French citizenship confirmed: Boris Johnson’s father Stanley becomes EU national while UK faces Brussels head on over Brexit May 19, 2022 European media are reporting that Stanley Johnson, the father of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has obtained French citizenship. Johnson Sr was given a French/EU passport after he applied for citizenship in January 2021. According to various media across the continent, including the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the procedure to obtain French citizenship has ended and [...]
Ex President George Bush mocked for gaffe: ‘wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean Ukraine’ May 19, 2022 Former American president George Bush Jr has come in for ridicule after accidentally referring to the “illegal invasion of Iraq” during a speech about the war in Ukraine. The ex Republican leader, 75, made the Freudian slip during an event in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, at an institute in his name. In a video posted [...]
Calls in Canada for Queen to make full apology over indigenous children scandal May 19, 2022 The Prince of Wales has not apologised on behalf of the Queen for the “assimilation and genocide” of Canada’s indigenous residential school children but instead “acknowledged” the nation’s dark past, First Nations leaders have said. RoseAnne Archibald, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, appealed directly to Charles for an apology from the monarch [...]
Jaws drop as it emerges UK Health Security Agency pays 1,400 consultants as much as £3,100 per day May 19, 2022 It emerged today that the UK Health Security Agency is paying consultants as much as £3,100 per day. While the number used by the UKHSA has reduced, as of January 31 it was still employing 1,476 management consultants. In a letter to the Public Accounts Committee, the UKHSA said that the majority of these consultants [...]
Government to hunt down ‘callous’ benefit fraudsters in new £600m crackdown that should save £2bn May 19, 2022 A new crackdown on benefit fraud should save the taxpayer £2bn over the next three years. A £600m plan is to be unveiled by the Government. The plan will involve 2,000 trained specialists reviewing two million universal credit claims over the next five years. DWP officers will also be bolstered with new powers, including to [...]
Monkeypox spreading across UK as more cases of extremely rare virus are discovered in LGBT people May 19, 2022 Concerns across the UK are growing this morning as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed it has detected two additional cases of monkeypox, one in London and one in the South East of England. The latest cases bring the total number of monkeypox cases confirmed in England since 6 May to 9, with recent [...]
Back to the ’80s? Rishi should borrow from the playbook May 18, 2022 An embattled Tory Prime Minister hunkered down in Westminster. A cost of living crisis becoming the defining issue of the political age. Unions plotting strike action. The similarities between 1982 and 2022 are eerie, and they don’t even stop there: it was that year that a promising England team headed off to a World Cup [...]
PM asked to explain how a private plane was allowed to fly from Scotland to Moscow breaching Russian sanctions May 18, 2022 A private charter flight travelled from Inverness to Moscow breaching UK sanctions against Russia, despite air traffic control being informed about the flight beforehand. SNP MP Richard Thomson raised the issue in parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions, urging the PM to tell the house how it was allowed to happen. The details of a transcript [...]
After Grenfell: Government puts forward new rules as fire boss hits out at progress May 18, 2022 The Government has put forward new fire safety regulations, which will see building owners share the level of risk that the design and materials of outer walls have with emergency fire services. It is hoped to give fire brigades an opportunity to adopt the best strategy to tackle potential blazes. However, the Home Office has [...]
PMQs: Boris Johnson deflects on windfall tax as Starmer teases him on an ‘inevitable u-turn’ May 18, 2022 Boris Johnson has been accused of dithering on a windfall tax by Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions, as the leader of the opposition said he would do an ‘inevitable u-turn’ on the issue. The PM refused to be drawn on whether he supported the one-off tax, with Starmer highlighting Rishi Sunak’s comments to the [...]
