Friday, 25 April 2014

Your move, Mr Grayling - politics.co.uk

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"Ministers cannot shut their eyes and ears and pretend it will go away"

Trials of Grayling

Three weeks on: Authors snubbed by Grayling over book ban meeting

A puppet representing Chris Grayling is held aloft during a demonstration against planned cuts to legal aid last month

Britain's leading literary talents call on Grayling to acknowledge a letter they sent him nearly a month ago

Grayling accused of obstructing prison sex inquiry

The decision to prevent researchers speaking to prisoners is thought to have been made at a ministerial level

Chris Grayling facing questions over his record as lord chancellor, after sources tell Politics.co.uk he appeared to personally intervene in a prison sex inquiry

'In prison books become the air': Pussy Riot joins campaign against prisoner book ban

Pussy Riot on trial

Pussy Riot and other cultural figures urge Chris Grayling to end his ban on prisoners being sent books, as the campaign against the policy goes global

Asylum reality

Revealed: The true state of refugee housing

The reality of asylum seeker housing

Dirty and cold: The reality of life as a refugee in Britain

How the Home Office, Serco and G4S catastrophically mishandled asylum contracts

Hodge chairs the public accounts committee and contributed to the report

Indifference and incompetence typify the reform of asylum seeker housing

In other news...

This Is Your Brain Online: The NYPD Twitter backlash

Carl Miller: 'Many organisations attempt to tighten control: producing wooden, legalistic tweets that read as if each has been written by a committee'

Authorities are starting to understand that engagement is a two-way street

'You'll never walk again': Attack on Hillsborough victims came from Whitehall

You'll never walk alone: Outrage at changes to Hillsborough page

Abusive changes to Wikipedia page on Hillsborough disaster made from computer in Whitehall

Securing corridors for elephants and mitigating human elephant conflict

Scientists yesterday fitted satellite tracking collars on two male elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya.

RSPCA calls for end to ‘severe’ suffering of lab animals

Charity urges Government to take action on World Day for Laboratory Animals.

DECC renewable energy: we need announcements like this every 2 months for next 2 years

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has welcomed the announcement by DECC today of private sector investment in eight major new renewable energy projects and hopes that it will be the first of many.

Boeing reports strong first-quarter results

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) reported first-quarter revenue increased 8 percent to $20.5 billion on higher commercial volume.

BHA responds to Attorney General's comments following 'Christian Country' open letter to Prime Minister

"As I go around and look at the way we make laws, and indeed many of the underlying ethics of society are Christian-based and the result of 1,500 years of Christian input into our national life".

Life #20 – 300 children!

This week we have quite a big task! We want to find 300 new toys or books to help spread some love to children going through very tough times.

The RSPCA is appealing for homes for these gorgeous Georges

This St George’s Day we ask - can you resist these gorgeous Georges in need of a new home?

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Thursday, 24 April 2014

Grayling blocked prison sex study - politics.co.uk

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"Prisoners aren't going to have sex on my watch"

Sex in prison

Grayling accused of obstructing prison sex inquiry

The decision to prevent researchers speaking to prisoners is thought to have been made at a ministerial level

Chris Grayling facing questions over his record as lord chancellor, after sources tell Politics.co.uk he appeared to personally intervene in a prison sex inquiry

Asylum

Outcry against Britain's gay deportations goes global

Armed police in Nigeria. Some parts of the country stone gay people to death.

Gay rights campaigners across the world pile pressure on Theresa May to suspend all deportations of gay and lesbian asylum seekers until a review into the Home Office rules is completed

How the Home Office, Serco and G4S catastrophically mishandled asylum contracts

Hodge chairs the public accounts committee and contributed to the report

Indifference and incompetence typify the reform of asylum seeker housing

DECC renewable energy: we need announcements like this every 2 months for next 2 years

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has welcomed the announcement by DECC today of private sector investment in eight major new renewable energy projects and hopes that it will be the first of many.

Boeing reports strong first-quarter results

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) reported first-quarter revenue increased 8 percent to $20.5 billion on higher commercial volume.

