains a fiscal conservative, focused on "balancing the books" and bringing the deficit down to zero by the middle of the next decade.
I asked him whether he saw any merit in delay.
"Well, we've already moved the target for balancing the books out from 2020 to 2025, but continuing to drive down the deficit in a measured and sensible way over a period of years, so that we are living within our means, and reducing the debt we are passing on to our children, has to be the right way to go," Mr Hammond told me.
There is certainly a robust argument going on in government.
There are those who believe that Mrs May's administration needs some eye-catching initiatives.
And given that tax rises are difficult to push through Parliament (just remember what happened to those March plans to increase National Insurance contributions for the self-employed), borrowing more seems the easiest route to paying for popular policies.
Should we borrow to build?
Many economists believe that the present deficit of 2.6% is low enough to satisfy the markets that the government is fiscally competent and has public debts under a modicum of control.
And Mr Javid said that "taking advantage of record low interest rates can be the right thing if done sensibly".
That does not appear to be the view of Mr Hammond.
"The government's borrowing costs are not at record low levels, they've risen over the last six or eight months," he said.
That's because higher inflation has increased the cost of servicing the government's debt.
"But the most important point here is that we still have a very large deficit and we have a debt which is 90% of our national income. That leaves us very exposed to any future shocks to the economy.
"So we want to continue to get the deficit down in a measured and sensible way over the medium term, giving ourselves room to support the economy, support our public services, invest in Britain's future through productivity-stimulating investment, but still moving over time to get that deficit down and starting to see our debt shrinking as a share of our GDP, so we don't simply pass on an unsupportable debt to the next generation."
The government's approach to borrowing will be a vital to the tone and feel of the Budget.
As far as Mr Hammond is concerned, "living within our means" is still the key message he wants to emanate from the Treasury. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41754354 | news_business-41754354 |
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Theresa May 'resilient' amid Conservative Party infighting - BBC News | 2017-10-08 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | "It has never been my style to hide from a challenge," says the PM, after her mishap-strewn speech. | UK Politics | Theresa May has said she is "pretty resilient" and it is not her style to "hide from a challenge" despite a mishap-strewn party conference speech.
The prime minister told the Sunday Times: "I am a very determined person. I am not someone who gives up."
But Downing St says the newspaper's report that she is planning a cabinet reshuffle is "speculation".
On Friday, former party chairman Grant Shapps claimed 30 Tory MPs backed his calls for a leadership contest.
It followed a conference speech in which Mrs May apologised for calling a snap general election and losing the Tory majority, only to then be plagued by a persistent cough.
She was also interrupted by a prankster giving her a fake P45 and letters falling off the Conservative message in the background.
After Mr Shapps was publicly named as the Tory gathering support for a leadership contest, Mrs May insisted she was providing "calm leadership" with the "full support" of the cabinet.
She then told the Sunday Times the problems during her speech had been "really frustrating", but added: "Let's keep this in proportion. I had to give a long speech with a bad cough, a somewhat shaky set and a so-called comedian intent on getting his 15 minutes of fame.
"Was it uncomfortable? Certainly. But let's not get carried away!"
She added: "The truth is, my feelings can be hurt, like everyone else, but I am pretty resilient."
Asked what she would do about Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson - who has been seen by some as disloyal after writing two articles setting out his own vision for Brexit - she said she would not "hide from a challenge", and would "make sure I always have the best people in my cabinet, to make the most of the wealth of talent available in the party".
But she added: "I have a terrific cabinet."
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Johnson himself suggested only "nutters" in the party would want to oust Mrs May, while in the Mail on Sunday, former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major accused "self absorbed" critics of undermining her.
Sir John said the country "has had enough" of the "disloyal behaviour we have witnessed over recent weeks".
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Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said any politician watching Mrs May's speech would have sympathised with her, but if she wasn't a "weak prime minister presiding over a deeply divided party" it would not have been an issue.
But the Conservative leader in Scotland, Ruth Davidson, told the BBC that while there had been some "unfortunate shenanigans" in the party, "the pushback has been pretty strong" against those trying to force a leadership contest.
She criticised "tittle-tattle" by colleagues, adding that being a politician is "about delivering for the country, it's not and should never be about private ambition".
Of Mr Johnson, whom some Conservative figures have suggested should be sacked, she said: "He is a big intellect, a big figure in the party and if the prime minister believes he is the right person to be foreign secretary then she has my full support."
Mr Johnson had said he was "fully behind" the PM's Florence speech last month - designed to break the deadlock in Brexit negotiations - and she should "hold him to that", Ms Davidson added.
Of her own leadership ambitions, Ms Davidson said she was focussed on her job as Scottish Tory leader: "I'm looking to 2021 [Holyrood elections] and I'm not looking past it because there is quite a lot in my in-tray right now."
The Conservative former deputy PM Lord Heseltine said he believed a reshuffle was now inevitable given the prime minister's "unenviable" position - but it would be dangerous to return Mr Johnson to the backbenches.
"Brexit is the over-arching issue of our day and it is hugely damaging to the unity of the Conservative Party," he told the BBC.
"They can't make up their minds, either about the issues or the personality they would like to put in her [Theresa May's] place and that's the argument for the reshuffle because it could broaden the choice."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Lord Heseltine: May could 'open debate' on her successor
To trigger a vote of confidence in the party leader, 48 of the 316 Conservative MPs would need to write to the chairman of the backbench 1922 committee.
A leadership contest would then only be triggered if Mrs May lost that vote, or chose to quit. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41541208 | news_uk-politics-41541208 |
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Who is caught up in Australia's dual citizen saga? - BBC News | 2017-10-27 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Five politicians have been disqualified from office - while the court ruled in favour of two others. | Australia | Australian MPs are not allowed to be citizens of "a foreign power"
Five Australian politicians have been disqualified from parliament for having dual citizenship when they were elected in 2016.
Among them is the deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, whose disqualification threatens the government's voting majority.
The nation's highest court found five of seven MPs under scrutiny were in breach of Australia's constitution which requires candidates for federal office to not be a "subject or citizen of a foreign power".
Most of the politicians said they had not known of their second citizenship when they were elected, and the government argued that only those who had "voluntarily obtained, or retained" their foreign citizenship should be disqualified.
However the court decided against that argument, and only ruled in favour of two MPs who they said did not attain citizenship.
So who are the affected politicians?
Barnaby Joyce said he was "shocked" to learn of his dual status
How did he acquire it? Mr Joyce was born in Australia but his father is from New Zealand, which automatically awarded the politician citizenship.
His team argued Mr Joyce was "not aware of the possibility he might be a New Zealand citizen under New Zealand law."
What was his defence? Mr Joyce cannot be held to account for having only the "mere knowledge" of his father's birthplace, his legal team argued.
Unlike the other six, who are senators, Mr Joyce sits in the lower House of Representatives - meaning his ineligibility leaves the government's one-seat majority up in the air.
What did the court say? The court stuck to a literal reading of the constitution: if a politician had held actual dual citizenship at the time of their election, the election was invalid - regardless of whether they were aware of their dual citizenship or not.
In the case of Mr Joyce, the court acknowledged that at the time of his election in 2016, he believed the clause in question did not apply to him because he thought he was an Australian citizen only. The court also said Mr Joyce "has never applied to become a New Zealand citizen" and has "not sought or accepted any privileges as a citizen of New Zealand".
However, the court nonetheless ruled that because he was a citizen of New Zealand, he was "incapable of being chosen or sitting as a member of the House of Representatives".
Fiona Nash is deputy leader of the Nationals, the junior Coalition partner
How did she acquire it? Australian-born Ms Nash became a UK citizen by descent through her Scottish-born father, to whom she was estranged for much of her life.
Her older sisters were born in England and have UK citizenship.
What was her defence? That like Mr Joyce she had no previous knowledge of her citizenship.
"Her parents had informed her that unlike in the case of her sisters, who were British citizens by birth, she could only become a British citizen upon making an application, which had not occurred," her submission said.
Her lawyer said laws that provided citizenship by descent were "exorbitant", and would disqualify MPs who had only a "slender connection" to a foreign power.
What did the court say? Fiona Nash's election was invalid because she held dual citizenship at the time of her election
Matt Canavan, also from the Nationals, has temporarily stepped down from ministry
How did he acquire it? Mr Canavan has Italian grandparents. In July, he said his mother had organised his citizenship - without his knowledge - when he was 25. But he later said his mother had not done this.
His lawyers said Mr Canavan gained his dual status through an Italian court decision on citizenship by descent in 1983.
What was his defence? His lawyers argued this was a "quirk of history" and said it was questionable whether Mr Canavan had even received Italian citizenship in the first place.
His lawyers also argued that if he did have citizenship, he should not be disqualified because he had no knowledge of his status. They said a strict interpretation of the rule would lead to political opponents conducting "genealogical witch hunts".
What did the court say? Matt Canavan's election was valid.
The court concluded that "given the potential for Italian citizenship by descent to extend indefinitely - generation after generation - into the public life of an adopted home", full Italian citizenship required the taking of "positive steps [...] as conditions precedent to citizenship".
Malcolm Roberts had disputed he was elected as a dual citizen
How did he acquire it?: Mr Roberts was born in India to a Welsh father in 1955, making him a UK citizen. He was naturalised as an Australian in 1974.
UK authorities said he revoked his citizenship five months after he was elected in Australia's July 2016 election.
What is his defence? Mr Roberts claimed he took "bona fide" steps to relinquish his citizenship, but it was not made official until 5 December.
His lawyers argued he had the strongest case of all the MPs because he had made clear attempts to rid himself of his citizenship prior to his election. However a court in September found that Mr Robert's efforts to do this had failed, and included attempts such as sending renunciation queries to the wrong email address.
What did the court say? Malcolm Robert's election was invalid because he held dual citizenship at the time of his election.
Nick Xenophon has described his UK citizenship as "useless"
How did he acquire it? Mr Xenophon's father was born in Cyprus when it was a UK colony, and the politician inherited British Overseas Citizenship.
He has played down the "third-class citizenship" as not even allowing him to live in the UK, describing it as a "colonial peculiarity".
What was his defence? In addition to lack of knowledge, his lawyers argued that the unusual form of British citizenship did not include the "core" elements of citizenship.
A few days prior to the court hearings, Mr Xenophon flagged he would step down from office to re-enter state politics.
What did the court say? Nick Xenophon's election was valid.
While the court confirmed that Mr Xenophon did hold British Overseas Citizenship (BOC) at the time of his election, it ruled that it did not give him the full rights and privileges usually linked to full citizenship - most importantly the right to live and enter the UK without immigration control as a normal UK citizen would be able to.
The court concluded he was "not a subject or a citizen of the United Kingdom at the date of his nomination and election as a senator. Nor was he entitled to the rights and privileges of a subject or citizen of the United Kingdom."
Larissa Waters says she made an "honest mistake"
How did she acquire it? Ms Waters was born in Canada but left as a baby with her Australian parents. She said she was oblivious to her Canadian status until July.
What was her defence? Unlike the previous five MPs, Ms Waters resigned over her dual citizenship. Her team did not try to defend her eligibility and instead said she had "properly complied" with the constitution.
Her lawyers argued the other politicians should have taken the same actions and urged the court not to reward "negligence" for those who had not investigated their citizenship status diligently.
The government included Ms Waters in its submission, a move she said was "pretty clear self-interest in trying to save their own, and a few extras".
What did the court say? Larissa Waters' election was invalid because she held dual citizenship at the time of her election.
Scott Ludlam was first to reveal dual citizenship, igniting the saga
How did he acquire it? Mr Ludlam was born in New Zealand but his family left the country when he was three.
He said he had always believed - wrongly - that his New Zealand citizenship had expired when he became an Australian citizen in his teens.
What was his defence? Like Ms Waters, Mr Ludlam resigned and maintains he was right to do so. Ms Waters' legal team also acted for him.
The government argues that Mr Ludlam voluntarily retained his citizenship, and, along with Mr Roberts, should be ruled ineligible.
What did the court say? Scott Ludlam's election was invalid because he held dual citizenship at the time of his election. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-41382611 | news_world-australia-41382611 |
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Catalonia: Did voters face worst police violence ever seen in the EU? - BBC News | 2017-10-27 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Which side is correct in the claims and counter-claims of violence at the Catalan referendum? | Europe | Spain has announced it is preparing to suspend Catalonia's regional autonomy, after the Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont threatened to declare independence. Even before this move, separatists had condemned the actions of the Spanish government and police during an outlawed independence referendum on 1 October.
Some called those actions repressive - a sentiment expressed most clearly in a video produced by the Catalan cultural organisation Omnium Cultural. It's been viewed more than a million times.
One of the most striking claims in the video was that police subjected Catalan voters to "a degree of force never seen before in a European member state".
After Spain's constitutional court declared the poll illegal, police officers were authorised to stop it going ahead. They prevented some people from voting, and seized ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Spain's foreign minister Alfonso Dastis, claimed images of police violence were "fake".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Many pictures showing Spanish police acting violently during the referendum were fake - Spanish foreign minister
It is true that fake photos have been used but virtually all of the media coverage showing police violence was real - including all of that shown by the BBC.
Photos which are six years old have been shared online purporting to show violence in Catalonia on 1 October.
For example, this photo was shared in a manner that suggested a disabled Catalan voter was being hit with a baton.
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In fact, the photo was shared by bloggers in 2011, when police clashed with anti-austerity protesters in Barcelona.
Various examples have been collected by Spanish fact-checkers Maldito Bulo ("damned hoax") - such as this use of a photo from a firefighters' protest in 2013 to suggest that firefighters were squaring up to police officers on October 1.
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Just because some of the photos were fakes doesn't mean that all or even many of them were.
Reality Check has spoken to journalists who witnessed police shoving people, grabbing them by the hair and throwing them down stairs. And photojournalists saw police firing rubber bullets,
Indeed, the Spanish Government accepts there was some violence - and has apologised for it.
When protesters tried to stop police officers removing ballot boxes, they were dragged out of the way.
So there was police violence on 1 October. Was it the worst ever seen in an EU member state?
Some of the early reports of injuries were exaggerated. One woman had claimed that police had intentionally broken her fingers. In reality, her fingers weren't broken, just inflamed - as she explained to the Catalan state broadcaster TV3 after she'd received treatment.
On 20 October, the Catalan department of health released revised figures of the number of people who had sought medical treatment because of police action on polling day. These figures were gathered by the various hospitals, clinics and paramedics who treated them.
They say 1,066 people sought medical treatment, 991 on the day and 75 in the days that followed.
Most people - 886 - were classed as having only a minor injury or condition. Five were considered to be seriously injured.
These figures are from the Department of Health, which is a branch of the Catalan government. We have no way of independently verifying whether all 1,066 injuries were caused by police officers. This is the only data available, and has been used in arguments by both sides of the independence debate.
Earlier totals had been disputed by Spanish ministers and newspapers - arguing that people might turn up at a clinic despite having no medical complaint.
However, the Catalan health service insists everyone included in these latest figures received a diagnosis from a medical professional.
Twelve police officers were also injured on polling day. This figure is agreed by both the Catalan department of health and the Spanish government.
It is difficult to find examples where as many civilians were injured during clashes with police. Yet when assessing the level of violence, the degree of force is important, not just the number of injuries.
Police used tear gas to disperse anti-austerity protesters in Athens in 2012.
There are various cases where police in EU member states used an equivalent or even higher degree of force in public.
Here are some recent examples:
It is worth noting that none of those events were votes. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41677911 | news_world-europe-41677911 |
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Does Cambridge University need to widen a 'whitewashed' reading list? - BBC News | 2017-10-27 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Some Cambridge University students don't want to just study books by white authors - but who should be on their reading list? | UK | A group of 100 Cambridge students have called for the university to include more black and ethnic minority writers in its English Literature curriculum, leading to a row over race. But the university has condemned the backlash and says it supports debate over its reading list.
The literary row started with a letter written in June by the students to the university's English faculty, asking it to "decolonise" its curriculum by including more BME writers.
The letter, mainly signed by white students, stated: "This is not a call for the exclusion of white men from reading lists... it is a call to recentre the lives of other marginalised writers."
One of the students, Lola Olufemi, women's officer for Cambridge University's student union, then explained the position in an article for the university's student newspaper Varsity. She wrote that it was "simply not enough" for the university to offer one optional course to read post-colonial BME texts at the end of a three year degree.
Her picture was splashed on the front page of the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday under the headline: "Student forces Cambridge to drop white authors". The paper then faced criticism for "twisting the facts" and "demonising" Ms Olufemi.
The university has responded by saying it supports "robust academic debate" and that "very early" academic discussions had already been held on this issue.
But for now it said, there "has been no decision to alter the way English is taught at the University of Cambridge".
So what do students studying English Literature at Cambridge read and why?
The course outline advises students they will be studying a full range of "English literature from the Middle Ages to the present day".
Across the three years, it lists four compulsory papers that must be taken by all students:
There are also more than 20 optional papers - "which change regularly", with lecturers providing suggested reading lists and students making decisions on what books to study based on that guidance.
But some students say all too often they are steered towards white, male writers.
One of the lecturers is Dr Priyamvada Gopal, who teaches postcolonial literature. She says she has noticed "more assertiveness" from students about what kinds of issues they want to explore.
Because many have not learned about the British Empire while at school, she says, this makes them keen to study books that examine the issues of Britishness or Englishness, and "how that relates to questions of race, immigration and even class".
So what should be on the agenda? Dr Gopal has five books she suggests are worthy of inclusion:
Recommended reading from Dr Priyamvada Gopal, Reader in Anglophone Literatures and Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge:
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano was a black African writer whose experiences as a slave prompted him to become involved in Britain's abolition movement. His autobiography was first published in 1789 and was immensely popular.
The son of an Indian father and a Scottish-Indian mother, Sam Selvon moved to England in 1950 after serving in the Trinidadian navy. The Lonely Londoners is perhaps his best-known and commercially most successful novel and was his first to address the migrant experience.
Caribbean intellectual and political activist Cyril Lionel Robert James moved to England from Trinidad in 1932. Six years later he published the historical account, The Black Jacobins, his seminal work on the Haitian slave revolt.
Born in London to an English mother and Nigerian father, Bernardine Evaristo is an award-winning author and current professor of creative writing at Brunel University London. Published in 2001, The Emperor's Babe is a mash-up of culture and history, set in Roman London. The Times crowned it the "Book of the Decade".
Indian-born Suniti Namjoshi's first book of fiction, Feminist Fables, was published in 1981. An important figure in contemporary Indian literature in English, she is known for exploring issues of gender, sexual and cultural identity.
Mariam said the discussion "had been happening in non-academic circles for a long time"
Mariam Ansar, who helped draft the open letter, said it came as a "result of years of frustration felt as an undergraduate, as a student of colour studying English at Cambridge".
The 22-year-old from Bradford graduated this summer and said: "This discussion had been happening in non-academic circles for a long time."
Fellow graduate Rebecca Hirst, 21, from Chester, said: "At the moment a system exists at Cambridge whereby a student could complete an entire literature degree without studying the writings of a person of colour or the context of slavery and colonialism in any depth."
Lizzie said adding to the list of authors would help "challenge" conceptions of Englishness
Cambridge student Lizzie Bowes, 19, from Peterborough, criticised those who are "too quick" to fall back on the argument that there are no BME authors of the same calibre as William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer or John Milton.
"As a BME student myself, being constantly told that BME authors are excluded from the canon and the curriculum simply because they're 'not good enough' is hugely disheartening and alienating," she said.
Miss Bowes said adding to the list of authors would help students "challenge and interrogate the dominant conceptions of Englishness".
Stella Swain, in her second year at Cambridge, pointed to the "disturbing lack" of non-white authors on the course and said it made the English Literature degree appear "archaic".
Finley claims most academics "don't seem to take BME writers into consideration"
Cambridge student Finley Kidd, 19, from Norwich, who signed the letter, said the problems with the English literature curriculum begins well before university level.
She said: "Britain's history of colonialism, empire, and institutional racism is one such context that has been so fundamental in shaping our literature that we can make no excuses for ignoring it.
"My high school English curriculum was similarly whitewashed. I have had some incredible lecturers and supervisors during my degree who have encouraged my reading of authors such as Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiong'o, but the majority of academics I've come across don't seem to take BME writers into consideration.
"The onus should not be on students to reach beyond reading lists - many may not realise they are even allowed [to do so] - but on academics to diversify their reading lists." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41749939 | news_uk-41749939 |
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Catalonia independence declaration signed and suspended - BBC News | 2017-10-11 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Catalan leaders sign a declaration of independence from Spain - but suspend it to allow talks. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and other regional leaders have signed a declaration of independence from Spain, following the disputed referendum.
However, they say the move will not be implemented for several weeks to allow talks with the government in Madrid.
The document calls for Catalonia to be recognised as an "independent and sovereign state".
The move was immediately dismissed by the Spanish central government in Madrid.
A 1 October referendum in the north-eastern province - which Catalan leaders say resulted in a Yes vote for independence - was declared invalid by Spain's Constitutional Court.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament in Barcelona that the region had won the right to be independent as a result of the vote.
The referendum resulted in almost 90% of voters backing independence, Catalan officials say. But anti-independence voters largely boycotted the ballot - which had a reported turnout of 43% - and there were several reports of irregularities.
National police were involved in violent scenes as they manhandled voters while implementing the legal ruling banning the referendum.
A pro-independence rally was held near the Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona
The declaration reads: "We call on all states and international organisations to recognise the Catalan republic as an independent and sovereign state.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Pablo Insa Iglesias and Elisabeth Besó sit on opposite sides of the argument
Mr Puigdemont told the regional parliament that the "people's will" was to break away from Madrid, but he also said he wanted to "de-escalate" the tension around the issue.
"We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. The only way forward is democracy and peace," he told deputies.
But he also said Catalonia was being denied the right to self-determination, and paying too much in taxes to the central government in Madrid.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria responded to Tuesday's developments by saying: "Neither Mr Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim... to impose mediation.
"Any dialogue between democrats has to take place within the law."
She added: "After having come so far, and taken Catalonia to the greatest level of tension in its history, President Puigdemont has now subjected his autonomous region to its greatest level of uncertainty.
"The speech the president... gave today is that of a person who does not know where he is, where he's going, nor who he wants to go there with."
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called an extraordinary cabinet meeting for Wednesday morning to address the latest moves in the crisis.
By the BBC's Tom Burridge, in Barcelona
As Catalonia's leader announced he would declare independence, thousands of his supporters, watching his speech nearby, on a big screen, were euphoric.
But seconds later - when Carles Puigdemont qualified his announcement - and said the declaration would be suspended for several weeks, the disappointment was visible in the crowd.
Mr Puigdemont's language was stark, claiming that he had to follow the will of the Catalan people.
But he is playing for time - offering a window for the possibility of dialogue with Madrid.
His ultimate aim, to pressure the Spanish government to allow a legitimate referendum, remains.
But it's highly unlikely that the Spanish government will accept that and there are signals now that its patience is wearing thin.
Catalonia's centre-right, centre-left coalition government only had a majority of MPs in the regional parliament with the support of another small pro-independence party, on the far left. That party is unhappy that there has been no clear declaration of independence. And so Catalonia's awkward coalition of pro-independence parties feels more fragile.
Independence supporters had been sharing the Catalan hashtag #10ODeclaració (10 October Declaration) on Twitter, amid expectations that Mr Puigdemont would ask parliament to declare independence on the basis of the referendum law it passed last month.
But influential figures including Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged Mr Puigdemont to step back from declaring independence.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What do Scottish nationalists think about Catalonia?
Catalonia, a part of the Spanish state for centuries but with its own distinct language and culture, enjoys broad autonomy under the Spanish constitution.
However, a 2005 amendment redefining the region as a "nation", boosting the status of the Catalan language and increasing local control over taxes and the judiciary, was reversed by the Constitutional Court in 2010.
The economic crisis further fuelled discontent and pro-independence parties took power in the region in the 2015 elections.
Catalonia is is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, accounting for a quarter of the country's exports. But a stream of companies have announced plans to move their head offices out of Catalonia in response to the crisis.
The European Union has made clear that should Catalonia split from Spain, the region would cease to be part of the EU.
Are you in the region? E-mail us at [email protected] your stories.
You can also contact us in the following ways: | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41574172 | news_world-europe-41574172 |
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Data is not the new oil - BBC News | 2017-10-09 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | There are vital differences between the power of tech firms today and oil barons a century ago | Entertainment & Arts | Unlike oil, which is finite, data is a super-abundant resource in a post-industrial economy
How do you know when a pithy phrase or seductive idea has become fashionable in policy circles? When The Economist devotes a briefing to it.
In a briefing and accompanying editorial earlier this summer, that distinguished newspaper (it's a magazine, but still calls itself a newspaper, and I'm happy to indulge such eccentricity) argued that data is today what oil was a century ago.
As The Economist put it, "A new commodity spawns a lucrative, fast-growing industry, prompting anti-trust regulators to step in to restrain those who control its flow." Never mind that data isn't particularly new (though the volume may be) - this argument does, at first glance, have much to recommend it.
Just as a century ago those who got to the oil in the ground were able to amass vast wealth, establish near monopolies, and build the future economy on their own precious resource, so data companies like Facebook and Google are able to do similar now. With oil in the 20th century, a consensus eventually grew that it would be up to regulators to intervene and break up the oligopolies - or oiliogopolies - that threatened an excessive concentration of power.
Many impressive thinkers have detected similarities between data today and oil in yesteryear. John Thornhill, the Financial Times's Innovation Editor, has used the example of Alaska to argue that data companies should pay a universal basic income, another idea that has become highly fashionable in policy circles.
A drilling crew poses for a photograph at Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas where the first Texas oil gusher was discovered in 1901.
At first I was taken by the parallels between data and oil. But now I'm not so sure. As I argued in a series of tweets last week, there are such important differences between data today and oil a century ago that the comparison, while catchy, risks spreading a misunderstanding of how these new technology super-firms operate - and what to do about their power.
The first big difference is one of supply. There is a finite amount of oil in the ground, albeit that is still plenty, and we probably haven't found all of it. But data is virtually infinite. Its supply is super-abundant. In terms of basic supply, data is more like sunlight than oil: there is so much of it that our principal concern should be more what to do with it than where to find more, or how to share that which we've already found.
Data can also be re-used, and the same data can be used by different people for different reasons. Say I invented a new email address. I might use that to register for a music service, where I left a footprint of my taste in music; a social media platform on which I upload photos of my baby son; and a search engine, where I indulge my fascination with reggae.
If, through that email address, a data company were able to access information about me or my friends, the music service, the social network and the search engine might all benefit from that one email address and all that is connected to it. This is different from oil. If a major oil company get to an oil field in, say, Texas, they alone will have control of the oil there - and once they've used it up, it's gone.
This points to another key difference: who controls the commodity. There are very legitimate fears about the use and abuse of personal data online - for instance, by foreign powers trying to influence elections. And very few people have a really clear idea about the digital footprint they have left online. If they did know, they might become obsessed with security. I know a few data fanatics who own several phones and indulge data-savvy habits, such as avoiding all text messages in favour of WhatsApp, which is encrypted.
But data is something which - in theory if not in practice - the user can control, and which ideally - though again the practice falls well short - spreads by consent. Going back to that oil company, it's largely up to them how they deploy the oil in the ground beneath Texas: how many barrels they take out every day, what price they sell it for, who they sell it to.
With my email address, it's up to me whether to give it to that music service, social network, or search engine. If I don't want people to know that I have an unhealthy obsession with bands such as The Wailers, The Pioneers and The Ethiopians, I can keep digitally schtum.
Now, I realise that in practice, very few people feel they have control over their personal data online; and retrieving your data isn't exactly easy. If I tried to reclaim, or wipe from the face of the earth, all the personal data that I've handed over to data companies, it'd be a full time job for the rest of my life and I'd never actually achieve it. That said, it is largely as a result of my choices that these firms have so much of my personal data.
Servers for data storage in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, which is trying to make a name for itself in the business of data centres - warehouses that consume enormous amounts of energy to store the information of 3.2 billion internet users.
The final key difference is that the data industry is much faster to evolve than the oil industry was. Innovation is in the very DNA of big data companies, some of whose lifespans are pitifully short. As a result, regulation is much harder. That briefing in The Economist actually makes the point well that a previous model of regulation may not necessarily work for these new companies, who are forever adapting. That is not to say they should not be regulated; rather, that regulating them is something we haven't yet worked out how to do.
It is because the debate over regulation of these companies is so live that I think we need to interrogate superficially attractive ideas such as 'data is the new oil'. In fact, whereas finite but plentiful oil supplied a raw material for the industrial economy, data is a super-abundant resource in a post-industrial economy. Data companies increasingly control, and redefine, the nature of our public domain, rather than power our transport, or heat our homes.
Data today has something important in common with oil a century ago. But the tech titans are more media moguls than oil barons. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41559076 | news_entertainment-arts-41559076 |
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'I quit Google and launched a business with my mum' - BBC News | 2017-10-09 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | How Munaf Kapadia runs a successful "pop up" restaurant at his family home in Mumbai. | Business | Munaf Kapadia runs a successful "pop up" restaurant at his family's home in Mumbai. His mother also works as head chef.
While watching TV one Sunday afternoon back in 2014, Munaf Kapadia had an argument with his mother that would change his life.
The then 25-year-old Google employee wanted to watch US cartoon the Simpsons, but as usual, his mother Nafisa preferred to see her favourite Indian soap opera and switched channels.
His mum had lots of skills, but in his view she spent too much time watching bad TV.
Diners usually eat Bohri food from the same large platter, or "thaal"
Determined to get her doing something more meaningful, he struck upon an idea.
Nafisa had always been good at cooking "Bohri" food, an Indian cuisine that is much feted, but hardly served anywhere in their home city of Mumbai.
And so he decided to email 50 friends, inviting them for lunch at the family home.
"We settled on a group of eight friends of friends, and served them my mom's food," recalls Mr Kapadia, now 28.
"Then we started doing it every Saturday and Sunday, opening it up to the public and charging like a restaurant. That's how The Bohri Kitchen was born."
Members of the public dine at the Kapadias' home every weekend
Traditionally, Bohri cuisine has only been available within the Dawoodi Bohra community, a small Muslim sect that lives in parts of India and Pakistan.
As Mr Kapadia says, "you literally had to beg Bohri friends or gatecrash Bohri weddings" to get a spoonful of it.
It blends Gujarati, Parsi, Mughlai and Maharastrian influences, and is often enjoyed by groups of friends or families, who eat from the same large steel platter, or "thaal".
For his first "pop-up" lunch, Mr Kapadia charged guests 700 rupees (£8, $11) per head for a traditional seven-course banquet. By the time they had finished eating he knew the idea had potential.
Mutton Khichda - goat meat cooked with dal and rice along with various Indian spices
"I was really shocked, but they actually hugged my mom. They said, 'aunty, you have magic in your hands, this food is outstanding!'."
He adds: "I saw the glint in my mom's eyes when she got that acknowledgement, which she is not used to, because we in the family take her cooking for granted.
"That's when I decided to just keep on doing this, I thought let's try to keep getting new people exposed to my mother's cooking skills."
So Mr Kapadia quit his marketing job at Google, and in January 2015 launched the "The Bohri Kitchen" as a brand.
Thanks to word-of-mouth publicity and some good reviews, it quickly gained a reputation among adventurous young food-lovers.
Mr Kapadia now charges 1,500 rupees per meal, typically offering lunches and occasional dinners at his parents' home.
He has also launched a separate takeaway and catering business, which operates through the week, and employs three members of staff from outside the family.
The firm recently broke into profit and is now looking to open outlets across India.
More The Boss features, which every week profile a different business leader from around the world:
But it hasn't all been plain sailing. For one thing, it took Mr Kapadia a while to get used to hosting strangers in his home.
"We started a 'no serial killer policy', so customers can't just book a seat, they have to ask for it," he says. We then do a background check by calling them up and asking a few questions to make sure they're legitimate."
There have been other challenges too, including convincing his parents that he wasn't crazy for leaving his job at Google, and learning how to hire good staff.
"My biggest challenge now is ensuring that our takeaway produces the same quality of food that my mother makes at home."
Bohri Kitchen samosas are stuffed with smoked lamb mince, coriander, onion and lemon
Ravinder Yadav, of management consultancy Technopak Advisors, says that many Indian food businesses struggle to build a loyal customer base.
"These days, consumers in India have plenty of options when it comes to eating out. So making sure you know who your consumer is, and creating something that they will keep coming back to, is vital, even for the biggest brands."
Still, he says in some respects things are getting easier.
"Finding investment is less of a challenge in India nowadays. And the government is making it easier to do business, so it's simpler to get the licenses you need and to meet other regulations.''
The dessert Doodhi Halwa is made by slow-cooking calabashes in milk, with dry fruits and sugar
India's food services industry is also expanding fast. In the past decade, consumer spending power has grown, along with people's appetite for eating out and ordering takeaways.
Mr Kapadia's mother, the hidden culinary talent behind The Bohri Kitchen, says that the business has brought out a different side of her personality.
"I have never looked at this from a business angle, it's just something that I love doing," she says.
"And when guests say my food reminds them of home, it's amazing. I get a lot of satisfaction and happiness."
But has her son managed to wean her off her TV habit? Not likely, she says with a giggle.
"I still watch all my favourite soaps while cooking for our guests."
You can hear an interview with Munaf Kapadia on The Big Debate on BBC Asian Network, Monday 9 October. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41467962 | news_business-41467962 |
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Richard Thaler and the economics of how we live - BBC News | 2017-10-09 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Behavioural economics is giving us a much better understanding of why things don’t happen in the way we expect. | Business | Changing the positioning of healthier foods can change shopping habits
How do you get people to eat more healthily?
You could construct some powerful arguments about how an obesity epidemic is leading to more diseases such as Type II diabetes and coronary heart conditions.
You could put large red traffic light signs on unhealthy foods and engage in expensive public information campaigns warning that overeating products high in salt, sugar and fat can reduce life expectancy.
Or you could just change where you put the salad boxes on the supermarket shelves.
The last option is an example of nudge theory at work, a theory popularised and developed by Richard Thaler, the University of Chicago economist who was today announced as this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics.
Prof Thaler's central insight is that we are not the rational beings beloved of more traditional economic theory.
Given two options, we are likely to pick the wrong one even if that means making ourselves less well off.
Lack of thinking time, habit and poor decision making mean that even when presented with a factual analysis (for example on healthy eating) we are still likely to pick burger and chips.
We're hungry, we're in a hurry and burger and chips is what we always buy.
Nudge theory takes account of this, based as it is on the simple premise that people will often choose what is easiest over what is wisest.
Tests have shown that putting healthier foods on a higher shelf increases sales. The food is more likely to be in someone's eye line and therefore "nudge" that person towards the purchase - whether they had any idea about the obesity argument or not.
Such theories, which sit in a big bucket of academic study called "behavioural economics", are what Prof Thaler is famous for.
So famous that the government now has its own Behavioural Insights Team, otherwise known as the "nudge unit".
It helps formulate policies, for example on pensions, to try and make us behave "more rationally" and push us towards better outcomes.
Shoppers will spend more on a credit or debit card in a food shop compared with cash
One of its projects revealed that charitable giving via your pay packet - called payroll giving - increased dramatically if people were told who else in their peer group (maybe Facebook friends) were also giving via that method.
Attaching a picture of "mates giving money" also improved the level of charitable donations. We tend to like doing what our friends like doing - called the peer group norm.
