Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Pregnant women and three children were among 27 Kurds from Iraq and Iran who drowned trying to cross the Channel. Two male survivors are being treated for exhaustion and hypothermia in a Calais hospital. A criminal investigation has been opened; five men are suspected of direct involvement in the attempted crossing. The bodies were brought by boat and helicopter to Calais, where volunteers with local migrant aid associations lit candles and held aloft placards reading ‘How many more?’ Despite the terrible loss of life, crossings have continued. The next morning forty migrants were brought to Dover by a lifeboat. It is windy on the water and extremely cold, but the determination to get to the UK remains as strong as ever. Boris Johnson said that there are ‘difficulties’ persuading France ‘to do things in a way that the situation deserves’; it was clear French attempts to stop the migrant boats leaving ‘haven't been enough’.

Nikki da Costa, Boris Johnson's former director of legislative affairs, said senior advisors are letting Stonewall dictate the Government's trans rights policy. She believes the advice being given to the PM is undermining women's rights. She said there is no other organisation - no business, or charity, no matter how big - that can pick up the phone to a special adviser sitting outside Boris Johnson's office and get them to speak directly to the prime minister. 'But that is the kind of access that Stonewall has.'’ Ms da Costa alleged that a group of aides controlled the views that Johnson was presented with in government papers and stopping him from meeting people with differing views on trans issues.’ Carrie Johnson said Boris was an ally to LGBT people at a pro-Stonewall event in October.

150 Royal Engineers will be sent to help reinforce Poland's border with Belarus. The border is an entry point to the EU, and there have been tensions there in recent weeks. A small reconnaissance team of engineers had already gone to the area to assess the situation. The engineers are not combat troops but ‘guys with diggers’ who would be dispatched ‘within days or weeks’. They will be building or making fences, roads, or checkpoint observation posts, or putting in infrastructure to help the Poles and potentially other Baltic states to secure their border. The UK defence secretary said, ‘I'm particularly worried for the women and children and the vulnerable people who are being trafficked by the Belarusians into this game they seem to be playing. It's a horrendous thing to do to force migrants to be a tool in a game to try to destabilise their neighbours’.

The number of children in care, which has risen 36% in a decade, is putting ‘unprecedented pressure’ on local authorities' budgets. The Government provides councils with £4.8bn for ‘vital front-line services’, including children's care. Funding a child in residential care costs £4,000+ per week. In 2015, 69,000 children were in care: by March 2020, the figure was 80,080. The rise is explained by, among other things, foster carers not keeping up with increased demands. With local authorities spending more time on this growing need, they are unable to do more early family intervention rather than taking children into care. A trial scheme across five counties is looking to address this challenge. The No Wrong Door programme, funded by the Department for Education and the local authority, brings therapists, police and social workers together within the home to work with families before they reach crisis. Since April, the number of children in care aged 12-17 has reduced by 5%.

Staff at 58 universities will strike between 1 and 3 December over two issues: pension cuts, and pay and working conditions. They are demanding a £2,500 pay increase to end ‘pay injustice’. More action is likely if demands are not met, causing further disruption for students in the run-up to Christmas. Staff pay has fallen by 20% after twelve years of below-inflation pay offers; one third of academic staff are on insecure contracts; the gender pay gap is 15%, and the most recent statistics reveal that of 22,810 UK professors, under a third were women and only 1% were Black. Staff are also experiencing a crisis of work-related stress with over half showing probable signs of depression. As well as the three-day walkout, staff at 64 other universities will take action short of striking by strictly working to contract and refusing any additional duties. This will go on indefinitely.

The number of deaths of people treated under the Mental Health Act in England rose during the coronavirus pandemic. The Care Quality Commission's findings come amid concerns over staff shortages in psychiatric units. 490 people died while detained under the act in the year to March 2021, 324 of them for non-Covid reasons. The average overall figure between 2012 and 2019 was 273. Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt warned that shortages of doctors and nurses were now compromising patient safety ‘in every part of the NHS’. Mr Hunt, who now chairs the Commons health and social care committee, said ‘We still put far too many people into secure accommodation when they haven't committed any crime, just because it's the only option left.’

Swathes of Britain are set to be battered by gales as Storm Arwen brings winds of up to 75mph. The Met Office has issued weather warnings covering most of the UK for 27 November, with coastal areas hit hardest. Forecasters say high winds may cause some travel disruption and damage in the worst-affected areas. An amber alert issued for northeast Scotland and northeast England says ‘flying debris is likely and could lead to injuries or danger to life’. Longer journey times in those areas are likely, with rail, air and ferry services potentially disrupted. Parts of the UK are also set for a sprinkling of snow this weekend as an Arctic blast bites, sending temperatures tumbling towards freezing. The wintry mix of gales, rain and snow is predicted anywhere except the far south.

Emad al-Swealmeen moved to the UK several years ago and converted to Christianity from Islam in 2017. He was looked after for several months by a Christian couple who volunteered at Liverpool Cathedral where he attended an Alpha course and was confirmed. In 2014 he had his asylum claim rejected. Associates believed he was only interested in converting to Christianity because he believed it would assist his asylum claim. He made a new application in 2017. He suffered mental health problems and was sectioned seven years ago after trying to kill himself by jumping off an overpass, while waving a knife. Then on 11 November he detonated a homemade bomb inside a taxi, killing himself and injuring the driver, David Perry, who survived and has been discharged from hospital. Four men have been arrested under terrorism laws. People who knew Swealmeen said, ‘We're just so, so sad. We just loved him, he was a lovely guy.’

On 17 November police investigating the Liverpool taxi explosion sent a bomb disposal vehicle and fire engine to Sutcliff Street and extended a cordon around the Kensington area of Liverpool to allow them to assess ‘materials’ found during their search on the asylum accommodation. Residents living within the cordon were told they were not able to return home, while investigators continue to work on piecing together a motive for the blast. Apparently, Emad al-Swealmeen had been buying parts for his homemade device since at least April. Meanwhile, David Perry, who reportedly averted disaster by locking the bomber in his vehicle is said to have spoken to counter-terrorism officers for 90 minutes at his home. Priti Patel said the asylum system is ‘dysfunctional’. Patrols by armed police will be increased and security plans for major events reviewed after the terror threat level was raised following the attack.

Border Force stopped a lorry on its way to Kent through the Channel Tunnel carrying cocaine with a street value of £33m concealed in a 418kg load of frozen onion rings. Lorry driver Piotr Perzenowski, 30, from Poland, was charged with smuggling Class A drugs and is remanded in custody until 13 December. See Also appearing in court on that day is a 19-year-old suspected county line drug dealer caught by Kent police, who seized heroin, cocaine, cash and criminal property.  Also, ‘Happy Families’ smuggler Michael Sloan was jailed this week after heroin worth £2m was seized from his camper van as he and his family returned to Dover Eastern Docks from Europe. Forensic experts said the heroin was between 44% and 59% pure, and once adulterated would value £1.98 million. Heroin is closely linked to county lines’ type exploitation and violence.