UK
DNA tests reveal sources of pollution at Norfolk beach

Chris Bishop
Thu, 23 February 2023 

Heacham Beach has suffered from sewage pollution for the last two summers Picture: Chris Bishop 

DNA tests have revealed the causes of pollution which has blighted a Norfolk beach for the last two summers.

Bathing water quality has been rated 'poor' off Heacham in 2021 and 2022, while visitors have at times been warned not to swim or gather shellfish.

Eastern Daily Press: Bathing water quality has been rated poor at Heacham for the last two summers 

Environment Agency scientists have been using so-called microbial source tracking analysis - a form of DNA testing - to investigate further.

Officials have now revealed what they have learned so far.

They say tests carried out last summer showed that the local sea bird population was a "significant" factor behind the pollution, but also identified contributions from hooved animals like deer and cattle, as well as dogs and humans.

Eastern Daily Press: Large numbers of gulls congregate off the Heacham River outfall at low tide 

It said samples were routinely taken between May 15 and September 30 at "designated bathing water points" across the country.

It added: "Depending on the circumstances, some of these samples may be subjected to microbial source tracking analysis."

Eastern Daily Press: Anglian Water's sewage treatment works at Heacham

Anglian Water has a sewage treatment works down a track on Fenway, around a mile inland from the beach.

It discharges into a tributary of the Heacham River before it flows between caravan parks and holiday chalets on its way to its tidal outfall onto the beach.

Anglian Water says it uses UV treatment to clean up water leaving the site meaning it undergoes an extra level of disinfection before it goes back to the river.

Eastern Daily Press: Anglian Water's sewage works discharges into a tributary of the Heacham River

“The nearby Heacham River can influence the quality of the water at Heacham," the EA went on.

"This river can be affected by both urban and agricultural sources, and the Environment Agency continues to work with Anglian Water and other stakeholders in the area to seek improvements to the water quality.”

Eastern Daily Press: The Heacham River near its outfall onto the beach 

The course of the 10-mile-long river, whose upper reaches are classed as a chalk stream, has narrowed and become overgrown in recent years.

The Norfolk Rivers Trust says there are concerns about abstraction. But wild brown trout can sometimes still be seen upstream of Norfolk Lavender.

Eastern Daily Press: The Heacham River flows out to sea via a culvert and a tidal sluice 

Eastern Daily Press: The Heacham River outfall at Heacham Beach



Eastern Daily Press: The outfall from a sewage plant into a tributary of the Heacham River, around a mile from the beach 


Eastern Daily Press: Seabirds gather at low tide where the Heacham River flows into The Wash 

Pictures: Chris Bishop

Timelapse map shows how close Russia came to taking Kyiv and how Ukraine reclaimed its land over a year of war

Chris Panella
Feb 24, 2023,

A Ukrainian soldier checks the wreckage of a burnt Russian tank outside of the village of Mala Rogan, east of Kharkiv, on April 1, 2022, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty 

A new timelapse map from AP shows how close Russia came to taking Kyiv and how Ukraine fended them off.

Putin believed he could capture Kyiv in a matter of days, underestimating Ukraine's military.

After a year of war, the conflict is focused on a hard fight in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

A new timelapse video map from the Associated Press shows the shifting battle lines in Ukraine over a year of war, highlighting how close Russia came to capturing the capital, Kyiv, in the early weeks of the war — and how Ukraine held the line and eventually forced Russia into a retreat before going on the offensive months later.

After Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, exactly one year ago Friday, they approached Kyiv from multiple directions, capturing areas like Chernobyl, the strategic Hostomel airport, and outlying suburban areas with the aim being to encircle the capital.

The situation looked bad as a daunting 40-mile-long military convoy of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and other military hardware began moving toward Kyiv, but setbacks, such as logistics challenges in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance, stalled their advance just outside the city. Some columns were "literally out of gas" and "having problems feeding their troops," a senior US official said at the time.

