Firefighters from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) take part in the Cuts Leave Scars rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, October 26, 2023
DEPUTY Prime Minister Angela Rayner was urged today to end the slow processing of firefighters’ pensions claims that leaves thousands losing out on hundreds of pounds every month.
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Steve Wright has written to Ms Rayner, who is also head of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, calling on her to intervene.
He said: “It is disgraceful that some fire authorities are still failing to give retired firefighters what they are legally entitled to.
“Thousands of firefighters are losing as much as hundreds of pounds a month.
“People who spent their careers protecting the public have been left in financial difficulty.”
A High Court ruling in 2018 said that about 10,500 affected firefighters were entitled to transfer seven additional years of contributions back from an older more generous pension scheme.
Judges said that the transitional arrangements of a less generous firefighters’ pension scheme imposed by the government in 2015 were discriminatory on the grounds of age.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.Angela Rayner wears her “benefits in kind” donation from multi-millionaire Lord Alli.
Four Greenpeace activists unfurl a banner saying “Lammy don’t dally” – calling for Foreign Secretary David Lammy to sign the Global Ocean Treaty into UK law – after scaling the King Charles Street Archway, outside the Foreign Office in Westminster, central London, April 3, 2025
FOUR Greenpeace activists were arrested today after scaling a building outside the Foreign Office in protest over delays in signing an international treaty protecting oceans.
The protesters unfurled a banner as they suspended themselves from columns on the King Charles Street Archway in Westminster before coming down voluntarily.
Three men and one woman were safely detained and arrested under Section 1 of the Public Order Act, and on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage, the Metropolitan Police said.
The group called for faster action from Foreign Secretary David Lammy in signing the Global Ocean Treaty, with the banner bearing a turtle and the legend: “Lammy Don’t Dally!”
The treaty, which aims to protect large areas of marine life by putting stricter regulations on deep-sea mining and fishing, was first agreed in March 2023 and has been ratified by 21 countries so far, ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference in June.
London Luton Airport hopes to almost double annual passenger numbers to 32 million by 2043 after the government approved expansion plans, including a new terminal.
It came despite the Planning Inspectorate recommending Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander rejected them over environmental concerns.
Luton Rising, the airport’s owner, said the decision could bring “significant economic, employment and social benefits for our town”.
However, environmental campaigners said “with climate change worsening, the last thing any of us need is 70,000 more aircraft a year”.
Luton was the UK’s fifth busiest airport last year, with 16.9 million people travelling on 132,000 flights.
The expansion plans involve building a new terminal, new taxiways and increasing capacity in the existing terminal, from its current 18 million passengers a year.
…
A spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “pleased” with the decision.
Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
The unnecessarily violent police intervention at a Quaker place of worship is a PR disaster and will only serve to deepen the chasm between them and the public. SYMON HILL reports
THE police raid on a Quaker place of worship last week was not about preventing crime or arresting criminals. It was an attempt to intimidate peaceful protesters. It will not succeed.
At about 7.15pm on Thursday March 27, at least 20 police officers broke down the door of Westminster Quaker Meeting House in St Martin’s Lane in London. They could have just rung the doorbell.
The police, some armed with tasers, charged into a room where the non-violent protest group Youth Demand were holding a welcome talk. Women in their late teens and early twenties were grabbed and handcuffed behind their backs.
They swarmed through the rest of the building, entering every room, including one that had been hired by a life drawing class and even a room where a private counselling session was taking place.
This horrific incident was made possible by the draconian anti-protest laws introduced by the previous Tory government and maintained by their Labour successors. The police reportedly used the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act as they arrested six women. The youngest was 18.
When the Act was passed in 2022, we were told that the police would use it only in extreme situations. That promise is now as broken as Westminster Meeting House’s door.
In their media statement, the Metropolitan Police said that Youth Demand are planning civil disobedience in London. In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in campaigners being arrested for things they are only talking about doing. Even so, this went further.
This Youth Demand gathering was a welcome talk. It was a public event, open to people who had never even considered engaging in civil disobedience before. The police arrested other Youth Demand members in London and Exeter on the same day.
The police’s thuggery seems designed to intimidate Youth Demand from going ahead with their plans for April. The police may hope that the publicity around the raid will deter others from joining in.
Typically, the police have seriously underestimated the determination of people whose rights are denied.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood during the official opening of HMP Millsike – the new Category C jail in Yorkshire which will deliver 1,500 prison places, March 27, 2025
JUSTICE Secretary Shabana Mahmood was slammed for interfering in judicial independence today after she blocked new sentencing guidelines designed to reduce racial disparities.
Rebuking the minister, left MP Diane Abbott said there have been multiple reports highlighitng how black and ethnic minority people are treated unfairly by the justice system.
She said: “There is a reason why the Sentencing Council is independent. It was made a statutory independent body to avoid even the appearance of ministerial interference.
“This is not the United States. Our political system, our judicial system, are entirely separate.”
