SCOTLAND

Juryless rape trials may be unlawful and breach human rights, SNP warned by senior judges

Simon Johnson
Sun, 24 September 2023 

Humza Yousaf backed the pilot scheme citing the 'weight of evidence' - Ken Jack/Getty

Scotland’s most senior judges have warned the SNP plan to pilot juryless rape trials may be unlawful and breach the accused’s human rights.

The Senators of the College of Justice at the Supreme Courts said it could be argued that the pilot scheme was “a court set up by the government with a limited lifespan, and subject to examination and review by the government”.

This could strip the court of its status as an “independent tribunal”, they warned, exceeding the powers of the Scottish Parliament and breaching the right to a fair trial under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

They also argued that “the combination of such a court with judges who have no security of tenure in that court may not satisfy the requirements of a fair trial”.

Under the current proposals, they said a judge could be removed from the scheme “for any or no reason and with no prior procedure other than consultation”.

Jurors of differing ages

They also argued that it is preferable for a decision to be reached collectively by jurors of differing ages and backgrounds than a single judge, most of whom they said are white, male and in “late middle age”.

The submission by judges who sit in the Court of Session, the High Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal was among almost 250 made to a Holyrood inquiry into the plans.

Although it made clear that some senior judges support juryless rape trials, it followed warnings from the Law Society of Scotland that they pose a “serious” risk to the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.

SNP ministers want to overhaul how sexual offences are tried in Scotland, warning that the “substantially lower” conviction rate risks undermining public confidence in the justice system.

The Scottish Government’s Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill gives ministers the power to “enable a pilot of single judge rape and attempted rape trials” to be conducted without a jury “for a time limited period”.

The legislation would also establish a specialist sexual offences court, scrap the not proven verdict and reduce the number of jurors from 15 to 12.

Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, has backed the pilot, citing a “weight of evidence” that juries are affected by “rape myths” that lead them to unjustly acquitting the accused.

The latter term refers to stereotyped prejudices in rape cases, such as jurors wrongly believing that the victim “asked for it” by being drunk or seductive.

Holyrood’s criminal justice committee is examining the plans and on Wednesday will hear evidence from Angela Constance, the SNP’s justice secretary.
Security of tenure essential

In their submission to the committee, the Senators said the Bill gives the Lord Justice General, the most senior judge in Scotland, the power to remove a judge sitting presiding over one of the new sexual offence courts.

This may constitute “interference with a judge’s security of tenure”, they warned, and Article 6 of the ECHR “requires an accused person to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law”.

They cited case law that held that “security of tenure was essential for judicial independence” and said the lack of this in the new courts could be sufficient to render them “neither independent nor impartial”.

The judges opposed to the pilot scheme also questioned the Scottish Government’s claim that rape myths among jurors were partly responsible for low conviction rates.

“Given that the accused is asserting that there was consent, it is not surprising that on some occasions the jury finds that there is reasonable doubt about what happened. That is inevitable,” they concluded.

They added: “The majority of judges are in late middle age, male, from a white Scottish ethnic background and are educated to university level.

“Many would argue that a number of people from differing backgrounds and ages combining to reach a decision is preferable to one person deciding alone.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The Senators of the Colleges of Justice response clearly sets out that there was not one view held on the proposal for the pilot with some supportive and some not.

“The proposed pilot is in in response to a recommendation of a review carried out by Lady Dorrian, Scotland’s second most senior judge, to improve how the justice system treats rape victims by piloting judge only rape trials.”

TWO TIERED JUSTICE SYSTEM

Royal Navy: HMS Prince of Wales sailor who shot girlfriend and attacked two women at pub spared jail

Magstirates refused to hand Moore a community service order because it would mean him losing his Royal Navy job.

Freddie Webb
Sun, 24 September 2023

 
Navy serviceman Harley Moore outside Margate Magistrates' Court. Picture: KMG / SWNS.

Magistrates even told Harley Moore, 18, they "wish him the best" with his career as a junior able seaman on HMS Prince of Wales. Moore admitted four counts of assault by beating when he appeared at Margate Magistrates' Court on Thursday, September 21.

The court heard that on May 30 he flew into a jealous rage and shot his girlfriend in her foot at their home in Deal, Kent. Prosecutor Maria Goptareva said: "They were in the bedroom discussing their relationship and he was shooting the BB gun around the room. He then turned around and shot her foot."

The attack left her "shaken up" but they went out drinking with her friend in Deal the next evening where he launched another attack. His girlfriend told police he was "practically foaming at the mouth and spitting at me" so she ran past him into The Sir Norman Wisdom Wetherspoon to get away.