Insider previously reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin thought Russia could capture Kyiv in about two days, but he seriously overestimated Russia's military. Poor strategy, command failures, and mismanaged logistics hindered Russian advances.

Ukraine made the most of Russia's miscalculations and missteps, using the battle for Kyiv as an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to defend its homeland. After six weeks, Ukraine was not only able to resist Russia's attempts to capture Kyiv, but they also forced Russian troops to withdraw to the east, where a grinding artillery battle unfolded.

Ukrainian forces "were able to show that they were up to the fight," Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO Policy, told Insider's Jake Epstein. While the war in Ukraine has ebbed and flowed over time, the battle for Kyiv stands as one of the first testaments to Ukraine's resilience and Putin's failure.

By late summer, Ukraine was able to leverage key weapons, such as the US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), to break the stalemate in the east and go on the offensive in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Momentum, however, has since slowed, and the lines have been largely static for months, even as Russia attempts a new offensive push.

UK

Smart motorway safety system suffers outages leaving officials unable to spot broken down cars

Susie Coen
Thu, 23 February 2023 

National Highways staff were unable to use radar to spot motorists who had broken down in live lanes - Andrew Matthews/PA

Smart motorway safety systems were shut down for the second time in less than 48 hours on Thursday night.

The crucial technology is used to detect broken-down vehicles and set red X signals to close lanes on roads where there is no hard shoulder. Broken-down vehicles are left marooned in high-speed traffic until traffic officers reach them.

Because of continued problems in some regions, the system, which is called Dynac, was set to go down for 45-minutes across the whole network except the East and the South East. It comes after a system outage during rush-hour on Wednesday, which saw the software grind to a halt for two hours. In October the safety system went down over a 48-hours period.


National Highways said it had mitigations in place such as using the CCTV camera network and reducing speed limits to 60mph on smart motorway sections.

A concerned whistleblower told The Telegraph: “We have been in tears for 24-hours… people need to stay off our roads tonight. If you break down in a live lane we won't know you are there.”

Officials were forced to use a web-based system to access CCTV cameras monitoring routes - Andrew Matthews/PA

Another said: “We are frustrated at yet another failure… there are dark days ahead I fear.”

Greg Smith MP said: “Yet again drivers on smart motorways will be left in a vulnerable, dangerous place particularly in the event of breakdown with the tech turned off. There’s no way of getting around the reality that the tech isn’t good enough yet and these motorways should be converted to standard motorways.

“If something does happen to someone tonight, those who have presided over this failing technology and its need to be turned off will have serious questions to answer.”

Andrew Page-Dove, operational control director at National Highways, said: “We are experiencing some slow performance of our traffic management systems in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the North East.

"All systems have remained operational and engineers are working to improve the system speed. We are planning engineering work to take place tonight that will involve a short, temporary outage of our signals and SVD, however CCTV will remain in operation throughout this time.”

Wednesday morning’s failure happened just hours before a parliamentary debate about safety on the controversial roads.

Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham described smart motorways as "death traps", adding: "In the name of increasing capacity on the cheap, National Highways have more than tripled the likelihood of serious incidents involving stationary vehicles," Ms Champion said.

Richard Holden, the roads minister, defended the decision to continue the rollout of four new sections of smart motorway. But, he acknowledged the risk of a broken-down vehicle being hit remained a "major concern" for drivers.

H5N1

Bird flu may now be spreading between humans, WHO fears

Joe Pinkstone
Fri, 24 February 2023 

Bird flu vaccine Cambodia health security science ducks avian influenza - Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images

The World Health Organisation is “really concerned” the current bird flu outbreak may now be spreading between people for the first time in more than 25 years.

The WHO has ordered a new bird flu vaccine to be made in response to the rapid spread of the strain of H5N1 avian influenza causing the current outbreak.

An 11-year-old girl died of bird flu in Cambodia this week while her father is also infected and 11 others are under observation, with some showing symptoms. Experts are worried the large cluster might mean that the virus has now evolved to be able to be passed from one human to another.