BHA responds to Attorney General's comments following 'Christian Country' open letter to Prime Minister

"As I go around and look at the way we make laws, and indeed many of the underlying ethics of society are Christian-based and the result of 1,500 years of Christian input into our national life".

Life #20 – 300 children!

This week we have quite a big task! We want to find 300 new toys or books to help spread some love to children going through very tough times.

The RSPCA is appealing for homes for these gorgeous Georges

This St George’s Day we ask - can you resist these gorgeous Georges in need of a new home?

Boeing honours Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group for exceptional performance

Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group among 15 companies, 1 university to receive Boeing Supplier of the Year award.

Moving people on from long stay hospitals

Disability charity publishes free practice-based checklist.

This email has been sent to you by Politics.co.uk because you previously registered on our site. To stop receiving emails like this please update your preferences or unsubscribe here. Politics.co.uk, South Quay Plaza 2, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SH. Registered in England with company number 07092149.

Wednesday, 23 April 2014

The Battle for St George's Day - politics.co.uk

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"For too long England's national day has been overlooked"

Seize the day

WATCH: Prime minister's St George's Day message

Cameron celebrates St George's Day

The prime minister says England's national day "has been overlooked"

The battle for St George's Day

The battle for St George's Day

David Cameron and Alex Salmond each issue an appeal to England, as both men use St George's Day to score political points

In other news...

'In prison books become the air': Pussy Riot joins campaign against prisoner book ban

Pussy Riot on trial

Pussy Riot and other cultural figures urge Chris Grayling to end his ban on prisoners being sent books, as the campaign against the policy goes global

Standing up to the bear: Ukraine crisis weans Europe off Russian gas

Putin: Focused on using energy advantage in PHD

Britain will use G7 to push leading economies away from dependence on Russian oil, energy secretary says

Life #20 – 300 children!

This week we have quite a big task! We want to find 300 new toys or books to help spread some love to children going through very tough times.

The RSPCA is appealing for homes for these gorgeous Georges

This St George’s Day we ask - can you resist these gorgeous Georges in need of a new home?

Boeing honours Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group for exceptional performance

Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group among 15 companies, 1 university to receive Boeing Supplier of the Year award.

Moving people on from long stay hospitals

Disability charity publishes free practice-based checklist.

Football’s #RealSuperHeroes

Crystal Palace and Brighton fans have set aside their differences to help a little girl raise the money needed to help her walk unaided.

Statement on Iraq

In Iraq, access to quality education is a critical issue.

Coalition's betrayal of a generation

Representatives at the Annual Conference of the NASUWT will today condemn the devastating impact that the Coalition Government’s austerity measures and education policies are having on young people.

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Tuesday, 22 April 2014

That Ukip joke isn't funny anymore - politics.co.uk

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"This is a campaign designed to sow fear and envy and hatred towards immigrants" 

Ukip poster

That Ukip joke isn't funny anymore

Ukip: A small party with a disproportionate voice

Our tolerance of Ukip has unleashed a toxic culture of racism onto British streets

'Racist' Ukip posters: Church and political leaders hit back

Farage at a Basingstoke meeting recently. The party's posters have been branded divisive and racist.

Church leaders and politicians hit back at Ukip after the party's largest-ever advertising campaign was branded divisive and racist

Comment and Analysis

This is your brain online: How Twitter could combat voter apathy

Carl Miller: 'Mainstream politics increasingly feels, to many people, remote and irrelevant to their everyday lives'

A dangerous mix of disengagement, austerity and anti-politics has gripped Europe. But Twitter could turn the tide.

Immigrant stories: The British citizen who was stripped of her passport

Jean and Frank at the London Aquarium. They have now been apart 15 months.

Trapped in Zambia with her children: Another victim of a broken immigration system.

Doing God: Why is Cameron calling himself 'evangelical'?

Religion in Britain: Surveys show decline in Christian faith

The prime minister's sudden shift to religious rhetoric has a political motive.

Boeing honours Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group for exceptional performance

Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group among 15 companies, 1 university to receive Boeing Supplier of the Year award.

Moving people on from long stay hospitals

Disability charity publishes free practice-based checklist.

