There’s a New Breed of Young, Violent, Far-right Activist in Britain: ‘White Jihadists’

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: The neo-Nazi founder of the banned terror group National Action was jailed this week. Sadly, there are more like him

‘Alex Davies began outlining the framework for his neo-Nazi youth movement a decade ago.’ Alex Davies arrives at Winchester crown court, 20 April 2022. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA
Alex Davies, the co-founder of the proscribed far-right terror group National Action, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison this week, bringing the total number of people convicted of membership of the group to 19. Formed in 2013, National Action espouses extreme antisemitic and anti-immigrant views, and presented itself as better organised and more disciplined than other groups in a British neo-Nazi scene previously on the verge of collapse.

When it was banned by the then-home secretary, Amber Rudd, in December 2016, National Action was the first far-right organisation to be proscribed since the second world war. But it wasn’t the first such group in that period to espouse extreme neo-Nazi beliefs or promote the ideology of terror and violence – nor will it be the last.

Davies, 27, a former University of Warwick student, began outlining the framework for this neo-Nazi youth movement a decade ago, while he was being monitored by the government’s controversial Prevent programme. » | Matthew Collins | Saturday, June 11, 2022

Smoking Could Be Banned in Beer Gardens

Jun 10, 2022

This country is turning into a real Nanny State! Who the hell gives these idiots the right to tell other adults what they can or cannot do for a bit of pleasure in their lives? People at the top take drugs of all sorts; and much else besides. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a cigarette as long as one’s smoking is kept in moderation. It’s like everything else in life, moderation is key.

In my life, whilst working abroad, I worked with many Americans. Almost all of them were smokers, most were pretty slim, and few of them suffered from diabetes. Look at Americans today! Most of them don’t smoke anymore, but very many Americans are obese, and type-2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the States.

I would be the last person to say that smoking is good for anyone’s health. But so aren't many things good for people’s health. Being obese certainly is not good for health. Nor is sugar or alcohol. Nor marijuana, for which laws are being relaxed. The long-term effects of vaping, despite what many governments say, are not yet known.

Please note that I am an ex-smoker, so I no longer have skin in the game. However, I will say this: When I smoked, I only ever smoked for the pleasure it brought me (and it brought me a lot of pleasure); I never smoked out of addiction. Never! Smoking is a habit, not an addiction. I know that to be true, because when I quit the habit, I had no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever. And I was a twenty a day smoker for most of my adult life. Were smoking to be an addiction, I would most certainly have had withdrawal symptoms. Nor, by the way, have I had any cravings.

So I say this: Let people smoke! Encourage them not to do so, by all means; but let people decide for themselves. I don’t want to live in a smoke-free Britain, because I am old enough to know that if they manage to stub out the habit altogether, it will be replaced by some other undesirable habit, from which many other undesirable side effects and problems will ensue. We will never be able to live in a Utopia. And as Margaret Thatcher once said: “We probably shouldn’t like it if we could.”

This government is a right-wing Conservative government. Right-wing Conservatives are supposed to believe in consumer choice. So they should live by their principles. For heaven's sake, leave smokers alone! – © Mark Alexander

U.K.’s ‘Brightest and Best’ Visa Leaves Out Africa, India and Latin America

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Under the new program, graduates of top-ranked global colleges can move to Britain for two years, even without a job offer. But critics say the plan nurtures global inequalities.

LONDON — When Britain started a program this week offering a two-year visa to graduates from some top global universities, Nikhil Mane, an Indian computer science student at New York University, welcomed the news.

“I was happy,” said Mr. Mane, 23, whose university was on the list. “It’s a good way to pursue our dreams.”

More than 5,000 miles away, Adeola Adepoju, 22, a biochemistry student at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Nigeria, also read the announcement with great interest. But he had the opposite reaction.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Mr. Adepoju said. “No university from the third world is ranked.”

Britain’s “High Potential Individual” visa program allows graduates from 37 top-rated world universities in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the United States to come to the country for two years even if they do not have a job offer.

A majority of universities on the list are in the United States, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, San Diego.

The government said the plan would attract the world’s “brightest and best” and benefit the British economy. Critics, however, say the plan nurtures global inequalities and discriminates against most developing countries. » | Emma Bubola | Friday, June 3, 2022

Monkeypox Infections Rise as Guidance Advises Cases to Abstain from Sex

BBC: Another 71 cases of monkeypox have been identified in England over the weekend bringing the UK total to 179, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says.