Prof Thaler also gave us the concept of "mental accounting" - that we will tend to divide our expenditure into separate blocks even though they come from the same source.
For example, we will spend more on a credit or debit card in a food shop compared with cash even though all the money ultimately comes from our earnings.
Then there is his work on the "planner-doer" syndrome - that we lack self-control, will act in our own short-term self-interest and need extra incentives to plan long term than simply being told that, rationally, it is good idea.
How many times do we let that gym membership lapse, despite our best intentions?
Having just received news of the award, Prof Thaler told me that his job was to "add human beings" to economic theory.
And today he has been rewarded, both via the recognition of the Nobel Prize and by the not inconsiderable sum of £845,000 in prize money.
Asked how he would spend the money Prof Thaler gave a succinct answer. "Irrationally." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41550434 | news_business-41550434 |
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Weinstein and the media's shame - BBC News | 2017-10-09 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Harvey Weinstein sacked after sexual harassment claims. A cascade of allegations is swirling. | Entertainment & Arts | Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar-winning film producer accused of sexually harassing female employees, has been fired by the board of his company.
Harvey Weinstein has denied many of the allegations against him, but in such a convoluted and incoherent manner that it is not too soon to conclude his behaviour over the course of a storied career has, at times, been disgusting.
Now that he has been sacked by the company named after him and his brother, a cascade of allegations is swirling and many people who have been loyal to him over the years are suddenly questioning why they bothered.
It is hard not to see the allegations against Weinstein in the light of similarly tawdry claims made against the late Fox News boss Roger Ailes, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly, comedian Bill Cosby, and even the President, Donald Trump, who - we should remind ourselves - stands accused of sexually exploitative behaviour by many women. Those allegations are unproven and Trump denies them.
Changing attitudes to the behaviour of powerful men are driving a cultural shift, which most people will consider long overdue if it means that bullying and intimidation in exchange for sexual favours is no longer so widespread.
I wonder too if the advent of social media is making more women feel able to speak out: perhaps the capacity for an accusation to go viral, and so garner both attention and support from a vast global audience in a matter of seconds, incentivises honesty where women might previously have feared the consequences of speaking out.
But it would be a dereliction of duty to ignore that these allegations are pouring forth from the American media and creative industries.
The painful fact is, many, many people were aware of Weinstein's behaviour for years. He was, as the saying goes, hiding in plain sight, no doubt protected to some extent by his friendships with famous people and his ability to hand out internships to the likes of Malia Obama (who as far as we know was treated with the utmost civility). That he was a major supporter of Hillary Clinton will have done him little harm, too.
Weinstein was also protected by sheer force of character. The few times I've met him in New York he was declaiming at a party, raconteuring his way through Manhattan's most starry joints, a sun around which other stars would orbit. It's pathetic, of course, but one reason those who knew about his sordid malefactions didn't speak out is because he was their host, and they enjoyed his parties.
There is outrage in American media circles now - though many would say it pales in comparison to the outrage that attended the claims of rampant sexual harassment at Fox News. To that extent, this scandal - revealed by that other icon of liberal America, The New York Times - is in fact a test of liberal America. If late night TV hosts and their boosters in the media don't pour the same opprobrium on Weinstein as they have on, for instance, O'Reilly, they could stand accused of double standards.
Why are all these scandals erupting in the media? There's no firm evidence that sexual intimidation is more prevalent in, say, Hollywood than Wall Street. But if - and it is a big if - it is, I wonder if that's because the likes of Weinstein are part of an economy within an economy in the creative industries: they buy and sell fame.
Weinstein was the kind of man who used his power to be a gateway to both financial riches and fame: he controlled access to huge audiences, with all the money that can bring. If some of the claims made by actresses are true, it may be that Weinstein was - unforgivably - allowed to get away with it because of his power. Not just his power to make people very rich; also, his power to make them very famous.
That's the same power Roger Ailes had. Do this sexual favour for me, his sick argument allegedly went, and you'll have a better chance of ending up on screen.
If more women feel prepared to speak out, and fewer lecherous men are allowed to get away with exchanging sexual favours for fame and riches, some good may yet come from the turpitudinous exploits of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41558556 | news_entertainment-arts-41558556 |
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100 Women: Do women on boards increase company profits? - BBC News | 2017-10-06 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | There are lots of reasons to fight for gender equality - but could hiring more women make you more money? | Women in the workplace | "Having women on company boards leads to better financial performance" came the headlines from report after report, highlighting a business statistic guaranteed to capture the imagination and prompt debate.
What better way to encourage companies to focus on equality and diversity than to make them think of their bottom line?
In the UK, the 30% Club was set up in 2010 with the aim of having women make up at least 30% of the members on every board.
In the US, the Thirty Percent Coalition - a group of people who are chief executives and chairs of their companies - was created to achieve the same thing.
Of course, there are many other - and some say better - reasons to argue for gender equality, but we wanted to look at whether this broadly accepted claim is true - does having more women on the board really mean the company makes more money?
Academics have warned against jumping to simple conclusions.
A report published by Credit Suisse last year said companies with at least one woman director received a better return on their investments compared with companies with all-male boardrooms.
They say companies where women made up at least 15% of senior management were 50% more profitable than those where fewer than 10% of senior managers were female.
But Prof Alice Eagly, at Northwestern University in the US, says many of the studies commissioned by corporations are "naive" as they don't consider other variables.
Some European countries have introduced quotas for female board members
She explains that more sophisticated pieces of analysis carried out by academics have shown very small positive correlations between female board members and financial success. But this is an average - in some companies the relationship was neutral and in some it was negative.
And proving causation is far harder. It is difficult to say that it is having more women on boards that makes companies do better, rather than other factors - something corporate reports acknowledge.
This is because companies with more women on boards are different in other ways, too, according to Prof Eagly.
For example, firm size seems to be one of the most significant factors in determining profitability. And larger companies are likely to employ more women at every level.
More innovative companies were more likely to use their talent effectively, regardless of gender. And companies that were already more profitable may have been more able to focus efforts on diversity, she says.
A study looking at the gender make-up of the top management of the US's biggest firms, not only their board members, found female representation in top management improves firm performance but only in companies that are "focused on innovation".
And, interestingly, female board members appear to have more of a positive impact on their company's performance in countries where women have more equal rights and treatment overall.
It looks like there is a relationship between more successful companies and those with more women in senior positions in general, but it's not enough to simply "add women and stir", as Prof Robin Ely at Harvard Business School puts it.
Another study from a group of German, Dutch and Belgian researchers found "the mere representation of females on corporate boards is not related to firm financial performance if other factors are not considered". It relies on there being a good company culture too.
If women are in the minority in a room that is hostile to them, they are unlikely to be able to have a positive effect and that applies to other kinds of diversity too, the study suggests.
Focusing on numbers without also addressing structural diversity issues is not enough, according to Prof Ely.
In the biggest US companies on the stock market, around 16% of board seats are held by women
Looking at how many spaces on a board are filled by women doesn't tell you how influential the board is, and it doesn't tell us whether those women are being listened to and allowed to have an impact, Prof Ely points out, as "not all spots on a board are created equal".
There is some evidence that having three women on a board of 12 to 15 people is the tipping point for them to actually be heard and able to have an influence at all. So there are good arguments for the 30% rule - it just doesn't necessarily translate directly to profits.
In fact Corinne Post, a professor of organisation management at Lehigh University, says that board members don't have a direct influence on the bottom line of a company, but they do have a greater influence on corporate social responsibility.
She found that there was a five times stronger correlation between a company having female board members and stronger performance when it comes to ensuring they are environmentally friendly as a company, or involve themselves in philanthropy for example, than the correlation between female board members and profits.
Profitability is highly complex and there's even evidence that chief executives might not have much of an influence on company profits.
"In companies with any women on their board at all, they tend to have between one and three - are you really saying the gender of three people on a board is going to have an impact on the bottom line?" Prof Ely asks.
For Northwestern's Prof Eagly, the most pertinent question is why we would need evidence women bring in more money than men, before they are given equal status on boards.
"Why should you rule out 50% of the population from important jobs. It's about social justice not about profits." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/41365364 | news_41365364 |
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London's role in the Russian Revolution - BBC News | 2017-10-16 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | How events in London in the early 20th Century played a vital role in the lead up to the Russian Revolution. | UK Politics | The Islington pub where Bolsheviks and Mensheviks argued fiercely during the 1903 party congress
In August 1903, a small band of dedicated but argumentative political activists held a fractious conference in London.
It consisted of Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and about 50 other committed agitators who wanted to overthrow the autocratic rule of the Russian Tsar. Their quarrels might have seemed minor at the time, but they have rippled out across history.
This was when the Russian revolutionary movement divided into the two rival factions of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. And a key vote happened in a pub in Islington.
The Bolsheviks, described as the 'hards' and led by Lenin, wanted a tightly centralised and disciplined political party; the Mensheviks or 'softs' favoured a looser, broader-based alliance with sympathetic forces. Over the following years, as issues and affiliations shifted, their differences fluctuated but were to become deeper.
Fourteen years later, in the second (October) revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks took power, sidelining and defeating the Mensheviks, and went on to form the Soviet Union.
At the 1903 congress in London, where the split emerged, Lenin's faction narrowly lost the vote on the nature of party membership.
But then seven anti-Lenin delegates walked out over other disagreements, and with his opponents depleted, his side then won a crucial vote on the editorial board for the party's journal.
This outcome enabled Lenin to call his group the Bolsheviks, meaning 'majority' in Russian, while his rivals became the Mensheviks or 'minority'.
The bitter dispute prompted uproar in the meeting. According to Richard Mullin, a researcher into early Russian Marxism, Lenin's notes indicate that the tumultuous session took place in the Three Johns pub in Islington.
The Whitechapel building where Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky and others arrived for the 1907 congress
"The 1903 London congress is regarded as decisive in the development of Bolshevism - it's hugely significant", says Neil Faulkner, author of A People's History of the Russian Revolution.
But of course its significance is seen differently according to different political viewpoints.
"Most people on the revolutionary left would say this is the decisive break between revolution and reform," explains Dr Faulkner.
"A lot of liberal commentators would see it as the tiny seed from which ultimately grows the gulags and the labour camps of the 1930s."
To avoid being monitored during their conference, the Russians moved from venue to venue over a fortnight, often using meeting rooms in pubs recommended by friendly British trade unionists.
Leon Trotsky met Lenin for the first time in London
The first session in London occurred in a club in Charlotte Street in central London. Otherwise most of these locations are unknown today.
The 1903 congress had actually started in Brussels, but after harassment from the Belgian police it moved to London. The British authorities showed more acceptance of exiled Russian revolutionary activities than did many other European countries.
This comparative tolerance meant that some other key events in the history of the Russian revolutionary movement also happened in Britain.
The 1907 party congress moved to London after being banned in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. This was a much bigger affair of more than 300 delegates, following an outbreak of major social unrest against the Tsar in Russia in 1905.
The congress took place in the Brotherhood Church in Hackney, which has since been knocked down and replaced by a housing development.
Those present included almost all the future leaders of the Bolshevik revolution, including Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin (a minor figure at the time), Zinoviev, Kamenev and Litvinov, as well as the prominent Russian writer Maxim Gorky. This was the last full congress of the party until after the revolution.
Lenin briefly lived in Tavistock Place in Bloomsbury, central London in 1908
The participants first registered for the conference at a building in Fulbourne Street, Whitechapel, which still stands today. At the time it was a Jewish socialist club.
Stalin and Maxim Litvinov (who later became Soviet foreign minister) stayed in a doss house nearby in Fieldgate Street, which has since been converted into a somewhat more salubrious block of flats.
The conference saw further disputes between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. One issue for discussion was whether to approve the use of bank robberies to help fund revolutionary activities.
Most delegates could only afford the trip back to Russia when the impoverished party secured a loan from an eccentric soap manufacturing London businessman who was inspired by watching conference proceedings.
A few years earlier Lenin had spent 12 months in London, in 1902-3. He mainly divided his time between researching and writing at the British Museum reading room, and editing a revolutionary journal, Iskra ("The Spark").
In the reading room he studied works on economics and on the Russian peasantry.
Lenin was able to obtain books which would have been confiscated in Russia, and was rather impressed by the British state's commitment to the library, telling a friend: "The British bourgeoisie do not spare any money as far as this institution is concerned, and that is as it should be."
On his various visits to London, Lenin generally stayed around the Bloomsbury area, so that he had easy access to the museum.
In 1902 Iskra was produced in London and smuggled across Europe into Russia. Lenin was provided with an office and printing facilities by a supportive left-wing publishing company.
The 'Lenin room' in the Marx Memorial Library
This building is now the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell. They have preserved what they call 'the Lenin room' with busts of him, old editions of the journal, and copies of Lenin's voluminous collected works.
A map on the wall outside shows the smuggling routes used. For Lenin, the journal was crucial both for building up a network of revolutionary activists and also for spreading the political analysis he favoured.
It was in London, in October 1902, that Lenin and Trotsky met for the first time. The pair discussed the political circumstances of Russia, but Lenin also showed Trotsky the sights of London.
When they went past the Houses of Parliament, Lenin said to his companion "that is their famous Westminster".
Trotsky later wrote it was obvious that by "their", Lenin didn't mean it was the British parliament, he meant it was the ruling class's parliament.
Yet it was that parliament, and the system it represented, which gave Lenin, Trotsky and their comrades the political freedom to pursue their goals.
Martin Rosenbaum is the presenter of The British Road to Bolshevism on BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 on Monday, 16 October 2017. You can follow Martin Rosenbaum on Twitter as @rosenbaum6 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41629394 | news_uk-politics-41629394 |
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Philip Hammond: We must win 'clash of ideas' with Labour 'dinosaurs' - BBC News | 2017-10-02 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Chancellor Philip Hammond says "bring on" the fight with Labour "dinosaurs" over capitalism. | UK Politics | The chancellor said a 35-year political consensus over the free market was now at an end
The Conservatives must take on and defeat Labour "dinosaurs" in a great "clash of ideas" over the future of capitalism, Philip Hammond has said.
He told activists they must expose Jeremy Corbyn's "back to the future socialist fantasy" which he said was leading people "down a dangerous path".
The chancellor also said his party must address concerns over pressure on living standards and housing costs.
And he announced £300m for rail improvements in the north of England.
The new money will be used to ensure HS2 will link to faster trains between Liverpool and Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and York - so-called Northern Powerhouse rail.
The chancellor used his keynote party conference speech in Manchester to mount a defence of free market economics, which he claimed was coming under assault from Jeremy Corbyn.
Describing the Labour leader and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell as "dinosaurs who had broken out of their glass cases", he said Labour's harking back to the "ideological experiments" of the 1970s presented a "clear and present" danger to the UK's future prosperity.
"They say politics is about the clash of ideas. So we say to Corbyn 'bring it on'," he said.
"Let them put their arguments, let them make their case. We will take them on. And we will defeat them. I promise you this: we will defeat them by the power of argument; by our logic; by the experience of history."
Mr Hammond insisted the British economy was "fundamentally strong", with employment at a record high and income inequality at its lowest level for decades.
While the UK faced a number of challenges, including Brexit-related uncertainty, sluggish productivity and a housing sector which many people young people thought was "rigged" against them, he said free markets were the only, not merely the best, way to improve living standards and underpin free societies.
The prime minister was among those in the audience
"While no-one suggests a market economy is perfect, it is the best system yet designed for making people steadily better off over time and underpinning strong and sustainable public services for everyone.
"As this model comes under renewed assault, we must not be afraid to defend it."
The BBC's political correspondent Chris Mason said Mr Hammond's speech offered a glimpse into an internal Conservative debate about how to take on Mr Corbyn, with some wanting to tack a little left but others saying they should stick to a full-throated defence of the free, albeit regulated, market.
For Labour, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: "After seven wasted years of Tory economic failure... he is continuing down the path of his predecessor and clinging to an old economic model that fails the many.
"It was a speech that contained more baseless smears on Labour than Tory policy announcements. But it betrays how fearful the Tories are of the challenge posed by Jeremy Corbyn."
Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the CBI business group, said: "The chancellor has given a passionate defence of free markets and the importance of business and government working to tackle inequality. That is necessary, but not sufficient.
"The UK is facing a generation defining-challenge. A potent cocktail of Brexit uncertainty and dogma-driven politics on both left and right threatens jobs, investment and living standards. Now is not the time for half measures."
The Conservatives kicked off their week in Manchester by announcing plans to freeze student fees and pledge an extra £10bn for the Help to Buy scheme as part of an effort to win over younger voters.
Mr Hammond said the Conservatives must "make a clear commitment to the next generation - that they will be better off than us; and that their children will be better off again than them".
The chancellor said new funding would improve the connectivity of HS2
On rail funding, the chancellor said cities in the East Midlands, such as Leicester, would also benefit from the £300m modernisation and connectivity package designed to help the north reach its "full potential".
The Northern Powerhouse rail scheme is being drawn up by local authorities and business leaders to create connections between HS2 and cities not directly on its route.
On Europe, Mr Hammond said Britain could be freer and more prosperous after Brexit but people should not take such a "prize" outcome for granted.
Earlier, he told the BBC that he operates on the basis "everyone is sackable", after Boris Johnson's repeated Brexit interventions prompted calls from some in the party for him to be replaced.
Mr Hammond said the foreign secretary's recent interventions were a "rhetorical flourish" but the cabinet was agreed on a transition period of "around two years" to give businesses "certainty and comfort" to plan ahead.
On the second day of the conference, Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke also announced new guidance to job centres for giving cash advances to benefit claimants.
The government has been under pressure to pause the national roll-out of Universal Credit amid mounting concern families forced to wait six weeks for their first payment will be left destitute and homeless.
Mr Gauke said he wanted to help those struggling to make ends meet but would not halt the programme, saying it was helping people to find work and progress to better-paid jobs. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41462577 | news_uk-politics-41462577 |
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Priti Patel held undisclosed meetings in Israel - BBC News | 2017-11-03 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | International Development Secretary held meetings without telling the Foreign Office, the BBC has learned. | UK Politics | The International Development Secretary held undisclosed meetings in Israel without telling the Foreign Office while accompanied by an influential pro-Israeli Conservative campaigner, the BBC has learned.
Priti Patel met the leader of one of Israel's main political parties and made visits to several organisations where official departmental business was reportedly discussed.
According to one source, at least one of the meetings was held at the suggestion of the Israeli ambassador to London.
In contrast, British diplomats in Israel were not informed about Ms Patel's plans.
Ministers are by convention supposed to tell the Foreign Office when they are conducting official business overseas.
Downing Street said Ms Patel was on a private holiday she had paid for herself, during which she took the opportunity to meet people.
Ms Patel told the Guardian: "Boris [Johnson] knew about the visit. The point is that the Foreign Office did know about this, Boris knew about [the trip]. It is not on, it is not on at all.
"I went out there, I paid for it. And there is nothing else to this. It is quite extraordinary. It is for the Foreign Office to go away and explain themselves."
But Labour have called for an investigation to examine whether Ms Patel breached the ministerial code and rules on lobbying.
The meetings took place over two days in August while Ms Patel was on holiday in Israel.
No civil servants were present but Ms Patel was accompanied by Lord Polak, honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), an influential lobbying organisation that has access to wealthy party donors.
Some ministers and MPs accused Ms Patel of trying to win favour with wealthy pro-Israeli Conservative donors who could fund a potential future leadership campaign.
Others accused her of conducting her own "freelance foreign policy" on Israel. Ms Patel is a long-standing supporter of Israel and a former vice-chairman of CFI.
Ministers also said there was a potential risk that the meetings could have broken the ministerial code of conduct which states that "ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise".
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been in London this week
One minister said: "This is outrageous. She is a Cabinet minister. She just cannot do this. This is about donors and influence."
One former minister said: "What does it say to the rest of the Middle East if a senior Cabinet minister in charge of Britain's huge aid budget disappears for 48 hours from a family holiday in Israel and is under the wing of a pro-Israeli lobbyist?"
The revelations risk embarrassing the government while the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is in London to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, when Britain first gave its support for a national home for the Jewish people.
A senior Downing Street source denied Ms Patel had done anything wrong. And a source at the Department for International Development said it was a private holiday paid for by the Secretary of State herself.
Foreign Office sources in London - and diplomatic sources in the region - confirmed that Ms Patel had not given them any warning of her visit.
One minister said: "Yes, we did not know about the trip. We were unsighted on it." Another source said the British consulate in Jerusalem was "blindsided" and felt "slightly bruised".
A third Foreign Office source said: "We didn't know and would have expected to know, given the meetings she had."
Ms Patel took time out from her family holiday on 24 August to meet Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel's centrist Yesh Atid party, a former finance minister in Mr Netanyahu's coalition government.
Mr Lapid tweeted a picture of the meeting, saying it was "great to meet Priti Patel" whom he described as "a true friend of Israel." Mr Lapid's spokesman confirmed that he had met Ms Patel but refused to say what they discussed.
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Ms Patel was accompanied by the Tory peer, Lord Polak. He is now honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel but for more than 25 years, he was the director of the lobby group. And in that role he had a huge influence on Conservative thinking on the Middle East, including writing speeches for Tory party leaders.
Lord Polak told the BBC that he just happened to be on holiday at the same time as Ms Patel. "We met up for one or two things," he said. "It was the summer holidays. I just joined her for a couple of days, some drinks, some dinner, that kind of thing."
That included the meeting with Mr Lapid: "He is just an old friend of mine, a personal friend. He is more a journalist than a politician. We just had coffee with him. It wasn't anything formal. It is all very innocent."
Conservative Friends of Israel regularly pays for MPs and peers to visit Israel. But Lord Polak said that Ms Patel paid for the holiday herself and the trip had nothing to do with CFI.
The peer said he organised for Ms Patel to visit Israeli firms and charities creating technologies that could be interesting to a Secretary of State for Development.
Ms Patel visited Beit Issie Shapiro (BIS), a leading Israeli disability charity and campaign group, where she reportedly discussed the possibility of her department forming a long-term partnership with the organisation.
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Jean Judes, executive director of BIS, published a picture on Facebook of Ms Patel visiting her organisation.
Mrs Judes wrote: "As the director of the DFID - UK Department for International Development, Ms Patel expressed interest in a long-term relationship with Beit Issie Shapiro, harnessing Israeli innovation to advance assistive technology for the benefit of people with disabilities in underdeveloped countries.
"We look forward to a strong, fruitful partnership with the DFID to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities worldwide."
Mrs Judes told the BBC that the Israeli embassy in London had been involved in setting up the visit: "We reached out.
"We met with the Israeli ambassador in London and he said this is something we should bring to the attention of Priti Patel." The Israeli embassy in London declined to respond to questions.
Lord Polak said Ms Patel also visited Innovation: Africa, an Israeli not-for-profit organisation developing new solar and water technologies for remote African communities.
The fear among some Tory MPs is that Ms Patel also used the trip to discuss reducing her department's support for Palestinian groups.
The UK currently sends about £68m a year to support the Palestinian territories, most of it from DFID's budget. Some of the money is given directly to the Palestinian Authority, the rest through the local UN agency or individual groups.
Critics claim that instead of just supporting Palestinian refugees and institutions, the money has also been used to pay salaries to Palestinians jailed for terrorism-related offences.
Ms Patel has long been a critic of this funding. She tightened up the guidelines on Palestinian spending last year, focusing more on health and education, but one Foreign Office source said that she had recently tried to go further, presenting a paper to the prime minister and the foreign secretary for yet more restrictions on the funding.
"But they were not particularly impressed by her arguments," said one Foreign Office source. Another said: "She has been trying this for some time. She has been pushing to get her hands on the PA aid budget and we have been pushing back."
Others suggested Ms Patel was getting close to CFI in preparation for a future leadership contest. One Whitehall source said: "I have always understood it to be part of her leadership ambitions, if she has got people from CFI who are prepared to put money into her."
The BBC sent Ms Patel's office a list of questions concerning the visit to Israel which it declined to answer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41853561 | news_uk-politics-41853561 |
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Peter Kay's Car Share to make surprise return - BBC News | 2017-11-17 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The comedian announces a surprise finale to show what happened between John and Kayleigh. | Entertainment & Arts | Will John (Peter Kay) and Kayleigh (Sian Gibson) finally have a happy ending?
Fans of Peter Kay's sitcom Car Share thought it had ended for good - but the comedian has announced there will be two more episodes.
Kay said he wanted to "quit while you're ahead" after series two ended earlier this year.
But he's announced a "special finale" to show what happened between John, his character, and Sian Gibson's Kayleigh.
It will follow Car Show Unscripted, an improvised episode. Both will be screened on BBC One next year.
Gibson and Kay revealed the plans on Children In Need
The second series ended in May with Kayleigh declaring her love for John but walking out of his car and his life when he refused to say how he felt.
The lack of a twist bringing the two characters together at last surprised and disappointed many viewers who had convinced themselves the show was building up to the perfect romantic finish.
"People have been very angry that the series ended in that way," Kay said.
"But [now] there is a series finale explaining what happened the next day, after the big argument.
"We've also done another episode called Car Share Unscripted, which is half an hour of us basically making the script up and improvising. It's nothing to do with the story - just us having a laugh."
After the series ended, he said there would be no third series or Christmas specials because he was worried about running out of ideas.
"There's only so much you can do in a car and the last thing you want to do is ruin it, because I think it's a lovely thing," he said.
Kay announced the new episodes on Children In Need on BBC One on Friday.
He has long been a supporter of the charity, fronting a fund-raising single that went to number one in 2009. This year, he has raised more than £633,000 by auctioning 100 tickets to an intimate live show in Blackpool.
Car Share won two Bafta TV Awards in 2016 - best scripted comedy and best male performance in a comedy programme for Kay.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42034344 | news_entertainment-arts-42034344 |
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Brexit talks: Parallel universes of UK and EU negotiators - BBC News | 2017-11-17 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Reactions, interpretations and declared intentions suggest big disparities between the UK and the EU, says the BBC's Katya Adler. | Europe | Mrs May is holding bilateral meeting with EU leaders in Gothenburg
Following the different reactions, interpretations and declared intentions of both the EU and the UK over the last months, I've become ever more convinced the two sides are wearing fantastically different opera glasses as this Brexit drama unfolds around them.
How else do you explain the wildly divergent expectations of Theresa May's bilateral meetings with EU leaders on the margins of talks in Sweden on Friday, or the (for the EU) eyebrow-raising assertions made by UK Brexit secretary David Davis during a speech in Berlin on Thursday?
First to Theresa May, who firmly believes she's on a charm offensive ahead of the EU leaders' December summit. Her goal: to schmooze her European counterparts into agreeing that the never-specifically-defined-by-the-EU goal of "sufficient progress" on Brexit divorce issues has now been attained, so that negotiations should imminently widen to include the UK-favoured topics of trade and transitions deals.
This is not the view of Mr and Mrs European leader. They see these bilateral meetings as a way to impress - again - on the British prime minister that "sufficient progress" on the key issues of Ireland and, most of all, the Brexit bill is still a small universe away.
The Irish prime minister says he remains an optimist but, let's be honest, he was being polite.
Behind the scenes, Ireland is frustrated beyond belief with the British government. It is particularly worried about the future of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which put an end to the Northern Ireland conflict, if a solution to avoid reintroducing a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland remains elusive in the long term.
Protests have been held against a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, who represents all EU leaders in Brussels, let his message be known even before his meeting with Mrs May: "There's more work to be done and time is short," he said.
Note that he didn't say time had run out to make the December summit deadline, but the UK government knows only the magic words "yes, we'll pay" will open the EU door to those widened negotiations.
Annoyed as it may make Ireland, the European Commission believes, as the UK does, that a solution to the border problem is more likely to be found in stage two of Brexit negotiations when future EU/UK relations including customs are discussed.
This means money remains the main sticking point. The third key divorce issue, citizens' rights, is not entirely sorted but good progress has been made.
On money, Brussels sees it as a long-awaited step forward that the British government is now planning to haggle down the final figure the EU insists the UK must pay to honour past financial commitments.
"We're used to smoke-filled rooms and horse-trading," one EU contact told me, "But that hasn't been possible on [the Brexit issue of] money until now because the UK refused to discuss the individual sums involved."
Mr Tusk has said: "There's more work to be done and time is short"
So perhaps then we're inching towards the next act in the Brexit drama.
Maybe it's still possible that a heady mixture of British charm and cash will galvanise EU hearts to opening talks of an EU/UK future as of mid-December. But my rather gloomy bet is that'll throw the differences between the two sides into even sharper relief.
Take, as a taster, UK Brexit lead negotiator David Davis' speech on Thursday night to that group of mainly business leaders in Berlin.
British frustration with what is viewed as EU intransigence when it comes to Brexit prompted Mr Davis to warn: "Don't put politics above prosperity."
The German business leaders were too polite to snort but, in fact, that is how much of the EU sees Brexit and the decision to leave the European single market: as an obvious act (to them) of putting politics above prosperity.
And when Mr Davis went on to insist that now, more than ever, was a time to fight "in a co-ordinated manner" for common values and interests, one German journalist piped up: "So why are you leaving the EU?"
And here we come back to my different-lensed opera glasses in the EU and UK.
I could go on, especially when it comes to Mr Davis. In an interview with my colleague Laura Kuenssberg he said that the UK had already made so many compromises that now it was surely the EU's turn.
This is to fundamentally misunderstand the EU perspective.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. David Davis: "Nothing comes for nothing" in negotiations
The EU insists that if the UK wants to leave the group yet maintain a relationship, it can only do so in accordance with club rules.
The heads of EU institutions, like Jean-Claude Juncker, like to repeat that the UK is the one who has decided to go. The EU club won't change its rules (such as single market regulations), so the EU argument goes, just to appease a departing party.
In his BBC interview on Friday, Mr Davis also had a parting shot at Germany and the other EU powerhouse France, identifying Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain among a cohort of countries keen to start talks on trade and transition while Berlin and Paris drag their respective Schuhe and chaussures (shoes).
However, my talks with key representatives across EU countries suggest that, in the face of potential threats from North Korea and Russia, unsure of President Trump's US, following on from the EU migrant crisis and after the Brexit vote, European leaders are more convinced than ever that there is safety in numbers.
It's true that Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands have traditionally been the UK's closest EU allies and they are still very sad indeed to see Britain go, but this stagnant, bad-tempered Brexit process has worn friendships pretty thin.
Before Mr Davis next names the Netherlands as the UK's best buddy in the face of German and France stubbornness, he should perhaps bear in mind that the Dutch parliament's Committee on European Affairs has just warned MPs to prepare for what it called a chaotic Brexit.
Blame was thrown squarely at the feet of the British government and what its Dutch neighbours described as the UK's "unrealistic expectations". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42028259 | news_world-europe-42028259 |
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Growth up: Now get set for the Budget - BBC News | 2017-11-07 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Philip Hammond is in a more positive mood after better-than-expected economic data. He tells the BBC now is not the time to borrow more. | Business | They are not exactly hanging out the bunting at the Treasury, but today's better-than-expected economic growth figures have put a bit of a spring in the step of the chancellor.
And that is not just for economic reasons.
Philip Hammond is under increasing political pressure from cabinet colleagues to loosen the purse strings in his Budget on 22 November.
Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, has gone public, suggesting that the government should borrow more for housebuilding.
And another senior cabinet minister I spoke to, with excellent knowledge of the prime minister's thinking, also suggested to me that some fiscal largesse might be just what the country needs.
Philip Hammond is not of that view - and the better economic data will give him a little more headroom in the public finances without having to borrow more.
His hand has been strengthened.
In his interview with me, Mr Hammond made it clear that he remains a fiscal conservative, focused on "balancing the books" and bringing the deficit down to zero by the middle of the next decade.
I asked him whether he saw any merit in delay.
"Well, we've already moved the target for balancing the books out from 2020 to 2025, but continuing to drive down the deficit in a measured and sensible way over a period of years, so that we are living within our means, and reducing the debt we are passing on to our children, has to be the right way to go," Mr Hammond told me.
There is certainly a robust argument going on in government.
There are those who believe that Mrs May's administration needs some eye-catching initiatives.
And given that tax rises are difficult to push through Parliament (just remember what happened to those March plans to increase National Insurance contributions for the self-employed), borrowing more seems the easiest route to paying for popular policies.
Should we borrow to build?
Many economists believe that the present deficit of 2.6% is low enough to satisfy the markets that the government is fiscally competent and has public debts under a modicum of control.
And Mr Javid said that "taking advantage of record low interest rates can be the right thing if done sensibly".
That does not appear to be the view of Mr Hammond.
"The government's borrowing costs are not at record low levels, they've risen over the last six or eight months," he said.
That's because higher inflation has increased the cost of servicing the government's debt.
"But the most important point here is that we still have a very large deficit and we have a debt which is 90% of our national income. That leaves us very exposed to any future shocks to the economy.
"So we want to continue to get the deficit down in a measured and sensible way over the medium term, giving ourselves room to support the economy, support our public services, invest in Britain's future through productivity-stimulating investment, but still moving over time to get that deficit down and starting to see our debt shrinking as a share of our GDP, so we don't simply pass on an unsupportable debt to the next generation."
The government's approach to borrowing will be a vital to the tone and feel of the Budget.
As far as Mr Hammond is concerned, "living within our means" is still the key message he wants to emanate from the Treasury. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41754354 | news_business-41754354 |
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Ratko Mladic, the 'Butcher of Bosnia' - BBC News | 2017-11-22 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Ratko Mladic, the former Serbian army general, orchestrated the worst atrocities in post-war Europe. | Europe | Ratko Mladic in Pale, Serbia, in May 1993
Ratko Mladic was the army general who became known as the "Butcher of Bosnia", who waged a brutal campaign during the Bosnian war and was jailed for life for directing his troops in the worst atrocities in post-war Europe.
More than 20 years after he was first indicted by an international war crimes tribunal, and a year after the closing arguments in his case, Mladic appeared in court at The Hague on Wednesday to hear the verdict against him.
In typical style, he railed against the judge and insulted the court and he was removed from the room. In his absence, he was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Seemingly ever-present on the front lines and respected by his soldiers as a man of courage, Mladic oversaw an army of 180,000 men during the Bosnian war of the 1990s.
In 1992, Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Croats voted for independence in a referendum boycotted by Serbs. The country descended into war, Bosniaks and Croats on one side and Bosnian Serbs on the other.
Along with the Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, Mladic came to symbolise a Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing that left tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The worst and most enduring crimes pinned on the former army chief and his men were an unrelenting three-year siege of Sarajevo that claimed more than 10,000 lives, and the massacre at Srebrenica, where more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys were slaughtered and dumped in mass graves.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "The soil here is soaked with blood" - survivor Mevludin Oric
When the conflict came to an end in 1995, Mladic, facing an indictment for war crimes, went on the run.
With considerable help, he evaded capture for 16 years, until May 2011 when police descended on an unassuming yellow brick house in the village of Lazarevo, north of Belgrade.
Clad in black clothes and black masks, officers surrounded the house. Inside, Europe's most-wanted man - older in appearance than his 69 years and thinner than the bull-like general of his war days - was preparing to go for a walk in the garden.
Ratko Mladic was ferocious in pursuit of what he saw as the destiny of the Serb nation. He saw the war as an opportunity to avenge five centuries of occupation by Muslim Turks. He would refer to Bosniaks as "Turks" in order to insult them.
There may have also been an emotional root to his ruthlessness. In 1995, a year before the massacre at Srebrenica, his much-loved daughter Ana, a medical student, shot herself with his pistol - an act that, according to people close to him, hardened his character.