While captive and wild birds have been decimated worldwide by the current H5N1 strain there has so far been no evidence that it can pass between mammals.

If the virus has been able to cross the species gap from birds to humans then concern around bird flu and its potential to cause a pandemic will escalate.

No sustained transmission of bird flu has ever occurred but limited human-to-human transmission was reported in Hong Kong in 1997.

experts - AFP

Dr Sylvie Briand, WHO director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said that the Cambodian outbreak was causing more alarm than isolated cases that have popped up in the intervening two decades.

“When you have only one case, you imagine that it's because this case was exposed to animals, either alive or dead. So for us it means it is a zoonotic infection,” she said on Friday.

“But when you see that there are a number of potential cases surrounding this initial case, you always wonder what has happened. Is it because maybe the initial case has transmitted the disease to other humans?

“And so we are really concerned about the potential human-to-human transmission coming from this initial spillover from animals.

“This is currently the investigation that is ongoing in the contacts of this girl in Cambodia. We are first trying to see if those contacts have H5N1 infection and that's why we are waiting for the laboratory confirmation of those cases.

“Secondly, once we have this confirmation, we will try to understand if those people have been exposed to animals or if those people have been contaminated by the initial case.”

Posters - Cambodia Ministry of Health

WHO staff have now been deployed on the ground in Cambodia and the results of these assessments will dictate the next steps.

Dr Richard Webby, director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals, added that “in response to the spread of H5N1 and a little bit of evolution” a new vaccine specifically against the currently dominant strain is now to be developed.

“We are putting another H5 virus vaccine candidate into production and that will start soon,” he said.

Dr Webby added that the current stockpile of candidate virus vaccines - which could be deployed into full-fledged jab drives should the animal infection be proven to have made the jump to spread among people - is also being assessed to see whether it works against the currently dominant form of bird flu.

Evidence suggests that if the current strain behind the ongoing avian pandemic did jump to people then the existing stockpile would work well against it, even if it may take six months to create the updated jab.

“There has been a little bit of work looking at some of the serum collected from people who took part in vaccine trials to some of these earlier H5 clades and several of those people actually worked quite well with some of the recently circulating viruses,” Dr Webby said.

“From a vaccine stockpile and response point of view, I think this is encouraging and suggests the human response to some of the vaccines does induce a broad immunity that cross-reacts with a lot of the clades we are seeing.”

Dr Wenqing Zhang, WHO Global Influenza Programme chief, added that there were almost 20 current H5 vaccines licensed for pandemic use, and the new one would add to this armoury.

chickens - Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

The WHO announcement comes after the UKHSA commissioned Covid-like modelling for bird flu should person-to-person transmission be found in the UK.

The UKHSA has activated a new technical group to create modelling for a potential human outbreak of bird flu, which includes Prof Neil Ferguson, who was instrumental in the first Covid lockdown in 2020, and UKHSA chief medical adviser Prof Susan Hopkins.

The UKHSA is also looking into bird flu lateral flow tests, documents show, as well as investigating what is the best lab-based test to pick up the virus.

A source close to the matter told the Telegraph that a host of permutations were being drawn up, including a U-shaped severity curve, akin to seasonal flu; a Covid-like scenario where the oldest and most frail are more likely to die; and the possibility that it is dangerous to all people, like Spanish flu.

One of the scenarios being investigated by officials is if the virus is relatively mild, with an infection fatality rate of 0.25 per cent, similar to Covid.

The most severe hypothesis is if the virus is as deadly in people as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, with a fatality rate of around 2.5 per cent, and a hospitalisation rate of one in 20.

Some estimates of bird flu’s fatality rate in humans are as high as 60 per cent but experts say this may be misleading and inflated by sampling bias from when H5N1 first emerged 20 years ago.

The modelling marks an escalation in preparedness by health authorities as the country’s worst ever bird flu outbreak continues to ravage poultry farmers and wild bird colonies alike.