New guidance is advising anyone with the virus to abstain from sex while they have symptoms.

They are also told to use condoms for eight weeks after an infection as a precaution.

The risk to the population is low, but people should be alert to new rashes or lesions, the UKHSA says.

In total, 172 cases have been confirmed in England, with four in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland and one in Wales. » | Jim Reed, Health reporter | Monday, May 30, 2022

Related.

More Than One in 10 Young Women in UK Identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Other

THE GUARDIAN: Of females aged 16-24, 11.4% said they were lesbian, gay, bisexual or other in annual ONS population survey

Participants in the annual Pride in London parade in 2019. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters
More than one in 10 young women in the UK identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other, according to official figures that suggest more than 2 million people define themselves that way.

Of females aged 16-24, 11.4% said they were lesbian, gay, bisexual or other based on an annual population survey by the Office for National Statistics that relates to 2020. It is the first time since the research began in 2014 that the percentage has breached the 10% mark.

In 2014, only 3.1% of young women identified that way – fewer than young men – but they now far outstrip them, with the largest group of those not identifying as heterosexual – 7.6% – saying they are bisexual. » | Robert Booth, Social affairs editor | Wednesday, May 25, 2022

UK, EU Risk Trade War as Brexit Tensions Rise

May 16, 2022 • A Possible decision by the UK government to override parts of its Brexit deal's conditions for Northern Ireland is sparking concerns of a trade war with the European Union. University of Cambridge Professor of EU Law Catherine Barnard examines how the Northern Ireland protocol plays into the Brexit deal and trade on "Bloomberg Markets."

Question Marks over Northern Ireland's Place in Single Market, EU's SefcovicTells Euronews

May 12, 2022 • It comes amid a long-running dispute between London and Brussels over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Maroš Šefčovič »

UK should not fear EU trade war, says Frost as he backs ripping up protocol: Former Brexit minister says UK ‘cannot be defeated’ by Brussels in provocative Telegraph column »

Johnson blames today’s Brexit woes on Brussels – that’s a load of old bull: The prime minister claims trouble in Northern Ireland is the EU’s fault. There’s an impolite word for that »

Londres menace Bruxelles d’abandonner des pans entiers du protocole nord-irlandais : Le gouvernement de Boris Johnson hausse le ton contre cette partie cruciale du traité du Brexit qui instaure une frontière douanière entre l’Irlande du Nord et le reste du Royaume-Uni. »

Local Elections 2022: PM Says Tories Had ‘Tough Night’

Tories Lose Wandsworth and Westminster in Symbolic Local Election Defeats

May 6, 2022 • The Conservative Party has lost control of Wandsworth and Westminster, its two flagship London councils, in a symbolic defeat for Boris Johnson in the local elections. Wandsworth, which has been held by the Conservatives since 1978 and was reportedly Margaret Thatcher’s favourite council, fell to the Labour Party early on Friday morning. Its outgoing Tory leader said voters had concerns about the Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party has lost control of Wandsworth and Westminster, its two flagship London councils, in a symbolic defeat for Boris Johnson in the local elections.

Wandsworth, which has been held by the Conservatives since 1978 and was reportedly Margaret Thatcher’s favourite council, fell to the Labour Party early on Friday morning. Its outgoing Tory leader said voters had concerns about the Prime Minister.

In the Name of Job Flexibility, ‘Uberisation’ Is Spreading Its Tentacles across Society

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: From health workers to beauticians, cleaners to academics, the erosion of our rights at work is setting us back a hundred years

In the late 18th century, as the impact of the Industrial Revolution bit into the lives of the nascent working class, the high cost of fuel, one study notes, “forced inhabitants of many southern regions to abandon home cooking”. Fuel costs were much greater in the south than in the north. As a result, Frederic Morton Eden observed in The State of the Poor (1797), “the culinary preparations of the Northern peasant are so much diversified, and his table so often supplied with hot dishes”, whereas in the south, working-class families could not afford to boil or bake potatoes, so were forced to buy cheap white bread and eat dinner cold.

