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Lee Pomeroy death: Accused 'stabbed man over train aisle row' - BBC News
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2019-06-26
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Darren Pencille stabbed Lee Pomeroy 18 times after a "heated argument" on a train, a court hears.
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Surrey
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Darren Pencille, left, and Chelsea Mitchell are on trial at the Old Bailey
A man was stabbed 18 times on a train in front of his 14-year-old son after a "heated argument" over blocking the aisle, the Old Bailey has heard.
Darren Pencille denies murdering Lee Pomeroy, 51, on a Guildford to London service on 4 January.
The defendant's girlfriend, Chelsea Mitchell, is also on trial and denies assisting an offender.
Opening the case, prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC said Mr Pomeroy was killed the day before his birthday.
He said the victim and his son boarded the train at London Road Station at 13:01 GMT and within five minutes, he had been stabbed by Mr Pencille, 36.
"That wound to the neck was the first of 18 wounds with a knife that Mr Pencille inflicted on Mr Pomeroy that day," he told jurors.
"A little over an hour after he boarded the train, and despite the best efforts of the emergency services who rushed to save his life, Lee Pomeroy was dead."
Lee Pomeroy was stabbed to death on a Guildford to London train
The prosecutor told jurors the events surrounding the killing were captured on CCTV and witnessed by other passengers.
Mr Pomeroy and his son had boarded the same carriage as Mr Pencille and made their way down the aisle, the court heard.
Mr Hallam suggested they may have been "blocking" Mr Pencille's way and the defendant had said: "Ignorance is bliss."
"That prompted Lee Pomeroy to respond and ask what it was he meant. An argument began between them. It was an argument that became heated and became heated pretty quickly."
The court heard that passenger Megan Fieberg witnessed Mr Pencille insult the deceased and shout: "You touch me, you touch me and you see what happens at the next stop."
The jury heard that Mr Pomeroy responded: "You shouldn't have humiliated me in front of my kid."
The prosecutor told the court that another witness recalled Mr Pencille saying "leave me alone, you're racist" and "I'm not scared of you".
However, Mr Hallam told the jury that another passenger, Kayleigh Carter, said that she had not heard Mr Pomeroy make a racist remark.
He said: "Her impression was that both men appeared to be taunting one another."
The prosecutor told jurors Ms Carter recalled Mr Pomeroy stating that he had "never dealt with someone with special needs before," to which Mr Pencille allegedly responded: "I'm hearing voices right now."
She then saw Mr Pencille appear to make a phone call and "the words she recalled [hearing] were 'I'm going to kill this man'," Mr Hallam said.
Records showed he had called Miss Mitchell, the court heard.
Mr Hallam said Ms Carter saw the defendant take a knife from his pocket and strike the first blow. He then described how Mr Pomeroy tried to defend himself but Mr Pencille kept stabbing him "again and again and again".
"It was a blow that cut through his jugular vein and carotid artery which are the vessels that take blood to the brain," he said.
The prosecutor said after the attack, Mr Pencille was picked up by 27-year-old Miss Mitchell, of Wilbury Road, Farnham.
He told the jury: "She collected him and together they drove to the flat where she lived in Farnham, Surrey, then drove to the south coast.
"Mr Pencille cleaned himself up and changed his appearance. The two of them also engaged in research on the internet about what it was Mr Pencille had done."
The court heard Mr Pencille later called his mother and said: "Something's happened, I've done something bad". He then called his ex-partner and told her the same and that she would see it on the news.
Mr Pencille, of no fixed address, has admitted possessing a bladed article, the court heard.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-48722609
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news_uk-england-surrey-48722609
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Apprenticeships pledge 'will be missed' - BBC News
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2019-06-26
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Education Secretary Damian Hinds admits the target of three million apprenticeships will not be reached.
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Family & Education
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Education Secretary Damian Hinds has confirmed the government's promise of three million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020 is going to be missed.
Pressed by Robert Halfon, chairman of the Education Select Committee, Mr Hinds accepted that the manifesto target is "not going to be reached".
Mr Halfon warned of declining numbers in some levels of apprenticeships.
But Mr Hinds said the training in apprenticeships was now of "much higher quality".
"There was a time in the not too distant past when there were plenty of kids who didn't even know they were on an apprenticeship," Mr Hinds told MPs on the cross-party committee.
The education secretary was asked about a decline in the number of lower level apprenticeships.
These were vital "bridges" to higher-level training, said Mr Halfon.
Mr Hinds said that in countries with a strong vocational training system, such as Germany, the focus was on high-quality skills valued by employers, rather than the volume of low-level training of questionable quality.
"But has the three million apprenticeships target been abandoned?" asked Labour MP Ian Mearns.
Damian Hinds was appearing before MPs on the education select committee
Mr Hinds argued that the argument had shifted and the current apprenticeship system reflected what employers wanted.
Asked again by Mr Halfon whether or not the target was going to be achieved, Mr Hinds said: "You're a mathematically adept person, and if you project the line out at the moment, in terms of sheer volume... no.
"If you look only at the number of people starting... then that is not going to be reached."
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee had previously cast doubt on the robustness of how the target had been set.
In a report last year it said it had been told that the three million figure had been a political decision, based on a number that would sound impressive in a manifesto.
The education secretary, facing a range of questions about his department's work, said that he backed the idea of a register for children who were not in school.
He said that many home educating families were doing "amazing" work, but he was concerned about those young people who were outside the school system but not really getting any access to education.
"There are a lot of children who are not in school and who in the data appear in the column that says 'home education', but there may be no education going on at all.
"Those are the children we should be worrying about," Mr Hinds told MPs.
On social mobility, the education secretary was asked about white working-class boys being the least likely group to go to university.
"We have been squeamish about talking about ethnicity when it's white children," replied Mr Hinds.
"The fact is, that among all the major ethnic groups, among disadvantaged children, free-school meal eligible white children are the lowest performing.
"So if you're serious about social mobility then that is a very large number of children to be concerned about," said Mr Hinds.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-48775244
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news_education-48775244
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Tory leadership race: How winner could change the atmosphere - BBC News
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2019-06-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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To just say a new prime minister won't change the arithmetic when it comes to Parliament doesn't take into account the unknown power of leadership.
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UK Politics
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As the second ballot approaches, there has been talk of deals and counter-deals among MPs
Until 18.00 BST, much of Westminster will be preoccupied with counting the number of hypothetical votes that are going to each one of the aspiring prime ministers.
Scurrilous whispers are whizzing round about deals and counter deals.
There are suggestions that some of Michael Gove and Boris Johnson's declared backers are secretly reaching out to Rory Stewart and gently wondering about potential jobs.
Conspiracists suggest that Boris Johnson's team are ordering some of their supporters to vote today for Jeremy Hunt to ensure he faces what they see as a vanilla politician in the final two.
Lots of politicians love nothing more than campaigning and hustling for votes, and what could be more fun for them when they don't even have to bang on doors in the rain to do so, but can plot happily in the tea rooms of Westminster?
Whoever ultimately wins through, however, will soon have to count a different set of numbers - those in Parliament.
They would inherit a government with no majority, and the same contradictions and conundrums of Brexit.
The common cry is therefore, unsurprisingly, the numbers won't change. The next sensible assertion follows - it's impossible therefore to see how anything like Theresa May's deal gets through Parliament.
And impossible, therefore, to see how any of the contenders could keep their promise to take us out of the EU without a cataclysmic event - leaving without a deal, calling an election, or embarking on another referendum.
In the BBC debate later, and over the next few weeks, we will ask and ask the candidates again if they refuse to answer, how they plan to stick to their promises to take us out of the EU, and what they would do instead if their plan backfires.
But although the first rule in politics is learn to count, there is a second adage that applies too - politics is meant to be the art of the possible.
In other words, if they possess real skills and talents, what can they actually get done?
Sure, the numbers won't change but a lot will with a new prime minister, even if not for very long. And in times when what seemed sensible assertions have been proven wrong so many times, it would be foolish to underestimate how different the atmosphere might be.
First off, if Boris Johnson wins, a Brexiteer will be in charge for the first time - whether you think that's to own the mess, or push for the ultimate win.
That will matter to Tory MPs who always suspected that Theresa May, hiding behind her red lines, always saw Brexit as a damage limitation exercise. Their hackles were up from the start. They are likely to respond differently to one of their own in charge.
Different MPs will also be part of the government too. Many of the collection of grey suits currently in the administration will take their seats up on the back of the green benches - swapping places, it's likely, with more of the Eurosceptics, who will move to the front.
There is less incentive for Brexiteers to kill a Brexiteers' deal.
Theresa May was not a regular in Westminster's tearooms
In a rebellious Parliament, under new leadership, the goodies become the baddies, and the baddies become the goodies.
Remainer ministers talk now of swathes of Tories who'd rebel to prevent no deal. But would they really behave as aggressively as the inner core of Brexiteers have done in the last few years? The numbers don't technically change, but different groups become the disgruntled and that will matter, probably a lot.
And there is still, just about it seems, a majority in Parliament for leaving the EU, but with a deal. To Downing Street's intense frustration, they always believed that was the case, but couldn't translate that into a win. That was, in part, down to the problem with the policy, and the long-running divisions inside the Tory party.
But it was also because Theresa May was just not able to win her colleagues round. She used to boast that she was not a creature of Westminster's bars and tearooms, not someone who enjoyed the political game.
But in this crazy village, that's how arguments are won. Some of her colleagues who did get brief facetime with her even said they left the room feeling less likely to support her. It may not be fair, but persuasion is a real power, and Theresa May didn't have much of it.
Diligence is not a substitute for being able to talk someone round.
A new leader might, I stress, be well able to do that. Not just with MPs in Westminster, but also maybe with the EU.
Politics is about numbers - yes, but it's about persuasion, alchemy and force of personality. To simply say the numbers won't change excludes the - as yet - unknown power of leadership.
It is perfectly possible, of course, that the new leader will implode, or within months be overwhelmed by the same obstacles that broke Theresa May.
But maybe, just maybe not. Has it really been so long since we've had truly convincing politicians that we have forgotten what they can really do?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48680553
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news_uk-politics-48680553
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Caster Semenya says IAAF used her as a human guinea pig and fears others at risk - BBC Sport
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2019-06-18
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[]
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Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya says she was used by the IAAF and fears other athletes are also at risk.
| null |
Caster Semenya says athletics' world governing body "used" her like "a human guinea pig" by insisting she takes medication to control her testosterone.
South Africa's Semenya, 28, is in legal dispute with the IAAF, who have said the 800m runner must take medication or compete over a different distance.
The two-time Olympic champion says the drugs made her feel "constantly sick" and have "unknown health consequences".
"I will not allow the IAAF to use me and my body again," said Semenya.
Semenya spoke out as the Court of Arbitration for Sport released a 163-page document explaining in detail why it had rejected her appeal against the IAAF's rules.
Since the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision she has gone to Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court (SFT), which has temporarily suspended the IAAF ruling.
"The IAAF used me in the past as a human guinea pig to experiment with how the medication they required me to take would affect my testosterone levels," added Semenya.
"Even though the hormonal drugs made me feel constantly sick, the IAAF now wants to enforce even stricter thresholds with unknown health consequences.
"I am concerned that other female athletes will feel compelled to let the IAAF drug them and test the effectiveness and negative health effects of different hormonal drugs. This cannot be allowed to happen."
IAAF rules state Semenya - and other athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) - must either take medication in order to compete in track events from 400m to the mile, or change to another distance.
People with a DSD do not develop along typical gender lines. Their hormones, genes and reproductive organs may be a mix of male and female characteristics, which can lead to higher levels of testosterone - a hormone that increases muscle mass, strength and haemoglobin, which affects endurance and which - the IAAF argued - gives Semenya and DSD athletes an unfair advantage over other women.
Since the ruling, Semenya has raced over 2,000m and took victory at the Meeting de Montreuil in Paris.
She has been named in South Africa's preliminary squad for the World Championships in Qatar later this year but has only been entered in the 800m, meaning her participation depends on the outcome of her appeal.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has said the new rules for athletes with differences of sexual development were discriminatory, but concluded that the discrimination was "necessary, reasonable and proportionate" to protect "the integrity of female athletics".
The IAAF has welcomed the full release of the Cas findings, saying: "Having the arguments of all parties and the detailed findings of the Cas panel in the public domain will help to foster greater understanding of this complex issue.
"The IAAF considers that the DSD regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair and meaningful competition in elite female athletics, and the Cas agreed."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/48678230
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rt_athletics_48678230
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Prison to pilot scheme: The rehabilitation project lowering reoffending - BBC News
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2019-06-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The scheme, which has cut reoffending rates in pilot areas, involves unpaid work in the community.
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Northern Ireland
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The scheme involves unpaid work as well as psychological assessment and treatment
More than 400 people whose crimes would normally attract a jail term of up to a year have instead served their sentences outside prison.
The scheme, known as an enhanced combination order, has been running in three court districts since 2015.
The rehabilitation order has led to a 20% reduction in the number of short-term jail sentences in those areas.
The order, which lasts between 12 months to three years, involves unpaid work in the community.
It also involves intensive probation, restorative intervention, psychological assessment and treatment.
James was given the option of avoiding prison by participating in the programme after he admitted to a public order offence while drunk and high on drugs.
The scheme allows people who would previously have spent time behind bars seek rehabilitation
James, which is not his real name due to concerns for his safety if he is identified, said the programme forced him to address his offending behaviour.
"I got to write a letter of apology to the police, and I got to hand it in and apologise, person to person, and we got to shake hands and just say: 'I'm sorry for that act of stupidness.'
"I think if I got sent to prison I would have had an aspect of what prison life was like. You see people going in and out of prison all the time so I think it would have been, 'oh right, I know what prison is like now' and probably go on to reoffend.
"But this order really helped me understand that drink ain't the answer, drugs ain't the answer and I'm so glad I never got sent to prison."
The order has been successfully completed by 404 offenders in three courts areas since 2015 - Armagh and south Down, Ards and the north west.
Judge Eamonn King would like to see the scheme extended
District Judge Eamonn King, along with other members of the judiciary, would like to see it extended across Northern Ireland but that could depend on an executive being in place at Stormont.
"If it's an economic argument, the cost of keeping someone in jail is a number of times the cost of trying to keep someone in the community and rehabilitated within the community," he said.
"They are part of the community and if we give them the support to overcome their problems, then we're giving them back their dignity."
Stephen Hamilton of the Probation Board said the scheme has the potential to save millions of pounds
The Probation Board for NI said one evaluation of the scheme found there would be a saving of up to £8.3m per year to the public purse if the orders were rolled out throughout Northern Ireland.
"That is not an insignificant amount of money, it requires resourcing but, nevertheless, we believe there will be fewer victims and communities will be safer," said Stephen Hamilton, assistant director of the Probation Board.
Paul Millar from Barnardo's said the charity has worked with 76 people who have been sentenced to an enhanced combination order providing support and training to the offenders and their families.
"It can be around actually increasing parents' knowledge of parenting," he said.
"So increasing their parenting skills, looking at the impact of offending, their behaviour on family and family life because we know from research that for children who have a parent who offends there is a higher risk of them actually being involved in the criminal justice system," he said.
The Department of Justice said it was working to enable access to the orders as a sentencing option across Northern Ireland following full evaluation of the initial pilot.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-48665303
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news_uk-northern-ireland-48665303
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Tory leadership: Rivals clash over Irish border Brexit plans - BBC News
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2019-06-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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All five candidates say they want to avoid a hard border but disagree on how to do so.
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Northern Ireland
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The five Conservative leadership contenders were asked about resolving the Irish border issue
The five remaining candidates to become the next prime minister have clashed over how to avoid a hard border in Ireland after Brexit.
The MPs running to become Conservative leader answered questions from the public in a live debate on BBC One.
All five agreed the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland should remain "free and open".
But they offered different visions of how they would ensure this.
Four of the five have rejected the backstop, which was part of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May.
The backstop is a position of last resort to maintain a seamless border on the island of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without securing an all-encompassing deal.
Only International Development Secretary Rory Stewart spoke in favour of it.
BBC viewer Mark Nolan, from Ballyclare in County Antrim, asked the candidates how they would "solve the issue of the Irish border".
The debate was the first to feature Boris Johnson
Frontrunner Boris Johnson said he remembered the Troubles and "nobody wants to see the return of any kind of infrastructural or hard border" on the island of Ireland, insisting the UK government would "never" do that.
He insisted the problems posed by trade across the border could be resolved during an implementation period as the UK leaves the EU.
The former foreign secretary argued the EU could be persuaded to amend its Brexit deal as it did not want the UK to leave in a disorderly manner and wanted the £39bn so-called divorce bill negotiated as part of the withdrawal agreement.
Boris Johnson said "nobody wants to see a hard border"
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said technology could be used to create a "soft border", but it was important the UK was not "trapped" indefinitely in the customs union.
"It is for us to come up with the solutions that would work," he said.
"What we can't have is a return to border infrastructure on the island of Ireland, because that was one of the fundamental achievements of the Good Friday Agreement."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What do the British public want to ask the Conservative hopefuls?
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the backstop needed to be time-limited, arguing Parliament would not vote for it as it stood.
Mr Javid previously pledged to pay Ireland for the cost of border technology.
"Border force has looked at this. It is perfectly possible to have an open border with two different customs arrangements on either side of the border using existing technology," he said.
The Irish government and EU have both rejected this argument.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the "peace process is about much more than just trade across the border".
He said there was a need to "supercharge" work on alternative arrangements that could replace the backstop.
Rory Stewart said the only way to ensure an open border was through a withdrawal agreement that must include the backstop as it is currently configured.
This would see Northern Ireland staying aligned to some rules of the EU single market.
Mr Stewart said the EU had made it "entirely clear" the withdrawal agreement must include the currently configured backstop.
Dominic Raab was knocked out of the Tory leadership race in the second ballot of MPs earlier on Tuesday.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dame Cheryl Gillan announces the result of Tuesday's Tory leadership vote - with five going through the next round
The next ballot will take place on Wednesday, with the candidate with the lowest number of votes eliminated.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-48681089
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news_uk-northern-ireland-48681089
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Notes from the first Tory leadership hustings - BBC News
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2019-06-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Four contenders to become the next PM appealed to Tory MPs behind closed doors.
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UK Politics
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It is one of those gigs that is the hearing equivalent of an optician asking you read that pesky last line of tiny letters when you are having your eyes tested.
The Tory leadership hustings hosted by the One Nation Caucus of Conservative MPs began with reporters, me included, starting to loiter outside.
Between us and the action inside, there were two heavy wooden doors and a pretty thick wall - and some parliamentary security staff not particularly keen on us leaning too obviously against either the doors or the wall.
A rather forthright conversation then began between us lot in the press pack and Conservative Party officials about why we weren't allowed in - given those in the room were discussing who should be our prime minister by the end of next month.
The argument from the journalists was our audiences should be fully informed about what is going on, even if the vast majority, those who are not Conservative Party members, will have no direct say in who becomes our country's next leader.
The argument from the Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, one of the organisers, was "this was a job interview, and most job interviews are not conducted in public".
She also made the point that we would see plenty of the candidates in public in the coming weeks.
First up was Home Secretary Sajid Javid. He had an organised briefing operation, with one of his team talking us through the key points their man was making in the room.
"You don't beat the Brexit Party by becoming the Brexit Party," was one of the quotes. There were about 80 people in the room to listen.
The leadership contest has attracted a wide range of candidates
Next up it was Rory Stewart, new to the cabinet, but commanding a lot of attention, if not vast amounts of support from his colleagues in the early stages of this race.
No member of his team was there to talk to us, and he didn't want to talk to us afterwards either.
But, we were told, he emphasised again the importance to him of ruling out a no-deal Brexit.
The One Nation Caucus is, very broadly, those on the left of the parliamentary party and those who are pro-European.
So the arrival down the corridor of Brexiteers John Redwood and Jacob Rees Mogg suggested only one thing: it was time for former cabinet ministers Boris Johnson and Andrea Leadsom.
All Conservative MPs were allowed to attend these hustings.
Mr Johnson was welcomed with banging of the walls - a bizarre Westminster ritual which translates as enthusiasm, rather than an attempt to escape.
It just so happened that while the former Foreign Secretary was speaking, someone inside the room kept their foot in the door and so we reporters had a far better chance of hearing what he was saying than we did with the others.
His team were also very efficient in filling us in too.
"We must get ready, eventually but not immediately, to beat Jeremy Corbyn and put Farage back in his box. We are facing an existential crisis and will not be forgiven if we do not deliver Brexit on 31 October," he told his colleagues.
Not everyone was onside, mind.
The Tory MP James Duddridge left, telling us that while listening to Boris Johnson, the veteran Conservative Sir Nicholas Soames "has his head in his hands like all his family has died." And Ken Clarke, Mr Duddridge reported, sat "with his arms folded."
But as soon as Mr Johnson had finished, the former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was puppyish in his enthusiasm for Mr Johnson.
"The only one who can put the Brexit Party back in its box...he is the one who can save the party...the audience recognised you had an election winner," he claimed.
Plenty left when Boris Johnson was finished. MPs were red-faced and sweating, and complaining about how hot the packed room was.
But there was still one more wannabe: Andrea Leadsom, the former Leader of the Commons, turned up for her slot at half past eight.
There were still about 40 MPs there to listen.
No briefing from her or her team for us, but we were told afterwards she had talked again about a "managed exit" at the end of October and a series of "mini deals" with the European Union.
Asked afterwards which candidate offered the most unicorns - ideas that were seen to be undeliverable - Nicky Morgan said that was our word, not hers, but Mrs Leadsom probably had the hardest task winning people over in the room.
At the end, one MP wandered up to me and said: "if only we had someone who combined the brains of Rory, the feelgood factor of Boris and the attention to detail of some of the others. The thing is, we don't."
There are more hustings, plenty more hustings to come. We will have a new prime minister in seven weeks' time.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48522075
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news_uk-politics-48522075
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Trump UK visit: Protesters mix humour and expletives to make their point - BBC News
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2019-06-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Demonstrators deploy satire, candour and expletives as Donald Trump meets the UK prime minister.
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UK
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If Donald Trump had been inclined to wind down a bullet-proof window in The Beast as he passed through central London, he may well have wound it straight back up.
The public were kept a long way from his motorcade but the boos were loud, the placards stark and the general message expletive-laden.
And beyond that, in Parliament Square, under the gaze of a statue of a hunched Winston Churchill, British satire was on display.
A Donald Trump baby blimp rocked back and forth in a light wind.
A man was dressed as a caged gorilla with a Donald Trump face mask while his companion pulled off an impression of Boris Johnson - the MP who wants to be the next UK prime minister - dressed in a striped prison uniform.
There were toilet rolls for sale bearing the president's face, sold for two for £5 from a couple of supermarket trolleys.
A police officer went above and beyond to hand out Haribo sweets to his colleagues standing in a neat line along Whitehall.
Above them, builders in hard hats watched events unfold from the scaffolding encasing Big Ben.
But it wasn't just the British who were there to protest.
US holidaymakers gave up a day's sightseeing in the capital to let their president know what they thought of him.
Jess Renner, and her mother, Lisa, from Nevada, say their president promotes division
Nineteen-year-old student Jess Renner, who was too young to vote in the last US presidential election, headed down to the protest from her nearby hotel with her mum.
"It was fun to come and flip him off," she said. "He's a bully and he's trying to bully you guys into buying all our stuff."
Fellow American Robert Kihm, from Denver, Colorado, said having Mr Trump for a president was no longer funny.
What's your message to him? "Where do I start," he replied, in exasperation.
"Stop being authoritarian, respect the rule of law and stick to the norms for a US president," he urged.
A group from Belgium on a three-day trip to London also couldn't resist having their say.
"He said Brussels was a hell-hole so we are also very against him," said Annelie Comeyne, from Ghent.
Not everyone felt the same.
A minority, including Lorraine Chapel, from Chiswick, in west London, was there to welcome the president.
"Love him or hate him, Mr Trump runs America and he is here by invite from the Queen," she said, waving her handmade sign.
Lorraine Chapel says the president should be shown respect
The blimp of a baby Donald was offensive, she said. "Suppose they did that for the Queen in America".
In a flash, things turned rather ugly when a woman appeared next to Ms Chapel, accusing her in strongly-worded terms of supporting misogyny.
Meanwhile, a heated exchange played out in the background as Trump supporters took on anti-Trump protesters before the debate veered back to domestic arguments around Brexit.
A little later, the atmosphere lifted as speakers took to a temporary stage outside Downing Street where Mr Trump was holding talks with the outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.
"Say it loud, say it clear," the speaker shouted over the microphone, as the rain kept falling.
"Donald Trump's not welcome here," the crowd hollered back, from under hoods and umbrellas.
Some had their faces covered with #trumpstinks masks, others wore badges saying "another nasty woman against Trump".
There was whooping and whistling as police officers cautiously managed the growing numbers, opening and closing routes.
Melissa Branzburg gives her children a lesson in political activism
Mothers with small children in buggies rubbed shoulders with seasoned protesters and American ex-pats.
Melissa Branzburg, originally from Miami but now living in Greenwich, said President Trump has been talked about in her house for a long time.
Her children - Isaac, five, and Ruth, three - would usually be doing crafts or playing in the park but today they were getting a lesson in political activism.
They were keen to let Mr Trump know they didn't want him here in London, said Ms Branzburg.
They asked a lot about children behind bars in the US, something she tried to explain in age-appropriate language.
"I want them to know they can make their voices heard and can see that other people agree with them," she added.
Protesters delivered their messages on placards - some chose humour, others candour
Florence Iwegbue, a dual US-British citizen, wore bright pink feathers in her hair and red, white and blue glitter on her cheek.
She said she feared Britain might be following too closely in US footsteps.
"The message is not getting through that the way of life in America does not work," she said.
"In the US, you can't afford to be poor, sick, black or brown. This is becoming an issue in Britain - and it needs to be dialled back."
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Lee Pomeroy murder accused told ex 'I've done something bad' - BBC News
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2019-06-27
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Darren Pencille told his ex-partner "I've done something bad" after stabbing a train passenger, a jury hears.
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Surrey
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The man accused of murdering a passenger on a train called his ex-partner hours later and told her "I've done something bad", a court has heard.
Sarah Fry, who is the mother of Darren Pencille's son, said he called her during the evening and sent her a text, saying: "I'm sorry. I love you both."
His lawyer told the Old Bailey he did not deny stabbing Mr Pomeroy but said it was in self-defence.
Ms Fry told the court she received a call from her former partner at about 21:30 GMT on the night of the attack.
"He said, 'I've done something bad today and you'll see it in the news'," she said.
She added: "I disconnected the call and that's the last time I spoke to him. That's all that was said."
The Old Bailey also heard from Mr Pencille's mother that he had been treated for paranoid schizophrenia in his 20s.
Ingrid Robertson said her son had a fear of crowded places and public transport.
She said: "He always thought people were looking at him or wanted to do something to him."
Lee Pomeroy was stabbed 18 times on a Guildford-to-London train, the Old Bailey has heard
Earlier, Kayleigh Carter, who had been on the Guildford-to-London train, told the court Mr Pencille had appeared angry, while Mr Pomeroy was "really stern, stubborn" and "sort of patronising".
She said the cause of the disagreement was unclear, but she recalled one of the men saying: "All I did was be in the way."
She added: "I thought it was really petty if it's just about that."
Giving evidence from behind a screen, Ms Carter said the pair had an argument, during which Mr Pencille had picked up his mobile phone and said: "I'm going to kill this man."
She said Mr Pomeroy had told the defendant during the confrontation: "I have never dealt with someone with special needs before" and that it appeared he was "egging it on", with Mr Pencille responding: "I'm hearing voices right now."
"I wouldn't say (Mr Pomeroy was) picking on him, but he was taunting him," Ms Carter told jurors.
Home Office pathologist Dr Olaf Biedrzycki told the court Mr Pomeroy had died from just one of the 18 stab wounds inflicted on him.
He said the 6cm-deep wound to the neck had cut the jugular vein and the carotid artery, but that "with very prompt treatment, you could reasonably [have expected] him to recover" from the other 17 wounds.
The jury also heard police established that Mr Pencille and his girlfriend, Chelsea Mitchell, drove to Bognor Regis after the stabbing before returning to her home in Farnham, Surrey.
During that time, they searched the internet for hotels in Sussex and Gatwick and for news of the stabbing.
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Lee Pomeroy death: Accused 'stabbed man over train aisle row' - BBC News
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2019-06-27
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Darren Pencille stabbed Lee Pomeroy 18 times after a "heated argument" on a train, a court hears.
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Surrey
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Darren Pencille, left, and Chelsea Mitchell are on trial at the Old Bailey
A man was stabbed 18 times on a train in front of his 14-year-old son after a "heated argument" over blocking the aisle, the Old Bailey has heard.
Darren Pencille denies murdering Lee Pomeroy, 51, on a Guildford to London service on 4 January.
The defendant's girlfriend, Chelsea Mitchell, is also on trial and denies assisting an offender.
Opening the case, prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC said Mr Pomeroy was killed the day before his birthday.
He said the victim and his son boarded the train at London Road Station at 13:01 GMT and within five minutes, he had been stabbed by Mr Pencille, 36.
"That wound to the neck was the first of 18 wounds with a knife that Mr Pencille inflicted on Mr Pomeroy that day," he told jurors.
"A little over an hour after he boarded the train, and despite the best efforts of the emergency services who rushed to save his life, Lee Pomeroy was dead."
Lee Pomeroy was stabbed to death on a Guildford to London train
The prosecutor told jurors the events surrounding the killing were captured on CCTV and witnessed by other passengers.
Mr Pomeroy and his son had boarded the same carriage as Mr Pencille and made their way down the aisle, the court heard.
Mr Hallam suggested they may have been "blocking" Mr Pencille's way and the defendant had said: "Ignorance is bliss."
"That prompted Lee Pomeroy to respond and ask what it was he meant. An argument began between them. It was an argument that became heated and became heated pretty quickly."
The court heard that passenger Megan Fieberg witnessed Mr Pencille insult the deceased and shout: "You touch me, you touch me and you see what happens at the next stop."
The jury heard that Mr Pomeroy responded: "You shouldn't have humiliated me in front of my kid."
The prosecutor told the court that another witness recalled Mr Pencille saying "leave me alone, you're racist" and "I'm not scared of you".
However, Mr Hallam told the jury that another passenger, Kayleigh Carter, said that she had not heard Mr Pomeroy make a racist remark.
He said: "Her impression was that both men appeared to be taunting one another."
The prosecutor told jurors Ms Carter recalled Mr Pomeroy stating that he had "never dealt with someone with special needs before," to which Mr Pencille allegedly responded: "I'm hearing voices right now."
She then saw Mr Pencille appear to make a phone call and "the words she recalled [hearing] were 'I'm going to kill this man'," Mr Hallam said.
Records showed he had called Miss Mitchell, the court heard.
Mr Hallam said Ms Carter saw the defendant take a knife from his pocket and strike the first blow. He then described how Mr Pomeroy tried to defend himself but Mr Pencille kept stabbing him "again and again and again".
"It was a blow that cut through his jugular vein and carotid artery which are the vessels that take blood to the brain," he said.
The prosecutor said after the attack, Mr Pencille was picked up by 27-year-old Miss Mitchell, of Wilbury Road, Farnham.
He told the jury: "She collected him and together they drove to the flat where she lived in Farnham, Surrey, then drove to the south coast.
"Mr Pencille cleaned himself up and changed his appearance. The two of them also engaged in research on the internet about what it was Mr Pencille had done."
The court heard Mr Pencille later called his mother and said: "Something's happened, I've done something bad". He then called his ex-partner and told her the same and that she would see it on the news.
Mr Pencille, of no fixed address, has admitted possessing a bladed article, the court heard.
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Shepherd's Bush stabbing: Teen killed after taking cover in shop - BBC News
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2019-06-27
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The victim, believed to be 18, died from a stab injury in Shepherd's Bush on Wednesday night.
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London
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Police cordoned off an area outside a shop in Shepherd's Bush
A teenager was stabbed to death in a west London shop as he tried to hide after a fight, witnesses have said.
The 18-year-old victim was attacked in Uxbridge Road, Shepherd's Bush, on Wednesday night.
Resident Derek Parks said the man had gone into the store "for cover" but was followed by a man who had a knife and stabbed him.
The Met said it was looking for "two males, possibly in their teens" who ran away in the direction of Wormholt Park.
Mr Parks said the fight happened "outside the shop doorway and the gentleman came in from outside".
"The guy who got stabbed went towards the basement of the shop and was hiding," the 64-year-old said.
A witness said the teenager was chased into a shop
Officers and paramedics had attended the shop at about 21:20 BST but the teenager died at the scene.
Shopkeeper Sully Singh said he had received a call from his night staff at about 21:45 and found a police cordon in place when he arrived.
"When I came here everyone was shocked. They said an incident had happened. There was a fight," he said.
Passers-by have begun laying flowers outside the shop in tribute to the deceased.
One teenager, who did not want to be named, said the victim had been his friend and described him as "just ordinary and quiet" and not involved in trouble.
Floral tributes have been laid outside the shop
Elsewhere, another man suffered non life-threatening injuries in a stabbing in nearby Notting Hill on Wednesday evening.
He was stabbed just after 19:00 on St Ann's Road and police were "neither linking nor ruling out" a connection between the attacks. No arrests have been made.
One local man, who did not want to be named, told the BBC: "I just told my kids to stay indoors. If you don't have to go in the road, don't have no argument with no-one because you don't know - it could be any one of us."
Det Insp Luke Wyllie said: "A young man's life has been tragically cut short. We are doing everything we can to apprehend those involved.
"Extra police and specialist units are working on the ground now to build a clearer picture of what took place and work to protect and reassure those in the local community."
A Section 60 order - which gives police the power to stop and search people in a designated area - was put in place in Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill until Thursday afternoon.
Police have informed the teenager's next of kin and a post-mortem examination will be held on Friday.
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Tory leadership: The ringmaster or the safe-ish pair of hands? - BBC News
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2019-06-27
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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But when it comes to Brexit, there isn't a vast cavern between those vying for the Tory leadership.
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UK Politics
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Smart? Intelligent? Surely, yes we would all want a clever politician in charge, someone who grasps complexity and is willing to put in the hours to solve the country's problems.
But without resorting to the insult that the inhabitants of Westminster would have been on stage and screen if only they'd been more aesthetically blessed, politics also has an element of performance about it.
It is a very serious form of showbiz if you like. Its most senior figures become famous, even if often for all the wrong reasons.
Political parties want their leaders to have "cut through", to use the terrible jargon, not just to communicate clearly, but to make people want to listen.
So, you'd likely want your desert island dream prime minister not just to be able to do the work, to be serious about what it takes, but to have razzmatazz to be a bit of a performer, a politician who can bring in a crowd and make them feel good.
It is a battle of ideas and how you win it is, of course, down to how convincingly and compellingly you can explain them.
So in our ideal world, (leaving the ideology out of it) it's all pretty straightforward.
The prime minister ought surely to be a man or woman who can be bothered to master vital spreadsheets, full of calculations about what to do with the country's hard earned cash, to be all over the detail of international treaties like a rash, to have original ideas about how to fix the country's problems.
But also, someone with standout charisma who can persuade, cajole, maybe even inspire.
Without offending fans of spreadsheets - and there are many of them out there who are also highly charismatic individuals - the Tory members who will choose the next prime minister don't live in that kind of nirvana.
Having spent a chunk of time this week interviewing Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt at length, the small electorate in this contest do not really have in front of them a candidate bathing in both mastery of policy and detail and political star quality.
And by extension, nor do the rest of us who don't have any choice at all.
First off, the spreadsheet test.
There is good reason why Mr Johnson is criticised for being cavalier about detail, that goes way beyond his terrible mistake about the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe case.
People who have worked closely with him, both fans and detractors, say that he is simply not really interested in minutiae.
Officials who worked with him tell me there were two kinds of Mr Johnson and they weren't always sure which one they were going to get, changing even on a daily basis.
Sometimes he could be utterly persuasive and on top of policy.
But on other occasions it was evident that he just hadn't bothered to absorb the information required and wouldn't focus, even complaining about the amount of material that was put in his ministerial red box.
And it's clear from talking to him at length this week the force of his arguments do not come from a profound understanding of detail.
He's happiest painting with a broad brush, even when it's not a model bus.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. In full: Boris Johnson on Brexit, his character, political record and right to privacy
For his most loyal supporters that, believe it or not, simply doesn't matter.
Not just because they believe he passes the charisma test so easily, but because being a leader should be about decisions not details.
One of his backers familiar with how Mr Johnson operates makes the comparison to the captain of an enormous battleship.
They don't want or need to know which pump has broken in the engine room, which crewman has gone sick, what the exact temperature of the boilers are, but is only required to know if there is a problem that affects the performance of the vessel and if it can be fixed.
And you'll regularly hear around the place that the former foreign secretary would run his Number 10 operation as the chairman of the board, not the chief executive - the decider and figurehead, not the manager.
There's also a view in his camp that because much of the public isn't that interested in the micro detail of policy, not of course always the case, then it doesn't really matter if he isn't either.
In a funny way that means he has more in common with most of the public than proper Westminster nerds.
His many doubters though believe it is nothing short of outrageous that someone in his position has basically not always been bothered to pay proper attention.
And the objection is sometimes particularly profound because Mr Johnson is clearly very smart - it's a question of attitude, not ability.
The affable former chairman and chief whip of the Tory Party, Patrick McLoughlin, who, it should be said, is supporting Mr Johnson's rival, said today: "There were times when Boris wasn't quite on top of the brief."
Quite. Others in private speak much, much less diplomatically.
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Mr Hunt is a very different kind of politician.
When he was in charge at the Department of Health he made cracking down on mistakes in hospitals one of his big priorities.
And on the wall in his office on Whitehall hung a weekly list of mistakes being made in every hospital in England.
It's not quite the same as Aneurin Bevan's famous words at the birth of the NHS, when he vowed that "if a hospital bedpan is dropped in a hospital corridor in Tredegar, the reverberations should echo around Whitehall".
But it is telling of a politician who will delve down into the details of a problem to get a grip on it. (At this point I can't resist telling you that Mr Johnson has a light sabre on his desk).
That doesn't mean for a second that Mr Hunt has not made political mistakes.
His record at the NHS is less shiny than he would want to admit.
With critical targets for care missed again and again, a corrosive dispute with junior doctors over their contracts, huge staff shortages.
When he was culture secretary he had an ill-fated ambition to encourage a huge expansion in local TV stations that ended with a whimper not a bang.
But those who have worked with him say that he is serious, and lo and behold, actually cares about detail and facts. (A bit trickier when it comes to his Brexit plans, but we'll come to that in a moment).
Politics though is not just about detail and facts, it's about emotion and belief.
This is where Mr Johnson's supporters believes he is in his own galaxy.
I've written many times before about how he is one of a tiny number of politicians who has a particular kind of pull on the public on the campaign trail.
Go out to observe and film him on the road, members of the public stop what they are doing, come out of their shops or homes, or put down their coffee in the café on the corner, to go to try to meet him, whether to shake his hand, ask for a selfie, or maybe just as likely, to harangue him and accuse him of everything under the sun.
He makes some people mad, but he delights others. But it is not possible to ignore him.
Mr Johnson plays on that, of course, outlining his supposed obscure hobby of painting happy passengers on a model bus yesterday, knowing fine well for every moment that members of the public were wondering what on earth he was talking about.
Sharing the bizarre clip of the video, they would be wondering about that, rather than what on earth he would do with the country.
For as long as he is "entertaining", then people aren't busy analysing perhaps.
When he creates that kind of circus, willingly or not, he is maybe the ringmaster, and not the clown.
One of the interesting things about this campaign so far is that Mr Hunt has undone some of the buttons that have been firmly in place during his long time in cabinet.
He has made jokes online, he has talked about his family and his Chinese in-laws' nicknames for him.
He has attacked Mr Johnson in a way that this politician who prides himself on being polite but tough would not have previously dared.
He's done that because he knows the best chance he has to make up the ground between him and the favourite is to push at the bruise, the questions many Tory members have about Mr Johnson's character.
But at this stage, while Mr Johnson leaps over the hurdle of the charisma test, which can repel as well as attract, Mr Hunt struggles to overcome it.
That's not because he is less charismatic than your average politician these days.
Compared to many of them, including the current prime minister, despite his serious tangles with junior doctors, Tory members would see an affable, and safe-ish pair of hands.
But if it comes down to making an impression, who is the candidate to make a splash, it is not Mr Hunt.
For all the contrasts between the two men, it is important to understand that when it comes to the biggest question they'd have to grapple with there isn't a vast cavern between them.
As we've reported all week, they clash over the Brexit deadline, but broadly, they both want to change the existing deal, and they both say they'd leave without one.
It's important to know too that both of their plans for leaving the EU are based on a lot of ifs and buts.
They also have, despite their very different characters, to most of us, remarkably similar backgrounds - public school, Oxford, then long careers in politics.
Yet the Tory party must choose, in the knowledge they don't have a candidate in front of them who passes all the hypothetical tests.
I've written before, and will no doubt write again - never underestimate Mr Johnson's capacity to implode.
It's also worth noting that Mr Hunt is by the day opening up to make his pitch more compelling.
But despite the drama that seems to follow Mr Johnson around, after a largely miserable three years of knocking lumps out of each other, right now, the Tory party looks set to choose the feel good over the facts.
What would you like the prime minister to be?
Experienced? Well, of course, no-one would want an amateur in charge, someone with no idea how Westminster works.
The public would indeed expect that the person talking on the country's behalf in Parliament and around the world has gravitas, that when he or she speaks, you'd want the rest of the world to pay attention without worrying about what mess they might blunder into.
Doesn't sound too much to ask.
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Liam Fox criticises Boris Johnson's Brexit plan - BBC News
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2019-06-23
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The international trade secretary insisits the EU will apply trade tariffs in a no-deal Brexit.
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UK Politics
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Boris Johnson's claim that world trade rules could be used after Brexit to avoid tariffs "isn't true", cabinet minister Liam Fox has said.
The international trade secretary, who is backing Jeremy Hunt for leader, said the EU will apply trade tariffs.
Mr Fox, a Brexiteer, said he would prefer to leave with a deal and Mr Hunt has a "good chance" of getting one.
Tory MP Liz Truss, who is backing Mr Johnson, said not leaving the EU on 31 October would be a "disaster".
It has been three years since the UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum.
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Fox rejected Mr Johnson's claim that the UK could secure a 10-year standstill in current arrangements using an article of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade known as "Gatt 24".
"It isn't true, that's the problem," he said.
Mr Fox said Mr Johnson's argument that a new free trade agreement could be negotiated during an implementation period "doesn't actually hold".
"If you don't get the withdrawal agreement through Parliament, there is no implementation period during which we can do anything at all," he said.
"Secondly, if we leave the European Union without a deal the EU will apply tariffs to the UK because you can only have exemptions, as described, if you already have a trade agreement to go to.
"Clearly if we leave without a deal it's self-evident we don't have that agreement, so Article 24 doesn't hold in that circumstance."
But he said a no-deal Brexit is the "legal default position" and the UK will have "no negotiating capital" if it is ruled out.
Justice Secretary David Gauke, who had been backing Rory Stewart for leader until the international development secretary's elimination, also criticised Mr Johnson's Brexit plan, saying it was not "credible".
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And Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday that choosing Mr Johnson as prime minister would be "disastrous" for the Conservatives, particularly in Scotland - which voted to remain in the EU.
When asked what she thought of SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford's comments during PMQs last week that Mr Johnson was a "racist", she said: "I agree with Ian Blackford's comments."
She said Mr Johnson has "made overtly racist comments" during his career.
But also speaking on Sky News, Conservative MP Rishi Sunak, who is backing Mr Johnson, defended the leadership hopeful.
He said Mr Johnson was not racist and has "apologised for any offence caused" by his comments over the years.
Liz Truss said not leaving the EU on 31 October would be a "disaster"
Elsewhere, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss, told BBC 5 Live's Pienaar Politics that Brexit was a matter for the executive and not for Parliament - which rejected Theresa May's Brexit deal three times.
She also criticised Mr Hunt, accusing him of "kicking the can down the road" on Brexit, which "would be a disaster".
She said Mr Johnson would seek to re-negotiate with the EU and would be "much clearer that we are prepared to leave on 31 October".
Mr Hunt has said he would delay leaving on 31 October only if a potential deal with the EU was in the pipeline.
While Mr Johnson has been more outspoken on the subject, Mr Fox said he had not heard Mr Johnson say he would definitely leave on 31 October, even if a new deal was within reach.
The EU has repeatedly said the withdrawal agreement will not be renegotiated.
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Boris Johnson refuses to answer questions about 'home row' - BBC News
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2019-06-23
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The Tory leadership candidate was pressed about reports of an argument with his partner.
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Boris Johnson has refused to answer questions about his private life, after police were called to a reported row with his girlfriend.
Police were called to the Conservative leadership candidate's London home in the early hours of Friday after neighbours reportedly heard a loud argument.
On Saturday afternoon in Birmingham, at the first of 16 Conservative Party hustings, LBC's Iain Dale pressed Mr Johnson on the incident.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48732551
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Diversity concern as Scottish Parliament nears 20th anniversary - BBC News
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2019-06-23
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Warnings that the Scottish Parliament has "gone backwards" when it comes to the diversity of its MSPs.
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Scotland politics
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Despite the prevalence of female leaders in the past 20 years at Holyrood, the number of female MSPs has fallen
Diversity among the Scottish Parliament's elected representatives has "gone backwards" in some ways, MSPs have warned in a new BBC documentary.
It comes 20 years after the first MSPs took their seats at Holyrood.
Despite the recent prevalence of female leaders, the 2016 Scottish Parliament election saw fewer women elected compared with 1999.
The parliament has also elected only four MSPs from ethnic minority backgrounds in the past two decades.
The 1999 Scottish Parliament election returned 48 women to the chamber out of 129 MSPs. By the 2016 election that number had fallen to 45.
Former Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray, who was first elected to Holyrood in 1999, told the documentary, titled Children of the Devolution: "We've never had a black woman MSP, that's never happened in 20 years. In some ways we've gone backwards."
Anas Sarwar said he could not stay silent on the issue of diversity
Anas Sarwar MSP, who last year set up a Cross Party Group on tackling Islamophobia, said Scotland still had a long way to go on issues of equality.
Mr Sarwar told the programme: "You come to the realisation at some point - and part of it is when you become a parent yourself and you see the challenges that your children might face in the future - that I can't stay silent, silence isn't an option any more.
"I genuinely believe that my children are going to grow up in a more divided and a more hate-filled world than the one I grew up in and that frightens the life out of me.
"And I think we need people of all backgrounds talking about (it), and we all care about Scotland and we've got a long, long way to go."
SNP MSP Linda Fabiani, who has also been in the Edinburgh parliament from the start, said: "If you say that a parliament should reflect the people that it serves, I think we do that in quite a lot of ways.
"We're not quite there yet with equality for women and we're certainly not there yet with other equalities that we need to take notice of. But the will is there."
The first episode of the documentary will reflect primarily on the early years of the new Scottish Parliament, which was formally opened by the Queen on 1 July 1999.
One early controversy also centred around the issue of equality and moves by the then Labour-Liberal Democrat executive to scrap the controversial Section 28 or clause 2A law that banned the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools.
A high-profile campaign to keep the clause was led by businessman Sir Brian Souter, who funded a postal referendum on the issue.
After months of bitter political argument, MSPs voted to repeal the law in June 2000.
Ruth Davidson told the programme the 2014 law change on same-sex marriage brought her to tears
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: "I really hated that idea that one rich person could have ownership over a whole idea, it really brought home to me that it is not always a fair playing field and that really stuck in my craw."
Ms Davidson also reflected on the 2014 law change that would allow same-sex couples to marry in Scotland.
"When the bill was finally passed, I went back up the stairs to my office and I burst into tears," she told the BBC.
"After that, very late on, I went to a get-together in the pub with some of the campaigners and through a weird series of events someone there put me in touch with the person who is now my fiancee, so it almost started another chapter of my life."
Episode one of Children Of The Devolution is on BBC Scotland at 22:00 on Tuesday.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48730618
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Girl and Tonic blogger: 'Giving up booze helped me buy my house' - BBC News
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2019-06-01
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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A blogger who spent £1,000 a month going out says changing her lifestyle has given her "clarity".
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Norfolk
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Laurie McAllister said giving up booze gave her clarity on what she wanted and helped her to buy her own home
A blogger has told how giving up alcohol for good has helped her to buy her own three-bedroom house.
Laurie McAllister, 28, said one month she spent £1,000 just on going out, and that her lifestyle in London left her "struggling with anxiety".
In 2016, while in bed with a hangover, she decided she was "done" and started saving to buy a new home in Norfolk.
"There is no way if I hadn't stopped drinking that I would have this house," she said.
While living in London, Ms McAllister said she would splurge on going out to meet friends and getting taxis home. She would also spend lots on food as she was too tired to take lunch into work the following day.
"I wasn't very happy - I was drinking a lot, going out a lot and not having the best time," said Ms McAllister.
"I hated how I felt the next day.
"I hated the times I drank a lot and couldn't remember anything.
"Nights that started well, all dressed up and surrounded by my best friends would end in an argument, regrettable texts or a blackout not remembering how I got home."
Laurie McAllister celebrated her birthday in her new home in Wymondham which she moved in to in March
She said although friends would have said she did not have a problem, her alcohol intake was "bad enough for me to change".
"I was struggling with anxiety and drinking was exacerbating that," she said.
"The final time I drank wasn't a big night out, but I woke up feeling like rubbish and thought, 'I'm done here'."
Laurie McAllister five days after going teetotal in December 2016
That day, she launched her blog Girl and Tonic, and wrote about the challenge of remembering she did not need to drink to have fun.
Stopping drinking gave her "clarity", and she soon also noticed a financial benefit.
"I saw quite quickly that I was saving money," she said.
"I opened an ISA and put in what I had left over every month, then when I realised I was near [being able to get a deposit] I put in a bit extra."
She said she could have stayed sober in London, but liked the slower pace of life and the countryside where she grew up in Norfolk.
Ms McAllister said her blog keeps her "accountable and sober"
After initially moving back, she lived with her parents for six months before renting a house with her brother.
She continued working full-time for a digital marketing agency, but also started teaching yoga.
Her family had been really understanding, she said.
"They support my decision to be the happiest person I can be. It's been lovely to have their support and live closer to them."
Ms McAllister later moved back to her home county of Norfolk, and saved £10,000 in the first 18 months.
She bought her home in Wymondham, near Norwich, two months ago.
Ms McAllister said although she did not have particularly strong willpower, she helped maintain her resolve by taking up new habits such as reading and getting a dog.
"I do have a quieter life, but I've got a job I like, I love teaching yoga and I walk my dogs every day.
"I'm in a good financial situation and no longer paying rent."
Ms McAllister shares her new home with a lodger and two miniature dachshunds including Margot (pictured)
She said it had also been crucial to tell friends ahead of social events that she would not drink.
"The narrative for me was, 'You're a weirdo if you don't drink' - it wasn't friends saying that but more of a culture.
"I don't really regret anything, but I do look back and think how many nights would have been exactly as fun if I hadn't been drinking.
"I think if people choose to stop, they will also save money.
"I spent it on a house, but I have sober friends who have spent it on travelling.
"For me it's all about choice - you can still be a happy normal person without the booze."
For more information and support, visit Alcohol Change UK and BBC Action Line.
