UK News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

Grant Shapps replaces Ben Wallace as defence secretary

1 hour ago

Grant Shapps has pledged to "continue to UK's support for Ukraine" as he takes over as defence secretary from Ben Wallace.

It is Mr Shapps' fifth cabinet job in less than a year, including roles as energy secretary, transport secretary and, briefly, home secretary.

Ben Wallace is standing down as an MP at the next election, after four years as defence secretary.

In a statement, Mr Shapps said he was "honoured" to take on the role.

Children's Minister Claire Coutinho has replaced Mr Shapps as Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-66668941

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Incoming election perhaps?

[Time_Traveller]

Tesco gives workers bodycams after rise in violent attacks

Sun 3 Sep 2023

Tesco’s chief executive has called for a change in the law to make abuse or violence towards retail workers an offence across the UK.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Ken Murphy said the supermarket chain has offered body-worn cameras to members of staff who need them after seeing physical assaults rise by a third in a year.

He said Tesco has invested £44m in four years on security measures including door access systems, protection screens and digital radios, as well as the cameras, but called for more to be done against offenders.

“Money spent on making sure people are safe at work is always well spent,” he said. “But it should not have to be like this. Crime is a scourge on society and an insult to shoppers and retail workers.

“These people are small in number but have a disproportionate impact.” It was “time we put an end to it”, he added as he labelled the rise in incidents as “unacceptable” and the impact on workers “heartbreaking”.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... nt-attacks

If I had my way, I would put into law and all retail staff should have bodycams UK-wide.

[Time_Traveller]

Victims’ images projected on Parliament as Government urged to scrap legacy Bill

1 hour ago

Images of victims of the Northern Ireland Troubles have been projected onto the Houses of Parliament ahead of the expected passing of the Government’s controversial legacy Bill.

Amnesty International and some victims have made a late plea for the Government to scrap the legislation which includes a form of limited immunity for some perpetrators of crimes committed during the conflict.

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill is set to return to the House of Lords on Tuesday.

The proposed legislation would also prevent future civil cases and inquests into Troubles offences.

All of the main political parties in Northern Ireland, the Irish Government and victims’ groups are opposed to the Bill.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/u ... 04507.html

[Time_Traveller]

Birmingham City Council goes bankrupt after being hit by £760m settlement for equal pay claims

05/09/2023 11:06

Birmingham City Council has declared itself effectively bankrupt after it issued a Section 114 notice, restricting all but essential spending.

The local authority is the largest in Europe and is the latest council in England to announce it has run out of cash.

Earlier this year, Woking Council announced it was bankrupt with an eye-watering £1.2bn deficit.

But news that Birmingham City Council is also in dire financial straits will be of major concern, and is believed to be linked to a £760m bill from an equal pay settlement.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/birmi ... cle_inline

[Time_Traveller]

Nitrous oxide: Laughing gas to be illegal by end of year

12 minutes ago

Laughing gas will be categorised as a class C drug and made illegal by the end of the year, the UK government has announced.

Possession of nitrous oxide, also known as NOS, will carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.

Laughing gas is one of the most commonly used recreational drugs by 16 to 24-year-olds.

Heavy use can lead to a range of illnesses including nerve-related symptoms.

Supply of nitrous oxide for recreational use is currently banned - but possession is not.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66718165

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Tata Steel: Port Talbot steelworks given £500m by UK government

19 minutes ago

Port Talbot's steelworks will be given up to £500m by the UK government in a bid to keep the plant open and produce steel in a greener way.

Tata steel will add £700m of its own as it invests in cutting emissions. It has asked ministers to provide a bigger chunk of the cost.

[...]

The site is one of the UK's largest polluters.

[...]

The UK government said the transition is expected to reduce the UK's entire business and industry carbon emissions by 7%, Wales's overall emissions by 22% and the Port Talbot site's emissions by 85%.

It said the plan to replace existing coal-powered blast furnaces at the site would "reduce the UK's entire carbon emissions by around 1.5%."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66819458

[Time_Traveller]

Utterly moronic decision.

A great way to kill off the already deprived northeast.

-----

Rail upgrade pledge as Leeds HS2 leg to be scrapped

Published 21 minutes ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59320576

More on this subject

'Only Tories could build a north-south line that doesn't run to biggest northern city'

22:28, 14 Sep 2023

The HS2 project will go down in history as a monument to Conservative waste and incompetence.

The high-speed line is billions of pounds over budget and years behind schedule. The Government has already axed the proposed leg from Birmingham to Leeds and postponed the development of a terminus in central London. Now it is refusing to commit to extending the route to Manchester.

Only the Tories could build a north-south line with no station in the capital and that does not take passengers to the biggest northern city. Greater Manchester should not be paying the price for the Government’s ineptitude. The building of HS2 would have brought jobs and growth to the region, delivering an estimated economic dividend of £130billion by 2050.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ ... h-30945638

[wjfox]

Just when I thought I couldn't hate this twat any more than I already do:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66857551

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

Pushing back petrol car ban a bad idea, Ford tells Sunak

– Carmaker Ford has warned Rishi Sunak that pushing back a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars to 2035 would undermine business certainty

– It comes after the BBC revealed that the PM is considering a major shift on key climate action policies

– Some high-profile Tories have lambasted the apparent plans but Home Secretary Suella Braverman backed them

– Tory MP Chris Skidmore, who chaired a previous net zero review, said rowing back would be the "greatest mistake" for Sunak

– Sunak says the government is committed to reaching net zero by 2050 - but in a "more proportionate way"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66863110

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Another day, another backwards step from these morally insane ghouls.

The next election can't come soon enough.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66900999

[Time_Traveller]

Another day, another backwards step from these morally insane ghouls.

The next election can't come soon enough.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66900999

Agreed and hopefully Labour can restore what they stopped. Metaculus says it will appear anytime between May and November next year.

[Time_Traveller]

Poorest people in England ‘will not be smoke-free until after 2050’

5 hours ago

The most deprived people in England will not be smoke-free until after 2050 – more than 20 years behind the Government’s target, a charity has warned.

In 2019, the Government set out an ambition for England to be smoke-free by 2030.

It commissioned a review, published last June and led by Javed Khan, which said that “without further action England will miss the smoke-free 2030 target by at least seven years, and the poorest areas in society will not meet it until 2044”.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/e ... 19914.html

[Time_Traveller]

NHS England awards £25 million contract to Palantir to transition to FDP

The new Palantir Foundry Transition & Exit contract, which was announced on a government contracts site at noon on Tuesday, had a start date of June 12.

It is designed to “provide the smooth transition and exit service of critical products that were developed to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic (for Covid-19 and elective recovery purposes), to alternative provisions including the transition of products to the new FDP-AS supplier following completion of the procurement process and award to the FDP-AS supplier,” according to the description on the contracts site.

The award of the contract is likely to renew concerns about the transparency of the tender process for the FDP. Palantir has been widely viewed as having a clear advantage in bidding for the operating contract due to its existing work during the pandemic helping the government manage Covid data at no cost.

NHSE commented on Wednesday: “The new interim contract will ensure there is no gap in service provision and support the smooth transition from one platform to another.

“The federated data platform procurement process is separate to this and is taking place in accordance with strict procurement rules. The successful supplier of the federated data platform will be required to go through due diligence before the contract is awarded, and through various stages throughout its lifetime.”

https://www.digitalhealth.net/2023/06/n ... on-to-fdp/