Blinken’s unmistakable warning to China: US will fight aggression and defend rules-based system February 11, 2022 America and its allies must stand up for a rules-based system threatened by Chinese aggression, US secretary of state Antony Blinken has warned although he stressed a confrontation with China is not inevitable. Blinken spoke shortly before a meeting with the foreign ministers of Australia, India and Japan in Melbourne. The four nations form the [...]
Labour suspends Neil Coyle’s whip over racism allegations February 11, 2022 The Labour party has suspended Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, as a result of racism allegations. “The Labour Party expects the highest standards of behaviour from all our MPs and we take allegations of this sort very seriously,” said party spokesperson. “Accordingly the Chief Whip has has now suspended the Labour whip [...]
Biden: US citizens should leave Ukraine February 11, 2022 US President Joe Biden has advised American citizens living in Ukraine to leave the country immediately, amid growing fears of a Russian invasion.
Weak efforts to claw back stolen furlough money by HMRC to leave taxpayers with £4bn bill February 11, 2022 Weak efforts by the taxman to clawback Covid-19 support money stolen by fraudsters will result in taxpayers shouldering a £4bn loss, warns a new report published today by a group of cross-party MPs. “HMRC’s unambitious plans” to recover billions of misspent pounds through the furlough and business loan schemes could see taxpayers holding the bag, [...]
Cressida Dick resigns after Khan loses faith February 10, 2022 Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick has reportedly resigned after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he no longer had confidence in her leadership.
Labour’s business spokesperson backs easing of EU’s Solvency II insurance regulation February 10, 2022 Labour’s shadow business secretary has said he is in favour of scrapping the EU’s Solvency II directive post-Brexit in a bid to free up insurance firms to plow tens of billions of pounds into the British economy. Jonathan Reynolds said today at a UK Finance event that there was “an argument, not for deregulation, but [...]
Russia foreign minister slams ‘deaf’ Liz Truss after their Moscow meeting February 10, 2022 Russia’s foreign minister has launched a stinging attack on Liz Truss after their meeting in Moscow today, labelling the UK’s foreign secretary as “deaf” and “selfish”. Truss met with Sergey Lavrov in Moscow to discuss the crisis in Ukraine, with the foreign secretary saying the UK wants to provide a “path of diplomacy” to de-escalate [...]
Marble Arch mound architects slam “nonsensical” premature opening and “barbers” in UK media for negative publicity February 10, 2022 The Dutch architects behind the universally panned Marble Arch mound have hit out at Westminster City Council, the UK media, the builders of the mound, English Heritage and Historic England for the project failing to live up to its promise. In a post on their website, architects MVRDV say “anyone who visited the Marble Arch [...]
Brexit in Bern: EU immigration row heats up as Switzerland threatens to leave Schengen area February 10, 2022 Switzerland is threatening to leave the Schengen zone if the EU countries that are part of the visa treaty move to strengthen their border force Frontex, which Brussels is pushing for. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard, is the collective term for national border and coast guard forces within the EU’s Schengen Area, as [...]
Businesses urged to snap up £850m in unused Covid-19 support February 10, 2022 Businesses have been urged to apply for Covid-19 supports grants, after the business minister admitted today that £850m worth of funding is still up for grabs. The funding has been made available by government to councils in England, for them to distribute to businesses in need. More than £550m is still yet to be allocated [...]