Listen to Sophie Little's interview with Laurie McAllister on BBC Radio Norfolk
• None 'It's hard being young and sober'
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Tory leadership contest: Rory Stewart knocked out - BBC News
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2019-06-19
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Four men are left in the contest to be the next prime minister after outsider Mr Stewart won just 27 votes.
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UK Politics
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Four men are left in the race to be next prime minister after Rory Stewart was knocked out.
The international development secretary was eliminated after coming last with 27 votes, 10 fewer than last time.
He said his warnings about a no-deal Brexit "probably proved to be truths people weren't quite ready to hear".
Boris Johnson topped the vote again with 143 votes, 17 more than last time. Jeremy Hunt came second with 54, Michael Gove got 51 and Sajid Javid 38.
A fourth round of voting will take place on Thursday.
Mr Stewart started as a rank outsider in the race but gained support on the back of an unusual campaign strategy.
Touring the country for pop-up meetings, which were promoted and recorded on social media, he drew large crowds and won the backing of several senior cabinet ministers.
He had accused other candidates, including Mr Johnson, of lacking realism over Brexit and making undeliverable promises.
After his elimination, he tweeted that he had been "inspired" by the support he received which had rekindled his faith and belief in politics.
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Mr Stewart's vote tally fell from Tuesday - following a live BBC TV debate in which he summed up his own performance as "lacklustre".
There have also been suggestions of tactical voting - "dark arts" as he called them - with candidates lending votes to others in order to help eliminate certain rivals.
One MP supporting Mr Stewart claimed he had been "let down" by "thieving, mendacious, lying" colleagues who had switched.
Following his exit, Mr Stewart - MP for Penrith and The Border - told the BBC he was "disappointed" and believed his party "didn't seem ready to hear his message" about Brexit and the need to seek out the centre ground.
He said his arguments during the campaign that an alternative Brexit deal was not on offer from the EU, and a no deal would be catastrophic, were "probably truths people were not quite ready to hear, but I still think they are truths".
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He defended his attacks on Mr Johnson, saying the gravity of the situation meant it was right to warn that the frontrunner risked "letting down" his supporters over Brexit.
"These are the times to ask these questions, but I agree they are uncomfortable questions," he said.
"People felt they were exposing divisions in the party they were not comfortable with.
"My conclusion is that you don't unify a family or a party by pretending to agree when you disagree. You unify through honesty and trust."
Mr Stewart, who has ruled out serving under Mr Johnson because of their differences over Brexit, added "I appear to have written my cabinet resignation letter."
He said he had not decided who to now support.
Home Secretary Mr Javid, who leapfrogged Mr Stewart in Wednesday's poll after gaining five votes on his second round tally, thanked Mr Stewart for his contribution to the campaign.
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Mr Javid said he was pleased to make it through into the next round, adding that he could provide "constructive competition" to frontrunner Boris Johnson if he made it into the final two.
"People are crying out for change, if we don't offer change ourselves, they'll vote for change in the form of Corbyn - and I can be that agent of change", he said.
Reacting to his third consecutive second place, Mr Hunt said the "stakes were too high to allow someone to sail through untested".
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Liam Fox, who is backing Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt, said the surviving candidates were the four most experienced men in the field and this is what people expected all along.
Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who is backing Mr Johnson, insisted there was "no complacency" despite his large lead, telling BBC News "there is still work to do".
Education Secretary Damian Hinds said Mr Gove had "closed the gap" on Mr Hunt in second place and was gaining momentum.
He said the environment secretary had the experience, the vision and the plan to deliver Brexit that could unite the country.
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Unless another candidate drops out, there will be a fifth ballot on Thursday evening to determine the final two candidates who will go forward into a run-off of the party's 160,000 or so members.
The winner will be announced in the week of 22 July.
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Tory leadership race: Hunt tells Johnson 'don't be a coward' - BBC News
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2019-06-24
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Jeremy Hunt said he was "not interested" in Boris Johnson's private life, but challenged him to a TV debate.
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UK Politics
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Jeremy Hunt has urged Tory leadership rival Boris Johnson not to be "a coward" about facing public scrutiny.
Mr Hunt said he was "not interested" in his private life but he should "man up" and debate with him on TV this week.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has warned the UK will face a "democratic explosion" if it does not leave the EU by 31 October.
But Mr Hunt challenged him to reveal whether he would call a general election if MPs refused to allow the UK to leave without a deal on that date.
After Prime Minister Theresa May failed to get her Brexit deal through Parliament earlier this year, the date of the UK's departure for the EU was moved to 31 October.
Mr Johnson is under pressure to answer questions about a row with his partner in the early hours of Friday which led to police being called to his London home.
The Metropolitan Police has said it will not be taking any further action over the incident and his supporters have rallied around him.
Former International Development Secretary Priti Patel told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a recording of the argument, given to the Guardian newspaper, was part of a "politically-motivated series of attacks".
"That is not the type of behaviour that you'd expect in our country, that's the type of behaviour associated with the old Eastern bloc," she added.
Mr Johnson refused to answer questions about the incident at a hustings event on Saturday, instead insisting his stance on Brexit was what mattered to the public and to the Conservative Party members who will choose the next leader.
In his Daily Telegraph column on Monday, he said of the 31 October deadline: "This time we are not going to bottle it. We are not going to fail."
He said it was "disgraceful" the UK was still in the EU three years after it voted to leave, and exiting the EU would "renew the national faith in democracy".
He did not address questions about his private life in the column.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Priti Patel said Mr Johnson would "never" comment on his personal life
The BBC's Norman Smith says Mr Hunt's shift in language is striking.
He is using a much more combative, pugilistic tone, our assistant political editor says, perhaps realising there is no point doing this softly and nicely because if he does, Mr Johnson is just going to walk into Number 10.
Writing in the Times, Mr Hunt called for a "fair and open contest, not one that one side is trying to rig to avoid scrutiny".
"Only then can you walk through the front door of No 10 with your head held high instead of slinking through the back door, which is what Boris appears to want."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "very disrespectful" of Mr Johnson to refuse to do "any tough media interviews" and urged him to take part in a Sky News leadership debate scheduled for Tuesday.
The two men are due to face off on ITV in July, but by then voting papers will already have been sent to party members.
Mr Hunt said he feared a government led by Mr Johnson would rapidly collapse, because he would be unable to hold together a coalition of supporters that range from MPs who back no deal to others who feel it would be totally unacceptable.
"If you are not clear about exactly what you are going to do, that coalition will collapse immediately and you will have Corbyn in Number 10," the foreign secretary said.
He said Mr Johnson must explain how he could guarantee the UK would leave the EU on 31 October if Parliament voted to stop a no-deal Brexit, as it did in a non-binding vote in March.
Mr Hunt ruled out calling a general election in such a circumstance - saying it would destroy the Conservative Party - and demanded that Mr Johnson be clear whether he would do the same.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who withdrew from the leadership contest after coming sixth in the first ballot of the party's MPs, told BBC Breakfast Mr Johnson had the "best chance" of securing a new Brexit deal with the EU.
Mr Hancock said it was "total nonsense" to suggest Mr Johnson was not open to scrutiny, drawing attention to the various hustings he has taken part in.
"He's got the energy, he's got the support from right across the party, and I think that's why he's the right man for the job," Mr Hancock added.
In a separate development, defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the BBC's Panorama programme that "a dozen or so" Conservative MPs would support a vote of no confidence in the government to stop a no-deal Brexit.
A no-deal exit would see the UK leave the customs union and single market overnight and start trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation rules.
Opponents say it would cause huge disruption at the borders and be catastrophic to many firms reliant on trade with the continent.
Next month around 160,000 Conservative Party members will choose the next leader of the Tory Party - and the next prime minister.
Members will receive their ballots between 6 and 8 July, with the new leader expected to be announced in the week beginning 22 July.
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Johnson defends Brexit plan and 'row' silence - BBC News
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2019-06-24
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He admits to the BBC he would need EU co-operation to avoid a hard Irish border or crippling tariffs in the event of no deal.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson on Brexit, privacy and his character
Boris Johnson has admitted he would need EU co-operation to avoid a hard Irish border or the possibility of crippling tariffs on trade in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the favourite to be the next PM said: "It's not just up to us."
But he said he did "not believe for a moment" the UK would leave without a deal, although he was willing to do so.
Asked about a row he'd had with his partner, he said it was "simply unfair" to involve "loved ones" in the debate.
Reports of the argument on Friday with his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, dominated headlines over the weekend after the police were called to their address in London.
The interview comes after Sky News said it would have to cancel a head-to-head debate on Tuesday between the two leadership contenders as Mr Johnson had "so far declined" to take part.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd told Radio 4's Today programme she found Mr Johnson's decision to ignore live TV debates "very odd" and urged him "to reconsider".
Following days of criticism that he has been avoiding media scrutiny, Mr Johnson has given a number of other interviews, including with LBC and Talk Radio.
On LBC, he was repeatedly challenged on his personal life and a photograph which showed him and his partner. Asked whether his campaign was behind the release of the picture, Mr Johnson refused to answer.
He told Talk Radio's political editor Ross Kempsell he would "not rest" until the UK had left the EU, insisting Brexit would happen on 31 October "come what may... do or die".
Meanwhile, the other candidate, Jeremy Hunt has promised to boost defence spending by £15bn over the next five years if he becomes prime minister.
In his interview with BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Johnson said the existing deal negotiated by Theresa May "is dead".
He insisted it was possible to broker a new deal with the EU before the end of October because the political landscape had changed in the UK and on the continent.
"I think actually that politics has changed so much since 29 March," he said, referring to the original Brexit deadline.
"I think on both sides of the Channel there's a really different understanding of what is needed."
At the moment, the UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October after the PM's Brexit deal was rejected three times by Parliament, and the EU has previously said the withdrawal agreement reached with the UK cannot be reopened.
Mr Johnson said he would be able to persuade Brussels to resolve the Irish border issue - a key sticking point - despite repeated warnings from EU leaders that that was impossible.
He said there were "abundant, abundant technical fixes" that could be made to avoid border checks.
When challenged that these did not exist yet, Mr Johnson replied: "Well, they do actually... in very large measure they do, you have trusted trader schemes, all sorts of schemes that you could put into place."
But, he admitted, there was "no single magic bullet" to solve the issue.
Mr Johnson's really controversial gamble is to say he could do a new trade deal with EU leaders before the end of October.
And he says he would be able to do that before resolving the most controversial conundrum - how you fix the dilemma over the Irish border.
He clearly believes he has the political skill to pull that off. He and his supporters would say that is a plan.
But it is a plan that is full of ifs and buts - either heroic or foolhardy assumptions to imagine that EU leaders and Parliament would be ready to back his vision - and back it by Halloween - on an extremely tight deadline.
The political pressure is on, not just to get it done quickly, but done in a way that does not harm our relations with the rest of the world and the livelihoods of people living in this country.
In terms of the controversies over his personal life, it is absolutely clear even now - when he is on the threshold of No 10 - that Boris Johnson thinks there are questions he simply does not have to answer.
And for a politician about whose character many people have their doubts, that is going to follow him around unless and until he is willing to give more.
Mr Johnson said if he was elected he would start new talks as soon as he reached Downing Street to discuss a free trade agreement.
He also said he hoped the EU would be willing to grant a period of time where the status quo was maintained for a deal to be finalised after Brexit.
He called this "an implementation period", but accepted this was not the same as the implementation period in the current draft treaty agreed with the EU.
Mr Johnson committed to passing new laws as soon as possible in order to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.
The former foreign secretary also suggested EU leaders might change their attitude to renegotiation because they had Brexit Party MEPs they did not want in their Parliament, and wanted to get the £39bn that had been promised as part of the so-called divorce bill.
And he said MPs could be more willing to back a revised deal because - after disappointing local and European elections last month - they realised both Labour and the Conservatives would face "real danger of extinction" if Brexit were to be stalled again.
Mr Johnson refused again to give more detail of what happened at his home in the early hours of Friday.
"I do not talk about stuff involving my family, my loved ones," he said.
"And there's a very good reason for that. That is that, if you do, you drag them into things that really is... not fair on them."
Instead of his private life, he said the public actually want to know "what is going on with this guy?"
"Does he, when it comes to trust, when it comes to character, all those things, does he deliver what he says he's going to deliver?"
Despite widespread criticisms from his fellow Conservatives that he cannot be trusted, Mr Johnson said anyone questioning his character was "talking absolute nonsense".
He also refused to respond to accusations from rival Jeremy Hunt that he was being a "coward" for avoiding more head-to-head TV debates, promising that if elected he would "govern from the centre right" because the centre "is where you win".
Ms Rudd, who is supporting Mr Hunt, said Mr Johnson was making a mistake by shying away from the debates and said he needed to "go further" in explaining his Brexit plan.
"This is an incredibly difficult situation and Boris needs to explain how he will deal with both sides of the Conservative Party that have concerns and try and break the impasse with the European Union.
"Enthusiasm and optimism is not sufficient."
Responding to claims that a dozen Tory MPs would be prepared to bring down a government heading to a no-deal Brexit, she said: "I think that's about right. I think it's slightly less than that, but it's certainly more than two."
Correction 7th August 2019: An earlier version of this article referred to crippling tariffs on trade in the event of a no-deal Brexit and has been amended to make clear that Boris Johnson was asked about this as a possibility.
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Theresa May to stay as Conservative MP after quitting No 10 - BBC News
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2019-06-12
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She says she will sit on the backbenches and continue to represent her Maidenhead constituents.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Barry Sheerman asks Theresa May if she will give her successors "a bit of the medicine that they've given her".
Theresa May has said she will remain in Parliament as MP for Maidenhead after stepping down as prime minister.
Mrs May told the Commons she would sit on the backbenches after she leaves office at the end of July.
Her predecessor, David Cameron, stood down as an MP within months of leaving No 10, while Tony Blair triggered a by-election on the same day as quitting.
But other prime ministers, most notably Ted Heath, have remained in Parliament for decades after giving up power.
Mr Heath hung around in the Commons for 26 years after quitting as Tory leader in 1975, enjoying a famously tense and terse relationship with his successor, Margaret Thatcher.
Both Sir John Major and Gordon Brown served full parliamentary terms as backbench MPs after their election defeats in 1997 and 2010 respectively.
And another former prime minister, Alec Douglas-Home, returned to high office as foreign secretary six years after leaving Downing Street.
Mrs May was asked about her future intentions by veteran Labour MP Barry Sheerman during Prime Minister's Questions.
Praising her sense of duty, Mr Sheerman urged her not to "cut and run" but instead to stick around in Parliament in order to "give some of the people who will take over after her a bit of the medicine they have given her".
To cheers from the Conservative benches, Mrs May replied: "I will indeed be staying in the chamber of the House of Commons because I will continue as the member of Parliament for my constituency."
She has represented the Berkshire seat of Maidenhead since 1997.
When he gave up his Witney seat in 2016, Mr Cameron said he did not want to get in the way of his successor or be a focal point for arguments over Brexit.
Once upon a time, prime ministers historically accepted peerages after their retirement and saw out the remainder of their political lives in relative obscurity in the House of Lords.
However, this has become far less common in recent decades, with ex-prime ministers remaining more active in public life, combining charitable activities with earning money on the lecture circuit and making increasingly frequent political interventions.
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Tory leadership contest: Rory Stewart knocked out - BBC News
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2019-06-20
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Four men are left in the contest to be the next prime minister after outsider Mr Stewart won just 27 votes.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Four men are left in the race to be next prime minister after Rory Stewart was knocked out.
The international development secretary was eliminated after coming last with 27 votes, 10 fewer than last time.
He said his warnings about a no-deal Brexit "probably proved to be truths people weren't quite ready to hear".
Boris Johnson topped the vote again with 143 votes, 17 more than last time. Jeremy Hunt came second with 54, Michael Gove got 51 and Sajid Javid 38.
A fourth round of voting will take place on Thursday.
Mr Stewart started as a rank outsider in the race but gained support on the back of an unusual campaign strategy.
Touring the country for pop-up meetings, which were promoted and recorded on social media, he drew large crowds and won the backing of several senior cabinet ministers.
He had accused other candidates, including Mr Johnson, of lacking realism over Brexit and making undeliverable promises.
After his elimination, he tweeted that he had been "inspired" by the support he received which had rekindled his faith and belief in politics.
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Mr Stewart's vote tally fell from Tuesday - following a live BBC TV debate in which he summed up his own performance as "lacklustre".
There have also been suggestions of tactical voting - "dark arts" as he called them - with candidates lending votes to others in order to help eliminate certain rivals.
One MP supporting Mr Stewart claimed he had been "let down" by "thieving, mendacious, lying" colleagues who had switched.
Following his exit, Mr Stewart - MP for Penrith and The Border - told the BBC he was "disappointed" and believed his party "didn't seem ready to hear his message" about Brexit and the need to seek out the centre ground.
He said his arguments during the campaign that an alternative Brexit deal was not on offer from the EU, and a no deal would be catastrophic, were "probably truths people were not quite ready to hear, but I still think they are truths".
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He defended his attacks on Mr Johnson, saying the gravity of the situation meant it was right to warn that the frontrunner risked "letting down" his supporters over Brexit.
"These are the times to ask these questions, but I agree they are uncomfortable questions," he said.
"People felt they were exposing divisions in the party they were not comfortable with.
"My conclusion is that you don't unify a family or a party by pretending to agree when you disagree. You unify through honesty and trust."
Mr Stewart, who has ruled out serving under Mr Johnson because of their differences over Brexit, added "I appear to have written my cabinet resignation letter."
He said he had not decided who to now support.
Home Secretary Mr Javid, who leapfrogged Mr Stewart in Wednesday's poll after gaining five votes on his second round tally, thanked Mr Stewart for his contribution to the campaign.
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Mr Javid said he was pleased to make it through into the next round, adding that he could provide "constructive competition" to frontrunner Boris Johnson if he made it into the final two.
"People are crying out for change, if we don't offer change ourselves, they'll vote for change in the form of Corbyn - and I can be that agent of change", he said.
Reacting to his third consecutive second place, Mr Hunt said the "stakes were too high to allow someone to sail through untested".
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Liam Fox, who is backing Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt, said the surviving candidates were the four most experienced men in the field and this is what people expected all along.
Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who is backing Mr Johnson, insisted there was "no complacency" despite his large lead, telling BBC News "there is still work to do".
Education Secretary Damian Hinds said Mr Gove had "closed the gap" on Mr Hunt in second place and was gaining momentum.
He said the environment secretary had the experience, the vision and the plan to deliver Brexit that could unite the country.
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Unless another candidate drops out, there will be a fifth ballot on Thursday evening to determine the final two candidates who will go forward into a run-off of the party's 160,000 or so members.
The winner will be announced in the week of 22 July.
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Brexit: No-deal Brexit would be UK's choice, Ireland's deputy PM says - BBC News
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2019-07-21
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If new UK PM wants to tear up the withdrawal deal "we're in trouble", Ireland's deputy PM warns.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Simon Coveney: Ireland would have to protect its place in the EU single market
If the new UK prime minister wants to "tear up" the existing withdrawal agreement with the EU "we're in trouble", Ireland's deputy PM has said.
Simon Coveney said the decision for a no-deal Brexit would be the UK's but added checks "of some sorts" would be needed in the Irish Republic.
Ireland would have to protect its place in the single market, he told the BBC.
Both men vying to become UK PM say they want to change the withdrawal deal and, in particular, the so-called backstop.
Mr Coveney warned: "That's a little bit like saying, 'Give me what I want or I'm going to burn the house down for everybody.'"
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show he hoped the UK and EU would negotiate a future relationship that would mean the backstop - designed as an insurance policy to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland - could be avoided.
However, he warned it could not be removed from the withdrawal agreement.
"The EU has made it very clear that we want to engage with the new British prime minister, we want to avoid a no-deal Brexit but the solutions that have been put in place to do that haven't changed," Mr Coveney said.
"If the British government forces a no-deal Brexit on everybody else, the Republic of Ireland will have no choice but to protect its own place in the EU single market. That would fundamentally disrupt the all-Ireland economy."
He said the all-Ireland economy had helped maintain peace on the island of Ireland but that protecting it would "not be possible" in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
However, he added that contingency plans were being drawn up with the European Commission to try to minimise the disruption.
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have said they would keep no deal on the table to strengthen negotiations
But former Tory leader and Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith said both the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and the Irish prime minister had told him there would be no hard border with Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
"I asked, well, lay out what your proposals are - and we'd already proposed alternative arrangements - and basically what was described to me was alternative arrangements - the same thing we'd been talking to them about which would alleviate the idea of necessary checks on the island of Ireland based on what exists at the moment," Mr Duncan Smith said.
And DUP leader Arlene Foster said she was "disappointed, but not surprised" by what Mr Coveney had said, and accused him of trying to "look tough" in the eyes of the incoming prime minister.
The DUP, whose 10 MPs are crucial for the Conservative Party's majority, has said it does not want the UK to leave the EU without a deal, but believes ruling out no-deal would damage the UK's negotiating hand.
Much of what Simon Coveney had to say today mirrored his warnings in the past.
No time limit on the backstop, there is wiggle room on the political declaration and no deal would be a disaster for the economy.
But there was one key difference this time - his intended recipient of the message.
The Irish government is acutely aware that the incoming prime minister is likely to want to make good on his Brexit strategy.
No deal is still on the table.
The Republic of Ireland has managed to keep the EU on board and its backstop argument has not changed - but can it hold the line?
This was also the clearest interview from Mr Coveney yet - stressing if a no-deal Brexit does happen, the blame rests with Westminster, not Dublin.
DUP leader Arlene Foster hit back that the Irish deputy prime minister was trying to "look tough" to the new PM.
In the coming days, we will likely see much more "tough talk" emerging from both sides.
The withdrawal agreement has been rejected three times by MPs in the Commons, with the backstop a key sticking point among Brexiteers.
The two men vying to become the next prime minister, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, have said the backstop is "dead" - a position seen as increasing the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit.
If MPs fail to support a Brexit deal agreed between UK and EU by 31 October, the legal default is to leave with no deal on that date.
Both contenders to be the next prime minister have said they want to leave on that date and renegotiate with the EU, leaving with a deal.
But Mr Hunt and Mr Johnson have also said they would keep the possibility of no deal on the table to strengthen negotiations, despite Parliament voting to rule the option out.
Mr Johnson has also refused to rule out suspending Parliament to force a no-deal Brexit through.
This week, MPs backed a bid to make it harder for a new prime minister to do this.
A majority of 41 approved the amendment, with four cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, abstaining.
Do you have any questions about what would happen in the event of a no-deal Brexit?
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Government's TV licence fee decision was 'nuclear', BBC boss says - BBC News
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2019-07-17
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The BBC's boss says he told the government it had taken the "nuclear" option on TV licences.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The BBC's director general has claimed the Conservative government went "nuclear" by telling the corporation to take responsibility for free TV licences for over-75s.
The BBC announced last month that most over-75s would lose free licences.
The BBC took on the policy "really unwillingly" but had "no choice", Tony Hall told MPs on the House of Commons culture select committee.
The decision was made in negotiations with the government in 2015.
Lord Hall said the first he knew about the decision was when then-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale called him to say he had "lost the argument" and that the BBC would have to take over free TV licences for over-75s.
"At which point I said, 'Well, that's nuclear.' And I then laid out the consequences of that decision."
Lord Hall said future negotiations over the licence fee should take place "in plain sight"
He said he told the government at the time that the policy would need to be cut in some way, and that the government didn't seek a guarantee that it would be protected.
After a consultation, the BBC has now decided to revoke free TV licences for all over-75s, except those claiming the pension credit benefit. That has proved controversial, with more than 600,000 people signing a petition calling for the government to restore funding.
In a sometimes tetchy hearing, Conservative MP Julian Knight accused Lord Hall of "whingeing", suggesting he had misjudged his negotiations with politicians at the time.
The corporation won certain other agreements from the government - including an extended charter period, an increase in the licence fee, no longer paying for broadband roll-out, and plugging a loophole that meant people could watch the iPlayer without a TV licence.
Committee chairman Damian Collins, also a Conservative MP, suggested those deals were worth "about £700m", adding: "It seems you're net gainers from this process."
Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Lenny Henry signed an open letter calling for the move to be reversed
The corporation has said keeping free licences for all over-75s would cost £745m, a fifth of the BBC's annual budget, by 2021/22.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Lenny Henry were among a host of celebrities to sign an open letter calling on the next prime minister to go back to the pre-2015 set-up.
The Conservative Party included a pledge to continue free TV licences for over-75s in its manifesto for the 2017 general election - after power for the concession had passed to the BBC in law.
Lord Hall told MPs he wrote to the government after the election to ask "quite why the manifesto didn't reflect the powers that they had given to us, and I don't have a satisfactory answer".
He added: "It seemed, at best, odd to us that you had a manifesto commitment that was completely at odds with what the law had just determined was the case."
Licence fee negotiations should not happen at such speed behind closed doors in the future, Lord Hall said.
"I feel very, very strongly that this mustn't happen again," he said. "It happened in 2010 over a period of a few days, behind closed doors, and it happened again in 2015.
"I think when it comes to 2021, next time it's negotiated, it needs to be in plain sight with parliamentary involvement in a way that allows proper debate to take place."
A government statement said it was "very disappointed" with the BBC's decision to change licence fee arrangements.
"We've been clear that we want and expect the BBC to continue this concession," it said. "People across the country value television as a way to stay connected, and we want the BBC to look at further ways to support older people.
"Taxpayers want to see the BBC using its substantial licence fee income in an appropriate way to ensure it delivers for UK audiences, which includes showing restraint on salaries for senior staff."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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Inquiry launched into 'inept Trump administration' leaked emails - BBC News
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2019-07-07
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The Foreign Office will explore how memos from the UK's envoy in the US were published by a paper.
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UK
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The government has begun an inquiry into a leak of emails from the UK ambassador in Washington which deemed the Trump administration "inept".
In the messages, Sir Kim Darroch said the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and "divided" under Donald Trump.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the memos reflected Sir Kim's "personal view", not that of the UK government.
President Trump said Sir Kim had "not served the UK well".
Asked about the leak, he told reporters in New Jersey: "We're not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well.
"So I can understand it and I can say things about him but I won't bother."
The Foreign Office said the leak to the Mail on Sunday was "mischievous", but did not deny the accuracy of the memos. A spokesperson confirmed a formal leak investigation would be launched.
In the emails, Sir Kim said: "We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction-riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept."
He questioned whether this White House "will ever look competent" but also warned the US president should not be written off.
The UK ambassador in Washington says Trump needs "simple, even blunt" arguments
Mr Hunt - who is fighting to become the next Conservative leader and prime minister - said while it was the UK ambassador's job to give "frank opinions", the memos expressed "a personal view".
"It is not the view of the British government, it's not my view," he said.
"We continue to think that under President Trump the US administration is not just highly effective but the best friend of Britain on the international stage."
Earlier, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said whoever was responsible for the leak must be prosecuted.
"Diplomats must be able to communicate securely with their governments," he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.
However, he defended Sir Kim, saying the job of the UK's ambassador is "to represent the interests and wishes of the British people" and not "the sensibilities of the United States".
Although Sir Kim said Mr Trump was "dazzled" by his state visit to the UK in June, the ambassador warned that his administration will remain self-interested, adding: "This is still the land of America First."
Differences between the US and the UK on climate change, media freedoms and the death penalty might come to the fore as the countries seek to improve trading relations after Brexit, the memos said.
To get through to the president, "you need to make your points simple, even blunt", he said.
The leader of the Brexit party, Nigel Farage, has criticised Sir Kim for his comments, branding the ambassador "totally unsuitable for the job" and saying the "sooner he is gone the better".
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However, Justice Secretary David Gauke said it was very important that ambassadors gave "honest and unvarnished advice to their country".
He said: "It is disgraceful that it's been leaked, but we should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it."
In a message sent last month, Sir Kim branded US policy on Iran as "incoherent, chaotic".
Mr Trump's publicly stated reason for calling off an airstrike against Tehran with 10 minutes to go - that it would cause 150 casualties - "doesn't stand up", Sir Kim said.
Instead, he suggested the president was "never fully on board" and did not want to reverse his campaign promise not to involve the US in foreign conflicts.
Sir Kim said it was "unlikely that US policy on Iran is going to become more coherent any time soon" because "this is a divided administration".
The leaked files date from 2017 to the present day, covering the ambassador's early impressions that media reports of "vicious infighting and chaos" in the White House were "mostly true".
They also give an assessment of allegations about collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia, saying "the worst cannot be ruled out". The investigation by Robert Mueller has since found those claims were not proven.
A Foreign Office spokesman said the views of diplomats were "not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed the government. But we pay them to be candid".
He said ministers and civil servants would handle this advice "in the right way" and ambassadors should be able to offer it confidentially.
The UK embassy in Washington has "strong relations" with the White House and these would continue, despite "mischievous behaviour" such as this leak, the spokesman said.
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Trump administration is 'inept and insecure', says UK ambassador - BBC News
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2019-07-07
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Leaked emails reveal Sir Kim Darroch described the White House as "uniquely dysfunctional".
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UK
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The Trump administration has been labelled "inept", insecure and incompetent in leaked emails from the UK ambassador to Washington.
Sir Kim Darroch said that the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and "divided" under Donald Trump.
But he also warned that the US president should not be written off.
The Foreign Office said the leak of the memos to the Mail on Sunday was "mischievous" but did not deny their accuracy.
The White House has not yet responded to the revelation of the contents of the memos, but it could test the so-called "special relationship" between the US and UK.
In the messages, Sir Kim said: "We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction-riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept."
He questioned whether this White House "will ever look competent".
The UK ambassador in Washington says Trump needs "simple, even blunt" arguments
Although Sir Kim said Mr Trump was "dazzled" by his state visit to the UK in June, the ambassador warns that his administration will remain self-interested, adding: "This is still the land of America First".
Differences between the US and the UK on climate change, media freedoms and the death penalty might come to the fore as the countries seek to improve trading relations after Brexit, the memos said.
To get through to the president, "you need to make your points simple, even blunt", he said.
The leader of the Brexit party, Nigel Farage, has criticised Sir Kim for his comments, branding the ambassador "totally unsuitable for the job" and saying the "sooner he is gone the better".
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However, Justice Secretary David Guake said it is very important that ambassadors give "honest and unvarnished advice to their country".
He said: "It is disgraceful that it's been leaked, but we should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it."
In a message sent last month, Sir Kim branded US policy on Iran as "incoherent, chaotic".
Mr Trump's publicly stated reason for calling off an airstrike against Tehran with 10 minutes to go - that it would cause 150 casualties - "doesn't stand up", Sir Kim said.
Instead, he suggested the president was "never fully on board" and did not want to reverse his campaign promise not to involve the US in foreign conflicts.
Sir Kim said it was "unlikely that US policy on Iran is going to become more coherent any time soon" because "this is a divided administration".
The leaked files date from 2017 to the present day, covering the ambassador's early impressions that media reports of "vicious infighting and chaos" in the White House were "mostly true".
They also give an assessment of allegations about collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia, saying "the worst cannot be ruled out". The investigation by Robert Mueller has since found those claims were not proven.
A Foreign Office spokesman said the views of diplomats were "not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed the government. But we pay them to be candid".
He said ministers and civil servants would handle this advice "in the right way" and ambassadors should be able to offer it confidentially.
The UK embassy in Washington has "strong relations" with the White House and these would continue, despite "mischievous behaviour" such as this leak, the spokesman said.
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Climate change: Current warming 'unparalleled' in 2,000 years - BBC News
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2019-07-25
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The speed and extent of global warming exceeds any similar event in the past two millennia, researchers say.
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Science & Environment
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The speed and extent of current global warming exceeds any similar event in the past 2,000 years, researchers say.
They show that famous historic events like the "Little Ice Age" don't compare with the scale of warming seen over the last century.
The research suggests that the current warming rate is higher than any observed previously.
The scientists say it shows many of the arguments used by climate sceptics are no longer valid.
When scientists have surveyed the climatic history of our world over the past centuries a number of key eras have stood out.
These ranged from the "Roman Warm Period", which ran from AD 250 to AD 400, and saw unusually warm weather across Europe, to the famed Little Ice Age, which saw temperatures drop for centuries from the 1300s.
The events were seen by some as evidence that the world has warmed and cooled many times over the centuries and that the warming seen in the world since the industrial revolution was part of that pattern and therefore nothing to be alarmed about.
Three new research papers show that argument is on shaky ground.
The science teams reconstructed the climate conditions that existed over the past 2,000 years using 700 proxy records of temperature changes, including tree rings, corals and lake sediments. They determined that none of these climate events occurred on a global scale.
The researchers say that, for example, the Little Ice Age was at its strongest in the Pacific Ocean in the 15th Century, while in Europe it was the 17th Century.
Generally, any longer-term peaks or troughs in temperature could be detected in no more than half the globe at any one time,
The "Medieval Warm Period", which ran between AD 950 and AD 1250 only saw significant temperature rises across 40% of the Earth's surface.
Today's warming, by contrast, impacts the vast majority of the world.
"We find that the warmest period of the past two millennia occurred during the 20th Century for more than 98% of the globe," one of the papers states.
"This provides strong evidence that anthropogenic (human induced) global warming is not only unparalleled in terms of absolute temperatures but also unprecedented in spatial consistency within the context of the past 2,000 years."
Heatwaves in Europe have been made more likely by climate change, scientists say
What the researchers saw is that prior to the modern industrial era, the most significant influence on climate was volcanoes. They found no indication that variations in the Sun's radiation impacted mean global temperatures.
The current period, say the authors, significantly exceeds natural variability.
"We see from the instrumental data and also from our reconstruction that in the recent past the warming rate clearly exceeds the natural warming rates that we calculated - that's another view to look at the extraordinary nature of the present warming," said Dr Raphael Neukom, from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
While the researchers did not set out to test whether humans were the chief influence on the current climate, their findings indicate clearly that this is the case.
"We do not focus on looking at what's causing the most recent warming as this has been done many times and the evidence is always agreeing that it is the anthropogenic cause," said Dr Neukom.
"We do not explicitly test this; we can only show that natural causes are not sufficient from our data to actually cause the spatial pattern and the warming rate that we are observing now."
Other scientists have been impressed with the quality of the new studies.
Winter skating on ice in Europe in centuries gone by was a common event during the Little Ice Age
"They have done this across the globe with more than 700 records over the past 2,000 years; they have corals and lakes and also instrumental data," said Prof Daniela Schmidt from the University of Bristol, UK, who was not involved with the studies.
"And they have been very careful in assessing the data and the inherent bias that any data has, so the quality of this data and the coverage of this data is the real major advance here; it is amazing."
Many experts say that this new work debunks many of the claims made by climate sceptics in recent decades.
"This paper should finally stop climate change deniers claiming that the recent observed coherent global warming is part of a natural climate cycle," said Prof Mark Maslin, from University College London, UK, who wasn't part of the studies.
"This paper shows the truly stark difference between regional and localised changes in climate of the past and the truly global effect of anthropogenic greenhouse emissions."
The three papers have been published in the journals Nature (1) and Nature Geoscience (2), (3).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49086783
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Boris Johnson: First speech as PM in full - BBC News
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2019-07-25
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Read the full text of Boris Johnson’s first speech in Downing Street as the UK’s prime minister.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson's first speech as prime minister in full
Boris Johnson has delivered his first speech in Downing Street after becoming the UK's new prime minister.
You can read the full text of his speech below.
I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen who has invited me to form a government and I have accepted.
I pay tribute to the fortitude and patience of my predecessor and her deep sense of public service.
But in spite of all her efforts, it has become clear that there are pessimists at home and abroad who think that after three years of indecision, that this country has become a prisoner to the old arguments of 2016 and that in this home of democracy we are incapable of honouring a basic democratic mandate.
And so I am standing before you today to tell you, the British people, that those critics are wrong.
The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters - they are going to get it wrong again.
The people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirts, because we are going to restore trust in our democracy and we are going to fulfil the repeated promises of Parliament to the people and come out of the EU on October 31, no ifs or buts.
And we will do a new deal, a better deal that will maximise the opportunities of Brexit while allowing us to develop a new and exciting partnership with the rest of Europe, based on free trade and mutual support.
I have every confidence that in 99 days' time we will have cracked it. But you know what - we aren't going to wait 99 days, because the British people have had enough of waiting.
The time has come to act, to take decisions, to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better.
And though the Queen has just honoured me with this extraordinary office of state my job is to serve you, the people.
Because if there is one point we politicians need to remember, it is that the people are our bosses.
My job is to make your streets safer - and we are going to begin with another 20,000 police on the streets and we start recruiting forthwith.
My job is to make sure you don't have to wait 3 weeks to see your GP - and we start work this week, with 20 new hospital upgrades, and ensuring that money for the NHS really does get to the front line.
My job is to protect you or your parents or grandparents from the fear of having to sell your home to pay for the costs of care.
And so I am announcing now - on the steps of Downing Street - that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.
My job is to make sure your kids get a superb education, wherever they are in the country - and that's why we have already announced that we are going to level up per pupil funding in primary and secondary schools.
And that is the work that begins immediately behind that black door.
And though I am today building a great team of men and women, I will take personal responsibility for the change I want to see.
Never mind the backstop - the buck stops here.
And I will tell you something else about my job. It is to be prime minister of the whole United Kingdom.
And that means uniting our country, answering at last the plea of the forgotten people and the left-behind towns by physically and literally renewing the ties that bind us together.
So that with safer streets and better education and fantastic new road and rail infrastructure and full fibre broadband we level up across Britain with higher wages, and a higher living wage, and higher productivity.
We close the opportunity gap, giving millions of young people the chance to own their own homes and giving business the confidence to invest across the UK.
Because it is time we unleashed the productive power not just of London and the South East, but of every corner of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The awesome foursome that are incarnated in that red, white, and blue flag - who together are so much more than the sum of their parts, and whose brand and political personality is admired and even loved around the world.
For our inventiveness, for our humour, for our universities, our scientists, our armed forces, our diplomacy for the equalities on which we insist - whether race or gender or LGBT or the right of every girl in the world to 12 years of quality education - and for the values we stand for around the world
Everyone knows the values that flag represents.
It stands for freedom and free speech and habeas corpus and the rule of law, and above all it stands for democracy.
And that is why we will come out of the EU on October 31.
Because in the end, Brexit was a fundamental decision by the British people that they wanted their laws made by people that they can elect and they can remove from office.
And we must now respect that decision, and create a new partnership with our European friends - as warm and as close and as affectionate as possible.
And the first step is to repeat unequivocally our guarantee to the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us, and I say directly to you - thank you for your contribution to our society.
Thank you for your patience, and I can assure you that under this government you will get the absolute certainty of the rights to live and remain.
And next I say to our friends in Ireland, and in Brussels and around the EU: I am convinced that we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border, because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks and yet without that anti-democratic backstop.
And it is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate, and we are forced to come out with no deal, not because we want that outcome - of course not - but because it is only common sense to prepare.
And let me stress that there is a vital sense in which those preparations cannot be wasted, and that is because under any circumstances we will need to get ready at some point in the near future to come out of the EU customs union and out of regulatory control, fully determined at last to take advantage of Brexit.
Because that is the course on which this country is now set.
With high hearts and growing confidence, we will now accelerate the work of getting ready.
And the ports will be ready and the banks will be ready, and the factories will be ready, and business will be ready, and the hospitals will be ready, and our amazing food and farming sector will be ready and waiting to continue selling ever more, not just here but around the world.
And don't forget that in the event of a no deal outcome, we will have the extra lubrication of the £39 billion, and whatever deal we do we will prepare this autumn for an economic package to boost British business and to lengthen this country's lead as the number one destination in this continent for overseas investment.
And to all those who continue to prophesy disaster, I say yes - there will be difficulties, though I believe that with energy and application they will be far less serious than some have claimed.
But if there is one thing that has really sapped the confidence of business over the last three years, it is not the decisions we have taken - it is our refusal to take decisions.
And to all those who say we cannot be ready, I say do not underestimate this country.
Do not underestimate our powers of organisation and our determination, because we know the enormous strengths of this economy in life sciences, in tech, in academia, in music, the arts, culture, financial services.
It is here in Britain that we are using gene therapy, for the first time, to treat the most common form of blindness.
Here in Britain that we are leading the world in the battery technology that will help cut CO2 and tackle climate change and produce green jobs for the next generation.
And as we prepare for a post-Brexit future, it is time we looked not at the risks but at the opportunities that are upon us.
So let us begin work now to create free ports that will drive growth and thousands of high-skilled jobs in left-behind areas.
Let's start now to liberate the UK's extraordinary bioscience sector from anti-genetic modification rules, and let's develop the blight-resistant crops that will feed the world.
Let's get going now on our own position navigation and timing satellite and earth observation systems - UK assets orbiting in space, with all the long term strategic and commercial benefits for this country.
Let's change the tax rules to provide extra incentives to invest in capital and research.
And let's promote the welfare of animals that has always been so close to the hearts of the British people.
And yes, let's start now on those free trade deals - because it is free trade that has done more than anything else to lift billions out of poverty.
All this and more we can do now and only now, at this extraordinary moment in our history.
And after three years of unfounded self-doubt, it is time to change the record.
To recover our natural and historic role as an enterprising, outward-looking and truly global Britain, generous in temper and engaged with the world.
No one in the last few centuries has succeeded in betting against the pluck and nerve and ambition of this country.
They will not succeed today.
We in this government will work flat out to give this country the leadership it deserves, and that work begins now.
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Brexit: No-deal Brexit would be UK's choice, Ireland's deputy PM says - BBC News
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2019-07-22
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If new UK PM wants to tear up the withdrawal deal "we're in trouble", Ireland's deputy PM warns.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Simon Coveney: Ireland would have to protect its place in the EU single market
If the new UK prime minister wants to "tear up" the existing withdrawal agreement with the EU "we're in trouble", Ireland's deputy PM has said.
Simon Coveney said the decision for a no-deal Brexit would be the UK's but added checks "of some sorts" would be needed in the Irish Republic.
Ireland would have to protect its place in the single market, he told the BBC.
Both men vying to become UK PM say they want to change the withdrawal deal and, in particular, the so-called backstop.
Mr Coveney warned: "That's a little bit like saying, 'Give me what I want or I'm going to burn the house down for everybody.'"
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show he hoped the UK and EU would negotiate a future relationship that would mean the backstop - designed as an insurance policy to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland - could be avoided.
However, he warned it could not be removed from the withdrawal agreement.
"The EU has made it very clear that we want to engage with the new British prime minister, we want to avoid a no-deal Brexit but the solutions that have been put in place to do that haven't changed," Mr Coveney said.
"If the British government forces a no-deal Brexit on everybody else, the Republic of Ireland will have no choice but to protect its own place in the EU single market. That would fundamentally disrupt the all-Ireland economy."
He said the all-Ireland economy had helped maintain peace on the island of Ireland but that protecting it would "not be possible" in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
However, he added that contingency plans were being drawn up with the European Commission to try to minimise the disruption.
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have said they would keep no deal on the table to strengthen negotiations
But former Tory leader and Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith said both the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and the Irish prime minister had told him there would be no hard border with Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
"I asked, well, lay out what your proposals are - and we'd already proposed alternative arrangements - and basically what was described to me was alternative arrangements - the same thing we'd been talking to them about which would alleviate the idea of necessary checks on the island of Ireland based on what exists at the moment," Mr Duncan Smith said.
And DUP leader Arlene Foster said she was "disappointed, but not surprised" by what Mr Coveney had said, and accused him of trying to "look tough" in the eyes of the incoming prime minister.
The DUP, whose 10 MPs are crucial for the Conservative Party's majority, has said it does not want the UK to leave the EU without a deal, but believes ruling out no-deal would damage the UK's negotiating hand.
Much of what Simon Coveney had to say today mirrored his warnings in the past.
No time limit on the backstop, there is wiggle room on the political declaration and no deal would be a disaster for the economy.
But there was one key difference this time - his intended recipient of the message.
The Irish government is acutely aware that the incoming prime minister is likely to want to make good on his Brexit strategy.
No deal is still on the table.
The Republic of Ireland has managed to keep the EU on board and its backstop argument has not changed - but can it hold the line?
This was also the clearest interview from Mr Coveney yet - stressing if a no-deal Brexit does happen, the blame rests with Westminster, not Dublin.
DUP leader Arlene Foster hit back that the Irish deputy prime minister was trying to "look tough" to the new PM.
In the coming days, we will likely see much more "tough talk" emerging from both sides.
The withdrawal agreement has been rejected three times by MPs in the Commons, with the backstop a key sticking point among Brexiteers.
The two men vying to become the next prime minister, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, have said the backstop is "dead" - a position seen as increasing the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit.
If MPs fail to support a Brexit deal agreed between UK and EU by 31 October, the legal default is to leave with no deal on that date.
Both contenders to be the next prime minister have said they want to leave on that date and renegotiate with the EU, leaving with a deal.
But Mr Hunt and Mr Johnson have also said they would keep the possibility of no deal on the table to strengthen negotiations, despite Parliament voting to rule the option out.
Mr Johnson has also refused to rule out suspending Parliament to force a no-deal Brexit through.
This week, MPs backed a bid to make it harder for a new prime minister to do this.
A majority of 41 approved the amendment, with four cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, abstaining.
Do you have any questions about what would happen in the event of a no-deal Brexit?
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Christian family fined after arguing taxes 'against God's will' - BBC News
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2019-07-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The Beerepoot siblings in Tasmania are ordered to pay more than A$2m for failing to pay income tax.
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Australia
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Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot (left) and Fanny Alida Beerepoot (far right) outside court in Tasmania
A Christian family who refused to pay income tax because it went "against God's will" have been ordered to pay more than A$2m (£1.1m $1.4m) to Australia's tax office.
Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot and Fanny Alida Beerepoot, of Tasmania, had not paid income tax since 2011.
Their farm was seized and sold by their local council in 2017 after they failed to pay seven years-worth of rates.
Ms Beerepoot told the court: "We don't own anything because we are [God's]."
The siblings represented themselves in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Wednesday, after they failed to pay some $930,000 in income tax and other charges in 2017, ABC News reports.
Mr Beerepoot had argued that the law of God is the "supreme law of this land" and making people pay tax was weakening their dependency on God, an act which was leading to "curses... in the form of droughts and infertility".
"Transferring our allegiance from God to the Commonwealth would mean rebelling against God and therefore breaking the first commandment," he said, according to the public broadcaster.
In his judgement, Associate Justice Stephen Holt said that while he believed the Beerepoots' beliefs to be genuinely held rather, he said there was no specific reference in the Bible to support their argument.
"In my view, the Bible effectively said that civil matters and the law of God operate in two different spheres."
The siblings were ordered to pay similar sums - Ms Beerepoot A$1.17m and Mr Beerepoot A$1.16m - to cover "income tax, administrative penalties and general interest charges" and other costs, court documents show.
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Inquiry launched into 'inept Trump administration' leaked emails - BBC News
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2019-07-08
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The Foreign Office will explore how memos from the UK's envoy in the US were published by a paper.
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UK
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The government has begun an inquiry into a leak of emails from the UK ambassador in Washington which deemed the Trump administration "inept".
In the messages, Sir Kim Darroch said the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and "divided" under Donald Trump.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the memos reflected Sir Kim's "personal view", not that of the UK government.
President Trump said Sir Kim had "not served the UK well".
Asked about the leak, he told reporters in New Jersey: "We're not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well.
"So I can understand it and I can say things about him but I won't bother."
The Foreign Office said the leak to the Mail on Sunday was "mischievous", but did not deny the accuracy of the memos. A spokesperson confirmed a formal leak investigation would be launched.
In the emails, Sir Kim said: "We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction-riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept."
He questioned whether this White House "will ever look competent" but also warned the US president should not be written off.
The UK ambassador in Washington says Trump needs "simple, even blunt" arguments
Mr Hunt - who is fighting to become the next Conservative leader and prime minister - said while it was the UK ambassador's job to give "frank opinions", the memos expressed "a personal view".
"It is not the view of the British government, it's not my view," he said.
"We continue to think that under President Trump the US administration is not just highly effective but the best friend of Britain on the international stage."
Earlier, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said whoever was responsible for the leak must be prosecuted.
"Diplomats must be able to communicate securely with their governments," he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.
However, he defended Sir Kim, saying the job of the UK's ambassador is "to represent the interests and wishes of the British people" and not "the sensibilities of the United States".
Although Sir Kim said Mr Trump was "dazzled" by his state visit to the UK in June, the ambassador warned that his administration will remain self-interested, adding: "This is still the land of America First."
Differences between the US and the UK on climate change, media freedoms and the death penalty might come to the fore as the countries seek to improve trading relations after Brexit, the memos said.
To get through to the president, "you need to make your points simple, even blunt", he said.
The leader of the Brexit party, Nigel Farage, has criticised Sir Kim for his comments, branding the ambassador "totally unsuitable for the job" and saying the "sooner he is gone the better".
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However, Justice Secretary David Gauke said it was very important that ambassadors gave "honest and unvarnished advice to their country".
He said: "It is disgraceful that it's been leaked, but we should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it."
In a message sent last month, Sir Kim branded US policy on Iran as "incoherent, chaotic".
Mr Trump's publicly stated reason for calling off an airstrike against Tehran with 10 minutes to go - that it would cause 150 casualties - "doesn't stand up", Sir Kim said.
Instead, he suggested the president was "never fully on board" and did not want to reverse his campaign promise not to involve the US in foreign conflicts.
Sir Kim said it was "unlikely that US policy on Iran is going to become more coherent any time soon" because "this is a divided administration".
The leaked files date from 2017 to the present day, covering the ambassador's early impressions that media reports of "vicious infighting and chaos" in the White House were "mostly true".
They also give an assessment of allegations about collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia, saying "the worst cannot be ruled out". The investigation by Robert Mueller has since found those claims were not proven.
A Foreign Office spokesman said the views of diplomats were "not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed the government. But we pay them to be candid".
He said ministers and civil servants would handle this advice "in the right way" and ambassadors should be able to offer it confidentially.
The UK embassy in Washington has "strong relations" with the White House and these would continue, despite "mischievous behaviour" such as this leak, the spokesman said.
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Carl Sargeant inquest: Sacked ministers need support, coroner says - BBC News
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2019-07-11
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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A coroner rules Labour's Carl Sargeant killed himself after allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
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Wales
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Carl Sargeant was found hanged at his home in Flintshire in November 2017
More support should be available to sacked ministers, a coroner has said, after ruling a Welsh Assembly Member killed himself after being dismissed.
Carl Sargeant, 49, was found hanged at home in Connah's Quay, Flintshire, by his wife Bernadette on 7 November 2017.
He was sacked as minister for communities and children over claims of inappropriate behaviour towards women.
Coroner John Gittins recorded a conclusion of suicide and said he was known to have mental health issues.
Mr Gittins said he had promised a "full and fair examination" and "would not allow this inquest to be a trial by press, politics or personality".
The "twists and turns" of the inquest at times followed the "murkiest" of paths into the world of politics, he added.
He said anyone expecting a "glowing vindication" of Mr Sargeant, or a "damning vilification" of former first minster Carwyn Jones - or vice versa - would be disappointed.
Much of the evidence to the inquest in Ruthin, Denbighshire, focused on whether Mr Jones could have done more to support the Alyn and Deeside AM following his sacking.
Following the hearing, Mr Sargeant's son Jack - who succeeded his father as Alyn and Deeside AM - accused the former first minister of being "defensive, evasive and argumentative", with "deeply troubling" discrepancies in his evidence.
