Daily Archives: 21 April 2024

Chris Stark: Rishi Sunak has set us back, head of climate change watchdog says

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68863796

The full interview with Mr Stark will be broadcast tomorrow [today] on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg

Rishi Sunak has “set us back” on climate change and left the UK at risk of falling behind other countries, the head of a government watchdog has said.

Chris Stark, head of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), told the BBC the prime minister had “clearly not” prioritised the issue as much as his predecessors.

He accused Mr Sunak of sending the world a message that the UK is now “less ambitious” than it once was.

A government spokesperson said: “Our record on net zero speaks for itself.”

Mr Stark said the country had made enormous progress towards reaching the climate target of net zero by 2050 under Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

But Mr Sunak’s Downing Street had sent a message to the rest of the world that “the UK is less ambitious on climate than it once was, and that is extremely hard to recover”.

Reaching net zero means no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases – such as carbon dioxide and methane – in the atmosphere. The government is bound to this target by law.

The CCC is a statutory body that gives independent advice to ministers and assesses progress on targets.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68863796

Continue ReadingChris Stark: Rishi Sunak has set us back, head of climate change watchdog says

The Sun’s latest out of court settlement evokes anger and dismay

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/the-suns-latest-out-of-court-settlement-evokes-anger-and-dismay/

‘The cost to Rubert Murdoch of keeping the full, sordid details secret is staggering.’

Hugh Grant has settled a High Court claim against the publisher of the Sun newspaper after being offered what he referred to as an “enormous sum of money.”

The actor was suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) for claims that reporters had used private investigators to burgle his house and tap his phone. NGN denies the claims, rejecting any wrongdoing by staff at the Sun.

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Murdoch’s NGN has settled more than 1,000 cases without making any admission of liability, and has paid out £1 billion to keep cases out of court.

Former footballer Paul Gascoigne, actress Sienna Miller, comedian Catherine Tate, Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, and radio presenter Chris Moyles have all settled cases with the NGN. Miller settled a lawsuit against NGN in 2021, which at the time her lawyers said was due to the risk of having to pay millions of pounds in legal fees even if she won.

An earlier allegation that Hugh Grant made against the publisher in relation to the now defunct News of the World was settled in 2012. The newspaper, which at one time was the world’s highest-selling English-language newspaper, was shut down by Murdoch in 2011 following public outcry to the phone hacking revelations. The phone hacking scandal broke over a decade ago, when investigations showed the newspaper was engaged in phone hacking activities, targeting celebrities, members of the Royal Family, politicians, and the phones of the relatives of the deceased in high-profile cases.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/the-suns-latest-out-of-court-settlement-evokes-anger-and-dismay/

Continue ReadingThe Sun’s latest out of court settlement evokes anger and dismay

John McDonnell MP slams UK government’s record on sanctioning Israeli settlers in the West Bank

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/john-mcdonnell-mp-slams-uk-governments-record-on-sanctioning-israeli-settlers-in-the-west-bank/

‘What’s happening in the West Bank just as in Gaza are war crimes’

Labour MP John McDonnell has questioned the UK government’s record on sanctioning Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, as violence in the region escalates. 

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, McDonnell called on the UK government to publish a detailed report into the sanctions imposed by the government on Israeli settlers in the West Bank. 

It comes after the UN human rights office has demanded that Israeli security forces immediately stop participating in and enabling attacks by Jewish settlers in the region, stating the, “escalating violence over the past few days is also a matter of grave concern”.

This followed the killing of a 14 year-old Israeli from a settler family, which sparked the biggest settler rampage since the war in Gaza began, with seven Palestinians reported murdered and many others wounded.

Speaking on Wednesday in Parliament McDonnell said: “At a meeting with Israeli colleagues this morning we heard that the Israeli government is arresting legal and peaceful observers in the West Bank.

“Could the government now make it very clear to the Israeli government that observers should be allowed to operate within the West Bank, to ensure that peace is maintained, but also could we have a report in detail on the sanctions that the government is applying to Israeli settlements and Israeli settlers.”