Some believe she chose to die after learning of atrocities committed by forces under her father's command.
Mladic was born in the south Bosnian village of Kalinovik. On his second birthday, in 1945, his father died fighting pro-Nazi Croatian Ustasha troops.
He grew up in Tito's Yugoslavia and became a regular officer in the Yugoslav People's Army. A career soldier, he was said to inspire passionate devotion among his soldiers.
When the country slid into war in 1991, Mladic was posted to lead the Yugoslav Army 9th Corps against Croatian forces at Knin. The following year he was appointed to lead a new Bosnian Serb army.
As his gunners pounded the city of Sarajevo in early 1992, mercilessly killing civilians, he would yell "Burn their brains!" to encourage them, and "Shell them until they're on the edge of madness!"
The siege laid waste to parts of central Sarajevo, hollowing out houses and charring cars. A long stretch of road leading into the city became known as "sniper's alley", after the Serb marksmen who would fire at anything that moved: car, man, woman or child.
The most horrific crime of which Mladic was convicted happened 80km (50 miles) north of Sarajevo, in a small salt-mining town whose name would become indelibly associated with the horror of that week.
Srebrenica was a Bosniak enclave under UN protection, when in July 1995 Mladic's forces overran it and rounded up thousands of men and boys aged between 12 and 77.
As the men were detained, Mladic was seen handing out sweets to Bosniak children in the main square. Hours later, in a field outside the town, his men began shooting.
Over the next five days, more than 7,000 men and boys were executed, reportedly machine-gunned in groups of 10 before being buried by bulldozer in mass graves. It was the worst mass execution since the crimes of the Nazis.
A Bosnian Muslim woman mourns at the coffin of a relative killed at Srebrenica
The war ended later that year. Hundreds of thousands of non-Serbs had been driven from their homes in an attempt to create an ethnically pure Serb state in Croatia and Bosnia.
In late 1995, a UN war crimes tribunal indicted Mladic on two counts of genocide, for the Sarajevo siege and the Srebrenica massacre. Many other combatants, including Croats and Bosniaks, were also accused of war crimes. Mladic went on the run, but he didn't go far.
As a fugitive Mladic still enjoyed the open support and protection of the then-Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic. He returned to Belgrade, where he went untroubled to busy restaurants, football matches and horse races, escorted by bodyguards.
But Milosevic's fall from power in 2000 and subsequent arrest put Mladic at risk. He spent the next decade moving through hideouts in Serbia, relying on a diminishing band of helpers.
Ratko Mladic after his arrest in May 2011
In October 2004, his former aides began surrendering to the war crimes tribunal, as Serbia came under intense international pressure to co-operate.
When Karadzic was detained in Belgrade in July 2008, speculation grew that Mladic's arrest would follow. But it was not until 26 May 2011 that police units descended on Lazarevo and surrounded Mladic's yellow brick house.
When the officers moved in, the man who had vowed to never be taken alive surrendered quietly, and the two loaded guns he kept for protection lay untouched. He was 69 and had already suffered a stroke, partly paralysing his right arm.
"I could have killed 10 of you if I wanted, but I didn't want to," he reportedly told the officers. "You're just young men, doing your job."
He finally went on trial in 2012, at The Hague, facing 11 charges including genocide. The court, anxious that he should not die before the end of the proceedings, scaled back the case against him.
He was in poor health, and had difficulty moving, apparently due to a series of strokes. "I'm very old. Every day I'm more infirm and weaker," he told the court.
Ratko Mladic was defiant at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague
Despite his frailty, Mladic was defiant in court. He sarcastically applauded the judges as they entered, and argued vociferously with them. Catching the eye of a Bosnian woman who had gestured rudely to him, he drew his finger across his throat.
His 12-member defence team argued that their client was an honest, professional career soldier who successfully defended Bosnian Serbs from the threat of genocide.
They said he was in Belgrade for meetings with international officials when most of the killings in Srebrenica took place, and that he had no means of communication with the men there. The prosecution did not disagree, but contended that he met senior deputies before leaving the town, and gave them the order to kill.
Fanatical and fearless, Mladic became a folk hero to many of those he led, and he remains a hero to many in his home village of Bozanovici, where a sign nailed to tree still reads "General Mladic Street".
Two decades on from the war, in a courtroom at the Hague, he was diminished physically but not in temper. Just as in his other court appearances, he shouted and disrupted the court. But it did not matter. He was removed, and his sentence handed down in his absence. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13559597 | news_world-europe-13559597 |
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Emile Cilliers parachute trial: Jurors warned against 'bullying' - BBC News | 2017-11-22 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Mr Justice Sweeney tells jurors to stay "within the proper bounds of discussion" while deliberating. | Wiltshire | The judge in the trial of an Army sergeant accused of trying to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute has warned the jurors not to "bully" each other.
Nine women and three men have been deliberating since last Tuesday in the case of Emile Cilliers.
Two jurors fell ill and were discharged after Mr Justice Sweeney issued a majority direction.
Mr Cilliers denies two charges of attempting to murder his wife Victoria.
Mr Justice Sweeney gave the direction on Tuesday to jurors at Winchester Crown Court, saying that he would accept majority verdicts.
Ninety minutes after this, one of the jurors became ill.
On Wednesday, the forewoman also fell ill, with both jurors dismissed after the judge received medical certificates.
Emile Cilliers is accused of two counts of attempted murder of Victoria
He told the jurors, who have now been deliberating for 23-and-a-half hours: "Jury service is not easy; it never has been.
"By their very nature, some trials require jurors to address deeply sensitive human problems, and some discussions may be fierce or tempestuous, with powerful arguments and counter-arguments.
"In such cases, discussions by their nature will be exhausting.
"However, and obviously, all must remain within the proper bounds of discussion, and not amount to improper pressure or bullying."
Mr Cilliers, 37, is accused trying to kill Victoria, 40, who survived a 4,000ft fall on 5 April 2015.
It is alleged he tampered with her parachute before the jump, causing her to plummet to the ground.
Prosecutors also claim the defendant made another attempt to kill Mrs Cilliers by deliberately causing a gas leak in the family home days before the fall.
Mr Cilliers denies two counts of attempted murder and another criminal damage charge relating to the gas valve.
The jury will continue its deliberations on Thursday.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-42088018 | news_uk-england-wiltshire-42088018 |
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Zanu-PF purges itself to win back Zimbabweans' trust - BBC News | 2017-11-22 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Zimbabwe's ruling party is intent on retaining power after the earthquake of Robert Mugabe's overthrow. | Africa | Zimbabweans want a "happy new Zimbabwe" - and the long-time ruling party Zanu-PF is anxious to assure them it can be the one to deliver it
It's been a dramatic, inspiring, earthquake of a week in Zimbabwe. But if you're looking for evidence to show that what really happened was a ruthless reshuffle within the governing party, Zanu-PF, rather than any grander transformation in politics or society, it is worth having a chat with the local MP for Harare East.
I met the Honourable Terence Mukupe in the garden of the Meikles Hotel in the city centre, as his new party boss, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was poised to return to the country, and a fellow Harare MP was busy being dragged off, in tears, by plain-clothed security agents in the hotel lobby.
"That's a signal to the public that we really mean business," said Mr Mukupe, drily, of his Zanu-PF colleague, Shadreck Mashayamombe - reportedly a former aide to Grace Mugabe.
"There are going to be over 500 high-profile people that are going to face the music, be taken to court, and that's what Zimbabweans want to see. No sacred cows," he continued.
Mr Mukupe, who says he worked for 10 years as an investment banker on Wall Street before winning his seat in parliament two years ago, is part of an ambitious younger generation of Zanu-PF MPs who have been at the heart of the internal power struggles that led to last week's military "intervention."
Although he briefly sided with the G40 group linked to Grace Mugabe, he quickly and - as it soon proved - presciently switched to endorse her bitter rival Mr Mnangagwa.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How news of Robert Mugabe's resignation was greeted across Zimbabwe
Now Mr Mukupe foresees a Zanu-PF revival, with technocrats - like himself perhaps - brought in to the cabinet to fix the economy, and next year's national elections already a foregone conclusion.
"There's so much chaos within the opposition. Everyone is clear that Zanu-PF is going to win the election. It will be a landslide. So let's have change within Zanu-PF," he said. He mentioned Rwanda as an example to follow. "People want to see technocrats. It should become a meritocracy."
"We have a cancer in this society," Mr Mukupe told the BBC
But what's most striking, to an outsider, about someone like Mr Mukupe is his skill in disassociating himself from the disastrous failings of Zanu-PF and President Mugabe, and the repression and misrule that damaged the lives of so many millions of Zimbabweans.
He readily admits there was "violence perpetrated against opposition members and corrupt activities", but insists that the blame lay squarely with President Mugabe. It's an argument that suits the party well these days, as it purges itself of "cliques" and "cabals".
"We have a cancer in this society. Our politics was about cults. Everyone was afraid of President Mugabe. Don't make it appear as if it's just the ordinary people, or people in opposition.
"Even people within Zanu-PF were afraid. He was the beginning and end of everything - he could hire you, fire you, imprison you, do all sorts of things to you. Not everyone could stand up and fight the beast," said Mr Mukupe.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
"We should never have given him the sort of powers we gave him," he conceded, but insisted that no-one, including the opposition, had "clean hands. "It's a collective responsibility. Everybody played some role in the demise of this country."
It's easy to see now how Zanu-PF will run with that message in the months ahead, as the country heads towards elections.
Some would argue that it is more spin than truth - a convenient re-writing of history by the winning team. But there is every chance that many Zimbabweans, still tied to Zanu-PF by history and familiarity, will choose to give it another opportunity to correct itself. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42088257 | news_world-africa-42088257 |
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Tesco takeover of Booker gets go-ahead - BBC News | 2017-11-14 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The regulator says the bid for the UK's biggest wholesaler does not raise competition concerns. | Business | Tesco's £3.7bn takeover of food wholesaler Booker has been provisionally cleared by the UK's competition regulator.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal could even increase competition in the wholesale market and reduce prices for shoppers.
Tesco and Booker did not compete head-to-head in most activities, it added.
Booker is the UK's largest food wholesaler, and also owns the Premier, Budgens and Londis store brands.
More than 30% of its sales are to the catering sector, which Tesco does not supply, although the supermarket is keen to get a foothold in the market.
The CMA concluded that the wholesale market would "remain competitive in the longer term", because Booker's share of the UK grocery wholesaling market, at less than 20%, "was not sufficient to justify the longer-term concerns".
Despite losing market share in recent years, Tesco remains the UK's biggest supermarket with a share of about 28%.
The retail industry is undergoing a period of consolidation. A shift in shopping habits, fierce competition from the likes of Aldi and Lidl, and the arrival of Amazon has prompted retailers to look to bolster their businesses by buying food wholesalers.
On Monday, shareholders in the Nisa wholesaler and convenience store group approved the company's £137m takeover by the Co-operative Group.
Morrisons also recently signed a deal to become the UK wholesale supplier to convenience store chain McColls and it has also formed a tie-up with Amazon
Christmas has come early for Tesco.
The question in many minds was how many of its 1,700 convenience stores would it have to offload to get this deal through.
In other words, what would the trade off need to be to secure what Tesco sees as the bigger long term prize of a slice of the growing out of home market.
After an in depth look, including countless submissions from all part of the grocery sector, the regulator has come to the provisional conclusion that no remedies are needed.
Tesco-Booker have won the argument that their stores don't directly compete with each other.
The creation of an immensely powerful new combined food business now looks unstoppable.
In reaching its conclusions, the CMA found that it was "likely Booker would be able to negotiate better terms from a number of its suppliers for some of its groceries, and that it was likely to pass on some of the benefits of these savings to the shops that it supplies".
"This might increase competition in the wholesale market, as well as reducing prices for shoppers."
Simon Polito, chair of the CMA's inquiry group, said: "Our investigation has found that existing competition is sufficiently strong in both the wholesale and retail grocery sectors to ensure that the merger between Tesco and Booker will not lead to higher prices or a reduced service for supermarket and convenience shoppers."
Tesco and Booker both welcomed the CMA's provisional decision and added that they would continue to work with the competition regulator, which is due to publish its final report by the end of the year.
Booker said it was "pleased that the CMA has provisionally concluded that this transaction does not lessen competition".
Tesco said it anticipated the merger would be completed in early 2018.
However, the CMA's findings were criticised by the managing director of wholesale group Landmark, John Mills.
"This move will not increase competition, it will destroy it," he said.
"The combined Tesco/Booker operation has sales of £60bn, the rest of the UK wholesale industry amounts to £25bn. Other wholesalers will not be able to compete with the buying and distribution power of Tesco/Booker.
"So Tesco, who account for £1 in every £8 spent in the High Street will now dominate the convenience and corner shop market. And will no doubt now dominate the food service/out of home market as well."
Following the CMA announcement Tesco's shares rose by 5.7% and Booker's were up by 6.1%. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41966480 | news_business-41966480 |
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No alternative but to sack Carl Sargeant says Carwyn Jones - BBC News | 2017-11-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Wales' first minister defends the handling of allegations against Carl Sargeant who died this week. | Wales politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Carwyn Jones said he had "no alternative" but to sack Carl Sargeant
First Minister Carwyn Jones has said he had no alternative but to sack Carl Sargeant following allegations about his conduct.
Mr Sargeant's body was found on Tuesday, four days after he was dismissed as communities minister and suspended from the Welsh Labour party.
It is understood he took his own life but Mr Jones said he had acted "by the book" over the matter.
He said he would try to provide answers which Mr Sargeant's family deserved.
There has been criticism of the way Mr Sargeant was treated and his family has called for an independent inquiry.
Ex-Welsh Government minister Leighton Andrews, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood also want an inquiry, which Mr Jones suggested could take place in future.
Claims about inappropriate behaviour were made to the first minister's office last week and following Friday's sacking, the Alyn and Deeside AM had vowed to clear his name even though he said he did not know the details of the allegations.
An inquest into Mr Sargeant's death will be opened and adjourned on Monday.
Mr Jones met Labour AMs on Thursday to explain how he handled the conduct allegations against Mr Sargeant.
Mr Jones then made a statement from Welsh Government headquarters in Cardiff on Thursday afternoon.
He called the situation "the darkest days" any of those at the assembly could remember, but said they were the "darkest of all for the family".
A relentless drip-drip of disinformation had a strain on Mr Sargeant and others, Leighton Andrews says
Despite speculation Mr Jones could have resigned on Thursday, the speech made no reference to his own political future.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Mr Sargeant's death, he said: "There are a lot of inaccuracies in the press and many of you have questions to ask about what happened last week."
He said precise details "will need to be properly disclosed" at the inquest.
"I and my team will of course be cooperating fully with any questions that are raised there," he said.
"The family deserve to have their questions answered and if that isn't possible through the inquest then I will endeavour to make that happen through other means.
"I welcome any scrutiny of my actions in the future and it is appropriate for that to be done independently."
Paying tribute to Mr Sargeant, he said: "Carl was a true force of nature - he drove through more legislation than any other minister. Not just through force of argument, but through force of personality."
When Carwyn Jones finally appeared in front of the cameras today to deliver a statement on the death of Carl Sargeant and the events that led up to it, there was an expectation that the first minister would attempt to answer at least some of the many questions that have been raised since the former secretary's death.
Instead, while paying tribute to the man he described as a "true force of nature" he did little to answer the questions raised by Mr Sargeant's family and others.
A reference to a possible independent inquiry seemed equivocal at best.
The first minister's reference to "inaccuracies in the press" again raises more questions than answers.
If reports are inaccurate - why not correct them and why refuse to answer questions from journalists who are trying their best to report the situation accurately?
Carwyn Jones is human, of course, and I have no doubt that his grief and shock is genuine.
That may explain why a statement which would have been perfectly apt in the hours following Mr Sargeant's death seems insufficient and vague when delivered two and half days later.
Following the news conference, opponents rounded on Mr Jones.
Mr Davies said the episode has "significantly undermined public confidence in the first minister", while Ms Wood said the statement "was not adequate".
UKIP Wales said it would call for a motion of no confidence in the first minister.
And Mr Sargeant's lifelong friend and Flintshire council's deputy leader Bernie Attridge, called for Mr Jones to resign saying he "had not done the decent thing".
Mr Andrews said a number of people were expecting a "definite commitment to an independent inquiry" from Mr Jones' statement.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Andrews alleged Mr Sargeant had been the target of bullying in the Welsh Government.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Leighton Andrews wants answers from the first minister
Former public services minister Mr Andrews - claimed there was "minor bullying" and "mind games" during his time in government - and said the atmosphere was "toxic" during the last assembly term.
"The undermining was of ministers, deputy ministers and special advisers," Mr Andrews said in a statement issued on Thursday.
He said Mr Sargeant "was unquestionably the target of some of this behaviour. The relentless drip-drip of disinformation - and worse - had a strain on his and others' mental health."
The ex-Rhondda AM said he had raised one particular issue with Mr Jones, of which he had direct evidence, but claimed due process was not followed.
The Welsh Government has declined to respond to Mr Andrews' claims. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41921678 | news_uk-wales-politics-41921678 |
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Penny Mordaunt: Reshuffle maintains cabinet's Brexit balance - BBC News | 2017-11-10 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Laura Kuenssberg says the PM is not looking for more drama after eight days of turmoil. | UK Politics | Choosing ministers is about more than just who is best for the job.
There are good reasons why Penny Mordaunt has been promoted to the Department for International Development.
She has worked in humanitarian aid, she has been a minister in two different departments, former colleagues rate her abilities and she was tipped last week to be elevated to running the Ministry of Defence.
But there is a lot more to her than meets the eye, and a lot more that is interesting about her than going on TV in a swimsuit, although no doubt, for many voters, that is the way they will have come across her before.
She also has a different political qualification - she was prominent campaigning Brexiteer.
By promoting her, rather than others, Theresa May has opted to preserve the precarious balance around the cabinet table.
There has been an almost equal split, not so much between those who were tagged as Leavers or Remainers in 2016, but the two sides of the argument now - those who want a future closely tied to the European Union and those who want a much looser arrangement.
In Whitehall's technical lingo it's now known as "high or low alignment".
And by keeping the balance roughly 50-50, disregarding what one cabinet minister described as the "swing voters" - those like Sajid Javid, Liz Truss and Jeremy Hunt who are not considered to be dogmatic on the issue - it means that in effect, Theresa May has the decisive vote.
In theory that allows her, in a position with little authority, to be able to tip the balance relatively easily in either direction when the big Brexit decisions have to be made.
Time for that is clearly pressing, with Brussels giving the UK only a couple of weeks to show movement, in particular on the Brexit bill.
It's not clear if the UK will feel able to move forward on the bill that soon - that is a difficult debate to come.
The very limited changes to government today however won't obstruct the path of those decisions.
Ms Mordaunt has a sense of humour, and is far from a political drone - but her appointment is also about Theresa May trying to quietly hold the current cabinet equilibrium together.
With this appointment, after the eight days of turmoil, the prime minister is not looking for drama.
PS: It's worth noting too, that the first MP from the Tories' 2015 intake was brought into government today.
Victoria Atkins so far has stood out in Westminster for saying that people thought President Trump was a "wazzock". Let's see what she has to say next! | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41936423 | news_uk-politics-41936423 |
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Man stabbed to death in row with bikers in Prescot - BBC News | 2017-11-04 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The "horrific and senseless" killing took place as the victim walked home from the pub. | Liverpool | The victim was stabbed in a pedestrian area of Market Place
A man has been stabbed to death during a row with some people on a scrambler-style motorcycle.
Merseyside Police said he was with friends in a pedestrian area of Market Place in Prescot town centre when the argument started, at about 00:40 GMT.
The 29-year-old was stabbed in the neck with an unknown weapon, police said. The offenders fled, riding off in the direction of a Tesco store.
The victim was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead soon after.
A murder investigation has been launched and police are appealing for witnesses.
Ch Insp Nick Gunatilleke said: "This was a horrific and senseless attack on a young man who had been walking home from a night out in a local pub with his friends."
He called for the offenders to "search their consciences... and hand themselves in now as we will catch them in the end".
Police did not specify how many suspects they were looking for, saying only that the man was stabbed by "the rider or riders of a motorbike".
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-41869660 | news_uk-england-merseyside-41869660 |
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Brexit and the Irish border: Is all as it outwardly appears? - BBC News | 2017-11-26 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Is the issue really being used by the EU for wider political ends or is this an example of the conspiracy theories that often do the rounds in Westminster? | UK Politics | Sometimes in politics people see conspiracies where none exist.
But when it comes to tough political negotiations, both sides may from time to time indulge in a little bit of conspiracy theory which, becomes on occasion, perhaps a bit of paranoia here and there which could reveal some of your opponents' tactics.
There may be nothing in it, but just in case, well, you've thought through what might be the true extent of your rivals' plotting.
And as you know every now and then it is worth exploring one or two of those conspiracy theories that circulate in SW1.
So, bear with me. While there are genuine and sincerely held logistical and understandable concerns about what happens to the Irish border after Brexit, there is a sense building that perhaps the Irish government is playing those concerns rather harder than is justified.
The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, using rather strong language, told off the Irish leader Leo Varadkar for doing just that today.
But the next step in what many would say is a conspiracy theory, borne out of Brexiteer desperation, is to ponder whether the EU as a whole is over-egging their true level of worry about what happens to the border.
The issue has in fact, so the theory goes, become the perfect "anti-UK" issue that can be waved around in the talks every now and then.
Of course not a single soul involved would want Northern Ireland to go back to the era when there was a hard border for very different reasons than those that are pondered today. So again, so the theory goes, it is politically awkward to shout down those who are outlining concerns.
But according to these arguments, the border issue could be exploited by the EU side so they can later drop their concerns as a public concession to the UK, in return for a genuine concession from the British side.
There are whispers too that the previous government in Ireland had been discussing some potential solutions to the problem but after the change in political circumstances those conversations came to an end.
No one on any side of the talks at the moment would concede or publicly acknowledge any of the kinds of tactics outlined above.
An excellent and very different account of how pressure has been building on this issue has been written by one of my counterparts, the excellent Tony Connolly at RTE.
But in any negotiation both sides are looking for leverage. And in something as tense as this deal-making process, both sides' positions are not exactly as they outwardly appear. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42075126 | news_uk-politics-42075126 |
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Peter Kay's Car Share to make surprise return - BBC News | 2017-11-18 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The comedian announces a surprise finale to show what happened between John and Kayleigh. | Entertainment & Arts | Will John (Peter Kay) and Kayleigh (Sian Gibson) finally have a happy ending?
Fans of Peter Kay's sitcom Car Share thought it had ended for good - but the comedian has announced there will be two more episodes.
Kay said he wanted to "quit while you're ahead" after series two ended earlier this year.
But he's announced a "special finale" to show what happened between John, his character, and Sian Gibson's Kayleigh.
It will follow Car Show Unscripted, an improvised episode. Both will be screened on BBC One next year.
Gibson and Kay revealed the plans on Children In Need
The second series ended in May with Kayleigh declaring her love for John but walking out of his car and his life when he refused to say how he felt.
The lack of a twist bringing the two characters together at last surprised and disappointed many viewers who had convinced themselves the show was building up to the perfect romantic finish.
"People have been very angry that the series ended in that way," Kay said.
"But [now] there is a series finale explaining what happened the next day, after the big argument.
"We've also done another episode called Car Share Unscripted, which is half an hour of us basically making the script up and improvising. It's nothing to do with the story - just us having a laugh."
After the series ended, he said there would be no third series or Christmas specials because he was worried about running out of ideas.
"There's only so much you can do in a car and the last thing you want to do is ruin it, because I think it's a lovely thing," he said.
Kay announced the new episodes on Children In Need on BBC One on Friday.
He has long been a supporter of the charity, fronting a fund-raising single that went to number one in 2009. This year, he has raised more than £633,000 by auctioning 100 tickets to an intimate live show in Blackpool.
Car Share won two Bafta TV Awards in 2016 - best scripted comedy and best male performance in a comedy programme for Kay.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42034344 | news_entertainment-arts-42034344 |
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Mark van Dongen murder trial: Acid attack 'calculated' - BBC News | 2017-11-08 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Jurors see video interviews with acid attack victim Mark van Dongen, whose ex is accused of his murder. | Bristol | Mark van Dongen died 15 months after being attacked in Bristol
An acid attack victim has told jurors, in testimony recorded before his death, how the "jealous" ex accused of his murder laughed as she doused him in a corrosive liquid.
In video evidence, Mark van Dongen, 29, said Berlinah Wallace, 48, shouted "if I can't have you, no-one else can" as she threw sulphuric acid at him.
Bristol Crown Court heard he ended his life in a euthanasia clinic due to unbearable pain from his injuries.
The court heard Dutch national Mr van Dongen was left paralysed from the neck down and lost his left leg, the sight in his left eye and most of the sight in his right eye, after the September 2015 attack in Bristol.
He was later told he would require a "lifetime of constant and dedicated care".
In January this year, he travelled to Belgium where he ended his life in a euthanasia clinic.
A picture of Mark van Dongen taken before the attack
Jurors were shown the video interview with Mr van Dongen, filmed in hospital in July 2016, where he gave his account of the attack,
Trial judge Mrs Justice May warned them they may find the footage, which showed the extent of the scarring to the victim's body, "shocking and disturbing".
In the video, Mr van Dongen struggles to speak as he describes Ms Wallace waking him up and laughing as she threw acid over him, saying "if I can't have you, no one else can".
When the interviewer asks if he knew why she had attacked him, he says it was because she was jealous.
In a second video shown to the court, Mr van Dongen tells police Ms Wallace threw boiling water over him after an argument in 2014.
He also says Ms Wallace hit herself in the face, and told him she would tell police he had caused her injuries if he left her.
At the time of the attack, prosecutor Adam Vaitilingam QC told jurors, Mr van Dongen had begun seeing another woman and moved into a hotel.
The victim visited the defendant at her flat in Ladysmith Road, Bristol, because he was concerned that she was "in a bad way and self-harming", the court was told.
He fell asleep, jurors heard, and Ms Wallace laughed as she threw a glass of sulphuric acid over him.
The court heard Mr van Dongen ran into the street "screaming for help", where neighbours tried to help him, and he was taken to a specialist burns unit at Southmead Hospital.
Mr Vaitilingam said: "The physical and mental suffering that he sustained from that calculated acid attack were what drove him to euthanasia.
"Put simply, he could not bear to live in that condition.
"If that is right, we say, then she is guilty of murder."
Ms Wallace wept in the dock as the jury were told Mr van Dongen was "genuinely frightened" of her, and the couple's relationship had become "volatile".
The jury heard computer records showed Ms Wallace had bought the acid online on 2 September.
She also carried out internet searches, including "can I die drinking sulphuric acid?", and browsed news stories on acid attack victims.
Ms Wallace admits throwing a substance over Mr van Dongen but denies any intent to cause him harm.
She claims she believed that she was throwing a glass of water over him.
Richard Smith QC, defending, told the jury "to keep an open mind".
"Yes, she threw the glass over him, but defence claims Mr van Dongen put the acid in the cup without her knowledge, and encouraged her to drink it resulting in a mirror image of what we now have."
He said the couple had a "turbulent and complicated relationship" and Ms Wallace was going to blackmail Mr van Dongen with personal information, which was why he put the acid in the glass and encouraged her to drink it.
Ms Wallace wiped away tears as jurors heard details of the couple's "volatile" relationship
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-41914798 | news_uk-england-bristol-41914798 |
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Priti Patel held undisclosed meetings in Israel - BBC News | 2017-11-08 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | International Development Secretary held meetings without telling the Foreign Office, the BBC has learned. | UK Politics | The International Development Secretary held undisclosed meetings in Israel without telling the Foreign Office while accompanied by an influential pro-Israeli Conservative campaigner, the BBC has learned.
Priti Patel met the leader of one of Israel's main political parties and made visits to several organisations where official departmental business was reportedly discussed.
According to one source, at least one of the meetings was held at the suggestion of the Israeli ambassador to London.
In contrast, British diplomats in Israel were not informed about Ms Patel's plans.
Ministers are by convention supposed to tell the Foreign Office when they are conducting official business overseas.
Downing Street said Ms Patel was on a private holiday she had paid for herself, during which she took the opportunity to meet people.
Ms Patel told the Guardian: "Boris [Johnson] knew about the visit. The point is that the Foreign Office did know about this, Boris knew about [the trip]. It is not on, it is not on at all.
"I went out there, I paid for it. And there is nothing else to this. It is quite extraordinary. It is for the Foreign Office to go away and explain themselves."
But Labour have called for an investigation to examine whether Ms Patel breached the ministerial code and rules on lobbying.
The meetings took place over two days in August while Ms Patel was on holiday in Israel.
No civil servants were present but Ms Patel was accompanied by Lord Polak, honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), an influential lobbying organisation that has access to wealthy party donors.
Some ministers and MPs accused Ms Patel of trying to win favour with wealthy pro-Israeli Conservative donors who could fund a potential future leadership campaign.
Others accused her of conducting her own "freelance foreign policy" on Israel. Ms Patel is a long-standing supporter of Israel and a former vice-chairman of CFI.
Ministers also said there was a potential risk that the meetings could have broken the ministerial code of conduct which states that "ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise".
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been in London this week
One minister said: "This is outrageous. She is a Cabinet minister. She just cannot do this. This is about donors and influence."
One former minister said: "What does it say to the rest of the Middle East if a senior Cabinet minister in charge of Britain's huge aid budget disappears for 48 hours from a family holiday in Israel and is under the wing of a pro-Israeli lobbyist?"
The revelations risk embarrassing the government while the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is in London to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, when Britain first gave its support for a national home for the Jewish people.
A senior Downing Street source denied Ms Patel had done anything wrong. And a source at the Department for International Development said it was a private holiday paid for by the Secretary of State herself.
Foreign Office sources in London - and diplomatic sources in the region - confirmed that Ms Patel had not given them any warning of her visit.
One minister said: "Yes, we did not know about the trip. We were unsighted on it." Another source said the British consulate in Jerusalem was "blindsided" and felt "slightly bruised".
A third Foreign Office source said: "We didn't know and would have expected to know, given the meetings she had."
Ms Patel took time out from her family holiday on 24 August to meet Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel's centrist Yesh Atid party, a former finance minister in Mr Netanyahu's coalition government.
Mr Lapid tweeted a picture of the meeting, saying it was "great to meet Priti Patel" whom he described as "a true friend of Israel." Mr Lapid's spokesman confirmed that he had met Ms Patel but refused to say what they discussed.
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Ms Patel was accompanied by the Tory peer, Lord Polak. He is now honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel but for more than 25 years, he was the director of the lobby group. And in that role he had a huge influence on Conservative thinking on the Middle East, including writing speeches for Tory party leaders.
Lord Polak told the BBC that he just happened to be on holiday at the same time as Ms Patel. "We met up for one or two things," he said. "It was the summer holidays. I just joined her for a couple of days, some drinks, some dinner, that kind of thing."
That included the meeting with Mr Lapid: "He is just an old friend of mine, a personal friend. He is more a journalist than a politician. We just had coffee with him. It wasn't anything formal. It is all very innocent."
Conservative Friends of Israel regularly pays for MPs and peers to visit Israel. But Lord Polak said that Ms Patel paid for the holiday herself and the trip had nothing to do with CFI.
The peer said he organised for Ms Patel to visit Israeli firms and charities creating technologies that could be interesting to a Secretary of State for Development.
Ms Patel visited Beit Issie Shapiro (BIS), a leading Israeli disability charity and campaign group, where she reportedly discussed the possibility of her department forming a long-term partnership with the organisation.
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Jean Judes, executive director of BIS, published a picture on Facebook of Ms Patel visiting her organisation.
Mrs Judes wrote: "As the director of the DFID - UK Department for International Development, Ms Patel expressed interest in a long-term relationship with Beit Issie Shapiro, harnessing Israeli innovation to advance assistive technology for the benefit of people with disabilities in underdeveloped countries.
"We look forward to a strong, fruitful partnership with the DFID to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities worldwide."
Mrs Judes told the BBC that the Israeli embassy in London had been involved in setting up the visit: "We reached out.
"We met with the Israeli ambassador in London and he said this is something we should bring to the attention of Priti Patel." The Israeli embassy in London declined to respond to questions.
Lord Polak said Ms Patel also visited Innovation: Africa, an Israeli not-for-profit organisation developing new solar and water technologies for remote African communities.
The fear among some Tory MPs is that Ms Patel also used the trip to discuss reducing her department's support for Palestinian groups.
The UK currently sends about £68m a year to support the Palestinian territories, most of it from DFID's budget. Some of the money is given directly to the Palestinian Authority, the rest through the local UN agency or individual groups.
Critics claim that instead of just supporting Palestinian refugees and institutions, the money has also been used to pay salaries to Palestinians jailed for terrorism-related offences.
Ms Patel has long been a critic of this funding. She tightened up the guidelines on Palestinian spending last year, focusing more on health and education, but one Foreign Office source said that she had recently tried to go further, presenting a paper to the prime minister and the foreign secretary for yet more restrictions on the funding.
"But they were not particularly impressed by her arguments," said one Foreign Office source. Another said: "She has been trying this for some time. She has been pushing to get her hands on the PA aid budget and we have been pushing back."
Others suggested Ms Patel was getting close to CFI in preparation for a future leadership contest. One Whitehall source said: "I have always understood it to be part of her leadership ambitions, if she has got people from CFI who are prepared to put money into her."
The BBC sent Ms Patel's office a list of questions concerning the visit to Israel which it declined to answer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41853561 | news_uk-politics-41853561 |
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Extreme weather 'could kill up to 152,000 a year' in Europe by 2100 - BBC News | 2017-11-15 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Weather-related deaths could surge by 2100 if nothing is done to curb climate change, scientists say. | Europe | Heat waves will cause most weather-related deaths if measures are not taken, the study says
Extreme weather could kill up to 152,000 people yearly in Europe by 2100 if nothing is done to curb the effects of climate change, scientists say.
The number is 50 times more deaths than reported now, the study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal said.
Heat waves would cause 99% of all weather-related deaths, it added, with southern Europe being worst affected.
Experts said the findings were worrying but some warned the projections could be overestimated.
If nothing is done to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to improve policies to reduce the impact against extreme weather events, the study by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre says:
The research analysed the effects of the seven most dangerous types of weather-related events - heat waves, cold snaps, wildfires, droughts, river and coastal floods and windstorms - in the 28 EU countries as well as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
The team looked at disaster records from 1981 to 2010 to estimate population vulnerability, and combined this information with predictions of how climate change might progress and how populations might increase and migrate.
They assumed a rate of greenhouse gas emissions that would lead to average global warming of 3C (5.4F) by the end of the century from levels in 1990, a pessimistic forecast well above targets set by the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change.
Low levels of the Po River near Pavia in northern Italy
"Climate change is one of the biggest global threats to human health of the 21st century, and its peril to society will be increasingly connected to weather-driven hazards," said Giovanni Forzieri, one of the authors of the study.
"Unless global warming is curbed as a matter of urgency and appropriate measures are taken, about 350 million Europeans could be exposed to harmful climate extremes on an annual basis by the end of the century."
Flooding near the Bavarian village of Deggendorf in southern Germany in 2013
Fire rages through an area of woodland in Artigues in south-eastern France
On Friday, the United States issued its first written notification to the UN of its intention to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
US President Donald Trump drew international condemnation in June when he first announced his decision, saying the deal would cost millions of American jobs.