Former first minister Carwyn Jones had been accused of lying under oath about the support offered to Mr Sargeant
The coroner said due to a "life event" coupled with the "pressure" of his role as a Welsh Government minister, Mr Sargeant had been diagnosed with depression in 2012.
He said Mr Jones had been aware of the life event in 2014, but did not recognise there were any other issues, despite working closely with Mr Sargeant.
Following the allegations in 2017, Mr Gittins said the former first minister had deemed it necessary to refer the matter to the Labour Party and remove Mr Sargeant from the cabinet.
The coroner said there were no official arrangements in place to support Mr Sargeant following the re-shuffle "despite the probability that the first minister knew of Mr Sargeant's vulnerability in relation to his mental health".
Mr Gittins said the sacking, and the reason for it, had been likely to put Mr Sargeant "firmly in the media spotlight" and it was "a position which undoubtedly added to Mr Sargeant's pressures".
He said the support from Vale of Clwyd AM Ann Jones, who was asked to contact Mr Sargeant after the sacking, was not in the nature of pastoral care, despite contradictory information given by Mr Jones.
The coroner said Mr Jones - who was accused by the Sargeant family's barrister of lying under oath on this point - had "properly and appropriately" corrected information he had previously given, "albeit only once the true picture came to light by virtue of the information provided by Ann Jones".
Mr Gittins said that after leaving a note, Mr Sargeant "ended his life by hanging himself" and this was done deliberately and he was sure Mr Sargeant intended to do it.
He added he would submit a prevention of future deaths report to the Welsh Government calling for more support to be put in place for sacked ministers.
"Am I still concerned? My answer comes from both my head and my heart, and it's yes," he said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jack Sargeant said Carwyn Jones was lacking in any remorse or regret
Speaking outside the inquest, Jack Sargeant was highly critical of Mr Jones, saying: "We've had to sit through a continually changing version of events, delivered in a defensive, evasive and argumentative manner.
"After eight months' pause for thought [after the inquest was first adjourned] we would have expected him to have a clear and unambiguous explanation.
"We are also deeply offended by the lack of any remorse or regret from the former first minister."
He said the family welcomed the coroner's report to prevent future deaths, saying: "It's too late for dad but may save someone else."
In a statement, Mr Jones said it had been "a difficult time for everyone, the family most of all, and I offer them my deepest condolences for a loss that is inevitably still incredibly painful".
"The process has driven an unnatural wedge between people who remain united at the very least in their ongoing shock, trauma and grief." he added.
"Nobody wanted this, and nobody could have foreseen it. Suicide is a shattering experience, and I hope some healing can now begin."
A spokesman for the first minister, Mark Drakeford, said he extended his "deepest condolences" to the Sargeant family, adding that the Welsh Government would consider carefully and "respond in full" to the report on the prevention of future deaths.
The inquest may have concluded, but the bitter row about the sacking and subsequent death of Carl Sargeant has not.
Two parallel questions have dominated the controversy:
Firstly, what is the veracity of the allegations of sexual misconduct? The coroner didn't look at that, it wasn't in his remit. The Labour Party investigation was dropped in the wake of Mr Sargeant's death, so a definitive answer is unlikely.
The second question is was Carl Sargeant treated fairly? The coroner says he was not given sufficient support by the Welsh Government when he was sacked and he wants that to change for future cabinet reshuffles.
And feeding into the question of fair treatment is why knowledge of the allegations and/or Mr Sargeant's sacking were circulating before he was told.
A leak inquiry found "no authorised sharing of information". The publication of the full report appears to have done nothing to draw a line under the controversy.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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New UK prime minister: Johnson and Hunt await Conservative leadership vote - BBC News
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2019-07-23
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The winner of the contest to be Theresa May's successor in Downing Street will be revealed shortly.
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UK Politics
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Either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will become the new Conservative leader when the result of the contest to succeed Theresa May is announced.
The outcome of the ballot of about 160,000 Conservative Party members will be revealed shortly.
The victor will officially become UK prime minister on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson, former mayor of London, is seen as the clear favourite, although a number of senior figures have said they will not serve under him.
Education Minister Anne Milton tweeted her resignation just half an hour before the leadership result was due to be revealed.
Explaining her decision, she said: "I believe strongly that Parliament should continue to play a central role in approving a deal and that we must leave the EU in a responsible manner."
Mr Johnson has said the UK must leave the EU with or without a deal on by 31 October.
Mrs May, who is standing down after a revolt by Conservative MPs over her Brexit policy, has chaired her last cabinet meeting.
She will officially tender her resignation to the Queen on Wednesday afternoon after taking part in her final Prime Minister's Questions.
Her successor will take office shortly afterwards, following an audience at Buckingham Palace.
Boris Johnson is seen as the strong favourite to enter Downing Street
Jeremy Hunt arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street ahead of the leadership announcement
Conservative members have been voting by post for the past two-and-a-half weeks. It is the first time they will have selected a serving prime minister.
Since he made the final two candidates last month, Mr Johnson - who led the Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum - has been regarded as the frontrunner.
Conservative MP Sir Michael Fallon told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme Mr Johnson would "improve" the Brexit deal with the EU in a way that would satisfy Parliament.
"One of the great attractions of Boris taking over our party is that he is optimistic and ambitious," he added.
Mr Johnson has previously said the withdrawal agreement Mrs May negotiated with the EU is "dead".
The month-long leadership campaign has been dominated by arguments over Brexit.
Mr Hunt, the foreign secretary, has said he is better placed to secure a negotiated exit and would be prepared to ask for more time beyond the Halloween deadline to finalise it.
Mr Johnson has said he is determined to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October, if necessary without a deal, and all ministers who serve in his cabinet must "reconcile" themselves to this.
The BBC's political correspondent Nick Eardley said the incoming prime minister would inherit a "daunting in-tray".
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The EU has repeatedly insisted the withdrawal agreement is not up for renegotiation.
Many MPs, including some Conservatives, have also said they will do all they can to stop no deal if the next PM tries to take that route.
In a no-deal scenario, the UK would immediately leave the EU with no agreement about the "divorce" process, and would, overnight, leave the single market and customs union - arrangements designed to facilitate trade.
The embedded expectation in Westminster is that the name will be Boris Johnson - unless the Tory party has been collectively deceiving itself in the past few weeks.
If it proves so, the triumph will be extraordinary. Not because of a journey Mr Johnson has been on in the last few weeks - the controversial former foreign secretary and London mayor started out as the frontrunner.
But because again and again, over many years, his own political accidents and behaviour would have ruled other politicians out.
Mr Johnson's supporters would say he has found himself in some serious scrapes.
His detractors would say he has blundered his way through a high-profile career causing offence and putting his own interests ahead of the country's.
It wasn't so long ago that the same received wisdom in Westminster that said he could never make it, said that he had blown too many chances - his long held public ambition would never be achieved.
But it is likely his status as Brexit's cheerleader-in-chief will see him into the job he has craved.
Read more analysis from Laura here.
Chancellor Philip Hammond, Justice Secretary David Gauke and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart have all said they cannot support this and will resign if Mr Johnson is elected.
Mr Gauke said he had held a "very friendly" meeting with Mr Johnson on Monday, in which he told him they had "very different views on the consequences of a no-deal Brexit".
But speaking on the Today programme on Tuesday, Mr Gauke said he wanted Mr Johnson to succeed - should he become PM - and he would not vote against the Conservative Party in any confidence motion.
Beyond those resignations, there are likely to be wholesale changes in cabinet if Mr Johnson wins. Such a reshuffle will only begin if and when he enters Downing Street on Wednesday.
Sir Alan Duncan, who quit his Foreign Office role on Monday, had called for MPs to have a vote before this on whether they actually back Mr Johnson forming a government.
He said it would show whether Mr Johnson, who like his predecessor will depend on the votes of the Democratic Unionists to form a majority, has "the numbers to govern".
However, his request was turned down by Commons Speaker John Bercow.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Who are the Conservative Party members?
• None Who will win the ultimate political prize?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49078864
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The children of the devolution look to the future - BBC News
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2019-07-01
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The BBC's Allan Little sees a change in Scotland after 20 years of having its own parliament.
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Scotland
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The success of Scotland's capital city is obvious but does it spread to all the country?
The city of Edinburgh is no place to judge the success or otherwise of 20 years of devolved government.
Its transformation is obvious. The streets of Scotland's capital teem with energy. The city centre is a forest of cranes as a vast new mixed-use development replaces the unlovely old concrete of the St James Shopping Centre. This is a prosperous, open city of many languages and a booming economy.
So I went instead to the corner of Scotland where I grew up, to get a sense of what the Scottish Parliament looks like from there.
I spent my high school years at Stranraer Academy, which was then one of the biggest comprehensive schools in the country. Galloway was - and remains - a fine place to raise a family but it felt, 40 years ago, like a long way from anywhere and very distant indeed from any centre of power.
Has the return of political power from Westminster to Edinburgh changed anything here?
Allan returned to his old school to talk to Stranraer Academy pupils
Not if you ask today's Stranraer Academy school kids. "We feel like lower class citizens" one of them told me. "Edinburgh and Glasgow are the higher class in Scotland".
I asked whether they got the educational opportunities they wanted. "They used to teach French, German and Spanish here", one girl said. "Now we can only study French and even then there are only two French teachers [for a school with nearly 1,000 pupils]".
I asked for a show of hands among the dozen or so senior-school kids I was sitting with. How many of you expect to have to leave this area when you turn 18? Every hand except two went up instantly.
Places like Stranraer can still feel a long way from the seat of power
Forty years after I left here, what you might call peripheral Scotland still feels a long way from the centre political power. The birth of the Scottish Parliament doesn't seem to have done much to narrow the perceived gap.
James Mitchell, professor of politics at Edinburgh University, says: "The same argument that was always applied for having a Scottish Parliament - that Scotland was distinct and different - equally applies at the local level.
"The local authorities and communities are diverse with different interests, different priorities.
"We stand out in comparative European terms as one of the most centralised places in Europe."
Scotland's first First Minister Donald Dewar and Presiding Officer Sir David Steel arriving for the opening the new Scottish Parliament on 1 July 1999
Scotland's inaugural First Minister Donald Dewar said 20 years ago - at the opening of the country's first parliament in nearly 300 years - that "this is about more than our politics and our laws - this is about who we are, how we carry ourselves".
Dewar died only 15 months after giving what probably remains the best speech ever delivered in the new parliament. But had he lived, he would scarcely recognise today's political landscape.
His own party, Labour, is a shadow of its old self. It had won every election in Scotland for nearly half a century. Then, 10 years after it created the Scottish Parliament, Labour collapsed. This year, it came fifth - (yes, fifth)- in the European elections with less than 10% of the popular vote in Scotland.
The party that fought tooth and nail to oppose the very existence of the parliament - the Conservatives - have paradoxically been revived by it. They - under the leadership of Ruth Davidson - are now the second largest party.
But it's the SNP whose fortunes have been most radically transformed. Labour adopted devolution in the 1970s and 1980s partly in response to the electoral threat the SNP was beginning to pose. Famously, as the Labour Defence Secretary George Robertson put it, a Scottish Parliament was what would "kill nationalism stone dead".
It is the SNP whose fortunes have been most radically transformed by 20 years of devolution
Instead, the SNP, which won power in 2007 and has held it ever since. It also led Scotland to within five percentage points of independence in the referendum of 2014.
Forty years ago, as a first year student at Edinburgh University, I voted for the first time. The occasion was the 1979 devolution referendum. Scotland returned a small majority in favour of a devolved assembly, but the number fell short of the high bar set by the Labour government in London, which required at least 40% of all registered voters to vote in favour. Scotland, then, could not muster sufficient enthusiasm to cross that threshold.
The 18 years of Conservative government after 1979 changed Scottish public opinion profoundly. The more Mrs Thatcher and, later, John Major ruled out a referendum on devolution, the more popular support for it grew. By 1997 there was a rock solid pro-devolution consensus in Scottish society. Scotland voted for it by a majority of three to one.
The new Scottish Parliament was seen as a way of bringing power home, says Allan Little
Scots saw the new parliament not just as a way of bringing power home but also as a way of blocking policies that had majority support in Westminster but which were unpopular in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament, for example, blocked university tuition fees and it dropped prescription charges. The Scottish government declined to lift the threshold for entering the higher rate income tax bracket when Westminster did that for the rest of the UK.
Are we at a similar crossroads now, another 1979?
There is certainly a new danger for those who want to keep Scotland in the UK, a danger openly acknowledged by both Ruth Davidson and Gordon Brown, both passionately pro-Union Scots: Brexit.
Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU but will have to leave anyway.
Scotland did not vote for Mrs Thatcher but went through the profound changes she pursued nonetheless. The more Mrs Thatcher set her face against devolution the more the Scots demanded it. The Scottish Parliament grew, in part, out of that experience.
Similarly, Brexit, rejected by Scotland, has the potential to forge a similar shift in public opinion in Scotland. And each time I hear a contender for the leadership of the Conservative Party declare that they will "not allow" another referendum on independence, I hear the distant echo of the 1980s, and sense a further strain on the bonds holding this old Union together.
Allan Little's Children of the Devolution is on BBC Scotland on 2 July at 22:00 and on the iPlayer
• None Scotland and Britain 'cannot be mistaken for each other'
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Middlesbrough: Where heroin is cheaper than cigarettes - BBC News
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2019-07-01
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The true scale of homelessness in the North East is largely hidden from view, according to Shelter.
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Tees
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Linthorpe Road is a main through route in the town
In Middlesbrough, a bag of heroin can cost as little as £5. It is not the only town in England to see problems with the drug and homelessness. BBC Tees reporter Adam Clarkson spent an evening on the streets with people who wanted to tell their stories.
"You want hardcore? I'll show you hardcore."
Longshank is 46 years old. That's not his real name but how he wants to be referred to. He's homeless and has promised to "show me the ropes". About five years ago, he found himself sleeping rough. He had struggled with alcohol addiction for years, but said it was the death of his wife that saw his life spiral out of control.
"She was my partner in crime, the best thing that ever happened to me. I was with her 31 years. It broke my heart," he said.
He's drinking a two-litre bottle of cider when we meet. He drinks at least one every day.
"I get wrecked just to get numb. I can't face the music," he adds, "But life has to go on."
He describes his life as "horrendous".
Discarded needles and syringes are easy to find
Two days ago, somebody threw a bucket of urine at him.
"It was in the middle of Linthorpe Road. I was just sat there. They swilled me. You wouldn't believe it. I've never been so humiliated."
We walk to the same spot when a drunk man, who is known to Longshank, becomes aggressive towards me. Things become heated, but calm down as the man bursts into tears. He says he and his partner recently lost a baby, and are facing the prospect of becoming homeless.
Evidence of drug use can be found in many back streets
I am told that arguments and violence "come with the territory".
Longshank then shows me "the bedroom department" - a sheltered car park behind a restaurant, where many rough sleepers congregate. This is where I meet a 22-year-old who introduces himself as Little Man. Little Man says he has been using heroin since the age of 12.
"It's upsetting. I didn't have to go down this route. It breaks my heart, I could do more with my life. There's guaranteed to be a drug dealer within 100ft," Little Man says.
The bins where homeless people sometimes sleep
I watch as Little Man, Longshank and a number of others pass around a bag of heroin. The powder is melted, mixed with vinegar and put into a syringe.
One man injects himself in his groin.
Tom Le Ruez, Middlesbrough Council's drug-related deaths co-ordinator, says mixing vinegar is "not a particularly good idea".
"It isn't advised that people inject at all, but injecting in environments like dark alleys increases the risk that people will damage their veins."
A bag of heroin costs as little as £5, I am told. Little Man says it's very easy to find. A member of staff comes out of the back door of the restaurant. She tells me Longshank is "no bother", but other people are known to start fires and defecate behind their bins.
People on the streets try to find shelter where they can
Three men arrive and ask if anybody wants to buy drugs. The atmosphere becomes tense when they realise I'm a journalist. Longshank says we need to leave, so we go back to Linthorpe Road. Longshank tells me he was given a flat by the local authority, but it was taken off him when he chose to sleep rough instead.
"I had appointments the next morning at the other side of town. I couldn't walk all that way to walk back again; there's no method in the madness."
I ask Longshank if he's using that as an excuse. He tells me it's possible he is.
"I'd miss all of these guys. It's not all doom and gloom, you know? We have a giggle. The streets are addictive, it is an addiction. It's worse than a drug."
In 2018, the North East saw the second biggest rise in rough sleepers, with a 29% increase. Despite this, the wider region has had the lowest number of rough sleepers in the country since the government began collecting data with an "annual single-night snapshot" in 2010. But Tracy Guy from Shelter said the true scale of homelessness in the North East is "largely hidden from view" as people are "trapped in temporary accommodation or sofa-surfing with friends and family".
Little Mix, The 1975 and Miley Cyrus performed in the town for Radio 1's Big Weekend
According to Middlesbrough Council, there are 11 rough sleepers in the town. That number has risen every year since 2016.
The town has seen drug-related mental health hospital admissions rise from 16 per 100,000 people in 2013-14 to 43 in 2016-17.
Debbie Cochrane, Middlesbrough Council's homeless lead, says help is offered to them every week.
"If they say no, that's fine," she says, "but it doesn't mean we're going to stop trying because one week they might say 'I don't want to live like this any more' and that's when they would be welcomed with open arms.
"That's their life and we're not here to judge. It's not up to us to say 'that's wrong'. If that's how they want to live then that's fine, but the opportunity is there to break away - if that's what they want to do."
Longshank and I part ways. I go home, and he continues the cycle of begging, buying drugs and using them.
"Every day, it's the same" he says. "It's like space invaders. It's a game."
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Inquiry launched into 'inept Trump administration' leaked emails - BBC News
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2019-07-09
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The Foreign Office will explore how memos from the UK's envoy in the US were published by a paper.
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UK
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The government has begun an inquiry into a leak of emails from the UK ambassador in Washington which deemed the Trump administration "inept".
In the messages, Sir Kim Darroch said the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and "divided" under Donald Trump.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the memos reflected Sir Kim's "personal view", not that of the UK government.
President Trump said Sir Kim had "not served the UK well".
Asked about the leak, he told reporters in New Jersey: "We're not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well.
"So I can understand it and I can say things about him but I won't bother."
The Foreign Office said the leak to the Mail on Sunday was "mischievous", but did not deny the accuracy of the memos. A spokesperson confirmed a formal leak investigation would be launched.
In the emails, Sir Kim said: "We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction-riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept."
He questioned whether this White House "will ever look competent" but also warned the US president should not be written off.
The UK ambassador in Washington says Trump needs "simple, even blunt" arguments
Mr Hunt - who is fighting to become the next Conservative leader and prime minister - said while it was the UK ambassador's job to give "frank opinions", the memos expressed "a personal view".
"It is not the view of the British government, it's not my view," he said.
"We continue to think that under President Trump the US administration is not just highly effective but the best friend of Britain on the international stage."
Earlier, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said whoever was responsible for the leak must be prosecuted.
"Diplomats must be able to communicate securely with their governments," he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.
However, he defended Sir Kim, saying the job of the UK's ambassador is "to represent the interests and wishes of the British people" and not "the sensibilities of the United States".
Although Sir Kim said Mr Trump was "dazzled" by his state visit to the UK in June, the ambassador warned that his administration will remain self-interested, adding: "This is still the land of America First."
Differences between the US and the UK on climate change, media freedoms and the death penalty might come to the fore as the countries seek to improve trading relations after Brexit, the memos said.
To get through to the president, "you need to make your points simple, even blunt", he said.
The leader of the Brexit party, Nigel Farage, has criticised Sir Kim for his comments, branding the ambassador "totally unsuitable for the job" and saying the "sooner he is gone the better".
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However, Justice Secretary David Gauke said it was very important that ambassadors gave "honest and unvarnished advice to their country".
He said: "It is disgraceful that it's been leaked, but we should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it."
In a message sent last month, Sir Kim branded US policy on Iran as "incoherent, chaotic".
Mr Trump's publicly stated reason for calling off an airstrike against Tehran with 10 minutes to go - that it would cause 150 casualties - "doesn't stand up", Sir Kim said.
Instead, he suggested the president was "never fully on board" and did not want to reverse his campaign promise not to involve the US in foreign conflicts.
Sir Kim said it was "unlikely that US policy on Iran is going to become more coherent any time soon" because "this is a divided administration".
The leaked files date from 2017 to the present day, covering the ambassador's early impressions that media reports of "vicious infighting and chaos" in the White House were "mostly true".
They also give an assessment of allegations about collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia, saying "the worst cannot be ruled out". The investigation by Robert Mueller has since found those claims were not proven.
A Foreign Office spokesman said the views of diplomats were "not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed the government. But we pay them to be candid".
He said ministers and civil servants would handle this advice "in the right way" and ambassadors should be able to offer it confidentially.
The UK embassy in Washington has "strong relations" with the White House and these would continue, despite "mischievous behaviour" such as this leak, the spokesman said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48901624
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news_uk-48901624
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Public sector workers 'to get above-inflation pay rise' - BBC News
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2019-07-19
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Dentists, teachers and police officers are reportedly to get pay increases of between 2% and 2.9%.
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UK Politics
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Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are reportedly in line to get a pay rise.
Most members of the armed forces will get a 2.9% rise, teachers and school staff 2.75%, police officers, dentists and consultants 2.5%, senior civil servants 2%, the Times said.
It is thought the rise will come from existing budgets.
The Treasury is expected to confirm the increases on Monday, in one of Theresa May's final acts as prime minister.
Senior members of the armed forces will receive a 2% rise.
The government will be responding to the independent pay review bodies, which recommend pay for many public sector workers.
The review bodies cover armed forces across the UK; police in England and Wales; school teachers in England, and senior civil servants in England, Scotland and Wales.
Doctors and dentists in England are also included, but GPs are subject to a separate pay deal.
The NHS pay review body also recommends pay for doctors and dentists in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland - but the devolved administrations will respond to this.
Public sector pay was frozen for two years in 2010, except for those earning less than £21,000 a year, and after that rises were capped at 1% - below the rate of inflation.
Theresa May continued the cap until last year when she announced austerity was coming to an end.
The rises do not apply to other public sector staff, such as more junior civil servants and nurses, the Times added. Their pay is dealt with separately.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, said the proposals were similar to pay rises implemented last year.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that many of the pay increases were "only just" above inflation - which is currently at 2% - and were still slower than average pay rises in the private sector.
Both public and private sector workers have seen their average pay rising more slowly than prices since 2010.
Mr Johnson said it would be "difficult" to make the argument that funding would come from existing budgets - and therefore it would mean cuts elsewhere.
He said budgets for next year had not yet been set and he "would be surprised" if they do not increase.
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said if the money were to come from existing budgets, cuts would have to be made elsewhere to fund the above inflation aspect of the pay increases.
"That is a big challenge for Theresa May's successor," he said. "Will they say the age of austerity is finished and fully fund them? Or will they say cuts will be have to be made virtually as soon as they take office?"
Anne, who teaches at a sixth form college, said the news of a pay rise was welcome but was not enough to make up for the impact of nine years of pay being capped.
"I'm fortunate because I'm not the main breadwinner, but in an area like Surrey, where I live, the cost of housing can be a real struggle for some teachers," she said.
If pay rises had to be funded out of existing budgets Anne said this would be "catastrophic" and make the job of teachers even harder at a time of stretched resources and growing class sizes.
"I am unconvinced that this move will make teaching a more attractive employment prospect," she added.
"There's still a real issue with recruitment. I work in a fairly big department but six of us are over 50, so who is going to replace us?"
Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the government's public sector pay offer was "insulting".
"After years of holding back the pay of our dedicated public sector workers, it is shameful for the government to pay for ending the public sector pay cap with more cuts," he added.
Gail Cartmail, assistant general secretary of the union Unite, said the pay rise would not "ease the wage pain of hard-up workers".
She added public workers "will not be fooled" by Mrs May's attempt to "curry favour with an austerity-hit workforce".
Instead, she called for "a properly funded pay rise which tackled the pay misery of the last nine years".
Rehana Azam, of the GMB union, described the pay rise as "smoke and mirrors".
"All of England's five million public sector workers deserve a proper pay rise after almost a decade of real-terms pay cuts - not just a select few," she said.
Joint general secretary of the National Education Union Kevin Courtney said the 2.75% pay increase for teachers was not enough and would see their pay fall further behind pay increases in the wider economy at a time of "a worsening recruitment and retention crisis".
"If the pay rise isn't funded in full this will mean more cuts to our children's education," he added.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49041295
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Protester admits calling MP Anna Soubry a Nazi - BBC News
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2019-07-19
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James Goddard, 30, who was arrested outside Parliament, admits public order offences.
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UK
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A pro-Brexit activist has admitted to public order offences after calling MP Anna Soubry a Nazi outside Parliament.
James Goddard, 30, from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to causing alarm and distress using threatening or abusive language.
He also admitted one racially aggravated public order offence against a police officer.
Goddard filmed himself shouting abuse at Ms Soubry, who supports another Brexit referendum.
He claimed the Remain-supporting MP was a "traitor" over her stance on the country's vote to leave the EU in 2016.
His fellow defendant at Westminster Magistrates Court, Brian Phillips, 55, from Kent, also pleaded guilty to causing alarm and distress using threatening or abusive language.
Both men were released on bail ahead of sentencing on Monday afternoon.
The court heard Ms Soubry was left "very shaken" after her TV interview was interrupted by shouts from protesters on 7 January this year.
Video footage played in court showed the MP then being surrounded by Goddard, Phillips and others as she made her way into the Palace of Westminster.
Another video, from December 2018, showed Goddard wearing a hi-vis vest asking Ms Soubry why she called for a second vote on Brexit, and describing her as both a traitor and a Nazi.
Ms Soubry, who resigned from the Conservative Party in February and is now leader of the Independent Group for Change, said: "They have admitted these crimes and accepted that their behaviour on two occasions outside Parliament was wrong and unjustified.
"Everyone is entitled to go about their lawful business. In a democracy people have a right to peaceful lawful protest.
"No-one has the right to the intimidation and abuse I suffered at the end of December and early January."
Goddard initially faced three charges, including harassment, but new charges were put to the defendants after several hours of legal argument with prosecutors.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49050288
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Climate change: Current warming 'unparalleled' in 2,000 years - BBC News
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2019-07-24
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The speed and extent of global warming exceeds any similar event in the past two millennia, researchers say.
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Science & Environment
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The speed and extent of current global warming exceeds any similar event in the past 2,000 years, researchers say.
They show that famous historic events like the "Little Ice Age" don't compare with the scale of warming seen over the last century.
The research suggests that the current warming rate is higher than any observed previously.
The scientists say it shows many of the arguments used by climate sceptics are no longer valid.
When scientists have surveyed the climatic history of our world over the past centuries a number of key eras have stood out.
These ranged from the "Roman Warm Period", which ran from AD 250 to AD 400, and saw unusually warm weather across Europe, to the famed Little Ice Age, which saw temperatures drop for centuries from the 1300s.
The events were seen by some as evidence that the world has warmed and cooled many times over the centuries and that the warming seen in the world since the industrial revolution was part of that pattern and therefore nothing to be alarmed about.
Three new research papers show that argument is on shaky ground.
The science teams reconstructed the climate conditions that existed over the past 2,000 years using 700 proxy records of temperature changes, including tree rings, corals and lake sediments. They determined that none of these climate events occurred on a global scale.
The researchers say that, for example, the Little Ice Age was at its strongest in the Pacific Ocean in the 15th Century, while in Europe it was the 17th Century.
Generally, any longer-term peaks or troughs in temperature could be detected in no more than half the globe at any one time,
The "Medieval Warm Period", which ran between AD 950 and AD 1250 only saw significant temperature rises across 40% of the Earth's surface.
Today's warming, by contrast, impacts the vast majority of the world.
"We find that the warmest period of the past two millennia occurred during the 20th Century for more than 98% of the globe," one of the papers states.
"This provides strong evidence that anthropogenic (human induced) global warming is not only unparalleled in terms of absolute temperatures but also unprecedented in spatial consistency within the context of the past 2,000 years."
Heatwaves in Europe have been made more likely by climate change, scientists say
What the researchers saw is that prior to the modern industrial era, the most significant influence on climate was volcanoes. They found no indication that variations in the Sun's radiation impacted mean global temperatures.
The current period, say the authors, significantly exceeds natural variability.
"We see from the instrumental data and also from our reconstruction that in the recent past the warming rate clearly exceeds the natural warming rates that we calculated - that's another view to look at the extraordinary nature of the present warming," said Dr Raphael Neukom, from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
While the researchers did not set out to test whether humans were the chief influence on the current climate, their findings indicate clearly that this is the case.
"We do not focus on looking at what's causing the most recent warming as this has been done many times and the evidence is always agreeing that it is the anthropogenic cause," said Dr Neukom.
"We do not explicitly test this; we can only show that natural causes are not sufficient from our data to actually cause the spatial pattern and the warming rate that we are observing now."
Other scientists have been impressed with the quality of the new studies.
Winter skating on ice in Europe in centuries gone by was a common event during the Little Ice Age
"They have done this across the globe with more than 700 records over the past 2,000 years; they have corals and lakes and also instrumental data," said Prof Daniela Schmidt from the University of Bristol, UK, who was not involved with the studies.
"And they have been very careful in assessing the data and the inherent bias that any data has, so the quality of this data and the coverage of this data is the real major advance here; it is amazing."
Many experts say that this new work debunks many of the claims made by climate sceptics in recent decades.
"This paper should finally stop climate change deniers claiming that the recent observed coherent global warming is part of a natural climate cycle," said Prof Mark Maslin, from University College London, UK, who wasn't part of the studies.
"This paper shows the truly stark difference between regional and localised changes in climate of the past and the truly global effect of anthropogenic greenhouse emissions."
The three papers have been published in the journals Nature (1) and Nature Geoscience (2), (3).
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49086783
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news_science-environment-49086783
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What would a Brexit Party Brexit look like? - BBC News
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2019-07-24
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The newly formed party won 31.6% of the votes in the European elections.
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UK Politics
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The Brexit Party has won the largest share of the vote and the most seats in the UK's European elections.
Many of its policies are unknown, it produced no manifesto, and it has avoided answering detailed questions on immigration or economic policy.
One thing we do know very clearly is that it wants to leave the European Union as soon as possible.
So what would a Brexit Party Brexit actually look like?
The Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage says he wants a "clean-break" Brexit, abandoning the withdrawal agreement that Theresa May's government negotiated with the EU.
It is notable that Mr Farage tended to avoid the term "no-deal" Brexit during the election campaign.
A party spokesman argued that it is a misleading term that gives a false impression.
Without a withdrawal agreement, though, most of the vast network of rules and regulations that have governed the UK's relationship with the rest of Europe for more than 40 years, whether in trade or security or other issues, would disappear overnight.
That's what a clean break would mean.
While arguing for a swift exit, the Brexit Party has also called for its newly elected MEPs to play a "major role" in the Brexit negotiations.
But as the Brexit Party is not in government and has no MPs in the House of Commons that is highly unlikely. The only direct role Brexit Party MEPs might have is if the withdrawal agreement was ever to pass in the House of Commons - there would then be a vote in the European Parliament to ratify it.
A clean break also means - and this was a promise that appeared on a pledge card the Brexit Party produced during the campaign - that it would refuse to pay the £39bn financial settlement, or "divorce bill", that the government has agreed in order to settle past debts and future obligations to the EU.
And it means the party wants to leave the EU on - as it puts it - World Trade Organization (WTO) terms.
It sounds very simple, and it is a phrase that is also used by several contenders for the Conservative Party leadership.
But what does it mean in practice? Not a lot.
The basic rules of the WTO are really just the baseline of international trade, which don't offer more than the most rudimentary of benefits.
A lot of Brexit supporters - including the Brexit Party - argue that the UK can use something called Article 24 (of GATT - the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) to ensure that the UK can still enjoy free or frictionless trade with the EU.
It would mean no tariffs or taxes would be imposed on goods crossing borders between the UK and its largest trading partner, the European Union.
The trouble with that argument is that you can only use Article 24 if two parties are willing to make an agreement - in this case, the UK and the EU. Neither can impose it on the other.
In other words, you have to agree a deal first and the Brexit Party, along with several would-be Conservative leaders, are prepared to leave without a deal.
Mr Farage argues that there will in fact be a deal of some kind because the EU needs one.
He has been fond of saying that when push comes to shove the EU would "come running" to do a quick trade deal with the UK.
It is certainly true that any significant disruption to trade would hurt both sides, but the EU has said consistently that it values the integrity of its single market more than free trade with the UK, and that that will be its priority.
Of course no deal or a "clean break" is not an end in itself. Eventually - and sooner rather than later - the two sides would have to start talking again about a future agreement.
The 27 other EU countries have already agreed that if there is no deal then the first thing they would want to talk to the UK about after Brexit would not be a trade deal.
It would be the financial settlement, citizens' rights and the Irish border - exactly those issues that are dealt with in detail in the withdrawal agreement that has been rejected three times in the House of Commons.
The Brexit Party is offering simple solutions. But the Brexit process is full of complex problems.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48422801
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news_uk-politics-48422801
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Boris Johnson: First speech as PM in full - BBC News
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2019-07-24
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Read the full text of Boris Johnson’s first speech in Downing Street as the UK’s prime minister.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson's first speech as prime minister in full
Boris Johnson has delivered his first speech in Downing Street after becoming the UK's new prime minister.
You can read the full text of his speech below.
I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen who has invited me to form a government and I have accepted.
I pay tribute to the fortitude and patience of my predecessor and her deep sense of public service.
But in spite of all her efforts, it has become clear that there are pessimists at home and abroad who think that after three years of indecision, that this country has become a prisoner to the old arguments of 2016 and that in this home of democracy we are incapable of honouring a basic democratic mandate.
And so I am standing before you today to tell you, the British people, that those critics are wrong.
The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters - they are going to get it wrong again.
The people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirts, because we are going to restore trust in our democracy and we are going to fulfil the repeated promises of Parliament to the people and come out of the EU on October 31, no ifs or buts.
And we will do a new deal, a better deal that will maximise the opportunities of Brexit while allowing us to develop a new and exciting partnership with the rest of Europe, based on free trade and mutual support.
I have every confidence that in 99 days' time we will have cracked it. But you know what - we aren't going to wait 99 days, because the British people have had enough of waiting.
The time has come to act, to take decisions, to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better.
And though the Queen has just honoured me with this extraordinary office of state my job is to serve you, the people.
Because if there is one point we politicians need to remember, it is that the people are our bosses.
My job is to make your streets safer - and we are going to begin with another 20,000 police on the streets and we start recruiting forthwith.
My job is to make sure you don't have to wait 3 weeks to see your GP - and we start work this week, with 20 new hospital upgrades, and ensuring that money for the NHS really does get to the front line.
My job is to protect you or your parents or grandparents from the fear of having to sell your home to pay for the costs of care.
And so I am announcing now - on the steps of Downing Street - that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.
My job is to make sure your kids get a superb education, wherever they are in the country - and that's why we have already announced that we are going to level up per pupil funding in primary and secondary schools.
And that is the work that begins immediately behind that black door.
And though I am today building a great team of men and women, I will take personal responsibility for the change I want to see.
Never mind the backstop - the buck stops here.
And I will tell you something else about my job. It is to be prime minister of the whole United Kingdom.
And that means uniting our country, answering at last the plea of the forgotten people and the left-behind towns by physically and literally renewing the ties that bind us together.
So that with safer streets and better education and fantastic new road and rail infrastructure and full fibre broadband we level up across Britain with higher wages, and a higher living wage, and higher productivity.
We close the opportunity gap, giving millions of young people the chance to own their own homes and giving business the confidence to invest across the UK.
Because it is time we unleashed the productive power not just of London and the South East, but of every corner of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The awesome foursome that are incarnated in that red, white, and blue flag - who together are so much more than the sum of their parts, and whose brand and political personality is admired and even loved around the world.
For our inventiveness, for our humour, for our universities, our scientists, our armed forces, our diplomacy for the equalities on which we insist - whether race or gender or LGBT or the right of every girl in the world to 12 years of quality education - and for the values we stand for around the world
Everyone knows the values that flag represents.
It stands for freedom and free speech and habeas corpus and the rule of law, and above all it stands for democracy.
And that is why we will come out of the EU on October 31.
Because in the end, Brexit was a fundamental decision by the British people that they wanted their laws made by people that they can elect and they can remove from office.
And we must now respect that decision, and create a new partnership with our European friends - as warm and as close and as affectionate as possible.
And the first step is to repeat unequivocally our guarantee to the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us, and I say directly to you - thank you for your contribution to our society.
Thank you for your patience, and I can assure you that under this government you will get the absolute certainty of the rights to live and remain.
And next I say to our friends in Ireland, and in Brussels and around the EU: I am convinced that we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border, because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks and yet without that anti-democratic backstop.
And it is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate, and we are forced to come out with no deal, not because we want that outcome - of course not - but because it is only common sense to prepare.
And let me stress that there is a vital sense in which those preparations cannot be wasted, and that is because under any circumstances we will need to get ready at some point in the near future to come out of the EU customs union and out of regulatory control, fully determined at last to take advantage of Brexit.
Because that is the course on which this country is now set.
With high hearts and growing confidence, we will now accelerate the work of getting ready.
And the ports will be ready and the banks will be ready, and the factories will be ready, and business will be ready, and the hospitals will be ready, and our amazing food and farming sector will be ready and waiting to continue selling ever more, not just here but around the world.
And don't forget that in the event of a no deal outcome, we will have the extra lubrication of the £39 billion, and whatever deal we do we will prepare this autumn for an economic package to boost British business and to lengthen this country's lead as the number one destination in this continent for overseas investment.
And to all those who continue to prophesy disaster, I say yes - there will be difficulties, though I believe that with energy and application they will be far less serious than some have claimed.
But if there is one thing that has really sapped the confidence of business over the last three years, it is not the decisions we have taken - it is our refusal to take decisions.
And to all those who say we cannot be ready, I say do not underestimate this country.
Do not underestimate our powers of organisation and our determination, because we know the enormous strengths of this economy in life sciences, in tech, in academia, in music, the arts, culture, financial services.
It is here in Britain that we are using gene therapy, for the first time, to treat the most common form of blindness.
Here in Britain that we are leading the world in the battery technology that will help cut CO2 and tackle climate change and produce green jobs for the next generation.
And as we prepare for a post-Brexit future, it is time we looked not at the risks but at the opportunities that are upon us.
So let us begin work now to create free ports that will drive growth and thousands of high-skilled jobs in left-behind areas.
Let's start now to liberate the UK's extraordinary bioscience sector from anti-genetic modification rules, and let's develop the blight-resistant crops that will feed the world.
Let's get going now on our own position navigation and timing satellite and earth observation systems - UK assets orbiting in space, with all the long term strategic and commercial benefits for this country.
Let's change the tax rules to provide extra incentives to invest in capital and research.
And let's promote the welfare of animals that has always been so close to the hearts of the British people.
And yes, let's start now on those free trade deals - because it is free trade that has done more than anything else to lift billions out of poverty.
All this and more we can do now and only now, at this extraordinary moment in our history.
And after three years of unfounded self-doubt, it is time to change the record.
To recover our natural and historic role as an enterprising, outward-looking and truly global Britain, generous in temper and engaged with the world.
No one in the last few centuries has succeeded in betting against the pluck and nerve and ambition of this country.
They will not succeed today.
We in this government will work flat out to give this country the leadership it deserves, and that work begins now.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49102495
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Darren Pencille: Lee Pomeroy Guildford train stab attacker jailed for murder - BBC News
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2019-07-12
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Darren Pencille stabbed Lee Pomeroy 18 times in an argument on a Guildford to London train.
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England
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A man who stabbed a passenger to death in a row on a train has been found guilty of murder and jailed for life.
Lee Pomeroy was travelling with his 14-year-old son when he was "savagely" stabbed 18 times by Darren Pencille on the Guildford to London service.
Mr Pomeroy died with his son next to him at Horsley station on 4 January, the day before his 52nd birthday.
Old Bailey jurors rejected Pencille's claim he acted in self defence and he was ordered to serve at least 28 years.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said anyone who watched the "breathtakingly shocking" CCTV footage shown during the trial would struggle to see how Pencille could claim to have been acting in self-defence.
"I am satisfied you were the aggressor throughout," she told him.
The judge told Pencille "you picked on the wrong man - he stood up for himself", but she also said Mr Pomeroy had not known about Pencille's paranoid schizophrenia.
Sentencing, she said: "Truly this was a senseless loss of life."
Lee Pomeroy was killed the day before his 52nd birthday
Pencille killed the father-of-one when a "chance encounter" escalated into a frenzied and fatal attack, the court heard.
He first stabbed the IT consultant in the neck, then inflicted 17 more injuries in the 20 seconds that followed.
Pencille's girlfriend Chelsea Mitchell, of Farnham, Surrey, was found guilty by a majority of 11-1 of assisting him.
She was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
Charles Falk, representing Mitchell, said in mitigation she had showed a "misguided sense of loyalty driven by her dependence."
The judge said to her: "I am sure you were acting under misguided loyalty", but then added it was not any sort of excuse.
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Jurors had heard how Mitchell picked Pencille up after the killing.
She took him to her Farnham flat, where they lived together. There he shaved off his beard and had a shower before she drove him to a Surrey beauty spot and then on to visit his flat in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.
They returned to her flat later that night and were both arrested there in the early hours after a manhunt by police.
Chelsea Mitchell lived with Pencille at her flat in Farnham
The court heard a victim impact statement from Mr Pomeroy's widow, Svetlana, who described his murder as a "senseless loss of life" which had been made worse because it happened in front of their son.
She said: "I miss my husband every day and to compound the situation [his son] was with his father when he died.
"I have lost my friend, my soul mate and my guide. Lee loved life and it's been cruelly cut short.
"On Friday January 4 my life and that of my son changed forever. My husband of 18 years died in a sudden, violent and distressing way."
She said her husband was a vibrant, highly intelligent perfectionist, a loving father and her "guiding light".
With regards to their son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, Mrs Pomeroy wrote: "He's frightened to be alone at night. He is terrified of loss and of losing me. He's returned to school but seems to have lost perspective."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The moments leading up to Surrey train stabbing
Mr Pomeroy and his son got into the same carriage as Pencille at London Road, Guildford, and made their way down the aisle before the row started.
Jurors heard they may have been blocking Pencille's way, prompting him to make the remark: "Ignorance is bliss."
The row escalated into swearing as Mr Pomeroy demanded an apology, but then Pencille produced a knife and stabbed him in the neck, cutting through the jugular vein.
The court heard Pencille, who declined to give evidence during his trial, had 14 previous convictions for 19 different offences over a 19-year period, including possession of offensive weapons, violence and dishonesty.
In 2010, he had stabbed a flatmate in the neck over a minor disagreement.
Mitchell had seven previous convictions for 10 different offences, including assault, threatening behaviour, drunk and disorderly behaviour and battery.
After Pencille and Mitchell were convicted, Jason Corden-Bowen from the Crown Prosecution Service said Pencille murdered Mr Pomeroy by "savagely inflicting 18 wounds".
He said: "Although he claimed innocence, Pencille did not give evidence in court. His claims to be acting in self-defence were proved to be false."
Mr Cordon-Bowen said: "This was a brutal and senseless killing of an innocent father who has been taken away from his family."
Det Ch Insp Sam Blackburn, from British Transport Police described the killer as "devious and dangerous".
He said: "Quite clearly with his previous convictions, where he also stabbed another man in the neck, and his propensity for carrying knives, he showed his dangerous, aggressive nature and that he wasn't afraid to use that knife on that train."
Speaking on behalf of the family, Mr Blackburn said a brief argument resulted in a moment of "shocking violence" that ended with the death of an adored father, husband, brother and son.
He said: "No argument, however heated, should result in the violence seen that day and no family members should ever bear witnesses to the violent death of a loved one."
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Excluded from school: How boxing helps teenagers with ADHD - BBC News
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2019-07-12
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Excluded from mainstream school, these teenagers explain how boxing helps them channel their ADHD.
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Wales
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jamie, 11, said boxing "helps me get my anger out and it helps me control it"
These teenagers all have ADHD and have been excluded from mainstream school. Here they tell how the sport of boxing is helping them channel their excess energy and improve their life skills.
In an amateur boxing gym in Barry, 14-year-old Levi is tugging on his boxing gloves, ready to join his friends in training.
Some are already practising in the ring, aiming jabs and uppercuts.
Others are punching the bags or skipping as music plays in the background and the smell of sweat and chalk permeates the air.
He always has been. In fact, he has been excluded from school twice for disobedient behaviour.
Before he was diagnosed with ADHD, Levi believed he was just a naughty kid
But now he's using the discipline of boxing to channel his fighting spirit in a more positive way.
Every Thursday, he partakes in a two-hour non-contact boxing session at Colcot Amateur Boxing Club, designed to help pupils who have been excluded from mainstream school.
"I used to lose my temper easily," Levi explains. "I started a lot of fights and used to mess up the classrooms.
"I used to be really disrespectful to the teachers and felt so down all the time, thinking I was just a naughty kid."
Once excluded, however, and sent to a pupil referral unit in the Vale of Glamorgan, Levi got diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - a condition which causes inattentiveness, impulsiveness and an inability to stick to tasks.
It is also closely linked with underachievement at school, poor social interaction and problems with discipline.
"The diagnosis and medication helped," he explains. "But it's the boxing that really helps as I'm always so full of energy and struggle to concentrate.
"I get excited and want to train my best.
"Anthony Joshua is my role model and I want to follow in his steps.
"But my main aim now is just to get my head down and get my GCSEs."
Aalijah, 14, says the boxing helps her to calm down and concentrate
It is a similar story for Aalijah, 14.
She too has ADHD and her inability to concentrate meant she fell behind academically from a young age, causing her behaviour to spiral.
Frustrated with school and feeling like she constantly had to "catch up", she was eventually excluded for intimidating her teachers.
"I don't like school," she explains. "It puts me under pressure and frustrates me.
"If I try to concentrate on something, my mind is just blank… and with the ADHD, I can't control what I do. It's like my body is locked back and in its own trance."
But if Aalijah struggled with school, in boxing she has found something she loves.
"The boxing really helps," she explains. "It lowers my energy and calms me down, helping me to concentrate.
"After it, I feel a lot calmer and more sensible."
Coach Nathan Powell is aiming to improve the students' confidence and resilience
Aalijah and Levi are just two of the teenagers helped by the weekly boxing sessions.
Run by Empire Fighting Chance, a Bristol-based charity that launched in south Wales in 2016, the classes are designed to teach confidence and resilience, improving the life chances of those involved.
It is now expanding across the whole of Wales, with sessions due to begin in Rhyl, north Wales, and other locations by the end of the year.
Explaining the benefits, coach Nathan Powell, says: "Many of the kids we see have anxiety and confidence issues and struggle to work with others.
"At the start of the sessions, team activities always end in arguments and confrontation.
"But with work and drills, their confidence grows and they become a member of a team. These kids are also used to failing, so we break things down into mini goals, like building up the number of skips they can do.
"This helps them reach a target and achieve something. It's very important and makes them feel good about themselves."
Jamie says boxing helps control his anger - a big part of his ADHD
A third pupil, Jamie, 11, got excluded from primary school when he was just nine despite teachers knowing about his diagnosis. "Anger is a big part of my ADHD," he says. "If I get annoyed it takes me a long time to calm down.
"But the boxing helps me get my anger out and it helps me control it."
As for Jamie Parry, head of business development for Empire Fighting Chance, he believes that mainstream education might not be for everyone.
"Many children need a different way of learning," he says.
"We try to boost aspiration by providing good role models in the form of our coaches, and we drop in personal development tips about nutrition and sleep.
"The pupils often see teachers as a negative sign of authority so we try to build trust with them."
According to statistics from the UK ADHD Partnership, children with ADHD have more than 100 times greater risk of being permanently excluded from school than other children.
Roughly 40% of children with ADHD have had fixed-term exclusions from school and 11% have been permanently excluded.
Susan Young, president of the UK ADHD Partnership, said: "Sporting activities, such as boxing, are so good for children with ADHD.
"They learn how to interact with people, adapt to an environment and judge situations - skills that will help in real life.
"Boxing, especially, teaches impulse control and channels emotions in a constructive way.
"People with ADHD have so many positives. They are often fun, creative and engaging. They might simply need help to channel their energy and sport is great way to do this."
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Bureaux de change: Crackdown on drug gangs money laundering - BBC News
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2019-07-02
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Police hope targeting the cash will reduce street violence by disrupting gang activities.
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UK
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Bureaux de change and currency transfer businesses are to be raided by police in a week-long crackdown on suspected drugs money laundering.
They hope targeting the cash will reduce street violence linked to disputes between gangs by disrupting their activities.
Police say 12 businesses in London will be raided on Tuesday - the first day of the operation
Inspectors will visit another 39 to check they are complying with the law.
There are around 9,000 money exchanges in London, handling tens of billions of pounds each year between them - about a fifth of the UK market.
Detectives say the vast majority of these companies operate legitimately, but a "significant number" - which they call "launderettes" - are involved in illegal activity.
This can include receiving bags or holdalls full of cash from drug deals and processing it to make it look as though it has come from a legitimate source.
About £100bn is laundered through the UK every year, but it is not known much of this goes through money service businesses.
The crackdown is a joint operation between the Metropolitan Police, HM Revenue & Customs and financial services watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority.
Most of the debate about ways to curb knife crime has revolved around short-term measures, including stop-and-search, and long-term solutions, such as the 'public health' model pioneered in Glasgow.
But with much of the violence believed to be linked to drug disputes over territory and unpaid debts, police are stepping up their efforts on that front too.
Drug gangs exist to make money, the argument goes, so impeding the flow of their ill-gotten gains will disrupt their activities and reduce the violence.
The "launderettes" - the illegal money transfer businesses that conceal and process the drugs money - are a key target in the anti-violence campaign.
Det Ch Supt Mick Gallagher, who is co-ordinating the operation, said: "Money drives drug dealing, drives violence."
He added: "The cash is the lifeblood of this. If you choke off the ability to trade effectively, then you disrupt the network."
Following a similar operation in 2011, police described the use of legitimate bureaux de change by money launderers as a "weak point".
A number of people were convicted of offences linked to drug dealing or money laundering in a case that exposed one London firm's links to organised crime networks from all over the UK.
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Brexit: Legal bid to stop Westminster shutdown goes to court - BBC News
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2019-08-13
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A group of politicians want the courts to rule out suspending parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit.
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Scotland politics
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Campaigners want to prevent the prime minister from closing down parliament to force a no-deal Brexit
A legal challenge to try to prevent Boris Johnson shutting down parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit has begun in a Scottish court.
A group of MPs and peers wants the Court of Session in Edinburgh to rule that suspending parliament to make the UK leave the EU without a deal is "unlawful and unconstitutional".
The prime minister has repeatedly refused to rule out such a move.
Lord Doherty agreed to hear arguments from both sides in September.
However he refused to accelerate the case through the Scottish courts, with the petitioners voicing fears that they may run out of time before the UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October.
The start of the legal action came as it emerged the UK government expects a group of MPs to try to block a no-deal Brexit by attempting to pass legislation when Parliament returns next month.
A No 10 source said they expected the challenge to come in the second week of September, when MPs are due to debate a report on Northern Ireland.
The source assumes the EU will wait until after that date before engaging in further negotiations.
More than 70 politicians have put their names behind the move, including Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson and SNP MP Joanna Cherry.
A challenge brought by the same group of anti-Brexit politicians last year saw the European Court of Justice rule the UK can cancel Brexit without the permission of the other 27 EU members.
