Gove backs new design school to challenge ‘indifferent and insipid’ town planning December 27, 2022 Michael Gove has said new housing developments are let down by “indifferent or insipid” town planning, as he calls for a new school for designing. The Levelling Up Secretary made his comments in a foreword for the conservative think tank Policy Exchange, in which he bemoaned modern architecture, saying “all too frequently in Britain the [...]
Beefy Brexit row: Deal with Australia is ‘success’ says envoy Lord Botham, after ex minister’s criticism December 27, 2022 Lord Ian Botham, the government’s trade envoy to Australia, is at loggerheads with a former minister over the success of the post-Brexit deal. The ex cricket star, affectionately known as ‘Beefy’, hit out at George Eustice who branded the agreement signed in 2021, who said he “no longer has to put such a positive gloss [...]
Ex Russian leader: In 2023, UK to rejoin EU, Musk will be US president and France to fight Germany December 27, 2022 Britain is going to rejoin the EU and it will collapse, while France will go to war with Germany and Elon Musk will be the US President, according to former Russia PM and President. The ex Kremlin leader made a series of bold predictions on Twitter which also included Northern Ireland joining the Republic, and [...]
Meeting of minds? Putin and Xi to meet before the end of the year December 26, 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will speak before the end of the year, Russian state news agency TASS said on Monday, without giving details of the timing or format. It quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying the two sides would release details in due course. Putin and Xi proclaimed [...]
South Korea scrambles jets after North Korean drone fly-by December 26, 2022 South Korea scrambled warplanes and attack helicopters and fired warning shots on Monday after North Korean drones violated its airspace, the South Korean military said. South Korea tracked the drones crossing from North Korea over what is known as the Military Demarcation Line between the two countries after detecting them in the skies of the [...]
Show of strength? China sends dozens of aircraft into Taiwanese airspace December 26, 2022 Seventy-one Chinese air force aircraft including fighter jets and drones entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in the past 24 hours, the island’s government said on Monday, the largest reported incursion to date. Of the aircraft, 43 also crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, an unofficial buffer between the two sides that lies within the [...]
One Chinese province faces a MILLION new Covid-19 cases every day December 25, 2022 China’s Zhejiang, a big industrial province near Shanghai, is battling around a million new daily COVID-19 infections, a number expected to double in the days ahead, the provincial government said on Sunday. Despite a record surge of cases nationwide, China reported no COVID deaths on the mainland for the five days through Saturday, the Chinese [...]
Red-faced Putin: Russia now ready to ‘negotiate’ over Ukraine war December 25, 2022 President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine but that Kyiv and its Western backers had refused to engage in talks. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since [...]
About time too: Hong Kong set to reopen border with mainland China December 24, 2022 Hong Kong’s leader says China has agreed to a reopening of the city’s border with the mainland, which has been largely closed by pandemic restrictions, and that he is aiming for a mid-January start. Chief executive John Lee, returning from a trip to Beijing where he met President Xi Jinping and other officials, told reporters [...]
Rishi Sunak hires Spectator journo James Forsyth as key political aide December 24, 2022 Rishi Sunak has hired James Forsyth, the Spectator’s political editor and a Times columnist, as his new political secretary. The news was broken by The Times and the Spectator. Forsyth will bolster Sunak’s key Downing Street team as the Prime Minister seeks to overcome a double-digit deficit in most election polls. He is a long-standing [...]