Covid-style model for bird flu pandemic drawn up by health officials


Joe Pinkstone
Thu, 23 February 2023 

Ducks gather at a farm in Snoa village outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 

- Heng Sinith

Health officials are drawing up Covid-esque modelling to see what would happen if the current bird flu pandemic evolved to be able to spread from human-to-human.

There is currently no evidence that the H5N1 avian influenza strain that has killed hundreds of thousands of birds in Britain can spread between mammals.

A nationwide housing order has been in place since November mandating that all captive birds be kept inside, which has led to a decrease in infections.

But the UKHSA has now activated a new technical group to create modelling for a potential human outbreak of bird flu.

The group features UKHSA’s own experts as well as some external academics who were prominent in the Covid response.

'Bird flu lateral flow tests'

The 26-person strong group includes UKHSA Chief Medical Advisor Prof Susan Hopkins; Imperial’s Prof Neil Ferguson, who has worked on bird flu for decades but is best known for his Spring 2020 projections which brought about the first Covid lockdown; and Prof Munir Iqbal, head of the Avian Influenza Group at The Pirbright Institute.

The UKHSA is also looking into bird flu lateral flow tests, documents show, as well as investigating what is the best lab-based test to pick up the virus.

“To facilitate preparedness, planning and improvements to surveillance, scenarios of early human transmission are being developed,” the UKHSA says in a technical briefing.

A source close to the matter told the Telegraph that a host of permutations are being drawn up, including a U-shaped severity curve, akin to seasonal flu; a Covid-like scenario where the oldest and most frail are more likely to die; and the possibility that it is dangerous to all people, like Spanish flu.
Models currently 'completely hypothetical'

The findings come after it was reported an 11-year-old girl died of bird flu in Cambodia and 12 other people have been infected.

Prof Iqbal said the UKHSA models were currently “completely hypothetical” as all available data indicates there is no ability for the virus to spread between people.

One of the scenarios being investigated by officials is if the virus is relatively mild, with an infection fatality rate of 0.25 per cent, similar to Covid.

The most severe hypothesis is if the virus is as deadly in people as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, with a fatality rate of around 2.5 per cent, and a hospitalisation rate of one in 20.

Some estimates of bird flu’s fatality rate in humans are as high as 60 per cent but experts say this may be misleading and inflated by sampling bias from when H5N1 first emerged 20 years ago.

The modelling marks an escalation in preparedness by health authorities as the country’s worst ever bird flu outbreak continues to ravage poultry farmers and wild bird colonies alike.
H5N1 now 'the world’s biggest pandemic threat'

Sir Jeremy Farrar, a former member of Sage and Chief Scientist designate of the World Health Organization, said the avian H5N1 virus is now the world’s biggest pandemic threat.

He called this week for governments to make vaccines against the virus as a precaution.

Amid the backdrop of the ongoing Covid Inquiry the news of fresh modelling for a potential viral outbreak is likely to cause alarm among both the public and policymakers.

The modelling from UKHSA will likely be key in deciding if any actions are required to curb spread, should the unlikely event of human-to-human transmission occur.

Colorized transmission electron micrograph of avian influenza A H5N1 viruses

 - Phanie / Alamy Stock Photo

“The aims right now are to determine what level of surveillance we need to detect an event at an early stage,” a scientific source told The Telegraph.

“We haven't really seen very many people in Europe getting infected [with H5N1 avian influenza] and the people who have been infected have been very mildly ill or completely asymptomatic.

“It’s still H5N1 but it's evolved in enormous amount since it first emerged in Southeast Asia literally 20 years ago and it may have evolved more to be a virus which is well adapted at infecting a very wide range of species of birds, but less well adapted to infecting, certainly people, but maybe mammals.

“But we don’t know enough to be sure about that, which is why this work is going on but I think the risk is perhaps lower than it was.”