Jolyon Maugham QC, director of the Good Law Project which is supporting the latest challenge, said: "A man with no mandate seeks to cancel parliament for fear it will stop him inflicting on an unwilling public an outcome they did not vote for and do not want.
"That's certainly not democracy and I expect our courts to say it's not the law."
The court action was brought in Scotland's top civil court as it sits through the summer, while the equivalent court in England is on holiday
The UK is currently due to leave the EU on 31 October, with the prime minister pledging that Brexit will definitely happen on that day regardless of whether or not a deal has been agreed with the EU.
Most MPs at Westminster are opposed to a no-deal Brexit, and there has been speculation that Mr Johnson could try to get around this by closing parliament in the run-up to 31 October.
This is known as proroguing, and would require the permission of the Queen.
Mr Johnson argued during the Conservative leadership contest that he would not "take anything off the table", saying it would be "absolutely bizarre" for the UK to "weaken its own position" in negotiations with European leaders.
But the group of pro-Remain politicians involved in the legal action at Scotland's highest court argue that shutting down parliament in this manner would be unlawful.
The prime minister has not ruled out attempting to prorogue parliament ahead of Brexit day
The case is beginning in the Scottish courts because they sit through the summer, unlike their English counterparts.
During a procedural hearing in Edinburgh, lawyers argued that the case could ultimately be decided in the UK Supreme Court - but only after it has moved through the Scottish system.
Lord Doherty refused a motion from the petitioners to skip the first step of this, saying arguments must be heard in the outer house of the Court of Session before they proceed to the next stage, the inner house.
However he did agree to move swiftly, fixing a full hearing for 6 September.
The Commons Speaker John Bercow has said the idea of the parliamentary session ending in order to force through a no-deal Brexit is "simply not going to happen" and that that was "so blindingly obvious it almost doesn't need to be stated".
One of the petitioners, Edinburgh South Labour MP Ian Murray, said: "When Boris Johnson unveiled his vacuous slogan 'taking back control', voters weren't told that this could mean shutting down parliament.
"The prime minister's undemocratic proposal to hold Westminster in contempt simply can't go unchallenged."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-49320773
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Domestic violence: Child-parent abuse doubles in three years - BBC News
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2019-08-07
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Police forces that record Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse statistics have seen a large rise.
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England
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Mental health charity Young Minds said violence towards parents could indicate a cry for help
The number of reported crimes involving children attacking parents has doubled in the past three years, data suggests.
Comparable data for 19 police forces in England, Wales and the Channel Islands saw annual incidents jump from 7,224 in 2015 to 14,133 in 2018.
A charity said violence towards parents could indicate a cry for help, with support "often too hard to access".
The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) said the rise was due to a change in recording practices.
The data, provided following BBC Freedom of Information requests, was gathered by asking police for adolescent to parent violence and abuse (APVA) statistics from 2015-2018.
APVA, which falls under the wider category of domestic violence, is only recorded by some forces, with 19 out of 44 providing the specific data to the BBC.
Despite the rise in recorded APVA incidents, comparable data for 17 forces showed a 36% drop in prosecutions over the same time frame, going from 742 to 471.
'Helen', a single parent from South Yorkshire, has called the police three times to deal with her 11-year-old daughter.
"She'd hit me in the car while I was driving, she'd grab hold of my throat while I was driving along and she'd hit her brother in the car," Helen said.
"The last time I actually made a 999 call because she was attacking me that much that I was sat behind a door while she was trying to get through it to get to me.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Helen' has been threatened with knives and scissors by her 11-year-old daughter
"I just ended up sitting there and waiting for the police to come but just trying to make sure she couldn't get to me.
"I've been off work ill with it, just couldn't cope with it, I've lost a relationship through it. I lost the support of my parents for a while because they couldn't cope with it either and literally I felt like I was just left completely on my own, not knowing where to go or what to do.
"It's hard because you don't want them to get a criminal record, at 11 you don't want that start in life, but there's no support."
It is not mandatory for police to record the relationship between the suspect and the victim in domestic violence cases, but some forces opt to do so.
West Midlands Police saw APVA incidents nearly treble, from 1,084 in 2015 to 3,067 in 2018.
Metropolitan Police figures also rose but by a smaller rate, from 2,851 in 2015 to 3,233 in 2018.
Gwent Police saw a drop, with 66 cases in 2015 and 51 in 2018.
The Getting On scheme holds courses for adults impacted by APVA, with their children also given advice in a separate room
Tom Madders, from mental health charity Young Minds, said: "The figures are alarming but they don't surprise us.
"When a young person is behaving in this way towards their parents there is a high likelihood that there is some sort of mental distress involved and that young person is communicating that they do need some support and too often that support is too hard to access.
"People are reaching out for support and not getting it and often having to resort to calling the police as the only line of support."
According to Home Office information, there is currently no legal definition of APVA, but it is increasingly recognised as a form of domestic violence and abuse.
Chief Constable Simon Bailey, from the National Police Chiefs' Council, said an "increasing focus" had been placed in recent years on tackling domestic violence.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Break4Change has supported about 600 families over the past decade
"In the past many verbal arguments would not have been recorded as a crime when they would now be recognised as a common assault, harassment or a threat of violence," Mr Bailey said.
"In cases like this the victim is often unwilling to support a prosecution and so it can be difficult for the police to proceed.
"In this situation officers will offer other types of support and referrals to other agencies."
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'I am DNA proof my father is a rapist' - BBC News
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2019-08-04
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A woman conceived by rape wants her father brought to justice in a so-called "victimless prosecution".
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "Vicky" says she is proof of the crime
A woman conceived by rape wants her father brought to justice in a so-called "victimless prosecution", in one of the first cases of its kind, the BBC has learned.
"Vicky" says her mother was under the age of consent when a family friend she claims was in his 30s raped her.
She says her birth is proof of the crime and wants DNA testing to convict her dad of unlawful sexual intercourse.
West Midlands Police says the law does not recognise her as a victim.
Vicky - not her real name - from Birmingham, was adopted in the 1970s at seven months old.
Aged 18, she began searching for her birth mother and discovered from a social worker and her social services records that her conception was a result of rape.
"My birth mum had been 13 - a schoolgirl - and my birth dad was a family friend who was in his 30s," Vicky explains to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.
"The records said she'd gone to babysit at his house, and he raped her. It says in seven different places in the files that it was rape.
"It states his name and address, that social services, police, health workers knew - but nothing was done about it.
"It made me feel angry, devastated for my birth mum. For me."
Vicky managed to reunite with her birth mother, describing the moment as "very surreal".
Then, years later, as historical sex abuse cases began to be covered by news outlets in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, she decided to act. She had always thought it was wrong that her birth father had not been prosecuted.
"It was then that I thought, 'I've got DNA evidence, because I am DNA evidence. I'm a walking crime scene. And it's all written in the files. Surely people are going to take me seriously'.
"I wanted him to be held accountable. I wanted justice for my mum, I wanted justice for me. The ramifications of what he chose to do have shaped my entire life."
Her birth mother, not wanting to relive the ordeal and having been let down by police originally, decided she did not wish to report the rape again herself - but supported her daughter pursuing it.
Vicky wanted police to consider a so-called "victimless prosecution" for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, commonly referred to as statutory rape. She says they could use DNA evidence and birth certificates to prove the ages.
Victimless prosecutions, officially termed evidence-based, can be used in domestic abuse or rape cases, when the victim has withdrawn or declines to give a statement but it is in the public interest to pursue a prosecution, CPS guidance says.
But police, social services, solicitors and MPs have told her she is "not the victim" and so no case can be brought, she says.
A victim is defined by the government as a person who has suffered emotional, physical or mental harm as the direct result of a crime.
"Because of that crime, I am alive. My whole life's been dictated by it, but no-one will see me as a victim.
"I am living, breathing proof of a child rapist and nobody is interested. How is that okay?" she says.
Labour MP Jess Phillips says it is in the public interest for the alleged perpetrator to face trial
Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips, says children conceived through rape should "absolutely" be considered victims.
"The sort of emotional effect that would have on a person, their relationships going forward, on their lives, on how they feel about themselves, it undoubtedly will have affected them.
"I thought we had won this argument, the idea you don't have to be a direct victim of abuse - we would never suggest in a domestic violence situation that a child who had never suffered any violence themselves was not a victim of the crime happening around them - to me it's exactly the same test that is met."
Vicky tracked down her presumed father, wearing a secret camera to record their conversation.
She says he did not deny or confirm having sex with her mother.
"This could be one of the few historical cases where there's actually irrefutable DNA evidence.
"I want the police to demand a DNA test. I want the police and social services to apologise for their failures, and to learn. And I want the definition of victim to be reviewed."
Ms Phillips said the case was definitely in the public interest, as the alleged perpetrator was still alive.
"People who are alleged to have abused over the years, that doesn't just magically go away - these people are a risk to society. Not only do victims deserve justice - regardless of how long ago your abuse was - the authorities should have a prime interest in keeping people safe."
Vicky said: "This has nearly beaten me down. Being adopted comes with so many difficulties, and the trauma of this has affected every part of my life.
"But I will persevere because I know this is so wrong. And I want justice."
Chief Superintendent Pete Henrick, head of West Midlands Police's public protection unit, said the force did not underestimate the psychological affects Vicky had "no doubt suffered".
He said the force had no record of a rape allegation in 1975 and, as such, no record of an investigation, and the alleged victim did not wish to co-operate when Vicky approached them in 2014.
A statement said: "In light of this, she asked whether she could be identified as a victim herself and if the case could be progressed on those grounds. The law does not recognise her as a victim in these circumstances. We liaised with the CPS and were advised they would not support a prosecution.
"Our handling of the case was scrutinised by both our Professional Standards Department and the Independent Police Complaints Commission at the time, and both agreed the police action and conclusion were appropriate."
Birmingham City Council said: "Since April 2018, children's social care services in Birmingham have been provided by Birmingham Children's Trust. Since then we have had no contact with "Vicky".
"We would, of course, be very happy to meet with her if she would find that valuable. It is certainly the case that the way allegations and incidents of harm to children are handled now is very different than was the case in 1975. We would be happy to discuss this with her when we meet."
Update 5 August 2019: This report has been amended following updated information supplied by West Midlands Police.
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Government's TV licence fee decision was 'nuclear', BBC boss says - BBC News
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2019-08-26
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The BBC's boss says he told the government it had taken the "nuclear" option on TV licences.
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Entertainment & Arts
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The BBC's director general has claimed the Conservative government went "nuclear" by telling the corporation to take responsibility for free TV licences for over-75s.
The BBC announced last month that most over-75s would lose free licences.
The BBC took on the policy "really unwillingly" but had "no choice", Tony Hall told MPs on the House of Commons culture select committee.
The decision was made in negotiations with the government in 2015.
Lord Hall said the first he knew about the decision was when then-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale called him to say he had "lost the argument" and that the BBC would have to take over free TV licences for over-75s.
"At which point I said, 'Well, that's nuclear.' And I then laid out the consequences of that decision."
Lord Hall said future negotiations over the licence fee should take place "in plain sight"
He said he told the government at the time that the policy would need to be cut in some way, and that the government didn't seek a guarantee that it would be protected.
After a consultation, the BBC has now decided to revoke free TV licences for all over-75s, except those claiming the pension credit benefit. That has proved controversial, with more than 600,000 people signing a petition calling for the government to restore funding.
In a sometimes tetchy hearing, Conservative MP Julian Knight accused Lord Hall of "whingeing", suggesting he had misjudged his negotiations with politicians at the time.
The corporation won certain other agreements from the government - including an extended charter period, an increase in the licence fee, no longer paying for broadband roll-out, and plugging a loophole that meant people could watch the iPlayer without a TV licence.
Committee chairman Damian Collins, also a Conservative MP, suggested those deals were worth "about £700m", adding: "It seems you're net gainers from this process."
Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Lenny Henry signed an open letter calling for the move to be reversed
The corporation has said keeping free licences for all over-75s would cost £745m, a fifth of the BBC's annual budget, by 2021/22.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Lenny Henry were among a host of celebrities to sign an open letter calling on the next prime minister to go back to the pre-2015 set-up.
The Conservative Party included a pledge to continue free TV licences for over-75s in its manifesto for the 2017 general election - after power for the concession had passed to the BBC in law.
Lord Hall told MPs he wrote to the government after the election to ask "quite why the manifesto didn't reflect the powers that they had given to us, and I don't have a satisfactory answer".
He added: "It seemed, at best, odd to us that you had a manifesto commitment that was completely at odds with what the law had just determined was the case."
Licence fee negotiations should not happen at such speed behind closed doors in the future, Lord Hall said.
"I feel very, very strongly that this mustn't happen again," he said. "It happened in 2010 over a period of a few days, behind closed doors, and it happened again in 2015.
"I think when it comes to 2021, next time it's negotiated, it needs to be in plain sight with parliamentary involvement in a way that allows proper debate to take place."
A government statement said it was "very disappointed" with the BBC's decision to change licence fee arrangements.
"We've been clear that we want and expect the BBC to continue this concession," it said. "People across the country value television as a way to stay connected, and we want the BBC to look at further ways to support older people.
"Taxpayers want to see the BBC using its substantial licence fee income in an appropriate way to ensure it delivers for UK audiences, which includes showing restraint on salaries for senior staff."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
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Lancashire fracking: 2.9 magnitude tremor recorded - BBC News
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2019-08-26
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The regulator suspends operations while recent seismic activity in Lancashire is investigated.
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Lancashire
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Shale company Cuadrilla has been fracking at the Preston New Road site
An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 has been recorded near the UK's only active shale gas site in Lancashire.
The tremor near Blackpool was recorded at about 08:30 BST and is stronger than those that forced Cuadrilla to suspend test fracking in 2011.
Cuadrilla said it was investigating the tremor and said no fracking was being carried out at the time.
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said fracking would be suspended while it assessed recent seismic activity.
The latest quake is the third recorded in less than a week.
It follows another earthquake, with a magnitude of 2.1, measured at the Little Plumpton site on Saturday, which followed another tremor measured at 1.6 on Wednesday.
At present, government guidelines state that if fracking induces quakes above 0.5 magnitude then all drilling must cease for 18 hours.
However, the OGA said the current suspension would potentially remain in place longer, allowing it to consider carefully whether Cuadrilla's fracking plans "continued to be appropriate to manage the risk" of increased seismic activity in the area.
Drilling was previously suspended at the Preston New Road site in 2011 after earthquakes of 1.4 and 2.3 magnitude were recorded.
Cuadrilla's chief executive, Francis Egan, said he "sincerely hoped" fracking would not be halted this time and said the company now measured "surface ground motion vibration" which allowed it to put any seismic activity "into context".
Drilling had only resumed last October after campaigners failed to get an injunction preventing it.
Samantha Wheeler, who lives five miles away in Lytham St Anne's, said her "wardrobe shook and her bed moved" when she felt the earthquake on Monday.
She said: "It's getting really worrying."
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Heather Goodwin, who also lives in Lytham St Anne's, said: "The walls of my house shook, there was a really deep, guttural roar. For a moment, I really thought my house was going to fall down.
"It only lasted a few seconds but I felt the need to go all round the house and check for damage.
"We've been afraid of this happening. How long before there's real damage done and people injured?"
Professor Peter Styles, a specialist in applied and environmental geophysics at Keele University who has advised the government on fracking, said the latest quake was caused by the movement of a geological fault.
He said: "I think we're going to have to halt fracking, certainly for the time being as we did in 2011. We haven't collected a huge amount of data - remember there have only been a few fracks.
"We need data from the UK to make a reasoned argument. This is in the context of how we supply our energy to the UK so we're going to have to make decisions whether we want to have our own native energy or we want to import gas."
Dr Ben Edwards, reader in seismology at the University of Liverpool, said a tremor of 2.9 would not cause structural damage but the increase in magnitude of each recorded seismic activity recently was "a concern".
Regulators would want to be assured the magnitude would not increase further, he added.
Cuadrilla said it appreciated the tremor had "caused concern for local people" and said "it is worth noting that this event lasted for around a second and the average ground motion recorded was 5mm per second".
"This is about a third of that permitted for construction projects," it added.
It said the shale gas well was intact and it was working with regulators.
However, environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth has called for a complete fracking ban after three of the latest tremors.
Spokesman Jamie Peters said it was "getting out of hand".
"It's clearly not under control and at this point there is only one thing that can fix this situation: a ban, right now."
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Brexit: No-deal dossier shows worst-case scenario - Gove - BBC News
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2019-08-18
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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A no-deal Brexit will bring "bumps in the road", Michael Gove admits, as a leaked government document warns of food and drug shortages.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove was questioned about what had actually changed since the document was produced
A leaked cross-government study warning of the impact of a no-deal Brexit outlines a "worst-case scenario", cabinet minister Michael Gove has said.
Details from the dossier warn of food and medicine shortages if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Mr Gove, who is responsible for no-deal preparation, said the document was old and Brexit planning had accelerated since Boris Johnson became PM.
But he acknowledged no deal would bring disruption, or "bumps in the road".
The leak comes as Mr Johnson is to meet European leaders later this week.
The prime minister will insist there must be a new Brexit deal when he holds talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to Operation Yellowhammer, the dossier leaked to the Sunday Times, the UK could face months of disruption at its ports after a no-deal Brexit.
And plans to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic are unlikely to prove sustainable, it adds.
The dossier says leaving the EU without a deal could lead to:
The dossier warns of disruption at ports, along with food, fuel and medicine shortages
A No 10 source told the BBC the dossier had been leaked by a former minister in an attempt to influence discussions with EU leaders.
They added that the document "is from when ministers were blocking what needed to be done to get ready to leave and the funds were not available".
Responding to the leak, Mr Gove said some of the concerns about a no-deal Brexit had been "exaggerated".
He said: "It's certainly the case that there will be bumps in the road, some element of disruption in the event of no-deal.
"But the document that has appeared in the Sunday Times was an attempt, in the past, to work out what the very, very worst situation would be so that we could take steps to mitigate that.
"And we have taken steps."
Mr Gove also claimed some MPs were "frustrating" the government's chances of securing a new deal with the EU.
He said: "Sadly, there are some in the House of Commons who think they can try to prevent us leaving on October 31st. And as long as they continue to try to make that argument, then that actually gives some heart to some in the European Union that we won't leave on October 31st.
"The sooner that everyone recognises that we will leave on that day, the quicker we can move towards a good deal in everyone's interests."
Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "I think there's a lot of scaremongering around and a lot of people are playing into project fear."
But a former head of the civil service, Lord Kerslake - who described the document as "credible" - said the dossier "lays bare the scale of the risks we are facing with a no-deal Brexit in almost every area".
"These risks are completely insane for this country to be taking and we have to explore every avenue to avoid them," he told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said, in a tweet, that Dublin had "always been clear" a hard border in Ireland "must be avoided".
The Irish backstop - the provision in former prime minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement that could see Northern Ireland continue to follow some of the same trade rules as the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU, thus preventing a hard border - was an "insurance policy" designed to protect the peace process, he said.
Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Fein's deputy leader, accused Mr Johnson of treating the Northern Ireland peace process as a "commodity" in Brexit negotiations.
She said Ireland as a whole had been voicing concerns about a no-deal Brexit for months.
The SNP's Stephen Gethins said the documents lay bare the "sheer havoc Scotland and the UK are hurtling towards".
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said they showed the effects of a no-deal Brexit should be taken more seriously.
"The government has simply, I think, pretended that this wasn't an issue," he said
Ministers were in "a real pickle" since "the US has said that if that border is jeopardised, we're not going to get a trade deal with them", he added.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that a US-UK trade deal would not get through Congress if Brexit undermined the Good Friday Agreement.
The leak comes as the prime minister prepares to travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, before going to Paris to see French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
Mr Johnson is expected to say Parliament cannot and will not change the outcome of the 2016 EU referendum and will insist there must be a new deal to replace Mrs May's withdrawal agreement - defeated three times by MPs - if the UK is to leave the EU with a deal.
However, it is thought their discussions will chiefly focus on issues such as foreign policy, security, trade and the environment, ahead of the G7 summit next weekend.
Meanwhile, a cross-party group of more than 100 MPs has urged the prime minister to recall Parliament and let it sit permanently until the UK leaves the EU.
In a letter, MPs say the country is "on the brink of an economic crisis".
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also reiterated his call for MPs to work together to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Elsewhere, anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller said the government had "unequivocally" accepted it could not shut down Parliament to clear the way for a no-deal Brexit.
She told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "What they have said is, unequivocally, they accept that to close down Parliament, to bypass them in terms of Brexit - stopping a no-deal Brexit, in particular - is illegal."
Ms Miller said she would continue to seek further reassurances that MPs would be able to pass legislation to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller said the government had accepted it could not shut down Parliament to clear the way for a no-deal Brexit
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UK to stay in Interrail scheme after U-turn - BBC News
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2019-08-08
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UK train operators will stay in the scheme following a backlash on social media.
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Business
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UK train companies will stay in the Interrail scheme, reversing Wednesday's decision, the operators' group says.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents UK train operators, had said the arrangement would end in January following a dispute with Eurail Group which manages the scheme.
But it prompted a backlash, with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps calling for a U-turn.
RDG said it had reversed course "following the strong reaction".
"We are pleased to be able to tell passengers that we have reached agreement and will be remaining part of both the Interrail and Eurail passes," said Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions.
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Launched in 1972, the Interrail pass enables European citizens to travel around 31 countries by train and ferry, while the older Eurail pass lets non-European citizens do the same.
Pulling out of both schemes would have meant passholders could have travelled as far as London, but their tickets would not have taken them any further.
British travellers would have been able to buy passes around the continent, but they would not have been valid on UK railways apart from in Northern Ireland and on Eurostar trains.
The decision received heavy criticism on social media on Wednesday.
Mr Shapps tweeted: "It will make it harder for everyone else to explore the UK. A COUNTERPRODUCTIVE move in my view & I'm therefore calling on the RailDeliveryGrp to reverse their decision!"
Former Labour transport secretary Lord Adonis tweeted: "This is closing Britain to the next generation of continental Europeans."
The decision to restart talks and come to an agreement with Eurail was greeted with relief by some on social media, but others were less complimentary.
One Twitter user commented: "The fact you even considered it has caused severe reputational damage for you."
Others expressed doubt about RDG's claim that it had "never wanted to leave" the Interrail scheme.
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Over the decades Interrail journeys have been a rite of passage for millions of mostly young tourists, although older people use the pass too.
On Wednesday RDG claimed that Eurail Group had pushed it out of both schemes following a dispute.
The argument was over Eurail's decision to merge its two passes into one, RDG said. It feared the new pass would clash with its own Britrail pass, also aimed at non-European citizens, which covers UK rail travel and offers discounts on local tourist attractions.
But Eurail disputed this version of events, saying that RDG had pulled out after failing to "secure a competitive position" for Britrail.
• None UK pushed out of Interrail scheme after dispute
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'I am DNA proof my father is a rapist' - BBC News
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2019-08-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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A woman conceived by rape wants her father brought to justice in a so-called "victimless prosecution".
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. "Vicky" says she is proof of the crime
A woman conceived by rape wants her father brought to justice in a so-called "victimless prosecution", in one of the first cases of its kind, the BBC has learned.
"Vicky" says her mother was under the age of consent when a family friend she claims was in his 30s raped her.
She says her birth is proof of the crime and wants DNA testing to convict her dad of unlawful sexual intercourse.
West Midlands Police says the law does not recognise her as a victim.
Vicky - not her real name - from Birmingham, was adopted in the 1970s at seven months old.
Aged 18, she began searching for her birth mother and discovered from a social worker and her social services records that her conception was a result of rape.
"My birth mum had been 13 - a schoolgirl - and my birth dad was a family friend who was in his 30s," Vicky explains to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.
"The records said she'd gone to babysit at his house, and he raped her. It says in seven different places in the files that it was rape.
"It states his name and address, that social services, police, health workers knew - but nothing was done about it.
"It made me feel angry, devastated for my birth mum. For me."
Vicky managed to reunite with her birth mother, describing the moment as "very surreal".
Then, years later, as historical sex abuse cases began to be covered by news outlets in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, she decided to act. She had always thought it was wrong that her birth father had not been prosecuted.
"It was then that I thought, 'I've got DNA evidence, because I am DNA evidence. I'm a walking crime scene. And it's all written in the files. Surely people are going to take me seriously'.
"I wanted him to be held accountable. I wanted justice for my mum, I wanted justice for me. The ramifications of what he chose to do have shaped my entire life."
Her birth mother, not wanting to relive the ordeal and having been let down by police originally, decided she did not wish to report the rape again herself - but supported her daughter pursuing it.
Vicky wanted police to consider a so-called "victimless prosecution" for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, commonly referred to as statutory rape. She says they could use DNA evidence and birth certificates to prove the ages.
Victimless prosecutions, officially termed evidence-based, can be used in domestic abuse or rape cases, when the victim has withdrawn or declines to give a statement but it is in the public interest to pursue a prosecution, CPS guidance says.
But police, social services, solicitors and MPs have told her she is "not the victim" and so no case can be brought, she says.
A victim is defined by the government as a person who has suffered emotional, physical or mental harm as the direct result of a crime.
"Because of that crime, I am alive. My whole life's been dictated by it, but no-one will see me as a victim.
"I am living, breathing proof of a child rapist and nobody is interested. How is that okay?" she says.
Labour MP Jess Phillips says it is in the public interest for the alleged perpetrator to face trial
Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips, says children conceived through rape should "absolutely" be considered victims.
"The sort of emotional effect that would have on a person, their relationships going forward, on their lives, on how they feel about themselves, it undoubtedly will have affected them.
"I thought we had won this argument, the idea you don't have to be a direct victim of abuse - we would never suggest in a domestic violence situation that a child who had never suffered any violence themselves was not a victim of the crime happening around them - to me it's exactly the same test that is met."
Vicky tracked down her presumed father, wearing a secret camera to record their conversation.
She says he did not deny or confirm having sex with her mother.
"This could be one of the few historical cases where there's actually irrefutable DNA evidence.
"I want the police to demand a DNA test. I want the police and social services to apologise for their failures, and to learn. And I want the definition of victim to be reviewed."
Ms Phillips said the case was definitely in the public interest, as the alleged perpetrator was still alive.
"People who are alleged to have abused over the years, that doesn't just magically go away - these people are a risk to society. Not only do victims deserve justice - regardless of how long ago your abuse was - the authorities should have a prime interest in keeping people safe."
Vicky said: "This has nearly beaten me down. Being adopted comes with so many difficulties, and the trauma of this has affected every part of my life.
"But I will persevere because I know this is so wrong. And I want justice."
Chief Superintendent Pete Henrick, head of West Midlands Police's public protection unit, said the force did not underestimate the psychological affects Vicky had "no doubt suffered".
He said the force had no record of a rape allegation in 1975 and, as such, no record of an investigation, and the alleged victim did not wish to co-operate when Vicky approached them in 2014.
A statement said: "In light of this, she asked whether she could be identified as a victim herself and if the case could be progressed on those grounds. The law does not recognise her as a victim in these circumstances. We liaised with the CPS and were advised they would not support a prosecution.
"Our handling of the case was scrutinised by both our Professional Standards Department and the Independent Police Complaints Commission at the time, and both agreed the police action and conclusion were appropriate."
Birmingham City Council said: "Since April 2018, children's social care services in Birmingham have been provided by Birmingham Children's Trust. Since then we have had no contact with "Vicky".
"We would, of course, be very happy to meet with her if she would find that valuable. It is certainly the case that the way allegations and incidents of harm to children are handled now is very different than was the case in 1975. We would be happy to discuss this with her when we meet."
Update 5 August 2019: This report has been amended following updated information supplied by West Midlands Police.
Follow the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on Facebook and Twitter - and see more of our stories here.
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Lancashire fracking: 2.9 magnitude tremor recorded - BBC News
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2019-08-27
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The regulator suspends operations while recent seismic activity in Lancashire is investigated.
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Lancashire
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Shale company Cuadrilla has been fracking at the Preston New Road site
An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 has been recorded near the UK's only active shale gas site in Lancashire.
The tremor near Blackpool was recorded at about 08:30 BST and is stronger than those that forced Cuadrilla to suspend test fracking in 2011.
Cuadrilla said it was investigating the tremor and said no fracking was being carried out at the time.
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said fracking would be suspended while it assessed recent seismic activity.
The latest quake is the third recorded in less than a week.
It follows another earthquake, with a magnitude of 2.1, measured at the Little Plumpton site on Saturday, which followed another tremor measured at 1.6 on Wednesday.
At present, government guidelines state that if fracking induces quakes above 0.5 magnitude then all drilling must cease for 18 hours.
However, the OGA said the current suspension would potentially remain in place longer, allowing it to consider carefully whether Cuadrilla's fracking plans "continued to be appropriate to manage the risk" of increased seismic activity in the area.
Drilling was previously suspended at the Preston New Road site in 2011 after earthquakes of 1.4 and 2.3 magnitude were recorded.
Cuadrilla's chief executive, Francis Egan, said he "sincerely hoped" fracking would not be halted this time and said the company now measured "surface ground motion vibration" which allowed it to put any seismic activity "into context".
Drilling had only resumed last October after campaigners failed to get an injunction preventing it.
Samantha Wheeler, who lives five miles away in Lytham St Anne's, said her "wardrobe shook and her bed moved" when she felt the earthquake on Monday.
She said: "It's getting really worrying."
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Heather Goodwin, who also lives in Lytham St Anne's, said: "The walls of my house shook, there was a really deep, guttural roar. For a moment, I really thought my house was going to fall down.
"It only lasted a few seconds but I felt the need to go all round the house and check for damage.
"We've been afraid of this happening. How long before there's real damage done and people injured?"
Professor Peter Styles, a specialist in applied and environmental geophysics at Keele University who has advised the government on fracking, said the latest quake was caused by the movement of a geological fault.
He said: "I think we're going to have to halt fracking, certainly for the time being as we did in 2011. We haven't collected a huge amount of data - remember there have only been a few fracks.
"We need data from the UK to make a reasoned argument. This is in the context of how we supply our energy to the UK so we're going to have to make decisions whether we want to have our own native energy or we want to import gas."
Dr Ben Edwards, reader in seismology at the University of Liverpool, said a tremor of 2.9 would not cause structural damage but the increase in magnitude of each recorded seismic activity recently was "a concern".
Regulators would want to be assured the magnitude would not increase further, he added.
Cuadrilla said it appreciated the tremor had "caused concern for local people" and said "it is worth noting that this event lasted for around a second and the average ground motion recorded was 5mm per second".
"This is about a third of that permitted for construction projects," it added.
It said the shale gas well was intact and it was working with regulators.
However, environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth has called for a complete fracking ban after three of the latest tremors.
Spokesman Jamie Peters said it was "getting out of hand".
"It's clearly not under control and at this point there is only one thing that can fix this situation: a ban, right now."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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Brexit: No-deal dossier shows worst-case scenario - Gove - BBC News
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2019-08-19
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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A no-deal Brexit will bring "bumps in the road", Michael Gove admits, as a leaked government document warns of food and drug shortages.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Michael Gove was questioned about what had actually changed since the document was produced
A leaked cross-government study warning of the impact of a no-deal Brexit outlines a "worst-case scenario", cabinet minister Michael Gove has said.
Details from the dossier warn of food and medicine shortages if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Mr Gove, who is responsible for no-deal preparation, said the document was old and Brexit planning had accelerated since Boris Johnson became PM.
But he acknowledged no deal would bring disruption, or "bumps in the road".
The leak comes as Mr Johnson is to meet European leaders later this week.
The prime minister will insist there must be a new Brexit deal when he holds talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to Operation Yellowhammer, the dossier leaked to the Sunday Times, the UK could face months of disruption at its ports after a no-deal Brexit.
And plans to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic are unlikely to prove sustainable, it adds.
The dossier says leaving the EU without a deal could lead to:
The dossier warns of disruption at ports, along with food, fuel and medicine shortages
A No 10 source told the BBC the dossier had been leaked by a former minister in an attempt to influence discussions with EU leaders.
They added that the document "is from when ministers were blocking what needed to be done to get ready to leave and the funds were not available".
Responding to the leak, Mr Gove said some of the concerns about a no-deal Brexit had been "exaggerated".
He said: "It's certainly the case that there will be bumps in the road, some element of disruption in the event of no-deal.
"But the document that has appeared in the Sunday Times was an attempt, in the past, to work out what the very, very worst situation would be so that we could take steps to mitigate that.
"And we have taken steps."
Mr Gove also claimed some MPs were "frustrating" the government's chances of securing a new deal with the EU.
He said: "Sadly, there are some in the House of Commons who think they can try to prevent us leaving on October 31st. And as long as they continue to try to make that argument, then that actually gives some heart to some in the European Union that we won't leave on October 31st.
"The sooner that everyone recognises that we will leave on that day, the quicker we can move towards a good deal in everyone's interests."
Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "I think there's a lot of scaremongering around and a lot of people are playing into project fear."
But a former head of the civil service, Lord Kerslake - who described the document as "credible" - said the dossier "lays bare the scale of the risks we are facing with a no-deal Brexit in almost every area".
"These risks are completely insane for this country to be taking and we have to explore every avenue to avoid them," he told BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said, in a tweet, that Dublin had "always been clear" a hard border in Ireland "must be avoided".
The Irish backstop - the provision in former prime minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement that could see Northern Ireland continue to follow some of the same trade rules as the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU, thus preventing a hard border - was an "insurance policy" designed to protect the peace process, he said.
Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Fein's deputy leader, accused Mr Johnson of treating the Northern Ireland peace process as a "commodity" in Brexit negotiations.
She said Ireland as a whole had been voicing concerns about a no-deal Brexit for months.
The SNP's Stephen Gethins said the documents lay bare the "sheer havoc Scotland and the UK are hurtling towards".
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said they showed the effects of a no-deal Brexit should be taken more seriously.
"The government has simply, I think, pretended that this wasn't an issue," he said
Ministers were in "a real pickle" since "the US has said that if that border is jeopardised, we're not going to get a trade deal with them", he added.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that a US-UK trade deal would not get through Congress if Brexit undermined the Good Friday Agreement.
The leak comes as the prime minister prepares to travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, before going to Paris to see French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
Mr Johnson is expected to say Parliament cannot and will not change the outcome of the 2016 EU referendum and will insist there must be a new deal to replace Mrs May's withdrawal agreement - defeated three times by MPs - if the UK is to leave the EU with a deal.
However, it is thought their discussions will chiefly focus on issues such as foreign policy, security, trade and the environment, ahead of the G7 summit next weekend.
Meanwhile, a cross-party group of more than 100 MPs has urged the prime minister to recall Parliament and let it sit permanently until the UK leaves the EU.
In a letter, MPs say the country is "on the brink of an economic crisis".
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also reiterated his call for MPs to work together to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Elsewhere, anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller said the government had "unequivocally" accepted it could not shut down Parliament to clear the way for a no-deal Brexit.
She told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "What they have said is, unequivocally, they accept that to close down Parliament, to bypass them in terms of Brexit - stopping a no-deal Brexit, in particular - is illegal."
Ms Miller said she would continue to seek further reassurances that MPs would be able to pass legislation to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller said the government had accepted it could not shut down Parliament to clear the way for a no-deal Brexit
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Mark Jordon: Emmerdale actor cleared of pub attack - BBC News
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2019-08-06
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Mark Jordon was acting in self-defence when he bit a man after a row in a pub garden, a jury decides.
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Manchester
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Mark Jordon said he was "looking forward to getting back to" his career and engagement to Laura Norton
An Emmerdale actor who bit a man's face after an argument outside a pub has been cleared of assault.
Mark Jordon, 54, who plays Daz Spencer in the soap, was accused of attacking Andrew Potts in July 2018 outside the Farrars Arms in Oldham.
A jury at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court found him not guilty of affray, unlawful wounding and assault by beating.
Mr Jordon had denied the charges and said he acted in self-defence.
Speaking outside court, the actor said he was "grateful to the jury for proving my innocence" and pleased his "awful ordeal" had come to an end.
The court previously heard Mr Jordon, of Tamewater Court, Dobcross, Oldham, bit 68-year-old Mr Potts in "sheer panic and fear" after being attacked.
Jurors heard the row started in a beer garden on 1 July, where Mr Jordon was celebrating his engagement to Laura Norton, who plays Kerry Wyatt in the soap.
Mr Jordon claimed Mr Potts had made "vile comments" about his daughter and had a video of her which he would post on YouTube.
CCTV footage showed Mr Jordon having to be held back from Mr Potts, who threw some punches at him.
Mr Jordon's Emmerdale character Daz Spencer was last seen on the soap in January
Former Heartbeat actor Mr Jordon said the footage showed him trying to grab Mr Potts' phone, not trying to be violent.
The court heard Mr Potts and his partner left the pub and walked down the road, but were later confronted by Mr Jordon, who got out of a taxi.
Jurors were told Mr Jordon bit Mr Potts' thumb and the palm of his hand and the pair fell to the ground, where the actor bit his eyebrow.
They heard Mr Jordon, who had been due on the set of Emmerdale the day after his arrest, suffered a fractured wrist when he was kicked by Mr Potts.
Mr Jordon told the jury he bit Mr Potts in self-defence, adding it "was not planned, regretful and in the moment".
Ms Norton broke down in tears in the public gallery as the verdicts were delivered.
Outside court, Mr Jordon said he was "looking forward to getting back to our engagement and my career, which has been on hold".
His character was last seen on the soap in January, when he moved away from the village to begin a new life in London.
A spokesman for the soap said there were "no current plans" for the character to return.
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London Bridge attack: Victim's partner calls for legal aid - BBC News
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2019-08-06
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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James Hodder, whose girlfriend Kirsty Boden was killed, says inquest families must have legal aid.
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UK
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. James Hodder says the London Bridge terror attack inquest was 'torture' for families
The families of victims killed in terror attacks should get legal aid for representation at inquests, says the partner of a London Bridge victim.
Kirsty Boden was stabbed when she went to help restaurant waiter Alexandre Pigeard in the June 2017 attack.
Her partner, James Hodder, is petitioning for legal aid for families ahead of the start of the inquests into the Manchester Arena bombing.
The government has said representation was "not necessary in all cases".
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the process was a fact-finding, not adversarial, exercise.
But Mr Hodder, 32, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme it was in the public interest for families to have help with paying for legal representation at inquests that cover such large scale attacks.
"You have to relive the worst night of your life in extreme detail in a public forum, repeatedly," he said. "It is literally torture for anyone that's been through that.
"At the end of that process, the government has then turned around to me and all the families of London Bridge and said you should pay... for all the legal fees you've racked up."
Mr Hodder launched his petition after the conclusion of the London Bridge attack inquests and ahead of the start of the inquest into the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people.
He said his family spent "hundreds of thousands of pounds" on legal representation for the inquest and he would have been left bankrupt had his lawyers not decided to waive some of their fees.
But he said it was those lawyers that raised important questions about the attack - including why vehicle-proof barriers were not in place on London Bridge.
Mr Hodder said: "Can you imagine me, with no legal training, going to the Old Bailey, court number one - a very intimidating place - and standing up for two months arguing complex legal arguments and being able to do that by myself?
"It is through your barrister, your QC that the right questions are asked. It's in the public interest that you are given legal representation so you can engage with the process."
Kirsty Boden, an off-duty nurse, was dubbed the "angel of London Bridge" in the aftermath of the attack
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the government had reviewed the inquest process earlier this year.
They concluded inquests were not about apportioning blame, but establishing the truth and learning lessons, so representation was not always needed.
The department also said families were given a special status during inquests, meaning they did not have to make legal arguments, but could question witnesses themselves or request that coroners did so on their behalf.
The spokesman said the government was improving awareness of the availability of legal aid to support families.
But Mr Hodder called the government's position "a pathetic excuse" - arguing other parties involved had legal representation.
"The home secretary had three QCs representing himself and his office," he said.
"At least one of the killer's families also got legal aid.
Mr Hodder has now called for a meeting with the new Justice Secretary Robert Buckland.
"I want him to explain to me why he thinks it's not necessary to give state-funded aid to victims like us," he said.
"I'm going to explain to him why I think he's wrong so we can get this changed before the Manchester inquest starts."
A petition calling on the government to provide legal aid to all families at inquests into terror attacks had gained more than 250,000 signatures as of Tuesday.
The Law Society - which represents solicitors in England and Wales - has criticised the assumption that families do not need representation at inquests, while state bodies do.
Legal aid is the money provided by the government to pay the legal costs of people who cannot afford them.
Applications to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) - which is funded by the Ministry of Justice - are usually made via a solicitor who has a contract with the organisation, according to the Law Society said.
The body's head of justice, Richard Miller, said to get legal aid for an inquest, bereaved people must prove:
But he said it was a "lengthy and inaccessible" process, full of "hurdles".
Mr Miller added: "We believe legal aid should be much more widely available for inquests, particularly where the state has legal representation."
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Leo Varadkar: Post-Brexit vote on Irish unity not the way forward - BBC News
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2019-08-06
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Leo Varadkar says a border poll in the wake of a no-deal Brexit would be "divisive".
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Northern Ireland
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Leo Varadkar debated with a number of other politicians in west Belfast
The taoiseach (Irish PM) has said a vote on Irish unity in the wake of a no-deal Brexit would be "divisive" and "not the right way forward".
Leo Varadkar was speaking during a debate at west Belfast festival Féile An Phobail.
Earlier, he said he still believed a no-deal Brexit could be avoided.
But he said a border poll following a no-deal could result in some of the mistakes made during the partition of Ireland being repeated.
"I think it would result in some of the mistakes made 100 years ago, when partition happened, being repeated but just the other way around - a huge number of people, those from a unionist, British, Ulster background, being brought into a united Ireland against their will."
He added that without the necessary preparation, it would "break down on sectarian lines" and "there's a chance it would be defeated".
Mr Varadkar said if his government prepared for a border poll, it would be "counter productive" as he has made efforts to persuade unionists that the EU withdrawal agreement - including the backstop - has been about protecting the status quo and not an attempt to bring about constitutional change.
Although she suggested something to the contrary in an interview a year ago, in recent months Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald has been consistent that a no-deal Brexit should trigger a border poll.
It's no surprise that the taoiseach disagrees. He argues that Northern Ireland cannot be simply grafted on to the Irish Republic in the way that East Germany was assimilated into West Germany.
Instead, Leo Varadkar says an entirely new state with a new constitution would be required, which takes into account the British identity of a sizeable section of its potential future population.
All this would require careful and lengthy preparation.
Ms McDonald turned this argument on its head at the leader's debate, insisting that if the Irish government isn't prepared for the prospect of a United Ireland, then it needs to get prepared.
Mr Varadkar was welcomed to Hillsborough Castle by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Niall Gibbons of Tourism Ireland
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Varadkar met business leaders to discuss Brexit as he visited Northern Ireland for the second time in four days following his participation in Belfast's Pride parade on Saturday.
At Hillsborough Castle he was greeted by DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, as well as business and tourism officials.
Asked during a press conference if he accepted a no-deal Brexit was now likely since the new UK prime minister had taken office, Mr Varadkar replied that a no-deal outcome could still be avoided.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'No deal can be avoided' - Taoiseach Leo Varadkar
He said this could happen by ratifying the current withdrawal agreement, agreeing a further extension to the deadline, or revoking Article 50: the mechanism that triggered the Brexit process.
Boris Johnson has ruled out any of those options, however Number 10 has denied it is unwilling to negotiate with the EU and wants talks to fail.
Speaking later at Féile An Phobail, Mr Varadkar said it was "not true" that the EU was unwilling to talk to the UK government.
He added that while the EU said the withdrawal agreement was not open for renegotiation, it was prepared to discuss the political declaration with the UK.
The political declaration sets out the future relationship between Britain and the EU after Brexit.
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The taoiseach also said on Tuesday that he understood some people had become "weary" of Brexit and feel the UK should leave the EU by 31 October "come what may".
But he added that, even if a no-deal outcome happens, negotiations would need to begin at some stage anyway to try to resolve the Irish border issue.
"Brexit is not a storm we weather or prepare for, it is a permanent change and that needs to be borne in mind," he said.
Mr Varadkar addressing the audience during a visit to the 174 Trust Interface Project in north Belfast
He also said it was "not true" that the EU was unwilling to talk to the UK government, contrary to what Michael Gove said.
DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said his party wanted to see a "sensible deal" between the UK and the EU, but that this could only happen if "Dublin and Brussels are in deal-making mode".
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Ireland's Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe also met Chancellor Sajid Javid in London for Brexit talks.
His visit came with continuing uncertainty over the status of UK-EU negotiations over Brexit.
Speaking on the BBC's Newsnight programme, Mr Donohoe said "the prospect of a no-deal Brexit has grown" since Boris Johnson became prime minister.
"I believe no deal is a very credible and material risk now and I believe Prime Minister Johnson feels differently about the relationship between the UK and EU and the future trust of that relationship [compared to] how Prime Minister May would have," he said.
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North Wales Police 'failed to protect' woman killed by ex-partner - BBC News
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2019-08-16
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Laura Stuart was murdered in 2017 despite 18 reports to police, including allegations of assault.
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Wales
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'He's taken her and her children's lives'
Police failed to adequately protect a woman who was later killed by her ex-partner, an investigation has found.
Laura Stuart, 33, was subjected to two years of "distress, isolation and humiliation" before being killed by Jason Cooper as she left a Denbigh pub.
An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation probed the 18 contacts made with North Wales Police before her murder in 2017.
The force said it had now changed how it deals with domestic abuse calls.
One officer has also been found guilty of misconduct.
"Reports made to police included allegations that Mr Cooper had used violence, made threats, had financial influence over Laura, attempted to remove her from the house following arguments and had threatened to distribute intimate photographs of her," said Mel Palmer, of the IOPC.
Jason Cooper was sentenced to 31 years in prison after being found guilty of murder
"These behaviours were likely to cause Laura distress, isolation and humiliation and escalated over the two years leading up to the tragic events of 12 August 2017."
Welsh Women's Aid said the case was a "stark reminder" of the "devastating impact" of domestic abuse and called for more effective training for officers.
The attack happened as Ms Stuart walked home from a night out and she suffered stab wounds to her back, head and chest, internal bleeding, and a fractured nose and cheek bone.
A friend who tried to help was also stabbed.
Laura Stuart was killed by Jason Cooper as she left a pub in Denbigh town centre
After Cooper was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 31 years in prison, Ms Stuart's family said she had been "let down".
Her mother Liz Griffiths said: "They could have done more for her."
During the trial, jurors heard Ms Stuart was told to "run" because Cooper was "going to kill her" and "erase" her.
She was also falsely accused of having a relationship with another man, and Cooper threatened to post naked photographs of her online.
The IOPC investigation followed a mandatory referral by North Wales Police to look at how the calls were handled
Between August 2015 and August 2017, 18 reports were made to police, including allegations of assault and verbal altercations.
The IOPC investigation looked at why Cooper was not arrested or his phone seized to investigate allegations of harassment, stalking or malicious communications.
However, it did find police made "numerous, unsuccessful attempts" to get accounts from Ms Stuart of two allegations of assault.
But officers did not pursue safeguarding measures despite referring her to other agencies.
Following the report's publication, Ms Palmer said the "range of characteristics and dynamics" of domestic abuse mean police officers need to be "vigilant".
"Incidents that may be perceived as low risk need to be viewed as part of a bigger picture so that forces view risk holistically to better safeguard women like Laura," she said.
Laura Stuart and Jason Cooper were together for two years before the relationship deteriorated - he once texted her 421 times in a day
Since the murder the force has made changes, including making it best practice for officers to activate body-worn video equipment when attending domestic abuse incidents.
It has also employed a trainer and staff will be educated in dealing with different situations.
Supt Nick Evans said the force accepted the findings of the IOPC.
"This has led to improvements in our policy and how we deal with domestic abuse incidents, more training for front line officers and investment in more domestic abuse specialists," he said.
A spokeswoman for Welsh Women's Aid said: "It is vital police forces across Wales have effective training to identify and effectively investigate all incidents of domestic abuse, including coercive controlling behaviour and stalking and harassment which is at the centre of many survivors' experiences of abuse."
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Katy Perry told to pay $550k to Christian rapper Flame - BBC News
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2019-08-02
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She has to pay a portion of the $2.7m settlement out of her own pocket.
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Newsbeat
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Katy Perry has been ordered to pay a Christian rapper $550,000 (£454,000) of her own earnings from her 2013 song Dark Horse by a US court.
That amount is a part of the $2.7m (£2.2m) awarded to gospel artist Flame, who has successfully sued the star for copying one of his songs.
Her label, Capitol Records, will have to pay most of the total amount.
The singer's legal team say they plan to appeal, if the case is not dismissed pending a defence motion.
Earlier this week, a US court found Katy, her producers and songwriters guilty of copyright infringement.
Lawyers representing Flame claimed that Katy and her team had "copied an important part" of his song, at the conclusion of legal proceedings that started in 2014.
The argument was over a musical part of Dark Horse's production - but Katy and the people who wrote the lyrics for the track were also found liable.
"The writers of Dark Horse consider this a travesty of justice," said Katy's attorney Christine Lepera outside court.
Attorneys for Capitol Records told the court the label earned $31m (£26m) from Dark Horse, but after costs only made a profit of $630,000 (£520,000).
The amount awarded is just a fraction of what Flame - real name Marcus Gray - was hoping to win from Katy.
His lawyers had argued that he was owed $20m (£17m).
"These defendants made millions and millions of dollars from their infringement of the plaintiffs' song," Flame's attorney Michael Kahn said in court.
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Katy had said, when she gave evidence during the trial, that she had never heard Joyful Noise before recording her hit with producers Dr Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut.
She also offered to sing Dark Horse to the court when a speaker system broke and it wasn't possible to play the song for the jury.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
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Brexit: No-deal opponents argue for Commons control - BBC News
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2019-09-03
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MPs aiming to block no deal have passed the first hurdle towards introducing a bill to delay Brexit.
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UK Politics
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Tory rebels and opposition MPs have cleared the first hurdle in their attempt to pass a law designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
Commons Speaker John Bercow granted them a debate and a vote on taking control of the Commons agenda.
If successful, they would be able to bring forward a bill seeking to delay the UK's exit date beyond 31 October.
No 10 officials have warned the prime minister will push for an election if they succeed.
The government is expected to table a motion to hold one on 14 October, arguing that if no deal is taken off the table there is no point in carrying on with negotiations with the EU.
The emergency debate - granted under a Commons rule to allow urgent discussion - can last up to three hours, with the main vote expected about 22.00 BST.
If the MPs win the vote - defeating the government - they will be able to take control of business on Wednesday.
That will give them the chance to introduce a cross-party bill which would force the prime minister to ask for Brexit to be delayed until 31 January, unless MPs approve a new deal, or vote in favour of a no-deal exit, by 19 October.
The government had warned Tory MPs they would face expulsion from the party if they backed the bill, and even before the vote, BBC Newsnight's political editor Nicholas Watt said the chief whip had started calling declared rebels into his office to make good on the threat.
Earlier, Conservative MP Phillip Lee defected to the Liberal Democrats ahead of the Commons showdown.
His defection means Boris Johnson no longer has a working majority.
In a letter to the prime minister, Dr Lee said Brexit divisions had "sadly transformed this once great party into something more akin to a narrow faction in which one's Conservatism is measured by how recklessly one wants to leave the European Union".
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sir Oliver said a no-deal would be a "threat to our country"
More than 10 Conservative MPs rose to their feet in support of the emergency debate application, moved by colleague Sir Oliver Letwin.
