Us politics

Of perhaps the greatest concern is not who the new law lets out of prison, but who it keeps in. While rights groups have welcomed some of the new measures to keep inmates safe from coronavirus, such as alternative incarceration or home arrest for those over 65, those with pre-existing conditions and female prisoners with young children, political prisoners have been very clearly overlooked. … [Read more...] about Outrage over denial of amnesty for Turkish political prisoners

Philip Hammond told the cabinet that Schengen visas, which allow free travel across Europe, should be valid in the UK – causing Cameron to “half-jokingly” warn that he would fire anyone who leaked the comment to the press. Home Office officials said immigration had “never really been a priority” for the department, which was more interested in crime, disorder and terrorism. Osborne said a tax cut for savers was for the “rich, lazy and stupid”. The cabinet discussed a scheme in which Romanian and Bulgarian fruit pickers would be replaced by pensioners paid under the minimum wage because they would be slow. The revelations about Gove came from a dinner between Clegg and Cameron in 2013, when relations between the Lib Dems and the then-education secretary were at an all-time low. … [Read more...] about David Laws: David Cameron ‘petrified’ of Boris Johnson leadership bid

Yet we are where we are, and shortly after 5pm, Raab, flanked by the UK’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, and the medical director for Public Health England, Yvonne Doyle, took centre stage for the daily Downing Street press conference. Complete with a new logo, on lecterns that looked like they had been knocked up out of police crime-scene tape. Presumably, Dom has picked up plenty of rolls on his travels. … [Read more...] about With Raab at the reins, things are really getting finger-lickin’ bad

The letter to the Commons’ clerk was initiated by Labour’s shadow minister for innovation, Chi Onwurah, who said: “People up and down the country have made huge behavioural changes in a matter of days and we must show we are capable of it too.” … [Read more...] about MPs call for ‘virtual House of Commons’ amid Covid-19 early recess

In 2012, he came to London as part of a Kurdish delegation to highlight the plight of Turkish lawyers who had been jailed for defending dissidents and opposition politicians, and to argue the case of Syria’s Kurds during the early months of the Syrian civil war. … [Read more...] about Selahattin Demirtaş: thumbing his nose at political convention in Turkey