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/john-mcdonnell-mp-slams-uk-governments-record-on-sanctioning-israeli-settlers-in-the-west-bank/

Continue ReadingJohn McDonnell MP slams UK government’s record on sanctioning Israeli settlers in the West Bank

Reform UK leader gets owned on BBC Question Time over climate change

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/reform-uk-leader-gets-owned-on-bbc-question-time-over-climate-change/

Image of Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK. BBC Question Time.

‘What makes you think you understand how climate change works better than all of the world’s scientific experts?’

The leader of Reform UK was dealt a humiliating hand on BBC Question Time after facing a backlash against his arguments on climate change and climate denial. 

Richard Tice got owned by leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer during a lively exchange about what action needs to be taken to combat the climate crisis. 

The leader of the right-wing populist party, who’s been known to make bizarre and inaccurate statements on climate science denial, instigated some eye rolls when he stated, “the climate has changed for millions and millions of years.. way before man-made CO2 emissions”.

He went on to face ridicule when questioned on his understanding of climate science and his lack of scientific background by Green Party leader and engineer by trade, Carla Denyer.

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Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

The Green MP said: “The news has been full of pretty alarming evidence that climate change is not a concern that is going to come down the track sometime in the future, it’s here right now. 

“And the best time that we could have brought in the policies to tackle this was of course decades ago. We’ve known about climate change my whole life. Successive governments in the UK and internationally largely failed to do that. So the second best time to do it is right now.”

She added: “I’m an engineer by background. I didn’t want to be a politician, I’m in this because I realised the people in power making the decisions were not making the right ones to tackle this crisis.”

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/reform-uk-leader-gets-owned-on-bbc-question-time-over-climate-change/

Continue ReadingReform UK leader gets owned on BBC Question Time over climate change

NHS crisis: This is what’s caused it and how we can solve it

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/nhs-crisis-this-is-whats-caused-it-and-how-we-can-solve-it/

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Evidence of the crisis is all too visible. At the end of February 2024, some 6.24m individuals were waiting for 7.54m National Health Service (NHS) hospital appointments in England alone. This compares to 2.5m appointments in 2010 when the Conservative government came to office. It increased to around 4.6m in February 2020 just before the pandemic, and hit 6.2m in February 2022 and has increased since then.

The consequences are deadly. Some 300,000 people a year are dying whilst waiting for a hospital appointment. Millions have a long wait for ambulance and treatment in accident and emergency departments. In 2023, 14,000 people died in Accident & Emergency departments at hospitals. The deceased are typically the less well-off and suffering from delays and cancellations of hospital appointments.

The NHS has been weakened by years of underinvestment. It has fewer doctors and nurses per person than most of its peer countries. Due to lack of beds, staff and equipment, Britons die sooner from cancer and heart disease than people in many other rich countries. In 2022, over 39,000 people in England died prematurely of cardiovascular conditions including heart attacks, coronary heart disease and stroke.

It is not only hospitals; people are finding it hard to see a family doctor, often known as general practitioners (GPs). In 2015, the government promised to increase the number of GPs by 5,000 by 2020, but February 2024 there were the equivalent of 1,862 fewer fully qualified full-time GPs than there were in September 2015. Despite the pandemic and an ageing population, government funding for GPs in 2022-23 was 3.3% lower than in 2018-19. One in 20 patients have to wait at least four weeks to see a GP, a necessary precursor for most hospital appointments.

The UK has 49 dentists per 100,000 people, the lowest rate among G7 countries Last year, 23,577 dentists performed NHS work, down 695 on the previous year, and over 1,100 down on pre-pandemic numbers. Low rates of pay are cited as a major reason for dentists’ refusal to accept NHS patients. People are reduced to using pliers to pull their own teeth out and use glue to manage dental problems. Lack of oral health can increase the risk of gum, mouth and heart disease.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/nhs-crisis-this-is-whats-caused-it-and-how-we-can-solve-it/

NHS emblem
NHS emblem
Continue ReadingNHS crisis: This is what’s caused it and how we can solve it