MPs are asked to stand to show their support if there are audible objections in the Commons chamber.
Opening the debate, Sir Oliver said this week would be the last for Parliament to block a no-deal exit, before it was due to be suspended next week.
Mr Johnson wants to suspend business for five weeks ahead of a Queen's Speech - setting out a new legislative programme - on 14 October.
Sir Oliver said the PM had "no credible negotiating strategy" and no deal was a "threat" to the UK that must be averted.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. John Bercow: I will facilitate the House of Commons, 'do or die'
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged MPs to support the move, also arguing it would be the "last opportunity" for Parliament to block a no deal.
"If we don't take action today, we may not get another chance," he said, adding the government had set the country on a "destructive" course.
But Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg criticised the Speaker's decision to allow the vote on the Commons agenda, arguing it was "constitutionally irregular".
He added that the decision "risks subverting Parliament's proper role in scrutinising the executive".
However, he said the government would follow any legislation passed by MPs, telling them: "This country is a country that follows the rule of law."
Mr Bercow responded to Mr Rees-Mogg's criticism by stating that his desire was "simply to seek to facilitate the House... and I will do that to the best of my ability, to coin a phrase, 'do or die'".
Last-ditch efforts to get the Tory rebels on side have been taking place, but there are thought to be about 15 who have not been won over.
The government had hoped the threat of an election - and of deselection and expulsion from the party - would be enough to bring them into line.
To call an election under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, Mr Johnson would need support from Labour as he requires the backing of two-thirds of the UK's 650 MPs.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Labour wanted an election, but "at a time of our choosing, and not on a wing and a prayer offered us by Boris Johnson."
She said he could not be trusted to stick to a mid-October date for an election, and might instead change the date until after the Brexit deadline.
Earlier, the PM's spokesman insisted it was simply wrong to suggest that the date of polling day could or would be changed.
The government says it wants a negotiated exit from the EU, but insists the UK must leave in all circumstances by the latest deadline of 31 October.
Earlier, Mr Johnson told the Commons he would travel to Dublin on Monday for discussions with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, focused on proposed alternative arrangements to the Irish border backstop - a key sticking point in the negotiations.
But he said that if MPs succeeded in their plan to block no deal, it would force him to go to Brussels to "beg for another pointless delay" to Brexit and he would "never" do that.
"It is Jeremy Corbyn's surrender bill. It means running up the white flag," he added.
In a no-deal scenario, the UK would immediately leave the EU with no agreement about the "divorce" process.
Opponents believe it would harm the economy, cause severe disruption to travel and supplies of goods like food and medicine, and lead to a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Proponents insist, though, that any disruption would be short-lived and could be managed with careful preparation.
It seems right now - although there is still some arm twisting going on behind the scenes - that the government is set to lose the vote.
We are finding ourselves in the middle of a full-throttle confrontation between a Parliament that does not want to allow the country to leave the EU without a deal and a prime minister who secured his place in power promising he would always keep that as an option.
Both of them cannot be the victors here.
And they are both determined to win.
Elsewhere, in Edinburgh, a judge has heard arguments over the prime minister's plan to shut down the UK Parliament.
A cross-party group of parliamentarians wants a ruling at the Court of Session that Mr Johnson is acting illegally.
And, in another legal challenge against his suspension plan, the High Court has given former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major permission to provide a written contribution to the judicial review sought by campaigner Gina Miller.
BBC legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman said this gives a boost to Ms Miller's case.
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Laura Kuenssberg: Can the rebel alliance stop no-deal Brexit? - BBC News
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2019-09-03
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A political rainbow of MPs lined up against no deal faces a major challenge to block the PM's plan.
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UK Politics
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Opposition to Mr Johnson has made unlikely political allies
It doesn't take long to find outrage around here - genuine or confected.
That's been the case for as long as the arguments about Brexit have been raging, longer than many of us might care to remember.
But, as one senior minister suggested tonight, for the rebels ranged against Boris Johnson next week, being angry about the time they have at hand isn't going to achieve their goals. "The thing for them is not to be outraged, it's to change the law."
Within days we will know if the MPs who are implacably opposed to leaving the EU without a deal can really do that.
With lots of former ministers on the backbenches, the group which is openly fighting against the possibility of leaving the EU without a deal has a different complexion.
And the opposition parties, including the Labour leadership, now appear fully engaged in next week's plan.
This is a big, powerful and diverse group, rather than a handful of experienced backbenchers doing their best to get huge numbers of MPs on side.
The strange political rainbow that is the loose rebel alliance now ranges from Conservatives like Philip Hammond at one end, all the way through to Jeremy Corbyn on the other - from dark blue to dark red, taking in yellow, green and all sorts of other shades in the middle.
Brexit continues to do weird things to the shape of our politics.
They are united in a determination to make it impossible for the prime minister ever to take us out of the EU if he hasn't been able to agree a new deal with the EU, or get one that's approved by Parliament.
It's a broadly held fear that leaving without formal arrangements in place could cause havoc - politically, and for the economy.
But given Boris Johnson's main reason for success in the Tory leadership election was to leave the EU whatever it takes at the end of October, it is a pretty major goal for a group of backbenchers and opposition politicians.
It's not just a demand to tweak a policy here or there, but to put a block on a vital part of the new PM's plan.
To do it, they are essentially trying to pull off the same trick as before, when, breaking convention, Yvette Cooper - along with other former ministers like Nick Boles and Oliver Letwin - led an unprecedented charge.
Using emergency procedures, MPs took control of what gets voted on and discussed in the Commons, and passed - by only one vote - a measure to force Theresa May to delay Brexit, rather than leave with no deal.
You can read more about it here for a refresher.
In truth Mrs May was, by then, extremely unlikely to leave without a deal, so it was dramatic and important, but much less politically charged than what we'll see next week.
Because the prime minister this time is openly committed to taking us out, whatever happens, in two months' time.
Talking to MPs involved this time, the plan is "well evolved", but there are still live discussions about the exact wording this time round.
I'm told the length of any extension and the kind of deadline they might seek to apply are still under consideration, the dates are very fluid and very sensitive.
One of those involved, Chris Leslie, told us today the vote might just in fact be to force Mr Johnson to give Parliament a vote on authorising a no-deal departure so it was not a decision he could make on his own.
He said: "By the time we get to Tuesday there will be, I believe, a proposal to put in protections against crashing out with no deal.
"That could mean we simply ensure that the House of Commons has to authorise whatever happens after 31 October. It may well be that there is a requirement on the prime minister to extend beyond."
Mr Leslie is confident that the group will have enough support. But others are not so sure.
Former Justice Secretary David Gauke - whose name has given the new Tory rebels the nickname of the 'Gaukeward squad' (don't blame me, it wasn't my gag to start with) - is one of those.
He told us today that "there is no guarantee", even though he fears next week might be the "last chance" if Parliament is going to assert itself.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Clearly there are plenty of newly emboldened Conservatives, freed from the constraints of government, who are ready and willing to vote against their leader next week.
But remember, it's not just about them, but the opposition parties too.
Although the Labour leadership seems nailed on to back the effort, they can't be sure all of their MPs will follow that line.
As ever, there are nerves among MPs about going against their constituents. There are some Labour MPs who hate the idea of leaving the EU, and no deal, but do not want to be seen to be part of stopping it happening, or creating yet another delay.
With numbers pretty tight, their decisions next week will be vital. One of the MPs who has been galvanizing the effort told me "the most important determinant is whether Labour MPs with constituencies that voted Leave can be persuaded."
That MP guessed that if more than 20 Labour MPs vote against or abstain when it comes to the votes, then the attempt overall will fail.
There is also the simple question of whether there is enough time on the clock to get it done, including whizzing through the House of Lords.
The sleeping bags are on standby for the possibility of all-night sittings.
Some MPs may try to insist they hold votes and debates all through the weekend to get it done.
There is a sense in some parts of government that Number 10 might actually relish this fight.
It's a chance for Mr Johnson's backers to make the already familiar case that he's on the side of people who just want what they voted for, and who don't want to be messed around any more by pesky Parliamentarians.
But ministers will fight hard to win next week for if they lose, it's a big rock in the prime minister's road to getting Brexit done. Whether Number 10 would ultimately pay any attention is a different question for another day.
Stand by, though, for the first huge showdown between the new prime minister and Parliament.
The Commons officially opens again for business next Tuesday at 14:30 BST. A key figure involved told me to get this going, "I'll be there at 2.31pm".
The strange political family fighting Mr Johnson doesn't have much time to lose, and a huge argument to try to win.
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Brexit: Boris Johnson attacked by Luxembourg PM over 'nightmare' - BBC News
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2019-09-17
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The PM says the EU is "fed up" with endless delays, as the Luxembourg PM chastises him at a press conference.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Luxembourg's PM spoke beside the empty podium where Boris Johnson was due to appear
Luxembourg's PM has attacked Boris Johnson's approach to Brexit, calling the situation a "nightmare".
Xavier Bettel said the British government had failed to put forward any serious proposals for a new deal.
But Mr Johnson, who pulled out of a joint press conference with Mr Bettel because of noisy protesters, said there was still a good chance of a deal.
A government source said the gap the UK and Brussels needed to bridge to achieve a deal "remains quite large".
Mr Johnson was visiting Luxembourg to hold talks with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as well as Mr Bettel.
After the working lunch with Mr Juncker and Mr Barnier, Mr Johnson said he had been encouraged by the EU's willingness to engage with the UK in their shared desire to avoid a no-deal exit - but there had not been a "total breakthrough".
However, the European Commission said the PM had yet to present concrete proposals for it to consider and insisted any new plans had to be "compatible" with the existing withdrawal agreement, which has been rejected three times by MPs.
There was then confusion after Mr Bettel held a press conference without Mr Johnson amid noisy protests by anti-Brexit protesters.
Mr Bettel, who addressed the media on his own after the UK PM pulled out, said his counterpart "holds the future of all UK citizens in his hands" and suggested it was his responsibility to break the deadlock in the process.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: EU have had 'bellyful' of delays
Standing next to an empty lectern, Mr Bettel warned Mr Johnson "you can't hold the future hostage for party political gain".
He said there were "no concrete proposals at the moment on the table" on a new Brexit deal from the UK and said the EU "needs more than just words".
"We need written proposals and the time is ticking, so stop speaking and act," he said.
The existing withdrawal agreement was the "only solution", he added.
Mr Johnson said his joint press conference was cancelled over fears the two leaders would have been "drowned out" by pro-EU protesters.
It is understood that his request for it to be held inside was turned down.
What exactly should we make of the oh so public venting on Monday by the prime minister of Luxembourg following his meeting with Boris Johnson?
Does this mean the EU has lost patience and will no longer engage in negotiations with the Johnson government? Can we expect an Angela Merkel rant or a Mark Rutte rave next?
"As long as there is a chance of a deal, it's in our own interest to engage. However frustrating negotiations are," a high-level EU contact told me.
The EU's Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, tweeted a photograph of the empty podium where Mr Johnson had been due to speak alongside Mr Bettel with the caption: "From Incredible Hulk to incredible sulk".
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Over the weekend Mr Johnson told a newspaper that the UK would break out of its "manacles" like cartoon character The Incredible Hulk - with or without a deal.
After the working lunch with Mr Juncker, Mr Johnson told the BBC's political editor he was "cautiously optimistic" about the state of negotiations and suggested the EU wanted to bring the two and half years of arguments about the terms of the UK's exit to an end.
"I see no point whatever in staying on in the EU beyond October 31st and we're going to come out. And actually that is what our friends and partners in the EU would like too.
"And I think that they've had a bellyful of all this stuff. You know they want to develop a new relationship with the UK. They're fed up with these endless negotiations, endless delays."
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While he was working "very hard" to get a deal, Mr Johnson said there would be no agreement unless the EU shifted its position on the backstop, the insurance policy to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland unless and until another solution is found.
"If we can't get movement from them on that crucial issue... we won't be able to get it through the House of Commons, no way."
He said there were a number of ideas under discussion which would allow the whole of the UK to leave the EU while protecting the integrity of the bloc's single market, upholding the Good Friday Agreement and supporting the Irish economy.
These, he said, included the use of technology to minimise border checks as well as the so-called Stormont lock, a mechanism to give Northern Irish politicians a say on the rules that apply to Northern Ireland.
"It is all doable with energy and goodwill," he insisted.
A UK government source later said: "It's clear Brussels is not yet ready to find the compromises required for a deal, so no-deal remains a real possibility - as the gap we need to bridge remains quite large."
As soon as we arrived at the office of the prime minister of Luxembourg it became obvious a planned outdoor news conference could not go ahead.
The anti-Brexit protesters in the square numbered less than 100 but their music and megaphones made it sound like a lot more and they occasionally used language you wouldn't want to hear on the news.
Behind the scenes the British and Luxembourgish delegations grappled with a diplomatic dilemma: Move the event inside but exclude the majority of the journalists? Gamble that the demonstrators could pipe down for a bit? Silence the host to save the guest's blushes?
The end result saw Mr Johnson do a short interview at the ambassador's residence to be shared with everyone while Mr Bettel took to the stage next to an empty podium.
He used the moment in the spotlight to deliver an impassioned speech, made all the more dramatic by the fact he's famed as one of the EU's most smiley, mild-mannered leaders.
Mr Johnson said he would meet the Halloween Brexit deadline come what may, insisting that the UK would be "in very good shape" whether there was a deal or not.
But pushed on how he would get around the law requiring him to ask for an extension if there is no deal by 19 October, the PM did not explain how it would be possible.
Ahead of Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing into whether the prorogation of Parliament was lawful, Mr Johnson defended the decision to suspend Parliament.
Parliament was prorogued last week, ahead of a Queen's Speech on 14 October. Legal challenges to the decision have been lodged in the courts by opposition MPs and campaigners.
Mr Johnson described claims that Parliament was "being deprived of the opportunity to scrutinise Brexit" as "all this mumbo jumbo" and a "load of claptrap".
"I think people think that we've somehow stopped Parliament from scrutinising Brexit.
"What absolute nonsense. Parliament will be able to scrutinise the deal that I hope we will be able to do both before and after the European Council on October 17."
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Supreme Court: Parliament suspension case 'a difficult question of law' - BBC News
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2019-09-17
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The Supreme Court hears competing arguments about the legality of the PM's decision to suspend Parliament.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Keen QC, argued on behalf of the government
The most senior judge in the UK says the case surrounding Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament raises "a serious and difficult question of law".
Lady Hale and 10 other judges must decide whether advice he gave to the Queen about prorogation was lawful.
Government lawyer Lord Keen QC said the PM was "entitled" to act as he did and the issue was not one for the courts.
Lord Pannick QC for campaigners against the move told the Supreme Court it was done to "silence" MPs ahead of Brexit.
Mr Johnson announced at the end of August that he intended to suspend - or prorogue - Parliament for five weeks.
He maintains it was right and proper to do so in order to pave the way for a Queen's Speech on 14 October to outline the government's legislative plans for the year ahead.
The prime minister insisted the move had nothing to do with Brexit and his "do or die" pledge to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal - but opposition MPs and campaigners dispute that and have taken the matter to court.
The Supreme Court is hearing two appeals this week relating to the decision after two lower courts ruled in contradictory ways.
Scotland's highest court ruled last week the five-week suspension was "unlawful", after a challenge by a cross-party group of politicians.
Edinburgh's Court of Session said the shutdown was designed to "stymie" MPs in the run-up to the Brexit deadline and Mr Johnson had effectively misled the Queen in the sovereign's exercise of prerogative powers.
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However, the High Court in England had previously ruled the opposite way, following a challenge to prorogation brought by businesswoman and campaigner Gina Miller.
Judges there said the suspension was "purely political" and therefore "not a matter" for the judiciary.
Protesters from both sides of the Brexit debate gathered outside the court off Parliament Square in Westminster as the three-day hearing began.
Lady Hale, President of the Supreme Court, said in her opening statement: "That this is a serious and difficult question of law is amply demonstrated by the fact that three senior judges in Scotland have reached a different conclusion from three senior judges in England and Wales."
She said the court would endeavour to address these questions, but would not determine "wider political questions" relating to the Brexit process or have any impact on its timing.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry - who was also one of the lawyers involved in the Scottish case - told the BBC she was "cautiously optimistic" the Supreme Court would uphold that ruling.
Otherwise, she said, it would be "accepting that it's possible... for the prime minister of a minority government to shut down Parliament if it is getting in his way".
Arguing on behalf of the government on Tuesday, the Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Keen, told the Supreme Court that in declaring the prorogation "null and of no effect", the Scottish court had "simply gone where the court could not go".
He said if the ruling was upheld, the prime minister would take "all necessary steps" to comply.
However, after being pushed by the judges, he said he would not comment on whether Mr Johnson might subsequently try to prorogue Parliament again.
Lord Keen said previous prorogations of Parliament - including in 1930 and 1948 - had "clearly been employed" when governments wanted to "pursue a particular political objective", adding: "They are entitled to do so."
He said that if MPs did not want Parliament to be suspended they had "adequate mechanisms" and opportunities to stop it in its tracks by passing new laws - pointing to the fact a bill to block a no-deal Brexit was passed in just two days.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC's Clive Coleman takes a look inside the UK's Supreme Court
Arguing on behalf of Ms Miller - and against the English court ruling - crossbench peer Lord Pannick said Mr Johnson suspended Parliament to avoid the risk of MPs "frustrating or damaging" his Brexit plans.
There was, Lord Pannick added, "strong evidence" the PM saw MPs "as an obstacle" and wanted to "silence" them.
He said he had "no quarrel" with a prime minister's right to prorogue Parliament in order to present a Queen's Speech.
However, he said the "exceptional length" of this suspension was "strong evidence the prime minister's motive was to silence Parliament because he sees Parliament as an obstacle".
Gina Miller is appealing against an earlier ruling which found in favour of the government
Lord Pannick said the facts showed the PM had advised the Queen to suspend Parliament for five weeks "because he wishes to avoid what he saw as the risk that Parliament, during that period, would take action to frustrate or damage the policies of his government".
He said the effect of the suspension was to take Parliament "out of the game" at a pivotal moment in the UK's history and he disagreed with the High Court's judgement that the issue was outside the scope of the courts.
"The answer is either yes, or it is no, but it is an issue of law, and the rule of law demands the court answers it and not say 'it is not for us and it is for the discretion of the prime minister'."
Amid the protests outside the Supreme Court, and the calm but focused legal debate inside, the first day of this potentially monumental constitutional battle came down to two questions.
Do judges have the power to stop a prime minister proroguing Parliament? And, if so, did Boris Johnson act illegally and mislead the Queen?
Lord Pannick QC, for Gina Miller, hammered out attack after attack.
Where was the prime minister's witness statement showing he had an honest reason for closing Parliament? How could a prime minister who is accountable to Parliament prevent it from holding his feet to the fire?
Lord Keen QC, the government's top lawyer in Scotland, argued judges couldn't even consider these questions.
There was a key moment of political intrigue when the justices wondered what Mr Johnson would do if he were to lose.
But his lawyer could not say whether he might simply ask the Queen to re-open Parliament - and then shut it down again.
Ms Miller is seeking a mandatory order which would effectively force the government to recall Parliament, BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said.
Opposition parties have called for Parliament to be recalled but at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr Johnson told ministers he was "confident" of the government's arguments.
He told the BBC on Monday he had the "greatest respect for the judiciary", and its independence was "one of the glories of the UK".
Downing Street has refused to speculate on how the government might respond should they lose this court case.
Pressed this morning, the Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland, declined to say whether Parliament would be recalled, or indeed whether the prime minister might seek to suspend Parliament for a second time.
Mr Buckland said any decision would hinge on the precise wording of the court judgement.
Nevertheless, defeat would be a significant blow.
It would be the first time in modern history that a prime minister had been judged to have misled Parliament.
And if MPs were recalled, Mr Johnson would almost certainly face contempt of Parliament proceedings, accusations that he'd lied to the Queen, and pressure to reveal more details about his negotiating strategy and his planning for no deal.
Defeat in the Supreme Court would also make it much harder for the prime minister to defy MPs for a second time as he has threatened to do over their bill to block a no-deal Brexit.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, the prime minister has discussed Brexit in a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
No 10 said afterwards: "The prime minister reiterated that the UK and the EU have agreed to accelerate efforts to reach a deal without the backstop which the UK Parliament could support, and that we would work with energy and determination to achieve this ahead of Brexit on 31 October."
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UK knife crime: The first 100 fatal stabbings of 2019 - BBC News
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2019-09-13
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The BBC has tracked the killings to uncover the stories of those who have lost their lives.
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One hundred people have been fatally stabbed in the UK so far this year.
The first death was 33-year-old mother Charlotte Huggins, who died in London just a few hours after celebrating the start of the new year.
The 100th death was John Lewis, 32, who died in Middlesbrough on the evening of 14 May.
Those killed in 2019 range in age from 14-year-old Jaden Moodie, who was stabbed in Leyton, east London in January - to 80-year-old Barbara Heywood, who was attacked at her home in Bolton in March.
Almost half of the victims were under 30 and were overwhelmingly male.
There has been one fatal stabbing every 1.45 days so far this year in England and Wales. If killings continued at that rate for the rest of the year, the total would be slightly lower than the 285 stabbing deaths recorded in 2017-18.
Thirty of the fatal stabbings were in London, 10 in Greater Manchester and eight in the West Midlands.
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The police have made arrests in nearly all of the cases and have charged suspects in 86.
Below are the details and, where available, photos of those who have lost their lives so far this year.
You can filter the list using the categories below
• Thirty-three-year-old mother Charlotte Huggins died just a few hours after celebrating the start of the new year. She was stabbed at a residential address in south London and died at the scene. In a message posted on Facebook shortly before being attacked, Ms Huggins had wished her friends and family a "healthy, happy 2019". Her boyfriend Michael Rolle is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey on 1 July after pleading not guilty to Ms Huggins’ murder.
• Tudor Simionov, 33, had recently moved from Romania to east London with his girlfriend. On New Year’s Eve, he was working as a doorman at a private party in Mayfair. Mr Simionov was stabbed to death in the early hours of 1 January when a group of men tried to gatecrash the party. A woman and two of his male colleagues were also found with stab injuries. Haroon Akram, Adham Khalil, Adham Elshalakany, and Nor Aden Hamada will appear at the Old Bailey on 1 July to face charges of Mr Simionov’s murder, as well as two counts of attempted murder and two counts of GBH.
• Computer programmer Lee Pomeroy, 51, died after being attacked on a South Western Railway train bound for London Waterloo. Described as a “devoted family man”, Mr Pomeroy had been heading to London from Guildford for a day out with his 14-year-old son when he was stabbed nine times on the train. Darren Pencille is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey on 24 June to face charges of murder.
• Jaden Moodie became the first teenager to be stabbed to death in the UK in 2019 when he was knocked off a moped and attacked in Leyton, east London. The 14-year-old boy had moved to London from Nottingham with his mother for a "new start" six months before he died. His sister, Leah Moodie, said: "No one should have to go through the traumatic experience my family are going through." Ayoub Majdouline, 18, and Yousuf Dubbad, 21, have been charged with Jaden’s murder.
• Gavin Moon, 31, died from a stab wound he suffered at his flat in Washington, Tyne and Wear. His family paid tribute to the 31-year-old father, describing Mr Moon as "a devoted dad to his children and a loving son". Brian Goldsmith, 47, from Sunderland and Luc Barker, 28, from Washington, have been charged with Mr Moon’s murder and will face trial at Newcastle Crown Court on 18 June.
• Przemyslaw Cierniak was found with stab wounds shortly after midday on 10 January in a street in the centre of Boston, Lincolnshire. The 41-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. Lincolnshire Police say the victim and two suspects were known to each other. Mariusz Skiba, 32, and Dariusz Kaczkowski, 33, have both been charged with murder and will face the charges at Lincoln Crown Court on 10 June.
• Thirty-two-year-old Bashir Abdullah was found dead inside a block of flats in Bristol. A post-mortem revealed Mr Abdullah died after being stabbed. Avon and Somerset Police said the stabbing was being treated as an isolated incident. On 15 January, Jamal Sheik-Mohammed, 51, was charged with Mr Abdullah’s murder. He will stand trial at Bristol Crown Court on 8 July.
• Asma Begum, 31, was found with a neck injury at an address in Tower Hamlets. Police were called to the address in Poplar, but Ms Begum was pronounced dead at the scene. Jalal Uddin, 46, has been charged with her murder.
• Paul Dickson was stabbed at a house in Bolton, Lancashire, on 30 December. The 49-year-old died nearly two weeks later in hospital and a murder investigation was launched by Greater Manchester Police. No one has been charged with Mr Dickson’s murder, but a 34-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assault at the time of the stabbing. She has been bailed pending further police enquiries.
• Alison Hunt’s body was found at a property in Swinton, Greater Manchester, on 16 January. The 42-year-old had been stabbed to death, police confirmed. Described as a “wonderful mum”, Ms Hunt’s family and friends paid tribute to her in a statement, saying: “The light in our lives has been forever extinguished. The way she brightened up every day with her laughter and sense of humour will always be with us." Vernon Holmes, 48, from Irlam, was charged with Ms Hunt’s murder and will stand trial at Manchester Crown Court on 1 July.
• Sixty-nine-year-old Mary Annie Sowerby, known as Annie, was a "devoted wife" who "filled her life with joy and happiness", her family said. Ms Sowerby, who was married with two children, was found stabbed at a property in Dearham. She was treated by paramedics but died of her injuries. Her son Lee Sowerby, 45, has been charged with her murder and will stand trial at Carlisle Crown Court on 24 June.
• The 33-year-old was taken to Warrington General Hospital where he later died. Adrisse Gray, 23, admitted to Mr O’Donnell’s murder and will be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 20 May. Gray is the first person to be convicted of a 2019 fatal stabbing.
• Community worker Ian Ogle, 45, died after being stabbed 11 times and beaten in the street near his home in East Belfast on 27 January. The father-of-two had acted as a spokesman for the loyalist community in East Belfast. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a gang of at least five men were involved in the attack. Jonathan Brown, 33, and Glenn Rainey, 32, have been charged with murder.
• Kamil Malysz was found dead in a shared residential building in Acton on 27 January. The 34-year-old was a Polish national who had been living in west London. A post-mortem examination found he died as a result of haemorrhaging because of a stab injury. A 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder, but later released with no further action being taken. The Metropolitan Police are yet to charge anyone in connection with Mr Malysz’s death.
• Teenager Nedim Bilgin died after being attacked on Caledonian Road in Islington on 29 January. Speaking at the scene after the stabbing, Islington Councillor Paul Convery said the area had been blighted by tensions between gang rivalries for years. An investigation was launched by police, but nobody has been charged with the 17-year-old’s murder.
• Michael Liddell, 35, was found by paramedics suffering from a stab wound at a home in Longlevens, Gloucester, on 31 January. Mr Liddell died a short time later and his 65-year-old mother, Joy, was charged with his murder. Joy Liddell had been due to stand trial at Bristol Crown Court on 29 July, however, Avon and Somerset Police said she died in April. An inquest date for both deaths is yet to be set.
• Reece Ottaway, 23, was found dead at a social housing complex in Northampton on 1 February, following a "disturbance". A post-mortem examination confirmed that Mr Ottaway, from Daventry, had died as a result of a stab wound. His family said his death "will haunt us for the rest of our lives". Five men have been charged with his murder and will face trial in September.
• Kevin Byrne's body was discovered at an address in Alison Street, Kirkcaldy, on 5 February. The 45-year-old, who had had his left leg amputated and used crutches, was also known locally as Kevin Forrester. Leslie Fraser appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court charged with assault and murder.
• Jurijs Paramonovs was stabbed inside his home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, on 3 February. The 46-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene and a murder investigation was launched by Cambridgeshire police. Olegs Titovs, 49, pleaded not guilty at Cambridge Crown Court to murdering Mr Paramonovs and was told a trial would start on 8 July.
• Lejean Richards became the third teenager to be stabbed to death in London in 2019 when he was attacked near his home in Battersea. In a tribute, Mr Richards' mother said her 19-year-old son was “turning his life around”. Roy Reyes-Nieves and Roger Reyes-Nieves have both been charged with Mr Richards' murder and will stand trial at the Old Bailey on 12 August.
• Mum-of-four Aliny Mendes had been picking up her children from school when she was attacked and stabbed in a street in Ewell, Surrey, on 8 February. A JustGiving page raised more than £58,000 for her family and to repatriate the 39-year-old’s body back to her native Brazil. Her estranged husband, Ricardo Godinho, 41, has admitted manslaughter but denied murdering Ms Mendes. He will stand trial at Guildford Crown Court on 17 June.
• Dennis Anderson was attacked in a street in Dulwich, south London, reportedly after a row about cigarettes in an off-licence. The 39-year-old, who was a painter and decorator, was stabbed in the neck outside the Food and Wine shop on Lordship Lane. Jahmal Michael Riley was charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon. The 24-year-old will stand trial at the Old Bailey on 5 August.
• Wesley Adyinka died after being stabbed in the heart near his home in Maidstone on 10 February. The 37-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. His partner Amanda Francis was also injured but survived the attack. Four people have been charged with murder and causing grievous bodily harm.
• Carl Hopkins, 49, was stabbed in his lung near Colchester’s Castle Park on 11 February. A friend described in a newspaper interview how he and Mr Hopkins were both sleeping rough in Colchester at the time. Andrew Whitten reportedly said Mr Hopkins “was a loveable pain in the neck and we argued like cat and dog. But we were close and we had each other’s back. He was always there for me and I love him to bits”.
• Paramedics were called to a shared property in Coventry and found 22-year-old Patrick Hill suffering from a stab wound. He was taken to hospital but died from his injuries three days later. Levi Whitmore-Wills, 18, was initially charged with wounding, but was later charged with murder after Mr Hill died. Mr Whitmore-Wills has pleaded not guilty and is due to stand trial at Warwick Crown Court on 24 June.
• Dorothy Bowyer, 77, was found dead at a house in the Derbyshire village of Buxworth on Valentine’s Day. She had been stabbed in the chest. A dog was also found dead at the property. The mother-of-three had worked at a sweets factory and was “loved by the community”, according to friends and neighbours. William Blunsdon, 25, of Buxworth, who was arrested shortly afterwards, has been charged with her murder and criminal damage.
• Sixteen-year-old Sidali Mohamed was attacked outside Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College in Highgate, Birmingham, on 13 February. He died two days later. The teenager had fled war-torn Somalia with his family when he was a toddler. Family members said Sidali had "many ambitions and goals" and wanted to be an accountant. His college principal described him as "a wonderful young man". A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder.
• Abdul Deghayes was found stabbed in a car in Brighton after a crash on 16 February. He died from his injuries the following day. He was the brother of two British teenagers killed while fighting for Islamist militants in Syria. Another brother, Amer, is believed to be still alive in Syria. His uncle, Omar Deghayes, was detained at Guantanamo Bay for almost six years. Daniel MacLeod, 36, will stand trial at Hove Crown Court on 24 June to face a charge of murdering Abdul Deghayes.
• Bright Akinleye was stabbed in the leg during a row at a party near Euston railway station on 18 February. The 22-year-old staggered into a nearby luxury hotel and collapsed. He later died at the scene. Seven men and seven women were arrested on suspicion of murder. Only one person - Tashan Brewster - has been charged with Mr Akinleye’s murder. The 30-year-old is set to appear at the Old Bailey on 12 August for trial.
• Sixteen-year-old Abdullah Muhammad was stabbed in the back and chest in a Birmingham park on 20 February. He was the second teenager to be stabbed to death in the city in a week. Abdullah had been studying to memorise the Koran at the Green Lane Mosque. His teachers said he was “a young man with ambition and potential". Three people - Demille Innis, Amari Robinson, also known as Amari Tullock, and a 17-year-old boy - have all been charged with murder and will appear at Birmingham Crown Court for a trial on 27 August.
• Alasdair Forsyth was discovered with serious injuries at an address in Clearburn Road, Prestonfield, Edinburgh, on 21 February. The 67-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene by the Scottish Ambulance Service. Three males - aged 15, 16 and 19 - have been charged in connection with the death and were remanded in custody following a court appearance in February.
• Glendon Spence, 23, died after being attacked at the Marcus Lipton Youth Centre in Brixton on 21 February. The Metropolitan Police said a fight had started outside the youth centre and Mr Spence had run inside, where he was stabbed. A football training session for children was taking place in the centre at the time. Two 17-year-old boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been charged with Mr Spence’s murder and will stand trial at the Old Bailey on 12 August.
• Courtney Valentine-Brown died after being stabbed in the leg in Southend just before midnight on 21 February. The 36-year-old was taken to hospital, but later died from his injuries. His family said he was "ambitious, cheeky and extremely creative with his whole future ahead of him". Three men and a woman have been charged with Mr Valentine-Brown's murder.
• Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck died after he was stabbed by a gang riding bikes in Wood Green, north London. The 19-year-old was chased into a hair salon and attacked by men armed with a firearm, knives and a samurai sword. A second man was shot but survived. Detectives said the attack would have been witnessed by several people, including children. Tyrell Graham, 18, and Sheareem Cookhorn, 20, have been charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery.
• Philip McMillan, 26, died in Wishaw General Hospital, in North Lanarkshire, after being stabbed during a fight in a street in Holytown on 22 February. Mr McMillan, who was a Rangers fan, had a son. Three men, in their 20s, have been charged in connection with the incident.
• Father-of-two, Phillip Rooney, 32, was found dead at a house in Leigh, Greater Manchester, after being stabbed in the stomach. His family said he was "witty, caring and had a heart of gold". Stephen Brocklehurst, 48, will stand trial at Manchester Crown Court after being charged with Mr Rooney’s murder.
• Gary Cunningham became the third person in ten days to die from a stabbing in Birmingham. The 29-year-old was attacked at a flat in Harborne on 23 February and died at the scene. Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow was arrested and charged with Mr Cunningham’s murder. The 26-year-old will appear at Birmingham Crown Court on 22 July for trial.
• Teenager Connor Brown died in hospital after being attacked behind The Borough pub in Sunderland city centre in the early hours of 24 February. The 18-year-old was a student at the local Farringdon Community Sports College. England footballer and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who went to the same school as Mr Brown, was among those who expressed their sympathy to his family. Ally Gordon, 19, and Leighton Barrass, 20, were charged with Mr Brown’s murder and remanded in custody to appear at Newcastle Crown Court for a trial on 1 July.
• Spanish national David Lopez-Fernandez was found stabbed at an address in Stepney, east London. Police and paramedics treated the 38-year-old at the scene, however, he later died from his injuries. Jairo Sepulveda-Garcia, 36, was charged with Mr Lopez-Fernandez’s murder and will stand trial at Southwark Crown Court on 19 August.
• Hazrat Umar became the third teenager within 12 days to be stabbed to death in Birmingham. The 18-year-old, who was a student at the South and City College in Birmingham, suffered fatal stab injuries in Bordesley Green. Mr Umar was studying electrical engineering. His family and friends said they could not understand why he was targeted. A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is due to stand trial at Birmingham Crown Court on 10 June.
• Jodi Miller was found suffering from serious injuries inside a home in Harehills, Leeds, on 25 February. The 21-year-old was taken to hospital but died a short time later. It is believed she had been stabbed. Karar Ali Karar, 29, has been charged with Ms Miller’s murder and is set to appear at Leeds Crown Court for a trial on 12 August.
• Che Morrison was stabbed to death outside Ilford railway station in east London on 26 February. His family described the 20-year-old as "very ambitious" and said he "had many aspirations for his future". Mr Morrison had studied at Havering College of Further and Higher Education. Florent Okende, 20, is due to stand trial over Mr Morrison’s murder, at the Old Bailey on 15 July.
• St John Lewis died after being attacked in Broadlea Terrace in Bramley, Leeds, on 26 February. Mr Lewis worked as a chef at a pizza restaurant in the city. His father, Alfie Lewis said he was a “gentleman who was very keen to help people. He wouldn’t hurt a fly". Dean Dagless, 48, of Broadlea Terrace, is due to appear at Leeds Crown Court on 8 July to face charges of murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
• Emergency services were called to an address in Paignton, Devon, on 27 February where 74-year-old Peter Flux was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem revealed that Mr Flux - who was an artist - died from a stab wound to the neck. Faye Burford, 40, was charged with Mr Flux’s murder and remanded in custody to appear at Exeter Crown Court on 12 August for a trial.
• Lance Martin, 24, was found with life-threatening injuries in Normanton on 28 February, and died in hospital. A friend paid tribute to him, saying he was a "gentle giant at heart" who "loved his little boy". Mr Martin's death had shaken everyone he knew, she added. Three people have been charged with murder and one with manslaughter. All four have pleaded not guilty.
• Jodie Chesney was attacked while playing music in a park with friends in Harold Hill, Havering, on 1 March. The 17-year-old died after being stabbed in the back. Former classmates described her as a "bundle of joy and such a good person" and said she was "so beautiful - inside and out". Jodie, who was a girl scout – was said to be a “wonderful student “ by the Principal at Havering College. Manuel Petrovic, 20, Svenson Ong-a-kwie, 18, and a 16-year-old boy have all been charged with Jodie’s murder and are set to stand trial at the Old Bailey on 2 September.
• Yousef Makki, from Burnage, died after being attacked in Gorse Bank Road, near Altrincham on 2 March. The Manchester Grammar School student had been stabbed in the street. Yousef's parents described him as a "loving and caring son and brother", and said he had phoned hours before his death to say he would be home for tea. Two 17-year-old boys - who cannot be named for legal reasons - were charged in connection with Yousef’s death. The pair are set to stand trial at Manchester Crown Court on 18 June.
• Mother-of-three Elize Stevens was stabbed to death at a house in Hendon, north-west London on 2 March. The 50-year-old worked as a welfare officer for the S&P Sephardi Community. A spokesman said she had impressed everyone with her "friendly nature, warmth and dedication to the job". Ian Levy, 54, was charged with Ms Stevens’ murder and is set to stand trial at the Old Bailey on 5 August.
• Spanish national David Martinez-Valencia,26, was stabbed in the chest, legs and back inside a flat in Leyton, east London, on 6 March. The police said his death "is not believed to be gang-related". Carlos Rueda Velez, 18, has been charged with Mr Martinez’s murder and is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey on 19 August.
• Luciano Dos Santos was struck by a vehicle in Oxford and stabbed several times. The 22-year-old victim was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, where he later died on 6 March. His mother, Carla Dos Santos, said he was "a sweet, loving and strong-willed young man". Four men have been charged in connection with Mr Dos Santos’ death and are set to appear at Oxford Crown Court on 2 September for trial.
• Mohamed Elmi was one of two men stabbed in linked attacks in central London on Sunday 3 March. The 37-year-old was found with stab wounds early in the morning in Soho. Hours later, police were called to another incident in Camden, in which a 16-year-old boy had been stabbed. The teenager survived the attack but Mr Elmi died three days later. Joe Gynane, 32, will stand trial at the Old Bailey on 1 July to face charges of murder, attempted murder, possession of a bladed article and two counts of assaulting emergency service workers.
• Ayub Hassan, 17, was stabbed three times in the chest in Lanfrey Place, West Kensington, on 7 March. The teenager, who was a student at Hammersmith College, had dreamed of becoming a barrister, a relative said. A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder and will appear for a trial at the Old Bailey on 19 August.
• Mother-of-five Rachel Evans, 46, was stabbed multiple times at a house in Hignett Avenue, St Helens, on 11 March. Carl Harrison, 46, has pleaded guilty to murder. He is due to be sentenced on 14 June.
• Reece Leeman was stabbed following an argument at a house in Sydenham, East Belfast. The 21-year-old staggered into the street where he was found collapsed. He later died in hospital. A 28-year-old man has been charged with Mr Leeman’s murder.
• Nathaniel Armstrong, 29, was stabbed to death in the early hours of the morning on 16 March in Fulham, west London. Mr Armstrong's cousin Alex Beresford, Good Morning Britain's weatherman, said the victim was a "bright young man". Lovel Bailey, 29, was arrested at Gatwick Airport on 2 April and charged with Mr Armstrong’s murder. He is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey on 18 November.
• Kumarathas Rajasingam, 57, was stabbed to death at his home in Wymondham, Norfolk. His wife, Jeyamalar Kumarathas, 54, has been charged with his murder and is set to stand trial at Norwich Crown Court on 19 August. Norfolk Police say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the murder.
• Mother-of-three Debbie Twist was stabbed to death at her home in Leigh, Manchester, on 17 March. Greater Manchester Police said the stabbing of the 47-year-old was being treated as an “isolated” incident. A 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and bailed.
• The body of Alison McKenzie, 55, was found inside a flat in the Berwick Hills area of Middlesbrough on 20 March. Her son, Ian McKenzie, 34, was charged with murder and has been remanded to appear at Teesside Crown Court.
• On the evening of 22 March, teenager Abdirashid Mohamoud had been in Syon Park, Isleworth, when he was chased to a block of flats by a group of men. The 17-year-old from Brentford was stabbed several times and died at the scene. A relative said Abdirashid had dreamed of becoming an engineer. A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and bailed. A 23-year-old was also arrested and released under investigation.
• Jonathan Roper, from Glastonbury, was stabbed on the afternoon of 23 March. The 34-year-old died at the scene in Wells, Somerset. He was described as a "devoted family man", who would be much missed. Seven men and three women were arrested in connection with Mr Roper’s death.
• Ravi Katharkamar, 54, was stabbed in the chest as he went to open his newsagents in Pinner, north-west London, on a Sunday morning. Alex Gunn, 31, of no fixed address, has been charged with murder, robbery, possession of a bladed article, and theft of a motor vehicle. Mr Gunn is due to appear at the Old Bailey on a date to be set.
• Richard Astin, 42, died from his injuries after being stabbed on a road outside the nearby Highgate pub in Oakes, Huddersfield. Shaun Waterhouse, 39, has been charged with Mr Astin’s murder and is due to stand trial at Leeds Crown Court on 23 July.
• The 80-year-old great-grandmother was fatally stabbed at her home in Bolton on 27 March. A family statement described Mrs Heywood as a “generous, kind-hearted lady who loved life". An 88-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and later detained under the Mental Health Act.
• Zahir Visiter, a Chechen refugee, was stabbed in St John’s Wood, London, on the evening of 28 March. The 25-year-old was taken to hospital, where he died a short time later. It is thought that those involved fled in the direction of the London Central Mosque, near Regent’s Park, which was put in lockdown while it was searched by armed police. Three people were arrested by police at an address in Whitechapel, east London. Subsequently, Kamal Hussain, 21, and Yosif Ahmed, 18, were both charged with murder.
• Hassan Ahmed Mohamoud, from Toxteth, Liverpool, was stabbed in the neck in broad daylight on 28 March. The 29-year-old was taken to hospital where he later died from his injuries. A 28-year-old man, also from Toxteth, was arrested and has been detained under the Mental Health Act, Merseyside Police have said.
• Father-of-three Gavin Garraway was attacked in his car while he was driving near Clapham Common tube station. The 40-year-old was stabbed and pronounced dead at the scene outside The Belle Vue pub. Zion Chiata,18, has been charged with Mr Garraway’s murder and is set to stand trial at the Old Bailey on 14 October.
• Father-of-one Leneto Kellengbeck was stabbed near his home in Solihull, on 29 March. The 24-year-old’s mother Jasmine described her son as "kind and thoughtful". Mr Kellengbeck was a keen boxer. Demus Marcus, 24, was charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon on 19 April.
• Damian Banks was found unconscious and with stab wounds to his chest at a property in Durham on 30 March. The 34-year-old was taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary but died. His brother Vincent Bell, 35, was arrested and charged with Mr Banks’ murder and is due to appear at Teesside Crown Court.
• Paul Taylor, 45, from Hebburn, South Tyneside, was pronounced dead by emergency services after he was found at a house in Jarrow. Nicola Lee, 44, was charged with his murder and has pleaded not guilty.
• Calvin Bungisa was chased and repeatedly stabbed in Gospel Oak, Camden, in what was described by the Met as a “brutal and merciless attack”. The 22-year-old former Haverstock School pupil was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of paramedics. No one has been charged or arrested in connection with Mr Bungisa’s death.
• Jordan O'Brien, 25, died in hospital after suffering serious injuries at a house in Gainsborough on 27 March. Doctors tried to save the father-of-two by amputating a leg but he later died of his injuries on 2 April. Kieron Walker, 22, was charged with Mr O’Brien’s murder and has pleaded not guilty.
• John Carroll, 52, died on 2 April after being stabbed at a house in Selly Oak, Birmingham. His 53-year-old wife, Deborah Carroll, was arrested and subsequently charged with Mr Carroll’s murder. She has been remanded to appear at Birmingham Crown Court.
• Tyrelle Burke died in hospital after being stabbed in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, on 5 April. In a statement paying tribute to the 20-year-old, his family said he was a “funny, caring son, who always had time for his family”. A 17-year-old boy was charged with Mr Burke’s murder and possession of an offensive weapon. He has been remanded to appear at Manchester Crown Court.
• Alexandru Constantinescu died at a caravan park in Dunkirk near Canterbury after being stabbed in the heart. His family, who live in Romania, described him as a music lover and a “beautiful son". Dumitru Palazu, 48, has been charged with the 30-year-old's murder and has pleaded not guilty.
• Odessa Carey was found injured inside her home in Ashington, on 8 April. The 73-year-old's daughter, also called Odessa Carey, was arrested after being found a few miles away in the village of Guide Post. Ms Carey, 35, was charged with her mother’s murder and is due to stand trial at Newcastle Crown Court on 2 October.
• Noore Bashir Salad was shot and stabbed in Newham, east London, on 8 April. Police believe the 22-year-old was attacked by three men. The post-mortem examination gave his cause of death as a stab wound to the leg.
• Yet to be named Police Scotland launched a murder investigation on 13 April after a 25-year-old man was found dead in Dalry, Ayrshire. A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder.
• Steven Brown, 47, was stabbed in the heart outside a builder’s merchants in north London. The father-of-five had recently been reunited with relatives from the United States, his family said. Eleven people have been arrested by the police but there have been no charges yet.
• Anthony Ferns was stabbed in the neck in his car in Glasgow. Police believe he had been approached by a man who spoke to him through the driver’s window before the attack. The 33-year-old tiler managed to drive to his home where he collapsed and died in front of his mother and friends. His was the second killing in the city in the space of 24 hours.
• Simon Jones died in hospital after being stabbed near Chaddesden Park, Derby, on the evening of 20 April. The 57-year-old, who lived in Belper, was described as a “true gentleman” by his family. A number of people have been arrested and charged in connection with Mr Jones’ death.
• Barrister’s clerk Joe O’Brien, 24, was stabbed during a brawl outside a pub in Failsworth, Greater Manchester, at about 3am on Easter Sunday. “His friends, his family and Manchester United were his life,” said his mother Roz McDonald. She said her son loved his job at Deans Court Chambers in Manchester. A 21-year-old man was treated at hospital for stab wounds but has recovered. Momodou Jallow, 21, has been charged with murder.
• Saima Riaz, who was a nurse, was found stabbed to death at her home in Rochdale. Her family said she was “an amazing mother to three wonderful children” and was “dedicated to helping others". Mohammed Abid Choudhry, 36, has been charged with murder.
• Twenty-five-year-old Katheeskaran Thavarasa – better known as Karan – was found seriously injured in a flat in Hitchin on 23 April. He was pronounced dead at the scene having “suffered knife wounds”, according to Hertfordshire Police. Eswaran Sinnathurai, 24, has been charged with Mr Thavarasa’s murder.
• Sammy-Lee Lodwig was killed at a house in Swansea on 23 April. Following her death, the 22-year-old's sister Miakala paid tribute to her, saying she would "always remain in my heart". Jason Farrell, of Swansea, has been remanded in custody after being charged with Ms Lodwig’s murder. The 49-year-old will appear at Swansea Crown Court on 14 October for a trial.
• Meshach Williams was fatally stabbed on High Street, Harlesden by a gang who used two cars to block traffic on 24 April. The 21-year-old was attacked and fled into a betting shop to seek help, but later died in hospital. Dominic Calder, 19, has been charged with murder, possession of an offensive weapon and possession of cannabis.
• Teenager Jordan Moazami was stabbed to death in a street in Harborne, Birmingham, on 24 April. The 18-year-old, from Quinton, was described as "an excellent young man" and role model by his former youth football club. Moshood Giwa, 19, has been charged with Mr Moazami’s murder as well as a public order offence in connection with the teenager’s death. Hamed Hussein, 18, of no fixed address, is also charged with Mr Moazami’s murder.
• A murder inquiry was launched by Bedfordshire Police after grandfather Meuric Roberts was found dead inside his flat on 24 April. His family said Mr Roberts, 51, will be "missed every day". Simon Lewis, 39, of Chapel Street, Luton, has been charged with Mr Roberts’ murder and remanded in custody.
• Joshua White died from injuries after being stabbed in Homerton, Hackney, on 26 April. A 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man have been charged with Mr White's murder.
• Niall Magee was stabbed at a house in the Cairn Walk area of Crumlin, County Antrim. The following day the 21-year-old died from his injuries in hospital and a murder investigation was launched by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Michael McManus, of Cairn Walk, Crumlin, was charged with Mr Magee’s murder – a charge which he denied at Limavady Magistrates' Court on 1 May.
• Teenager Tashaun Aird died in Hackney after being stabbed in the street on 1 May. The 15-year-old's death came on the day the Met Police announced a drop in homicides in the latest financial year compared to figures from 2017-18. Commissioner Cressida Dick said the teenager’s death was “truly, truly terrible”. Romaine Williams-Reid, 18, has been charged with murder. A 16-year-old boy has also been arrested.
• Alex Davies, 18, was reported missing from his home in Skelmersdale on April 30. His body was found in woodland the next day in Parbold, Lancashire. He had been stabbed and suffocated. Mr Davies worked in a shop. His boss said he was “an energetic, kind and helpful lad, who loved working with customers". A 17-year-old boy has been charged with murder and will stand trial in October.
• Michael Dale died from a stab wound to the chest. The 46-year-old was found inside a property on Charles Lane, Haslingden, on 2 May and died in the early hours of the morning. Mr Dale ran a tattoo shop in the town and was said by a niece to have prided himself on being “a punk for life”. Shahid Hussain, 37, of no fixed address, has been charged with murder.
• Year 12 pupil Ellie Gould died after being stabbed at a house in Calne, Wiltshire, on 3 May. Hardenhuish School head teacher, Lisa Percy, paid tribute to the 17-year-old, saying “the students, staff and parents have found comfort in being together and paying their respects". A 17-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with her murder and is due to stand trial in October.
• Hamze Ibrahim Ismail, 21, died in hospital after being stabbed in the street. His father said the "mindless act of violence" had "broken" his family. Mohamed Khashkhush, 24, has been charged with murder.
• McCaulay Junior Urugbezi-Edwards, 18, was stabbed to death after being chased down a street in south-east London. Paramedics treated him at the scene but he died just over an hour later in a south London hospital. A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder. A 33-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
• Daniel Pitham, 33, was found dead by police officers after they forced their way into a house in Bedworth. His family paid tribute to him saying: "Danny was a very out outgoing young man who loved to party with his friends, travel, and keep fit". Scott Warner, 35, and John Allison, 33, have been charged with his murder.
• Murdoch Brown, 31, was stabbed to death at an address in Colchester. In a statement his family said he was a "much-loved partner, son, brother and uncle" and a "devoted father to his children". A second man was hurt but not seriously injured.