The Paris Agreement saw nearly 200 countries agree to keep warming "well below" the level of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C
Experts from South Korea's Seoul National University warned that the study's results "could be overestimated".
"People are known to adapt and become less vulnerable than previously to extreme weather conditions because of advances in medical technology, air conditioning, and thermal insulation in houses," they wrote in a comment piece published in the same journal.
Paul Wilkinson, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were "yet another reminder of the exposures to extreme weather and possible human impacts that might occur if emissions of greenhouse gases continue unabated.
"It adds further weight to the powerful argument for accelerating mitigation actions to protect population health." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40835663 | news_world-europe-40835663 |
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Zanu-PF purges itself to win back Zimbabweans' trust - BBC News | 2017-11-23 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Zimbabwe's ruling party is intent on retaining power after the earthquake of Robert Mugabe's overthrow. | Africa | Zimbabweans want a "happy new Zimbabwe" - and the long-time ruling party Zanu-PF is anxious to assure them it can be the one to deliver it
It's been a dramatic, inspiring, earthquake of a week in Zimbabwe. But if you're looking for evidence to show that what really happened was a ruthless reshuffle within the governing party, Zanu-PF, rather than any grander transformation in politics or society, it is worth having a chat with the local MP for Harare East.
I met the Honourable Terence Mukupe in the garden of the Meikles Hotel in the city centre, as his new party boss, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was poised to return to the country, and a fellow Harare MP was busy being dragged off, in tears, by plain-clothed security agents in the hotel lobby.
"That's a signal to the public that we really mean business," said Mr Mukupe, drily, of his Zanu-PF colleague, Shadreck Mashayamombe - reportedly a former aide to Grace Mugabe.
"There are going to be over 500 high-profile people that are going to face the music, be taken to court, and that's what Zimbabweans want to see. No sacred cows," he continued.
Mr Mukupe, who says he worked for 10 years as an investment banker on Wall Street before winning his seat in parliament two years ago, is part of an ambitious younger generation of Zanu-PF MPs who have been at the heart of the internal power struggles that led to last week's military "intervention."
Although he briefly sided with the G40 group linked to Grace Mugabe, he quickly and - as it soon proved - presciently switched to endorse her bitter rival Mr Mnangagwa.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. How news of Robert Mugabe's resignation was greeted across Zimbabwe
Now Mr Mukupe foresees a Zanu-PF revival, with technocrats - like himself perhaps - brought in to the cabinet to fix the economy, and next year's national elections already a foregone conclusion.
"There's so much chaos within the opposition. Everyone is clear that Zanu-PF is going to win the election. It will be a landslide. So let's have change within Zanu-PF," he said. He mentioned Rwanda as an example to follow. "People want to see technocrats. It should become a meritocracy."
"We have a cancer in this society," Mr Mukupe told the BBC
But what's most striking, to an outsider, about someone like Mr Mukupe is his skill in disassociating himself from the disastrous failings of Zanu-PF and President Mugabe, and the repression and misrule that damaged the lives of so many millions of Zimbabweans.
He readily admits there was "violence perpetrated against opposition members and corrupt activities", but insists that the blame lay squarely with President Mugabe. It's an argument that suits the party well these days, as it purges itself of "cliques" and "cabals".
"We have a cancer in this society. Our politics was about cults. Everyone was afraid of President Mugabe. Don't make it appear as if it's just the ordinary people, or people in opposition.
"Even people within Zanu-PF were afraid. He was the beginning and end of everything - he could hire you, fire you, imprison you, do all sorts of things to you. Not everyone could stand up and fight the beast," said Mr Mukupe.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
"We should never have given him the sort of powers we gave him," he conceded, but insisted that no-one, including the opposition, had "clean hands. "It's a collective responsibility. Everybody played some role in the demise of this country."
It's easy to see now how Zanu-PF will run with that message in the months ahead, as the country heads towards elections.
Some would argue that it is more spin than truth - a convenient re-writing of history by the winning team. But there is every chance that many Zimbabweans, still tied to Zanu-PF by history and familiarity, will choose to give it another opportunity to correct itself. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42088257 | news_world-africa-42088257 |
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Manchester tram push death: Woman jailed for five years - BBC News | 2017-11-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Charissa Brown-Wellington pushed Philip Carter between two carriages of a moving tram in Manchester. | Manchester | Charissa Brown-Wellington was sentenced to five years in prison
A woman who killed a stranger by pushing him into the path of a tram during a drunken row has been jailed.
Charissa Brown-Wellington, 31, shoved Philip Carter, 30, between two carriages at Manchester Victoria station on 11 June.
Mr Carter, from Blackley, was crushed by the tram and died at the scene.
Brown-Wellington, from Chadderton, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was given a five-year prison term at Manchester Crown Court.
The court heard that Brown-Wellington was drunk and under the influence of drugs when she became involved in an argument with Mr Carter, who had also been drinking, at the station.
She admitted pushing him but denied intending to cause him serious harm.
The court heard she had a lengthy criminal record of 65 offences, many of which involved violence.
In sentencing, Mr Justice William Davis told Brown-Wellington that although her actions were not unprovoked they were "completely unnecessary" and "aggressive".
"There was more than one victim in this case because the effect of what you did was so dreadful.
"It is merely yet another example of you reacting violently when faced with something you did not like very much," he said.
Philip Carter was crushed to death by a tram
Mr Carter's family said he was "missed every minute of every day".
"We can try to repair our heartache although no matter how long the sentence is, it will not bring Phil back or make our loss any easier," they said.
On her release, Brown-Wellington will be subject to an extended licence period of three years as a dangerous offender.
Bob Tonge, senior investigating officer at Greater Manchester Police, said Mr Carter died in "the most horrific circumstances".
"He suffered a brutal death all because she lost her temper and she will now have to live with that as she carries out her prison sentence," he said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-41813992 | news_uk-england-manchester-41813992 |
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Catalan independence: Spain high court summons dismissed leader - BBC News | 2017-11-01 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Carles Puigdemont and 13 former colleagues are summoned to appear in a Madrid court this week. | Europe | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Spain's high court has summoned sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and 13 other members of his dismissed government to appear later this week.
It also gave them three days to pay a deposit of €6.2m ($7.2m) to cover potential liabilities.
The summons comes after Spain's chief prosecutor on Monday said he would press charges including rebellion.
Mr Puigdemont is in Belgium with several former ministers. He earlier said he was not there to seek asylum.
Carles Puigdemont triggered a crisis in Spain by holding an independence referendum in early October in the semi-autonomous region despite Madrid's opposition and the Constitutional Court declaring the vote illegal.
Spain's central government has now taken direct control of Catalonia.
Mr Puigdemont turned up in Brussels on Monday as Spanish Attorney-General José Manuel Maza called for Catalan leaders to face charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.
The Audiencia National has now summoned the sacked Catalan officials - who are yet to be formally charged - to testify on Thursday and Friday. If they do not appear, prosecutors could order their arrest.
Meanwhile, the speaker of Catalan's dissolved parliament Carme Forcadell and other former lawmakers have been summoned to the Supreme Court because they still have parliamentary immunity.
Mr Puigdemont earlier said he would return to Spain if guaranteed a fair hearing.
Several of Mr Puigdemont's former colleagues who remain inside the country may decide to accept the summons and appear in court, reports the BBC's James Reynolds from Barcelona.
Prosecutors' arguments against the group were "serious, rational and logical", Judge Carmen Lamela said in a ruling, according to the AFP news agency.
Speaking at a press conference earlier on Tuesday, Mr Puigdemont said he was not trying to escape justice by travelling to Belgium but wanted to be able to speak freely.
His comments came as Spain's constitutional court suspended the declaration of independence made by the Catalan parliament on Friday.
Mr Puigdemont also said he would accept the result of snap elections in Catalonia on 21 December, which were called by Spain's central government after it invoked Article 155 of the constitution, temporarily suspending the region's autonomy.
"I want a clear commitment from the state. Will the state respect the results that could give separatist forces a majority?" Mr Puigdemont asked reporters.
Protesters from both sides turned up outside the Press Club in Brussels were Mr Puigdemont spoke
The Spanish government has previously said he is welcome to take part in the fresh polls.
In a separate development on Tuesday, Spain's Guardia Civil - a paramilitary force charged with police duties - raided the offices of the Catalan police force.
According to media reports, they searched eight offices for communications relating to the referendum on 1 October. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41825030 | news_world-europe-41825030 |
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No alternative but to sack Carl Sargeant says Carwyn Jones - BBC News | 2017-11-09 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Wales' first minister defends the handling of allegations against Carl Sargeant who died this week. | Wales politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Carwyn Jones said he had "no alternative" but to sack Carl Sargeant
First Minister Carwyn Jones has said he had no alternative but to sack Carl Sargeant following allegations about his conduct.
Mr Sargeant's body was found on Tuesday, four days after he was dismissed as communities minister and suspended from the Welsh Labour party.
It is understood he took his own life but Mr Jones said he had acted "by the book" over the matter.
He said he would try to provide answers which Mr Sargeant's family deserved.
There has been criticism of the way Mr Sargeant was treated and his family has called for an independent inquiry.
Ex-Welsh Government minister Leighton Andrews, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood also want an inquiry, which Mr Jones suggested could take place in future.
Claims about inappropriate behaviour were made to the first minister's office last week and following Friday's sacking, the Alyn and Deeside AM had vowed to clear his name even though he said he did not know the details of the allegations.
An inquest into Mr Sargeant's death will be opened and adjourned on Monday.
Mr Jones met Labour AMs on Thursday to explain how he handled the conduct allegations against Mr Sargeant.
Mr Jones then made a statement from Welsh Government headquarters in Cardiff on Thursday afternoon.
He called the situation "the darkest days" any of those at the assembly could remember, but said they were the "darkest of all for the family".
A relentless drip-drip of disinformation had a strain on Mr Sargeant and others, Leighton Andrews says
Despite speculation Mr Jones could have resigned on Thursday, the speech made no reference to his own political future.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Mr Sargeant's death, he said: "There are a lot of inaccuracies in the press and many of you have questions to ask about what happened last week."
He said precise details "will need to be properly disclosed" at the inquest.
"I and my team will of course be cooperating fully with any questions that are raised there," he said.
"The family deserve to have their questions answered and if that isn't possible through the inquest then I will endeavour to make that happen through other means.
"I welcome any scrutiny of my actions in the future and it is appropriate for that to be done independently."
Paying tribute to Mr Sargeant, he said: "Carl was a true force of nature - he drove through more legislation than any other minister. Not just through force of argument, but through force of personality."
When Carwyn Jones finally appeared in front of the cameras today to deliver a statement on the death of Carl Sargeant and the events that led up to it, there was an expectation that the first minister would attempt to answer at least some of the many questions that have been raised since the former secretary's death.
Instead, while paying tribute to the man he described as a "true force of nature" he did little to answer the questions raised by Mr Sargeant's family and others.
A reference to a possible independent inquiry seemed equivocal at best.
The first minister's reference to "inaccuracies in the press" again raises more questions than answers.
If reports are inaccurate - why not correct them and why refuse to answer questions from journalists who are trying their best to report the situation accurately?
Carwyn Jones is human, of course, and I have no doubt that his grief and shock is genuine.
That may explain why a statement which would have been perfectly apt in the hours following Mr Sargeant's death seems insufficient and vague when delivered two and half days later.
Following the news conference, opponents rounded on Mr Jones.
Mr Davies said the episode has "significantly undermined public confidence in the first minister", while Ms Wood said the statement "was not adequate".
UKIP Wales said it would call for a motion of no confidence in the first minister.
And Mr Sargeant's lifelong friend and Flintshire council's deputy leader Bernie Attridge, called for Mr Jones to resign saying he "had not done the decent thing".
Mr Andrews said a number of people were expecting a "definite commitment to an independent inquiry" from Mr Jones' statement.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Andrews alleged Mr Sargeant had been the target of bullying in the Welsh Government.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Leighton Andrews wants answers from the first minister
Former public services minister Mr Andrews - claimed there was "minor bullying" and "mind games" during his time in government - and said the atmosphere was "toxic" during the last assembly term.
"The undermining was of ministers, deputy ministers and special advisers," Mr Andrews said in a statement issued on Thursday.
He said Mr Sargeant "was unquestionably the target of some of this behaviour. The relentless drip-drip of disinformation - and worse - had a strain on his and others' mental health."
The ex-Rhondda AM said he had raised one particular issue with Mr Jones, of which he had direct evidence, but claimed due process was not followed.
The Welsh Government has declined to respond to Mr Andrews' claims. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41921678 | news_uk-wales-politics-41921678 |
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Mark van Dongen murder trial: Acid attack 'calculated' - BBC News | 2017-11-09 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Jurors see video interviews with acid attack victim Mark van Dongen, whose ex is accused of his murder. | Bristol | Mark van Dongen died 15 months after being attacked in Bristol
An acid attack victim has told jurors, in testimony recorded before his death, how the "jealous" ex accused of his murder laughed as she doused him in a corrosive liquid.
In video evidence, Mark van Dongen, 29, said Berlinah Wallace, 48, shouted "if I can't have you, no-one else can" as she threw sulphuric acid at him.
Bristol Crown Court heard he ended his life in a euthanasia clinic due to unbearable pain from his injuries.
The court heard Dutch national Mr van Dongen was left paralysed from the neck down and lost his left leg, the sight in his left eye and most of the sight in his right eye, after the September 2015 attack in Bristol.
He was later told he would require a "lifetime of constant and dedicated care".
In January this year, he travelled to Belgium where he ended his life in a euthanasia clinic.
A picture of Mark van Dongen taken before the attack
Jurors were shown the video interview with Mr van Dongen, filmed in hospital in July 2016, where he gave his account of the attack,
Trial judge Mrs Justice May warned them they may find the footage, which showed the extent of the scarring to the victim's body, "shocking and disturbing".
In the video, Mr van Dongen struggles to speak as he describes Ms Wallace waking him up and laughing as she threw acid over him, saying "if I can't have you, no one else can".
When the interviewer asks if he knew why she had attacked him, he says it was because she was jealous.
In a second video shown to the court, Mr van Dongen tells police Ms Wallace threw boiling water over him after an argument in 2014.
He also says Ms Wallace hit herself in the face, and told him she would tell police he had caused her injuries if he left her.
At the time of the attack, prosecutor Adam Vaitilingam QC told jurors, Mr van Dongen had begun seeing another woman and moved into a hotel.
The victim visited the defendant at her flat in Ladysmith Road, Bristol, because he was concerned that she was "in a bad way and self-harming", the court was told.
He fell asleep, jurors heard, and Ms Wallace laughed as she threw a glass of sulphuric acid over him.
The court heard Mr van Dongen ran into the street "screaming for help", where neighbours tried to help him, and he was taken to a specialist burns unit at Southmead Hospital.
Mr Vaitilingam said: "The physical and mental suffering that he sustained from that calculated acid attack were what drove him to euthanasia.
"Put simply, he could not bear to live in that condition.
"If that is right, we say, then she is guilty of murder."
Ms Wallace wept in the dock as the jury were told Mr van Dongen was "genuinely frightened" of her, and the couple's relationship had become "volatile".
The jury heard computer records showed Ms Wallace had bought the acid online on 2 September.
She also carried out internet searches, including "can I die drinking sulphuric acid?", and browsed news stories on acid attack victims.
Ms Wallace admits throwing a substance over Mr van Dongen but denies any intent to cause him harm.
She claims she believed that she was throwing a glass of water over him.
Richard Smith QC, defending, told the jury "to keep an open mind".
"Yes, she threw the glass over him, but defence claims Mr van Dongen put the acid in the cup without her knowledge, and encouraged her to drink it resulting in a mirror image of what we now have."
He said the couple had a "turbulent and complicated relationship" and Ms Wallace was going to blackmail Mr van Dongen with personal information, which was why he put the acid in the glass and encouraged her to drink it.
Ms Wallace wiped away tears as jurors heard details of the couple's "volatile" relationship
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-41914798 | news_uk-england-bristol-41914798 |
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Penny Mordaunt: Reshuffle maintains cabinet's Brexit balance - BBC News | 2017-11-09 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Laura Kuenssberg says the PM is not looking for more drama after eight days of turmoil. | UK Politics | Choosing ministers is about more than just who is best for the job.
There are good reasons why Penny Mordaunt has been promoted to the Department for International Development.
She has worked in humanitarian aid, she has been a minister in two different departments, former colleagues rate her abilities and she was tipped last week to be elevated to running the Ministry of Defence.
But there is a lot more to her than meets the eye, and a lot more that is interesting about her than going on TV in a swimsuit, although no doubt, for many voters, that is the way they will have come across her before.
She also has a different political qualification - she was prominent campaigning Brexiteer.
By promoting her, rather than others, Theresa May has opted to preserve the precarious balance around the cabinet table.
There has been an almost equal split, not so much between those who were tagged as Leavers or Remainers in 2016, but the two sides of the argument now - those who want a future closely tied to the European Union and those who want a much looser arrangement.
In Whitehall's technical lingo it's now known as "high or low alignment".
And by keeping the balance roughly 50-50, disregarding what one cabinet minister described as the "swing voters" - those like Sajid Javid, Liz Truss and Jeremy Hunt who are not considered to be dogmatic on the issue - it means that in effect, Theresa May has the decisive vote.
In theory that allows her, in a position with little authority, to be able to tip the balance relatively easily in either direction when the big Brexit decisions have to be made.
Time for that is clearly pressing, with Brussels giving the UK only a couple of weeks to show movement, in particular on the Brexit bill.
It's not clear if the UK will feel able to move forward on the bill that soon - that is a difficult debate to come.
The very limited changes to government today however won't obstruct the path of those decisions.
Ms Mordaunt has a sense of humour, and is far from a political drone - but her appointment is also about Theresa May trying to quietly hold the current cabinet equilibrium together.
With this appointment, after the eight days of turmoil, the prime minister is not looking for drama.
PS: It's worth noting too, that the first MP from the Tories' 2015 intake was brought into government today.
Victoria Atkins so far has stood out in Westminster for saying that people thought President Trump was a "wazzock". Let's see what she has to say next! | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41936423 | news_uk-politics-41936423 |
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Tories struggle to agree a way ahead on housing - BBC News | 2017-11-19 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Chancellor Philip Hammond is being urged to go beyond marginal changes in next week's Budget as his party worries about electoral consequences of inaction. | UK Politics | It feels a very long time since George Osborne made that claim for the Conservative Party and the record of the government since then has not really borne that out.
But right now, in some parts of the Tories there is a definite sense that unless they come up with an effective offer - politicians' term, not mine - on housing, they are on course to lose the next election.
There is tangible pressure then, not just on the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, but more to the point, the chancellor.
Next week the political expectation is that Philip Hammond's Budget will provide at least part of the answer to that political quandary.
Later today, there will be a tentative step in that direction, with Prime Minister Theresa May and Mr Javid donning hard hats to try to show they care, and announcing that housing associations' financial status will change.
But beyond what is announced this week there is, insiders suggest, a wider three-way fight going on over the best way to proceed.
The Department for Communities and Local Government, which Mr Javid heads, is said to be pushing not just for more money to build new houses, but also for more loosening up of the planning rules and more power to get building going on publicly-owned land.
The chancellor, sources suggest, is more focused on marginal changes to the market, as a traditional Conservative, to make the conditions more conducive for business to get building, rather than any bold intervention.
But inside No 10, it is not just the prime minister who is all too aware of the political pressure on housing, but her chief of staff Gavin Barwell- a former housing minister - who I'm told is "beating up on Hammond" to go further than he is willing so far to move.
Right now in the immediate run-up to the announcement no minister or government official would acknowledge on the record exactly what's going on.
But these pre-Budget announcements, while important, are far from the end of the story.
There is a live argument, that relates to the kind of government Theresa May really wants to run - intervene in markets significantly with all the opportunity and the risk that presents, or tweak round the edges and hope to influence the wider economy's instincts.
In housing, as in much of her decision making, it just isn't clear which direction Theresa May really wants to go. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42006379 | news_uk-politics-42006379 |
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Trump lashes out at 'unfair' Japan trade ties - BBC News | 2017-11-06 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The US president says Japan has been "winning" on trade but he will push for fairer economic ties. | Business | US President Donald Trump has lashed out at Japan over trade and said he would push for a fairer economic relationship between the two countries.
Speaking to business leaders in Tokyo on Monday he said Japan "has been winning" on trade in recent decades.
He also called on Japan to build more cars in America.
Mr Trump's comments come at the start of a 12-day Asian tour which is expected to be dominated by North Korea and trade.
The US leader said his country had "suffered massive trade deficits at the hands of Japan for many, many years".
"We want free and reciprocal trade but right now our trade with Japan is not free and it's not reciprocal and I know it will be and we've started the process," Mr Trump told the group of US and Japanese executives.
He praised Japan, which counts the US as its second largest trade partner after China, for buying American military hardware.
Mr Trump also said he wanted his country to be the most attractive place to hire and invest.
Japan had a $69bn (£52.8bn) trade surplus with the US in 2016, according to the US Treasury department.
The US has a much bigger imbalance with China, which Mr Trump has long rallied against. The total trade relationship between the pair was worth $648bn last year, but trade was heavily skewed in China's favour with the US amassing a nearly $310bn deficit.
Mr Trump's "America First" views are underpinning re-examination of trade with Asia, prompting a crackdown on China's intellectual property practices and fresh negotiations after the US walked away from a major regional trade pact, the Trans Pacific Trade partnership. (TPP).
The remaining 11 nations taking part in the TPP, which includes Japan, are proceeding with negotiations on the agreement without the US.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe held formal talks with US president Donald Trump in Tokyo on Monday
The US and Japan are now working on a new roadmap for trade, but talks could put a strain on otherwise warm relations between the two countries.
Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, was the first foreign leader to meet Mr Trump following his election in November 2016. The pair played golf in Japan on Sunday after which the US president described his relationship with his Japanese counterpart as "really extraordinary".
Despite that, Mr Trump took aim at Japanese carmakers in Tokyo on Monday.
"Try building your cars in the United States instead of shipping them over. That's not too much to ask," the US president said at the briefing, adding, "is that rude to ask"?
Data from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, a non-profit trade group, shows that in 2016, three-quarters of Japanese branded cars sold in the US were manufactured in North America.
Last year, those carmakers built nearly 4 million vehicles and 4.7 million engines in the US it said.
They contributed $45.6bn in total investment through 24 manufacturing plants, and 43 research and development and design centres in the US.
Why is President Trump complaining about Japanese cars?
It's true, as he points out, that there is a massive trade deficit between the US and Japan. Last count it was about second only to China's deficit with the US - although that's much bigger.
It's also true that while a lot of Japanese cars ARE made in the US, Americans are still buying cars from Japan, along with agricultural goods, electronic components and pharmaceutical products.
This doesn't wholly explain the trade gap though. The weakness of the Japanese currency, the yen, does. The weaker the yen against the US dollar, the cheaper Japanese goods are for American shoppers.
But this is an old argument, which Tokyo has heard before. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be wary of any push from President Trump that will see the yen's value strengthen. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41882482 | news_business-41882482 |
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The making and unmaking of Oscar Pistorius - BBC News | 2017-11-24 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How did one of the world's most successful sportsmen, an inspiration to millions, end up serving a prison sentence after killing his girlfriend? | Magazine | He was one of the world's most successful sportsmen, an inspiration to millions, but now Oscar Pistorius is serving a five-year sentence for killing his girlfriend.
Sixteen years ago, breathless after the 75m swim, he climbs out of the pool with his stumps trailing behind him, and into the arms of his friends.
He clambers on to the back of a classmate, Deon, who trots off with the grinning 12-year-old Oscar as cargo.
The second part of the race is an 800m run, and the route stretches ahead of them under a blue Johannesburg sky. As the five young racers pass the netball courts, they leave behind the concrete path and feel the soft grass of the school playing fields underfoot. Cheyne is in front, carrying Oscar's prosthetic legs under his arms.
Oscar is carried over the finish line by Kaylem, who won the race but doubled back to pick up his friend. Like a human relay baton, Oscar completes the race after being passed from one friend to another, according to a pre-arranged plan.
This vignette from early 1999 at Constantia Kloof Primary School in Roodepoort, near Johannesburg, sums up the childhood of Oscar Pistorius - never left out, surrounded by friends, often the centre of attention.
Last year, he was the focus of attention during a six-month trial after shooting his girlfriend through a toilet door. The attack happened just months after he was the poster boy at the London Paralympics and made history by competing in the Olympic Games three weeks earlier.
The life of Pistorius can be seen in two arcs. There is one story of extraordinary determination - how this boy with no evident running talent at 12 somehow scaled the heights of sport in just a few years. But the second story is how that innocent boy became, as weeks of testimony in court suggested, a man plagued by his temper, with a reckless love for guns and speed - condemned by the judge as "negligent" when he pulled the trigger.
In one of Oscar's earliest memories, he hurtled down a hill near his home, in his brother Carl's go-kart, as the two of them began a lifelong passion for speed - they were "adrenalin junkies", Pistorius later wrote in his autobiography, Blade Runner.
As the wall at the bottom of the hill loomed in front of them, with no brakes on the kart, Carl grabbed Oscar's prosthetic leg, yanked it off and pushed it into the wheel to bring the vehicle to a sudden stop.
This narrow escape did nothing to dampen his new addiction - aged four he was riding mini-motorbikes. Soon after he was racing his father at go-karting. Aged 15, he was driving his brother's Golf, and as an adult a speedboating accident nearly ended his career.
This hotheaded adventurousness in the young boy was partly encouraged by his family, who were determined that his disability would not make him a spectator in life. In the Pistorius family, who lived in a comfortable part of Johannesburg, no-one was allowed to say "I can't."
Born with no fibulas - the smaller of the two lower leg bones - Oscar's legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old. Six months later, he received his first prosthetics, a defining moment in his life, he later said. This plaster and mesh fitted with a lycra "skin" was a liberation. Immediately, he says, he felt invincible and his energy was boundless.
"I believe that it was at this time in my life that my personality was shaped, and that my family was instrumental in laying the foundation stones of my competitive nature, and of the man that I am today," he wrote in Blade Runner.
His mother was a huge influence. She put inspirational notes into the lunchboxes of her children, and one letter she wrote for him he still keeps: "The real loser is never the person who crosses the finishing line last. The real loser is the person who sits on the side, the person who does not even try to compete."
Getting ready for school, she would say: "Carl, put on your shoes. Oscar, put on your legs." He was different, but equal.
In fact, the young Oscar didn't feel different at all.
"He didn't like to be reminded that he was different because mentally he wasn't different," says Gianni Merlo, who co-authored Pistorius' book. "This was because of the way his mother brought him up as a kid. He has a spirit that is completely different because he was born that way. Without knowing what it feels like to be normal, you feel normal."
As well as providing an emergency brake for go-karts, there were other advantages to prosthetic legs. Oscar never had to wear cricket pads and he could leave his leg dangling against a hot oven and not suffer terrible burns. Children at the beach marvelled at his small round footprints, while opponents on the rugby field who tackled him were left clutching an artificial limb.
Carl suffered serious injuries in a road accident last month
A major inspiration was a teacher at Constantia Kloof, Tessa Shellard, who encouraged him to take part in sports, even putting him in the school team for a prestigious nationwide triathlon series, despite him not being the best athlete.
"I gave him the opportunity that maybe others didn't give him. I saw a youngster with a disability but one who had it within himself to persevere. He was like a little hero in my heart that, at that young age, he gave so much."
He usually gave it everything, even though he often came last. That biathlon race, in which he was carried by his friends, came on a day when his prosthetics were hurting him and so they hatched a plan to spare him the pain.
Oscar was bubbly and full of energy, says Shellard, and in 2007 he came back to the school and signed a photo of the two of them, writing: "Times of change, memories still the same, thank you for all the times you helped me up."
Aged nine, he had his first fist-fight - over a girl - and more followed. The family's response? His father and grandfather taught him how to box. This was the time when he first learned to defend himself, he says, and he later proved on several occasions that he was never slow in lashing out, usually verbally, at people who annoyed him. The most public example was when, after defeat in the 200m at the London Paralympics, he accused Brazilian Alan Oliveira of using illegal blades - an incident captured on live TV.
Despite this pluckiness, he showed little sporting talent in his early teens. That didn't shine until Pretoria Boys School, when he was able to use much lighter prosthetics, thanks to a family friend and design engineer, Chris Hatting.
Initially it was endurance running, not sprinting, that interested him. He was showing ability in 10km races, and enjoying rugby and water polo. His discovery of sports in which he could properly compete, not just take part, meant his schooldays were generally happy - but three life-changing events cast a more sombre light on these years.
The first was the divorce of his parents, which meant Oscar and his siblings were separated from their father and lived with their mother in a smaller house. Perhaps as a way to bridge this distance, his father bought Oscar and Carl a small speedboat and his sons found yet another means to race against each other - this time on water-skis.
Then in March 2002 his mother Sheila died. To the 15-year-old it felt like his world's guiding light had been extinguished. He has the dates of her birth and death tattooed on his right arm.
"Sport was my salvation, as it helped me get through this difficult time," he wrote. "My mother had been a strong woman, the centre of my world. Sporting activity was the only thing that could distract me from such a loss."
His aunt Diana stepped in to play a greater part in the upbringing of Oscar, Carl and Aimee. She says Sheila was such a devoted mother that her death required a "huge adjustment at a difficult time developmentally" for the three teenagers.
"Sheila valued each of her children for their individual talents and was proud of them," says Oscar's aunt, Diana Binge.
"Strict, loving, spontaneous and always game for fun, she was also a devout Christian who brought her children up to observe the Christian way of life, something she tried to demonstrate in her own relationships.
"She was open about Oscar's disability and shared her experience in bringing Oscar up in order to encourage other parents of disabled children. Oscar has continued her legacy of helping others.
"Sheila had unique relationships with each of her children and losing her would have left a unique gap in each of their lives, which each of them had to handle in their own way."
A year after his mother's death came the third life-changing event - he shattered his knee on the rugby pitch.
It came at a time when he had been working hard on his general fitness, to complement his rugby and water polo. One trainer, Jannie Brooks, has spoken about how Pistorius used his gym in Pretoria for six months - boxing, skipping and doing press-ups - before he realised he had no legs. "He was just one of the bunch, doing everything at the same pace as everybody else."
But after the injury, he was back with the same medics who had carried out the amputations when he was a baby, and his recovery was slow. It was during his rehabilitation, supervised by the University of Pretoria, that he was advised to take up sprinting to help the knee joint recover. At the same time, Hatting - now working for a firm in the US - was working on new, lighter prosthetics and he invited Oscar to fly to the US to try the Flex-Foot Cheetah blades, manufactured by Ossur.
Three weeks after taking up sprinting, Pistorius ran his first 100m race. With his father watching in Bloemfontein, he won the race in a time faster than any double amputee had achieved before - 11.72s. A star was born.
Eight months later, he won the 200m gold at the Paralympics in Athens and his life changed forever. It was at this moment - September 2004 - that the world woke up to his talent and personality.
Before long he began running against non-disabled athletes, first in a Golden Gala 400m race in Rome in 2007, finishing second, and then in Sheffield where, in very wet conditions, he finished last.
The question now began to be asked whether his prosthetics gave him an advantage.
It was a huge blow when, the following year, the world governing body for athletics (IAAF) concluded that they did, and banned them. But he fought the decision and won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, paving the way for him to compete in the summer Olympic Games in Beijing later that year. Failing to qualify, he set his sights on London in 2012, where in due course he became the first track and field athlete to compete in both Paralympic and Olympic Games.
"Oscar, with his personality, athletic prowess and the fact that he was trying to compete in the able-bodied Olympics made him the big breakthrough name, who brought sponsorship in Paralympic sport to the next level, internationally," says Paralympic commentator Tony Garrett, who has known Pistorius since he burst on to the scene in Athens.
Not only was he a very good athlete, says Garrett, one who broke down the barriers between disabled and non-disabled sport, he was a good-looking young man full of vitality, ready to take on the world.
Pistorius has always strongly rejected the suggestion that his fight to compete in the Olympics meant he regarded Paralympic sport as second-rate. He says he just believed it was unfair to exclude disabled athletes from taking part, if they were good enough. "I am not a Paralympic athlete, nor an Olympic athlete. I am simply an athlete and sprinter."
Despite his relatively privileged background, his achievements made him a hero to many South Africans, even if they came from different communities. He was a unifying figure. "For us South Africans," wrote Justice Malala in the Guardian, "it is impossible to watch Oscar Pistorius run without... wanting to break down and cry and shout with joy."
But as the sponsorship deals and media appearances multiplied, Garrett was not the only person to notice a change in the man he knew.
In 2011, Pistorius had stormed out of a BBC radio interview after taking exception to a question about his fight to take part in non-disabled athletics. Then there was the outburst at the London Games, when he lashed out at Alan Oliveira. Another South African Paralympian, Arnu Fourie, told a journalist he had to change rooms in the athletes' village because Pistorius was shouting on the phone so much.
"His lifestyle and image changed and clearly something got to him and he wasn't the same person, there were so many demands on his time," says Garrett. "I think he let rip every so often and he wouldn't have done that a few years ago."
Other acquaintances concur that his character subtly altered. Sports journalist Graeme Joffe, who co-owned a racehorse called Tiger Canyon with Pistorius and three others, first met him 13 years ago. Then Pistorius was an athlete of enormous promise and Joffe was really impressed by his confidence and charisma.
"But three years ago, the syndicate was put together and I and some of the other owners met him at the stables. I immediately thought there was something about Oscar that had changed," he says. "He was a different man to the one I had interviewed so many times, in the sense that he was a bit stand-offish and a little bit cold, not his usual warm self."
Joffe says he had taken note of Pistorius' behaviour towards the BBC interviewer, and was aware of an earlier incident when Pistorius, captaining a speedboat, was involved in an accident in which someone could have been killed.
"These were big red flags for me and I was quite surprised that no-one in the media or in his management team condemned it publicly," says Joffe. "He was showing a spoilt-brat attitude that came out a year later at the Paralympics [in 2012] when he embarrassed the country."
This wasn't just about fame going to his head, says Joffe, there were other incidents over the years that suggested an aggressive side and a recklessness that the public didn't see - at least not until the trial.
There was a gun that went off in a restaurant and another shot through a car roof, and the odd verbal and physical fight. The South African media didn't explore this unpalatable side of the national hero, says Joffe. And journalists who questioned whether Pistorius' blades could give him an advantage were given no more interviews.
What did make headlines - at least, in the celebrity press - was the romance with Reeva Steenkamp. The two met in November 2012 through a mutual friend at a motoring event and she agreed to accompany him to an awards ceremony that night as he didn't have a date.
The model was already a reality show star and a regular presence on the cover of magazines. She was also hugely popular. Her best friend and housemate Gina Myers told the BBC this was a woman "as magnificent on the inside as she was beautiful on the outside".
A friend of the couple, Del Levin, saw the couple at a dinner about two weeks before Steenkamp's death, when Levin's wife, a well known television personality, sat next to her and the two women spoke for a long time. Levin and his wife got the impression the couple, who had then known each other for about three months, were happy.
By his own admission, Pistorius' relationships with women over the years have been turbulent. In his book, he referred to a "particularly nasty argument" here, a "very fiery" relationship there.