Scientists are concerned that with so much virus in birds, mammals are now more prone to eat an infected carcass and become infected that way. It is then possible that the virus evolves inside the infected mammals to be able to spread.

“The modelling right now is very focused on how much surveillance we need, in particular in hospitals which will pick up the severe cases, to be able to be sure that we can pick up an outbreak situation within a certain timescale,” a source said.

“There's no modelling of how bad the epidemic could be, or what we would do in terms of policy responses.”

‘Let them eat turnips’: Tory minister wades in on how to ease supermarket shortages

David Lynch
Thu, 23 February 2023 

‘Let them eat turnips’: Tory minister wades in on how to ease supermarket shortages

Eating turnips could help avoid fruit and vegetable shortages in UK supermarkets during the winter months, the environment secretary has said.

Therese Coffey told MPs that ongoing shortages of produce will be a temporary issue that should be resolved in two to four weeks.

She added the UK should “cherish the specialisms” it has and a “lot of people would be eating turnips right now” under a seasonal food model – rather than thinking about lettuce, tomatoes and similar produce.

Ms Coffey went on to acknowledge shoppers want a “year-round choice”.

Her remarks came after Tory colleague Selaine Saxby said supermarkets are importing “far too many products” and suggested seasonal eating would solve the issue.

A shortage of tomatoes in UK supermarkets has widened to other fruit and vegetables due to a combination of bad weather and transport problems in Africa and Europe.

Some supermarkets have introduced customer limits on certain fresh produce, with photographs emerging of empty shelves.

Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, Ms Coffey said: “I am led to believe by my officials, after discussion with industry and retailers, we anticipate the situation will last about another two to four weeks.

“It is important that we try and make sure that we get alternative sourcing options. That is why the department has already been in discussion with the retailers.

“It is why there will be further discussions led by ministers as well, so that we can try and get over this and try and avoid similar situations in the future.

“Even if we cannot control the weather, it is important that we try and make sure the supply continues to not be frustrated in quite the way it has been due to these unusual weather incidents.”

In response to a later question, Ms Coffey said: “I’m hoping that this will be a temporary issue.”

It’s important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country
Therese Coffey, environment secretary

Ms Saxby, Conservative MP for North Devon, later said: “The supermarkets are still importing far too many products for us and… actually we should be eating more seasonally and supporting our own British farmers.

“And if we were actually to move to a seasonal line of eating, many of these problems would be avoided… there are great food products available from local farmers at this time.”

Ms Coffey replied: “It’s important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country.

“A lot of people would be eating turnips right now rather than thinking necessarily about aspects of lettuce and tomatoes and similar, but I’m conscious that consumers want a year-round choice and that is what our supermarkets, food producers and growers around the world try to satisfy.”

For Labour, shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: “There is genuine public concern about the availability of food, and as the secretary responsible for our food security – and let’s bear in mind food security is national security – this is absolutely mission-critical.”

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “We don’t believe it is for us to tell people what they should or shouldn’t buy, that is entirely a matter for them. I think what the secretary of state was doing was setting out the importance of celebrating the produce that we grow here in the UK but, ultimately, it is for individuals to decide what food they wish to buy.”

Asked if Brexit was an impact on shortages, he said: “The industry and retailers themselves have spoken about the reason for some of the supply issues we are facing, notably poor weather in certain parts of southern Europe and north Africa.”

Republican uses derogatory word for Polish people in speech claiming GOP is not bigoted

Abe Asher
Thu, 23 February 2023

Republican uses derogatory word for Polish people in speech claiming GOP is not bigoted


A Minnesota state senator’s defence of the Republican Party was complicated when he used a derogatory term for Polish people.

State Sen Mark Johnson was arguing in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday night that Republicans had good faith objections to a bill that would allow undocumented Minnesotans to obtain driver’s licences when he made the remark.

“There are holes in this bill,” Mr Johnson said. “We’re not calling groups any names. What we’re saying is we need to protect Minnesotans. Doesn’t matter what your race, your color, your creed, Norwegian, P****k, Somalian, you name it. But folks, we have concerns about this — and when we bring those concerns up on the floor, tonight we were called white national racists.”