• Nadeem Uddin Hameed Mohammed, 24, was stabbed in the chest in a Tesco car park in Slough. A 21-year-old witness said he was in the car park when he "heard shouting" and saw "lots of blood on the floor". Mr Mohammed was rushed to hospital but later pronounced dead. Aqib Pervaiz, 26, has been charged with murder.
• Thomas Abraham, 48, was found with stab wounds at an address in Gloucester, by police and paramedics who had been called to a disturbance. Despite strenuous efforts to save him, he died at the scene. Tobias Hayley, 51, has been charged with murder.
• John Lewis, 32, was found stabbed at an address in Middlesbrough. He died later in hospital. A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The number of people being taken to court for possessing a weapon has been rising.
There's a bit of a time lag when it comes to getting figures from the criminal justice system, so the latest ones we have, published on Thursday, only take us up to the end of last year.
In 2018, the Ministry of Justice recorded 21,587 cases of people in England Wales being prosecuted for possessing a weapon, of which 13,350 cases led to a conviction - compared with 17,669 cases in 2013 - with 10,026 leading to a conviction.
This was mostly driven by a rise in the offence of "having possession of a bladed article in a public place".
For adults, the maximum sentence for possessing a knife is four years.
Knife possession is now making up a bigger share of all weapons offences - two-thirds compared with half 10 years ago.
And a bigger proportion of knife and weapons possession offences now result in jail time - 36% compared with 20% in 2008.
These figures cover both adults and children aged 10-17. For adults only, 42% of weapons offences resulted in an immediate custodial sentence last year.
While knife possession offences have been rising since 2013, they are still lower than a decade ago.
Information supplied by police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Figures are correct at time of publication but may change as investigations progress and charges are brought or dropped.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48186035
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news_uk-48186035
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Brexit: David Cameron's resignation statement in full - BBC News
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2019-09-13
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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David Cameron's full statement announcing he is to step down as prime minister after the UK voted to leave the EU.
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EU Referendum
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prime Minister David Cameron says he will stand down
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is to step down from his post after the UK voted to leave the EU. Here is the statement he made outside Downing Street.
Good morning everyone, the country has just taken part in a giant democratic exercise, perhaps the biggest in our history.
Over 33 million people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar have all had their say.
We should be proud of the fact that in these islands we trust the people for these big decisions.
We not only have a parliamentary democracy, but on questions about the arrangements for how we're governed there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves and that is what we have done.
The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected.
I want to thank everyone who took part in the campaign on my side of the argument, including all those who put aside party differences to speak in what they believe was the national interest and let me congratulate all those who took part in the Leave campaign for the spirited and passionate case that they made.
The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered.
It was not a decision that was taken lightly, not least because so many things were said by so many different organisations about the significance of this decision.
So there can be no doubt about the result.
Across the world people have been watching the choice that Britain has made.
I would reassure those markets and investors that Britain's economy is fundamentally strong and I would also reassure Britons living in European countries and European citizens living here there will be no immediate changes in your circumstances.
There will be no initial change in the way our people can travel, in the way our goods can move or the way our services can be sold.
We must now prepare for a negotiation with the European Union.
This will need to involve the full engagement of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments to ensure that the interests of all parts of our United Kingdom are protected and advanced.
But above all this will require strong, determined and committed leadership.
I'm very proud and very honoured to have been prime minister of this country for six years.
I believe we've made great steps, with more people in work than ever before in our history, with reforms to welfare and education, increasing people's life chances, building a bigger and stronger society, keeping our promises to the poorest people in the world and enabling those who love each other to get married whatever their sexuality, but above all restoring Britain's economic strength.
And I'm grateful to everyone who's helped to make that happen.
I have also always believed that we have to confront big decisions, not duck them. That is why we delivered the first coalition government in 70 years, to bring our economy back from the brink.
It's why we delivered a fair, legal and decisive referendum in Scotland.
And it's why I made the pledge to renegotiate Britain's position in the European Union and to hold the referendum on our membership and have carried those things out.
I fought this campaign in the only way I know how, which is to say directly and passionately what I think and feel - head, heart and soul.
I held nothing back, I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain is stronger, safer and better off inside the European Union and I made clear the referendum was about this and this alone - not the future of any single politician including myself.
But the British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.
I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.
This is not a decision I've taken lightly but I do believe it's in the national interest to have a period of stability and then the new leadership required.
There is no need for a precise timetable today but in my view we should aim to have a new prime minister in place by the start of the Conservative Party conference in October.
Delivering stability will be important and I will continue in post as prime minister with my cabinet for the next three months.
The cabinet will meet on Monday, the governor of the Bank of England is making a statement about the steps that the Bank and the Treasury are taking to reassure financial markets.
We will also continue taking forward the important legislation that we set before Parliament in the Queen's Speech.
And I have spoken to Her Majesty the Queen this morning to advise her of the steps that I am taking.
A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new prime minister and I think it's right that this new prime minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.
I will attend the European Council next week to explain the decision the British people have taken and my own decision.
The British people have made a choice, that not only needs to be respected but those on the losing side of the argument - myself included - should help to make it work.
Britain is a special country - we have so many great advantages - a parliamentary democracy where we resolve great issues about our future through peaceful debate, a great trading nation with our science and arts, our engineering and our creativity, respected the world over.
And while we are not perfect I do believe we can be a model for the multi-racial, multi-faith democracy, that people can come and make a contribution and rise to the very highest that their talent allows.
Although leaving Europe was not the path I recommended, I am the first to praise our incredible strengths.
I said before that Britain can survive outside the European Union and indeed that we could find a way.
Now the decision has been made to leave, we need to find the best way and I will do everything I can to help.
I love this country and I feel honoured to have served it and I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.
• None Cameron to quit as UK votes to leave EU
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36619446
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news_uk-politics-eu-referendum-36619446
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David Cameron: Johnson and Gove behaved 'appallingly' - BBC News
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2019-09-13
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The former prime minister says the 2016 EU referendum turned into a "terrible Tory psychodrama".
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UK Politics
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David Cameron has accused the current prime minister, Boris Johnson, and Michael Gove of behaving "appallingly" during the EU referendum campaign.
Speaking to the Times ahead of the launch of his memoir, the former Tory PM attacked some colleagues who backed Leave for "trashing the government".
Mr Cameron said the result in 2016 had left him "hugely depressed" and he knew "some people will never forgive me".
He also said another referendum cannot be ruled out "because we're stuck".
Mr Cameron criticised Mr Johnson's strategy for dealing with Brexit, including his decision to suspend Parliament ahead of the 31 October deadline and removing the whip from 21 Tory MPs who voted to block a no-deal Brexit.
The prime minister has said the suspension - or prorogation - is a normal action of a new government to let it lay out its new policies in a Queen's Speech, and blocking no-deal would "scupper" his negotiations with the EU.
Mr Cameron called the referendum in 2016 after promising it in the Conservative Party's election manifesto the year before.
He campaigned for Remain, but lost the vote by 52% to 48%, and announced within hours he would be stepping down as PM.
The former Tory leader said the Leave side had a "very powerful emotional argument", while Remain had the "very strong technical and economic arguments", and the former - plus the issue of immigration - was a "winning combination" for his rivals.
"It turned into this terrible Tory psychodrama and I couldn't seem to get through," he said.
But leading Brexiteer and former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Lilley said the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU "didn't care a fig about Tory psychodramas or anything else", accusing Mr Cameron of using "an extraordinary Westminster bubble phrase".
"Most [Leave voters] put aside party loyalties and voted on the issue," he told BBC Two's Newsnight programme.
"When the British people speak, their voice will be respected, not ignored."
Lord Lilley said Mr Cameron had vowed before the 2016 referendum the public would decide whether the UK left the EU, but "now he's saying different things".
The former PM famously wrote his memoirs in a shed - which allegedly cost £25,000
In his interview with the Times, Mr Cameron - who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016 - said his Conservative colleagues Mr Johnson, Mr Gove, Penny Mordaunt and Priti Patel had "left the truth at home" on the referendum campaign trail, especially when it came to immigration.
He said: "Boris had never argued for leaving the EU, right?
"Michael was a very strong Eurosceptic, but someone whom I'd known as this liberal, compassionate, rational Conservative ended up making arguments about Turkey [joining the EU] and [the UK] being swamped and what have you."
Mr Cameron called it "ridiculous" and "just not true" when Ms Mordaunt made a similar argument about Turkey, followed by claims by the now-Home Secretary Ms Patel that "wealthy people didn't understand the problems of immigration".
He added: "I suppose some people would say all is fair in love and war and political campaigns. I thought there were places Conservatives wouldn't go against each other. And they did."
Despite his criticism of his former colleagues' conduct during the referendum campaign, Mr Cameron defended his decision to call the vote, saying the issue of the EU "needed to be addressed".
"Every single day I think about it, the referendum and the fact that we lost and the consequences and the things that could have been done differently, and I worry desperately about what is going to happen next," he said.
"I think we can get to a situation where we leave but we are friends, neighbours and partners. We can get there, but I would love to fast-forward to that moment because it's painful for the country and it's painful to watch."
David Cameron and his wife Samantha after he became PM in 2010
Speaking about the current prime minister's strategy, Mr Cameron said he "wants him to succeed", but his plan has "morphed into something quite different".
He said: "Taking the whip from hard-working Conservative MPs and sharp practices using prorogation of Parliament have rebounded.
"I didn't support either of those things. Neither do I think a no-deal Brexit is a good idea."
David Cameron has been very quiet since he walked out of Downing Street for the last time in 2016.
So his decision to use this interview to come out fighting for why he called the referendum is significant.
Despite admitting that he worries about the consequences and accepting he may be blamed for them by some, he doesn't believe he was wrong to call it.
Instead, he maintains that holding the vote was "inevitable".
After years of silence, the timing of Mr Cameron's return to the front pages may play badly for Boris Johnson.
He's highly critical of Mr Johnson's role in the Leave campaign, writing in his book that he and his fellow Leave campaigner Michael Gove behaved "appallingly".
And although he seemed to be giving Mr Johnson breathing space as the new prime minister, the decision to suspend Parliament and expel 21 Conservative rebels seems to have hardened his tone.
Mr Cameron also spoke of the damage to his friendships - including the one between him and Mr Gove, who had been close friends since university.
"We've spoken," he said. "Not a huge amount. I've sort of had a conversation with him.
"I've spoken to the prime minister a little bit, mainly through texts, but Michael was a very good friend. So that has been more difficult."
But he did praise his immediate successor, Theresa May, who had been his home secretary throughout his time at No 10, for her "phenomenal" work rate and her "ethos of public service", even if he was not unquestioning of her strategy.
David Cameron with Theresa May, when she was his home secretary
"I remember frequently texting [Mrs May] about the frustration of getting a Brexit deal and then seeing Brexiteers vote it down, possibly at the risk of the whole project they had devoted themselves to," said Mr Cameron. "Maddening and infuriating."
He continued: "There's an argument that Brexit is just impossible to deliver and no one could have done, and there's an argument that, well, wrong choices were made. This is somewhere in between."
Asked what happens next, Mr Cameron said he did not think a no-deal Brexit "should be pursued".
He also did not reject a further referendum.
"I don't think you can rule it out because we're stuck," he said.
"I'm not saying one will happen or should happen. I'm just saying that you can't rule things out right now because you've got to find some way of unblocking the blockage."
Mr Cameron became the Conservative Party leader in 2005. Five years later he was voted into Downing Street as the UK's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years - aged 43.
His six-year tenure - firstly in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and latterly with a majority government - was dominated by his desire to reduce the deficit, and the introduction of austerity measures with his Chancellor George Osborne.
But when he pledged in his party's 2015 manifesto to hold a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, the focus shifted.
Mr Cameron backed Remain during the 2016 campaign and, on the morning of the result after discovering he had lost, he announced he would be stepping down, saying: "I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination."
The former PM has remained silent until now about both of his successors at the helm of the Tory Party - Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
But his allegedly fractious relationship with Mr Johnson has been well documented since their days together at Oxford University - most notably as members of the infamous Bullingdon Club.
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Hinkley Point C nuclear plant to run £2.9bn over budget - BBC News
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2019-09-25
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Power company EDF says "challenging conditions" mean the final bill could now be up to £22.5bn.
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Business
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The final cost could be up to £22.5bn, EDF director Paul Spence says
French power company EDF said the new nuclear plant it is building at Hinkley Point C will cost up to £2.9bn more than thought.
It raised its estimate for the project, in Somerset, to between £21.5bn and £22.5bn, blaming "challenging ground conditions".
It also said the risk of the project being 15 months late had risen.
The firms constructing the new plant, not taxpayers and customers, pay the bill for the increase in costs.
"This is clearly bad news for nuclear new build prospects in the UK, particularly in light of recent record low offshore wind prices," said Investec analyst Martin Young.
Because of the way that the project is being funded, taxpayers and customers will not foot the bill for the increase in costs - EDF and its partner on the project China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) will pay.
However, the companies should be cushioned by a comparatively high fixed price for electricity for customers, which was agreed in order to make costs predictable for consumers and to provide leeway for the builders.
Last week, prices for new wind power delivered by 2025 were set at prices as low as £40 per megawatt hour. By comparison, power from Hinkley Point C is expected to cost £92.50 per megawatt hour.
While EDF and CGN, which is partnering the French firm on the work, are still aiming to finish in 2025, the chance of that being 2026 has risen.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC's Simon Jack: "This is a construction project of really epic proportions"
"We've given the best view we can, given what we know," Paul Spence, EDF's director of corporate and regulatory affairs, told the Today programme. "I can't say today what will happen over the course of the construction."
EDF last raised its estimate for the project in 2017, by £1.5bn.
In common with other major UK building projects, such as Crossrail and HS2, the power plant is over budget.
The first phase of the HS2 high-speed railway between London and Birmingham will be delayed by up to five years, Transport Minister Grant Shapps said earlier this month.
Its cost has also risen from £62bn to between £81bn and £88bn.
Crossrail, the new railway line bisecting London from Reading to Shenfield, was due to be operating by December. The project was allocated £14.8bn in 2010, but this has since swollen to £17.6bn, and is likely to rise further, according to a report by MPs.
"Cost increases reflect challenging ground conditions which made earthworks more expensive than anticipated, revised action plan targets and extra costs needed to implement the completed functional design, which has been adapted for a first-of-a-kind application in the UK context," EDF said in a statement.
These cost overruns will not hit UK consumers. However, a new way of paying for further nuclear stations, such as Sizewell, is being considered.
Under this new model, consumers would see costs of construction added to their bills as the project went along. It means that customers could be exposed to cost overruns.
That is why today's announcement is important and why EDF will find it harder to make the argument for building Sizewell.
That argument is already getting tougher as the price of zero carbon offshore wind continues to plummet.
Making a forty-year bet on another nuclear station with a funding model that exposes consumers to those overruns, is a big call for any government to make.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49823305
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news_business-49823305
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Supreme Court ruling leaves Queen in middle of political storm - BBC News
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2019-09-25
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Boris Johnson has blown apart grey areas of the UK constitution, highlighting the role of the monarch.
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UK
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As the Supreme Court ruling hacked a new path through Britain's system of government, brushing ancient royal powers to one side, from Buckingham Palace came - nothing.
This is precisely where the Queen does not want to be - right in the middle of a political and constitutional hurricane, with the Supreme Court redefining the relationship between judiciary, legislature, government and monarch.
When the Scottish Court of Session ruled that the prorogation was illegal - one of the cases that went to the Supreme Court last week - a Palace source said simply: "The Queen acts and acted on the advice of her ministers".
And that line held right up until today. The Queen has very little, if any, discretion over the prorogation of Parliament.
There's an argument that says the Queen might have turned down Prime Minister Boris Johnson's request, given that his legitimacy is arguably thinner than previous prime ministers.
That would have been running zig-zag through a constitutional minefield.
But what happened today was painful for the Palace.
It wasn't just Mr Johnson's request for a prorogation that was found by the Supreme Court to be unlawful, void and of no effect.
It was also the Order in Council, the legal mechanism that the Queen personally approves, that was found to be unlawful, void and of no effect. And, said the Supreme Court, it should be quashed.
More importantly, the Queen has been dragged by the PM's unlawful prorogation into the place where for decades politicians have agreed she should never be - right into a domestic political argument.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Supreme Court declared "Parliament has not been prorogued"
Former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major commented after the judgement that "no prime minister must ever treat the monarch or Parliament in this way again".
He chose his words - and the order of his words - carefully, and conservatively. First monarch, then Parliament. He understands the damage this has done to the position of the Queen.
The man who pretty much defined the modern role of the Queen, the Victorian Walter Bagehot, wrote of the monarchy: "Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic."
The role has always worked in the shadows, the grey areas of the constitution, with an agreement going back decades amongst politicians that unwritten rules and conventions would be respected, and that nothing would be done to put the Queen into an embarrassing position, a position where she could be accused of having a political role.
Boris Johnson has blown that apart.
With the Supreme Court judgement a bright and critical light now illuminates the monarchy.
And the cry has gone up - even from the present system's doughtiest defenders - for a written constitution, one where the powers of the different parts of the state and the different nations of the kingdom, are clearly explained and defined.
At which point, of course, some will ask - just what is the role in government, in the 21st Century, of a hereditary monarch?
Elizabeth came to the throne as the age of deference slipped away.
She has been a conservative monarch, content to play little more than a symbolic and ceremonial role. She understands that her position is dependent on her staying deep in the shadows of government.
But now daylight has flooded in. No wonder the Palace has decided to stay silent.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49811931
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news_uk-49811931
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Obituary: Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's first post-independence leader - BBC News
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2019-09-14
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His promises of democracy and reconciliation dissolved into violence and economic misery.
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Africa
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Mugabe resigned in 2017, after more than three decades in power
As independent Zimbabwe's first prime minister, and later its president, Robert Mugabe promised democracy and reconciliation.
But the hope that accompanied independence in 1980 dissolved into violence, corruption and economic disaster.
President Mugabe became an outspoken critic of the West, most notably the United Kingdom, the former colonial power, which he denounced as an "enemy country".
Despite his brutal treatment of political opponents, and his economic mismanagement of a once prosperous country, he continued to attract the support of other African leaders who saw him as a hero of the fight against colonial rule.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born in what was then Rhodesia on 21 February 1924, the son of a carpenter and one of the majority Shona-speaking people in a country then run by the white minority. Educated at Roman Catholic mission schools, he qualified as a teacher.
Winning a scholarship to Fort Hare University in South Africa, he took the first of his seven academic degrees before teaching in Ghana, where he was greatly influenced by the pan-Africanist ideas of Ghana's post-independence leader Kwame Nkrumah. His first wife Sally was Ghanaian.
In 1960, Mugabe returned to Rhodesia. At first he worked for the African nationalist cause with Joshua Nkomo, before breaking away to become a founder member of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu).
In 1964, after making a speech in which he called Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and his government "cowboys", Mugabe was arrested and detained without trial for a decade.
Mugabe (l) with Nkomo (r) in 1960. The relationship between the two would sour after independence
His baby son died while he was still in prison and he was refused permission to attend the funeral.
In 1973, while still in detention, he was chosen as president of Zanu. After his release, he went to Mozambique and directed guerrilla raids into Rhodesia. His Zanu organisation formed a loose alliance with Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu).
During the tortuous negotiations on independence for Rhodesia, he was seen as the most militant of the black leaders, and the most uncompromising in his demands.
On a 1976 visit to London, he declared that the only solution to the Rhodesian problem would come out of the barrel of a gun.
But his negotiating skills earned him the respect of many of his former critics. The press hailed him as "the thinking man's guerrilla".
The Lancaster House agreement of 1979 set up a constitution for the new Republic of Zimbabwe, as Rhodesia was to be called, and set February 1980 for the first elections which would be open to the black majority.
Fighting the election on a separate platform from Nkomo, Mugabe scored an overwhelming and, to most outside observers, unexpected victory. Zanu secured a comfortable majority, although the polls were marred by accusations of vote-rigging and intimidation from both sides
A self-confessed Marxist, Mugabe's victory initially had many white people packing their bags ready to leave Rhodesia, while his supporters danced in the streets.
However, the moderate, conciliatory tone of his early statements reassured many of his opponents. He promised a broad-based government, with no victimisation and no nationalisation of private property. His theme, he told them, would be reconciliation.
Later that year he outlined his economic policy, which mixed private enterprise with public investment.
He launched a programme to massively expand access to healthcare and education for black Zimbabweans, who had been marginalised under white-minority rule.
With the prime minister frequently advocating one-party rule, the rift between Mugabe and Nkomo widened.
After the discovery of a huge cache of arms at Zapu-owned properties, Nkomo, recently demoted in a cabinet reshuffle, was dismissed from government.
While paying lip service to democracy, Mugabe gradually stifled political opposition. The mid-1980s saw the massacre of thousands of ethnic Ndebeles seen as Nkomo's supporters in his home region of Matabeleland.
Mugabe was implicated in the killings, committed by the Zimbabwean army's North Korean-trained 5th Brigade, but never brought to trial.
Under intense pressure, Nkomo agreed for his Zapu to be merged with - or taken over by - Zanu to become the virtually unchallenged Zanu-PF.
After abolishing the office of prime minister, Mugabe became president in 1987 and was elected for a third term in 1996.
The same year, he married Grace Marufu, after his first wife had died from cancer. Mugabe already had two children with Grace, 40 years his junior. A third was born when the president was 73.
He did have some success in building a non-racial society, but in 1992 introduced the Land Acquisition Act, permitting the confiscation of land without appeal.
The plan was to redistribute land at the expense of more than 4,500 white farmers, who still owned the bulk of the country's best land.
In early 2000, with his presidency under serious threat from the newly formed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by former trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe lashed out against the farmers, seen as MDC backers.
His supporters, the so-called "war veterans", occupied white-owned farms and a number of farmers and their black workers were killed.
The action served to undermine the already battered economy as Zimbabwe's once valuable agricultural industry fell into ruin. Mugabe's critics accused him of distributing farms to his cronies, rather than the intended rural poor.
2008: Comes second in first round of elections to Tsvangirai who pulls out of run-off amid nationwide attacks on his supporters
2009: Amid economic collapse, swears in Tsvangirai as prime minister, who serves in uneasy government of national unity for four years
2017: Sacks long-time ally Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, paving the way for his wife Grace to succeed him
November 2017: Army intervenes and forces him to step down
Zimbabwe moved rapidly from being one of Africa's biggest food producers to having to rely on foreign aid to feed its population.
In the 2000 elections for the House of Assembly, the MDC won 57 out of the 120 seats elected by popular vote, although a further 20 seats were filled by Mugabe's nominees, securing Zanu-PF's hold on power.
Two years later, in the presidential elections, Mugabe achieved 56.2% of the vote compared with Mr Tsvangirai's 41.9% against a background of intimidation of MDC supporters. Large numbers of people in rural areas were prevented from voting by the closure of polling stations.
MDC activists were attacked around the country in 2008
With the MDC, the US, UK and the European Union not recognising the election result because of the violence and allegations of fraud, Mugabe - and Zimbabwe - became increasingly isolated.
The Commonwealth also suspended Zimbabwe from participating in its meetings until it improved its record as a democracy.
In May 2005, Mugabe presided over Operation Restore Order, a crackdown on the black market and what was said to be "general lawlessness".
Some 30,000 street vendors were arrested and whole shanty towns demolished, eventually leaving an estimated 700,000 Zimbabweans homeless.
In March 2008, Mugabe lost the first round of the presidential elections but won the run-off in June after Mr Tsvangirai pulled out.
In the wake of sustained attacks against his supporters across the country, Mr Tsvangirai maintained that a free and fair election was not possible.
After hundreds of people died from cholera, partly because the government could not afford to import water treatment chemicals, Mugabe agreed to negotiate with his long-time rival about sharing power.
The power-sharing agreement was undermined by arguments
After months of talks, in February 2009 Mugabe swore in Mr Tsvangirai as prime minister.
It came as no surprise that the arrangement was far from perfect, with constant squabbling and accusations by some human rights organisations that Mugabe's political opponents were still being detained and tortured.
Mr Tsvangirai's reputation also suffered by his association with the Mugabe regime, despite the fact that he had no influence over the increasingly irascible president.
The 2013 election, in which Mugabe won 61% of the vote, ended the power-sharing agreement and Mr Tsvangirai went into the political wilderness.
While there were the usual accusations of electoral fraud - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked that these be investigated - there was not the widespread violence that had marked previous polls in Zimbabwe.
It was an election that saw Robert Mugabe, at the age of 89, confirm his position as the undisputed power in the country.
His advancing years, and increasing health problems, saw much speculation as to who might replace him.
But the manoeuvring among possible successors revealed how fragmented Zimbabwe's administration was and underlined the fact that it was only held together by Mugabe's dominance.
Mugabe himself seemed to delight in playing off his subordinates against each other in a deliberate attempt to dilute whatever opposition might arise.
With speculation that his wife, Grace, was poised to take control in the event of his death in office, Mugabe announced in 2015 that he fully intended to fight the 2018 elections, by which time he would be 94.
He was the undisputed power in Zimbabwe
And, to allay any doubt remaining among possible successors, he announced in February 2016 that he would remain in power "until God says 'come'".
In the event it wasn't God but units of the Zimbabwe National Army which came for Robert Mugabe. On 15 November 2017 he was placed under house arrest and, four days later, replaced as the leader of Zanu-PF by his former vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Defiant to the end Mugabe refused to resign, But, on 21 November, as a motion to impeach him was being debated in the Zimbabwean parliament, the speaker of the House of Assembly announced that Robert Mugabe had finally resigned.
Mugabe negotiated a deal which protected him and his family from the risk of future prosecution and enabled him to retain his various business interests. He was also granted a house, servants, vehicles and full diplomatic status.
Ascetic in manner, Robert Mugabe dressed conservatively and drank no alcohol. He viewed both friend and foe with a scepticism verging on the paranoid.
The man who had been hailed as the hero of Africa's struggle to throw off colonialism had turned into a tyrant, trampling over human rights and turning a once prosperous country into an economic basket case.
His legacy is likely to haunt Zimbabwe for years.
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David Cameron: Johnson and Gove behaved 'appallingly' - BBC News
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2019-09-14
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The former prime minister says the 2016 EU referendum turned into a "terrible Tory psychodrama".
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UK Politics
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David Cameron has accused the current prime minister, Boris Johnson, and Michael Gove of behaving "appallingly" during the EU referendum campaign.
Speaking to the Times ahead of the launch of his memoir, the former Tory PM attacked some colleagues who backed Leave for "trashing the government".
Mr Cameron said the result in 2016 had left him "hugely depressed" and he knew "some people will never forgive me".
He also said another referendum cannot be ruled out "because we're stuck".
Mr Cameron criticised Mr Johnson's strategy for dealing with Brexit, including his decision to suspend Parliament ahead of the 31 October deadline and removing the whip from 21 Tory MPs who voted to block a no-deal Brexit.
The prime minister has said the suspension - or prorogation - is a normal action of a new government to let it lay out its new policies in a Queen's Speech, and blocking no-deal would "scupper" his negotiations with the EU.
Mr Cameron called the referendum in 2016 after promising it in the Conservative Party's election manifesto the year before.
He campaigned for Remain, but lost the vote by 52% to 48%, and announced within hours he would be stepping down as PM.
The former Tory leader said the Leave side had a "very powerful emotional argument", while Remain had the "very strong technical and economic arguments", and the former - plus the issue of immigration - was a "winning combination" for his rivals.
"It turned into this terrible Tory psychodrama and I couldn't seem to get through," he said.
But leading Brexiteer and former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Lilley said the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU "didn't care a fig about Tory psychodramas or anything else", accusing Mr Cameron of using "an extraordinary Westminster bubble phrase".
"Most [Leave voters] put aside party loyalties and voted on the issue," he told BBC Two's Newsnight programme.
"When the British people speak, their voice will be respected, not ignored."
Lord Lilley said Mr Cameron had vowed before the 2016 referendum the public would decide whether the UK left the EU, but "now he's saying different things".
The former PM famously wrote his memoirs in a shed - which allegedly cost £25,000
In his interview with the Times, Mr Cameron - who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016 - said his Conservative colleagues Mr Johnson, Mr Gove, Penny Mordaunt and Priti Patel had "left the truth at home" on the referendum campaign trail, especially when it came to immigration.
He said: "Boris had never argued for leaving the EU, right?
"Michael was a very strong Eurosceptic, but someone whom I'd known as this liberal, compassionate, rational Conservative ended up making arguments about Turkey [joining the EU] and [the UK] being swamped and what have you."
Mr Cameron called it "ridiculous" and "just not true" when Ms Mordaunt made a similar argument about Turkey, followed by claims by the now-Home Secretary Ms Patel that "wealthy people didn't understand the problems of immigration".
He added: "I suppose some people would say all is fair in love and war and political campaigns. I thought there were places Conservatives wouldn't go against each other. And they did."
Despite his criticism of his former colleagues' conduct during the referendum campaign, Mr Cameron defended his decision to call the vote, saying the issue of the EU "needed to be addressed".
"Every single day I think about it, the referendum and the fact that we lost and the consequences and the things that could have been done differently, and I worry desperately about what is going to happen next," he said.
"I think we can get to a situation where we leave but we are friends, neighbours and partners. We can get there, but I would love to fast-forward to that moment because it's painful for the country and it's painful to watch."
David Cameron and his wife Samantha after he became PM in 2010
Speaking about the current prime minister's strategy, Mr Cameron said he "wants him to succeed", but his plan has "morphed into something quite different".
He said: "Taking the whip from hard-working Conservative MPs and sharp practices using prorogation of Parliament have rebounded.
"I didn't support either of those things. Neither do I think a no-deal Brexit is a good idea."
David Cameron has been very quiet since he walked out of Downing Street for the last time in 2016.
So his decision to use this interview to come out fighting for why he called the referendum is significant.
Despite admitting that he worries about the consequences and accepting he may be blamed for them by some, he doesn't believe he was wrong to call it.
Instead, he maintains that holding the vote was "inevitable".
After years of silence, the timing of Mr Cameron's return to the front pages may play badly for Boris Johnson.
He's highly critical of Mr Johnson's role in the Leave campaign, writing in his book that he and his fellow Leave campaigner Michael Gove behaved "appallingly".
And although he seemed to be giving Mr Johnson breathing space as the new prime minister, the decision to suspend Parliament and expel 21 Conservative rebels seems to have hardened his tone.
Mr Cameron also spoke of the damage to his friendships - including the one between him and Mr Gove, who had been close friends since university.
"We've spoken," he said. "Not a huge amount. I've sort of had a conversation with him.
"I've spoken to the prime minister a little bit, mainly through texts, but Michael was a very good friend. So that has been more difficult."
But he did praise his immediate successor, Theresa May, who had been his home secretary throughout his time at No 10, for her "phenomenal" work rate and her "ethos of public service", even if he was not unquestioning of her strategy.
David Cameron with Theresa May, when she was his home secretary
"I remember frequently texting [Mrs May] about the frustration of getting a Brexit deal and then seeing Brexiteers vote it down, possibly at the risk of the whole project they had devoted themselves to," said Mr Cameron. "Maddening and infuriating."
He continued: "There's an argument that Brexit is just impossible to deliver and no one could have done, and there's an argument that, well, wrong choices were made. This is somewhere in between."
Asked what happens next, Mr Cameron said he did not think a no-deal Brexit "should be pursued".
He also did not reject a further referendum.
"I don't think you can rule it out because we're stuck," he said.
"I'm not saying one will happen or should happen. I'm just saying that you can't rule things out right now because you've got to find some way of unblocking the blockage."
Mr Cameron became the Conservative Party leader in 2005. Five years later he was voted into Downing Street as the UK's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years - aged 43.
His six-year tenure - firstly in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and latterly with a majority government - was dominated by his desire to reduce the deficit, and the introduction of austerity measures with his Chancellor George Osborne.
But when he pledged in his party's 2015 manifesto to hold a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, the focus shifted.
Mr Cameron backed Remain during the 2016 campaign and, on the morning of the result after discovering he had lost, he announced he would be stepping down, saying: "I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination."
The former PM has remained silent until now about both of his successors at the helm of the Tory Party - Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
But his allegedly fractious relationship with Mr Johnson has been well documented since their days together at Oxford University - most notably as members of the infamous Bullingdon Club.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49690618
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news_uk-politics-49690618
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Brexit: David Cameron's resignation statement in full - BBC News
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2019-09-14
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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David Cameron's full statement announcing he is to step down as prime minister after the UK voted to leave the EU.
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EU Referendum
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Prime Minister David Cameron says he will stand down
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is to step down from his post after the UK voted to leave the EU. Here is the statement he made outside Downing Street.
Good morning everyone, the country has just taken part in a giant democratic exercise, perhaps the biggest in our history.
Over 33 million people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar have all had their say.
We should be proud of the fact that in these islands we trust the people for these big decisions.
We not only have a parliamentary democracy, but on questions about the arrangements for how we're governed there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves and that is what we have done.
The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected.
I want to thank everyone who took part in the campaign on my side of the argument, including all those who put aside party differences to speak in what they believe was the national interest and let me congratulate all those who took part in the Leave campaign for the spirited and passionate case that they made.
The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered.
It was not a decision that was taken lightly, not least because so many things were said by so many different organisations about the significance of this decision.
So there can be no doubt about the result.
Across the world people have been watching the choice that Britain has made.
I would reassure those markets and investors that Britain's economy is fundamentally strong and I would also reassure Britons living in European countries and European citizens living here there will be no immediate changes in your circumstances.
There will be no initial change in the way our people can travel, in the way our goods can move or the way our services can be sold.
We must now prepare for a negotiation with the European Union.
This will need to involve the full engagement of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments to ensure that the interests of all parts of our United Kingdom are protected and advanced.
But above all this will require strong, determined and committed leadership.
I'm very proud and very honoured to have been prime minister of this country for six years.
I believe we've made great steps, with more people in work than ever before in our history, with reforms to welfare and education, increasing people's life chances, building a bigger and stronger society, keeping our promises to the poorest people in the world and enabling those who love each other to get married whatever their sexuality, but above all restoring Britain's economic strength.
And I'm grateful to everyone who's helped to make that happen.
I have also always believed that we have to confront big decisions, not duck them. That is why we delivered the first coalition government in 70 years, to bring our economy back from the brink.
It's why we delivered a fair, legal and decisive referendum in Scotland.
And it's why I made the pledge to renegotiate Britain's position in the European Union and to hold the referendum on our membership and have carried those things out.
I fought this campaign in the only way I know how, which is to say directly and passionately what I think and feel - head, heart and soul.
I held nothing back, I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain is stronger, safer and better off inside the European Union and I made clear the referendum was about this and this alone - not the future of any single politician including myself.
But the British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.
I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.
This is not a decision I've taken lightly but I do believe it's in the national interest to have a period of stability and then the new leadership required.
There is no need for a precise timetable today but in my view we should aim to have a new prime minister in place by the start of the Conservative Party conference in October.
Delivering stability will be important and I will continue in post as prime minister with my cabinet for the next three months.
The cabinet will meet on Monday, the governor of the Bank of England is making a statement about the steps that the Bank and the Treasury are taking to reassure financial markets.
We will also continue taking forward the important legislation that we set before Parliament in the Queen's Speech.
And I have spoken to Her Majesty the Queen this morning to advise her of the steps that I am taking.
A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new prime minister and I think it's right that this new prime minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.
I will attend the European Council next week to explain the decision the British people have taken and my own decision.
The British people have made a choice, that not only needs to be respected but those on the losing side of the argument - myself included - should help to make it work.
Britain is a special country - we have so many great advantages - a parliamentary democracy where we resolve great issues about our future through peaceful debate, a great trading nation with our science and arts, our engineering and our creativity, respected the world over.
And while we are not perfect I do believe we can be a model for the multi-racial, multi-faith democracy, that people can come and make a contribution and rise to the very highest that their talent allows.
Although leaving Europe was not the path I recommended, I am the first to praise our incredible strengths.
I said before that Britain can survive outside the European Union and indeed that we could find a way.
Now the decision has been made to leave, we need to find the best way and I will do everything I can to help.
I love this country and I feel honoured to have served it and I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.
• None Cameron to quit as UK votes to leave EU
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36619446
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news_uk-politics-eu-referendum-36619446
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COP26: Glasgow to host UN climate change summit in 2020 - BBC News
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2019-09-10
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Up to 200 world leaders are expected to attend the COP26 at the Scottish Event Campus in 2020.
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Glasgow & West Scotland
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Up to 30,000 delegates are expected to attend
A major United Nations climate change summit will take place in Glasgow.
The UK has won the bid to host the 26th Conference of the Parties, known as COP26, following a partnership with Italy.
Up to 30,000 delegates are expected to attend the event at Glasgow's Scottish Events Campus (SEC) at the end of next year.
It is designed to produce an international response to the climate emergency.
The Scottish Events Campus includes the Armadillo and the SSE Hydro
The UK will host the main COP summit while Italy will host preparatory events and a significant youth event, as part of the agreement.
Claire Perry, UK nominated president for COP26, said: "In 2020, world leaders will come together to discuss how to tackle climate change on a global scale - and where better to do so than Glasgow, one of the UK's most sustainable cities with a great track record for hosting high-profile international events."
The Scottish government's Climate Change Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said the decision to host COP26 in Scotland was right "given our leadership on climate action".
She continued: "Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to acknowledge the global climate emergency and the Scottish government has introduced the toughest targets in the UK to ensure our action matches the scale of our climate ambitions.
"We look forward to working collaboratively with partners to deliver an ambitious and effective conference that ensures Scotland plays a leading role to help promote the increased global effort to tackle climate change."
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the announcement was a "vote of confidence" from the UK's international partners.
He added: "The UK is leading the world in tackling climate change. We're the first major economy to pass laws to end the UK's contribution to global warming.
"Since 1990 the UK has reduced its emissions by over 40% while growing the economy by over two thirds."
The UK government said it had cut greenhouse gas emissions by 16 million tonnes in the last eight years.
Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack said: "The UK government is showing great leadership on this vital issue - becoming the first major economy to pass new laws to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050."
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The conference has been described as the most important gathering on climate change since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015.
Lasting for two weeks, it would be the largest summit the UK has ever hosted, with up to 200 world leaders expected to attend for the final weekend.
2020's conference is seen as a major crossroads in the battle against global climate change. It will likely be held just after the next US presidential election.
It will also be the year in which governments are due to review their promises to cut carbon emissions in line with the latest science.
Campaigners have said the event will give the UK the chance to set the tone for the world's future.
Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg appeared at the 2018 conference in Poland.
It is expected to pose major security challenges for the Scottish government and police.
Sources have told BBC Scotland that police will seek additional funding from the Scottish and UK governments.
Deputy chief constable Malcolm Graham said: "Police Scotland has an enviable reputation for successfully and safely policing major events.
"We will now start the detailed process of planning, with partners, for what will be a complex and expensive policing operation to support COP26 and to ensure a safe and secure event."
Intense, overcrowded and bewildering - a few impressions from UN climate conferences I've reported from over the years.
They're a rare chance for the world to get together to tackle climate change but because the stakes are high the atmosphere is always tense.
The negotiations are complicated - with long arguments over phrases or even individual words. They regularly drag through the night leaving delegates exhausted.
In Montreal back in 2005, at dawn on the final day, the then British environment secretary Margaret Beckett wept with relief when a deal was reached.
In Copenhagen in 2009, some environmental campaigners were so frustrated with the lack of progress that they walked out - while at the same time other campaigners, who had staged a march outside the conference centre, battled with police in an effort to get inside.
The gathering in Paris in 2015 was one of the smoothest, clever French diplomacy navigating towards a landmark deal, what's called the Paris Agreement.
A system of voluntary cuts in carbon emissions, it formally comes into effect next year. The Whitehall view is that this is an extraordinary opportunity.
But it also means there's a huge responsibility now on British shoulders.
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School funding boost to reverse cuts - BBC News
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2019-09-04
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Schools in England are receiving £2.6bn extra as part of a three-year plan to tackle budget shortages.
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Family & Education
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Schools in England will receive £2.6bn extra next year under Chancellor Sajid Javid's spending plans.
This will be the first step towards reversing budget cuts and returning school funding to pre-austerity levels.
The announcement follows last week's unveiling of a three-year plan to boost school funding by £7.1bn by 2022-23.
School leaders have raised concerns about relying on a funding plan that will take three years at a time of such political and economic volatility.
The chancellor told the House of Commons putting more money into schools was investing in "lifelines of opportunity".
This announcement, relating to spending for 2020-21, confirms the first slice of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge to significantly increase school spending.
When it was outlined last week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the full three-year funding package would be sufficient to reverse the budget reductions of the past decade.
Mr Javid said improving school funding was vital to "national renewal" and schools that had been underfunded would receive the biggest increases.
The promise of more money for schools follows a long-running campaign over cash shortages - with head teachers writing to millions of parents about budget problems.
Along with supporting the NHS and increasing police numbers, school funding has been seen by the government as a priority for the public.
The chancellor has promised extra money for further education and vocational qualifications
The extra cash announced by the chancellor will deliver a real-terms increase.
The £2.6bn for the first year includes about £1.8bn in additional money, above the increase that would have been in the pipeline from rising pupil numbers and inflation.
And the government has separately committed to spending an extra £1.5bn per year to cover the rising costs of school staff pensions.
For the third year of the package - the £7.1bn increase - this will be worth £4.6bn extra after inflation is taken into account.
Jules White, the West Sussex head teacher who has organised a campaign involving thousands of schools, described the funding increase as a "welcome step in the right direction".
But, he said, the initial £2.6bn announced would still leave "some way to go" before pre-austerity spending levels were reached.
"At a time of deep political uncertainty, relentlessly reasonable head teachers will monitor the situation and take time to consider our next steps," he said.
Paul Whiteman, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "We've won the argument that the Treasury needed to come up with new money.
"The government has made a significant stride in the right direction and the money that's been announced is good news - but we're not there yet and we can see where some of the gaps still remain."
Kevin Courtney, joint leader of the National Education Union, said the funding promises "go some way towards closing the gap, but are still significantly short of what is required".
Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, had rejected the three-year funding plan as a "con trick" that would still leave schools waiting years for funding they needed straight away.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49580350
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Supreme Court: Parliament suspension case 'a difficult question of law' - BBC News
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2019-09-18
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The Supreme Court hears competing arguments about the legality of the PM's decision to suspend Parliament.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Keen QC, argued on behalf of the government
The most senior judge in the UK says the case surrounding Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament raises "a serious and difficult question of law".
Lady Hale and 10 other judges must decide whether advice he gave to the Queen about prorogation was lawful.
Government lawyer Lord Keen QC said the PM was "entitled" to act as he did and the issue was not one for the courts.
Lord Pannick QC for campaigners against the move told the Supreme Court it was done to "silence" MPs ahead of Brexit.
Mr Johnson announced at the end of August that he intended to suspend - or prorogue - Parliament for five weeks.
He maintains it was right and proper to do so in order to pave the way for a Queen's Speech on 14 October to outline the government's legislative plans for the year ahead.
The prime minister insisted the move had nothing to do with Brexit and his "do or die" pledge to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal - but opposition MPs and campaigners dispute that and have taken the matter to court.
The Supreme Court is hearing two appeals this week relating to the decision after two lower courts ruled in contradictory ways.
Scotland's highest court ruled last week the five-week suspension was "unlawful", after a challenge by a cross-party group of politicians.
Edinburgh's Court of Session said the shutdown was designed to "stymie" MPs in the run-up to the Brexit deadline and Mr Johnson had effectively misled the Queen in the sovereign's exercise of prerogative powers.
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However, the High Court in England had previously ruled the opposite way, following a challenge to prorogation brought by businesswoman and campaigner Gina Miller.
Judges there said the suspension was "purely political" and therefore "not a matter" for the judiciary.
Protesters from both sides of the Brexit debate gathered outside the court off Parliament Square in Westminster as the three-day hearing began.
Lady Hale, President of the Supreme Court, said in her opening statement: "That this is a serious and difficult question of law is amply demonstrated by the fact that three senior judges in Scotland have reached a different conclusion from three senior judges in England and Wales."
She said the court would endeavour to address these questions, but would not determine "wider political questions" relating to the Brexit process or have any impact on its timing.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry - who was also one of the lawyers involved in the Scottish case - told the BBC she was "cautiously optimistic" the Supreme Court would uphold that ruling.
Otherwise, she said, it would be "accepting that it's possible... for the prime minister of a minority government to shut down Parliament if it is getting in his way".
Arguing on behalf of the government on Tuesday, the Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Keen, told the Supreme Court that in declaring the prorogation "null and of no effect", the Scottish court had "simply gone where the court could not go".
He said if the ruling was upheld, the prime minister would take "all necessary steps" to comply.
However, after being pushed by the judges, he said he would not comment on whether Mr Johnson might subsequently try to prorogue Parliament again.
Lord Keen said previous prorogations of Parliament - including in 1930 and 1948 - had "clearly been employed" when governments wanted to "pursue a particular political objective", adding: "They are entitled to do so."
He said that if MPs did not want Parliament to be suspended they had "adequate mechanisms" and opportunities to stop it in its tracks by passing new laws - pointing to the fact a bill to block a no-deal Brexit was passed in just two days.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The BBC's Clive Coleman takes a look inside the UK's Supreme Court
Arguing on behalf of Ms Miller - and against the English court ruling - crossbench peer Lord Pannick said Mr Johnson suspended Parliament to avoid the risk of MPs "frustrating or damaging" his Brexit plans.
There was, Lord Pannick added, "strong evidence" the PM saw MPs "as an obstacle" and wanted to "silence" them.
He said he had "no quarrel" with a prime minister's right to prorogue Parliament in order to present a Queen's Speech.
However, he said the "exceptional length" of this suspension was "strong evidence the prime minister's motive was to silence Parliament because he sees Parliament as an obstacle".
Gina Miller is appealing against an earlier ruling which found in favour of the government
Lord Pannick said the facts showed the PM had advised the Queen to suspend Parliament for five weeks "because he wishes to avoid what he saw as the risk that Parliament, during that period, would take action to frustrate or damage the policies of his government".
He said the effect of the suspension was to take Parliament "out of the game" at a pivotal moment in the UK's history and he disagreed with the High Court's judgement that the issue was outside the scope of the courts.
"The answer is either yes, or it is no, but it is an issue of law, and the rule of law demands the court answers it and not say 'it is not for us and it is for the discretion of the prime minister'."
Amid the protests outside the Supreme Court, and the calm but focused legal debate inside, the first day of this potentially monumental constitutional battle came down to two questions.
Do judges have the power to stop a prime minister proroguing Parliament? And, if so, did Boris Johnson act illegally and mislead the Queen?
Lord Pannick QC, for Gina Miller, hammered out attack after attack.
Where was the prime minister's witness statement showing he had an honest reason for closing Parliament? How could a prime minister who is accountable to Parliament prevent it from holding his feet to the fire?
Lord Keen QC, the government's top lawyer in Scotland, argued judges couldn't even consider these questions.
There was a key moment of political intrigue when the justices wondered what Mr Johnson would do if he were to lose.
But his lawyer could not say whether he might simply ask the Queen to re-open Parliament - and then shut it down again.
Ms Miller is seeking a mandatory order which would effectively force the government to recall Parliament, BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said.
Opposition parties have called for Parliament to be recalled but at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr Johnson told ministers he was "confident" of the government's arguments.
He told the BBC on Monday he had the "greatest respect for the judiciary", and its independence was "one of the glories of the UK".
Downing Street has refused to speculate on how the government might respond should they lose this court case.
Pressed this morning, the Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland, declined to say whether Parliament would be recalled, or indeed whether the prime minister might seek to suspend Parliament for a second time.
Mr Buckland said any decision would hinge on the precise wording of the court judgement.
Nevertheless, defeat would be a significant blow.
It would be the first time in modern history that a prime minister had been judged to have misled Parliament.
And if MPs were recalled, Mr Johnson would almost certainly face contempt of Parliament proceedings, accusations that he'd lied to the Queen, and pressure to reveal more details about his negotiating strategy and his planning for no deal.
Defeat in the Supreme Court would also make it much harder for the prime minister to defy MPs for a second time as he has threatened to do over their bill to block a no-deal Brexit.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, the prime minister has discussed Brexit in a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
No 10 said afterwards: "The prime minister reiterated that the UK and the EU have agreed to accelerate efforts to reach a deal without the backstop which the UK Parliament could support, and that we would work with energy and determination to achieve this ahead of Brexit on 31 October."
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Supreme Court hears arguments over prorogation - BBC News
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2019-09-18
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What happened on day two of the hearings into the PM's suspension of Parliament?
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UK Politics
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The court has just finished today's sitting.
This morning, the Supreme Court's 11 judges heard arguments from the government's representative, Sir James Eadie QC.
He said prorogation was "a well-established constitutional function exercised by the executive" and decisions about it were "squarely… within that political or high policy area".
Sir James argued Parliament had previously passed laws addressing aspects of prorogation, but there was no law relevant to this particular case.
Therefore, he said, the courts could not intervene in the decision.
This afternoon we heard from Aidan O'Neill QC, who was defending a Scottish court’s previous ruling that the prorogation was “unlawful”.
He argued Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament was "an improper purpose" to stop MPs holding the government to account over Brexit.
He said one of the advantages of the ruling from Edinburgh was it had "distance" from the “Westminster bubble”, which lends "perspective".
On Thursday, we will hear submissions from those who have been given permission to intervene in the appeals, including former prime minister Sir John Major.
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Brexit: Boris Johnson attacked by Luxembourg PM over 'nightmare' - BBC News
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2019-09-18
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The PM says the EU is "fed up" with endless delays, as the Luxembourg PM chastises him at a press conference.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Luxembourg's PM spoke beside the empty podium where Boris Johnson was due to appear
Luxembourg's PM has attacked Boris Johnson's approach to Brexit, calling the situation a "nightmare".
Xavier Bettel said the British government had failed to put forward any serious proposals for a new deal.
But Mr Johnson, who pulled out of a joint press conference with Mr Bettel because of noisy protesters, said there was still a good chance of a deal.
A government source said the gap the UK and Brussels needed to bridge to achieve a deal "remains quite large".
Mr Johnson was visiting Luxembourg to hold talks with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as well as Mr Bettel.
After the working lunch with Mr Juncker and Mr Barnier, Mr Johnson said he had been encouraged by the EU's willingness to engage with the UK in their shared desire to avoid a no-deal exit - but there had not been a "total breakthrough".
However, the European Commission said the PM had yet to present concrete proposals for it to consider and insisted any new plans had to be "compatible" with the existing withdrawal agreement, which has been rejected three times by MPs.
There was then confusion after Mr Bettel held a press conference without Mr Johnson amid noisy protests by anti-Brexit protesters.
Mr Bettel, who addressed the media on his own after the UK PM pulled out, said his counterpart "holds the future of all UK citizens in his hands" and suggested it was his responsibility to break the deadlock in the process.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: EU have had 'bellyful' of delays
Standing next to an empty lectern, Mr Bettel warned Mr Johnson "you can't hold the future hostage for party political gain".
He said there were "no concrete proposals at the moment on the table" on a new Brexit deal from the UK and said the EU "needs more than just words".
"We need written proposals and the time is ticking, so stop speaking and act," he said.
The existing withdrawal agreement was the "only solution", he added.
Mr Johnson said his joint press conference was cancelled over fears the two leaders would have been "drowned out" by pro-EU protesters.
It is understood that his request for it to be held inside was turned down.
What exactly should we make of the oh so public venting on Monday by the prime minister of Luxembourg following his meeting with Boris Johnson?
Does this mean the EU has lost patience and will no longer engage in negotiations with the Johnson government? Can we expect an Angela Merkel rant or a Mark Rutte rave next?