Because it was more expensive to cook at home than to buy shop-made bread, there were more bakeries per head of population in poor areas such as Hampshire than in richer regions such as Yorkshire. More than 200 years on and we’re back in a Britain in which many poor families are being “forced to abandon home cooking” because of the high cost of fuel. Not only has there been an explosion in the use of food banks, but many food bank users “are declining products such as potatoes and other root veg because they can’t afford to boil them”. » | Kenan Malik | Sunday, May 1, 2022

The Observer View on the Cost of Living Crisis

THE OBSERVER – EDITORIAL: Cabinet ministers’ glib shortcuts are dire response to economic crisis

Living standards are set to fall at their fastest rate since records began in the mid-1950s. Last month, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted that real household incomes will fall by 2.2% this year, as energy and food prices increase but wages fail to keep pace with rising bills.

The impact will not be felt equally. For some, it will barely register. For other families, it will mean difficult decisions about what to cut back on. For others still, it will be profound, stretching precarious budgets in which there is already no give, forcing impossible choices between essentials such as putting food on the table and keeping the heating on, and sharpening the fear of the unexpected outlay that can trigger a debt spiral from which there is no escape. One estimate suggests lower-income households will face a drop in income of £1,300 this year. » | Editorial | Sunday, May 1, 2022

Twitter Takeover: EU and UK Warn Elon Musk Must Comply or Face Sanctions

THE GUARDIAN: EU commissioner raises hate speech concerns as UK draws attention to penalties in online safety bill

The UK and EU have warned that Twitter must comply with new content rules or face sanctions that range from fines to a total ban, as concerns were raised that hate speech will increase on the platform under the ownership of Elon Musk.

The world’s richest man has agreed a $44bn (£34bn) deal to buy the social media network, which will hand control of a platform with 217 million users to a self-confessed “free speech absolutist”.

A UK government spokesperson said companies must adhere to the forthcoming online safety bill, which requires platforms to protect users from harmful content, or face the threat of large fines and, for repeat offenders, a total ban.

“Twitter and all social media platforms must protect their users from harm on their sites. We are introducing new online safety laws to safeguard children, prevent abusive behaviour and protect free speech. All tech firms with users in the UK will need to comply with the new laws or face hefty fines and having their sites blocked.”

Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, reminded the Tesla chief executive on Tuesday that he would have to comply with the newly agreed Digital Services Act, which requires online platforms to tackle illegal content such as hate speech. » | Dan Milmo and Mark Sweney | Wednesday, April 27, 2022

UK Plan to Fly Asylum-seekers to Rwanda Draws Outrage • FRANCE 24 English

Apr 14, 2022 • Britain's Conservative government has struck a deal with Rwanda to send some asylum-seekers thousands of miles away to the East African country, a move that opposition politicians and refugee groups condemned as inhumane, unworkable and a waste of public money. FRANCE 24's European Affairs Editor Catherine Nicholson tells us more.

UK Plan to Send Refugees to Rwanda Is “Cruel” and “Immoral” Say Critics - BBC News

The Guardian view on Britain’s Rwanda deal: a cruel, cynical pretence: Sending asylum seekers on a one-way journey does nothing to address the global refugee crisis »

How the Royal Family Is Changing before Our Very Eyes

Britain’s Failure to Tackle Russian Dirty Money Has Enabled Putin’s Aggression

THE GUARDIAN: If Boris Johnson is serious about helping Ukraine, the most resolute action he can take is at home

We cannot be blind to the situation where wealth with direct links to Vladimir Putin’s regime has been allowed to proliferate here in the UK.’ Photograph: Sergei Savostyanov/AP
The prospect of war in our continent is more than enough to avert our gaze from the latest Whitehall troubles.

However, a prime minister who has found it so hard to speak the truth throughout his career surprised us all with a hard dose of it when he stood before parliament last week to address the situation in Ukraine, saying: “Ukraine asks for nothing except to be allowed to live in peace and to seek her own alliances, as every sovereign country has a right to do.” It was a sentiment echoed by the leader of the opposition, by my own party’s Westminster group leader, Ian Blackford MP, and by every other SNP MP who responded to the statement.

As someone who has spent my life campaigning for the sovereign right of the people of Scotland to determine our own futures, sovereignty is a principle fundamental to my own worldview. To see such pressures being exerted on a state that has resolutely set itself on a path to integration with the liberal democratic order is unspeakable. Like any European country, Ukraine must be free to organise its governance and security alliances as it sees fit. » | Nicola Sturgeon * | Tuesday, February 1, 2022

* Nicola Sturgeon is first minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National party

Luxury at the Top, Privation at the Bottom: Britain Is Becoming Feudal in Its Disparities

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: With their private planes and wine fridges, those governing the UK are too steeped in excess to see the suffering they cause

Sometimes things that are self-evident still need to be pointed out. So it is with one aspect of the crisis we now know as “partygate”, and an element of the story that both observers and participants have seemed to take for granted: the fact that all the disgrace and deceit revealed since December took place amid a level of plenty that millions of people will surely consider almost surreal.

