13 August 2015
Week in Brief: UK NEWS
CHARITY COLLAPSE: Kids Company, the charity founded by Ms Batmanghelidj in 1996 has closed following allegations of financial mismanagement and questions over its practices. The charity, which drew support from the government as embodying its Big Society agenda, employed some 650 staff and made use of 10,000 volunteers. It is said to have distributed cash to vulnerable young people. A £3 million grant, authorised by ministers against the advice of the civil service, was paid to the charity a week before it closed to assist with restructuring. It is understood, however, that it was a condition of payment that the money would not be used to pay arrears of wages and that a breach of this condition resulted in steps being taken to recover the balance. Mrs Batmanghelidj, who has blamed the collapse of the charity on civil servants, ministers and the media, has said that she feels no personal responsibility.
HAMLET: a new production of Hamlet has opened at the Barbican starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Controversially it begins with the soliloquy “to be or not to be” and critics have been divided over the wisdom of this. The production, tickets for which are in much demand, has been plagued by video recording from the audience and Mr Cumberbatch has appealed for this to cease.
IMMIGRATION: 104 illegal immigrants were arrested in Kent during June, which is a 35% increase on the figure for the previous year.
Raids are being carried out on those sectors of the economy, construction, care and cleaning, which are known for their use of illegal immigrants. A new immigration bill is to be published in the autumn to try to reduce the shadow economy.
Considerable work has been done in improving the security at Calais where migrants have been reinforced by anarchists, many of them from Britain. Lorry parks are being installed at Manston airport in Kent to provide an alternative to the practice of stacking lorries on the M20.
Mr Abdul Haroun, a Sudanese man, managed to get through the tunnel to within 1000 yards of the exit before being caught. He has been charged with obstruction to an engine or carriage using a railway, under section 36 Malicious Damage Act 1861, an offence carrying a maximum of 2 years imprisonment.
Eurotunnel have warned the government that it will require compensation if the tunnel has to be closed to freight at night in order to prevent illegal immigration.
Violent gangs are also trying to smuggle migrants into Britain from Dunkirk.
Government proposals to block benefits for immigrants until they have been here for four years are being resisted by the EU as in breach of EU law.
TAX CREDITS: Tory MPs have expressed concern at the effect of the removal of tax credits from lower paid workers. A rebellion on this score could be difficult to contain given the Government’s small majority.
NHS FRAUD: An investigation has been ordered into use by foreign residents of European Health Insurance Cards to obtain medical treatment overseas at the expense of the NHS. It appears that the cards have been issued to those not entitled to them including day visitors to the UK.
CANCER: Cancer sufferer John Underwood has raised £24,000 for charity by posting humorous comments about his illness on social media. He is a patient at Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
ISLAMIST CHARGED: Anjem Chaudary, former head of the banned group, al-Muhajiroun has been charged with inviting support for the ISIL, a proscribed terrorist organisation.
MILK WAR: Morrisons, the supermarket chain, has threatened to take legal action if protests regarding the price it pays to farmers for milk continue. Farmers have demonstrated at Morrisons, Asda, Lidl and Tesco because the 15p per litre which they are receiving is less than the 30p per litre it costs to produce the milk. Price wars between supermarkets have reduced the price of milk to as little as 89p for 4 pints.
NOBEL PRIZES: Britain ranks second, after the US, in a table published by the Times Higher Education Magazine showing the number of Nobel prizes won this century. Although Japan has more prizes than Britain, more points were given to those who won prizes on their own than to those who share prizes.
THE LABOUR LEADERSHIP: Mr Burnham, the shadow health secretary, has promised to ban zero hour contracts and extend the national living wage to all those over eighteen in his manifesto for the Labour leadership. According to the polls, Mr Burnham is the favourite with Labour voters at 39%, with Mr Corbyn second on 24%. Mr Corbyn is ahead on support by constituency parties and, according to recent polling, commands 53% of first preference votes. If he maintained this in the actual vote he would win the contest in the first round.
There is concern that the election will be affected by members of other parties, such as the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition who have now joined the Labour party to influence its choice of leader. 88,000 potential voters had not been vetted on Tuesday. Voting papers are sent out on Friday.
TRADE UNION BILL: It is proposed that the bill will prevent union membership fees being collected direct from payroll so that members will have to set up direct debits or standing orders. The Public and Commercial Services Union has said that a Whitehall trial of the system has substantially reduced their income.
LONDON TRANSPORT STRIKE: Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has indicated that the offer made to transport unions in relation to the introduction of the all-night running of the tube will not be improved. It is understood that a 48-hour strike may be in the pipeline.
PRIVATE EDUCATION: a report published by the Sutton Trust indicates that the disparity in earnings between those educated privately and those educated in the public sector increases in the three year period beginning six months after graduation. See more – comment article.
ROBIN HOOD GARDENS: Tracey Crouch, the Heritage Minister, has renewed immunity from listing for the Robin Hood Gardens, a brutalist estate in East London. Tower Hamlets are anxious to demolish the buildings whereas a number of prominent architects have argued that they should be listed.
INJUNCTION: Mrs Justice Laing has granted an interim injunction preventing the reporting of an affair between a top sportsman and another celebrity unbeknown to his wife. The judgement simply preserves the position until a full hearing against which his right to privacy can be balanced against public interest arising from his position as a role model. However the judge’s comments that in view of the secular nature of society few people, other than the religious, could consider his conduct to be so fundamentally inconsistent with his role that there was a public interest in exposing it, have been much criticised. His name and that of the celebrity have since been published on social media in breach of the injunction.
BUTTON GASSED: Jason Button, the racing driver, has been burgled at his flat in St Tropez while he and his wife were asleep. It is believed that anaesthetic gas was pumped in through the air-conditioning system.
CRICKET: England has recovered the Ashes, beating Australia by an innings and 78 runs in the fourth test of the series. The win leaves them three/one ahead. In their first innings Australia were bowled out for a total of sixty with Stuart Broad taking eight wickets for fifteen runs.
SAS TRAINING: According to reports in “The Times” newspaper, marches which form part of the SAS selection course will be made easier and could be cancelled if weather conditions are too difficult. This is a response to the death of three recruits on training exercises in July 2013. It is understood that there are concerns in the regiment that the change will lead to lower standards
NETWORK RAIL: The Rail regulator has criticised Network Rail for the way in which it delivers projects and has suggested that it may be in breach of its licence.
EDWARD HEATH: allegations made against Edward Heath for child abuse have been undermined as it has emerged that claims that a prosecution was dropped in order to protect him from exposure were baseless. Suggestions that he might have abused children on his yacht have also been demolished, it being pointed out by his crew that there is no private space on a racing yacht in which the assaults could have occurred.
CRACKNELL RESCUE: Olympic oarsman James Cracknell and his son Croyde rescued a family who had got into difficulties with rip tides at Croyde beach in North Devon.
STOLEN DETAILS: Carphone Warehouse has admitted that 2.4 million of its customers may have had their details stolen in a cyber attack.
HEATHROW: the angle of approach to Heathrow is being increased from 3 degrees to 3.2 degrees to keep aircraft higher for longer and reduce noise pollution. The angle may be increased further as part of a package of measures which includes the phasing out the noisiest aircraft, delaying the lowering of landing gear and bigger fines for breaching restrictions. The measures may reduce local opposition to the proposals for a third runway.
TUBE STRIKE: 24 hour tube strikes will begin at 21:00 pm on both Tuesday 25 August and Thursday 27 August.
SEX TRADE PETITION: 8,500 people, including assorted film stars, have signed a position demanding that Amnesty International withdraw its support or the decriminalisation of prostitution.
