Monthly Archives: November 2017

Donald Trump has started broadcasting anti-Muslim videos by Britain First

The Twitter account of Donald Trump [Image: Bloomberg/Getty Images].

Does the UK’s minority Tory government really want to let this man into the country – US president or not?

Britain First has already started retweeting Donald Trump’s tweets, using them as evidence that he supports their hate-filled propaganda.

What do you think?

Donald Trump has retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right group Britain First who has been convicted of religiously aggravated harassment.

Trump, who has 43.5 million followers on the network, retweeted three separate tweets by Fransen, which all included separate, unverified anti-Islamic videos.

One purported to show a group of Muslims pushing a boy off a roof. Another claimed to show a Muslim destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary and another showed immigrants hitting a Dutch boy on crutches.

The videos were retweeted without comment. Trump then turned to the more familiar territory of complaining about what he said was fake news on CNN.

Source: Trump retweets British far-right leader’s anti-Muslim videos | US news | The Guardian


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Pay-to-see-GP service expanding across the UK as Tories expand ‘two-tier’ privatisation of NHS

Under the new scheme you can bribe your doctors to see you first by giving them £40. Do you have a spare £40? [Yes, I know the image uses dollars].

This is utterly repellant.

The Tories are saying you can skip NHS queues by paying for NHS services.

It is completely unfair and a betrayal of the principles of fairness on which the NHS was founded, as it pushes the poor back down the queue and ensures that they remain sicker, longer.

It does, however, support the principles on which the Conservative Party is based – rich people first; poor people last.

It would be welcome to hope that users of the health service will refuse to participate in this betrayal – but people do what they must, and Tory supporters will do it to spite the others.

Let us hope that the Labour government that is coming will ban this project as the divisive and dangerous attempt to undermine the nation’s health that it is.

A revolutionary new Uber-style service that guarantees same-day GP appointments is to be rolled out across the UK next year.

Billed as an answer to patients being unable to get appointments to see their doctor it is a bid to ease the NHS by mobilising their part-time GP workforce.

The unique online service called Doctaly has been branded the ‘next online game-changer’ and enables patients to skip NHS queues to see a GP privately within a couple of hours – for a one-off fee of just under £40.

Source: Same day £40 service for face to face meeting with GP to expand across the UK – Mirror Online


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Brexit ‘divorce bill’ may be more around 60 billion Euros as UK caves in to EU27 demands

How much indeed: Cartoonist Patrick Blower on the Brexit bill that the UK is agreeing to pay.

UK negotiators from the Conservative government have caved in completely to demands by the EU27 and will pay up every penny of unpaid bills, loans, pension and other liabilities, costing anything up to 60 billion Euros.

The money will be used to support, among other things, projects to improve eastern European economies, according to discussion on the BBC’s Daily Politics today.

Theresa May offered only 20 billion Euros in her Florence speech, so the Tories have completely failed to hold the cost down. In fact, according to The Guardian (below), the gross total could be £89 billion.

That’s money we’ll be paying.

But it seems we won’t be told the final, settled amount, as both the UK and the EU27 seem keen to keep schtum about it, afraid that it will provoke fury here in Blighty.

That means we should be angry.

It means David Davis has utterly failed in the government’s aim to keep the bill down.

Mr Davis has other things on his mind, though – he should be dragging himself shamefacedly before the Commons Brexit committee to answer allegations that he is treating Parliament with contempt by delivering a single, edited, copy of his Brexit impact assessments, in paper form rather than digitally, rather than providing it in the form demanded.

The Tory government has betrayed us over Brexit because it is weak, yet arrogant. Why are we putting up with it?

The UK has bowed to EU demands on the Brexit divorce bill in a move that could result in the UK paying £50bn to Brussels, in an attempt to get France and Germany to agree to move negotiations to trade.

Non-stop behind-the-scenes negotiations have led to a broad agreement by the UK to a gross financial settlement of £89bn on leaving the bloc, although the British expect the final net bill to be half as much.

A senior EU official told the Guardian that the UK appeared ready to honour its share of the EU’s unpaid bills, loans, pension and other liabilities accrued over 44 years of membership. “We have heard the UK wants to come along with the money,” the official said. “We have understood it covers the liabilities and what we consider the real commitments. But we have to see the fine print.”

The bill could total £53bn to £58bn (€60bn to €65bn), although EU officials are not discussing numbers and the British government will fight hard to bring the total down. While EU sources have spoken in recent months of £53bn to £58bn, both sides are trying to avoid talking numbers to help the British government deal with the potentially toxic political fallout.

Source: UK could pay £50bn Brexit divorce bill after bowing to EU pressure | Politics | The Guardian


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May puts embattled Damian Green in the firing line despite sexual impropriety claims

Damian Green denies allegations that he harassed a young Tory activist [Image: Carl Court/Getty Images].