"He could get very furious suddenly," says his biographer Merlo. "He spoke of a fire inside. He had tough arguments with girls and afterwards sweet reconciliation. He has always had very beautiful girlfriends. I never saw the temper but sometimes there were situations where it was [apparent]. Sometimes he can explode but I have always seen the bright part of the moon, I've never seen the dark part."
Before Pistorius became a celebrity, he was very open to people, very friendly, says Merlo, who first met the athlete in 2007 in Rome and began working on the book with him the following year.
People fell in love with him when they met him, he says, but the red carpet wasn't a stage upon which he felt comfortable. "It's not easy for a young guy who becomes a celebrity to follow the light that you see from afar that can be your light."
Merlo agrees with those who say Pistorius underwent a change. But some friends of the athlete tell a very different story - of a man full of warmth and fun who overcame life's setbacks and stayed loyal despite his fame.
Levin, a marketing director, says that unlike many in Johannesburg's high society, the athlete was sincere in his affections.
"I wasn't a close friend but I got to know him over the years. He was an amazing, generous and courteous and kind person, easy to get along with, and very willing to share his own experiences and insights.
"Typically when you meet someone on the social scene, they're very cold and stand-offish and particularly if you are the spouse of someone [famous] but he was someone who embraced me from the beginning. He would see me and run over and say 'Hey' and talk, and we would catch up and see how things were. He was definitely not just faking it but genuinely interested in you."
One thing that did strike Levin was Pistorius' fears about security. He had recently bought a new home in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton and talked about how happy he was that it was equipped with more safety features than his house in Pretoria.
Pistorius sold the house where Steenkamp was killed, to pay for legal fees
Little did he know that his home would become the subject of such scrutiny in the months ahead. Few bedrooms, bathrooms, doors, duvets, fans and electric sockets have been pored over in such detail.
After a year in jail and now under house arrest, the freedom and companionship of the sunny playing fields of Constantia Kloof Primary School must seem a world away. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26628573 | news_magazine-26628573 |
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Gove attacks 'distorting' social media after animal sentience row - BBC News | 2017-11-24 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Michael Gove questions the role of "raw and authentic" Twitter voices in debates on animal welfare. | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Michael Gove has hit out at the way social media "corrupts and distorts" political reporting and decision making following a row about animal welfare.
The environment secretary said attacks on MPs over a vote on EU laws on animal "sentience" were "absolutely wrong".
The Commons vote sparked protests and social media campaign backed by high-profile figures such as Ben Fogle.
The explorer has apologised for posting "misleading threads" but defended sharing details on "important stories".
Last week MPs voted not to incorporate part of an EU treaty recognising that animals could feel emotion and pain into the EU Withdrawal Bill.
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Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas had tabled the amendment to the EU bill, which would have transferred the EU protocol on animal sentience - the ability to experience feelings - into domestic law.
But ministers argued that the recognition of animals' sentience already existed in UK law and MPs rejected the amendment.
Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "On social media there was a suggestion that somehow the MPs had voted against the principle that animals are sentient beings, that did not happen, that is absolutely wrong."
"There is an unhappy tendency now for people to believe that the raw and authentic voice of what's shared on social media is more reliable than what is said in Hansard or on the BBC.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove says the government has made a commitment to animal welfare
"More than that there is a particular concern somehow, a belief somehow that outside the European Union our democratic institutions can't do better than we did in the EU. We've got to challenge both those points."
He said Parliament was "an effective and vigorous institution which can ensure protection for human rights and animal rights".
Veterinary bodies want existing references to animal sentience in law made more explicit
"We've also got to stand up against the way in which social media corrupts and distorts both reporting and decision making... It's important that all of us do that and that some of us who shared some of these messages on social media have been generous enough to acknowledge ... that they may have unwittingly passed these messages on."
Among others who shared material posted by campaign groups which criticised MPs were the comedian Sue Perkins and Countdown host Rachel Riley.
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Mr Fogle said he accepted the government's arguments but insisted it was not only up to social media users to spread inaccurate reports, pointing out that a number of established newspapers published stories based on the same information.
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Mr Gove said there would not be a "gap" in animal welfare provisions as a result of the vote, once the UK left the EU, because the UK would "ensure we have stronger protection written into law". He argued that the EU legislation was "poorly designed" and said there was "no way in which animal protection can be diminished in any way, in any shape, or in any form".
But Ms Lucas said the government had been "backpedalling" since the vote: "What I was told in the chamber was that they had no need to take any account of my amendment because this principle of animal sentience was already recognised in UK law in the Animal Welfare Act of 2006.
"Now that is patently untrue, wrong and I am very glad in the last 24 hours Michael Gove and others have been rapidly backpedalling and admitting that that's not true."
And David Cameron's ex-director of communications suggested Mr Gove reflect on the impact of social media during the EU referendum - in which he was a passionate Leave campaigner.
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British Veterinary Association senior vice president Gudrun Ravetz told the BBC that there was a "significant difference" between the Article 13 EU protocol, which put a duty on the state to pay full regard to animal welfare when formulating and implementing policies, and the UK legislation, the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, which put the duty on the owner.
The first was "explicit" about "animal sentience", the latter was only "implicit about sentience of animals and vertebrates".
"That is a very important principle, we have the duty of animal welfare for the owner and keeper under the Animal Welfare Act, and that will continue but what we want to see is that duty to the state," she added.
Mr Gove was a relatively late convert to social media, only joining Twitter in June 2016 after he was sacked as a minister by Theresa May.
But he has continued to tweet since rejoining the cabinet this summer.
Hansard is the name given to the daily verbatim transcripts of parliamentary debates in Westminster, which have been officially printed since 1909 and are available online too. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42108236 | news_uk-politics-42108236 |
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Extreme weather 'could kill up to 152,000 a year' in Europe by 2100 - BBC News | 2017-11-16 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Weather-related deaths could surge by 2100 if nothing is done to curb climate change, scientists say. | Europe | Heat waves will cause most weather-related deaths if measures are not taken, the study says
Extreme weather could kill up to 152,000 people yearly in Europe by 2100 if nothing is done to curb the effects of climate change, scientists say.
The number is 50 times more deaths than reported now, the study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal said.
Heat waves would cause 99% of all weather-related deaths, it added, with southern Europe being worst affected.
Experts said the findings were worrying but some warned the projections could be overestimated.
If nothing is done to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to improve policies to reduce the impact against extreme weather events, the study by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre says:
The research analysed the effects of the seven most dangerous types of weather-related events - heat waves, cold snaps, wildfires, droughts, river and coastal floods and windstorms - in the 28 EU countries as well as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
The team looked at disaster records from 1981 to 2010 to estimate population vulnerability, and combined this information with predictions of how climate change might progress and how populations might increase and migrate.
They assumed a rate of greenhouse gas emissions that would lead to average global warming of 3C (5.4F) by the end of the century from levels in 1990, a pessimistic forecast well above targets set by the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change.
Low levels of the Po River near Pavia in northern Italy
"Climate change is one of the biggest global threats to human health of the 21st century, and its peril to society will be increasingly connected to weather-driven hazards," said Giovanni Forzieri, one of the authors of the study.
"Unless global warming is curbed as a matter of urgency and appropriate measures are taken, about 350 million Europeans could be exposed to harmful climate extremes on an annual basis by the end of the century."
Flooding near the Bavarian village of Deggendorf in southern Germany in 2013
Fire rages through an area of woodland in Artigues in south-eastern France
On Friday, the United States issued its first written notification to the UN of its intention to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
US President Donald Trump drew international condemnation in June when he first announced his decision, saying the deal would cost millions of American jobs.
The Paris Agreement saw nearly 200 countries agree to keep warming "well below" the level of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C
Experts from South Korea's Seoul National University warned that the study's results "could be overestimated".
"People are known to adapt and become less vulnerable than previously to extreme weather conditions because of advances in medical technology, air conditioning, and thermal insulation in houses," they wrote in a comment piece published in the same journal.
Paul Wilkinson, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were "yet another reminder of the exposures to extreme weather and possible human impacts that might occur if emissions of greenhouse gases continue unabated.
"It adds further weight to the powerful argument for accelerating mitigation actions to protect population health." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40835663 | news_world-europe-40835663 |
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Facebook ditches fake news warning flag - BBC News | 2017-12-21 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | The social network will no longer display a warning icon next to disputed stories. | Technology | Facebook no longer displays red warning icons next to fake news stories shared on the platform, as it says the approach has not worked as hoped.
In December 2016, the site started showing a "disputed" warning next to articles that third-party fact checking websites said were fake news.
However, it said research suggested the "red flag" approach actually "entrenched deeply held beliefs".
It will now display "related articles" next to disputed news stories.
"Academic research on correcting misinformation has shown that putting a strong image, like a red flag, next to an article may actually entrench deeply held beliefs - the opposite effect to what we intended," Facebook's Tessa Lyons wrote in a blog post.
Instead of displaying a warning icon in the news feed, it will instead "surface fact-checked articles" and display them next to disputed stories.
Facebook said it had tested the approach and found that although the new approach did not reduce the number of times disputed articles were clicked on, it did lead to them being shared fewer times.
People who do try and share a disputed article are showed a pop-up with links to fact-checked sources.
Fact-checked articles will be given more prominence
"Using language that is unbiased and non-judgmental helps us to build products that speak to people with diverse perspectives," Facebook's designers said.
"Just as before, as soon as we learn that an article has been disputed by fact-checkers, we immediately send a notification to those people who previously shared it."
Critics say social networks should face regulation if they do not tackle the spread of misinformation and propaganda.
"What Facebook is trying to do is respond to pressure that it should be treated as a publisher, rather than a platform," said Tim Luckhurst, professor of journalism at the University of Kent.
"I think that argument is dead. They are a publisher, so it is not enough to offer people a menu of other related stories.
"We have a generation of people that are so anti-establishment and sceptical of evidence-based news, we need regulation of the type imposed on broadcasters since they first emerged."
Prof Luckhurst said he was "appalled" by Facebook's argument that it was different from traditional media.
"They usually raise the objection that they cannot be regulated because they're international. Well so is the BBC, so is CNN."
• None Fake news - is Facebook doing enough? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42438750 | news_technology-42438750 |
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Brexit: Guidelines for the next stage of talks - BBC News | 2017-12-17 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | What are the key phrases in the Brexit guidelines and what do they mean? | UK Politics | The European Council has said that Brexit talks can enter the second phase following last week's agreement.
As a result it has published its guidelines for the next stage of talks.
Here are some of the key phrases from that document.
Don't forget that there are plenty of crucial details that still need to be resolved before negotiations on a withdrawal agreement come to an end.
That means the financial settlement, citizens' rights and of course, the Irish border.
Sufficient progress is not the end of the story, but the text also makes it clear that there will be a concerted effort to lock in what has been agreed so far - and that if the EU detects any reluctance or backsliding from the UK then that will have a negative effect on discussions about the future.
Theresa May has already agreed that a transition of about two years will take place under existing EU rules and regulations, but the EU's text makes crystal clear what it believes that means.
The UK will have to accept all EU law (that's what the acquis means) including new laws passed during the transition itself.
But it will no longer have a seat at the table when those laws are made. To put it brutally - the UK will, for a while, become a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker.
Both sides talk of a strictly time-limited transition period, so there doesn't appear to be much appetite at the moment for extending it.
Quite what happens if a future trade deal isn't ready by the end of the transition, a scenario many experts think is quite possible, will have to be debated in the future.
During the transition, the UK will have to accept the full jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and all four freedoms - including the freedom of movement of people.
The EU says the UK will remain in the single market and the customs union during a transition, while the UK insists that it will leave both on Brexit day.
This could become a semantic argument, because by accepting all rules and regulations - in other words, the status quo - the UK will remain in the single market and the customs union whether it likes it or not.
The British government has suggested that some things - like dispute resolution mechanisms - could change during the transition as agreement is made on future co-operation. But there's little appetite in the EU for that - in its view, you're either in or you're out.
The EU 27 stress that they want a close partnership with the UK in the future, but here they are setting out the limits of what they could mean.
The further away the UK wants to be from the rules and regulations of the single market the less access it will have - there is no such thing as partial membership.
This gets us back to the unresolved debate about what "full alignment" at the Irish border really means in practice.
The phrase "preserve a level playing field" is important too. The EU is anxious to ensure that the UK doesn't try to undercut the EU in any way by having looser regulations in certain key areas, and, if it does, then there will be consequences.
EU negotiators won't have the authority to start discussions with the UK on future relations (including trade and also things like security and foreign policy) until another set of guidelines is adopted in March 2018.
That gives the two sides not much more than six months to agree the text of a broad political declaration on the outlines of the future relationship.
The EU hopes to get that finalised by October 2018, but it emphasises that formal trade negotiations can only begin after the UK has left the EU.
Informal contacts on what the future might look like are probably taking place already, but the EU is still waiting for greater clarity from London about what exactly the UK government hopes to achieve in the long term.
The UK is trying to be as ambitious as possible about what can be done before Brexit actually happens. The EU, though, emphasises that trade talks will have to continue long after the UK has left.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42367532 | news_uk-politics-42367532 |
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Brexit vote: Total silence - then disbelief - BBC News | 2017-12-13 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Ministers looked like they felt sick as the government's Brexit bill defeat was announced. | UK Politics | The Tory rebels, and the government, believed that a last-minute panicked concession from the government side had walked Theresa May back from the brink of defeat.
Frantic conversations between the government, the whips, the party managers and their MPs who were tempted to rebel had been taking place all day.
We saw cabinet ministers take MPs aside - for just a quiet chat of course - in the closing moments of the vote.
And during the voting, which always takes about 15 minutes, some of those who were tempted tweeted that they had decided to abstain - the last minute promise from the minister, Dominic Raab, had changed their minds or delayed the clash.
We saw as one of the possible rebels, a new Scottish MP, Paul Masterton, was cajoled by the Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson (the chief whip until weeks ago) - then after the conversation, picked up his mobile phone and tweeted that he was going to abstain. But the arm twisting and arguments failed.
As the MPs who count the votes made their way to the Speaker's chair, the opposition teller made their way to the outside of the despatch box.
It's a physical signal of telling MPs who has won before the official announcement takes place. As that happened the House of Commons erupted - well at least the Labour side.
Ministers looked like they felt sick. The deputy speaker had to call for silence so the chamber could hear the actual result.
Total silence, and then disbelief as the result was read out. The government had been beaten after all, by only four votes.
It's the first time that Theresa May has been defeated on her own business in the Commons. She has to front up in Brussels tomorrow with other EU leaders only hours after an embarrassing loss in Parliament.
Beyond the red faces in government tonight, does it really matter? Ministers tonight are divided on that. Two cabinet ministers have told me while it's disappointing it doesn't really matter in the big picture.
It's certainly true that the Tory party is so divided over how we leave the EU that the Parliamentary process was always going to be very, very choppy.
But another minister told me the defeat is "bad for Brexit" and was openly frustrated and worried about their colleagues' behaviour.
It's possible too that it was a miscalculation that could have been avoided. Had the minister at the despatch box put forward the concession even a few hours earlier, that tiny number of votes might have gone the other way.
This is only the first big piece of legislation related to our withdrawal from the EU and it has run into trouble.
And one of the leading Tory rebels predicted the government will have to drop one of its other plans, to put a Brexit date in the withdrawal bill, next week.
The broader risk for May is not just that she will have to budge on this particular issue, but that the small group of rebels in the Tory party is strengthened by actually having had this kind of impact - and the opposition parties are already emboldened.
Theresa May had been having her first good week in many, many months. That brief respite just might have come to an end.
Stephen Hammond, one of the rebels, has just been sacked from his position as deputy Conservative Party chairman. Tonight, no-one is playing nice. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42346277 | news_uk-politics-42346277 |
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Brexit vote: Total silence - then disbelief - BBC News | 2017-12-14 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Ministers looked like they felt sick as the government's Brexit bill defeat was announced. | UK Politics | The Tory rebels, and the government, believed that a last-minute panicked concession from the government side had walked Theresa May back from the brink of defeat.
Frantic conversations between the government, the whips, the party managers and their MPs who were tempted to rebel had been taking place all day.
We saw cabinet ministers take MPs aside - for just a quiet chat of course - in the closing moments of the vote.
And during the voting, which always takes about 15 minutes, some of those who were tempted tweeted that they had decided to abstain - the last minute promise from the minister, Dominic Raab, had changed their minds or delayed the clash.
We saw as one of the possible rebels, a new Scottish MP, Paul Masterton, was cajoled by the Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson (the chief whip until weeks ago) - then after the conversation, picked up his mobile phone and tweeted that he was going to abstain. But the arm twisting and arguments failed.
As the MPs who count the votes made their way to the Speaker's chair, the opposition teller made their way to the outside of the despatch box.
It's a physical signal of telling MPs who has won before the official announcement takes place. As that happened the House of Commons erupted - well at least the Labour side.
Ministers looked like they felt sick. The deputy speaker had to call for silence so the chamber could hear the actual result.
Total silence, and then disbelief as the result was read out. The government had been beaten after all, by only four votes.
It's the first time that Theresa May has been defeated on her own business in the Commons. She has to front up in Brussels tomorrow with other EU leaders only hours after an embarrassing loss in Parliament.
Beyond the red faces in government tonight, does it really matter? Ministers tonight are divided on that. Two cabinet ministers have told me while it's disappointing it doesn't really matter in the big picture.
It's certainly true that the Tory party is so divided over how we leave the EU that the Parliamentary process was always going to be very, very choppy.
But another minister told me the defeat is "bad for Brexit" and was openly frustrated and worried about their colleagues' behaviour.
It's possible too that it was a miscalculation that could have been avoided. Had the minister at the despatch box put forward the concession even a few hours earlier, that tiny number of votes might have gone the other way.
This is only the first big piece of legislation related to our withdrawal from the EU and it has run into trouble.
And one of the leading Tory rebels predicted the government will have to drop one of its other plans, to put a Brexit date in the withdrawal bill, next week.
The broader risk for May is not just that she will have to budge on this particular issue, but that the small group of rebels in the Tory party is strengthened by actually having had this kind of impact - and the opposition parties are already emboldened.
Theresa May had been having her first good week in many, many months. That brief respite just might have come to an end.
Stephen Hammond, one of the rebels, has just been sacked from his position as deputy Conservative Party chairman. Tonight, no-one is playing nice. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42346277 | news_uk-politics-42346277 |
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Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City - BBC Sport | 2017-12-10 | [] | Jose Mourinho says Manchester United's title hopes are "probably over" after their 2-1 loss to "lucky" Manchester City. | null | Last updated on .From the section Premier League
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said his side's title hopes are "probably" over because referee Michael Oliver failed to award them a penalty in their 2-1 loss to "lucky" Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's team stretched their lead at the top of the table to 11 points and became the first team to win 14 successive English top-flight games in a single season.
City took the lead their vast superiority deserved when man-of-the-match David Silva hooked home from close range after confusion at a corner on 42 minutes, only for United to be handed a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when poor defending from Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph allowed Marcus Rashford to steal in for a composed finish.
Otamendi made amends nine minutes after the break when Romelu Lukaku - who had a poor game - lashed at a clearance in the area and the City defender pounced on the rebound to score.
• None Has Mourinho lost the battle with Guardiola?
• None My Barcelona philosophy is working in England - Guardiola
Mourinho's post-match focus centred on an incident in the 79th minute, when Ander Herrera went down in the box under a challenge from Otamendi and was booked for diving.
"My first reaction is I feel sorry for Michael Oliver because he had a very good match but unfortunately he made an important mistake," Mourinho told BBC Match of the Day.
"The result was made with a big penalty not given. That would have been 2-2.
"Michael was unlucky because it was a clear penalty."
Asked whether the title race was over, Mourinho replied: "Probably, yes. Manchester City are a very good team and they are protected by the luck, and the gods of football are behind them."
Before Sunday's game, Mourinho had suggested City's players go down too easily - something Guardiola dismissed, along with the Portuguese's assertion United should have had a penalty.
"Last season it was the same - we won here and it was the referee. Today as well," Guardiola said.
"Yesterday he spoke about the referee. We are an honest team. We had 65% ball possession, which means we wanted to play. We came here and did that.
"It's not true that my players go down easily. That is not an argument I believe."
Sunday's result ended United's 40-match unbeaten run at home - which stretched back to City's win here in September 2016.
City, who have dropped only two points in their first 16 league games, had opportunities to extend their lead but it was keeper Ederson who made the decisive late intervention with a miraculous double late save from the luckless Lukaku and substitute Juan Mata.
• None Podcast: Is the Premier League title race over?
Is the title race over?
It is a brave call to declare the title race over in early December - but the statistics and evidence are piling up to suggest the chase is on for second place behind City.
City will effectively have to lose four games while all of their rivals need to keep winning, tough to see with Guardiola's team having won every league match since Everton took a point at Etihad Stadium in the second game of the season.
"We are still in December. If we have 11 points when we play the second derby in April then maybe I will tell you that we have the title," said Guardiola, who was full of praise for his side's performance.
"We won at Old Trafford again, that is why I am the most pleased and of course for the three points," he added. "We played good, with a lot of courage. I'm so satisfied."
The trip to Old Trafford, and the renewal of old rivalries between Guardiola and Mourinho, was the most eagerly awaited game of the season between the two teams at the top of the table and was seen as the acid test of City's apparent infallibility.
Those looking for cracks in the Guardiola armour pointed to City having to secure three wins against Huddersfield Town, Southampton and West Ham United with late, late goals.
If City's confidence had been shaken at all by having to fight for victories, there was no sign here as they played with a composure and positivity that was a level above United.
There can be no doubt City were deserved winners and even showed the street wisdom of champions to run down the clock in the closing seconds, to the fury and frustration of Old Trafford.
The title race may not be over - but there was no escaping the feeling a crucial blow has been inflicted on United and the rest of City's pursuers.
Silva may be small in stature but he stood head and shoulders above every other player in the intense heat of this game.
The Spaniard may now be 31 but it is little wonder City were so delighted to secure him on a new contract until 2020.
Silva showed again why he deserves to be ranked as a Premier League great, and one of the finest players to play for City.
He had more time on the ball than any other player, the hallmark of class, and always seemed to have more options in possession than any other player.
Silva pounced for City's crucial first goal, held his own in the physical exchanges and even shrugged off a heavy bang to the head in a clash with United's Marcos Rojo.
It was a complete performance from a world-class player.
City fans stayed in their seats long after the final whistle, delivering a taunt that had echoed around Old Trafford throughout this landmark victory.
"Park The Bus, Park The Bus, Man United…" was the chant that was met with a muted response from the home support, who had seen City show more attacking intent and flair than Mourinho's side could muster.
Until a predictable late charge, this was a strangely muted display from United. Their need for victory was arguably greater than City's as they started the game with an eight-point deficit, but they spent much of the first half on the back foot.
Mourinho's line-up demonstrated attacking intent with the inclusion of Lukaku, Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial. United also missed the power and influence of Paul Pogba, suspended after his red card at Arsenal.
It was still a surprise, however, to see City so comprehensively dominant from the opening exchanges and United were barely able to believe their luck that they went in at half-time on level terms.
Lukaku's lack of confidence and touch did not help and there was an element of good fortune about Ederson's late saves - but there was no doubt United did not push hard enough for victory and were second best.
• None This was just the second time a team has scored more than one goal in the Premier League at Old Trafford against Mourinho's Manchester United (also City in September 2016, 2-1).
• None Mourinho has lost nine matches in all competitions against Guardiola, more than against any other manager.
• None United posted a 35% possession figure, their lowest at Old Trafford in the Premier League since 2003-04 (when Opta started collecting this data).
• None Rashford has been involved in 11 goals in 12 games in all competitions at Old Trafford this season (six goals, five assists), more than any other United player.
• None Otamendi is now the top-scoring defender in the Premier League this season (four goals).
• None Lukaku has scored just five goals in his past 40 Premier League appearances against the 'big six'.
United welcome Bournemouth to Old Trafford on Wednesday at 20:00 GMT and are at West Brom on Sunday, 17 December at 14:15.
City travel to Swansea on Wednesday (19:45), before hosting Tottenham on Saturday (17:30).
• None Attempt saved. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Kevin De Bruyne with a through ball.
• None Ashley Young (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Delay over. They are ready to continue.
• None Delay in match Ederson (Manchester City) because of an injury.
• None Attempt saved. Juan Mata (Manchester United) left footed shot from very close range is saved in the centre of the goal.
• None Attempt saved. Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Anthony Martial.
• None Offside, Manchester United. Nemanja Matic tries a through ball, but Juan Mata is caught offside.
• None Offside, Manchester United. Ashley Young tries a through ball, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic is caught offside. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42212593 | rt_football_42212593 |
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Sir Elton John 'in shock' after his mother dies aged 92 - BBC News | 2017-12-04 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | "I only saw her last Monday," says the star, who was estranged from his mother for several years. | Entertainment & Arts | Elton John poses with his mother in 2002
Sir Elton John says he is "in shock" after the death of his mother, Sheila Farebrother, just months after their reconciliation.
"So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning," he said on his Facebook page, alongside a photo of them together.
"I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe, mum. Thank you for everything."
Sir Elton, who was born Reginald Dwight, was Ms Farebrother's only son.
This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Instagram The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip instagram post by eltonjohn This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Although his father - a flight lieutenant in the RAF - was a trumpeter in his spare time, it was his mother who ignited his love of pop music.
An avid record collector, she brought home music by artists such as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley and supported Sir Elton throughout his career.
But they fell out over a "petty" argument in 2008, when Sir Elton asked her to sever ties with two old friends, Bob Halley and John Reid.
Mr Halley had worked for Sir Elton for three decades, first as a driver then later as a personal assistant, before he resigned as part of a series of changes Sir Elton was making to his team.
Mr Reid, who had been Sir Elton's manager and briefly his lover, helped the musician become one of the world's most famous - and richest - performers, but they too fell out.
Sir Elton and David Furnish, pictured here last month, have two children together
"I told him: 'I'm not about to do that and drop them,'" Ms Farebrother told the Daily Mail.
"Then to my utter amazement, he told me he hated me. And he then banged the phone down. Imagine! To me, his mother!"
Ms Farebrother told the newspaper at the time that she had never met her grandsons Zachary and Elijah, who Sir Elton and his partner David Furnish fathered through IVF with an American surrogate mother.
For her 90th birthday, Ms Farebrother hired an Elton John tribute act to perform.
Her son got in touch soon after, sending her white orchids to celebrate the milestone.
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But their relationship was still strained. Sir Elton told Rolling Stone that his mother had not called him to say thank you after the bouquet arrived.
"To be honest with you, I don't miss her," he said. "I look after her, but I don't want her in my life."
However, the pair appear to have fully reconciled this year, after Sir Elton recovered from a potentially fatal bacterial infection.
"Dear Mum, Happy Mother's Day!" he wrote on Instagram in February. "So happy we are back in touch. Love, Elton xo"
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42220913 | news_entertainment-arts-42220913 |
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Oxford historians object to empire project - BBC News | 2017-12-26 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Up to 60 academics say they oppose "the agenda" of a project assessing the ethics of empire. | Oxford | The Ethics and Empire project is being hosted by the McDonald Centre based at Christ Church college
Up to 60 Oxford University academics have signed a letter in opposition to "the agenda" of a project assessing the ethics of empire.
The programme is led by Prof Nigel Biggar, who claimed in a recent article in The Times, there are aspects of empire Britain can be proud of.
In a letter, published in The Conversation, the academics expressed their "firm rejection" of his views.
Prof Biggar said none of the academics had raised their concerns in person.
The Ethics and Empire project aims to explore ethical questions of empire, which it has argued are not currently explored, because "most reaches" of academic discourse believe "by definition empire is imperialist" and "wicked".
It will seek to measure apologies and critiques of empire against historical data from around the world, Prof Biggar said.
Prof Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor of moral and pastoral theology at Oxford University
The letter's signatories said the ideas and aims of the project are not representative of Oxford scholarship and were "too simplistic to be taken seriously".
They added they would also not be engaging with the programme because it consists of closed invitation-only seminars.
In response, Prof Biggar said "in the current illiberal climate such discussion is only possible in private" as "enemies of free speech and thought would disrupt it".
He added any of the academics would be at liberty to refuse an invitation, but they "would not close the discussion down".
Common Ground, a student group that aims to examine Oxford's "colonial past", has also criticised Prof Biggar and the project.
It said the University of Oxford should not "stand idly" in the face of his "apologies for colonialism".
A university spokesperson said "arguments and differing approaches" are to be expected, and defended Prof Biggar as an "entirely suitable" person to lead the "valid evidence-led academic" project
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-42423269 | news_uk-england-oxfordshire-42423269 |
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Brexit: Guidelines for the next stage of talks - BBC News | 2017-12-18 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | What are the key phrases in the Brexit guidelines and what do they mean? | UK Politics | The European Council has said that Brexit talks can enter the second phase following last week's agreement.
As a result it has published its guidelines for the next stage of talks.
Here are some of the key phrases from that document.
Don't forget that there are plenty of crucial details that still need to be resolved before negotiations on a withdrawal agreement come to an end.
That means the financial settlement, citizens' rights and of course, the Irish border.
Sufficient progress is not the end of the story, but the text also makes it clear that there will be a concerted effort to lock in what has been agreed so far - and that if the EU detects any reluctance or backsliding from the UK then that will have a negative effect on discussions about the future.
Theresa May has already agreed that a transition of about two years will take place under existing EU rules and regulations, but the EU's text makes crystal clear what it believes that means.
The UK will have to accept all EU law (that's what the acquis means) including new laws passed during the transition itself.
But it will no longer have a seat at the table when those laws are made. To put it brutally - the UK will, for a while, become a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker.
Both sides talk of a strictly time-limited transition period, so there doesn't appear to be much appetite at the moment for extending it.
Quite what happens if a future trade deal isn't ready by the end of the transition, a scenario many experts think is quite possible, will have to be debated in the future.
During the transition, the UK will have to accept the full jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and all four freedoms - including the freedom of movement of people.
The EU says the UK will remain in the single market and the customs union during a transition, while the UK insists that it will leave both on Brexit day.
This could become a semantic argument, because by accepting all rules and regulations - in other words, the status quo - the UK will remain in the single market and the customs union whether it likes it or not.
The British government has suggested that some things - like dispute resolution mechanisms - could change during the transition as agreement is made on future co-operation. But there's little appetite in the EU for that - in its view, you're either in or you're out.
The EU 27 stress that they want a close partnership with the UK in the future, but here they are setting out the limits of what they could mean.
The further away the UK wants to be from the rules and regulations of the single market the less access it will have - there is no such thing as partial membership.
This gets us back to the unresolved debate about what "full alignment" at the Irish border really means in practice.
The phrase "preserve a level playing field" is important too. The EU is anxious to ensure that the UK doesn't try to undercut the EU in any way by having looser regulations in certain key areas, and, if it does, then there will be consequences.
EU negotiators won't have the authority to start discussions with the UK on future relations (including trade and also things like security and foreign policy) until another set of guidelines is adopted in March 2018.
That gives the two sides not much more than six months to agree the text of a broad political declaration on the outlines of the future relationship.
The EU hopes to get that finalised by October 2018, but it emphasises that formal trade negotiations can only begin after the UK has left the EU.
Informal contacts on what the future might look like are probably taking place already, but the EU is still waiting for greater clarity from London about what exactly the UK government hopes to achieve in the long term.
The UK is trying to be as ambitious as possible about what can be done before Brexit actually happens. The EU, though, emphasises that trade talks will have to continue long after the UK has left.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42367532 | news_uk-politics-42367532 |
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How does government get out of Brexit linguistic hole? - BBC News | 2017-12-05 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Mark Devenport outlines negotiating alternatives to raiding a thesaurus for synonyms for "regulatory alignment". | Northern Ireland | DUP leader Arlene Foster last week declared that her party was "in constant contact" on Brexit issues with the government
"Rubbish" - the response from a senior DUP source when I put it to them that the party had been kept in the loop about Theresa May's Brexit deal, but got cold feet when the likes of Nicola Sturgeon, Carwyn Jones and Sadiq Khan started demanding the same special treatment for Scotland, Wales and London.
Last Thursday, DUP leader Arlene Foster declared that her party was "in constant contact on these issues with the government".
Was that via face-to-face meetings of the two parties' "co-ordination committee", or just via telephone conversations? If the latter, the line must have been very crackly.
But also last Thursday, the DUP loudly and publicly denounced a report in The Times which talked about the devolution of extra powers to Stormont and hinted at the possibility of customs convergence.
It wasn't exactly what the Eurocrats were working on in their draft texts.
However, the similarity of the proposals and the vehemence of the DUP reaction should surely have alerted the negotiators to sound out the DUP first, rather than bouncing them into accepting a fait accompli.
How to get out of this hole?
The diplomats could try raiding a thesaurus to find synonyms for "regulatory alignment", although the DUP will now be on their guard for any cosmetic change which does not alter the thrust of the draft UK-EU agreement.
Earlier, another DUP source told me unionists just wanted to be treated the same as the rest of the UK. If regulations on animal health or agriculture are good enough for Northern Ireland, went the argument, then why not for the UK as a whole?
Negotiations between the UK and UK broke up without a deal on Monday
The DUP's critics are quick to point out that the party has been prepared to contemplate different regimes for corporation tax, air passenger duty and water charges. Not to mention that it doesn't back a "one-size-fits-all" UK-wide policy on abortion or same-sex marriage.
Putting all that to one side for the purpose of this Brexit negotiation, one obvious way to resolve the current conundrum might be for the government to pledge that any "regulatory alignment" between Northern Ireland and the European Union will also apply across the UK.
Such a wider east-west deal would not offend the DUP's unionist sensibilities, although it might create tensions between Theresa May and some of her Conservative Brexit purists.
So you could widen out the deal. However, another approach might be to narrow down its terms.
The draft text referred to "regulatory alignment" in areas relevant to the Good Friday Agreement (the 1998 deal that brought to an end the 30 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland).
That is open to interpretation - some say the EU provided the entire context in which the 1998 Agreement was negotiated. By contrast the UK Supreme Court ruled that Brexit was not in breach of the Agreement.
We have had north-south "areas of cooperation" for the past 19 years.
Transport is one of them, but drivers still need to stick to speed limits in kilometres south of the border and in miles per hour on the north.
Tourism is another area of cooperation, but airport bosses in Northern Ireland will remind you that their passengers pay duty which the Irish Republic abolished some time ago.
Tourism is one key area of north-south cooperation
So simply saying the magic words "Good Friday Agreement" doesn't mean every rule and regulation has to be the same.
Two different forms of words are now doing the rounds.
Leaks from Brussels on Monday claimed a draft text said: "In the absence of agreed solutions, the UK will ensure that continued regulatory alignment with those rules of the internal market and the customs union which, now or in the future, support north-south cooperation and the protection of the Good Friday Agreement."
This would be open to the UK government to parse on the grounds of which rules are relevant to that agreement.
The Irish Times has reported another formula which has apparently been disputed by the British government.
It says: "The UK remains committed to protecting north-south co-operation and a guarantee to avoiding a hard border.
"The UK's intention is to achieve these objectives through the overall EU-UK relationship.
"Should this not be possible, the UK will propose specific solutions to address the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland.
"In the absence of agreed solutions, the UK will maintain full alignment with the internal market, customs union and protection of the Good Friday agreement."
This appears more a comprehensive text, less open to interpretation and potentially creating an internal customs barrier within a post-Brexit UK.