The context in which Mr Johnson, the minority leader, made the remark was not lost on a number of observers.

“After using a derogatory term for Polish people, what’s the next word association: Somali, one of the largest groups of color in our state,” State Rep Andy Smith, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), tweeted. “Telling.”

In addition to concern over Mr Johnson’s descriptor for Polish people, other observers noted that members of Minnesota’s large Somali community are typically referred to as Somali and not “Somalian.”

The DFL retook control of the State Senate in November while retaining the governor’s mansion and State House, giving the party total control of the state government for the first time in almost a decade and giving it the opportunity to pass a plethora of progressive legislation.

One those pieces of legislation is the proposal to allow undocumented Minnesotans to obtain drivers’ licences, which the Senate ultimately voted to pass by a 34-31 vote. Republicans attempted to add language to the bill stating that licences would be for “driving only,” claiming they had concerns about the integrity of the election process in the state.

“Today we sent a message to Minnesota’s undocumented community: we hear you, we see you, and you are a part of our beloved community,” Sen Zaynab Mohamed, the Minneapolis DFLer who wrote the bill, said in comments reported by KARE.

The House will need to vote on changes made to the bill in the Senate before it heads to Gov Tim Walz’s desk. The second-term DFL governor has said that he will sign it.

If Mr Walz signs the bill in the coming weeks, Minnesota will join 18 other states that offer drivers’ licences to undocumented residents. The majority of those states are either in the West or the Northeast; Minnesota will be just the second state in the Midwest to offer driver’s licenses to all after Illinois.

The DFL is also pushing proposals to legalise marijuana, expand voting rights, and codify abortion rights in the state.

Why is the Russian economy holding up against Western sanctions?

France 24
Thu, 23 February 2023

Despite nine sets of sanctions imposed by the European Union, the Russian economy only experienced a small contraction of its GDP in 2022. The "resilience" of the Russian economy was hailed on Tuesday by President Vladimir Putin during his state of the nation address. However, certain Western observers and politicians point out blind spots in the official statistics provided by Moscow.

The Russian economy is resisting. Far from the "collapse" predicted by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire after the first waves of Western sanctions following the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's GDP contracted by only 2.1% in 2022, according to the Russian statistics service Rosstat. The Russian economy is even projected to grow by 0.3% in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"We have ensured the stability of the economic situation and protected our citizens," said Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 in his state of the nation address, adding that the West had failed to "destabilise Russian society".

The apparent resilience of the Russian economy is primarily due to the surge in oil and gas prices in 2022, which compensated for the drop in the volume of exports – a reduction of around 25% for gas.

Chinese company discusses selling drones to Russia -Der Spiegel

Thu, 23 February 2023 

Russian drones strike in Kyiv

BERLIN (Reuters) -Russia is in talks with a Chinese manufacturer about buying 100 drones, with a delivery date of April, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Thursday, without citing specific sources.

In recent days, the United States, Germany and other Western countries have warned China not to sell weapons to Russia for its war against Ukraine, saying that any such move would have severe consequences.

Russia, hemmed in by severe Western sanctions imposed in response to its attack on Ukraine, is believed to have bought weaponry from Iran and North Korea, including drones from the former, but China has so far stood aside.

Der Spiegel said Chinese drone manufacturer Xian Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology had said it was prepared to make 100 prototypes of its ZT-180 drone, which the magazine said could carry a 35-50kg warhead.

"I have told China's representatives that it cannot be accepted," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told ZDF public television earlier on Thursday when asked about less specific reports that China might help Russia.

White House spokesman John Kirby, asked about general Chinese consideration of arms, said Washington has publicly and privately noted its concerns.

"While there are indications that China may be considering the provision of lethal capabilities to Russia, we have not seen them make that decision, we have not seen them move in that direction," Kirby told reporters in a briefing on Friday. "Frankly, China should not want to become tangibly involved in that."