This is not just a matter of a suitcase full of booze, generous helpings of M&S “picnic food” and the infamous fridge that held 34 bottles of wine. Consider the bit-part players: an interior designer whose wallpaper of choice costs £840 a roll, a London property developer (and Tory donor) famed for taking out an £80m mortgage, and a chancellor whose family is reckoned to be worth more than the Queen. Note also the centrality to the Boris Johnson soap opera of cake, from the kind he says he can have while eating it, to the confection he was “ambushed” with in the cabinet room. In this world, any privations demanded by lockdown were more than balanced out by the comforts of eating, drinking and ostentatiously spending, not least on what Johnson apparently terms “letting off steam”.

Lexie often gets through a day by eating only toast, because, she told me last week, “my kids need to eat more than I need to eat”. She is disabled, and lives in rural north Wales, with her husband – who was recently made redundant – and four children, aged from eight to 18. Like so many other people, the benefits system leaves them unable to meet the cost of basic essentials, and their day-to-day predicament is now being made impossible by the mounting cost of living crisis, and everything it means for the price of food, petrol and heating. » | John Harris | Sunday, January 30, 2022

German Government Considering Classifying UK 'Virus Variant Area', Meaning Travellers Would Be Required to Quarantine

THE GUARDIAN: The German government is looking into whether the UK should be classified as a “virus variant area”, reports Reuters, following the rapid rise of Omicron in the country.

Classification as a virus variant area would mean that travellers arriving in Germany from the UK would be required to quarantine for two weeks, even if they are vaccinated.

A spokesperson for the health ministry said the government is expected to make a decision later today. » |Miranda Bryant (now); Jedidajah Otte and Samantha Lock (earlier) | Friday, Dece,ber 17, 2021

Covid-19 : la France va restreindre l'accès aux voyageurs en provenance du Royaume-Uni

LE FIGARO : LE POINT SUR LA SITUATION - Nouvelles mesures, nouveaux bilans et faits marquants : Le Figaro fait le point sur les dernières évolutions de la pandémie de Covid-19.

Restrictions pour les voyageurs en provenance du Royaume-Uni, le Maroc ferme ses frontières, un nouveau retard pour le candidat vaccin Sanofi et 93 milliards de dollars pour soutenir les pays les plus pauvres... Le Figaro fait le point ce jeudi 16 décembre sur les dernières informations liées à la pandémie de Covid-19.

Nouveau tour de vis. La France va durcir les conditions d'accès pour les voyageurs en provenance du Royaume-Uni afin de limiter la propagation du variant Omicron, a annoncé jeudi le porte-parole du gouvernement Gabriel Attal. Concrètement, les voyageurs devront s'enregistrer et la validité des tests pour se rendre en France depuis le Royaume-Uni va être réduite de 48 heures à 24 heures. Les motifs de voyage seront en outre «limités aux résidents (français) et à leurs familles», a-t-il précisé sur BFMTV et RMC. Les déplacements de «tourisme ou professionnels pour des personnes qui ne sont pas résidentes en France seront limités». » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | jeudi 16 décembre 2021

France to tighten Covid restrictions on travel from Omicron-hit UK: Government says travel will be limited to ‘essential purposes’ for vaccinated and unvaccinated »

Covid: UK Alert Level Raised to Four due to Omicron Spread

BBC: The UK's coronavirus alert level has been raised from three to four due to the spread of Omicron, the UK's chief medical officers have said.

The last time the UK was at level four was in May.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to make a televised statement on Covid at 20:00 GMT on Sunday.

He is expected to provide an update on the booster programme. The BBC has been told there will not be any more new rules announced. » | Francesca Gillett, BBC News | Sunday, December 12, 2021

Royaume-Uni : le niveau d'alerte Covid relevé en raison d'une forte poussée du variant Omicron : Le niveau passe de trois à quatre, ce qui est le deuxième niveau le plus élevé et indique que «la transmission est élevée et que la pression sur les services de santé est généralisée et importante ou en augmentation». »