So does the government widen the playing field across the UK or try to narrow the terms of the text dealing with Ireland?
Either way it's quite a challenge to rescue this deal. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42236349 | news_uk-northern-ireland-42236349 |
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Sir Elton John 'in shock' after his mother dies aged 92 - BBC News | 2017-12-05 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | "I only saw her last Monday," says the star, who was estranged from his mother for several years. | Entertainment & Arts | Elton John poses with his mother in 2002
Sir Elton John says he is "in shock" after the death of his mother, Sheila Farebrother, just months after their reconciliation.
"So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning," he said on his Facebook page, alongside a photo of them together.
"I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe, mum. Thank you for everything."
Sir Elton, who was born Reginald Dwight, was Ms Farebrother's only son.
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Although his father - a flight lieutenant in the RAF - was a trumpeter in his spare time, it was his mother who ignited his love of pop music.
An avid record collector, she brought home music by artists such as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley and supported Sir Elton throughout his career.
But they fell out over a "petty" argument in 2008, when Sir Elton asked her to sever ties with two old friends, Bob Halley and John Reid.
Mr Halley had worked for Sir Elton for three decades, first as a driver then later as a personal assistant, before he resigned as part of a series of changes Sir Elton was making to his team.
Mr Reid, who had been Sir Elton's manager and briefly his lover, helped the musician become one of the world's most famous - and richest - performers, but they too fell out.
Sir Elton and David Furnish, pictured here last month, have two children together
"I told him: 'I'm not about to do that and drop them,'" Ms Farebrother told the Daily Mail.
"Then to my utter amazement, he told me he hated me. And he then banged the phone down. Imagine! To me, his mother!"
Ms Farebrother told the newspaper at the time that she had never met her grandsons Zachary and Elijah, who Sir Elton and his partner David Furnish fathered through IVF with an American surrogate mother.
For her 90th birthday, Ms Farebrother hired an Elton John tribute act to perform.
Her son got in touch soon after, sending her white orchids to celebrate the milestone.
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But their relationship was still strained. Sir Elton told Rolling Stone that his mother had not called him to say thank you after the bouquet arrived.
"To be honest with you, I don't miss her," he said. "I look after her, but I don't want her in my life."
However, the pair appear to have fully reconciled this year, after Sir Elton recovered from a potentially fatal bacterial infection.
"Dear Mum, Happy Mother's Day!" he wrote on Instagram in February. "So happy we are back in touch. Love, Elton xo"
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42220913 | news_entertainment-arts-42220913 |
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Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City - BBC Sport | 2017-12-11 | [] | Jose Mourinho says Manchester United's title hopes are "probably over" after their 2-1 loss to "lucky" Manchester City. | null | Last updated on .From the section Premier League
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said his side's title hopes are "probably" over because referee Michael Oliver failed to award them a penalty in their 2-1 loss to "lucky" Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's team stretched their lead at the top of the table to 11 points and became the first team to win 14 successive English top-flight games in a single season.
City took the lead their vast superiority deserved when man-of-the-match David Silva hooked home from close range after confusion at a corner on 42 minutes, only for United to be handed a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when poor defending from Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph allowed Marcus Rashford to steal in for a composed finish.
Otamendi made amends nine minutes after the break when Romelu Lukaku - who had a poor game - lashed at a clearance in the area and the City defender pounced on the rebound to score.
• None Has Mourinho lost the battle with Guardiola?
• None My Barcelona philosophy is working in England - Guardiola
Mourinho's post-match focus centred on an incident in the 79th minute, when Ander Herrera went down in the box under a challenge from Otamendi and was booked for diving.
"My first reaction is I feel sorry for Michael Oliver because he had a very good match but unfortunately he made an important mistake," Mourinho told BBC Match of the Day.
"The result was made with a big penalty not given. That would have been 2-2.
"Michael was unlucky because it was a clear penalty."
Asked whether the title race was over, Mourinho replied: "Probably, yes. Manchester City are a very good team and they are protected by the luck, and the gods of football are behind them."
Before Sunday's game, Mourinho had suggested City's players go down too easily - something Guardiola dismissed, along with the Portuguese's assertion United should have had a penalty.
"Last season it was the same - we won here and it was the referee. Today as well," Guardiola said.
"Yesterday he spoke about the referee. We are an honest team. We had 65% ball possession, which means we wanted to play. We came here and did that.
"It's not true that my players go down easily. That is not an argument I believe."
Sunday's result ended United's 40-match unbeaten run at home - which stretched back to City's win here in September 2016.
City, who have dropped only two points in their first 16 league games, had opportunities to extend their lead but it was keeper Ederson who made the decisive late intervention with a miraculous double late save from the luckless Lukaku and substitute Juan Mata.
• None Podcast: Is the Premier League title race over?
Is the title race over?
It is a brave call to declare the title race over in early December - but the statistics and evidence are piling up to suggest the chase is on for second place behind City.
City will effectively have to lose four games while all of their rivals need to keep winning, tough to see with Guardiola's team having won every league match since Everton took a point at Etihad Stadium in the second game of the season.
"We are still in December. If we have 11 points when we play the second derby in April then maybe I will tell you that we have the title," said Guardiola, who was full of praise for his side's performance.
"We won at Old Trafford again, that is why I am the most pleased and of course for the three points," he added. "We played good, with a lot of courage. I'm so satisfied."
The trip to Old Trafford, and the renewal of old rivalries between Guardiola and Mourinho, was the most eagerly awaited game of the season between the two teams at the top of the table and was seen as the acid test of City's apparent infallibility.
Those looking for cracks in the Guardiola armour pointed to City having to secure three wins against Huddersfield Town, Southampton and West Ham United with late, late goals.
If City's confidence had been shaken at all by having to fight for victories, there was no sign here as they played with a composure and positivity that was a level above United.
There can be no doubt City were deserved winners and even showed the street wisdom of champions to run down the clock in the closing seconds, to the fury and frustration of Old Trafford.
The title race may not be over - but there was no escaping the feeling a crucial blow has been inflicted on United and the rest of City's pursuers.
Silva may be small in stature but he stood head and shoulders above every other player in the intense heat of this game.
The Spaniard may now be 31 but it is little wonder City were so delighted to secure him on a new contract until 2020.
Silva showed again why he deserves to be ranked as a Premier League great, and one of the finest players to play for City.
He had more time on the ball than any other player, the hallmark of class, and always seemed to have more options in possession than any other player.
Silva pounced for City's crucial first goal, held his own in the physical exchanges and even shrugged off a heavy bang to the head in a clash with United's Marcos Rojo.
It was a complete performance from a world-class player.
City fans stayed in their seats long after the final whistle, delivering a taunt that had echoed around Old Trafford throughout this landmark victory.
"Park The Bus, Park The Bus, Man United…" was the chant that was met with a muted response from the home support, who had seen City show more attacking intent and flair than Mourinho's side could muster.
Until a predictable late charge, this was a strangely muted display from United. Their need for victory was arguably greater than City's as they started the game with an eight-point deficit, but they spent much of the first half on the back foot.
Mourinho's line-up demonstrated attacking intent with the inclusion of Lukaku, Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial. United also missed the power and influence of Paul Pogba, suspended after his red card at Arsenal.
It was still a surprise, however, to see City so comprehensively dominant from the opening exchanges and United were barely able to believe their luck that they went in at half-time on level terms.
Lukaku's lack of confidence and touch did not help and there was an element of good fortune about Ederson's late saves - but there was no doubt United did not push hard enough for victory and were second best.
• None This was just the second time a team has scored more than one goal in the Premier League at Old Trafford against Mourinho's Manchester United (also City in September 2016, 2-1).
• None Mourinho has lost nine matches in all competitions against Guardiola, more than against any other manager.
• None United posted a 35% possession figure, their lowest at Old Trafford in the Premier League since 2003-04 (when Opta started collecting this data).
• None Rashford has been involved in 11 goals in 12 games in all competitions at Old Trafford this season (six goals, five assists), more than any other United player.
• None Otamendi is now the top-scoring defender in the Premier League this season (four goals).
• None Lukaku has scored just five goals in his past 40 Premier League appearances against the 'big six'.
United welcome Bournemouth to Old Trafford on Wednesday at 20:00 GMT and are at West Brom on Sunday, 17 December at 14:15.
City travel to Swansea on Wednesday (19:45), before hosting Tottenham on Saturday (17:30).
• None Attempt saved. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Kevin De Bruyne with a through ball.
• None Ashley Young (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Delay over. They are ready to continue.
• None Delay in match Ederson (Manchester City) because of an injury.
• None Attempt saved. Juan Mata (Manchester United) left footed shot from very close range is saved in the centre of the goal.
• None Attempt saved. Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Anthony Martial.
• None Offside, Manchester United. Nemanja Matic tries a through ball, but Juan Mata is caught offside.
• None Offside, Manchester United. Ashley Young tries a through ball, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic is caught offside. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42212593 | rt_football_42212593 |
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Mt Hope installed as 'UK's highest peak' - BBC News | 2017-12-11 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Scientists re-measure the tallest mountains in the Antarctic territory claimed by Britain. | Science & Environment | Mount Hope is more than twice the height of Ben Nevis in Scotland
Mt Hope, which is sited in the part of the Antarctic claimed by the UK, was recently re-measured and found to tower above the previous title holder, Mt Jackson, by a good 50m (160ft).
Hope is now put at 3,239m (10,626ft); Jackson is 3,184m (10,446ft).
The map-makers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) were prompted to take another look at the mountains because of concerns for the safety of pilots flying across the White Continent.
"In Antarctica there are no roads, so to get around you have to fly planes. And if you're flying planes you really need to know where the mountains are and how high they are," explained Dr Peter Fretwell.
As well as giving Mt Hope its new status, the reassessment has provided a more complete description of the relief across the quadrant of Antarctica claimed by Britain. This encompasses the long peninsula that stretches north towards South America.
Some of its mountains have now been "moved" up to 5km to position them more accurately on future maps.
Mount Vinson, which sits just outside the British Antarctic Territory, remains the undisputed tallest peak on the continent at 4,892m (16,049ft).
Dr Fretwell's team is releasing its findings on UN International Mountain Day.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Peter Fretwell: "If mountains are missing or in the wrong place on maps - that's dangerous"
Elevation data-sets are a topic of discussion here at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) - the world's largest annual gathering of Earth and planetary scientists.
The BAS group used a combination of elevation models built from satellite data to make the new mountain assessment.
When this medium-resolution information threw up the possibility that Mt Hope had been underestimated, the researchers then ordered in some very high-resolution photos for confirmation.
These pictures, taken from orbit by the American WorldView-2 spacecraft, allowed for a stereo view of the summits of both Hope and Jackson.
"We call this photogrammetry," said Dr Fretwell. "Because we know the position of the satellite so well, if we use it to take two images of a mountain that are ever so slightly offset from each other, we can then employ simple trigonometry to work out the height of that mountain."
The process raised Hope from 2,860m to 3,239m. The measurement technique carries an uncertainty of just 5m, so there should be no argument over the mountain's new-found superiority.
The long chain of peaks that runs down the spine of the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth.
The chain was initially built some 50-100 million years ago when an oceanic tectonic plate slid under the Antarctic continent, said BAS geophysicist Dr Tom Jordan.
"This produced volcanism and a shortening and a thickening of the crust. Then, more recently, the ice sheet and its glaciers have cut deep trenches into the Antarctic Peninsula, removing rock and depositing it offshore.
"As this mass has been removed so the whole of the peninsula has rebounded, uplifting the peaks fairly significantly," he explained.
At the AGU meeting in New Orleans, US researchers are showcasing very similar work - but on a much more extensive scale.
Dr Paul Morin, from the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota, has led an effort to re-map the elevation of both the Arctic and the Antarctic.
These projects have access to several years of WorldView images and time on a supercomputer to process all the data.
The Arctic map has an elevation point, or "posting," every 2m across the region. The Antarctic map, due to be released early next year, will have the postings every 8m.
"With this availability of data, Antarctica has gone from the poorest mapped place on the planet to one the best," Dr Morin told BBC News. "It makes better science cheaper and faster to achieve. And it also makes science much safer because we know where everything is."
Artwork: WorldView-2 has one of the sharpest views of Planet Earth
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42238262 | news_science-environment-42238262 |
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Boris Johnson under pressure over jailed mum in Iran case - BBC News | 2017-12-09 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | When the foreign secretary arrives in Iran, some nifty diplomatic footwork will be required. | UK Politics | Boris Johnson's visit to Iran will be his first as foreign secretary
When Boris Johnson arrives in Tehran this weekend, the foreign secretary will be required to perform some nifty diplomatic footwork even before he comes to address the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
For relations between Britain and the Islamic Republic of Iran are delicate at the best of times.
It is only six years since a mob stormed and sacked Britain's embassy in Tehran.
And to some in Iran, Britain will always be seen as the "Little Satan", a former imperial power that meddles in their country's affairs at America's bidding.
Both the UK and Iran have now restored diplomatic relations. But good relations are a work in progress.
So this visit, Mr Johnson's first, is designed above all to stabilise what has at times been a difficult relationship, a trip that was planned long before the case of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe became a frontline political issue.
And when Mr Johnson sits down for a lengthy session with his counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, on Saturday, there will be much else to discuss.
They will talk about the Iran nuclear deal.
Tehran believes it has not reaped the economic benefits it expected from the agreement it struck to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Britain wants to encourage Iran to stick with the agreement despite Donald Trump's decision not to certify the deal.
They will talk about Yemen where Iran is backing the rebel Houthi forces.
The foreign secretary will want to urge Tehran not to supply missiles that the Houthis have targeted at Saudi Arabia's airport.
Tehran will want to see what kind of political process, if at all, is being contemplated by the Saudi-led coalition.
They will also want to talk about Iran's behaviour in the Middle East that Britain sees as destabilising.
Tehran will want to discuss how the West is planning to help rebuild Syria now that so-called Islamic State has been largely routed out.
So it is within the context of these debates that both sides will discuss the fate of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British Iranian mother who was arrested in 2016 and jailed for five years for vague charges of plotting against the Iranian state - charges she categorically denies.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in Iran in 2016
The difficulty that Mr Johnson has is one of expectations.
Ever since the foreign secretary mistakenly told MPs that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists in Iran when in fact her family have always insisted she was on holiday, Mr Johnson has been under pressure to compensate for his error.
His erroneous remarks were used by the Iranian regime to justify fresh charges against Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
So Mr Johnson is now under huge pressure from campaigners and her husband Richard Ratcliffe to bring her home.
Yet Mr Johnson will not be travelling with Mr Ratcliffe, as some had hoped might be possible.
The Foreign Office says it wants to secure a permanent family reunion, not a temporary one.
And Mr Johnson is also not expected to visit Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe in prison, something else that was asked of him.
If the British ambassador has been refused access, why might the Iranians grant it to a visiting foreign secretary?
The problem is that there might actually be only so much that Mr Johnson can do.
He can talk to Mr Zarif until he is blue in the face.
But there are others within Iran - such as the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the ultra-conservative judiciary - who perhaps will have a greater say over her fate.
The Iranians know how much the British want to get Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe home.
Being told that again directly by Mr Johnson may not change matters significantly.
Some in the UK want Mr Johnson to pay off a long standing debt owed to the Iranians in an attempt to curry favour with Tehran.
The UK owes Iran about £400m for some Chieftain tanks it promised the former Shah of Iran but never delivered after the 1979 revolution.
The problem is that this debt has nothing to do with the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case.
The UK has agreed to pay the money but can't until a legal way is found to get round the sanctions that currently make repayment impossible.
There is also the strategic reluctance to allow any linkage between the two issues.
Iran could pocket the money and quite legitimately refuse to release Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe because this is a debt, not a quid pro quo.
The UK is also arguing strongly that she should be released on humanitarian grounds and is reluctant for her to be caught up in some grand bargain with Tehran.
Richard Ratcliffe has been campaigning for his wife's release
Britain does have some cards in its favour.
It has come out strongly in favour of keeping the Iran nuclear deal, backing Tehran over Washington.
The UK has also spoken out strongly against President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The problem is that this is, above all, a consular case.
That means Britain can make an argument but ultimately it is Iran that will decide.
Tehran does not recognise the concept of dual nationality so in its eyes Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is Iranian.
And her future is thus seen as a matter for the sovereign state of Iran.
In truth, though, this is not just any other consular case.
Mr Ratcliffe believes his wife is a pawn in a much larger diplomatic game, a bargaining chip whose life is being cruelly manipulated by some parts of the Iranian government to secure their political objectives.
There are occasional moments of hope.
In recent weeks a spokesman for Iran's judiciary has said that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe could be freed if she qualified for conditional release.
An Iranian health commissioner has conducted an assessment of her mental and physical well-being after she suffered from insomnia, depression and panic attacks.
Mr Ratcliffe says that Mr Johnson being in Iran "can only make things better".
But right now all his wife can look forward to is her next court appearance, which is scheduled for Sunday. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42275855 | news_uk-politics-42275855 |
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Arthur Collins jailed for Dalston club acid attack - BBC News | 2017-12-19 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Arthur Collins threw the corrosive substance at revellers at the East London nightclub in April. | London | Arthur Collins had denied knowing the substance he threw was acid
A man who threw acid across a packed London nightclub injuring 22 people has been jailed for 20 years.
Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, threw the corrosive substance at revellers in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April.
The 25-year-old admitted throwing the liquid but had claimed he believed it was a date rape drug.
He was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court to 20 years in prison with an extra five years on licence.
Last month he was found guilty of five counts of GBH with intent and nine counts of ABH.
Sentencing Collins, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, Judge Noel Lucas QC described the crime as a "despicable act".
Judge Lucas said: "His defence from first to last was carefully researched and choreographed in order to explain away the evidence against him."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. CCTV of the acid attack in London club
Collins, he added, threw the acid "irrespective of the persons on whom it landed" and that "his motivations for such a vicious course of conduct was nothing more than a perceived personal slight".
Addressing Collins, he said: "You knew precisely what strong acid would do to human skin.
"Having thrown the acid over the club you slunk away and hid in the rear and pretended to be nothing to do with the mayhem you had caused.
"It was deliberate and calculated and you were intent on causing really serious harm to your victims."
The judge labelled him an "accomplished liar" and someone who has "not the slightest remorse for his actions."
Collins was in the dock wearing a suit and showed no reaction as his sentence was read out.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Club acid attack victim: "I'm not the Lauren who walked into Mangle"
A total of 22 people were injured as a result of the attack, 16 of whom suffered serious burns.
One man suffered third-degree chemical burns to the left side of the face and required a skin graft. Others had eye injuries.
One of his victims Sophie Hall, from Poole, Dorset, said she had hoped for a life sentence, but felt justice had been served.
She said after the sentencing: "Arthur showed no signs of remorse in court. I have to live with my scars for life."
Judge Lucas said that security at Mangle E8 was "poor", adding that had it been better, the injuries and offences "might not have happened".
The BBC has contacted the club for comment.
The attack happened in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April
Collins had six previous convictions including using threatening words, possession of cocaine, drink-driving and assault, the court heard.
He was given a six-month sentence suspended for 12 months at Woolwich Crown Court for punching a man in a nightclub on 28 December 2015, and was still subject to the suspended sentence when he carried out the attack at Mangle E8.
The court also heard how he had made acid attack threats to the mother of an ex-girlfriend.
The father of Ms McCann's child referred to the attack as a "stupid little mistake" during Tuesday's hearing.
Victims who read impact statements to the court spoke of feeling "scared", "traumatised" and "suicidal" as a result of the attack.
Throughout the victims' statements, Collins showed little emotion.
Twenty two people were injured when acid was thrown in the Mangle E8 nightclub
Collins had claimed in court he had taken the bottle from a group of men with whom he had got into an argument.
He said he snatched it thinking it was a date rape drug.
"I wanted to show them the drug was gone; show them there was nothing left in the bottle."
CCTV from inside the club shows Collins throwing acid at the men.
Seemingly unaware of the mayhem caused, Collins returned to the dancefloor "drinking, dancing, Snapchatting and having a good time", the court heard.
At a preliminary hearing at magistrates court, the prosecutor said the incident bore "the hallmarks of both drug-related activity and gang-related activity".
However, Collins and his legal team have always denied any kind of gang-related activity, insisting that there was "not a shred of evidence" to support the theory. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42411108 | news_uk-england-london-42411108 |
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Tyson Fury free to resume boxing career after compromise reached with Ukad - BBC Sport | 2017-12-12 | [] | Tyson Fury is free to resume his boxing career after reaching an agreement over a backdated two-year doping ban. | null | Last updated on .From the section Boxing
Britain's Tyson Fury is free to resume his boxing career after accepting a backdated two-year doping ban.
The former world heavyweight champion tested positive for a banned steroid in February 2015, but blamed the result on eating uncastrated wild boar.
His victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 was his last fight before beginning his legal battle with UK Anti-Doping (Ukad).
Fury, 29, said he was glad he could put the "nightmare" behind him.
He will be free to return to the ring once he regains his boxing licence from the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC), who Ukad say have accepted the outcome.
Hughie Fury, Tyson's cousin, has reached a similar agreement after he also tested positive in February 2015.
Both men were not charged until June 2016 and both continue to insist they have "never knowingly or deliberately committed a violation".
Last month, BBC Sport reported Ukad feared it could be made insolvent or require a bailout over the dispute had Fury been cleared.
However, Ukad chief executive Nicole Sapstead insisted there was "absolutely no whitewash and nothing to be fearful or embarrassed about" in the decision.
She said the anti-doping agency had been "completely transparent" and that the developments represented a "good outcome", given their conviction that a doping violation did take place.
A Ukad statement read: "In recognition of the retrospective counter-arguments and the risks inherent in the dispute resolution process, each side has accepted a compromise of its position."
In a statement Tyson Fury said he and Hughie were "happy" the issue had been settled and that they can "move forward knowing they will not be labelled drug cheats".
Both fighters' respective bouts in February 2015, including Tyson's victory over Christian Hammer, have been disqualified but results after that date, including the win over Klitschko, stand.
"I'm a fighting man through and through and I've never backed down from anyone in my life and I was certainly not going to back down from fighting this dispute," he said.
Following the decision, Fury called out fellow Briton Anthony Joshua - the IBF and WBA heavyweight world champion - on social media, saying "where you at boy? I'm coming for you punk".
Joshua defended his world titles in October, while the other two world belts are held by American Deontay Wilder and New Zealand's Joseph Parker.
Last month, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn said there was "absolutely no question" Joshua would face Wilder in a unification bout in 2018.
"Next year I will be back doing what I do best, better than ever and ready to reclaim the world titles which are rightfully mine," Fury said. "It's time to get the party started."
There was no sign of Tyson Fury on Monday morning at the central London venue where his hearing with Ukad was due to take place. Now we know why. His lawyers were in deep discussion with the anti-doping authority, cutting a deal acceptable to all sides to this dispute.
Ukad insist that a threat of a loss of earnings lawsuit, if Fury won, played no part in their decision.
Nevertheless, the conclusion of this long-running saga will be hailed as a victory by all parties with Ukad getting an admission of guilt and Fury given clearance to resume his career.
As for the wild boar? He is sadly unavailable for comment.
How did we get here?
Fury secured the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight belts by defeating Klitschko in Dusseldorf in November 2015, although he was forced to relinquish the IBF title soon afterwards after refusing to fight the organisation's mandatory challenger.
A rematch with Klitschko was scheduled for summer 2016 but Fury was forced to postpone because of injury, before later withdrawing.
Ukad confirmed in June 2016 that he and cousin Hughie had tested positive for a banned substance - now confirmed to be banned anabolic steroid nandrolone.
Nandrolone acts similarly to the hormone testosterone and the Furys have relied on a defence that they ate uncastrated wild boar - which is naturally high in testosterone - as the reason for failing the tests.
The pair were charged by Ukad but provisional suspensions were lifted in August 2016 after appeals.
Two months later, Fury gave up his world titles to focus on mental health problems and the BBBofC suspended his licence "pending further investigation into anti-doping and medical issues". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/42329394 | rt_boxing_42329394 |
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Brexit: Guidelines for the next stage of talks - BBC News | 2017-12-16 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | What are the key phrases in the Brexit guidelines and what do they mean? | UK Politics | The European Council has said that Brexit talks can enter the second phase following last week's agreement.
As a result it has published its guidelines for the next stage of talks.
Here are some of the key phrases from that document.
Don't forget that there are plenty of crucial details that still need to be resolved before negotiations on a withdrawal agreement come to an end.
That means the financial settlement, citizens' rights and of course, the Irish border.
Sufficient progress is not the end of the story, but the text also makes it clear that there will be a concerted effort to lock in what has been agreed so far - and that if the EU detects any reluctance or backsliding from the UK then that will have a negative effect on discussions about the future.
Theresa May has already agreed that a transition of about two years will take place under existing EU rules and regulations, but the EU's text makes crystal clear what it believes that means.
The UK will have to accept all EU law (that's what the acquis means) including new laws passed during the transition itself.
But it will no longer have a seat at the table when those laws are made. To put it brutally - the UK will, for a while, become a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker.
Both sides talk of a strictly time-limited transition period, so there doesn't appear to be much appetite at the moment for extending it.
Quite what happens if a future trade deal isn't ready by the end of the transition, a scenario many experts think is quite possible, will have to be debated in the future.
During the transition, the UK will have to accept the full jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and all four freedoms - including the freedom of movement of people.
The EU says the UK will remain in the single market and the customs union during a transition, while the UK insists that it will leave both on Brexit day.
This could become a semantic argument, because by accepting all rules and regulations - in other words, the status quo - the UK will remain in the single market and the customs union whether it likes it or not.
The British government has suggested that some things - like dispute resolution mechanisms - could change during the transition as agreement is made on future co-operation. But there's little appetite in the EU for that - in its view, you're either in or you're out.
The EU 27 stress that they want a close partnership with the UK in the future, but here they are setting out the limits of what they could mean.
The further away the UK wants to be from the rules and regulations of the single market the less access it will have - there is no such thing as partial membership.
This gets us back to the unresolved debate about what "full alignment" at the Irish border really means in practice.
The phrase "preserve a level playing field" is important too. The EU is anxious to ensure that the UK doesn't try to undercut the EU in any way by having looser regulations in certain key areas, and, if it does, then there will be consequences.
EU negotiators won't have the authority to start discussions with the UK on future relations (including trade and also things like security and foreign policy) until another set of guidelines is adopted in March 2018.
That gives the two sides not much more than six months to agree the text of a broad political declaration on the outlines of the future relationship.
The EU hopes to get that finalised by October 2018, but it emphasises that formal trade negotiations can only begin after the UK has left the EU.
Informal contacts on what the future might look like are probably taking place already, but the EU is still waiting for greater clarity from London about what exactly the UK government hopes to achieve in the long term.
The UK is trying to be as ambitious as possible about what can be done before Brexit actually happens. The EU, though, emphasises that trade talks will have to continue long after the UK has left.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42367532 | news_uk-politics-42367532 |
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Arthur Collins jailed for Dalston club acid attack - BBC News | 2017-12-20 | ['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews'] | Arthur Collins threw the corrosive substance at revellers at the East London nightclub in April. | London | Arthur Collins had denied knowing the substance he threw was acid
A man who threw acid across a packed London nightclub injuring 22 people has been jailed for 20 years.
Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, threw the corrosive substance at revellers in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April.
The 25-year-old admitted throwing the liquid but had claimed he believed it was a date rape drug.
He was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court to 20 years in prison with an extra five years on licence.
Last month he was found guilty of five counts of GBH with intent and nine counts of ABH.
Sentencing Collins, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, Judge Noel Lucas QC described the crime as a "despicable act".
Judge Lucas said: "His defence from first to last was carefully researched and choreographed in order to explain away the evidence against him."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. CCTV of the acid attack in London club
Collins, he added, threw the acid "irrespective of the persons on whom it landed" and that "his motivations for such a vicious course of conduct was nothing more than a perceived personal slight".
Addressing Collins, he said: "You knew precisely what strong acid would do to human skin.
"Having thrown the acid over the club you slunk away and hid in the rear and pretended to be nothing to do with the mayhem you had caused.
"It was deliberate and calculated and you were intent on causing really serious harm to your victims."
The judge labelled him an "accomplished liar" and someone who has "not the slightest remorse for his actions."
Collins was in the dock wearing a suit and showed no reaction as his sentence was read out.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Club acid attack victim: "I'm not the Lauren who walked into Mangle"
A total of 22 people were injured as a result of the attack, 16 of whom suffered serious burns.
One man suffered third-degree chemical burns to the left side of the face and required a skin graft. Others had eye injuries.
One of his victims Sophie Hall, from Poole, Dorset, said she had hoped for a life sentence, but felt justice had been served.
She said after the sentencing: "Arthur showed no signs of remorse in court. I have to live with my scars for life."
Judge Lucas said that security at Mangle E8 was "poor", adding that had it been better, the injuries and offences "might not have happened".
The BBC has contacted the club for comment.
The attack happened in Mangle E8 in Dalston on 17 April
Collins had six previous convictions including using threatening words, possession of cocaine, drink-driving and assault, the court heard.
He was given a six-month sentence suspended for 12 months at Woolwich Crown Court for punching a man in a nightclub on 28 December 2015, and was still subject to the suspended sentence when he carried out the attack at Mangle E8.
The court also heard how he had made acid attack threats to the mother of an ex-girlfriend.
The father of Ms McCann's child referred to the attack as a "stupid little mistake" during Tuesday's hearing.
Victims who read impact statements to the court spoke of feeling "scared", "traumatised" and "suicidal" as a result of the attack.
Throughout the victims' statements, Collins showed little emotion.
Twenty two people were injured when acid was thrown in the Mangle E8 nightclub
Collins had claimed in court he had taken the bottle from a group of men with whom he had got into an argument.
He said he snatched it thinking it was a date rape drug.
"I wanted to show them the drug was gone; show them there was nothing left in the bottle."
CCTV from inside the club shows Collins throwing acid at the men.
Seemingly unaware of the mayhem caused, Collins returned to the dancefloor "drinking, dancing, Snapchatting and having a good time", the court heard.
At a preliminary hearing at magistrates court, the prosecutor said the incident bore "the hallmarks of both drug-related activity and gang-related activity".
However, Collins and his legal team have always denied any kind of gang-related activity, insisting that there was "not a shred of evidence" to support the theory. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42411108 | news_uk-england-london-42411108 |
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Paul Flynn v Michael Gove over £350m Brexit figure - BBC News | 2017-12-20 | [] | A Labour MP challenges Michael Gove over the Vote Leave campaign's use of the £350m figure. | null | Labour veteran MP Paul Flynn has accused Michael Gove of a "lie... a deception" over the Vote Leave campaign slogan which claimed Brexit could free up £350m a week for the UK.
Mr Flynn, MP for Newport West, brought the controversial figure up during an evidence session of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on the impact of Brexit on trade in food.
Mr Gove, who was one of the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign, said that if Mr Flynn was going to suggest to his constituents that they "were too stupid to understand the arguments... then good luck at the next election". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42424315 | news_uk-politics-42424315 |
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Ben Stokes 'extremely delighted' to rejoin England squad - BBC Sport | 2018-01-17 | None | England all-rounder Ben Stokes says he is "extremely delighted" to be available for selection for the tour of New Zealand. | null | Last updated on .From the section Cricket
England all-rounder Ben Stokes says he is "extremely delighted" to be available for the tour of New Zealand.
Stokes, 26, has not played since an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September and has been charged with affray. The hearing will be at Bristol Magistrates Court on 13 February.
Earlier on Wednesday, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced it would consider Stokes for selection again.
"Can't wait to get back out with the Three Lions on my chest," he tweeted.
"Representing my country is one of the greatest things that I've ever been lucky enough to do, walking out on to the field with the England shirt on is a privilege and a honour.
"I'm extremely delighted to be given this opportunity to do this again."
The Durham cricketer will join the squad for the second half of the triangular Twenty20 series in New Zealand in February. England then play five one-day internationals and two Tests against the Black Caps.
Stokes intends to contest the affray charge and it remains unclear whether he is required to attend the 13 February hearing - which falls on the same day as England's T20 International against New Zealand in Wellington.
He would be required to attend unless his solicitors make a request to the court to have the case put back to a new date and the court is satisfied with their argument enough to do so.
The ECB said that, "given the potential length of time to trial", it would not be "fair, reasonable or proportionate for Ben Stokes to remain unavailable for a further indeterminate period".
Stokes missed two one-day internationals against West Indies in England last year and the entire winter Ashes Test series in Australia. He will play no part in the current one-day series against Australia.
However, the ECB allowed him to play six matches for Canterbury Kings in New Zealand domestic cricket in December.
An ECB statement read: "ECB fully respects the legal process and the player's intention to defend himself against the charge.
"England selectors, management and players have been informed and Ben Stokes is expected to join the squad in New Zealand for February's T20 matches."
Alex Hales, 28, who was with Stokes at the time of the incident, was not arrested but was interviewed under caution by police. He was told in December that he would face no criminal charges.
Two other men - Ryan Ali, 28, and Ryan Hale, 26 - were also charged with affray this week.
No firm date has been set for Stokes to return but, subject to any further legal developments and he's yet to make his first court appearance to face a charge of affray, he'll face New Zealand in February's T20 series prior to the two Tests in March.
Clearly the legal process will take its course and it remains a possibility that Stokes will have to leave the tour if necessary.
25 September - Stokes and team-mate Alex Hales are involved in an incident at about 02:35 BST near Bristol's Mbargo club which left another man needing hospital treatment for facial injuries. Stokes is arrested by Avon and Somerset Police and released under investigation.
27 September - England include Stokes in their 16-man Ashes squad, despite him suffering a minor finger fracture on his right hand. Hales is not included.
27 September - The Sun newspaper releases footage that allegedly shows the incident involving Stokes and Hales.
28 September - The ECB announces Stokes and Hales will not be considered for selection for England matches until further notice.
11 October - Stokes loses his sponsorship deal with sportswear brand New Balance. Stokes apologises to Katie Price and her disabled son Harvey for a video that showed him imitating a TV clip of the youngster.
28 October - England fly out to Australia for the Ashes without Stokes.
23 November - England lose the first Ashes Test against Australia by 10 wickets in Brisbane.
29 November - Stokes arrives in New Zealand to play for Canterbury Kings.
29 November - Avon & Somerset Police announce they have completed their investigation and have sent their findings to the Crown Prosecution Service.
4 December - It is announced Hales will not face criminal charges, and the ECB says he is available for selection.
6 December - Stokes is named in England's one-day squad for the five-match series against Australia in the new year.
23 December - Stokes ends his spell with Canterbury and returns to England.
11 January - Stokes is named in England's Test squad for the tour of New Zealand in March and April. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42718484 | rt_cricket_42718484 |
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Will Gompertz reviews Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ★★★★★ - BBC News | 2018-01-13 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A powerful cry for justice with a searing performance from the Oscar-tipped Frances McDormand. | Entertainment & Arts | Cast your mind forward a few weeks to the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard at around 8pm (PST), Sunday 4 March.
Somebody, probably dressed in black with very good teeth, will be opening a golden envelope while simultaneously saying these words: "The Oscar for best actress in a leading role goes to…"
He or she will then pause for dramatic effect, pull out the card and say…
"Frances McDormand! - for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."
Her only serious competition comes from Sally Hawkins as the amphibian-loving janitor in Guillermo del Torro's fabulous film The Shape of Water, but McDormand edges it for giving life to the remarkable Mildred Hayes; a kick-ass, boiler-suited, bandana-wearing working class woman with a broken heart and a raging soul.
