Clarification published over false Newsnight claim following ban on former leader running as Labour candidate
The BBC has published a correction after a news item last month falsely claimed that former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had not apologised over antisemitism in the party.
The clarification referred to an episode of the flagship current affairs programme Newsnight on 28 March, following the decision by Labour’s executive committee to ban Corbyn from standing as a candidate in the next election.
The programme referenced Corbyn’s alleged “refusal to offer up any kind of apology” over accusations of antisemitism in the party under his watch.
It also questioned whether the former leader would refuse to apologise “as he has all the way up to now”, if the issue of antisemitism arose in an election campaign.
“To be clear, Mr Corbyn apologised for antisemitism in Labour on a number of occasions as Party Leader, including ahead of a meeting with Jewish community leaders in April 2018,” the BBC said on Thursday, in an entry on its “Corrections and Clarifications” page.
Just Stop Oil at Dartford QE2 bridge M25 crossing. Image: Just Stop Oil
Two Just Stop Oil supporters have been given draconian custodial sentences after occupying the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford in London. The Just Stop Oil supporters were demanding that the government halt licensing and consents for the development of any new fossil-fuel projects in the UK.
The pair appeared before Judge Collery at Southend Crown Court. Morgan Trowland has been sentenced to three years and Marcus Decker has been sentenced to two years and seven months. These are the longest sentences for peaceful climate action in UK history.
The pair scaled the QE2 bridge on October 17th 2022 and remained at height for 37 hours. Both men have been held on remand since the incident.
Speaking before the sentencing, Morgan Trowland, 40, a bridge design engineer from London, said:
“Marcus and I demonstrated what any two ordinary people will do, when the death screams of the world become unbearable. I cannot enjoy liberty in a society when our government makes plans to kill people on a massive scale. Drilling new oil and gas wells in 2023 means death for many of the most vulnerable on earth. I will not be complicit in that.”
Speaking outside the courtroom Stephanie Golder, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson, said:
“What Morgan and Marcus did was extraordinary, risky and extremely disruptive. But what should you do when your government refuses to protect the people? When it ignores the repeated warnings of the world’s climate scientists. When you know that new oil and gas extraction will eventually result in the deaths of billions of people?”
“Nonviolent civil resistance is the answer. It’s what the Suffragettes did, it’s what the Civil Rights movements did. It’s our best chance of getting the scale of change we need, in the time we need it.”
“Just Stop Oil will not be deterred by these draconian sentences. Where they imprison one of us, ten more will take their place. When they imprison ten of us, one hundred will stand to take their place. We must unite against this genocidal government and be brave.”
“For now, that means slowly marching around the streets of London. It is an act of self respect, an act of solidarity, an act of love and necessity. We urge you to join us, because together we can stop the harm that is new oil and gas. Our campaign resumes on April 24th. Sign up at juststopoil dot org.”
Since the Just Stop Oil campaign began on April 1st 2022, there have been over 2,000 arrests and 138 people have spent time in prison, many without trial. There are currently two Just Stop Oil and five Insulate Britain supporters in prison, serving sentences for actions taken with the campaign.
This is the moment for us to come together and resist the destruction of everything we love, something that is being imposed on us by a few, who only seek to enrich themselves.
I can only speak for myself only. I am proud to be concerned for the environment, nature and the future of the planet – to be an eco-zealot.
Tory assole apocalypse-zealot Esther McVey goes in for name-calling with a total absence of rational argument. eco-zealots, pampered overprivileged nitwits, publicity-hungry anarchists, more ego-warriors than eco-warriors, need bringing down a peg or two by both the police and the courts, probably living off their family trust fund, eco-loons, eco-extremists, terrorists [with] nutty ideas. Terrorists? Nutty ideas like preventing apocalypse? The science is clear, it’s Esther McVey who is the unhinged zealot. She’s some kind of psychopath campaigning for climate destruction.
[22/4/23: Having paid some attention to McVey, I suspect that she may be insane.]
The Sun attacks activists for driving, eating fruit and veg and being a mother. Shopping at Waitrose while being a member of Extinction Rebellion, What disgusting, shameful activities will they do next?
A gammony man-child and Farage anger? They’re the mad fekkers …
[Full disclosure: I’m not at the Big One because I’m hopefully only temporarily ill but def there in spirit.]
EUROPEANS, particularly in the south of the continent, are being subjected to more heat stress during the summer months as climate change causes longer periods of extreme weather, a new study said today.
The European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said that comparisons of data over decades show record heat last year resulted in hazardous conditions for human health.
The report said: “Southern Europe experienced a record number of days with ‘very strong heat stress’,” defined as temperatures from 38°C to 46°C.
The number of summer days with “strong” (32°C to 38°C) or “very strong” heat stress is rising across the continent, while in southern Europe this is also the case for “extreme heat stress” days above 46°C, Copernicus said.
A criticism often levelled at Mark Carney’s Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero initiative (GFANZ) and in particular its banking arm, the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), is that member banks are not required to set firm policies limiting fossil fuel investment.
New figures published by NGO the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) in its annual ‘Banking on Climate Chaos’ report reveal that the world’s 60 largest banks by asset size, the majority (49) of which have made net-zero commitments, have invested $5.5trn dollars in the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Agreement was signed seven years ago.
This new data, which records banks’ lending, debt underwriting and equity capital market activities, adjusting each transaction according to how much exposure the borrower or issuer has to a specific sector, shows that in 2022 alone, the 60 banks provided $673bn to more than 3,000 companies engaged in fossil fuel activities, including $150bn specifically to the top 100 companies expanding fossil fuels.
The total sum for 2022 represents a 9% decrease compared with 2021 financing, although RAN’s report dismisses the idea that this reduction indicates “a positive, long-term trend”. This is because a more significant trend observed over the past year, given the current context of “rising interest rates, a strong dollar, and wartime profits”, is that several large oil majors that often account for a significant share of bank loans no longer need banks’ support following a year of bumper profits.