Der Spiegel said the drone was similar to Iran's Shaheed-136, with which Russia has launched countless attacks on Ukraine, claiming hundreds of lives and damaging civilian infrastructure.

The magazine also said Bingo had plans to help establish a production site for the drone in Russia, where up to 100 aircraft could be made a month.

It added that there had been earlier plans for a company controlled by the Chinese army to send Russia spare parts for its SU-27 warplane.

Bingo did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

The company was founded in 2017 by Ma Jingdong, a graduate of China's Northwestern Polytechnical University and its drones have been used by the likes of China's electricity network operator State Grid to carry out environmental monitoring work, according to posts on its official WeChat account.

In November 2018, Bingo said it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with an online platform established by Poly Technology Defense Investment, a unit of state-owned China Poly Group which aims to support military trade and research into military equipment.

A procurement document published by the government of China's far western Xinjiang region in August 2021 said drones developed by Bingo had been used in military exercises and described their technical strength as "first class."

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt in Berlin, Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing, and Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey in WashingtonEditing by Kim Coghill and Matthew Lewis)

Misogyny in policing: how some male officers abuse their power over female victims and colleagues

Emma Cunningham, Senior Lecturer Criminology, University of East London

The Conversation
Thu, 23 February 2023 

John Gomez/Shutterstock

The case of David Carrick, a serial rapist and a serving officer in the Metropolitan Police Service, is the latest shocking example of violence against women committed by the police.

For years, I have studied misogyny in policing in England in Wales. I have crunched the numbers when it comes to acts of misconduct by men and women in the force. I have conducted in-depth interviews with policewomen who suffered years of misogynistic bullying at the hands of their male colleagues.

While it’s not exactly surprising that policing has long had a misogyny problem, my research shows how this problem appears in policing day to day.

Historically, policing was a job for men. As I explore in my book Women in Policing, the initial 19th-century arguments in favour of allowing women to join focused on their difference from men. Supposedly feminine “moral and maternal” traits were seen as evidence that women could provide protection to female victims, offenders and juveniles.

A toxic, patriarchal culture has persisted throughout policing history. This is true in the experiences of both women officers, and women who interact with the police as victims or perpetrators of crimes.

One area where this can be seen is in misconduct by officers. Using freedom of information requests, I investigated whether male and female officers committed similar numbers and types of misconduct offences.

I examined records of offences and misdeeds committed by male and female officers in three forces, from 2007 to 2012. Most of those involving both male and female officers involved minor driving offences, like using a windscreen wiper from a police car on their own vehicle or claiming garage points to fill up police vehicles.

The sharing of inappropriate images via the force email system was another offence that both men and women committed. The most serious incident of misconduct during this five-year period involved both a male and female officer. It was a single case of “lack of duty resulting in a death in custody”.

Overall, many more male officers were reported for violations than their female colleagues – up to seven times more, depending on the type of offence. Yet at the time, the ratio of men to women in the force was closer to five to one. Men were also more involved in offences related to abuse of authority and misuse of force.

One crucial difference in offences by male and female officers shows how misconduct, power and misogyny can work together in police forces. Where there were offences of beginning inappropriate relationships with vulnerable survivors of domestic abuse or sexual assault, the officers involved were all male.

I did not find any examples of female officers doing the same. I also found only male officers had been involved in offences of domestic violence, abuse and sexual harassment.

The disciplinary data, combined with insights from my interviews with female officers, led me to conclude that the policing environment enables men to combine the power of masculinity (which they have from living in a patriarchal society) with their power as police officers and behave this way. Policewomen, even with their authority as officers, do not have the same kind of power.
Women in policing

My research with women officers also shows the extent of misogyny within force culture. My colleague and I spoke with 23 women who had, between them, four decades of policing careers in different areas in England and Wales.