Frances McDormand stars as a mother (Mildred Hayes) seeking justice for her daughter's unsolved rape and murder
Mildred is an uncompromising, unflinching, and unappeasable big character from a small town who is destined to become one of cinema's great tragic lone-heroes.
She is not a vigilante, or a cop, or an ex-soldier. She is not tooled-up with lethal weapons nor is she a high-kicking exponent of the martial arts. Her armoury is much scarier.
Mildred Hayes is a furious, intelligent, grieving, middle-aged mother with the nihilistic courage of someone for whom consequences are inconsequential.
She's numb on the outside and dead within.
A little while back she had a silly argument with her teenage daughter about going out. In that tough-love, no-nonsense way of hers she said things she shouldn't have, like 'I hope you get raped'.
As you can imagine, it devastates Mildred. Wrongs have to be righted. She needs closure.
The killer must be found.
Frustratingly for her, the police are taking a more laid back approach. They are less het up about things. So, having made a few enquiries to no avail they revert to their small-town ways, which Mildred describes as "goin' 'round torturing black folks."
What choice does she have other than to take matters into her own hard-skinned hands?
She rents three disused, dilapidated billboards on the Drinkwater Road just outside the fictional town of Ebbing, Missouri and places the following message on them in huge black letters set against a blood-red background:
Billboard 2: AND STILL NO ARRESTS?
And with that the film is set-up.
What follows is one of the finest black comedies I have seen this century.
Sam Rockwell (Officer Dixon) and director/writer Martin McDonagh on the film set
Anyone who has watched the plays The Lieutenant of Inishmore or The Pillowman knows Martin McDonagh is a writer of rare wit and virtuosity. If you've seen In Bruges you'll know he can direct too. But he takes the two art forms to another level in Three Billboards, which he wrote specifically for Frances McDormand.
She is not the only star of the show.
Woody Harrelson is terrific as Ebbing's revered Police Chief Willoughby who tries playing the 'but I'm dying of cancer' compassion card on Mildred, who promptly trumps it by suggesting he uses his terminal condition as a motivation to get her daughter's case solved sooner rather than later.
Woody Harrelson as Sheriff Willoughby, who is sympathetic to Mildred's search for the truth
Dixon is Willoughby's dim-witted, racist, violent mummy's boy of a junior officer. In the wrong hands the character would be little more than a two-dimensional cartoon thicko - a sort of Beavis and Butthead rolled into one bigoted, bullying buffoon - but Sam Rockwell manages to mine Dixon's shallows and successfully find his humanity and humility.
John Hawkes as Mildred's ex-husband Charlie is the one person she cannot overcome with her brooding fury. He adds an extra layer of oily darkness to an already very black comedy with his cheap put-downs - "you don't have to explain yourself to me 'cause you're having dinner with a midget, Mildred" (she was) - and heartless jibes glibly tossed into her open wound of guilt.
He can get away with taking her on; after all, he has lost a daughter too. But the same does not apply to the cocky schoolboy who lobbed a projectile at her car. He won't be doing that again.
He'll be telling his friends the same thing I am telling mine: make sure you look out for Mildred Hayes.
As is this film, which captures the insular nature of life in a rural community with heart and soul and humour.
It's a very well written, beautifully shot, expertly told story: it is a modern classic. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42615064 | news_entertainment-arts-42615064 |
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Northern Forest: Plan to plant 'ribbon of woodland' across England - BBC News | 2018-01-07 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | 'Ribbon of woodland' will be planted, but critics say other projects are destroying ancient forests. | UK | Plans to create a new Northern Forest stretching from Liverpool to Hull have been kick-started by the government.
It is providing £5.7m to increase tree cover along a belt spanning Manchester, Leeds and Bradford.
The project will cost £500m over 25 years. The balance of the funds will need to be raised by charity.
Environmentalists have welcomed the planned 50 million new trees, but say ministers must stop allowing ancient woodland to be felled.
The UK has one of the lowest rates of woodland in Europe and the area to be covered by the Northern Forest is one of the most denuded in England, with tree cover less than 8%.
The emphasis of the project will be to increase tree cover around major conurbations to 20%. There will also be a focus on river valleys, where there are benefits for flood prevention and soil loss - as well as wildlife.
But these areas will soak up funding, leaving many of the northern hills just as bleak and treeless in the coming 25 years.
But the Woodland Trust, which is leading the scheme with local Community Forests, says the new wooded areas shouldn't be under-estimated, as they will greatly enhance the environment for people in northern cities.
Its conservation director, Austin Brady, said the benefits would be strongest in areas where there's been industrial activity, over-grazing and neglectful farming.
He told BBC News: "We're delighted the prime minister's supporting our project - it's great to get the idea of the Northern Forest on the map.
"Admittedly the government's cash contribution isn't huge, but it will help us to unlock other funding."
There should be more government cash available for landowners to improve the environment by tree planting if farm subsidies are reformed after Brexit, as planned by the Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
The government will also review incentives to plant trees, as part of its plan to combat climate change by storing more carbon in soils.
Mr Brady also said the Trust hoped to benefit from funds allocated for mitigating the environmental impact of major transport projects expected in the north, such as road-building and HS2.
But Paul de Zylva from Friends of Earth told BBC News: "It is a supreme irony that tree planters will have to get funding from HS2, which threatens 35 ancient woodlands north of Birmingham.
"You simply can't compare the biodiversity value of new sticks in the ground with ancient forest.
"If the government really cared about woodlands it wouldn't be routing a high speed train through them. And it wouldn't be allowing this weight of this project to be carried by charity."
The government has been slipping behind schedule on a promise it made to plant 11 million trees. The Woodland Trust say last year saw the lowest level of planting in England for many years - just 1,000 hectares.
The forest announcement forms part of the government's long-delayed 25 Year Environment Plan, which will set out how ministers aim to leave the environment in a better state than they inherited it.
The report is due this week and environmentalists say it should be judged not on its ambitious sentiments but on concrete policies backed by cash.
Commenting on the forest announcement, Mr Gove said: "Trees are some of our most cherished natural assets and living evidence of our investment for future generations.
"Not only are they a source of beauty and wonder, but a way to manage flood risk, protect precious species, and create healthier places for us to work and live.
"This new Northern Forest is an exciting project that will create a vast ribbon of woodland cover in northern England, providing a rich habitat for wildlife to thrive, and a natural environment for millions of people to enjoy."
The description of the project from the Woodland Trust suggests that the forest will be less of a green ribbon and more of a sparsely-threaded doily.
• None HS2: 12 arguments for and against | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42591494 | news_uk-42591494 |
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Australian Open: Kyle Edmund loses to Marin Cilic in semi-finals - BBC Sport | 2018-01-25 | None | Briton Kyle Edmund's Australian Open run comes to an end with a straight-set defeat by Marin Cilic in the semi-finals. | null | Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Coverage: Watch highlights on BBC Two, the BBC Sport website and app at 17:00 GMT and listen to Radio 5 live Tennis at 21:00 GMT
Briton Kyle Edmund's Australian Open run came to an end with a straight-set defeat by Croatia's sixth seed Marin Cilic in the semi-finals.
Cilic won 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 to reach his first Melbourne final, where he will face Roger Federer or Hyeon Chung.
Edmund, 23, refused to blame a hip problem which required treatment, saying it was "irrelevant".
He had been trying to become the fourth British man to reach a Grand Slam final since tennis turned pro in 1968.
His ranking is set to rise from 49th in the world to around 25th next week.
• None Listen: Edmund can be a top five player - Cash
"It's been a really good couple of weeks for me," added Edmund.
"Obviously I'm disappointed right now, but I can be very happy with the way I've gone about things.
Victory would have seen him overtake Andy Murray as British number one, at least until the Scot makes his expected return from hip surgery for the grass-court season in June.
A remarkable run through the draw, which began with what was then a career-best win over 11th seed Kevin Anderson and included a stunning victory against third seed Grigor Dimitrov, ended in disappointment.
Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, dominated from the outset, while Edmund required a medical timeout after the first set and appeared to be hindered in the closing stages.
"I noticed in the third game in the third set, he let a couple of balls go," said Cilic.
"I was seeing that his movement was restricted so I was trying to move the ball around."
No let-up as Cilic powers into final
Cilic, 29, was playing in his fifth major semi-final, and trying to reach a third Grand Slam final, while Edmund has yet to make it past the semi-finals of any ATP tournament.
The Yorkshireman's powerful game has improved markedly in the new season but the gulf in experience ultimately showed in an authoritative performance from Cilic.
Two breaks points in the opening game of the match were the only ones Edmund would see all evening.
A double-fault on his opening serve pointed to nerves and Edmund was under pressure early, giving up the first break with a net cord in game six.
When Cilic thumped a forehand into the corner to break again, Edmund had just one winner on his favoured forehand side and had won only 50% of points on serve.
The Briton headed for the locker room and a medical timeout, but there was no obvious sign of distress as he dug in during the second set.
Fired up after an argument with the umpire over a call, Edmund forced a tie-break and kept in touch until 3-3, but he could not chase down a forehand on the run and Cilic raced to 6-3, converting his second break point.
Cilic continued to play aggressively, as he had done against Rafael Nadal in the previous round, keeping the points short and hitting hard and deep, with two breaks carrying him to the verge of victory in the third set.
The world number six dropped just five points behind his first serve and there was little Edmund could do to stop the sixth seed becoming the first Croat to reach the Australian Open final when he swung a serve out wide, before raising his arms aloft in triumph.
"I think in the second set I was a bit up and down with my game and not getting enough returns back," added Cilic.
"He started to serve quite good. I stayed mentally very focused and tried to play every single point. It was crucial in the tie-break to keep that pressure."
Analysis - Edmund has come of age
"A very polite McEnroe moment" was the way my colleague David Law described Edmund's animated exchange of views with umpire and referee in the early part of the second set.
It certainly seemed to fire the British player up. He went onto the attack, and at 4-4 he had love-30 on the Cilic serve. The sixth seed averted the danger, and once he had won the tie-break the course of the match was set.
Edmund did not want to talk about his injury at all, out of respect for the excellence of Cilic's performance. But it was a hip issue, which may have repercussions for next week's Davis Cup tie in Spain, which involves a switch to a clay surface.
This has been an extraordinary two weeks for Edmund, who has really come of age in Melbourne. A top-30 ranking gives him an excellent chance of being seeded for the French Open and Wimbledon and a springboard for further progress in 2018.
Edmund is scheduled to head straight to Marbella for Great Britain's Davis Cup tie against Spain, which begins next Friday.
Captain Leon Smith will anxiously await a medical update on the man who he hopes will lead his team in the absence of Murray.
Beyond that, a trip to the Rio Open on clay in February will be followed by back-to-back Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami in March.
With Murray set to lose the 500 ranking points he gained for winning last year's Dubai title in February, Edmund could become British number one in the weeks to come.
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/42816385 | rt_tennis_42816385 |
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UK growth upgrade could 'dwarf' Brexit hit - BBC News | 2018-01-22 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Ex-Treasury minister Lord O'Neill says global growth is boosting the UK economy more than expected. | Business | The Eurofighter production line at a BAE Systems factory in Warton, Lancashire
Britain should prepare for a much more economically optimistic 2018 because global growth is better than predicted.
That's the argument of Lord Jim O'Neill, the former Conservative Treasury minister and Remain supporter.
He said Britain's growth forecasts are likely to be upgraded as China, the US and Europe show increased activity.
The gloomy predictions of the possible effects of Brexit are likely to be "dwarfed" by the more positive figures, Lord O'Neill added.
But he argued that far from "changing his mind" on the economic effects of Brexit, the question now for the UK was how much better the country could be doing without the uncertainty over its relationship with the European Union.
"I certainly wouldn't have thought the UK economy would be as robust as it currently seems," Lord O'Neill, who is on the board of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, told me.
"That is because some parts of the country, led by the North West [of England], are actually doing way better than people seem to realise or appreciate.
"As well as this crucial fact, the rest of the world is also doing way better than many people would have thought a year ago, so it makes it easier for the UK."
A recent assessment by Cambridge Econometrics for the Mayor of London suggested that growth across the UK could be on average 3% lower by 2030 than it would have been if Britain remained within the EU's single market and customs union.
"If that's the worst that Brexit will deliver, then I wouldn't worry about it," Lord O'Neill said ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where there are likely to be a number of positive growth upgrades published for the global economy.
"Now, my own view is if we go for a really hard Brexit or a no-deal Brexit, we'll probably suffer more than that 3%.
"But if it is only 3%, what's going on with the rest of the world - helping us - and with productivity improving, that will easily dwarf a 3% hit over 13 years, easily."
Lord O'Neill said it was ironic that Britain was leaving the EU at just the time growth was increasing across the continent, given that one of the arguments for leaving was unshackling the UK from a number of "sclerotic" European economies.
Better global growth helps UK exports - an important driver of the British economy.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. UK economy will do better than expected, says Lord Jim O'Neill, a former minister and a Remain supporter
I asked him whether his optimistic forecasts now revealed that he, and many economists, had simply been too pessimistic about the effects of a Brexit vote.
"I'm almost embarrassed to accept that it might sound like that," Lord O'Neill replied.
"Because of course, in principle, I share the views of many that Brexit is a really weird thing for the UK to impose on itself from an economic perspective.
"And maybe this [better global growth] means the country's going to be able to cope with Brexit better than certainly somebody like me might have thought some time ago.
"But I would quickly add at the same time, I have felt for a good couple of years, as important as Brexit is, it isn't the most important thing facing Britain's future."
He said that global growth, better productivity and rebalancing government policies to support the north of England and other regions beyond London was much more important.
There was some evidence, Lord O'Neill argued, that was now happening.
He said that the "Brexiteers are going to be like the cat with the cream. They're like 'there you go, told you so', which of course is ridiculous".
Lord O'Neill said that major sectors of the economy that are closely linked to the EU, such as car manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, were still facing significant threats because of the government's proposals to leave the customs union and the single market.
China's economy has been buoyant in recent months
Over the past six months economic forecasts have become more bullish on world growth. China, the US and Germany have all published strong economic data and last autumn the International Monetary Fund upgraded its global predictions.
"I'm guessing world GDP growth of at least 4%, so a good half percent higher than the consensus is currently saying - and signs of it actually accelerating," Lord O'Neill said.
"Virtually every major place I can think of, [with the] possible exception of us, are all sharing in it at the same time. World trade - just when everybody's trying to write it off - has actually risen sharply."
He said that President Donald Trump's reforms of the tax system and plans to loosen regulatory controls would boost the US economy.
"The secular stagnation that the likes of Larry Summers [the former US Treasury Secretary] have talked about for a few years looks suspiciously dodgy. I would imagine that the idea is going to be back tracked pretty quickly now." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42769090 | news_business-42769090 |
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Brexit will make Jeremy Corbyn's job harder - Tony Blair - BBC News | 2018-01-04 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The former prime minister urges Labour's leader not to follow the Conservatives' course on Brexit. | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Brexit will give Corbyn same problems as Tories - Blair
Tony Blair has warned Jeremy Corbyn that Brexit will make it harder for Labour to deliver its promises if it wins power.
The former prime minister said Mr Corbyn would be in "exactly the same position" as the Tories - distracted by Brexit and short of money.
Speaking to the BBC's John Pienaar, he defended his call for a second EU referendum.
Labour has backed Brexit and ruled out a second referendum if it wins power.
One member of Labour's shadow cabinet told the BBC Mr Blair's intervention was "utterly unhelpful".
"Lots of Labour voters voted for Brexit and this to them sounds like the metropolitan elite ignoring them," he said.
"The whole Tony Blair project was about being on the right side of public opinion. And now look at this. Are you telling me the Tony Blair of 1994 would have said this?"
Britain is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019, but Mr Blair said it would be too late to change course by then.
He has repeatedly argued that people are entitled to change their mind - either through another referendum or a general election - once the terms of its departure are clear.
And he urged the current Labour leadership to adopt the same stance.
The former prime minister said he was "committed" to seeing a Labour government elected, but added a "qualification" - which was that "it's going to be extremely difficult in my view for Labour to deliver on its promises if it puts itself in exactly the same position as the Tory government's going to be on Brexit - because it will find it has less money to deal with the country's problems, that it's distracted by dealing with Brexit rather than the health service, jobs and living standards."
The UK would "face a very challenging situation" if it was leaving the EU under a Corbyn government, he added.
Mr Blair said that if people voted again for Brexit, he would not push for a third poll - "that concludes the argument", he said.
But he said that he would not support either of what he saw as the two most likely outcomes of negotiations - a Canada-style free trade deal or the UK being aligned with the EU but having no influence over key decisions.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer says Labour will push for a deal that would preserve as many of the benefits of the single market and customs union as possible, as well as protecting workers' rights and the environment.
But Mr Blair believes this is a "confusing" strategy and is not "credible".
"Far better to fight for the right for the country to re-think, demand that we know the full details of the new relationship before we quit the old one, go to the high ground on opposing Brexit and go after the Tories for their failures to tackle the country's real challenges.
"Make Brexit the Tory Brexit. Make them own it 100%. Show people why Brexit isn't, and never was, the answer."
Mr Blair - a longstanding critic of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - has ditched his business interests to take a more active role in British politics through his Institute for Global Change think tank.
He has previously attacked Mr Corbyn's stance on Brexit - prompting the Labour leader to say Mr Blair should respect the result of the 2016 EU referendum.
Richard Tice, co-chairman of the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave campaign, said Mr Blair "and his elite gang" were "still determined to stop Brexit" and will lead the UK "to the very bad deal which we had in the single market and the customs union".
In Mr Blair's latest article published on his institute's website, he offered this advice to Jeremy Corbyn and his team: "At every PMQs nail each myth of the Brexit campaign, say why the Tory divisions are weakening our country, something only credible if we are opposed to Brexit, not advocating a different Brexit, and challenge the whole farce head on of a prime minister leading our nation in a direction which even today she can't bring herself to say she would vote for.
"If we do leave Europe, the governing mind will have been that of the Tory right.
UKIP uses Tony Blair on its campaign leaflets
"But, if Labour continues to go along with Brexit and insists on leaving the single market, the handmaiden of Brexit will have been the timidity of Labour."
Mr Blair's comments came as his institute issued a document highlighting developments in the UK since the Brexit vote, including a downgrade in economic forecasts.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42558162 | news_uk-politics-42558162 |
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David Davis plays down Tory row over Brexit transition - BBC News | 2018-01-26 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | David Davis says there is "no difference" between him and the chancellor over their transition aims. | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
David Davis has said there is "no difference" between him, the chancellor and prime minister following a Tory row over the terms of a Brexit transition.
The Brexit Secretary said all three wanted the UK's exit from the EU in March 2019 to "serve the British economy... and the British people".
There was a "diversity of views" in all parties and EU member states, he said.
Backbench Tories had criticised Philip Hammond for saying that changes to UK-EU relations could be "very modest".
No 10 distanced itself from Mr Hammond's remarks and one Tory MP said he should "stick to the script" the PM had laid out.
Following a speech outlining some of his ambitions for an "implementation period" immediately after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, Mr Davis was asked about the row.
He said: "I'm in politics, people debate and they have different views and there is a diversity of views on this subject in all parties. That doesn't mean we can't have a coherent and forceful view in the interests of the United Kingdom."
He added: "There is no difference between the chancellor, and myself - and indeed the prime minister - in terms that we both want a Brexit which serves the British economy and which serves the British people. There will be arguments about the tactics but they will change - the options available to us will change throughout the negotiations.
"We want a good Brexit for British business and a good Brexit for the British people and we will deliver that on a frictionless access to the single market and political and economic freedom for us in the future."
In his speech, Mr Davis said that the UK would be able to sign new trade deals in the "implementation" period - thought likely to last up to two years.
The UK would still effectively follow the rules of the EU customs union for the period immediately after Brexit and no trade deals could come into force until it ended.
But he said: "As an independent country - no longer a member of the European Union - the United Kingdom will once again have its own trading policy.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
"For the first time in more than 40 years, we will be able to step out and sign new trade deals with old friends, and new allies, around the globe."
He said existing international agreements - which include trade deals with other countries and agreements on aviation and nuclear power - should continue to apply during the period.
The "immediate goal" in negotiations, he added, would be to secure political agreement on an implementation phase by March's European Council summit.
This speech comes three days before the other EU member states are due to publish their formal guidelines (their terms and conditions in other words) for negotiations on the nature of a transition period after Brexit.
Those negotiations are due to begin shortly, and Mr Davis is getting his response in first, as well as trying to address some of the political heat he's now feeling from Brexiteers.
That's why he used the term 'implementation' rather than 'transition' period throughout his speech - it suggests that the UK will be implementing the consequences of Brexit.
EU documents though always refer to a transition because other countries are convinced that negotiations on the future EU-UK relationship will not have been completed by the time the UK leaves.
As well as smoothing the path for business, they argue that a transition is necessary to allow negotiations on future relations to continue.
Failing to reach agreement would mean uncertainty for businesses, resulting in delayed investment and a "stifling of hard-won economic growth".
Mr Davis also stressed the need for an "appropriate process" to allow the UK to resolve any concerns about new EU laws introduced during the implementation phase which were against its interests.
The speech comes amid a row in his party over the government's approach to Brexit negotiations, following Mr Hammond's comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
Downing Street distanced itself from his remarks although the prime minister's spokesman said on Friday she had full confidence in the chancellor.
Asked whether his comments had been destabilising for the prime minister, Mr Hammond told the BBC: "I think the context is important. I was speaking about our trade relationship with the EU, and it is the government's policy that we want to maintain the maximum possible access to markets and the minimum friction at our borders because that's good for the British economy."
But Eurosceptic Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin told the BBC it would be easier for the PM if Mr Hammond and other cabinet ministers "stuck to her script" while Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mr Hammond "must have been affected by high mountain air" in the Swiss resort.
In response to Mr Davis's speech, Hilary Benn, Labour chairman of the Commons Brexit committee, said "what we really needed to hear is what the government's proposals are for the most important trade negotiation of all - with the European Union... On that, we are none the wiser"
And Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said nothing Mr Davis had said "can mask or hide the bitter infighting that is going on in the government about what form Brexit should take". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42827270 | news_uk-politics-42827270 |
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What now for UK-France security relations? - BBC News | 2018-01-18 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Before the annual UK-France summit, the BBC's security correspondent assesses co-operation on key areas in the run-up to Brexit. | UK | RAF helicopters to Mali, French troops to Estonia, spy chiefs sharing intelligence. When it comes to defence and security, the Anglo-French entente cordiale has rarely been closer as their political leaders meet for their annual summit.
Building on the Lancaster House agreement of 2010 between the two countries' then leaders, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, a landmark summit is now being held between Theresa May and President Macron of France.
With the UK's looming departure from the EU, Brexit, trade and migration will inevitably feature in their discussions.
The French president has been pushing for Britain to accept more migrants from Calais and to pay more towards the upkeep of the two countries' joint Channel border controls.
Historically, this annual summit has always been about security and this year is no exception.
The continuing threat from the Islamic State group, the conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and West Africa, Russia's actions in the Baltics and Ukraine and the emergence of transatlantic differences over certain key issues such as Iran, are all reminders of the need to shore up bilateral ties between London and Paris, ahead of Brexit.
Britain may be leaving the EU but it will remain a heavyweight partner for France when it comes to security issues.
French political analyst Dominique Moisi says: "We are close allies and we are rivals - and precisely because the UK is leaving the EU we may be even more rivals.
"But the international context forces us to come closer to resist terrorism because of the vacuum left by the US."
So, what are the defence and security issues up for discussion at Sandhurst?
Britain and France have an incredibly close partnership in confronting the shared threat of terrorist attacks inspired or directed by so-called Islamic State.
So close, in fact, that this is the first ever meeting of "The Quint" - the heads of all five British and French spy agencies, both domestic and foreign. They will be discussing, among other things, the lessons learnt from last year's terror attacks in Manchester, Barcelona and London.
There is a permanent 'open door' for French intelligence officers who need to visit MI5 headquarters at Thames House in London and a similar arrangement exists for British case officers visiting France's equivalent, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure (DGSI). MI5 officers were rushed to Paris in the wake of the 2015 Bataclan attack to help follow up intelligence leads and glean any possible lessons.
As well as bilateral links like this, the primary mechanism for sharing intelligence between European partners is the Counter Terrorism Group (CTG). Heads of European agencies meet at least once a year, their subordinates more often.
The concern over Brexit has long been the risk that Britain could be denied access to certain EU bodies, such as Europol. In fact, say insiders, the business of counter-terrorism is likely to continue as usual.
Sir Julian King, EU Security Commissioner in Brussels, told me in October that the terrorist threat facing all of Europe was so great that no-one wanted to take any risks by reducing counter-terrorism cooperation with London. Theresa May, who was Home Secretary for six years until she became PM in 2016, will be keen to see this intelligence-sharing with Paris maintained and even increased.
Lord Peter Ricketts, who was both national security adviser and then UK ambassador to Paris until 2016, says Anglo-French co-operation has improved dramatically since 2000.
"From what I saw as ambassador in Paris, the two counter-terrorism communities and law enforcement communities are now finding they've got things to learn from each other so it is not nearly as polarised as it was 15 years ago," he said.
Despite recent UK defence cuts, Britain and France remain far ahead of other European nations when it comes to deploying combat forces overseas.
In Mali and other Saharan nations, French forces have been battling a jihadist insurgency for five years. They've asked for British help, and now they are about to get it.
Britain is to send three RAF Chinook transport helicopters to support the French operation in Mali, along with 50-60 support staff.
French political analyst Dominique Moisi says: "France wants to share responsibility with other European powers, convincing them that the Sahel is becoming a primary objective in the fight against terrorism, as it is receding in Syria and Iraq after the defeat against ISIS."
As if by way of return, France is to send troops to join the UK-led battle group in Estonia where 800 British soldiers are helping to guard Nato's eastern flank with Russia.
This is all part of a growing military alliance between Europe's only two nuclear powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The two nations are working on a joint Unmanned Aerial System for future drones. A French Brigadier was put in charge of a UK division for two months while a British Army Brigadier did the same in France. Joint exercises are being held with a view to building up a combined intervention force of 10,000 troops by 2020.
There is a precedent for that, which did not end well: Libya.
The Nato air campaign in 2011 was initially successful, driving back the forces of Colonel Gaddafi which threatened to massacre the residents of Benghazi. Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy were briefly feted as saviours of that North African nation.
Thereafter Libya deteriorated into chaos, and Western nations were reluctant to get drawn into any kind of occupation role after the experience in Iraq. So the end-result of any future interventions, whether in the Middle East, Asia or Africa, will need to be very carefully thought out.
The cross-channel co-operation on domestic counter-terrorism is matched to some extent by the links between MI6 and its French counterpart, the DGSE.
The UK's closest intelligence-gathering partner remains the US but it also has strong bilateral arrangements with France, Germany, Spain and other European nations' agencies.
A former British intelligence officer says that old Anglo-French rivalries overseas had given way to shared goals.
He said there was a common desire for Britain's expertise, such as in cyber, to remain accessible to European agencies after Brexit, effectively ring-fencing intelligence and counter-terrorism from ongoing arguments in other areas such as trade and migration.
There is Brexit, says a Whitehall insider, and then there is security. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42723121 | news_uk-42723121 |
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Facebook selfie showing murder weapon helps convict killer - BBC News | 2018-01-18 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Police discovered the weapon used to murder a Canadian teen in a photo she took with her friend. | US & Canada | A belt worn by Cheyenne Antoine (L) can be seen as she poses with victim Brittney Gargol
A Canadian woman has been convicted of killing her friend after police discovered the murder weapon used in a picture of the pair on social media.
Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 21, pleaded guilty on Monday to killing Brittney Gargol, then 18, in March 2015.
Gargol was found strangled to death near a landfill in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with Antoine's belt near her body.
Antoine was sentenced to seven years for manslaughter.
She was identified as a suspect after she posted a selfie on Facebook of the two of them, showing her wearing the belt hours before Gargol died.
The two were "inseparable" friends, reported the Toronto Sun - until Gargol was discovered dead on a road by a passerby in the early morning of 25 March 2015.
Police said that no evidence could be found to verify the story Antoine first gave to them - which was that the pair had gone from a house party to some bars before Gargol left with an unidentified man, while Antoine went to see her uncle.
Once the belt had established Antoine as a suspect, police used Facebook posts to help establish the real movements of the pair.
Police realised that Antoine's Facebook post on Gargol's personal page the following morning - "Where are you? Haven't heard from you. Hope you made it home safe" - was a diversion. She had also asked her uncle to provide a false alibi.
And eventually she confessed to a friend.
Antoine now says the pair were drunk and high on marijuana when they got into a heated argument.
She accepts she is responsible for strangling her best friend - although she says she doesn't actually remember the events.
Yes, and that's why the judge agreed to a seven-year sentence when she pleaded guilty to manslaughter (rather than the second-degree murder she was originally charged with).
"I will never forgive myself. Nothing I say or do will ever bring her back. I am very, very sorry... It shouldn't have ever happened," she said in a statement through her lawyer.
Her lawyer said her client had suffered years of abuse in the Saskatchewan care system and had gone to police to report abuse by foster parents a month before the killing.
"Honour your friend by becoming a positive member of the community," Judge Marilyn Gray told her, according to the Saskatoon Starphoenix. "You owe it to her."
Before Antoine was sentenced, Gargol's aunt gave a victim impact statement to the court.
"Most days we can't stop thinking about Brittney, what happened that night, what she must have felt fighting for her life," Jennifer Gargol said.
Outside court, her uncle Al Gargol said she was "a wonderful young person that didn't deserve this and we truly miss her every day", the Saskatoon Starphoenix said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42722952 | news_world-us-canada-42722952 |
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Cabinet reshuffle: What took so long in No 10? - BBC News | 2018-01-08 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Reshuffles have a habit of not going to plan. What took so long today? | UK Politics | The reshuffle isn't over, but we already know that it was not just the prime minister who had her say today, but her ministers too.
Jeremy Hunt, who has stayed as health secretary, and Greg Clark, who has stayed as business secretary, were both in No 10 for more than an hour this afternoon.
I understand that rather than meekly accepting whatever was being dangled before him (at least one of the likely jobs was a move to become business secretary, possibly a job swap with Greg Clark) the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in fact argued his case for staying at the Department for Health and expanding his role to take on planning for the future of social care in England.
It is said the situation was "fluid", and the PM was "persuaded" by his arguments, agreeing to keep him in position at the end of their conversation. Senior government sources dispute that Greg Clark also refused to move - Hunt getting his way and staying at health had clear knock on effects which meant Clark's conversation was merely about staying in his role.
There's still a mystery over the potential appointment of Chris Grayling as chairman at Tory HQ.
Number 10 disputes it was ever the plan, but two other sources say they had been told it was the case, and that in the end No 10 had to "fiddle with the whiteboard", appointing well liked Brandon Lewis in his place.
But Theresa May's detractors will claim this as evidence that she didn't have the authority to move her own ministers. One senior MP said "this reshuffle is embarrassing… far from asserting her authority, or some new found strength it's just highlighted how weak the PM is".
No 10 is promising more moves before the end of the evening and more diverse new appointments through the day tomorrow.
But while this isn't the most dramatic of reshuffles, it seems to have followed the tradition of not going quite according to plan. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42615003 | news_uk-politics-42615003 |
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Northern Forest: Plan to plant 'ribbon of woodland' across England - BBC News | 2018-01-08 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | 'Ribbon of woodland' will be planted, but critics say other projects are destroying ancient forests. | UK | Plans to create a new Northern Forest stretching from Liverpool to Hull have been kick-started by the government.
It is providing £5.7m to increase tree cover along a belt spanning Manchester, Leeds and Bradford.
The project will cost £500m over 25 years. The balance of the funds will need to be raised by charity.
Environmentalists have welcomed the planned 50 million new trees, but say ministers must stop allowing ancient woodland to be felled.
The UK has one of the lowest rates of woodland in Europe and the area to be covered by the Northern Forest is one of the most denuded in England, with tree cover less than 8%.
The emphasis of the project will be to increase tree cover around major conurbations to 20%. There will also be a focus on river valleys, where there are benefits for flood prevention and soil loss - as well as wildlife.
But these areas will soak up funding, leaving many of the northern hills just as bleak and treeless in the coming 25 years.
But the Woodland Trust, which is leading the scheme with local Community Forests, says the new wooded areas shouldn't be under-estimated, as they will greatly enhance the environment for people in northern cities.
Its conservation director, Austin Brady, said the benefits would be strongest in areas where there's been industrial activity, over-grazing and neglectful farming.
He told BBC News: "We're delighted the prime minister's supporting our project - it's great to get the idea of the Northern Forest on the map.
"Admittedly the government's cash contribution isn't huge, but it will help us to unlock other funding."
There should be more government cash available for landowners to improve the environment by tree planting if farm subsidies are reformed after Brexit, as planned by the Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
The government will also review incentives to plant trees, as part of its plan to combat climate change by storing more carbon in soils.
Mr Brady also said the Trust hoped to benefit from funds allocated for mitigating the environmental impact of major transport projects expected in the north, such as road-building and HS2.
But Paul de Zylva from Friends of Earth told BBC News: "It is a supreme irony that tree planters will have to get funding from HS2, which threatens 35 ancient woodlands north of Birmingham.
"You simply can't compare the biodiversity value of new sticks in the ground with ancient forest.
"If the government really cared about woodlands it wouldn't be routing a high speed train through them. And it wouldn't be allowing this weight of this project to be carried by charity."
The government has been slipping behind schedule on a promise it made to plant 11 million trees. The Woodland Trust say last year saw the lowest level of planting in England for many years - just 1,000 hectares.
The forest announcement forms part of the government's long-delayed 25 Year Environment Plan, which will set out how ministers aim to leave the environment in a better state than they inherited it.
The report is due this week and environmentalists say it should be judged not on its ambitious sentiments but on concrete policies backed by cash.
Commenting on the forest announcement, Mr Gove said: "Trees are some of our most cherished natural assets and living evidence of our investment for future generations.
"Not only are they a source of beauty and wonder, but a way to manage flood risk, protect precious species, and create healthier places for us to work and live.
"This new Northern Forest is an exciting project that will create a vast ribbon of woodland cover in northern England, providing a rich habitat for wildlife to thrive, and a natural environment for millions of people to enjoy."
The description of the project from the Woodland Trust suggests that the forest will be less of a green ribbon and more of a sparsely-threaded doily.
• None HS2: 12 arguments for and against | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42591494 | news_uk-42591494 |
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Nicola Sturgeon: 'No Brexit preferable to no deal' - BBC News | 2018-01-08 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Scotland's first minister tells the BBC that single market membership is the "least damaging" outcome to Brexit. | Scotland politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said a no deal on Brexit was "unthinkable"
Nicola Sturgeon has described a no-deal Brexit as "unthinkable", saying that "no Brexit is preferable to no deal".
Scotland's first minister called Brexit a "horror show", saying she was seeking the "least damaging" outcome inside the single market.
Theresa May is said to be considering appointing a minister for a no deal Brexit in a reshuffle of her cabinet.
But Ms Sturgeon said this approach "beggars belief", saying Ms May was "appeasing hard-line Brexiteers".
The Scottish and UK governments have been locked in dispute over the UK's exit from the EU, with Scottish ministers refusing to put forward Westminster Brexit legislation for consent votes at Holyrood until a deal is struck over powers returning from Brussels.