"As long as there is a chance of a deal, it's in our own interest to engage. However frustrating negotiations are," a high-level EU contact told me.
The EU's Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, tweeted a photograph of the empty podium where Mr Johnson had been due to speak alongside Mr Bettel with the caption: "From Incredible Hulk to incredible sulk".
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Guy Verhofstadt This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Over the weekend Mr Johnson told a newspaper that the UK would break out of its "manacles" like cartoon character The Incredible Hulk - with or without a deal.
After the working lunch with Mr Juncker, Mr Johnson told the BBC's political editor he was "cautiously optimistic" about the state of negotiations and suggested the EU wanted to bring the two and half years of arguments about the terms of the UK's exit to an end.
"I see no point whatever in staying on in the EU beyond October 31st and we're going to come out. And actually that is what our friends and partners in the EU would like too.
"And I think that they've had a bellyful of all this stuff. You know they want to develop a new relationship with the UK. They're fed up with these endless negotiations, endless delays."
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While he was working "very hard" to get a deal, Mr Johnson said there would be no agreement unless the EU shifted its position on the backstop, the insurance policy to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland unless and until another solution is found.
"If we can't get movement from them on that crucial issue... we won't be able to get it through the House of Commons, no way."
He said there were a number of ideas under discussion which would allow the whole of the UK to leave the EU while protecting the integrity of the bloc's single market, upholding the Good Friday Agreement and supporting the Irish economy.
These, he said, included the use of technology to minimise border checks as well as the so-called Stormont lock, a mechanism to give Northern Irish politicians a say on the rules that apply to Northern Ireland.
"It is all doable with energy and goodwill," he insisted.
A UK government source later said: "It's clear Brussels is not yet ready to find the compromises required for a deal, so no-deal remains a real possibility - as the gap we need to bridge remains quite large."
As soon as we arrived at the office of the prime minister of Luxembourg it became obvious a planned outdoor news conference could not go ahead.
The anti-Brexit protesters in the square numbered less than 100 but their music and megaphones made it sound like a lot more and they occasionally used language you wouldn't want to hear on the news.
Behind the scenes the British and Luxembourgish delegations grappled with a diplomatic dilemma: Move the event inside but exclude the majority of the journalists? Gamble that the demonstrators could pipe down for a bit? Silence the host to save the guest's blushes?
The end result saw Mr Johnson do a short interview at the ambassador's residence to be shared with everyone while Mr Bettel took to the stage next to an empty podium.
He used the moment in the spotlight to deliver an impassioned speech, made all the more dramatic by the fact he's famed as one of the EU's most smiley, mild-mannered leaders.
Mr Johnson said he would meet the Halloween Brexit deadline come what may, insisting that the UK would be "in very good shape" whether there was a deal or not.
But pushed on how he would get around the law requiring him to ask for an extension if there is no deal by 19 October, the PM did not explain how it would be possible.
Ahead of Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing into whether the prorogation of Parliament was lawful, Mr Johnson defended the decision to suspend Parliament.
Parliament was prorogued last week, ahead of a Queen's Speech on 14 October. Legal challenges to the decision have been lodged in the courts by opposition MPs and campaigners.
Mr Johnson described claims that Parliament was "being deprived of the opportunity to scrutinise Brexit" as "all this mumbo jumbo" and a "load of claptrap".
"I think people think that we've somehow stopped Parliament from scrutinising Brexit.
"What absolute nonsense. Parliament will be able to scrutinise the deal that I hope we will be able to do both before and after the European Council on October 17."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49715705
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How has Scotland changed since the indyref? - BBC News
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2019-09-18
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Five years on from the independence referendum, how have things changed in Scotland?
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Scotland politics
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Five years is a long time in politics
Five years have passed since the Scottish independence referendum. BBC Scotland looks at how the country's politics has changed since then, and how likely we are to do it all again.
Where were you on 18 September, 2014?
If you're a Scot who was over the age of 16, there's an 84.59% chance you were in a polling station at some point, ticking Yes or No on the question of independence.
When those ballot papers were counted up, the No pile was bigger by 55% to 45% - but that was just the beginning of the story.
Wherever you were that day, it's unlikely you would have predicted where we would all be five years later, with the UK seemingly jammed halfway out the exit door of the EU and the question of Scotland's part in it decidedly unresolved.
What has happened during this extraordinary period of political turmoil, and where does it leave us?
Remember them? A lot of big names have bowed out of frontline politics since 2015
The wheels of history were turning within hours of the vote. Alex Salmond, Scotland's longest serving first minister and SNP leader, announced he was stepping down.
He was far from the last - if a year is a long time in politics, five is apparently a lifetime. The cast of characters at the top of the game has changed almost completely.
This is particularly true on what was supposedly the winning side - David Cameron, Alastair Darling, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband, Jim Murphy, Kezia Dugdale and now even Ruth Davidson have all bowed out of frontline politics.
Mr Salmond's replacement was at least a familiar face - his deputy Nicola Sturgeon, who embarked on a sold-out stadium tour before returning the SNP to government in the 2016 Holyrood election.
Other members of the Yes campaign have gone on to secure prominent positions - like Mhairi Black taking Douglas Alexander's Westminster seat, or Jeane Freeman winning one at Holyrood and rising to the post of health secretary.
Somehow, the issue of Scottish independence has boosted the fortunes of both the party most strongly in favour of it - the SNP - and the one most staunchly opposed to it - the Conservatives.
The SNP were the first to have a surge post-indyref, recruiting tens of thousands of new members under Ms Sturgeon and going on to score a stunning landslide in the following year's general election.
It's hard to understate just how massive the 2015 election result was. The SNP gained almost a million votes and 50 constituencies, leaping from third place in Scotland in 2010 to holding all but three seats.
The SNP almost wiped their rivals off the map entirely in 2015
For the losers, the headline was Labour's near wipeout, losing 40 seats. But the Lib Dems, fresh from five years of coalition with the Tories, also saw their vote utterly collapse, losing more than half their support and 10 seats.
All of a sudden, the SNP were the third party at Westminster - and by a comfortable margin.
Some of the new MPs didn't have a lot of time to settle in, though, because another election was coming down the tracks only two years later. This time, the pendulum swung in a different direction.
The Scottish Conservatives were the ones cashing in on the constitutional question in 2017, draping themselves in the Union flag as the "no to indyref2" party on their way to gaining 12 seats in the snap election.
The SNP lost almost half a million votes as the electoral tide went out again, shedding 21 seats - but remained in position as the dominant force in Scottish politics with the majority of the country's Westminster seats.
Labour and the Lib Dems had mini-recoveries of their own, but it was the two parties camped most vocally on either side of the question of independence who were streets ahead, combining to take almost two thirds of the votes cast in Scotland.
The electoral shifts inside the span of a few years have been dizzying in some areas. The swingometer hasn't just broken, it's melted.
There were seats comfortably held by Labour or the Lib Dems in 2010, which yielded double-digit majorities for the SNP in 2015, but then turned blue for the Tories in 2017.
Who might win them in the election broadly expected for later in 2019?
Nicola Sturgeon has been as involved in the debate over Brexit as she is in the independence one
The reason we had a snap election in 2017 and seem poised to have another is because the electorate were asked another binary constitutional question - about membership of the European Union.
In that 2016 contest, 62% of voters in Scotland backed Remain - while 52% across the UK as a whole voted to Leave.
Politicians have spent the three and a half years since then trying to work out exactly what "leave" means, and how to go about doing it.
Theresa May - who succeeded David Cameron as prime minister shortly after the referendum - tried a snap election to boost her majority, and ended up wiping it out. After failing to get a deal she negotiated with European leaders past the Commons, she handed over to Boris Johnson, who is locked in a struggle of his own with MPs.
All the while, the disparity between the vote in Scotland and the vote UK-wide has gnawed away, ever-present in the local debate. Unsurprisingly, the pro-independence parties see it as a decisive point in their favour; equally unsurprisingly, the unionist parties are unconvinced.
As we can see in the wild swings in the various elections held since - including a European election which saw the Brexit Party finish second in Scotland and Labour fifth - what the electorate make of it all is less clear.
Combined, the two referendums seem to have raised constitutional questions which are, as of yet, unresolved.
The issue of independence hasn't exactly gone away in the last five years
You will probably have noticed that the issue of independence hasn't exactly gone away over the last five years. Each of the political parties have marked the anniversary by restating arguments which have by now become extremely familiar.
So...are we going to have another referendum?
As with everything in politics, it's uncertain - and depends on who you ask.
The Scottish government are certainly pushing for a new vote, in the second half of 2020, and have drawn up legislation which might pave the way for one.
But Ms Sturgeon insists she wants to do a deal with the UK government first - the model followed in 2014 - to make sure everything is nice and legal. And given the UK government has spent the last two years saying no, that could prove a considerable sticking point.
Well, whoever ends up in Downing Street - Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn - it seems like they would be far more focused on Brexit in the first instance.
Mr Johnson is staunchly against independence, and Mr Corbyn wants to hold a fresh referendum on EU membership. While the SNP would welcome one of those, it would presumably impact on the timetable for indyref2, were the new PM to agree to it.
So the 2021 Holyrood election could end up being another contest which becomes a battle for a mandate, for or against indyref2.
The question of Scotland's place in the UK hasn't gone away over the past five years, and it doesn't seem like it's going to be going away any time soon.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-49726825
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School funding boost to reverse cuts - BBC News
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2019-09-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Schools in England are receiving £2.6bn extra as part of a three-year plan to tackle budget shortages.
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Family & Education
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Schools in England will receive £2.6bn extra next year under Chancellor Sajid Javid's spending plans.
This will be the first step towards reversing budget cuts and returning school funding to pre-austerity levels.
The announcement follows last week's unveiling of a three-year plan to boost school funding by £7.1bn by 2022-23.
School leaders have raised concerns about relying on a funding plan that will take three years at a time of such political and economic volatility.
The chancellor told the House of Commons putting more money into schools was investing in "lifelines of opportunity".
This announcement, relating to spending for 2020-21, confirms the first slice of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge to significantly increase school spending.
When it was outlined last week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the full three-year funding package would be sufficient to reverse the budget reductions of the past decade.
Mr Javid said improving school funding was vital to "national renewal" and schools that had been underfunded would receive the biggest increases.
The promise of more money for schools follows a long-running campaign over cash shortages - with head teachers writing to millions of parents about budget problems.
Along with supporting the NHS and increasing police numbers, school funding has been seen by the government as a priority for the public.
The chancellor has promised extra money for further education and vocational qualifications
The extra cash announced by the chancellor will deliver a real-terms increase.
The £2.6bn for the first year includes about £1.8bn in additional money, above the increase that would have been in the pipeline from rising pupil numbers and inflation.
And the government has separately committed to spending an extra £1.5bn per year to cover the rising costs of school staff pensions.
For the third year of the package - the £7.1bn increase - this will be worth £4.6bn extra after inflation is taken into account.
Jules White, the West Sussex head teacher who has organised a campaign involving thousands of schools, described the funding increase as a "welcome step in the right direction".
But, he said, the initial £2.6bn announced would still leave "some way to go" before pre-austerity spending levels were reached.
"At a time of deep political uncertainty, relentlessly reasonable head teachers will monitor the situation and take time to consider our next steps," he said.
Paul Whiteman, leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "We've won the argument that the Treasury needed to come up with new money.
"The government has made a significant stride in the right direction and the money that's been announced is good news - but we're not there yet and we can see where some of the gaps still remain."
Kevin Courtney, joint leader of the National Education Union, said the funding promises "go some way towards closing the gap, but are still significantly short of what is required".
Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, had rejected the three-year funding plan as a "con trick" that would still leave schools waiting years for funding they needed straight away.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49580350
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news_education-49580350
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Johnson's Brexit drama grips European press - BBC News
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2019-09-05
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Despite the "chaos", many papers believe Boris Johnson will emerge the ultimate victor in an election.
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Europe
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The latest twists in the Westminster Brexit drama are gripping Europe's newspapers.
Some see a frustrating impasse, others a democratic push-back, but several believe UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will emerge the ultimate victor in an election.
Mr Johnson's best bet now, the paper suggests, is to campaign for a general election "by playing the role of a leader restrained by a parliament favourable to the EU and deaf to the 2016 popular vote, which sabotaged his negotiating strategy with Brussels".
For Italy's largest-circulation daily, Il Corriere della Sera, "Boris Johnson is like a cornered boxer".
It says the prime minister's strategy has been to force Europe to face the real possibility of a no-deal exit. "But it's been a kamikaze strategy because Brussels does not appear ready to cede. Great Britain is falling headlong into the abyss," the paper says.
Italy's liberal Repubblica compares Mr Johnson's defeats to the fall from power of Italian populist leader Matteo Salvini. "The good news is that for any leader, no matter how powerful and popular the same rules of moderation, attention and reflection apply, which are essentially democratic values."
According to the Irish Independent, "We are moving into the realm of the last chance."
It questions the grasp of reality by MPs on all sides of the argument. "So often we see how people make their decisions based on what the facts mean to them, not on the facts themselves. But the facts of Brexit have been distorted to such a degree that it is small wonder so many are in two minds."
"If Brexit was conceived - as it sometimes seems - purely as an experiment by a cabal of ill-advised politicians to outsmart reality, they have come undone for now. Their zeal for their project took them a long way, but their progress was halted on encountering an equal and opposite force - otherwise known as democracy."
Exhausted Brits are tuning out in droves, according to Belgium's Le Soir. "The storm does not seem ready to stop, or the fog to dissipate. In pubs around Westminster, the British are sipping their beer and no longer paying attention to television which broadcasts hours of heated parliamentary debates. Brexit fatigue?"
Two very different German papers both believe that Mr Johnson will win a general election, despite yesterday's parliamentary votes.
A headline in centre-right Die Welt says his "100% error rate does not help his opponents".
It adds: "His prospects for success? Very good... considering an opposition that still does not know which Brexit it wants."
For Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a centre-left daily, it may look as if Mr Johnson has been weakened, "but should he be successful in his plans, he would have a good chance of winning those elections - which could explain his current confrontational tactics".
Worse still, they're suffering "a pathological vertigo in the face of a precipice and a decision that will define the lives of several generations of British people", the centre-right daily warns.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49593002
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news_world-europe-49593002
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Domestic abuse: 'My violent partner tortured me for three hours' - BBC News
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2019-09-27
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Bethany Marchant says she wants to encourage others to seek help if they're in an abusive relationship.
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Newsbeat
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Warning: this article contains details of domestic violence which some people might find upsetting
"I was banging on windows, screaming. Every time I'd scream, he'd put his fist in my throat - I couldn't breathe."
Bethany Marchant was subjected to a violent attack by her then-partner Stefan Carr.
On Monday he was jailed for 11 years and three months for the assault on Bethany and an earlier attack on a previous partner.
Bethany, 24, says she is speaking out to encourage others to seek help if they're in a violent relationship.
"Get out there, have your say, and don't be pushed down by these people. They belong in prison, they don't deserve to be here," she tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
Bethany and Stefan had been together for seven months.
She says there were "no warning signs" that he was a violent man and he was "charming and so kind" to her.
It was the night Stefan, from Castleford, confessed to cheating on Bethany that "all the torture started".
A long argument turned into a sustained series of attacks on Bethany - which were caught on the CCTV at his home on 5 May.
"He locked the door, took my phone off me, he would suffocate me, strangle me," Bethany says.
"This went on for hours until eventually he got a ready-made noose from a chest of drawers and hung me from the door for three minutes."
She says he dropped her to the floor and she "was vomiting everywhere".
Carr's house was covered by CCTV cameras he had installed which recorded his assault
Bethany says she managed to persuade Carr to take her to the hospital - but instead, on the drive, he told her he was going to drown her "in a nearby reservoir".
The police then arrived - which she says was due to the neighbours.
"The neighbours had seen Stefan with a knife at my throat through the window and they'd phoned the police.
"They made another call once they could see Stefan putting me in the van. If they hadn't rung the police, I wouldn't be here today."
Stefan Carr admitted four counts of assault and one of attempted assault
Carr was jailed for four counts of assault and one of attempted assault - two of the charges related to attacks on his previous partner.
Bethany says hearing the prison sentence for Carr "was hard".
"It didn't feel like closure. I thought immediately I would feel better and I didn't."
But she adds "it was a relief" and that "a big weight had been lifted".
"I'd been holding it in since May, it was nice to finally have my say."
According to statistics from the ONS, two million adults - including 1.3 million women - aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year up to March - an increase of 23% from the previous year.
Mum-of-one Bethany says "it's been really difficult" but moving forward she "can now seek help".
She says she wants to get the message out to "people who are suffering in relationships that there is hope out there".
"You just need to be brave and seek help. Get out there, have your say, and don't be pushed down by these people."
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article help and advice is available here.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49837521
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news_newsbeat-49837521
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Mothers with 'controlling voice' fail to persuade teenagers - BBC News
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2019-09-27
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The tone of voice used by mothers to teenage children can be as important as what they say, a study suggests.
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Family & Education
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Mothers who talk to their teenage children in a "controlling tone of voice" are more likely to start an argument than get a positive response, according to researchers.
The Cardiff University study examined the responses of 14 and 15-year-olds to instructions given to them in different ways of speaking.
It showed that mothers wanting to persuade teenagers to co-operate got better results when they sounded "supportive" rather than when they applied pressure.
The researchers said that in terms of young people's behaviour there has been little evidence about the impact of "tone of voice", rather than the words or actions of parents.
The study used classic set-piece family arguments - such as trying to get a teenager to do their homework or to get ready for school in the morning.
In the experiment, more than 1,000 youngsters, aged 14 and 15, were subjected to the same instructions delivered in different styles.
The research, published in the journal Developmental Psychology, used recordings of mothers but did not examine whether there would be similar reactions to fathers.
It found that mothers using a "controlling" voice that tried to pressurise a teenager had a counter-productive effect, raising the youngsters' hackles and creating a negative response.
A "neutral" voice generated a broadly neutral reaction, neither motivating nor making teenagers more defensive.
But a warmer, more "supportive" voice that tried to cajole and encourage rather than confront, was the most successful way of getting teenagers to carry out the request.
"If parents want conversations with their teens to have the most benefit, it's important to remember to use supportive tones of voice," said report author Netta Weinstein.
"It's easy for parents to forget, especially if they are feeling stressed, tired, or pressured themselves."
Co-author Silke Paulmann, from the University of Essex's Department of Psychology, said the results showed "how powerful our voice is".
"Choosing the right tone to communicate is crucial in all of our conversations," said Prof Paulmann.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49841625
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news_education-49841625
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University 'still good value for future earnings' - BBC News
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2019-09-11
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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But an international report calls for more scrutiny of the quality of degree courses.
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Family & Education
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Going to university in England is still a good investment for young people, says an annual international report, which rejected claims there were too many graduates.
The study from the OECD economics think tank says despite facing among the highest tuition fees in the world, the increased earning power of graduates would still "greatly exceed the cost".
"Educated people throughout history have always argued there are too many other educated people," said the OECD's education director Andreas Schleicher.
But he argued that universities needed to face much more scrutiny over the quality of courses and qualifications.
Mr Schleicher said that at school level, the UK education systems were leading the world in measuring how pupils progressed - but at university level, there was much less information about how students were learning.
He rejected arguments that too many people were going to university - but said if universities expanded further there needed to be more clarity about standards and what they were offering students in terms of future employment.
The report showed a narrowing gap in the higher earnings of graduates across the UK.
In 2013, graduates had average earnings that were 54% higher than non-graduates, which had reduced to a 42% advantage in 2017.
Below these averages, there were significant differences - such as higher earnings for those who studied maths and sciences and lower earnings for graduates of arts and humanities.
Despite this likely outcome in earnings, the OECD report said universities in the UK had increased places for arts and humanities at a greater rate than in-demand subjects such as engineering.
Mr Schleicher said the debate about too many people staying in education had always been there - and there was no real evidence of any reduction in demand for graduates and highly skilled people.
"If we had this discussion a hundred years ago, there would have been people saying there were too many people going to high school," he said, at the launch of the report in London.
There were no signs of modern economies needing fewer well-qualified people, he said.
The report showed the strong international growth in higher education - with 44% of people aged 25 to 34 across the OECD now having degrees, compared with 35% a decade ago.
But that "doesn't mean everyone has to go to university", said the OECD education director.
High quality vocational education was also needed - and Mr Schleicher said there was a "disturbing picture" in which those who already had the worst skills were the least likely to be able to get extra training.
The annual report also highlighted the ways in which teachers' pay in England was unlike other countries.
It showed that relative to graduate earnings, head teachers in England were better paid than in any other country in the developed world.
But classroom teachers, by the same measure, had below-average pay.
The levels of starting salaries for teachers in England were also below average by these international comparisons.
In the recent round of spending announcements, the Department for Education said that it would increase starting pay for teachers in England to £30,000.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49652736
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news_education-49652736
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David Cameron: Johnson and Gove behaved 'appallingly' - BBC News
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2019-09-15
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The former prime minister says the 2016 EU referendum turned into a "terrible Tory psychodrama".
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UK Politics
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David Cameron has accused the current prime minister, Boris Johnson, and Michael Gove of behaving "appallingly" during the EU referendum campaign.
Speaking to the Times ahead of the launch of his memoir, the former Tory PM attacked some colleagues who backed Leave for "trashing the government".
Mr Cameron said the result in 2016 had left him "hugely depressed" and he knew "some people will never forgive me".
He also said another referendum cannot be ruled out "because we're stuck".
Mr Cameron criticised Mr Johnson's strategy for dealing with Brexit, including his decision to suspend Parliament ahead of the 31 October deadline and removing the whip from 21 Tory MPs who voted to block a no-deal Brexit.
The prime minister has said the suspension - or prorogation - is a normal action of a new government to let it lay out its new policies in a Queen's Speech, and blocking no-deal would "scupper" his negotiations with the EU.
Mr Cameron called the referendum in 2016 after promising it in the Conservative Party's election manifesto the year before.
He campaigned for Remain, but lost the vote by 52% to 48%, and announced within hours he would be stepping down as PM.
The former Tory leader said the Leave side had a "very powerful emotional argument", while Remain had the "very strong technical and economic arguments", and the former - plus the issue of immigration - was a "winning combination" for his rivals.
"It turned into this terrible Tory psychodrama and I couldn't seem to get through," he said.
But leading Brexiteer and former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Lilley said the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU "didn't care a fig about Tory psychodramas or anything else", accusing Mr Cameron of using "an extraordinary Westminster bubble phrase".
"Most [Leave voters] put aside party loyalties and voted on the issue," he told BBC Two's Newsnight programme.
"When the British people speak, their voice will be respected, not ignored."
Lord Lilley said Mr Cameron had vowed before the 2016 referendum the public would decide whether the UK left the EU, but "now he's saying different things".
The former PM famously wrote his memoirs in a shed - which allegedly cost £25,000
In his interview with the Times, Mr Cameron - who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016 - said his Conservative colleagues Mr Johnson, Mr Gove, Penny Mordaunt and Priti Patel had "left the truth at home" on the referendum campaign trail, especially when it came to immigration.
He said: "Boris had never argued for leaving the EU, right?
"Michael was a very strong Eurosceptic, but someone whom I'd known as this liberal, compassionate, rational Conservative ended up making arguments about Turkey [joining the EU] and [the UK] being swamped and what have you."
Mr Cameron called it "ridiculous" and "just not true" when Ms Mordaunt made a similar argument about Turkey, followed by claims by the now-Home Secretary Ms Patel that "wealthy people didn't understand the problems of immigration".
He added: "I suppose some people would say all is fair in love and war and political campaigns. I thought there were places Conservatives wouldn't go against each other. And they did."
Despite his criticism of his former colleagues' conduct during the referendum campaign, Mr Cameron defended his decision to call the vote, saying the issue of the EU "needed to be addressed".
"Every single day I think about it, the referendum and the fact that we lost and the consequences and the things that could have been done differently, and I worry desperately about what is going to happen next," he said.
"I think we can get to a situation where we leave but we are friends, neighbours and partners. We can get there, but I would love to fast-forward to that moment because it's painful for the country and it's painful to watch."
David Cameron and his wife Samantha after he became PM in 2010
Speaking about the current prime minister's strategy, Mr Cameron said he "wants him to succeed", but his plan has "morphed into something quite different".
He said: "Taking the whip from hard-working Conservative MPs and sharp practices using prorogation of Parliament have rebounded.
"I didn't support either of those things. Neither do I think a no-deal Brexit is a good idea."
David Cameron has been very quiet since he walked out of Downing Street for the last time in 2016.
So his decision to use this interview to come out fighting for why he called the referendum is significant.
Despite admitting that he worries about the consequences and accepting he may be blamed for them by some, he doesn't believe he was wrong to call it.
Instead, he maintains that holding the vote was "inevitable".
After years of silence, the timing of Mr Cameron's return to the front pages may play badly for Boris Johnson.
He's highly critical of Mr Johnson's role in the Leave campaign, writing in his book that he and his fellow Leave campaigner Michael Gove behaved "appallingly".
And although he seemed to be giving Mr Johnson breathing space as the new prime minister, the decision to suspend Parliament and expel 21 Conservative rebels seems to have hardened his tone.
Mr Cameron also spoke of the damage to his friendships - including the one between him and Mr Gove, who had been close friends since university.
"We've spoken," he said. "Not a huge amount. I've sort of had a conversation with him.
"I've spoken to the prime minister a little bit, mainly through texts, but Michael was a very good friend. So that has been more difficult."
But he did praise his immediate successor, Theresa May, who had been his home secretary throughout his time at No 10, for her "phenomenal" work rate and her "ethos of public service", even if he was not unquestioning of her strategy.
David Cameron with Theresa May, when she was his home secretary
"I remember frequently texting [Mrs May] about the frustration of getting a Brexit deal and then seeing Brexiteers vote it down, possibly at the risk of the whole project they had devoted themselves to," said Mr Cameron. "Maddening and infuriating."
He continued: "There's an argument that Brexit is just impossible to deliver and no one could have done, and there's an argument that, well, wrong choices were made. This is somewhere in between."
Asked what happens next, Mr Cameron said he did not think a no-deal Brexit "should be pursued".
He also did not reject a further referendum.
"I don't think you can rule it out because we're stuck," he said.
"I'm not saying one will happen or should happen. I'm just saying that you can't rule things out right now because you've got to find some way of unblocking the blockage."
Mr Cameron became the Conservative Party leader in 2005. Five years later he was voted into Downing Street as the UK's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years - aged 43.
His six-year tenure - firstly in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and latterly with a majority government - was dominated by his desire to reduce the deficit, and the introduction of austerity measures with his Chancellor George Osborne.
But when he pledged in his party's 2015 manifesto to hold a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, the focus shifted.
Mr Cameron backed Remain during the 2016 campaign and, on the morning of the result after discovering he had lost, he announced he would be stepping down, saying: "I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination."
The former PM has remained silent until now about both of his successors at the helm of the Tory Party - Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
But his allegedly fractious relationship with Mr Johnson has been well documented since their days together at Oxford University - most notably as members of the infamous Bullingdon Club.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49690618
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news_uk-politics-49690618
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Castleford man caught attacking partner on own CCTV jailed - BBC News
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2019-09-23
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Carr subjected his victim to a three-hour ordeal, which was caught on cameras he had installed.
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Leeds & West Yorkshire
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Stefan Carr admitted four counts of assault and one of attempted assault
A man who was caught assaulting his partner on cameras he had installed in his home has been jailed.
Stefan Carr, from Carlyle Crescent, Castleford, subjected Bethany Marchant to a violent attack in the early hours of 5 May.
During the three-hour attack he tied a noose around her neck and lifted her off the ground.
The 28-year-old was jailed for 11 years three months for four counts of assault and one of attempted assault.
Two of the charges related to attacks on his previous partner who had left him in April 2018.
Believing she was in a new relationship, he punched his ex-partner in the face in late-autumn 2018, and in January 2019 he attempted to suffocate her.
Carr had been on bail for those offences when he attacked Ms Marchant on 5 May.
The couple had arrived home at 01:30 BST and a long argument escalated into a sustained series of attacks on Ms Marchant.
Ms Marchant said Carr had "manipulated and fooled" her
Carr's house was covered by CCTV cameras he had installed which recorded his assault on Ms Marchant
Carr pushed her from room to room, attacking her in various ways.
At one point he created a noose out of a length of rope and lifted her off the ground. He also threatened her with a knife.
She eventually persuaded him to take her to hospital but after driving a short distance he threatened to drive the car into a reservoir, drowning them both, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
The police arrived at this point, having been alerted by a neighbour.
Speaking after sentencing Ms Marchant said: "I am just glad he is locked up and can't hurt anyone else.
"I will never trust nobody again. He completely fooled and manipulated me."
Det Ch Insp Vanessa Rolfe, of West Yorkshire Police, praised Ms Marchant's courage and bravery after such a "horrific" ordeal.
She said the strength of the case against Carr, which led to his guilty pleas, came in part from him effectively recording and documenting his own criminal acts.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-49800112
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Chalk Farm stabbing: Woman arrested over fatal attack - BBC News
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2019-09-09
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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A woman is found fatally wounded and two other women suffer slash injuries.
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London
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The victim was found injured in Belmont Street, Chalk Farm
A 35-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman who was stabbed to death in north London.
The victim, in her 20s, died nearly an hour after she was found wounded in Belmont Street, Chalk Farm, at 23:10 BST on Sunday.
Two other women were discovered with slash wounds. They were taken to hospital but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
The Met said the arrested woman was in custody at a London police station.
The victim's next of kin have been informed and a post-mortem examination will take place in due course.
Two other women were taken to hospital with slash wounds
Terry Ellis, from Camden Against Violence, said he understood the attack was the result of "an argument" which the woman "wasn't really involved in"
"She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
Floral tributes have been laid on the street by friends of victim.
One, who gave her name as Ronney, described the woman as a "really, really good mum" who had a son.
"She was part of everyone's life, she helped everyone," she said.
Tributes have been left in the road where the woman was killed
The killing was the second in two hours in north London after a man was shot dead on Malden Road in Kentish Town.
Police have said there is no link between the two deaths.
Another man was shot dead in Sydenham, south-east London on Sunday afternoon.
• None Man in his 20s shot dead in London
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-49633214
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news_uk-england-london-49633214
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National Lottery worker 'helped with fake win scam' - BBC News
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2019-09-19
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Edward Putman denies claiming the £2.5m jackpot with a faked ticket in 2009.
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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A man accused of claiming a £2.5m jackpot with a fake lottery ticket was helped by a National Lottery operator employee, a court heard.
Edward Putman, 54, from Hertfordshire, denies committing fraud by false representation by allegedly claiming £2,525,485 with a faked ticket in 2009.
St Albans Crown Court heard he was helped by Camelot insider Giles Knibbs, who knew how to cheat the system.
The alleged fraud came to light after Mr Knibbs took his own life.
Prosecutor James Keeley told the court Mr Knibbs worked for Camelot in Watford between 2004 and 2010 and his role in the fraud detection department allowed him the opportunity to create the false ticket, which he gave to the defendant to cash in.
The court was told Mr Knibbs had seen a document containing details of big wins which had not yet been claimed.
Mr Putman, of Station Road, Kings Langley, claimed the prize from the 11 March 2009 draw on 28 August, just before the six-month deadline passed to claim the win.
"He did not hold the winning ticket, but a forgery created by Mr Knibbs," the prosecutor said.
The genuine winning ticket has never been found, the court heard.
Camelot verified the ticket was genuine and paid out
Mr Keeley told the jury the fraud came to light after Mr Knibbs, from Bricket Wood in Hertfordshire, died at Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire on 5 October 2015.
Mr Knibbs had allegedly told friends he had "conned" the lottery, as well as telling them about technical inaccuracies about the way the ticket was created, the court was told.
Mr Keeley said: "The veracity of his [Mr Knibbs'] narrative and thus credibility is strongly supported by the forged ticket which the defendant could not have acquired by legitimate means."
The court was told Mr Knibbs did not feel he had received his fair share of the jackpot and they had a bitter argument in June 2015.
Evidence suggested Mr Knibbs was paid an initial £280,000 from Putman for his part in the ruse, followed by smaller increments totalling £50,000, Mr Keeley said.
The argument led Mr Putman to make allegations of burglary, blackmail and criminal damage against Mr Knibbs, who was arrested, Mr Keeley said.
Mr Keeley said the ticket submitted by the defendant was badly damaged, "lacking the entire bottom section" but on 8 September, Camelot decided he was the genuine winner and paid out.
"They had been conned," the prosecutor said.
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-49754357
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David Cameron: Johnson and Gove behaved 'appallingly' - BBC News
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2019-09-19
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The former prime minister says the 2016 EU referendum turned into a "terrible Tory psychodrama".
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UK Politics
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David Cameron has accused the current prime minister, Boris Johnson, and Michael Gove of behaving "appallingly" during the EU referendum campaign.
Speaking to the Times ahead of the launch of his memoir, the former Tory PM attacked some colleagues who backed Leave for "trashing the government".
Mr Cameron said the result in 2016 had left him "hugely depressed" and he knew "some people will never forgive me".
He also said another referendum cannot be ruled out "because we're stuck".
Mr Cameron criticised Mr Johnson's strategy for dealing with Brexit, including his decision to suspend Parliament ahead of the 31 October deadline and removing the whip from 21 Tory MPs who voted to block a no-deal Brexit.
The prime minister has said the suspension - or prorogation - is a normal action of a new government to let it lay out its new policies in a Queen's Speech, and blocking no-deal would "scupper" his negotiations with the EU.
Mr Cameron called the referendum in 2016 after promising it in the Conservative Party's election manifesto the year before.
He campaigned for Remain, but lost the vote by 52% to 48%, and announced within hours he would be stepping down as PM.
The former Tory leader said the Leave side had a "very powerful emotional argument", while Remain had the "very strong technical and economic arguments", and the former - plus the issue of immigration - was a "winning combination" for his rivals.
"It turned into this terrible Tory psychodrama and I couldn't seem to get through," he said.
But leading Brexiteer and former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Lilley said the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU "didn't care a fig about Tory psychodramas or anything else", accusing Mr Cameron of using "an extraordinary Westminster bubble phrase".
"Most [Leave voters] put aside party loyalties and voted on the issue," he told BBC Two's Newsnight programme.
"When the British people speak, their voice will be respected, not ignored."
Lord Lilley said Mr Cameron had vowed before the 2016 referendum the public would decide whether the UK left the EU, but "now he's saying different things".
The former PM famously wrote his memoirs in a shed - which allegedly cost £25,000
In his interview with the Times, Mr Cameron - who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016 - said his Conservative colleagues Mr Johnson, Mr Gove, Penny Mordaunt and Priti Patel had "left the truth at home" on the referendum campaign trail, especially when it came to immigration.
He said: "Boris had never argued for leaving the EU, right?
"Michael was a very strong Eurosceptic, but someone whom I'd known as this liberal, compassionate, rational Conservative ended up making arguments about Turkey [joining the EU] and [the UK] being swamped and what have you."
Mr Cameron called it "ridiculous" and "just not true" when Ms Mordaunt made a similar argument about Turkey, followed by claims by the now-Home Secretary Ms Patel that "wealthy people didn't understand the problems of immigration".
He added: "I suppose some people would say all is fair in love and war and political campaigns. I thought there were places Conservatives wouldn't go against each other. And they did."
Despite his criticism of his former colleagues' conduct during the referendum campaign, Mr Cameron defended his decision to call the vote, saying the issue of the EU "needed to be addressed".
"Every single day I think about it, the referendum and the fact that we lost and the consequences and the things that could have been done differently, and I worry desperately about what is going to happen next," he said.
"I think we can get to a situation where we leave but we are friends, neighbours and partners. We can get there, but I would love to fast-forward to that moment because it's painful for the country and it's painful to watch."
David Cameron and his wife Samantha after he became PM in 2010
Speaking about the current prime minister's strategy, Mr Cameron said he "wants him to succeed", but his plan has "morphed into something quite different".
He said: "Taking the whip from hard-working Conservative MPs and sharp practices using prorogation of Parliament have rebounded.
"I didn't support either of those things. Neither do I think a no-deal Brexit is a good idea."
David Cameron has been very quiet since he walked out of Downing Street for the last time in 2016.
So his decision to use this interview to come out fighting for why he called the referendum is significant.
Despite admitting that he worries about the consequences and accepting he may be blamed for them by some, he doesn't believe he was wrong to call it.
Instead, he maintains that holding the vote was "inevitable".
After years of silence, the timing of Mr Cameron's return to the front pages may play badly for Boris Johnson.
He's highly critical of Mr Johnson's role in the Leave campaign, writing in his book that he and his fellow Leave campaigner Michael Gove behaved "appallingly".
And although he seemed to be giving Mr Johnson breathing space as the new prime minister, the decision to suspend Parliament and expel 21 Conservative rebels seems to have hardened his tone.
Mr Cameron also spoke of the damage to his friendships - including the one between him and Mr Gove, who had been close friends since university.
"We've spoken," he said. "Not a huge amount. I've sort of had a conversation with him.
"I've spoken to the prime minister a little bit, mainly through texts, but Michael was a very good friend. So that has been more difficult."
But he did praise his immediate successor, Theresa May, who had been his home secretary throughout his time at No 10, for her "phenomenal" work rate and her "ethos of public service", even if he was not unquestioning of her strategy.
David Cameron with Theresa May, when she was his home secretary
"I remember frequently texting [Mrs May] about the frustration of getting a Brexit deal and then seeing Brexiteers vote it down, possibly at the risk of the whole project they had devoted themselves to," said Mr Cameron. "Maddening and infuriating."
He continued: "There's an argument that Brexit is just impossible to deliver and no one could have done, and there's an argument that, well, wrong choices were made. This is somewhere in between."
Asked what happens next, Mr Cameron said he did not think a no-deal Brexit "should be pursued".
He also did not reject a further referendum.
"I don't think you can rule it out because we're stuck," he said.
"I'm not saying one will happen or should happen. I'm just saying that you can't rule things out right now because you've got to find some way of unblocking the blockage."
Mr Cameron became the Conservative Party leader in 2005. Five years later he was voted into Downing Street as the UK's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years - aged 43.
His six-year tenure - firstly in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and latterly with a majority government - was dominated by his desire to reduce the deficit, and the introduction of austerity measures with his Chancellor George Osborne.
But when he pledged in his party's 2015 manifesto to hold a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, the focus shifted.
Mr Cameron backed Remain during the 2016 campaign and, on the morning of the result after discovering he had lost, he announced he would be stepping down, saying: "I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination."
The former PM has remained silent until now about both of his successors at the helm of the Tory Party - Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
But his allegedly fractious relationship with Mr Johnson has been well documented since their days together at Oxford University - most notably as members of the infamous Bullingdon Club.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49690618
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Obituary: Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's first post-independence leader - BBC News
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2019-09-06
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His promises of democracy and reconciliation dissolved into violence and economic misery.
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Africa
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Mr Mugabe resigned in 2017, after more than three decades in power
As independent Zimbabwe's first prime minister, and later its president, Robert Mugabe promised democracy and reconciliation.
But the hope that accompanied independence in 1980 dissolved into violence, corruption and economic disaster.
President Mugabe became an outspoken critic of the West, most notably the United Kingdom, the former colonial power, which he denounced as an "enemy country".
Despite his brutal treatment of political opponents, and his economic mismanagement of a once prosperous country, he continued to attract the support of other African leaders who saw him as a hero of the fight against colonial rule.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born in what was then Rhodesia on 21 February 1924, the son of a carpenter and one of the majority Shona-speaking people in a country then run by the white minority. Educated at Roman Catholic mission schools, he qualified as a teacher.
Winning a scholarship to Fort Hare University in South Africa, he took the first of his seven academic degrees before teaching in Ghana, where he was greatly influenced by the pan-Africanist ideas of Ghana's post-independence leader Kwame Nkrumah. His first wife Sally was Ghanaian.
In 1960, Mugabe returned to Rhodesia. At first he worked for the African nationalist cause with Joshua Nkomo, before breaking away to become a founder member of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu).
In 1964, after making a speech in which he called Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and his government "cowboys", Mugabe was arrested and detained without trial for a decade.
Mugabe (l) with Nkomo (r) in 1960. The relationship between the two would sour after independence
His baby son died while he was still in prison and he was refused permission to attend the funeral.
In 1973, while still in detention, he was chosen as president of Zanu. After his release, he went to Mozambique and directed guerrilla raids into Rhodesia. His Zanu organisation formed a loose alliance with Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu).
During the tortuous negotiations on independence for Rhodesia, he was seen as the most militant of the black leaders, and the most uncompromising in his demands.
On a 1976 visit to London, he declared that the only solution to the Rhodesian problem would come out of the barrel of a gun.
But his negotiating skills earned him the respect of many of his former critics. The press hailed him as "the thinking man's guerrilla".
The Lancaster House agreement of 1979 set up a constitution for the new Republic of Zimbabwe, as Rhodesia was to be called, and set February 1980 for the first elections which would be open to the black majority.
Fighting the election on a separate platform from Nkomo, Mugabe scored an overwhelming and, to most outside observers, unexpected victory. Zanu secured a comfortable majority, although the polls were marred by accusations of vote-rigging and intimidation from both sides
A self-confessed Marxist, Mugabe's victory initially had many white people packing their bags ready to leave Rhodesia, while his supporters danced in the streets.
However, the moderate, conciliatory tone of his early statements reassured many of his opponents. He promised a broad-based government, with no victimisation and no nationalisation of private property. His theme, he told them, would be reconciliation.
Later that year he outlined his economic policy, which mixed private enterprise with public investment.
He launched a programme to massively expand access to healthcare and education for black Zimbabweans, who had been marginalised under white-minority rule.
With the prime minister frequently advocating one-party rule, the rift between Mugabe and Nkomo widened.
After the discovery of a huge cache of arms at Zapu-owned properties, Nkomo, recently demoted in a cabinet reshuffle, was dismissed from government.
While paying lip service to democracy, Mugabe gradually stifled political opposition. The mid-1980s saw the massacre of thousands of ethnic Ndebeles seen as Nkomo's supporters in his home region of Matabeleland.
Mugabe was implicated in the killings, committed by the Zimbabwean army's North Korean-trained 5th Brigade, but never brought to trial.
Under intense pressure, Nkomo agreed for his Zapu to be merged with - or taken over by - Zanu to become the virtually unchallenged Zanu-PF.
After abolishing the office of prime minister, Mugabe became president in 1987 and was elected for a third term in 1996.
The same year, he married Grace Marufu, after his first wife had died from cancer. Mugabe already had two children with Grace, 40 years his junior. A third was born when the president was 73.
He did have some success in building a non-racial society, but in 1992 introduced the Land Acquisition Act, permitting the confiscation of land without appeal.
The plan was to redistribute land at the expense of more than 4,500 white farmers, who still owned the bulk of the country's best land.
In early 2000, with his presidency under serious threat from the newly formed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by former trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe lashed out against the farmers, seen as MDC backers.
His supporters, the so-called "war veterans", occupied white-owned farms and a number of farmers and their black workers were killed.
The action served to undermine the already battered economy as Zimbabwe's once valuable agricultural industry fell into ruin. Mugabe's critics accused him of distributing farms to his cronies, rather than the intended rural poor.
2008: Comes second in first round of elections to Tsvangirai who pulls out of run-off amid nationwide attacks on his supporters
2009: Amid economic collapse, swears in Tsvangirai as prime minister, who serves in uneasy government of national unity for four years
2017: Sacks long-time ally Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, paving the way for his wife Grace to succeed him
November 2017: Army intervenes and forces him to step down
Zimbabwe moved rapidly from being one of Africa's biggest food producers to having to rely on foreign aid to feed its population.
In the 2000 elections for the House of Assembly, the MDC won 57 out of the 120 seats elected by popular vote, although a further 20 seats were filled by Mugabe's nominees, securing Zanu-PF's hold on power.
Two years later, in the presidential elections, Mugabe achieved 56.2% of the vote compared with Mr Tsvangirai's 41.9% against a background of intimidation of MDC supporters. Large numbers of people in rural areas were prevented from voting by the closure of polling stations.
MDC activists were attacked around the country in 2008
With the MDC, the US, UK and the European Union not recognising the election result because of the violence and allegations of fraud, Mugabe - and Zimbabwe - became increasingly isolated.
The Commonwealth also suspended Zimbabwe from participating in its meetings until it improved its record as a democracy.
In May 2005, Mugabe presided over Operation Restore Order, a crackdown on the black market and what was said to be "general lawlessness".
Some 30,000 street vendors were arrested and whole shanty towns demolished, eventually leaving an estimated 700,000 Zimbabweans homeless.
In March 2008, Mugabe lost the first round of the presidential elections but won the run-off in June after Mr Tsvangirai pulled out.
In the wake of sustained attacks against his supporters across the country, Mr Tsvangirai maintained that a free and fair election was not possible.
After hundreds of people died from cholera, partly because the government could not afford to import water treatment chemicals, Mugabe agreed to negotiate with his long-time rival about sharing power.
The power-sharing agreement was undermined by arguments
After months of talks, in February 2009 Mugabe swore in Mr Tsvangirai as prime minister.
It came as no surprise that the arrangement was far from perfect, with constant squabbling and accusations by some human rights organisations that Mugabe's political opponents were still being detained and tortured.
Mr Tsvangirai's reputation also suffered by his association with the Mugabe regime, despite the fact that he had no influence over the increasingly irascible president.
The 2013 election, in which Mugabe won 61% of the vote, ended the power-sharing agreement and Mr Tsvangirai went into the political wilderness.
While there were the usual accusations of electoral fraud - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked that these be investigated - there was not the widespread violence that had marked previous polls in Zimbabwe.
It was an election that saw Robert Mugabe, at the age of 89, confirm his position as the undisputed power in the country.
His advancing years, and increasing health problems, saw much speculation as to who might replace him.
But the manoeuvring among possible successors revealed how fragmented Zimbabwe's administration was and underlined the fact that it was only held together by Mugabe's dominance.
Mugabe himself seemed to delight in playing off his subordinates against each other in a deliberate attempt to dilute whatever opposition might arise.
With speculation that his wife, Grace, was poised to take control in the event of his death in office, Mugabe announced in 2015 that he fully intended to fight the 2018 elections, by which time he would be 94.
He was the undisputed power in Zimbabwe
And, to allay any doubt remaining among possible successors, he announced in February 2016 that he would remain in power "until God says 'come'".
In the event it wasn't God but units of the Zimbabwe National Army which came for Robert Mugabe. On 15 November 2017 he was placed under house arrest and, four days later, replaced as the leader of Zanu-PF by his former vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Defiant to the end Mugabe refused to resign, But, on 21 November, as a motion to impeach him was being debated in the Zimbabwean parliament, the speaker of the House of Assembly announced that Robert Mugabe had finally resigned.
Mugabe negotiated a deal which protected him and his family from the risk of future prosecution and enabled him to retain his various business interests. He was also granted a house, servants, vehicles and full diplomatic status.
Ascetic in manner, Robert Mugabe dressed conservatively and drank no alcohol. He viewed both friend and foe with a scepticism verging on the paranoid.
The man who had been hailed as the hero of Africa's struggle to throw off colonialism had turned into a tyrant, trampling over human rights and turning a once prosperous country into an economic basket case.
His legacy is likely to haunt Zimbabwe for years.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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The murder of Joy Morgan - BBC News
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2019-09-06
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A mum's desperate hunt for her murdered daughter - killed by a man she met at church.
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Newsbeat
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It was Christmas Day 2018 in Carol Morgan's home in Battersea, south London and she was spending it with her three children, Dionne, Earl and Shonah.
On the table was dinner for the family - turkey, stuffing, salad and rice and peas - and Monopoly was laid out ready for a big game that Earl would probably win. He almost always did.
But there was one person missing from the house - Carol's daughter Joy.
Carol had spoken to her daughter on the phone that day to try to persuade her to join the family at her aunt's house for a Boxing Day celebration.
"I was begging her to come to her auntie's party," Carol says.
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She even offered to pay for a taxi for Joy to get up to London from her student accommodation in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
The reason why Joy didn't want to join her family is because for some years she had been a member of a strict church, which discouraged members from celebrating Christian festivals.
Carol would never see her daughter again.
Flicking through the photo albums in Carol's 10th-floor flat there are numerous photos of Joy as a child surrounded by her brother, sisters and cousins.
Whether it's on a trip to Jamaica, holding her cake on her 7th birthday or on a fairground ride - one thing you notice is that Joy is always smiling.
To her family, she lived up to her name. She was a joy to be around.
"She would buy sweeties, Christmas presents, she'd remember me, take photographs, cook dinner for me. She was just lovely, an all-round superstar in my eyes, truly.
"I suppose that's a bit over the top because I'm her mum. But it really was like that."
Growing up, the family didn't have a lot of money, and Carol often worked 12-15 hour shifts as a care worker.
But family time was important and they would do little things like go to Battersea Park or cook together.
"Our treat was we'd go swimming and we'd walk from Latchmere Swimming Bath down to Falcon Road. There'd be this chicken shop on the corner which used to do £2 meals," says Carol.
"Sometimes I'd have no money, but I used to walk up and down to all the different parks."
Education was important to Joy, and she would nag her cousins and brother and sisters to do the best they could.
"She liked to make sure you were doing the best for yourself," says her 23-year-old brother Earl, to whom Joy was particularly close.
"Stuff like looking for jobs, going to college, she always wanted to make sure that you were doing the most you could do with the surroundings that you have."
So it was no surprise to her family when Joy decided she wanted to become a midwife.
Joy was studying midwifery at the University of Hertfordshire when she disappeared. She wanted to go on to be a doctor.
"I said to her: 'I know one day you won't be in England. You won't be looking after us Europeans, you'll be going to Africa'," Carol remembers.
"I'd have been getting postcards from other countries. Once she got her qualifications she would've been off."
But Joy's life hadn't always been easy and some deaths in the family had hit her hard.
Her uncle Prince, who she was also close to, died from cancer in 2006. Six years later, her stepfather passed away from the same disease.
Then in 2014, Joy's father killed himself.
Her family says it was not long after that Joy started to get interested in a US-based church called Israel United in Christ.
"It was a weird church," says Carol. "It told you that you should divide people by colour."
It became a huge part of Joy's life and she started to pull away from her mum and siblings.
In a video filmed just two weeks before she went missing, Joy explained what the church meant to her.
"IUIC is my family and like the best family that I've ever had."
Israel United in Christ (IUIC) was founded in 2003 in New York and is part of a movement called the Black Hebrew Israelites.
It has around 40 churches or "schools" as they're known in the US - and its leader is a man who goes by the name of Bishop Nathanyel Israel.
IUIC teaches that black people, Hispanics and Native American people are God's chosen ones and are the descendants of the Biblical 12 tribes of Israel.
The organisation spreads its message through videos posted on the internet, and over the years churches have been set up in other parts of the world - including one in the UK.
Its leaders teach classes on YouTube on topics such as: "Why white people hate black people", "A strong marriage makes for a strong nation" and "Black people must leave the Christian Church".
And it's the slick videos and messages about uplifting black people which initially attract people into the organisation, according to former members.
"In the beginning it was a proud feeling. It was a feeling of being a part of a unified group," says Gina Blue, an ex-member of IUIC Las Vegas.
"You don't see a lot of black people together so I had a sense of pride and a sense of, yes we're actually organising something, we're doing something for God."
"The positive thing was always seeing people change," says Bezaleel Ben Israel, an ex-IUIC member who lives in Texas.