All of these women entered the force because they wanted to help victims and survivors of crime find justice. Their desire to do this was not diminished in the face of sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation they received from male colleagues.

One officer said she had been invited to a strip club after work with her male peers. Another described the misogynistic labels her male peers used to talk about women.

Others told us of male supervisors who insisted policewomen wear pencil skirts on parade, or suggested their uniform informed their sexuality. One participant said her supervisor had noticed that she cut her hair short and was wearing a men’s tie, and asked whether she was a lesbian, suggesting that women’s uniforms were tied to their sexual identity and appeal.

Even the recent addition of body cam equipment, the women told us, was not a good fit for many female officers’ bodies and often pointed towards the floor as a result.

Misogynistic culture in policing hurts women officers too. John Gomez/Shutterstock

In one disturbing example, an officer told us that while she was pregnant, her male colleague took a picture of her from her drawer at work, pasted her face onto pictures of an overweight woman’s body, photocopied them and sent them to her anonymously.

This case, like many of those shared by our participants, did not go through formal misconduct mechanisms. Instead, it was dealt with by supervisors who requested an apology from the perpetrator but did not discipline him further.

Read more: Sarah Everard, police culture and the 'masculinised' workplaces we can all help change
Institutional misogyny

Any instances of police officers engaging in this kind of behaviour should have been ringing alarm bells about a pattern of misogyny within the institution. But as recent events show, if alarms have rung, they have not been responded to appropriately.

The scandals of the past few years – Carrick, Wayne Couzens, Charing Cross, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman – show that policing is still plagued by a misogynistic, hypermasculine culture. While legal efforts like the Centre for Women’s Justice 2019 super-complaint against the police have attempted to hold police organisations to account for violence against women, the culture within forces does not appear to have changed.

Police responses calling predatory police perpetrators of violence against women and girls as “unspeakably evil” suggests they are rare events. But while shocking, they aren’t uncommon – they are part of a long, systemic pattern of misogyny.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

UK

'Worrying': Increasing number of Ukrainian families face homelessness in BCP

Matt Simpson
Thu, 23 February 2023 

'Worrying': Increasing number of Ukrainian families face homelessness in BCP (Image: PA)

AN INCREASING number of Ukrainian families are facing homelessness in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, new figures from the government show.

Figures released from the Home Office show 35 households became homeless after the arrangement with their host broke down, while eight did so because their accommodation was not suitable on arrival.

The council has urged BCP residents with an interest in housing a Ukrainian family to register their interest with them.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, said it was heartening to see so many people open their doors to people fleeing the conflict, but added it was "worrying" refugees are facing homelessness.

President Zelenskyy in Lulworth Camp earlier this month (Image: Daily Echo)

He said: “These are people who have endured unimaginable trauma fleeing war in their homeland, and they must have a place to call home to help them heal and rebuild their lives.”

Cllr Karen Rampton, BCP Council cabinet member for homes, said: “BCP Council continues to work to prevent or relieve homelessness for refugees in the locality across any of the Ukrainian visa schemes.

Read more: Behind the scenes at Sunak and Zelenskyy's Dorset press conference

“The council’s housing support team stay in regular contact with all guests who have arrived via the Homes For Ukraine scheme.

“Where a sponsorship is ending and there is a threat of homelessness the team work hard to match people with suitable alternative sponsors while actively supporting individuals and families to find their own accommodation.

Bournemouth Echo:

“I would invite anyone interested in becoming a host to contact us via our web page bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ukraine, which includes a welcome pack with helpful information.”

Figures from the Home Office show 43 households had received homeless duties in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole as of January 27 – including 30 families with dependent children.

Read more: Dorset Ukrainian Community to host march for war anniversary

This was a rise from 27 in November, the last time figures were published.

Across England just under 4,300 Ukrainian households had presented as homeless as of January – an increase of 44 per cent from nearly 3,000 in November.

A spokesperson for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “Where a sponsorship breaks down, councils have a duty to ensure families are not left without a roof over their head.”