Newspaper reports have speculated that the prime minister is set to appoint a junior minister to examine the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a trade deal, as a move to demonstrate to EU leaders that she is serious about this as an option if talks fail.
Ms Sturgeon told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme she had read the reports "in disbelief" and "despair", saying: "It beggars belief. It seems to give the impression that the UK government think this is some sort of game, that Theresa May is more concerned with appeasing the hard-line Tory Brexiteers than she is about acting in the best interests of the country."
"No deal is unthinkable. Let me be absolutely clear, no Brexit is preferable to no deal."
The Scottish government is to set out papers later in January analysing the different possible outcomes of Brexit for Scotland's economy, including single market membership, a free trade agreement with the EU or no deal.
Ms Sturgeon said: "There's no doubt at all that staying within the single market, staying with the customs union is not the best outcome - staying in the EU in my view is the best outcome - but it's the least damaging outcome.
"I think 2018 has to be the year where we see jobs, the economy, the protections that come from EU membership like workers rights, consumers rights, really come to the fore, and the Tory Brexiteers sidelined rather than given greater precedence."
Ms Sturgeon said she would "make an assessment and come to a judgement" about a possible Scottish independence referendum "once we see the outcome" of the next stage of Brexit negotiations.
On the prospect of a second EU vote, she said this was "not the position of the SNP, it's not a policy we're campaigning for", but added that "as the situation develops, the argument for giving people a say on the final outcome may become irresistible".
She said: "This is where the EU referendum in 2016 was very very different to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. In 2016 there was no detail about what the future relationship between the UK and the EU would be if there was a vote for Brexit, and we go into 2018 and we still don't have any detail about that.
"If we did get into a position for example where there was no deal, I'm very clear and I think a lot of people - certainly in Scotland but I suspect across the UK as a whole - would think that in those circumstances, no Brexit was absolutely preferable to a no-deal situation, which would be devastating for so many aspects of our economy and society."
Theresa May is preparing a reshuffle of her cabinet
Mrs May has insisted that she wants to have a deal in place by the time the UK leaves the European Union in March 2019.
She told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show there had been a "a real spirit of cooperation" between negotiators from the UK and the EU, seeking "a deal that is in everybody's best interests".
She said: "What we want is our own free trade agreement with the European Union. It would be a free trade agreement to cover both goods and services, and what I want to do is to ensure that as we look at the Brexit deal going forward it's important we recognise why people voted to leave the European Union here in the UK.
"Some of that was about free movement, and an end to free movement. Some of it actually was about the issue of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and people wanting control, but at the same time I think people still want to have a good economic relationship with the EU so we want as frictionless and tariff-free a trading relationship with the EU as possible
"That's what we mean when we talk about having a free trade agreement which isn't modelled on somebody else's agreement, but is actually the right one for the UK." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-42603500 | news_uk-scotland-scotland-politics-42603500 |
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David Davis plays down Tory row over Brexit transition - BBC News | 2018-01-27 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | David Davis says there is "no difference" between him and the chancellor over their transition aims. | UK Politics | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
David Davis has said there is "no difference" between him, the chancellor and prime minister following a Tory row over the terms of a Brexit transition.
The Brexit Secretary said all three wanted the UK's exit from the EU in March 2019 to "serve the British economy... and the British people".
There was a "diversity of views" in all parties and EU member states, he said.
Backbench Tories had criticised Philip Hammond for saying that changes to UK-EU relations could be "very modest".
No 10 distanced itself from Mr Hammond's remarks and one Tory MP said he should "stick to the script" the PM had laid out.
Following a speech outlining some of his ambitions for an "implementation period" immediately after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, Mr Davis was asked about the row.
He said: "I'm in politics, people debate and they have different views and there is a diversity of views on this subject in all parties. That doesn't mean we can't have a coherent and forceful view in the interests of the United Kingdom."
He added: "There is no difference between the chancellor, and myself - and indeed the prime minister - in terms that we both want a Brexit which serves the British economy and which serves the British people. There will be arguments about the tactics but they will change - the options available to us will change throughout the negotiations.
"We want a good Brexit for British business and a good Brexit for the British people and we will deliver that on a frictionless access to the single market and political and economic freedom for us in the future."
In his speech, Mr Davis said that the UK would be able to sign new trade deals in the "implementation" period - thought likely to last up to two years.
The UK would still effectively follow the rules of the EU customs union for the period immediately after Brexit and no trade deals could come into force until it ended.
But he said: "As an independent country - no longer a member of the European Union - the United Kingdom will once again have its own trading policy.
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"For the first time in more than 40 years, we will be able to step out and sign new trade deals with old friends, and new allies, around the globe."
He said existing international agreements - which include trade deals with other countries and agreements on aviation and nuclear power - should continue to apply during the period.
The "immediate goal" in negotiations, he added, would be to secure political agreement on an implementation phase by March's European Council summit.
This speech comes three days before the other EU member states are due to publish their formal guidelines (their terms and conditions in other words) for negotiations on the nature of a transition period after Brexit.
Those negotiations are due to begin shortly, and Mr Davis is getting his response in first, as well as trying to address some of the political heat he's now feeling from Brexiteers.
That's why he used the term 'implementation' rather than 'transition' period throughout his speech - it suggests that the UK will be implementing the consequences of Brexit.
EU documents though always refer to a transition because other countries are convinced that negotiations on the future EU-UK relationship will not have been completed by the time the UK leaves.
As well as smoothing the path for business, they argue that a transition is necessary to allow negotiations on future relations to continue.
Failing to reach agreement would mean uncertainty for businesses, resulting in delayed investment and a "stifling of hard-won economic growth".
Mr Davis also stressed the need for an "appropriate process" to allow the UK to resolve any concerns about new EU laws introduced during the implementation phase which were against its interests.
The speech comes amid a row in his party over the government's approach to Brexit negotiations, following Mr Hammond's comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
Downing Street distanced itself from his remarks although the prime minister's spokesman said on Friday she had full confidence in the chancellor.
Asked whether his comments had been destabilising for the prime minister, Mr Hammond told the BBC: "I think the context is important. I was speaking about our trade relationship with the EU, and it is the government's policy that we want to maintain the maximum possible access to markets and the minimum friction at our borders because that's good for the British economy."
But Eurosceptic Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin told the BBC it would be easier for the PM if Mr Hammond and other cabinet ministers "stuck to her script" while Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mr Hammond "must have been affected by high mountain air" in the Swiss resort.
In response to Mr Davis's speech, Hilary Benn, Labour chairman of the Commons Brexit committee, said "what we really needed to hear is what the government's proposals are for the most important trade negotiation of all - with the European Union... On that, we are none the wiser"
And Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said nothing Mr Davis had said "can mask or hide the bitter infighting that is going on in the government about what form Brexit should take". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42827270 | news_uk-politics-42827270 |
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South Korea considers Bitcoin trading ban - BBC News | 2018-01-11 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Government cryptocurrency concerns include tax evasion and people developing gambling addictions. | Business | South Korea is considering a law to ban cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin being traded on local exchanges.
Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said virtual currencies were "great concerns" and that the ministry was preparing a bill to ban trading.
However, South Korea's presidential office said later that a ban had not yet been finalised and was one measure being considered.
The local Bitcoin price fell by a fifth after the justice minister's comments.
In South Korea it trades at about a 30% premium compared with other countries.
There is no one fixed price for Bitcoin as it is not regulated and is traded on dozens of exchanges worldwide.
According to Coindesk.com, the price of Bitcoin was about 8% lower at just under $13,800 on Thursday afternoon.
South Korea has become a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for about 20% of global Bitcoin transactions.
It has more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges, according to the Korea Blockchain Industry Association.
Several were raided this week in a probe into alleged tax evasion, including the country's second-largest virtual currency operator, Bithumb.
The government had already said in December that it would apply more scrutiny to the exchanges, including moves to curb anonymous trading.
Given the low levels of trading and relatively small number of people holding virtual currencies, wild price swings have become the norm, leading to an argument that paying too much attention to price rises and falls is futile.
Digital currencies such as Bitcoin have surged in value over the past year - driving a huge demand. That has led to concerns about gambling addiction as inexperienced investors try to ride the wave. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42645081 | news_business-42645081 |
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Scrap 'tens of thousands' migration target, MPs urge - BBC News | 2018-01-15 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Failure to meet it "undermines" trust in the state's ability to control immigration, a report says. | UK | The government should drop its target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands, a group of MPs has said.
Failure to meet it "undermines" public trust, the Home Affairs Committee argued, and instead, immigration policies should consider the UK's needs "and humanitarian obligations".
The MPs also said fears about the scale of illegal immigration have grown because of a lack of official data.
The Home Office said the public was clearly in favour of lower immigration.
Annual net migration to the UK is currently 230,000.
The target of reducing it to tens of thousands was set by David Cameron at the beginning of the coalition government in 2010, but that figure has never been met.
In its report, the Home Affairs Committee states that the target "is not working to build confidence" and does not reflect the public's view on how different forms of migration should be treated.
The continued "discrepancy" between the target and reality has "damaged" the public's view of the immigration system, they argue.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper calls for the migration target to be replaced
The report recommends the government switches to a Canada-style model - which is run on a points system - that uses evidence to come up with a "framework" of targets and controls for different types of immigration.
It adds that foreign students, who are currently part of the UK's net migration statistics, should be removed from the target altogether.
To date, the government has resisted calls to take that step, despite arguments that the majority of students come to study and then return home - and make a significant positive economic contribution to the country.
Meanwhile, a separate report by think tank British Future and campaign group Hope not Hate, submitted to the committee, said high-profile failures in immigration policy had eroded public trust.
The report, titled National Conversation, interviewed public panels in more than 40 different towns and cities across the UK.
It cited the failure to deport foreign nationals at the end of their prison sentences as one of the problems raised by the panel members.
"A reason that many participants feel migration flows are uncontrolled is that they do not trust the government to enforce immigration policy," it added.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Theresa May: We still want to cut net migration to 'tens of thousands'
The Home Affairs Committee said the lack of data on illegal immigration was perceived as the government showing "indifference" towards an issue of "high public interest".
It urged ministers to produce an annual estimate of illegal immigration to reassure the public the issue was being taken seriously.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We are making it harder than ever before for those with no right to be here to remain in the UK.
"However, we also believe that more analysis of the scale and nature of the problem of illegal immigration is needed in order to develop appropriate policy responses and reassure the public that the issue is being addressed seriously."
The spokesman said net migration had fallen steadily "over the past four quarters" and added "the British people sent a very clear message in the EU referendum, they want more control of immigration and our borders."
• None What do the latest migration figures reveal? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42683494 | news_uk-42683494 |
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Government shutdown: The winners and losers - BBC News | 2018-01-23 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The government will reopen. Everyone involved is declaring victory. And everybody's right. And wrong. | US & Canada | The government shutdown is officially over. Everyone involved is declaring victory. And everybody's right. And wrong.
How right and how wrong they are will be revealed over time. For now, as the dust settles on the long-weekend shutdown of 2018, here's the case for - and against - each side's claims.
Why they won: Given that the Republican Party's previous shutdown experiences - notably 2013 and 1995-96 - ended in near-total capitulation, anything short of that has to be seen as a unmitigated victory.
Their caucus stayed reasonably united, losing only four senators in Friday's pre-shutdown vote, and mostly on-message. Their argument was simple - they would not negotiate an immigration deal with a shutdown gun held to their head. If that sounds familiar, it's because it was the same logic Democrats used, effectively, in 2013.
What the Republicans conceded, a promise to vote on an immigration reform package in the Senate, was not a particularly heavy lift. There are plenty of Republicans who want to see so-called Dreamers, who entered the US as undocumented immigrant children and are now in danger of deportation, given some sort of permanent residency status. Nothing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to will preclude Republicans from negotiating Democratic concessions on other immigration reforms, such as the border wall and ending the visa lottery and chain migration, in exchange for their support.
Why they lost: Despite a rather clear, concise Republican message - Democrats were shutting down the government to win protections for "illegal immigrants" - the American public, according to snap polls, sided with the Democratic position. The partisan divides were clear, but the highly coveted political independents were breaking to the left.
That might have changed if the shutdown dragged on longer, but it didn't. So if Republicans hoped that the fight would give them a boost and help avoid what could be a Democratic wave in the mid-term elections later this year, they will likely be disappointed. This is the first time a shutdown has occurred when one party has controlled both the White House and Congress. If voters focus their ire on the ones in power, Republicans will bear the brunt of the blame.
In the meantime, while Mr McConnell's guarantee of an immigration vote is vague at best, it could be used against him in three weeks if there's no further action on the issue. And if a vote does take place, it is likely to exacerbate the clear rifts that have been exposed among Republicans on what to do about Dreamers.
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Why they won: Uh. Give me a minute. OK, the Democrats didn't have the strongest hand heading into this weekend's shutdown showdown. They played their cards as best they could. They were able to convince a few Republicans - Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina - to fight by their side. They are also more likely to win over other sympathetic senators, like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, in future battles by backing down now.
The Democratic caucus largely stuck together through the weekend. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was able to give at-risk Democrats, up for re-election this year in conservative states, a pass on a tough shutdown vote, and Republicans weren't able to pick off further support until the leadership was ready to accept Mr McConnell's offer.
They have kept their powder dry for the next fight, in three weeks, without making any concessions and demonstrated that they are willing to take a more confrontational stance - at least for a few days - on an issue that's dear to the liberal base. The US public tends to have a short memory as far as shutdowns go, so any damage they did by risking being branded as obstructionists is almost certainly temporary.
As part of the deal, the Children's Health Insurance Programme (Chip) was reauthorised for a full six years. While this was a measure that had broad bipartisan support, Republicans had held it out to win concessions from Democrats on other issues. Chip has now been taken off the table.
Why they lost: Spin it however you like, it was the Democrats who (with a bit of Republican support) forced the shutdown, and it was the Democrats who eventually relented. The "Schumer shutdown" label stuck.
While this was a Democratic play to show the base they were serious about protecting Dreamers, early indications are the base isn't convinced.
"Today's cave by Senate Democrats - led by weak-kneed, right-of-centre Democrats - is why people don't believe the Democratic Party stands for anything," writes Stephanie Taylor of Progressive Change Campaign Committee in a press statement. Not exactly hosannas for the good fight.
Even more telling is that nearly every 2020 Democratic hopeful in the Senate - Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Ron Wyden - were against reopening the government. Their position is that Mr McConnell's guarantees of an intent to have an immigration vote - if no deal is reached in three weeks and the Democrats don't shut down the government again - are written in sand.
You don't need a weatherman to tell that this particular wind is blowing from the left.
Why he won: First and foremost, the president was able to make it through the first shutdown on his watch without doing anything to exacerbate the situation. Disruptions were kept to a minimum. Government services largely continued undisrupted. Even the national parks and museums, a key focus of past shutdowns, mostly stayed open.
The president himself was kept out of the public view over the weekend and his Twitter feed - which often causes as many problems as it solves - was restrained and on message. He even fired off a tongue-in-cheek line sending his regards to the hundreds of thousands of women who marched in protest of his administration over the weekend.
Now he can claim that he stood on the side of defending a functioning government and protecting the US military. His characterisations of Democrats as obstructionists will pack a bit more of a punch.
It seems more likely at this point that if an immigration deal is eventually reached it will include funding for his Mexican border wall. The issue had been a non-starter for Democrats up until now, but Mr Schumer and his team showed a willingness to exchange the wall for Dreamer protections. The prospect that the president will someday pose proudly before a gleaming "Trump wall" - even if it will never stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific or be paid for by Mexico - appears much more likely. That, by any accounts, is a win for the president.
Why he lost: Mr Schumer groused over the weekend that trying to work with Mr Trump was like negotiating with Jell-o. Every time they thought they had an agreement with the president, whether it was to accept a bipartisan deal on immigration or establish terms for re-opening the government, he would later back away or come up with new conditions.
Even Republicans - from Mr McConnell on down - expressed frustration that they were not receiving sufficient guidance from the president on what an acceptable deal might look like.
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The White House released a number of photographs of Mr Trump "working" over the weekend to solve the shutdown impasse. The president sitting at his desk, talking on the phone. The president meeting with smiling staffers. The president walking, stern-faced, down a corridor. By most accounts, however, the president was a non-factor in the congressional negotiations that led, ultimately, to a government reopening. Instead, according to press reports, he stewed in the White House, frustrated he couldn't head to his Mar-a-Lago resort for a gala celebration of the anniversary of his inauguration.
"A great deal-making president sat on the sidelines," Mr Schumer said as he announced Democrats would agree to Mr McConnell's deal.
According to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the role of the president during the crisis was to ensure that things "went smoothly". If that's the bar, it's debatable the president met it. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42755808 | news_world-us-canada-42755808 |
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Cabinet reshuffle: What took so long in No 10? - BBC News | 2018-01-09 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Reshuffles have a habit of not going to plan. What took so long today? | UK Politics | The reshuffle isn't over, but we already know that it was not just the prime minister who had her say today, but her ministers too.
Jeremy Hunt, who has stayed as health secretary, and Greg Clark, who has stayed as business secretary, were both in No 10 for more than an hour this afternoon.
I understand that rather than meekly accepting whatever was being dangled before him (at least one of the likely jobs was a move to become business secretary, possibly a job swap with Greg Clark) the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in fact argued his case for staying at the Department for Health and expanding his role to take on planning for the future of social care in England.
It is said the situation was "fluid", and the PM was "persuaded" by his arguments, agreeing to keep him in position at the end of their conversation. Senior government sources dispute that Greg Clark also refused to move - Hunt getting his way and staying at health had clear knock on effects which meant Clark's conversation was merely about staying in his role.
There's still a mystery over the potential appointment of Chris Grayling as chairman at Tory HQ.
Number 10 disputes it was ever the plan, but two other sources say they had been told it was the case, and that in the end No 10 had to "fiddle with the whiteboard", appointing well liked Brandon Lewis in his place.
But Theresa May's detractors will claim this as evidence that she didn't have the authority to move her own ministers. One senior MP said "this reshuffle is embarrassing… far from asserting her authority, or some new found strength it's just highlighted how weak the PM is".
No 10 is promising more moves before the end of the evening and more diverse new appointments through the day tomorrow.
But while this isn't the most dramatic of reshuffles, it seems to have followed the tradition of not going quite according to plan. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42615003 | news_uk-politics-42615003 |
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Delay to Brexit bill amendments confirmed - BBC News | 2018-01-09 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Promised changes by the UK government that would reflect concerns over the bill's impact on devolution will take longer than expected. | Scotland politics | Mr Mundell had previously told MSPs the amendments would be introduced in the Commons
Promised changes to the UK government's EU Withdrawal Bill that would reflect concerns over its impact on devolution will be delayed, it has been confirmed.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell told MPs last month that the amendments would happen during next week's report stage in the House of Commons.
However, he has now said the changes will not happen until the bill reaches the House of Lords.
He also said the government remained committed to improving the bill.
Government sources said that the resignation of Damian Green - who had been leading talks with the devolved administrations - from his Cabinet Office post, coupled with the festive break, had caused the timetable to slip.
The Scottish government has previously said it would not put the legislation to a consent vote in the Scottish Parliament unless changes are made.
Mr Mundell said: "I can confirm today that amendments to clause 11 of the bill will be brought forward in the House of Lords, allowing for further discussions to take place between the UK government and Scottish government.
"A substantial number of powers will transfer direct to the Scottish Parliament. The two governments agree that in some areas common frameworks will be required.
"I regret that it has not been possible to bring forward amendments at the report stage but our commitment to improve the bill remains absolute. The most important thing is that the changes we bring forward command support on all sides, and talks between Scotland's two governments will continue."
A series of summits between ministers from around the UK have failed to resolve the impasse over post-Brexit powers
He added: "I remain confident we can reach a place where the Scottish Parliament will give legislative consent to this vitally important piece of legislation.
"The two governments have made good progress on how powers should be brought back from Brussels, including through the JMC(EN) meetings, and expect to make further progress in the coming weeks and months."
The Scottish government's Brexit minister, Mike Russell, told Holyrood that the UK government's failure to introduce the amendments in the House of Commons was "very regrettable" and "unacceptable", but said that talks over the bill would continue.
He added: "We have spent six months discussing bringing forward this amendment, and no amendment has been brought forward."
Lots of frustration at the announcement tonight there won't be changes to the Withdrawal Bill next week.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell had promise amendments to reflect concerns over the impact the bill will have on devolution at report stage. But today he confirmed that's not happening now; there's been no agreement with Edinburgh and ministers in London don't want to bring the changes until that happens.
My sources say the departure of Damian Green - who had chaired high-level meetings with the Scottish government on this - didn't help. Nor did the fact the next parliamentary stage of the bill is happening a bit earlier than most expected.
It doesn't mean changes won't happen. The government says it's still committed to amendments, but they'll happen in the Lords instead.
But the Scottish Tories aren't happy. This morning, Tory MPs were still expecting the changes next week. I've heard the words "frustrated" and "disappointed" from a few. They're meeting tonight as a group to discuss the next steps.
The SNP are furious because it means MPs won't get to scrutinise the changes. Labour are too; they say it shows contempt for democracy.
The Scottish Tories will, I believe, ultimately be happy as long as the changes do happen in the Lords. But tonight there are a lot of angry faces across the parties.
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said he too was "deeply frustrated and disappointed" that the amendments had not been made yet, and that he had been led to believe the bill would have been changed by now.
He also said it was "imperative" the legislation was passed at Westminster with the Scottish Parliament's consent.
The UK and Scottish governments are locked in a dispute over what will happen to powers which are currently not reserved to Westminster, but which are exercised from Brussels.
UK ministers want them all returned to Westminster in the first instance, before some are devolved and some woven into UK-wide frameworks - but Scottish and Welsh ministers term this a "power grab".
In a report published on Tuesday, Holyrood's constitution committee - which includes Conservative MSPs - backed the Scottish government's stance, and said the bill was currently "incompatible with devolution".
The argument over the EU Withdrawal Bill focuses on Clause 11, which deals directly with the devolved administrations and the powers coming back from Brussels post-Brexit.
The clause has been attacked by groups including the Scottish government, SNP MPs at Westminster and even Scottish Conservative MPs, one of whom described it as "not fit for purpose".
MSPs on the constitution committee unanimously added their weight to this, saying that "Clause 11, as currently drafted, is incompatible with the devolution settlement in Scotland".
They said the committee "will not be in a position to recommend legislative consent for the bill unless Clause 11 is replaced or removed", adding that resolving this should be "a matter of priority" for the UK government.
Committee convener Bruce Crawford said that in its present form, the bill "represents a fundamental shift in the structure of devolution in Scotland".
Opposition party leaders met at Westminster to talks about Brexit on Tuesday morning - with an empty chair for Jeremy Corbyn
But Mr Tomkins, the deputy convener of the committee, welcomed the "progress that has been made" in "developing an approach to agreeing common UK frameworks" for returning powers.
And he said members "welcome the UK government's commitment to respect the devolution settlement".
Scottish Brexit minister Mike Russell - who welcomed the committee's report - has said the government is looking at the possibility of introducing its own "continuity" legislation, should it fail to come to an agreement over the UK bill.
The committee said this approach would result in "a reduced timetable for parliamentary scrutiny", urging the government to engage in "early discussions" with the parliament about this.
The Scottish and Welsh governments jointly put forward potential amendments to the Withdrawal Bill during the early part of its progress through Westminster, but saw them rejected by MPs.
However, Mr Mundell told MPs on 6 December that "the bill will be amended", later clarifying that this would "happen on report".
Meanwhile, MSPs have been debating the Brexit process and the position of the remaining EU member states on their first day back after the festive recess.
They discussed evidence gathered by the culture, tourism, Europe and external relations committee on the Brexit process, which began with the triggering of Article 50 in March 2016.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-42612248 | news_uk-scotland-scotland-politics-42612248 |
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Wales smacking ban plan goes to public consultation - BBC News | 2018-01-09 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | A new law would remove existing defences to assault and battery that cover physical punishment. | Wales | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Plans to outlaw smacking children in Wales are going out to a three-month consultation.
Ministers said removing the defence of reasonable punishment would make it clear smacking was "no longer acceptable".
Charities including the NSPCC said this would bring Wales in line with dozens of other countries.
But campaigners against the law fear it could criminalise ordinary parents.
Minister for Children and Social Care, Huw Irranca-Davies, said: "As a parent of three boys myself, I know being a parent can sometimes be a challenging experience.
"Our knowledge of what children need to grow and thrive has developed considerably over the last 20 years. We now know that physical punishment can have negative long-term impacts on a child's life chances and we also know it is an ineffective punishment."
Scotland became the first part of the UK to confirm plans to outlaw smacking children last year.
Now ministers in Wales want parents to choose "positive and more effective methods".
The proposed law would not involve creating a new offence but would instead remove the defence to the existing offences of assault and battery.
So, any adult looking after a child would no longer be able to use physical or corporal punishment against them.
If prosecuted, parents or guardians could expect to face proceedings for assault in magistrates court; the consultation document said it anticipates a initial increase in cases but this "would decline in the longer term as attitudes to corporal punishment continued to change".
Cathryn Scott, mother of three and writer of the blog 'Cardiff Mummy Says' told BBC Wales: "It makes me really sad, this 'oh it didn't do me any harm', which a lot of the older generations do say. My personal opinion is that I would never hit a child.
"When my children are misbehaving it's because something else is an issue and I don't think a smack is an effective way.
"For example yesterday my daughter was being very cheeky, very shouty. And it turned out some of her friends at school had been mean to her. So if I'd have smacked her she'd have never told me all of that, she actually got quite upset about what happened at school.
"She told me what had happened and now I'm in a position to do something about it. If I'd just have smacked her she'd just have internalised that and the problem wouldn't have been dealt with."
"How can I hit my child and then tell him it's wrong to hit his brother?
"I would never want that reign of terror in my house to be honest."
Phyllis Preece, mother of two and chairwoman of the National Pensioners Convention for Wales, disagreed: "It didn't do my sister or I any harm to have a smack and exactly the same with my two children. There's a difference between a smack and a beating.
"What's the point of being a parent if you haven't got control over your children?
"And if you can't chastise your children then what's the point of being a parent in the first place?
"You've got to make sure you set the boundaries for the other children.
"I've known in my generation many a person have had a cane on their dresser and it's been there as a warning and you knew how far to go otherwise you'd get it across the leg. Personally it never happened to me and I never would have done it, but it was used in such cases as a threat."
Physical punishment has already been outlawed in schools and childcare facilities but Mr Irranca-Davies said it was time "to ensure it is no longer acceptable anywhere".
The Welsh Government is allowed to legislate in areas of parental discipline, under the new Wales Act.
The NSPCC said it was a "common sense move which is about fairness and equality for children".
Children's Commissioner for Wales Sally Holland said: "Welsh Government does not want to create a new criminal offence; Welsh Government does not want to criminalise parents.
"What government does want to do is to ensure children living in Wales are afforded the same protection in the law as adults. Hitting or smacking a child is never loving or caring. I see no reasonable arguments against the ambition of this consultation."
The Welsh Conservatives said AMs would have a free vote on the matter.
However, the party's Clwyd West AM Darren Millar called smacking "the ultimate sanction", promising to "continue to support the ability of parents in Wales to choose to use it when disciplining their children in the future".
"We believe rights of parents should be protected within the law as it stands."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-42608193 | news_uk-wales-42608193 |
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What now for UK-France security relations? - BBC News | 2018-01-19 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Before the annual UK-France summit, the BBC's security correspondent assesses co-operation on key areas in the run-up to Brexit. | UK | RAF helicopters to Mali, French troops to Estonia, spy chiefs sharing intelligence. When it comes to defence and security, the Anglo-French entente cordiale has rarely been closer as their political leaders meet for their annual summit.
Building on the Lancaster House agreement of 2010 between the two countries' then leaders, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, a landmark summit is now being held between Theresa May and President Macron of France.
With the UK's looming departure from the EU, Brexit, trade and migration will inevitably feature in their discussions.
The French president has been pushing for Britain to accept more migrants from Calais and to pay more towards the upkeep of the two countries' joint Channel border controls.
Historically, this annual summit has always been about security and this year is no exception.
The continuing threat from the Islamic State group, the conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and West Africa, Russia's actions in the Baltics and Ukraine and the emergence of transatlantic differences over certain key issues such as Iran, are all reminders of the need to shore up bilateral ties between London and Paris, ahead of Brexit.
Britain may be leaving the EU but it will remain a heavyweight partner for France when it comes to security issues.
French political analyst Dominique Moisi says: "We are close allies and we are rivals - and precisely because the UK is leaving the EU we may be even more rivals.
"But the international context forces us to come closer to resist terrorism because of the vacuum left by the US."
So, what are the defence and security issues up for discussion at Sandhurst?
Britain and France have an incredibly close partnership in confronting the shared threat of terrorist attacks inspired or directed by so-called Islamic State.
So close, in fact, that this is the first ever meeting of "The Quint" - the heads of all five British and French spy agencies, both domestic and foreign. They will be discussing, among other things, the lessons learnt from last year's terror attacks in Manchester, Barcelona and London.
There is a permanent 'open door' for French intelligence officers who need to visit MI5 headquarters at Thames House in London and a similar arrangement exists for British case officers visiting France's equivalent, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure (DGSI). MI5 officers were rushed to Paris in the wake of the 2015 Bataclan attack to help follow up intelligence leads and glean any possible lessons.
As well as bilateral links like this, the primary mechanism for sharing intelligence between European partners is the Counter Terrorism Group (CTG). Heads of European agencies meet at least once a year, their subordinates more often.
The concern over Brexit has long been the risk that Britain could be denied access to certain EU bodies, such as Europol. In fact, say insiders, the business of counter-terrorism is likely to continue as usual.
Sir Julian King, EU Security Commissioner in Brussels, told me in October that the terrorist threat facing all of Europe was so great that no-one wanted to take any risks by reducing counter-terrorism cooperation with London. Theresa May, who was Home Secretary for six years until she became PM in 2016, will be keen to see this intelligence-sharing with Paris maintained and even increased.
Lord Peter Ricketts, who was both national security adviser and then UK ambassador to Paris until 2016, says Anglo-French co-operation has improved dramatically since 2000.
"From what I saw as ambassador in Paris, the two counter-terrorism communities and law enforcement communities are now finding they've got things to learn from each other so it is not nearly as polarised as it was 15 years ago," he said.
Despite recent UK defence cuts, Britain and France remain far ahead of other European nations when it comes to deploying combat forces overseas.
In Mali and other Saharan nations, French forces have been battling a jihadist insurgency for five years. They've asked for British help, and now they are about to get it.
Britain is to send three RAF Chinook transport helicopters to support the French operation in Mali, along with 50-60 support staff.
French political analyst Dominique Moisi says: "France wants to share responsibility with other European powers, convincing them that the Sahel is becoming a primary objective in the fight against terrorism, as it is receding in Syria and Iraq after the defeat against ISIS."
As if by way of return, France is to send troops to join the UK-led battle group in Estonia where 800 British soldiers are helping to guard Nato's eastern flank with Russia.
This is all part of a growing military alliance between Europe's only two nuclear powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The two nations are working on a joint Unmanned Aerial System for future drones. A French Brigadier was put in charge of a UK division for two months while a British Army Brigadier did the same in France. Joint exercises are being held with a view to building up a combined intervention force of 10,000 troops by 2020.
There is a precedent for that, which did not end well: Libya.
The Nato air campaign in 2011 was initially successful, driving back the forces of Colonel Gaddafi which threatened to massacre the residents of Benghazi. Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy were briefly feted as saviours of that North African nation.
Thereafter Libya deteriorated into chaos, and Western nations were reluctant to get drawn into any kind of occupation role after the experience in Iraq. So the end-result of any future interventions, whether in the Middle East, Asia or Africa, will need to be very carefully thought out.
The cross-channel co-operation on domestic counter-terrorism is matched to some extent by the links between MI6 and its French counterpart, the DGSE.
The UK's closest intelligence-gathering partner remains the US but it also has strong bilateral arrangements with France, Germany, Spain and other European nations' agencies.
A former British intelligence officer says that old Anglo-French rivalries overseas had given way to shared goals.
He said there was a common desire for Britain's expertise, such as in cyber, to remain accessible to European agencies after Brexit, effectively ring-fencing intelligence and counter-terrorism from ongoing arguments in other areas such as trade and migration.
There is Brexit, says a Whitehall insider, and then there is security. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42723121 | news_uk-42723121 |
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'Adolescence now lasts from 10 to 24' - BBC News | 2018-01-19 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Delayed marriage and parenthood has pushed back perceptions of when adulthood starts. | Health | Adolescence now lasts from the ages of 10 to 24, although it used to be thought to end at 19, scientists say.
Young people continuing their education for longer, as well as delayed marriage and parenthood, has pushed back popular perceptions of when adulthood begins.
Changing the definition is vital to ensure laws stay appropriate, they write in an opinion piece in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.
But another expert warns doing so risks "further infantilising young people".
Puberty is considered to start when the part of the brain known as the hypothalamus starts releasing a hormone that activates the body's pituitary and gonadal glands.
This used to happen around the age of 14 but has dropped with improved health and nutrition in much of the developed world to around the age of 10.
As a consequence, in industrialised countries such as the UK the average age for a girl's first menstruation has dropped by four years in the past 150 years.
Half of all females now have their period by 12 or 13 years of age.
There are also biological arguments for why the definition of adolescence should be extended, including that the body continues to develop.
For example, the brain continues to mature beyond the age of 20, working faster and more efficiently.
And many people's wisdom teeth don't come through until the age of 25.
Young people are also getting married and having children later.
According to the Office of National Statistics, the average age for a man to enter their first marriage in 2013 was 32.5 years and 30.6 years for women across England and Wales. This represented an increase of almost eight years since 1973.
Lead author Prof Susan Sawyer, director of the centre for adolescent health at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, writes: "Although many adult legal privileges start at age 18 years, the adoption of adult roles and responsibilities generally occurs later."
She says delayed partnering, parenting and economic independence means the "semi-dependency" that characterises adolescence has expanded.
This social change, she says, needs to inform policy, such as by extending youth support services until the age of 25.
"Age definitions are always arbitrary", she writes, but "our current definition of adolescence is overly restricted".
"The ages of 10-24 years are a better fit with the development of adolescents nowadays."
Prof Russell Viner, president-elect of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health, said: "In the UK, the average age for leaving home is now around 25 years for both men and women."
He supports extending the definition to cover adolescence up until the age of 24 and says a number of UK services already take this into account.
He said: "Statutory provision in England in terms of social care for care leavers and children with special educational needs now goes up to 24 years," as does provision of services for people with cystic fibrosis.
But Dr Jan Macvarish, a parenting sociologist at the University of Kent, says there is a danger in extending our concept of adolescence.
"Older children and young people are shaped far more significantly by society's expectations of them than by their intrinsic biological growth," she said.
"There is nothing inevitably infantilising about spending your early 20s in higher education or experimenting in the world of work."
And we should not risk "pathologising their desire for independence".
"Society should maintain the highest possible expectations of the next generation," Dr Macvarish said.
Prof Viner disagrees with Dr Macvarish's criticism and says broadening adolescence can be seen as "empowering young people by recognising their differences".
"As long as we do this from a position of recognising young people's strengths and the potential of their development, rather than being focused on the problems of the adolescent period."
• None What happens to my body during puberty? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42732442 | news_health-42732442 |