Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trip harmed confidence in Covid-19 response August 7, 2020 A breach of lockdown rules by top aide Dominic Cummings directly harmed public confidence in the UK government’s coronavirus response, a study said today. The incident caused a clear decrease of public confidence in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic, which started from the day the story broke and has not recovered since, a [...]
It’s time epidemiological models faced the same scrutiny as banks August 7, 2020 After the global financial crisis of 2009, Basel, the international standard setting body for banking regulation, conducted a thorough analysis of banks’ internal models. Banks had been allowed considerable discretion in the way in which they modelled their risks to justify the amount of capital they should hold against them. Basel’s analysts found that the [...]
Can a new Scots Tory leader regain the party’s mojo? August 7, 2020 The Scottish Tories have got themselves a new leader. This might not move share prices or the relative values of sterling, and gossipers in the markets will now be asking “who is Douglas Ross?” But the same could have been said of Ruth Davidson back in 2011 when she became leader, shortly before her phenomenal [...]
Tory MPs in China Research Group targeted by phishing attacks August 6, 2020 Cybersecurity experts have slammed Parliament’s online security training as “appalling” after members of the Sino-sceptic China Research Group of Conservative MPs have been targeted by phishing attacks. China Research Group Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and co–founder of the China Research Group, last week revealed he believed Chinese state-sponsored hackers were [...]
Pompeo pushes to ban Tiktok, Wechat and other ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps August 6, 2020 The Trump administration is pushing to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps including Tiktok and Wechat from US app stores, amid increasing tensions across the Pacific. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo yesterday signalled that the US may soon order Apple and Google to remove certain Chinese apps over national security concerns. Pompeo said apps linked to [...]
Government wasted £150m on unusable face masks bought from banker August 6, 2020 The government is facing calls to investigate its procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, after it emerged ministers spent at least £150m on unusable face masks from a family investment firm. The face masks, which were part of a £252m government contract with investment firm Ayanda Capital signed in April, were deemed [...]
Ministers set to impose quarantine restrictions on Belgium August 6, 2020 The government is preparing to hit travellers from Belgium with mandatory quarantine restrictions after a spike in coronavirus cases in the country. The Daily Mail reported that ministers would sign off on the decision to impose 14-day self-isolation measures on all those travelling from Belgium to the UK at a meeting this evening. It added [...]
Twitter bans Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over coronavirus fake news August 6, 2020 Twitter last night banned Donald Trump’s presidential campaign from tweeting until it agreed to remove a video spouting fake news about coronavirus. In the most sweeping action taken by the social media platform in its 14-year history, Twitter last night temporarily froze the President’s Team Trump campaign account after it was found to breach company [...]
Spitting Image unveils puppets of PM and Cummings ahead of relaunch August 5, 2020 Spitting Image has unveiled its puppets of Boris Johnson and his chief adviser Dominic Cummings ahead of its return in the autumn. The show, which will relaunch after 24 years, was made famous in the 1980s for its mockery of politiians. Read more: Spitting Image to return after 24 years following Britbox commission It will [...]
Tory mayor candidate Shaun Bailey shows off his campaign makeover August 5, 2020 Shaun Bailey’s had a tough time of it as the Conservative mayor of London candidate. Chosen back in 2018, he has had two years to raise his profile and launch attacks on the mayor through his role as a London Assembly member. Despite ample opportunity, Bailey did not manage to lay a glove on Sadiq [...]