28 January 2016
Week in Brief: UK
MI5 LGBT: In an announcement which some may find surprising, the Security Service (MI5) has been described by Stonewall, the gay rights group, as the best employer of people who are in the LGBT category.
RUSSIAN ESPIONAGE: A Russian commentator has estimated that the number of intelligence officers in London employed by the KGB (now the FSB), the GRU (Russian military intelligence) and the SVR (the foreign intelligence service) has reached a level not seen since the Cold War. There may also be “illegals” – people who pretend to be British but are in fact Russians, and Russian businessmen whose purpose is to gather information.
ENGLISH LESSONS: David Cameron’s decision to allocate millions of pounds to help immigrants learn English, has been attacked after it was pointed out that he had cut funding for English lessons for immigrants in 2011.
OPINION POLLS: An investigation into the cause of the failure of opinion polls to predict the result of the last General Election has stated that the pollsters asked the wrong people about their intentions. Perhaps it was a “Morecambe & Wise” moment: they asked all the right questions, but not necessarily in the right order to the right people.
LABOUR DEFEAT: The investigation by the Labour party into their election defeat, conducted by Margaret Beckett, has concluded that the result was due to the Conservatives’, Liberal Democrats’, Scottish Nationalists’ and the media’s attacks on the party and particularly on Ed Miliband.
RED DOORS: Allegations that the homes of asylum seekers have red painted doors have been denied by Stuart Monk, who owns Jomast, which receives payment for providing homes for refugees. He said that private tenants also had houses with red doors and rejected allegations that there was a kind of apartheid policy in place.
A report in the “Times” has said that senior officials at G4S were aware of concerns that asylum seekers were living in houses with red doors. G4S have used Jomast as sub-contractors and it is Jomast which owns all the houses in the North East which are used for accommodation by asylum seekers.
LORD BRAMALL: The Metropolitan Police have refused to apologise to Lord Bramall for arresting him on sexual offences charges . Lord Bramall received a letter informing him that no further action would be taken because there was insufficient evidence to warrant it. A spokesman for the Met said that if an apology had been issued it might have had a “harmful impact” on future enquiries.
The “Sunday Times” has revealed that “Nick”, who made the allegations against Lord Bramall, appeared in a television documentary under the name “Stephen” and claimed that he had been abused by Jimmy Savile. In that interview, he did not mention any VIPs such as MPs or military figures.
ALEXANDER LITVINENKO: The official enquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko has concluded that he was murdered by the KGB (now known as the FSB) probably on the orders of President Putin. The motive may have been the allegations made by Litvinenko about what he said were the connections between the Russian mafia, Mr Putin and close political associates of the President. The two men who are said to have carried out the murder, Andrei Lugovoy and Dimitri Kovtun, are in Russia and have not been arrested or detained by the authorities there.
ANTIBIOTIC: There are hopes that a new weapon to fight superbugs has been developed. It is an anti-biotic based upon human breast milk. It has been claimed that it will destroy drug resistant bacteria. The new drug was developed at the National Physical Laboratory in London.
TERRORISM: Two Muslims who set up a stall in Oxford Street which tried to persuade members of the public to join Isis have been convicted of terrorism offences. Two Muslim sisters saw the stall and contacted the police.