Theresa May has put a man under investigation for sexual impropriety forward to act as her deputy in Prime Minister’s Question, while she visits Jordan.

Damian Green will deputise for Mrs May in his role as First Secretary of State, even though he has been investigated after serious allegations were made about him – and the investigation has been completed.

But the result of that investigation has not been announced – and it is possible that it never will be.

It is a deeply suspicious state of affairs and one that cannot have escaped the notice of Emily Thornberry, who will be deputising for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The obvious questions are: Isn’t it more appropriate for a senior politician to be suspended while he is under investigation, rather than standing in for the prime minister? What did the investigation find? And why have its findings been withheld?

But will she ask?

Damian Green will deputise for Theresa May at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday despite being under investigation over allegations of sexual impropriety.

The first secretary of state, regarded as May’s de facto deputy, will stand in for the prime minister, who is visiting Jordan. Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, will take him on.

Green has been chosen to fill in despite his political future hanging in the balance for several weeks while he is investigated by Sue Gray, the head of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office.

The senior civil servant has been deliberating over claims that Green harassed a young Conservative activist and downloaded pornography to a work computer. He denies both allegations.

The Cabinet Office declined to say whether the investigation had concluded or whether it would be made public when finished.

Source: Damian Green to stand in for May at PMQs despite conduct inquiry | Politics | The Guardian


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Theresa May’s extra £2 billion for affordable homes funded by cuts to other housing schemes | Huffington Post

Housing pledge: Theresa May told the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester that she was investing an additional £2 billion in to the affordable housing budget [Image: Matt Crossick/ EMPICS Entertainment].

Once again the Tories take money from one scheme to spend on another – all the time cutting back the chances that either will do any good. Hopeless.

Theresa May’s conference pledge to invest an additional £2billion is coming from a cut in spending on other house building programmes, it has been revealed.

The Prime Minister used her speech in Manchester in October to announce extra money would be pumped in to the affordable housing budget, as part of her drive to get “government back into the business of building houses.”

But HuffPost UK has discovered that tucked away in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s analysis of the Chancellor’s Budget last week is the truth about where that £2billion money is coming from.

It is not new money, and is instead being raised “by reducing spending on ‘accelerated construction’ and ‘starter homes’ across the four years from 2017-18 to 2020-21.”

Source: Revealed: Theresa May’s Extra £2billion For Affordable Homes Funded By Cuts To Other Housing Schemes


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Super-rich Putin cronies have given £1.8 MILLION to the Tories since 2010 | Evolve Politics

This is well worth reading – as we’re all very interested in the extent of Russian influence on recent democratic decisions like the EU referendum.

If Russians are donating so much money to the Conservative Party, can we ever hope to get answers to the serious questions that are being posed?

As questions swirl around the extent of Russian influence on our democracy… it is important to examine these extremely questionable financial links.

The Chernukhins

Evolve initiated this investigation after discovering that Ms Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of Putin’s former deputy finance Minister – Vladimir Chernukhin, donated a further £160,000 to the Conservatives in the last quarter.

Gerard Lopez

Gerard Lopez is the Chairman of the Board of Rise Capital. Rise is an investment firm that has recently invested in a series of Russian infrastructure projects. These sorts of projects are famously hard to secure without support from the Russian Government. Rise’s managing partner, Sergei Romashov, is understood to be a close ally of Vladimir Putin.

Lopez made a donation of £400,000 to the Conservatives in April of 2016.

Alexander Knaster

Alexander Knaster is a wealthy banker who worked as the chief executive of Russia’s Alfa bank. Knaster was appointed by Mikhail Fridman who was very close to Putin and the Kremlin. Knaster has since maintained his connections with Alfa Bank. His new company Pamplona manages a $1.5billion investment on their behalf.

Knaster has donated £405,000 to the Conservatives since 2010. He also donated £50,000 to the Tory “No to AV” Campaign.

Source: EXCLUSIVE: Super-rich Putin Cronies have given £1.8MILLION to the Tories since 2010 | Evolve Politics


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This is what happens when your Chancellor gives more to banks than benefits

[Image: Ellie Foreman-Peck].

Incredible.

Less than a week ago, Philip Hammond decided to starve the NHS of most of the cash it needs – the service got £1.6 billion out of the £4bn requested – while giving bankers £4.4 billion in tax cuts.

Yesterday we discovered that working-age benefits are being frozen until 2020. And, of course, benefit claimants continue to be treated like dirt by Department for Work and Pensions “advisors” and have to wait weeks for new claims to be processed.