Football’s #RealSuperHeroes

Crystal Palace and Brighton fans have set aside their differences to help a little girl raise the money needed to help her walk unaided.

Statement on Iraq

In Iraq, access to quality education is a critical issue.

Coalition's betrayal of a generation

Representatives at the Annual Conference of the NASUWT will today condemn the devastating impact that the Coalition Government’s austerity measures and education policies are having on young people.

Deregulation of health and safety puts pupils and staff at risk

The Coalition Government’s attacks on health and safety provisions are jeopardising the quality of educational provision for children and young people.

Nobel Laureates, campaigners, peers, philosophers, broadcasters and authors write open letter to challenge Prime Minister’s ‘Christian country’ claim

Over 50 public figures, including novelists, scientists, broadcasters, campaigners, authors and comedians have written to the Prime Minister challenging his statement on Britain as a Christian country.

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Thursday, 17 April 2014

The Week in Review: What would Jesus do, Mr Cameron? - Politics.co.uk

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What would Jesus do? That's the question David Cameron has been asking this week as he seeks to pose as a friend to Christians.

Of course one thing Jesus might have done is set up a food bank. At the very least, he would have certainly signed up as a volunteer.

The rise of food banks is a national scandal that puts the lie to Cameron's claim to be presiding over a benign recovery. Their use has trebled in the past year, with almost a million people now being forced to apply for free food.

They are staffed by volunteers who have devoted their time, Christ-like, to helping the poor and hungry. These people should at the very least be applauded. Cameron's government feels differently. Rather than praise food bank volunteers, un-named government sources instead used this week to attack them as "publicity-seeking" profiteers.

Quite what profit they believe food bank volunteers are making isn't clear. But the government did get one thing right. Food bank operators are seeking publicity. They're seeking publicity for people forced to rely on charity to feed their children. They're seeking publicity for people who are labelled scroungers by the government, while merely trying to feed their kids.

News of the rise in food banks came at an unfortunate time for the government, as it sought to persuade the public that the cost of living crisis is finally over. A closer look at the figures shows that for millions of people across the country, living costs are set to remain the same or even rise for years to come.

This matters, because while there are some signs of an economic recovery, it is still mostly being felt by those parts of the country already well inclined to vote for the Tories anyway. In order to win next year, Cameron needs to persuade at least some of the millions of public sector workers currently living under a one per cent pay freeze that their living standards will improve as well.

It was their failure to win over these people that cost them an overall majority at the last election. Since then, the picture has only got worse.

Teachers in particular are now vehemently opposed to the Conservative party, for which Michael Gove must take much of the blame. The news that the pressures placed on school staff have caused more than half to experience mental health problems is seriously worrying. Just as worrying is the finding that most of these people have hid their problems from their employers.

The Christian response to a problem like this would be compassion and understanding. There has been very little of this on show from the Department for Education so far.

Cameron's conversion to Christian morality posed another important question this week.

What, I wonder, would Jesus have done about Jean Gardner? Jean is a British citizen who was stripped of her passport in Zambia and then abandoned to her fate by the British government.

Her story, like the stories of many others detailed by our editor Ian Dunt in recent months have put a human face to people who the British government have too often reduced to mere statistics. For the thousands of people stuck in Britain's arcane immigration and asylum system, Christian compassion can sometimes seem a very alien thing indeed.

If Cameron really has converted to Christian morality then it should be welcomed. But if he has then he still has a lot of missionary work left to do.

Best of news

Scottish Tories compare comprehensive schools to rubbish collection

Ruth Davidson: Scotland shouldn't be "too proud" to adopt English school system

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives risks angering parents after comparing sending children to local comprehensive schools to putting out the rubbish.

'Stop mongols having sex': Tory mayor resigns

Nick Martin: "It is clear that this will not stop the attacks on the office and person of mayor"

A Conservative mayor resigns in disgrace after suggesting that disabled people should not have sex.

