Ennobling your mates maintains the finest tradition of the House of Lords August 4, 2020 Britain’s upper chamber is a place of tradition: the Woolsack, the ermine, the outrage over who a Prime Minister has placed there. Boris Johnson’s latest ennoblements have been no exception. Since the honours were announced last week there has been much said about both the size and content of this newest cohort. Yet really, his [...]
Britain cannot stand by in the face of shocking human right abuses across Hong Kong August 4, 2020 On 9 March, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hong Kong, of which I am a vice chair, launched an inquiry into human rights abuses perpetrated by the Hong Kong Police Force against medical and humanitarian workers during the 2019 protests. One thousand submissions later, we are ready to publish our findings. Our report, published [...]
Mushrooms could be a magic cure for depression, if our draconian drug regulations weren’t stuck in the past August 4, 2020 It should come as no surprise that months of lockdown and social isolation has impacted our mental health. Medical professionals are predicting a “tsunami” of mental illnesses relating Covid-19, while earlier this month, The Lancet published a study showing that young people and women’s mental health has been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. What’s [...]
Russian hackers ‘stole’ US-UK trade deal papers from Liam Fox’s email August 3, 2020 Classified US-UK trade documents were “stolen” from former trade minister Liam Fox’s email account by Russian hackers, according to reports. The papers, which were leaked ahead of the December General Election last year, were accessed via several hacks on Fox’s account between 12 July and 21 October, according to Reuters. Several sources declined to name [...]
EU prepared to soften state aid demand to reach Brexit deal August 3, 2020 The European Union is reportedly willing to soften its demand that Britain follow EU state aid rules after it leaves the bloc, in order to break the Brexit impasse. Diplomatic sources told Reuters that Brussels may seek a compromise involving a dispute-settling mechanism on state aid in order to resolve the Brexit deadlock. They said [...]
Pubs may have to shut to keep schools open, hints Number 10 August 3, 2020 Pubs may have to close in order to meet the government’s promise to reopen schools in September, Downing Street hinted today. The government is “planning for all people to return to school from the beginning of the autumn term”, and this may require venues to temporarily close in order to contain local outbreaks, said the [...]
Downing Street admits it could impose M25 quarantine ring August 3, 2020 Plans to introduce a quarantine ring around the M25 to halt travel in and out of London are “within the government’s contain strategy”, Downing Street said today. The admission came as the Prime Minister scrambles to curb a spike in infections across the country. Boris Johnson is said to have held a “war game” session [...]
Sadiq Khan slams ‘unacceptable’ London lockdown plans August 3, 2020 London mayor Sadiq Khan has hit out at Boris Johnson after the Prime Minister reportedly discussed drastic contingency plans to lockdown London in event of a second coronavirus wave without involving City Hall. One of the options discussed by Johnson as part of a “war gaming” session with chancellor Rishi Sunak was using the M25 [...]
Chief whip ‘told about Tory MP rape claims four months ago’ August 3, 2020 The government’s chief whip was last night accused of failing to act for four months on allegations against a Tory MP and former minister arrested for suspected rape over the weekend. Tory chief whip Mark Spencer is understood to have spoken with the complainant in April, but failed to launch an investigation into the allegations. [...]
UK to distribute millions of 90-minute coronavirus tests August 3, 2020 New 90-minute coronavirus tests will be distributed to care homes and laboratories around the UK from next week, the government announced today. The speedy tests will check for Covid-19 and flu in a boost to ramp up testing capacity before winter arrives, amid fears of a second wave of cases in Britain. Two new tests [...]