Now, this has happened:

The note in the image says: “I came to the Foodbank today because… my benefits were stopped after coming out of hospital. I have had to reapply for benefits. I didn’t receive the letter informing me that my benefits were stopping as it was sent to the wrong address. I won’t get any money for six weeks. I was in hospital having a tumour removed so my immune system is very low. I now have a chest infection and not having food to eat is affecting my health.”

This is Tory Britain.

If you’re a rich banker you can have all the cash you want.

If you’re too sick to work and need benefits to survive, you can get to a food bank – or die of sickness or starvation.


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Tory liars suggest MPs can’t be trusted with Brexit impact assessments. So what? THEY DON’T EXIST

Robin Walker: Very well-groomed but he talks a load of codswallop.

David Davis and his Brexit gang have made fools of themselves with the claim that MPs can’t be trusted with the 58 sectoral “impact assessment” documents they have been ordered to release to the Commons’ Brexit committee.

After all, who lied to the Commons that these papers existed in “excruciating detail” (in a dig at Theresa May on October 26) – and then had to admit that they didn’t at all? David Davis.

So the implication by John Whittingdale today (November 28) that the full facts should not be shared because “leaks are not without precedent” is risible – Parliament has already proved itself to be far more trustworthy than a government whose minister lied about the form these documents took.

And Brexit minister Robin Walker’s attempt to justify the pig’s ear his department has made of the matter simply made it worse.

“The problem with the motion that was passed is it referred to sectoral impact analysis,” he said. “We were clear from the start that the motion did not exist in the form that was requested, therefore what we have done is to pull together sectoral analysis for the select committee and its scrutiny and I think that will prove valuable.”

Not true. DExEU was forced to go back on the claim that the assessments exist in “excruciating detail” once it became clear that Parliament was going to see exactly how “excruciating” that “detail” was. If the Commons hadn’t voted – unanimously – to have the reports delivered, in full, to the Brexit committee, David Davis, Robin Walker and their cronies would still be telling us that lie.

Now, despite having demanded time in order to “prepare the information” – by which some of us thought DExEU might actually try to divide the information into the 58 sectoral impact assessments we all expected – ministers have delivered to the Brexit committee a single 850-page document … with some of the details removed.

They’ve made a proper dogs Brexit breakfast out of it.

Tory David Davis was blasted today for suggesting members of Parliament’s Brexit committee could not be trusted with his secret Brexit papers.

The Brexit Secretary failed to hand over unredacted papers examining the possible impact of Brexit on sectors of the economy.

Labour MP Hilary Benn, who chairs the Commons Exiting the EU Committee, fumed in the Commons after ministers argued the full papers were not handed over as assurances of confidentiality were not given.

Mr Benn said he objected to “any suggestion” that he or the committee could “not be trusted” to handle the papers.

Source: David Davis blasted for suggesting MPs can’t be trusted with his secret Brexit papers


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Davis told to explain redacted Brexit impact assessments or be in contempt of Parliament. Committee meets TOMORROW

Probable response: David Davis, like the rest of the minority Tory government, seems to think he is above the law. But if he doesn’t explain his actions to Parliament pretty sharpish, he’s going to find himself and his whole rotten gang in very deep trouble indeed.

Failing Brexit Secretary David Davis must stand before the Commons Brexit committee and explain why he – and the Conservative government – have treated Parliament with contempt. As the committee meets tomorrow, we shouldn’t have long to wait.

That is the ruling of Commons Speaker John Bercow after an Urgent Question by Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, who demanded to know why 58 so-called Brexit “impact assessments” were delivered to the Commons Brexit committee, heavily edited – with vital information missing from their contents.

Mr Starmer made it clear that the motion had demanded “not some of the reports, not redacted copies, the full reports”.

Referring to Mr Davis, he said: “Whether he is in contempt of parliament is a matter we may have to come to. He is certainly treating parliament with contempt.”

The SNP’s Pete Wishart said he wanted to refresh his call for contempt proceedings to begin.

While not going as far as to say that contempt had been committed, Mr Bercow invited Mr Wishart to resubmit his letter in light of developments, and said he would consider it in a timely way. He said he would advise an “urgent audience” between the committee and the Brexit secretary.

“I think when it is suggested that that meeting should be soon, it means soon, not weeks hence. It means very soon indeed. No other diarised engagement is more important than respecting the house, and in this case the committee of the house, which has ownership of this matter and to which the papers were to be provided,” said Bercow.

“As and when matters evolve, if a further representation alleging contempt is made to me I will consider it very promptly and come back to the house. I hope the house knows me well enough to know that I will do my duty.”

The next meeting of the Brexit committee is tomorrow (November 29). Do you think Mr Davis will turn up?