'Threads out of the rope': Navy diminished by Scottish independence

Knotted together? Independence would pull threads out the rope, the SNP is told

The British navy would be diminished by a vote for Scottish independence, first sea lord says in rare political intervention

Dead end: Residents reject Thatcher road name

Cornelius: "There must be a road full of Tories"

Attempts to re-name a road in Margaret Thatcher's honour fail after no residents in her former constituency come forward to volunteer.

The MoJ inadvertently disproves Grayling prison book ban defence

Contraband: But why isn't the MoJ tracking the problem?

Another one of Grayling's excuses comes falling down

Zero hours: The brutal truth revealed

Zero hours: Report suggests exploitation is on the rise

Zero hours contracts are stripping workers of employment rights and routinely paying them less than the minimum wage, Commons committee discovers

Britain urged to 'unilaterally declare independence' from Europe

Unilateral independence: Unpicking EU law

Britain can make a "unilateral declaration of independence" from the EU by giving British courts legal primacy, an influential think tank suggests

Best of Comment and Analysis

This is your brain online: How Twitter could combat voter apathy

Carl Miller: 'Mainstream politics increasingly feels, to many people, remote and irrelevant to their everyday lives'

A dangerous mix of disengagement, austerity and anti-politics has gripped Europe. But Twitter could turn the tide.

Doing God: Why is Cameron calling himself 'evangelical'?

Religion in Britain: Surveys show decline in Christian faith

The prime minister's sudden shift to religious rhetoric has a political motive.

WATCH: Suing the state - hidden rules in the EU-US trade deal

Police in Canary Wharf

Investor protections in a massive EU-US trade deal give corporations rights over national parliaments

Liam Fox accuses Snowden of 'treason' - but ignores his own past

Liam Fox during the Adam Werritty scandal. The defence secretary eventually fell on his sword.

Liam Fox accuses Edward Snowden and Alan Rusbridger of "treason" and "incompetence". He should know.

The MoJ inadvertently disproves Grayling prison book ban defence

Contraband: But why isn't the MoJ tracking the problem?

Another one of Grayling's excuses comes falling down

Comment: Car pollution is the invisible killer politicians daren't talk about

London smog: Tens of thousands die from air pollution every year in the UK.

From Inner London to rural Wales, our reliance on motor cars is silently throttling us.

Comment: Brussels bureaucrats and Tory eurosceptics can work together to defeat plain packs

Nathan Dabrowski: 'The most vocal opponents to the introduction of plain packaging in the UK have not been tobacco companies but MPs themselves

A rare chance for cooperation could see Tory eurosceptics and EU bureaucrats defeat plain cigarette packs

Careers guidance changes: How will employers be incentivised to get involved?

The Government’s plan to strengthen the requirement for schools to build links with employers to inspire and mentor pupils is very welcome news, yet is long overdue and will need a ‘big sell’ to employers according to the IET.

NASUWT comments on headteachers' pay

Headteachers should have their annual salaries published in a clear and transparent way like every other person in senior public service positions.

Top tips from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) to combat the Heartbleed bug

Hugh Boyes, Cyber Security Lead at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), sets out five simple steps on how to protect yourself.

RSPCA’s marathon task to rehome great greyhounds and lovely lurchers

With the London Marathon fast approaching the RSPCA is encouraging the public to race to our rehoming centres to adopt these gorgeous greyhounds and lurchers.

Voice Cymru welcomes Improving Schools in Wales report

Voice: the union for education professionals – which represents teachers and education support staff in Wales and across the UK – has welcomed the report Improving Schools in Wales: An OECD Perspective.

NHS will pay a high price for short-term mental health cuts, warns charity

A new economic report has found that investing in quality care and support for people with schizophrenia and psychosis, results in huge savings in the long-term.

Tougher GCSEs and A Levels will do little to fill the UK skills gap

As Ofqual announces tougher new GCSEs and A Levels, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is concerned the changes will do little to alleviate concerns from employers who they say struggle to find young people with the skills they need.

This email has been sent to you by Politics.co.uk because you previously registered on our site. To stop receiving emails like this please update your preferences or unsubscribe here. Politics.co.uk, South Quay Plaza 2, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SH. Registered in England with company number 07092149.