"I watched men who came in who were drug addicts, drug dealers, and they were having a hard time getting over these things, coming out of the 'world'.
"And they actually changed."
He explains that being in the "world" means being a part of society and everyday life - and not following the Israelite faith.
But IUIC has some controversial views.
It claims that the Bible says that when Jesus Christ returns to Earth, the Israelites will be the rulers and all the other races will become their servants.
"They have the belief that caucasians are literally, not metaphorically, the devil," says Heidi Beirich from the US civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
"So white people and what they've done with slavery, for example, and other ways of oppressing black people are because they're the devil.
"It's like white people are genetically driven to destroy black people. And that's the part that makes white people the devil in this interpretation."
It's these views that have led the SPLC to label the organisation as a "black nationalist hate group" and "racist".
"[They are] racist against white people, racist against Jews. And another part of this group which isn't discussed very much is that they're incredibly homophobic, as well. For those reasons anti-LGBT beliefs, anti-white beliefs, anti-Semitic beliefs, all of that together is the reason we list them."
In IUIC, members of the church are told to follow strict rules which it claims are set out in the Bible.
Sex before marriage is forbidden, and women and men aren't allowed to be alone together if they're not husband and wife.
Men and women also sit apart in church.
It also has a strict hierarchy system for the men only - Bishop Nathanyl at the top followed by deacons, captains, officers, soldiers and then brothers.
Women don't have formal ranks and are simply referred to as "sisters".
Anyone who breaks the rules or questions leaders can be demoted, punished or even kicked out the church, say former members.
"People were able to do bad things to other people and nobody would say anything because this person is an officer or this person was a captain," says Bezaleel.
"People were literally scared that they would lose their ticket to heaven if they spoke up against this person."
Gina remembers being told to stand in front of the congregation in Las Vegas for having a piece of hair outside of her head wrap.
"They stood me up one too many times, and I found myself really just crying and being very vulnerable and I was uncomfortable with that.
"I was really uncomfortable with being verbally abused. It's all men doing this. So they're grown men and just very aggressive and very harsh."
IUIC denies it's a hate group and says "at no point do we teach against the laws of the land or authorities".
It says former members who speak out against them are "disgruntled".
Joy first came across IUIC on the internet.
Carol remembers hearing the videos from her daughter's room in the early hours of the morning.
"It just sounded so harsh," she recalls.
In January 2016, Joy joined the UK branch of the organisation, which has a building in the centre of Ilford, east London.
The only sign this might be a church is a purple trimmed curtain blowing through an open window.
Standing at the door are male members with walkie-talkies, who act as security guards.
Joy and other members of the church would meet on a Saturday - known as the Sabbath.
She ran the children's group and hardly ever missed one of the church's festivals.
"The moment she started getting more and more into the church it was unbearable," says Carol.
"We were dirty people because we had not converted to the faith. That meant we were sinners.
"She would make you feel like you were diseased. That's how bad it was.
"We were excommunicated in our own home. She wouldn't talk to us.
"She would come into the house and if I had a vest top on, she'd say: 'Mum you need to cover yourself up, you need to take off your shoes'.
Joy's sister Dionne, 34, says she and Joy also became more distant after she joined the church.
"It was like, 'Whoa what's happened to Joy?' She hardly spoke to me."
She says one thing that really upset the family was that Joy would target her and her younger sister because they are both mixed race.
"In the Israelite church, you can't be an Israelite if your father is white man," Dionne says. "She would say to my little sister, 'You're a white devil'."
For Carol it got too much.
"The moment she called my mixed-raced daughter a demon, I said: 'No'.
"I took the laptop away and that was when things got to the point of arguments and she left."
Carol says Joy was then homeless, before being rehoused by the local council. She then moved into student accommodation in her first year at university.
Joy still spoke to her family but the distance between them had become bigger.
"She became someone different," says Dionne. "She came to separate herself from her family, which had been important to her. Because I know Joy loves her family.
"The teachings of church - it just seems like a cult and she just got swept away in it."
Former members say distancing yourself from your family if they're non-believers is something IUIC teaches.
"They say your family 'are in the world', they're of the devil because they don't know who they are," says Gina.
"They're lost so basically cut them off or you're not going to heaven. Their sins are going to be on you if you don't cut them off."
IUIC says the claims that it encourages members to cut off their families are "lies".
On the day that Carol so desperately wanted her daughter to join the family for a meal - 26 December - Joy was at a celebration at the IUIC church in Ilford.
Six weeks later, Carol received a phone call from the estate agent who looked after Joy's student accommodation.
Her daughter hadn't paid her rent and her housemates hadn't seen her since Christmas.
Carol admits she didn't realise anything was wrong until she got that call.
"I will be forever sorry for that," she says.
She reported her daughter missing on 7 February, and the police started to investigate her disappearance.
Officers spoke to Joy's housemates who told them that she was a regular member of IUIC.
They got some contact details of members from Joy's landlord, and started making calls to people in the church that knew her.
One of them was 40-year-old Shohfah-El Israel.
When police first spoke to him, he told them he'd last seen Joy on 26 December during the church meal, and he'd given her a lift back to her flat in Hatfield afterwards.
Two days later, officers pulled over his red Honda car onto the hard shoulder by junction 22 on the M25.
"You have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Joy Morgan," an officer explained.
"I just want to ask if she's dead? I just want to ask if you know if she's dead, cos this is a shock. Is she dead?"
He and his wife were friends with Joy. They had two homes - a flat in Cricklewood, north London, and a rented house in Luton, Bedfordshire.
His original name was Ajibola Shogbamimu but had changed his name in May 2018 - something IUIC encourages its members to do.
"He got his name for his voice," one former London member says.
"The Shohfah is the ram's horn. Because he had a very loud voice, he was a prominent speaker.
"One of the things IUIC does a lot of is street preaching, and they also do a lot of videos where they are doing teaching.
"And a brother who has a very distinctive loud voice is something to be celebrated."
Born in Nigeria, Shohfah-El Israel had lived in the UK since 1997.
He'd joined IUIC in December 2016 after being introduced to the church by his wife.
Shohfah-El Israel was liked by the leaders and rose to the rank of soldier during his time with the congregation.
The church described him as an "enthusiastic" member of the church who was "always offering to help in any way".
"He was very intuitive with ideas on reaching out to improve the community."
But there were times when he was warned about his behaviour.
Shohfah-El Israel was once demoted from the rank of soldier after he interrupted one of the church leaders who was speaking to members and got angry when he was corrected.
After his arrest, Shohfah-El Israel was questioned for two days before he was released on bail, while officers continued looking into the case.
Police then started to focus their investigation on parts of Stevenage in Hertfordshire.
Specialist search teams and police dogs carried out searches in woodland on the outskirts of the town.
Carol and Dionne even handed out leaflets in Stevenage town centre in the hope someone might know something about where Joy was.
On 27 February, the family were told Shohfah-El Israel had been charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty.
It would be another five months before Joy's family found out why the police believed she was dead and why Shohfah-El Israel was her murderer.
It was a sunny evening on 7 July 2019 - the day before the trial was due to start.
Surrounded by her plants, Carol stood out on the balcony of her flat drying her hair and looking out across London.
"I open my balcony and I stand on it and when I look on my balcony I have to say 'Where are you Joy?' because I don't know where she is.
"There's only one person that knows and that's him."
It's a 40-mile journey from Carol's home in south London to Reading Crown Court.
Carol has Multiple sclerosis (MS) and has to use a stick to help her walk. But she wasn't going to miss a single day of the four-week trial.
The public gallery was packed with members of Joy's family, Shohfah-El Israel's family and members of IUIC.
Carol sat in the front row as she heard how Shohfah-El Israel told police he had dropped Joy back at her flat in Hatfield on 26 December.
But phone evidence showed that Joy's phone and the defendant's phone were in his flat in Cricklewood together for two nights after.
That's when he admitted he had taken Joy back to his place where she slept on the sofa.
"The reason I didn't bring it up before was because of my wife and people getting the wrong idea," he told police.
In tears, Carol had to leave the court when Shohfah-El Israel gave some of his evidence.
It was the first time she'd seen the man accused of murdering her daughter.
Dressed in a navy suit, wearing glasses and his hair in cornrows, he used a crutch and had a limp as he took to the stand. He claimed he suffered from chronic pain syndrome.
Shohfah-El Israel said Joy was upset and thinking about leaving the church after watching videos online of ex-IUIC members in the US explaining why they were no longer part of the organisation.
That's why he agreed to let her stay at his flat. His wife was at their other home in Luton.
But what were they doing in his flat for two days?
Shohfah-El Israel claims they watched videos from ex-members on YouTube before he dropped her off at her home on the 28 December.
He denied having sex with Joy, whom he said he thought of as a "daughter".
Around 19.30 on 28 December, Joy's telephone number was suddenly removed from a church group instant messaging chat on Telegram.
It's one of the ways someone shows they have decided to leave the organisation.
Several IUIC members said this was a "surprise" as Joy didn't seem unhappy.
People tried to contact her on the phone to see if she was OK but couldn't get through.
The next day, Joy failed to turn up at church as usual.
So two members of the church went to her house looking for her - one of them was Shohfah-El Israel himself.
But no-one from the church contacted Joy's mum or the police about her sudden disappearance.
Outside court, Carol confronted some of the members about this.
"Why did none of you phone the local authorities, the police, the 999 services?," she asked.
"That's the thing that gets me. Isn't that a Christian thing to do? A real Christian thing.
"To care about another human being enough to call the police."
Back in court, the jury heard that Shohfah-El Israel's car was picked up on cameras near Stevenage. Around the same time, Joy's phone sent a signal from the same area on 28 December.
Over the next three days, he tried calling her and went to her house several times to check up on her.
But it was all part of his cover-up.
The prosecution said it was Israel who had removed her number from the group after he killed her.
His car was in Stevenage as he was "probably looking for somewhere to get rid of her body".
Joy's phone sent its final signal in the early hours of New Year's Day in Stevenage.
Shohfah-El Israel's phone was also in the same area.
Police later found Joy's house keys in his red Honda - seven weeks after she was last seen alive.
It was this piece of evidence that made Carol finally come to terms with the likelihood that her daughter was dead.
"She couldn't have been alive if she had no key to get into her flat," she says.
"She didn't phone me… that means she's not around."
After a four-week trial, a jury of eight women and four men found Shohfah-El Israel guilty of murder.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years.
"Only you know the circumstances or details or your terrible deed and why you did it," said judge Mr Justice Soole.
"You are evidently an intelligent man and have said nothing beyond the lies and explanations which the jury has rejected."
A month on from the guilty verdict, Joy's name has disappeared from the headlines but there's no closure for her family.
There are still so many unanswered questions.
Why did Shohfah-El Israel kill Joy? Where is her body? Did the church do enough to protect her?
One former member who knew Joy says she was let down by the church
"They failed her when her name was deleted from the Telegram group by not fiercely trying to find out if she's OK.
"We are taught that we are brothers and sisters and we are taught we are all we have and we are taught to look after the little ones.
"It just seems like Joy was failed by the very organisation that she loved and trusted and who were responsible to look after and protect her."
It's something Carol also believes.
"I don't respect the church. It just needs to be knocked down and taken apart because they are going on that men are the top and women are beneath them and that's it."
Israel United in Christ says when Joy went missing "all indications pointed to her leaving the church or wanting time away, not being in danger".
Speaking about Shohfah-El Israel, the church says his "conduct throughout the investigation and trial has been nothing short of disgraceful and is not in line with church principles".
It says he is no longer a member of Israel United in Christ.
The church says it doesn't address criticisms or allegations made by ex-members.
"We will make this clear, though, Israel United In Christ cares strongly about the wellbeing and safety of all our members and constantly strive to ensure improved safety procedures are in place."
It describes what happened as an "isolated incident".
"Regardless, we want the world to know that we seek to follow the laws of the land when not conflicting with the laws of the most high."
The investigation into the murder of Joy Morgan isn't closed.
Police hope that Shohfah-El Israel will tell them where he's put Joy's body or someone comes forward with a new piece of information.
Carol holds a map of Stevenage in her hand which shows the areas where the police have searched for Joy's body.
"My son's been going out looking for my daughter. He's a 23-year-old man and he's looking for his little sister.
"I have to be proud of him. It takes a really strong person to do that.
"But ask that man this: 'Should a 23-year-old brother be looking on a map for his little sister because you decide to take her away from us?
"How's he ever going to find her? It's a needle in a haystack. If my daughter was metal she'd be easier to find."
"I just can't let her be forgotten. She's not going to just be some little story. I've got to do more than that for my daughter.
"She will be found. I don't know when, but she will be found."
For Carol, finding her daughter is what she's clinging onto.
Update 10 October: Police have confirmed that a body found in woodland in Stevenage is that of Joy Morgan.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49567548
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news_newsbeat-49567548
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Castleford man caught attacking partner on own CCTV jailed - BBC News
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2019-09-24
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Carr subjected his victim to a three-hour ordeal, which was caught on cameras he had installed.
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Leeds & West Yorkshire
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Stefan Carr admitted four counts of assault and one of attempted assault
A man who was caught assaulting his partner on cameras he had installed in his home has been jailed.
Stefan Carr, from Carlyle Crescent, Castleford, subjected Bethany Marchant to a violent attack in the early hours of 5 May.
During the three-hour attack he tied a noose around her neck and lifted her off the ground.
The 28-year-old was jailed for 11 years three months for four counts of assault and one of attempted assault.
Two of the charges related to attacks on his previous partner who had left him in April 2018.
Believing she was in a new relationship, he punched his ex-partner in the face in late-autumn 2018, and in January 2019 he attempted to suffocate her.
Carr had been on bail for those offences when he attacked Ms Marchant on 5 May.
The couple had arrived home at 01:30 BST and a long argument escalated into a sustained series of attacks on Ms Marchant.
Ms Marchant said Carr had "manipulated and fooled" her
Carr's house was covered by CCTV cameras he had installed which recorded his assault on Ms Marchant
Carr pushed her from room to room, attacking her in various ways.
At one point he created a noose out of a length of rope and lifted her off the ground. He also threatened her with a knife.
She eventually persuaded him to take her to hospital but after driving a short distance he threatened to drive the car into a reservoir, drowning them both, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
The police arrived at this point, having been alerted by a neighbour.
Speaking after sentencing Ms Marchant said: "I am just glad he is locked up and can't hurt anyone else.
"I will never trust nobody again. He completely fooled and manipulated me."
Det Ch Insp Vanessa Rolfe, of West Yorkshire Police, praised Ms Marchant's courage and bravery after such a "horrific" ordeal.
She said the strength of the case against Carr, which led to his guilty pleas, came in part from him effectively recording and documenting his own criminal acts.
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Supreme Court ruling leaves Queen in middle of political storm - BBC News
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2019-09-24
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Boris Johnson has blown apart grey areas of the UK constitution, highlighting the role of the monarch.
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UK
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As the Supreme Court ruling hacked a new path through Britain's system of government, brushing ancient royal powers to one side, from Buckingham Palace came - nothing.
This is precisely where the Queen does not want to be - right in the middle of a political and constitutional hurricane, with the Supreme Court redefining the relationship between judiciary, legislature, government and monarch.
When the Scottish Court of Session ruled that the prorogation was illegal - one of the cases that went to the Supreme Court last week - a Palace source said simply: "The Queen acts and acted on the advice of her ministers".
And that line held right up until today. The Queen has very little, if any, discretion over the prorogation of Parliament.
There's an argument that says the Queen might have turned down Prime Minister Boris Johnson's request, given that his legitimacy is arguably thinner than previous prime ministers.
That would have been running zig-zag through a constitutional minefield.
But what happened today was painful for the Palace.
It wasn't just Mr Johnson's request for a prorogation that was found by the Supreme Court to be unlawful, void and of no effect.
It was also the Order in Council, the legal mechanism that the Queen personally approves, that was found to be unlawful, void and of no effect. And, said the Supreme Court, it should be quashed.
More importantly, the Queen has been dragged by the PM's unlawful prorogation into the place where for decades politicians have agreed she should never be - right into a domestic political argument.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The Supreme Court declared "Parliament has not been prorogued"
Former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major commented after the judgement that "no prime minister must ever treat the monarch or Parliament in this way again".
He chose his words - and the order of his words - carefully, and conservatively. First monarch, then Parliament. He understands the damage this has done to the position of the Queen.
The man who pretty much defined the modern role of the Queen, the Victorian Walter Bagehot, wrote of the monarchy: "Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic."
The role has always worked in the shadows, the grey areas of the constitution, with an agreement going back decades amongst politicians that unwritten rules and conventions would be respected, and that nothing would be done to put the Queen into an embarrassing position, a position where she could be accused of having a political role.
Boris Johnson has blown that apart.
With the Supreme Court judgement a bright and critical light now illuminates the monarchy.
And the cry has gone up - even from the present system's doughtiest defenders - for a written constitution, one where the powers of the different parts of the state and the different nations of the kingdom, are clearly explained and defined.
At which point, of course, some will ask - just what is the role in government, in the 21st Century, of a hereditary monarch?
Elizabeth came to the throne as the age of deference slipped away.
She has been a conservative monarch, content to play little more than a symbolic and ceremonial role. She understands that her position is dependent on her staying deep in the shadows of government.
But now daylight has flooded in. No wonder the Palace has decided to stay silent.
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Brexit: Is Boris Johnson profiting from dividing? - BBC News
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2019-09-12
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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So far Boris Johnson's time in No 10 has suggested he believes he will profit from a divide.
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UK Politics
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Not even a couple of months have passed, but it seems a lifetime since Boris Johnson said he wanted to bring the country together as he arrived in Downing Street as prime minister for the first time.
Because so far his time in No 10 has suggested he believes he will profit instead from a divide.
That's the crack that his team identifies between leavers and former remainers - described by one cabinet minister, as "those who either want to get things done that matter to people, or MPs who want to stand up and repeat ad nauseam the things they have been saying about Brexit for the last three years".
The "dividing line", is far from a new phenomenon in politics - it was beloved by Gordon Brown, then George Osborne too - maybe politicians since time began - a way of creating an easily understandable political choice for the public, a way for politicians to say "pick us or them".
But it's not just a line this time, it's like a toxic separation.
Reading this you may believe, damn right, it's about time that all this political agony was brought to an end.
And let's face it, as one MP pointed out tonight, the public don't exactly hold the political class in high esteem - politicians pushing the rules?
Tell me something I don't know!
More talking in Parliament is plainly not, on its own, going to find the magic solution to this grinding Brexit crisis.
This is Downing Street's fundamental gamble, that in the end, most of the public are in the camp of the fed up and frustrated, who just want this to be over, and therefore they will tolerate a few prime ministerial bumps and scrapes along the way.
And that's why, shocking though it may sound given No 10 has today been found to have misled the monarch and broken the law, in Downing Street, today's result is not entirely seen as bad thing, giving - as some of those close to the PM see it - yet more evidence of the "establishment" trying to stand in the way of allowing Brexit to happen.
Nor is it surprising to many in the government that this mess has already ended up in the courts.
Under Theresa May perhaps the resolution of Brexit was a conflict delayed, rather than avoided.
Indeed, for Boris Johnson's team, it's almost perhaps as if this is a script they wrote long ago.
Throughout the Vote Leave campaign the approach was consistent - if the controversial things they claimed were challenged, their answer was not to demur, but to double down.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Kwasi Kwateng: "Many people are saying judges are biased"
The parallels are already there. Listening to government minister Kwasi Kwarteng suggest tonight that independent judges doing their jobs are "interfering" tells us that - even though he used a classic political technique of saying he was only articulating what others were saying.
When you listen to it remember that in this country, while it's not unusual for the courts to rule on cases relating to government business, we have an independent courts system traditionally and vitally free from political interference.
There's been a sense from day one this is a campaign to get Brexit done, rather than a traditional administration.
But the problems stacking up cannot just be dismissed as campaign upsets to be blasted away with brass neck.
Government is not a campaign where screaming headlines and binary arguments jostle with each other over a period of a couple of months.
With no majority, the prime minister cannot simply dismiss MPs' concerns for more than a short period of time - a government that can't win votes is a government that can't last for long.
With Scotland's senior judges ruling Downing Street's behaviour broke the law, the prime minister may also soon have to reverse his decision on suspending Parliament - that depends on what the legal brains at the UK Supreme Court will conclude on Tuesday.
Even though these challenges might in the end play into No 10's political narrative of "us and them", a tangle with the constitution is not a minor inconvenience that can just be dismissed.
Those who know Boris Johnson say often that he never really believed the rules applied to him.
But as prime minister, his dreaded "establishment" will constrain him in some ways.
And some old allies, who are not in the No 10 inner circle, are frankly furious that he has chosen to take such a confrontational path.
Ruthlessness in politics can be an attribute - any political leader who's ultimately succeeded has likely shown that.
Perhaps Boris Johnson will perform a Houdini-like escape, get an EU deal and go on to govern successfully, stitching his angry and febrile party together - who knows, maybe then even winning an election?
But ruthlessness can tip in to recklessness too that could damage not just Mr Johnson's interests, not just the Tories' wider interests, but much more widely, push the two sides in our national debate further apart.
The prime minister and some of his team might revel in pushing the rules.
They have made a clear decision about taking a controversial strategy, which could ultimately be successful, from which they won't be diverted.
But there are powerful ministers in cabinet with concerns, as well as MPs in the Tory Party and the opposition.
And ultimately of course, sooner or later, it's the public who will judge.
Boris Johnson once joked about his own political style, suggesting he may sometimes take some plaster off the ceiling.
But pushing the boundaries of convention in Parliament, with the palace and perhaps the judiciary, risks bringing the whole house down too.
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No-deal Brexit legal challenge dismissed by Belfast judge - BBC News
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2019-09-12
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Troubles victims' campaigner Raymond McCord was one of three people to bring legal action.
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Northern Ireland
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Raymond McCord's son was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1997
A judge at the High Court in Belfast has dismissed a legal challenge against a no-deal Brexit.
One of the three cases brought was by the victims' campaigner Raymond McCord who plans to appeal the decision.
The court heard arguments that a no-deal would have a negative effect on the peace process and endanger the Good Friday Agreement.
But the judge said the main aspects of the case were "inherently and unmistakeably political".
Lord Justice Bernard McCloskey also excluded a challenge against the suspension of Parliament because the issue formed the "centrepiece" of proceedings in England and Scotland.
The current five-week suspension of Parliament, a process known as proroguing, started in the early hours of Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Scotland's highest civil court ruled that Parliament's suspension is unlawful.
The judge's verdict, in essence, is that the matter he was asked to rule on should be dealt with by politicians, not the courts.
Lord Justice McCloskey said "virtually all of the assembled evidence belongs to the world of politics".
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But with the cases heard in England and Scotland heading towards the UK Supreme Court, Raymond McCord and his lawyers feel the issues related to Northern Ireland should be examined there too.
After Thursday morning's hearing, Mr McCord's solicitor Ciaran O'Hare said that in the absence of a Stormont Executive, the most important way Northern Ireland could have a voice was for people to take action through the courts.
A UK government appeal against the ruling will be heard by the Supreme Court in London next week.
Lord Justice Bernard McCloskey added that the courts had to "respect certain boundaries".
An appeal hearing is likely to be held on Friday.
Raymond McCord junior was beaten to death before his body was dumped in a quarry near north Belfast in 1997
Mr McCord's 22-year-old son, Raymond junior, was murdered by the UVF in Belfast in 1997.
No one has ever been convicted of the former RAF man's murder.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49676133
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news_uk-northern-ireland-49676133
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Glasgow City Council looks at 'breathing space' ban on marches - BBC News
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2019-09-12
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Five parades were banned this weekend after sectarian disturbances over the past two weeks.
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Scotland
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About 1,000 people were involved in the marches and the counter protests last weekend
The leader of Glasgow City Council has instructed her teams to see if placing a temporary ban on all loyalist and republican marches "would be workable".
Susan Aitken said it would provide "breathing space" to find a long-term solution following recent disorder.
Four Loyalist marches and an Irish Republican parade planned for this weekend were banned by the council after a meeting on Wednesday.
But more marches are scheduled for the coming weeks.
The council's Public Processions Committee made the decision to prohibit the marches planned for Saturday and Sunday following serious sectarian disorder at similar events over the past two weekends.
The police had warned there was a strong likelihood of disorder and a large number of officers would be required.
Supt John McBride said there had been calls on social media from Republicans to target Loyalist events and demands from Loyalists to protest against Republican parades.
At a council meeting on Thursday, leader Ms Aitken said: "Community tensions are running high and more processions are planned for the weeks to come.
"[So} I have asked officers to consider every option available to us, including whether a moratorium on such marches in the interests of public safety would be workable and provide all stake holders with the breathing space needed to find a longer term solution."
At First Minister Questions at Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs the city council had made the "right decision" in banning the marches this weekend.
She added that the right to march was "an important part of our democracy" but those who were abusing it were putting it into jeopardy for others.
"It is also vital that the rights of the majority of law-abiding citizens are protected and given priority," Ms Sturgeon said.
However, the Orange Order hit out at the decision.
Jim McHarg, Grand Master of the Orange Lodge, said the move was "illegal" and called for protests outside the City Chambers on Saturday.
The Orange Order accounts for the highest number of marches in the city
A march in Govan two weeks ago led to violent disorder
The council decided to prohibit the marches after violent sectarian disturbances on the two previous weekends.
On Saturday, a police officer was injured as two Irish Republican marches and Loyalist counter-demonstrations were held in Glasgow.
The counter demonstrations at both marches were quickly contained by police, who had deployed officers in riot gear and mounted police.
The heavy police presence came a week after a riot developed in Govan when Loyalists tried to disrupt another Irish Republican parade.
Mr McHarg, from the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland, claimed there had been a "concerted campaign" by Irish republican-supporting groups to cause fear and alarm to the protestant communities of Glasgow.
He said: "Nationalist councillors in Glasgow, supported by Police Scotland, effectively weaponised these protests by sending out a message that they would use the threat of protests to ban protestant parades.
"This action led to the chaotic scenes in the streets of Glasgow as a hard-core element from both sides of the argument used this weaponised protest action against each other."
Mr McHarg said the Orange Order had played no part in any of the incidents in Glasgow in recent weeks.
He said the move to ban parades outright was "something we cannot ignore".
"We will not stand idly by whilst our democratic right of free assembly is curtailed by politically-motivated anti-unionist nationalists," he said.
Mr McHarg called on members to protest outside the City Chambers in Glasgow on Saturday morning.
A group called Scottish Protestants Against Discrimination had already arranged a demonstration at that time to protest against what they claimed was Glasgow City Council's decision to "discriminate" against certain processions.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-49674584
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Brexit: Boris Johnson attacked by Luxembourg PM over 'nightmare' - BBC News
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2019-09-16
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The PM says the EU is "fed up" with endless delays, as the Luxembourg PM chastises him at a press conference.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Luxembourg's PM spoke beside the empty podium where Boris Johnson was due to appear
Luxembourg's PM has attacked Boris Johnson's approach to Brexit, calling the situation a "nightmare".
Xavier Bettel said the British government had failed to put forward any serious proposals for a new deal.
But Mr Johnson, who pulled out of a joint press conference with Mr Bettel because of noisy protesters, said there was still a good chance of a deal.
A government source said the gap the UK and Brussels needed to bridge to achieve a deal "remains quite large".
Mr Johnson was visiting Luxembourg to hold talks with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as well as Mr Bettel.
After the working lunch with Mr Juncker and Mr Barnier, Mr Johnson said he had been encouraged by the EU's willingness to engage with the UK in their shared desire to avoid a no-deal exit - but there had not been a "total breakthrough".
However, the European Commission said the PM had yet to present concrete proposals for it to consider and insisted any new plans had to be "compatible" with the existing withdrawal agreement, which has been rejected three times by MPs.
There was then confusion after Mr Bettel held a press conference without Mr Johnson amid noisy protests by anti-Brexit protesters.
Mr Bettel, who addressed the media on his own after the UK PM pulled out, said his counterpart "holds the future of all UK citizens in his hands" and suggested it was his responsibility to break the deadlock in the process.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Johnson: EU have had 'bellyful' of delays
Standing next to an empty lectern, Mr Bettel warned Mr Johnson "you can't hold the future hostage for party political gain".
He said there were "no concrete proposals at the moment on the table" on a new Brexit deal from the UK and said the EU "needs more than just words".
"We need written proposals and the time is ticking, so stop speaking and act," he said.
The existing withdrawal agreement was the "only solution", he added.
Mr Johnson said his joint press conference was cancelled over fears the two leaders would have been "drowned out" by pro-EU protesters.
It is understood that his request for it to be held inside was turned down.
What exactly should we make of the oh so public venting on Monday by the prime minister of Luxembourg following his meeting with Boris Johnson?
Does this mean the EU has lost patience and will no longer engage in negotiations with the Johnson government? Can we expect an Angela Merkel rant or a Mark Rutte rave next?
"As long as there is a chance of a deal, it's in our own interest to engage. However frustrating negotiations are," a high-level EU contact told me.
The EU's Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, tweeted a photograph of the empty podium where Mr Johnson had been due to speak alongside Mr Bettel with the caption: "From Incredible Hulk to incredible sulk".
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Over the weekend Mr Johnson told a newspaper that the UK would break out of its "manacles" like cartoon character The Incredible Hulk - with or without a deal.
After the working lunch with Mr Juncker, Mr Johnson told the BBC's political editor he was "cautiously optimistic" about the state of negotiations and suggested the EU wanted to bring the two and half years of arguments about the terms of the UK's exit to an end.
"I see no point whatever in staying on in the EU beyond October 31st and we're going to come out. And actually that is what our friends and partners in the EU would like too.
"And I think that they've had a bellyful of all this stuff. You know they want to develop a new relationship with the UK. They're fed up with these endless negotiations, endless delays."
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While he was working "very hard" to get a deal, Mr Johnson said there would be no agreement unless the EU shifted its position on the backstop, the insurance policy to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland unless and until another solution is found.
"If we can't get movement from them on that crucial issue... we won't be able to get it through the House of Commons, no way."
He said there were a number of ideas under discussion which would allow the whole of the UK to leave the EU while protecting the integrity of the bloc's single market, upholding the Good Friday Agreement and supporting the Irish economy.
These, he said, included the use of technology to minimise border checks as well as the so-called Stormont lock, a mechanism to give Northern Irish politicians a say on the rules that apply to Northern Ireland.
"It is all doable with energy and goodwill," he insisted.
A UK government source later said: "It's clear Brussels is not yet ready to find the compromises required for a deal, so no-deal remains a real possibility - as the gap we need to bridge remains quite large."
As soon as we arrived at the office of the prime minister of Luxembourg it became obvious a planned outdoor news conference could not go ahead.
The anti-Brexit protesters in the square numbered less than 100 but their music and megaphones made it sound like a lot more and they occasionally used language you wouldn't want to hear on the news.
Behind the scenes the British and Luxembourgish delegations grappled with a diplomatic dilemma: Move the event inside but exclude the majority of the journalists? Gamble that the demonstrators could pipe down for a bit? Silence the host to save the guest's blushes?
The end result saw Mr Johnson do a short interview at the ambassador's residence to be shared with everyone while Mr Bettel took to the stage next to an empty podium.
He used the moment in the spotlight to deliver an impassioned speech, made all the more dramatic by the fact he's famed as one of the EU's most smiley, mild-mannered leaders.
Mr Johnson said he would meet the Halloween Brexit deadline come what may, insisting that the UK would be "in very good shape" whether there was a deal or not.
But pushed on how he would get around the law requiring him to ask for an extension if there is no deal by 19 October, the PM did not explain how it would be possible.
Ahead of Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing into whether the prorogation of Parliament was lawful, Mr Johnson defended the decision to suspend Parliament.
Parliament was prorogued last week, ahead of a Queen's Speech on 14 October. Legal challenges to the decision have been lodged in the courts by opposition MPs and campaigners.
Mr Johnson described claims that Parliament was "being deprived of the opportunity to scrutinise Brexit" as "all this mumbo jumbo" and a "load of claptrap".
"I think people think that we've somehow stopped Parliament from scrutinising Brexit.
"What absolute nonsense. Parliament will be able to scrutinise the deal that I hope we will be able to do both before and after the European Council on October 17."
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Peter Duncan murder: Boy admits Eldon Square screwdriver killing - BBC News
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2019-09-16
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Peter Duncan was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" when he was stabbed outside a branch of Greggs.
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Tyne & Wear
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Peter Duncan's family described him as a "devoted father and husband"
A 17-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to murdering a lawyer with a screwdriver.
Peter Duncan was stabbed outside a Greggs in Newcastle city centre's Eldon Square shopping centre on 14 August.
The lawyer was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" when he was attacked, according to Northumbria Police.
The boy, who cannot be named, appeared at Leeds Crown Court via video link and also admitted stealing screwdrivers and carrying an offensive weapon. He will be sentenced in December.
A previous hearing was told the teenager had 17 convictions for 31 offences between 2017 and 2019.
On one occasion he grabbed a knife during a family argument and on another he threatened a bus driver with a blade after he was challenged about drinking alcohol.
Det Ch Insp Jane Fairlamb, from Northumbria Police, said the killing was "shocking...a much-loved family man was murdered in an unprovoked attack".
At the previous hearing, the court was told 52-year-old Mr Duncan was "simply in the wrong place at the wrong time" when he crossed paths with the teenager who had a history of violence and carrying knives.
Police cordoned off the entrance to Eldon Square close to where the stabbing occurred
The pair came into contact at the entrance to the shopping centre when they were walking in opposite directions.
The court was told the teenager was looking for another youth with whom he had previously argued about cigarettes.
Mr Duncan raised his arm to let the youth past, but "the defendant took exception to that" and "a struggle ensued", prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said.
After pushing the youngster off, Mr Duncan was stabbed once through the heart and collapsed a short distance away.
The attack was captured on CCTV, and cameras also tracked the teenager's movements through the city centre.
Officers searched the area outside the shopping centre in the hunt for the murder weapon
Mr Duncan was working as legal counsel in the Newcastle office of Royal IHC Limited, and previously as a solicitor and legal advisor with other companies in Darlington and Newcastle.
He had trained as an electrical engineer before graduating from Northumbria University with a law degree in 2003.
In a statement released following his death, Mr Duncan's family said he was a "kind and caring man who was always first to help others".
"His death will leave such a huge hole in our lives and he'll be deeply missed by us all," they added.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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Thousands join school strikes over climate change - BBC News
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2019-09-20
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The demonstrations across Scotland are the latest in a series started by Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg.
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Scotland
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Organisers said 20,000 protesters took part in Edinburgh
Thousands of young people have taken part in school strikes across Scotland and around the world to demand urgent action on climate change.
They were the latest in a series of strikes started a year ago by 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg.
Organisers said 20,000 people joined the demonstration in Edinburgh, with thousands also gathering in Glasgow.
Events took place in all of Scotland's major cities, many towns and some islands including Iona and Skye.
The march in Edinburgh took 45 minutes to clear the assembly point at The Meadows, before making its way to the Scottish Parliament.
Thousands also gathered in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park for a march which ended at the city's George Square.
An aerial picture posted on Twitter by the Police Scotland showed the square full of demonstrators.
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At least 15 demonstrators were held throughout Scotland.
Students in Papa Westray in Orkney had no town hall to protest outside - but instead organised a beach clean-up instead.
The young protesters are calling for an end to the burning of fossil fuels.
One of those taking part in Glasgow, 12-year-old Meabh, told BBC Scotland she was particularly worried about global warming leading to rising sea levels.
"I used to live on the Western Isles - it has been eroding and sinking down into the sea. I think I'm most worried about that because in 100 years there may be no Western Isles," she said.
The Edinburgh march made its way to the Scottish Parliament
Glasgow University student Anna Warren, 18, said adults had been encouraged to join young people at the protests.
"This is where we can all come together to call on the government to make changes. It is such a broad thing because it allows everybody to join, it allow everybody to come and help us, and join the movement," she said.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Climate change march organiser: 'This could be a tipping point'
It's no surprise there are upwards of 15 protests taking place across Scotland with many thousands in attendance.
Here, climate change is firmly on the agenda with the Scottish government already committing to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. That's five years ahead of the UK and one of the "most ambitious targets in the world," as the mantra goes.
But for the 15,000 people here in Holyrood Park, just across from the Scottish Parliament, that's still not enough. Posters read "It's now or never" and "There is no planet B".
In short, they want action immediately. But it's difficult for politicians here. Scotland has an oil and gas sector which props up its third biggest city. An instant end to using fossil fuels would devastate its economy.
That makes the arguments much more nuanced. But not for the thousands attending these protests in the searing sun who see their own future being destroyed by what's happening today.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who has become a global figurehead on climate change, will be marching in New York after crossing the Atlantic by sailing boat.
She will address a climate summit at the UN General Assembly there next week.
Demonstrators in Dundee were chanting: "More of a solution, not more pollution"
Scotland's largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), has urged local authorities not to punish pupils who took part in the strikes.
General secretary Larry Flanagan said: "Whilst the EIS is not encouraging pupils/students to participate in anti-climate change strikes, we recognise that many will do so.
"We believe that their right to do so should be respected and that participants should not be sanctioned or punished as a consequence.
"If we are to encourage our pupils to be confident individuals that effectively contribute to society on global themes including sustainability, we shouldn't seek to punish them when they campaign for global sustainability."
These Leith Academy pupils were joining the march in Edinburgh
A large crowd gathered in the centre of Aberdeen for the protest
The Scottish government said it was "pleased to see our young people actively engaging on the issue of climate change".
But a spokesman said student absence was a matter for individual schools to consider.
He added: "The global climate emergency and a Green New Deal for Scotland are at the centre of our Programme for Government.
"We are leading by example through bold actions. We are redoubling our efforts and we will end Scotland's contribution to global climate change by 2045."
Last month, Edinburgh councillors agreed to allow schoolchildren to take part in the protests for one authorised school day per year.
And they said no punishment would be levelled at pupils or parents if they chose to strike over a longer period.
However, the protesters were banned from Princes Street - which was on their planned route, heading to the Scottish Parliament - as it would mean tram services having to stop.
Staff from the University of Dundee joined the protest
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, an umbrella organisation for 40 unions, faith groups and community groups, said were "out in force" in support of the protest.
Spokeswoman Kat Jones said: "The young strikers are bringing the voice of the future powerfully into the present day.
"They describe the stark reality of climate breakdown and what it means for the world's future, their adulthood."
With no town hall to protest outside, students in Papa Westray in Orkney organised a beach clean-up instead
One of the first protests of the day took place in Crieff
Campaigning organisations Friends of the Earth Scotland and Global Justice Now closed their offices all day to participate in the protests.
Friends of the Earth Scotland climate campaigner Caroline Rance said: "Millions of schoolchildren across the world have been walking out of lessons every Friday to strike for climate action.
"The children are marching for their future. We're proud to stand with them and urge everyone else who can to do the same."
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National Lottery worker 'helped with fake win scam' - BBC News
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2019-09-20
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Edward Putman denies claiming the £2.5m jackpot with a faked ticket in 2009.
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Beds, Herts & Bucks
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A man accused of claiming a £2.5m jackpot with a fake lottery ticket was helped by a National Lottery operator employee, a court heard.
Edward Putman, 54, from Hertfordshire, denies committing fraud by false representation by allegedly claiming £2,525,485 with a faked ticket in 2009.
St Albans Crown Court heard he was helped by Camelot insider Giles Knibbs, who knew how to cheat the system.
The alleged fraud came to light after Mr Knibbs took his own life.
Prosecutor James Keeley told the court Mr Knibbs worked for Camelot in Watford between 2004 and 2010 and his role in the fraud detection department allowed him the opportunity to create the false ticket, which he gave to the defendant to cash in.
The court was told Mr Knibbs had seen a document containing details of big wins which had not yet been claimed.
Mr Putman, of Station Road, Kings Langley, claimed the prize from the 11 March 2009 draw on 28 August, just before the six-month deadline passed to claim the win.
"He did not hold the winning ticket, but a forgery created by Mr Knibbs," the prosecutor said.
The genuine winning ticket has never been found, the court heard.
Camelot verified the ticket was genuine and paid out
Mr Keeley told the jury the fraud came to light after Mr Knibbs, from Bricket Wood in Hertfordshire, died at Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire on 5 October 2015.
Mr Knibbs had allegedly told friends he had "conned" the lottery, as well as telling them about technical inaccuracies about the way the ticket was created, the court was told.
Mr Keeley said: "The veracity of his [Mr Knibbs'] narrative and thus credibility is strongly supported by the forged ticket which the defendant could not have acquired by legitimate means."
The court was told Mr Knibbs did not feel he had received his fair share of the jackpot and they had a bitter argument in June 2015.
Evidence suggested Mr Knibbs was paid an initial £280,000 from Putman for his part in the ruse, followed by smaller increments totalling £50,000, Mr Keeley said.
The argument led Mr Putman to make allegations of burglary, blackmail and criminal damage against Mr Knibbs, who was arrested, Mr Keeley said.
Mr Keeley said the ticket submitted by the defendant was badly damaged, "lacking the entire bottom section" but on 8 September, Camelot decided he was the genuine winner and paid out.
"They had been conned," the prosecutor said.
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
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Paul Gascoigne cleared of sex assault on train passenger - BBC News
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2019-10-17
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The ex-footballer has been cleared of both assault and sexual assault after kissing a woman on a train.
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England
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Paul Gascoigne arrived to hear the verdict with his legal team and personal manager Katie Davies
Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne has been cleared of sexually assaulting a woman on a train.
The 52-year-old had been accused of "forcefully and sloppily" kissing the fellow passenger on a service from York to Newcastle in August 2018.
Mr Gascoigne wept in the dock and thanked the jury to cheers of "yes" from the public gallery as the verdict was announced.
He was also cleared of the lesser charge of assault by beating.
Judge Peter Armstrong told Gascoigne: "You are now discharged and free to go." He was told he could apply to have his defence costs paid.
Leaving Teesside Crown Court, the former Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Rangers, Middlesbrough and Everton midfielder thanked the judge and his dentist - an apparent reference to evidence earlier in the trial about him not having his false teeth in when he was on the train.
His solicitor Imogen Cox read a statement on his behalf, saying: "To have a sexual allegation for over 12 months has been tough.
"I am so glad I was finally able to put over my side of the story and that the jury came to the correct verdict.
"I'm now looking forward to getting on with my life."
Gascoigne himself then said: "I am off to the dentist."
In a tweet Mr Gascoigne's personal manager Katie Davies, who has been with him on all four days of the trial, said the verdicts had "restored her faith in humanity".
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It emerged that during legal argument in the absence of the jury, the prosecution tried and failed to be allowed to tell the jury about Gascoigne's previous convictions, which include offences of battery, criminal damage and racially aggravated harassment.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it had considered the charge before the case.
A spokesperson said: "We reviewed the case in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and it was determined that there was a realistic prospect of conviction and it was in the public interest to prosecute Mr Gascoigne for the offence of sexual assault."
Mr Gascoigne had told the court he gave the woman a "peck on the lips" to "boost her confidence" after he heard a male passenger call her overweight.
However, prosecutor William Mousley had told the jury that the accused had "lied, and lied, and lied" during the trial, which heard he had been drunk on board the train.
But Michelle Heeley QC, defending, said the former player had no sexual intention.
Mr Gascoigne has spoken to onlookers outside the court
She said: "In his own naive way, he thought he was making a larger woman have more body confidence.
"It's a clumsy way to go about building someone's confidence, but it was not sexual."
Jurors were handed a file of photos showing Mr Gascoigne kissing and being kissed by famous footballers and fans.
A photo of him kissing Diana, Princess of Wales, was also shown to the jury.
Mr Gascoigne broke down as he told the court about what happened on the journey from Birmingham to Newcastle, on 20 August last year.
The former footballer, who had been travelling with his nephews, said while passengers were asking for selfies and autographs he heard a man say about a passenger: "What do you want a photo of her for? She's fat and ugly."
Mr Gascoigne told the jury he had previously had trouble with his weight and "automatically" went to sit next to the woman to reassure her.
He said he told her: "You're not fat and ugly, you're beautiful."
Mr Gascoigne was in a "drunken state" when he was arrested, the court was told - although he said he had had pellets implanted in his stomach that made him sick if he drank spirits, and denied being drunk.
British Transport Police PC Robert Moody said Mr Gascoigne had been drinking beer in a hotel lobby when he arrived to arrest him.
PC Moody said he had spoken to him before travelling to the hotel, telling jurors Mr Gascoigne had said: "I know what it's about, I kissed a fat lass."
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Brexit: How will Labour respond to PM's gambit? - BBC News
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2019-10-25
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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The position is fluid in Westminster as the PM says he will ask for an election in the run-up to Christmas.
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UK Politics
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This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Jeremy Corbyn: Take no-deal off the table and we absolutely support a general election
He did it, sort of. The prime minister has said he'll ask MPs to back an election in seven weeks time, just in time for Christmas.
The government's laying the motion tonight to hold the vote on Monday, trying to lay down the gauntlet to the opposition parties, who can keep him trapped in Number 10 if they like.
Remember this time last week there was delight in Downing Street that they had overcome expectations and agreed a deal with the EU.
But that euphoria fell away on that side of the argument, when MPs booted out the timetable to debate and pass all the new laws that would actually make Brexit happen.
For some of those objecting, it's a part of the ruse to stop our departure. But many others had what they considered entirely legitimate concerns about the speed with which he was trying to ram it through
Number 10's wheeze now is to dangle the offer of a few extra days of scrutiny to get it through, but only if MPs give in to Boris Johnson's other demand, backing to go to the ballot box soon after.
'Have the extra time you called for, but only if I get my ultimate prize' he's asking Parliament.
Downing Street knows full well however that opposition MPs are unlikely suddenly to swoon for this new timetable, it is hardly much extra time for scrutiny.
And while there are cabinet ministers who reckon it would be better to try as hard as possible with the bill, calmly and on a more conventional timetable, the dominant view in government is that there really is not a serious chance of the Brexit legislation getting through unmangled, so the only way, reluctantly for some, is to push the button for an election.
And this is where it gets very sticky for the government.
What happens next is partly dependent on exactly how the EU responds to the UK request for delay to Brexit.
That will become clear either on Friday or Monday. Although President Macron is understood to be on board for a short extension that would focus the minds, apparently texting as much to the prime minister on Thursday, the wider view in the EU is not expected to fall in line with that.
Precisely how they respond will shape the opposition parties' next moves. They might even, whisper it, come up with a fudge.
Boris Johnson cannot be remotely sure Labour and the smaller parties will let him have his way. The SNP and the Lib Dems are both tempted to go for an election as soon as a three month delay is agreed.
The Labour Party's official position has always been that they would agree to an election, in fact officially they are chomping at the bit, like the other parties, as long as a delay is agreed.
One senior member of the shadow cabinet predicted they would not be able to withstand the pressure if the Lib Dems and the SNP said yes.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The PM says an early poll would create a "credible" deadline for passing a Brexit deal
Jeremy Corbyn himself, and certainly one group in his camp, are understood to be very tempted too. But, just as in 2017, lots of Labour MPs are horrified at the idea, partly because of Labour's standing in the polls.
But also, there are senior shadow cabinet ministers who believe the smart thing would be to leave the PM in his purgatory, twisting, unable to get his bill through, unable to get to an election.
In short, the position is fluid, and Labour is having words with itself tonight.
Plenty of Tory MPs worry that Labour will pursue precisely a delaying tactic - "like a boa constrictor they will slowly squeeze Boris until his novelty fun factor starts to grate".
If Boris Johnson therefore is totally and utterly stuck in a few days time, he in turn vows that he would raise the temperature even higher, to turn an already fraught and bizarre situation into something completely extraordinary, making MPs vote day after day after day on whether or not to have an election, and bringing forward no business to the House of Commons - the government going on a form of political strike.
The belief in Number 10 is that while it might be hellish getting there, in the end the logic moves towards the opposition allowing an election, in the end.
Either way, the opposition's final responses to the prime minister's gambit tonight are not final. They will wait to see exactly what the EU says.
What is obvious though is that the prime minister's 'do or die' Brexit deadline has disappeared. Whether his vow to get an election is one he is able to keep is also not in his control.
There will be no budget, there may not be an election, and there may not be Brexit any time soon, and depending what happens next there may not really be a government either in any traditional sense of the word.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50177244
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Essex lorry deaths: How is a dead body identified? - BBC News
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2019-10-25
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['https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews']
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Post-mortem tests have begun on 39 people found dead in a lorry. How are people identified in such circumstances?
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England
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The bodies were found in a lorry trailer in the early hours of Wednesday
Post-mortem examinations are beginning of the 39 people who were found dead in a lorry container in Essex. How are people identified in such circumstances?
The first step is to look for circumstantial evidence, says Dr Noemi Procopio, a lecturer in forensic science at Northumbria University in Newcastle.
These are items on or around the body that can give a clue to identity including clothes, belongings and documents, but they are not enough to prove who someone is.
"For example, clothing can be moved from one person to another," she said. "These things can be important but cannot be used to prove identity, just as a clue in the first instance."
The next step is a visual identification but this really depends on the state of decomposition, which can vary significantly depending on the conditions.
Decomposition starts soon after the heart stops beating, with enzymes released internally that start breaking down the body. "It can alter the shape of the face drastically for example quite quickly," Dr Procopio said.
In a hot, humid place with access for insects and scavengers, a body can be reduced to the skeleton within a week, she said.
Dr Noemi Procopio says scars and tattoos can help to confirm a person's identity
But if decomposition is still at an early enough stage, facial recognition can be carried out with pictures taken and shown to relatives or friends to help identify the person, although this still cannot conclusively prove identity.
Marks such as scars, tattoos or other characteristics are "more reliable ways to identify a person," Dr Procopio said.
The next stage is the biological identification, starting with the cheapest option of fingerprints (although this again relies on the state of decomposition). Fingerprints last as long as the soft tissue does, which in the right conditions can be several days or even a week.
BBC China correspondent Robin Brant said it was possible China could help identify the individuals "fairly quickly" through fingerprints. "Chinese nationals living [in China] require an ID card and since 2012 you need to submit a fingerprint most times to get that card," he said, adding the country's use of biometric and facial recognition could also help.
"The good point of fingerprints is you can have quantifiable information that is good statistically and not subjective," Dr Procopio said.
As well as determining how someone died and how long ago, a post-mortem examination can also provide an identity through bone and dental records. "You will have specific features in your bones after fracturing them for years after," she said.
But again, there need to be records to compare the features to and Dr Procopio said there are some academic arguments about the reliability of bone and teeth checks. Although there is a "lower strength" to such evidence compared to fingerprints or DNA, she said it could still be "very useful".
Vigils have been held for those who died in the lorry
DNA can be extracted from many different tissues, from "biological fluids" such as blood and saliva to the flesh, hair, organs and bones. And DNA can tell you two main things about a person.
The first is their bio-geographical ancestry by looking at specific regional modifications of the DNA. "You can get an understanding of the provenance of the person," Dr Procopio said.
Secondly, you can identify relatives going back three or four generations.
Dr Procopio described DNA as "the most powerful identifier"
This depends on having either a relative or family member willing to be tested or having a database large enough so that even if the person isn't in it, an immediate or distant relative might be.
China is understood to have the largest DNA database in the world, contains profiles of about 40 million people.
"DNA is the most powerful identifier," Dr Procopio said. Collecting DNA data can take up to two days, while the amount of time it takes to then find matches in a database depends on the country the database is in.
"From my experience working in one country, within a week we were able to get the DNA checked," she said.
Police have not said how long they think it will take to identify those found in the lorry container, but know there will be many worried families desperate to find out.
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