The controversy flared up yesterday (November 27), when the Department for Exiting the European Union delivered the 58 impact assessments – not in full, as required by a binding Parliamentary vote, but incomplete. They have been redacted, we are told, in order not to include commercially sensitive information:

Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer made it clear that this is not acceptable. The Parliamentary vote was for the full reports to be delivered to the committee. It would then be for committee members to decide which parts should be edited out before the public was allowed to see them – the intention being to ensure that Conservative government ministers could not hide facts they simply deem inconvenient to themselves.

Mr Starmer expanded on his tweet as follows:

For those who are unable to read images, he said: “Parliament was very clear in its instruction to ministers. All 58 impact assessments should have been shared with the select committee in full, without redaction and unedited.

“If the Government has failed to comply with this ruling then we will not hesitate in raising this matter with the Speaker.”

Raising it with the Speaker implies action against the government for contempt of Parliament. This is really a last resort, because it would be better, strategically, to have the full documents and see what the Tories are trying so hard to hide.

But the Tories are backed against a wall – a contempt ruling will bring their ability to govern properly into question, and we all know that they can’t. Meanwhile, voices of dissent are proliferating:

Some have already decided the government is in contempt of Parliament – like Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, according to Political Scrapbook:

https://politicalscrapbook.net/2017/11/why-the-government-is-in-contempt-of-parliament-over-brexit-papersas-explained-by-jacob-rees-mogg/

But this isn’t the only controversy around Brexit at the moment.

We know about “the bundle of deceitful promises for which people voted, of which the most flagrant and often quoted was the £350m for the NHS”.

We know about the Electoral Commission’s investigation into “whether donations and loans from Brexit campaigner Arron Banks and one of his companies broke campaign finance rules in the run-up to the EU referendum”.

And we know that supporters of Brexit have been reduced to posting fake news about it on the social media. Oh – you didn’t know about that? Here‘s a story about Tory MP Richard Graham, who posted a whopper about Mars relocating from Brussels to London. The claim is, of course, completely fake.

What about concerns that Russia tried to influence the result of the original EU referendum? Here‘s Left Foot Forward‘s view.

The issue may become clearer now that Facebook and Twitter have agreed to share data with the Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee on troll accounts used by the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency. Further information is available here and any information suggesting Russia seriously influenced the result could help trigger an annulment of the referendum result.

Of course, it might be hard to get a significant proportion of the population to accept an annulment, for one sad reason: Prejudice.

The New Statesman is more optimistic, though: That magazine reckons Brexit can certainly be stopped – but the wrong people are leading the campaign to do so, and this is harming it.

Negotiations are continuing, even while all of the above is taking place – but even this aspect of the Brexit fiasco is falling apart, because it has become crystal-clear that the Conservative government, having forced a vote in the knowledge that it might result in the UK’s departure from the EU, simply doesn’t know what it wants.

 

Think Brexit negotiations are going badly? It’s about to get a whole lot worse

What a ridiculous situation. The sooner we get out of this whole pointless process, the better.


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Funding for women’s refuges should be mandatory, says Starmer

The shadow Brexit secretary tweeted that it was better to ‘save lives and protect’ than ‘investigate afterwards’ [Image: Martin Argles for the Guardian].

It’s good to see MPs of the calibre of Keir Starmer fighting the Tory project to support domestic (and other) abuse.

This site demonstrated how the Tories are supporting abusers in a recent article.

The Tory government says it is providing £100m of dedicated funding for tackling violence against women and girls, lasting until 2020. This includes a £20m fund to support refuges and other accommodation-based services, which ministers say will provide 2,200 additional bed spaces.

According to whom? Is there any independent information on the cost of keeping refuges open across the UK? How do we know these bed spaces are additional, and in addition to what?

The Tories are also threatening to publish a “landmark” draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill “to protect and support victims, recognise the life-long impact domestic abuse has on children and make sure agencies effectively respond to domestic abuse”.

You know it will be a travesty.

Keir Starmer, the shadow cabinet member and former chief prosecutor, has called for mandatory funding for refuges amid criticism over a shake-up of funding for women’s services.

Abuse survivors and charities have warned the lives of vulnerable women and children will be put at risk by government plans to remove refuges and other forms of short-term supported housing from the welfare system.

On average, housing benefit makes up 53% of refuge funding and as there is no obligation for local authorities to fund refuges, is the last remaining guaranteed source of income.

Instead of being able to use housing benefit to fund refuges, the government proposes handing a “ring-fenced” grant to councils for short-term supported housing. However, this does not exclusively cover refuges – it is also aimed at older people, homeless people, offenders, people with mental illnesses and drug addicts.

The document detailing the proposals, published in October, contains a caveat that funding for refuges will be looked at in November 2018, but provides no further details or reassurance.

Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions (DPP) and shadow Brexit secretary, called for mandatory funding.

Source: Keir Starmer: make funding for women’s refuges mandatory | Politics | The Guardian


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