Wednesday, July 8

Featured

Princess Eugenie’s royal wedding procession route
Featured, United Kingdom

Princess Eugenie’s royal wedding procession route

    She is ninth in line to the throne, grand-daughter of the Queen and the second royal bride to tie the knot at Windsor in 2018. The Royal wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and her fiancé Jack Brooksbank will take place tomorrow, on Friday October 12, with rapturous applause no doubt provided by 1,200 public invitees who are expected to gather in the historic grounds of Windsor Castle. Windsor residents, charity representatives, and school children on the guest list, just as they were for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which took place on May 19. Once the ceremonial trumpets are silenced and the rings exchanged, the carriage ride through the streets of Windsor will take place although not quite the same streets as the procession of the Duke and Duch...
There is no evidence Universal Credit benefit sanctions work
Featured, United Kingdom

There is no evidence Universal Credit benefit sanctions work

    A Government study quietly published last month found there is no evidence that benefit sanctions work. Sanctions, which can result in the stopping of benefit payments for claimants who do not comply with rules laid out by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), have been proven to be ineffective in a three-year study carried out by the Government. The DWP published the findings in the paper Universal Credit: in-work progression randomised controlled trial on the Government's website on 12 September, as MPs prepared for party conference season. There was no ministerial announcement about the results. In the study, which was carried out over three years, the paper found no evidence that sanctions for failing to apply for additional work, or undertake additional tr...
Raab confident of a Brexit deal this autumn
Featured, United Kingdom

Raab confident of a Brexit deal this autumn

    Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has said he is confident of a Brexit deal by this autumn. Mr Raab addressed MPs on the latest negotiations on Tuesday evening, making the bold claim. Speaking at the House of Commons, Mr Raab said the final few weeks of talks are always going to be tough but that was all the more reason for the UK to hold our nerve. He added: I remain confident we will reach a deal this autumn, saying it is time for the EU to match the pragmatism we have shown. Labour’s shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer argued against Mr Raab’s claim however, saying the statement would have been much better coming from the Prime Minister. He said: It’s no good hiding behind the badge of the Salzburg summit as informal. Mr Raab also categorically ruled out an i...
Princess Eugenie’s engagement ring looks a lot like Kate Middleton’s
Featured, United Kingdom

Princess Eugenie’s engagement ring looks a lot like Kate Middleton’s

    The stunning ring features a large pink padparadscha sapphire surrounded by 10 brilliant cut diamonds and two pear cut diamonds. According to reports, it is estimated to be worth £100,000, which is double the cost of Meghan Markle 's ring from Prince Harry. But when it comes to comparisons of rings, it's much more interesting to examine Eugenie's alongside another royal piece of bling. And there's a very good reason for this. Eugenie's ring isn't intended as a copy of the Duchess of Cambridge's, but instead as a copy of another iconic ring - one that belonging to her mother, Sarah Ferguson. Some may recall that Garrard & Co also created the ring worn today by Kate, which previously belonged to Princess Diana and as both rings were made in the 80s it is underst...
Trump apologises to Kavanaugh during swearing-in ceremony
America, Featured

Trump apologises to Kavanaugh during swearing-in ceremony

    US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has been sworn in at a White House ceremony, but not before President Donald Trump criticised Mr Kavanaugh’s opponents for a campaign of personal destruction. In a ceremony that could have been a unifying moment for the nation, Mr Trump instead delivered remarks that even he acknowledged began differently than perhaps any other event of such magnitude. On behalf of our nation, I want to apologise to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure, Mr Trump said, addressing the bitter partisan fight over Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination that became a firestorm after the emergence of sexual misconduct allegations, which Kavanaugh emphatically denied. With all the sitting justic...
Russian military doctor named as second suspect in Skripal attack
Featured, Russia

Russian military doctor named as second suspect in Skripal attack

    The identity of the second suspect in the Salisbury poisoning has been revealed as Dr Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin, a doctor in Russia's military intelligence agency. The Bellingcat investigative website posted the name online almost a fortnight after it outed the first suspect as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, 39, also a GRU officer. British police last month accused the two men of attempting to assassinate Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia with a novichok nerve agent. Prime Minister Theresa May has said the attack was almost certainly approved at a senior level of the Kremlin though she has stopped short of directly accusing Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the attack and previously dismissed photos linki...
Fresh delayes EU’s Brexit vision
Featured, United Kingdom

Fresh delayes EU’s Brexit vision

    Plans to publish a document outlining the nature of the Canada-style free trade deal being offered by Brussels look likely to be put on ice after the prime minister’s Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins, warned that aspirational language had to be included for the British government to be able to sell a deal to parliament. The political declaration had been set to be discussed by the European commission’s 28 commissioners on Wednesday, and shared among the member states. That is now set to be pushed back until next week with sources claiming that the moment is too sensitive. Over the the weekend, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, had said the prospects of a deal had increased in recent days, prior to a crucial summit on 18 October. In response, th...
Scottish Justice Secretary: I’ve been stopped and searched 12 times
Featured, United Kingdom

Scottish Justice Secretary: I’ve been stopped and searched 12 times

    The Justice Secretary has told how his trust in the police was shaken after he was stopped and searched more than a dozen times, warning that there is still structural racism in Scottish society. Humza Yousaf said the colour of his skin meant he had frequently been stopped by officers while he was growing up in Scotland, despite never committing a crime. I was never committing a crime, I had never committed a crime Speaking at a fringe meeting during the SNP conference in Glasgow, he said he still believed stop and search was a legitimate police tactic as long as there were checks and balances. In a discussion involving Calum Steele, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, Mr Yousaf said his early experiences of dealing with officers had not been p...
Any other deal sells us short: SNP delivers Brexit ultimatum to PM
Featured, United Kingdom

Any other deal sells us short: SNP delivers Brexit ultimatum to PM

    The Scottish National party will vote against any Brexit deal that takes the UK out of the single market and customs union, the party’s Westminster leader has said. Ian Blackford said the SNP’s 35 MPs would also resist a blind Brexit, where little was known about the substance of the deal, or a no-deal Brexit, suggesting Theresa May would struggle to command a majority in the Commons next year. Addressing delegates at the SNP’s annual conference in Glasgow, Blackford said: The only deal we will accept is one that keeps Scotland in the single market or customs union. Any other deal sells us short. I put the prime minister on notice we will not support any measure that threatens Scottish jobs and living standards. His speech echoes a warning on Sunday from Nicola Stu...
High Court blocks iPhone data breach class action against Google
Featured, United Kingdom

High Court blocks iPhone data breach class action against Google

    The High Court has blocked a mass legal action against Google over claims that it collected sensitive personal data from more than four million iPhone users. Mr Justice Warby, sitting in London, announced his decision on Monday. The litigation was brought by campaign group Google You Owe Us, led by former Which? director Richard Lloyd. The tech giant faced claims that it bypassed privacy settings on Apple iPhone handsets between August 2011 and February 2012 and used data to divide people into categories for advertisers. The campaign group hoped to win at least £1 billion in compensation for an estimated 4.4 million users of the device in the UK. At the first hearing of the case in London in May, lawyers for Mr Lloyd told the court that information collected by Go...