Harley Moore, 18, from Deal, shot his girlfriend with a BB gun on May 30, court heard. Picture: KMG / SWNS.

Court heard Moore followed her into the pub toilets and pushed her against the wall. The victim told police: "He went to hit me and missed - but he caught me with his nails.

"Then he turned around and hit [my friend], causing her to fall backwards." A female Wetherspoons employee intervened and pointed him towards the door, but he pushed her arm away.

Moore's girlfriend suffered a scratch to her face while her friend was left with a bruised back. In a victim impact statement, Moore's girlfriend said: "The whole incident has made me feel very shaken up and upset because I never imagined he could hit me.

"I am shocked that someone I thought I loved could do this to me and my friend." Magstirates refused to hand Moore a community service order because it would mean him losing his Royal Navy job.

The Sir Norman Wisdom Wetherspoon in Queen Street, Deal, Kent. Picture: Google Street View/SWNS.

He was ordered to pay £200 compensation to his girlfriend, £100 each to her friend and the pub worker, as well as court costs of £85 and a £26 victim surcharge. Magistrates also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the BB gun.

Chair magistrate David Gibbons said: "We in no way wish for Mr Moore to lose his job – we wish him the best with that. But we can't let his job mean that he escapes justice."

He told the defendant: "Mr Moore you're aware our hands have been tied in what we can do to punish you for this. The incident was severe and you were unpleasant to three different people.

"While the offences are deserving of a community order, it has become apparent that this is unworkable, so we will be going down the route of a conditional discharge. This will be for three years.

"Should you commit another offence within that time you can be punished for today's offence and any new offences." Ian Bond, defending, said Moore was on leave from his duties on HMS Prince of Wales, which will act as the nation's flagship, at the time of the attacks.

He said Moore had been upset that his girlfriend had gone on a trip to London with another man. Describing the assault with the BB gun, he said: "It fires very small plastic rounds - about the size of a pea, a petit pois.

"Mr Moore said: 'I'm sorry - I was trying to shoot your shoe.' "But the next day things are still simmering and this young man has behaved as badly as he did because of his frustration and because he'd had too much to drink. He's genuinely remorseful."

Chief Petty Officer Darrell Binner attended court with Moore and said disciplinary action is also being taken by the Navy. He said: "The Navy takes a very seriously dim view of what Mr Moore has done and he will receive appropriate punishments from his commanding officer.

"That could mean a dock in his pay, extra duties or even being discharged. He is returning to Portsmouth while transportation is arranged to get him back on the ship - the vessel is operational and it requires a full crew.

"The Navy would not be able to comply with a court order for him to complete community service."

Hundreds descend on London to protest against Rishi Sunak’s ban on XL bully dogs

IT'S NOT THE BREED ITS THE OWNER

Daniel Keane
Sun, 24 September 2023 


Protesters marching in central London against the ban of the XL bully (PA)

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in London on Saturday to protest against the Government’s proposed ban on the XL bully.

Protesters held signs in Trafalgar Square saying “don’t bully our bullies” and “muzzle Rishi” – just hours after a man was bitten by a dog believed to be an XL bully in a south London park.

The victim, in his 40s, was attacked in Pasley Park, Walworth, shortly after 6pm on Friday and was taken to hospital suffering injuries to his arm, the Metropolitan Police said.


Protesters marched through the capital shouting “save our bullies” and “sit for your dog”, while one was seen wearing a t-shirt with a photoshopped image of Rishi Sunak with a muzzle on.

Demonstrators did not bring their XL bully dogs to the protest. Prior to the demonstration, activists were warned in a message that “police will antagonise and seize your dog”.

Michelle West, of Northfleet, was among those demonstrating at the rally.

She told Kent Online: “People need to take responsibility for their dog. They are blaming the wrong end of the lead.

“I've never known a dog so affectionate and soppy.”

One protester wearing a provocative sign showing Rishi Sunak in a muzzle (PA)

It comes just two weeks after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the XL bully would be added to the list of prohibited breeds under the Dangerous Dogs Act following a spate of recent attacks.

Owners of American XL bullies will not face a cull of their pets, but Downing Street said measures would be put in place to cover the “existing population” of the dogs. The ban is expected to come into place by the end of the year.

Writer and lawyer Ness Lyons witnessed the event while walking in her local park.

She wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Earlier this evening an XL bully jumped a fence and attacked a man in my local park. Partially witnessed by my son.

"Man was bitten badly in several places including his abdomen.

"Police and ambulance came, but it took an hour. Horrifying.

"The owner grabbed his dog and legged it."

Demonstrators marched through Trafalgar Square holding placards (PA)

No arrests have been made but inquiries are ongoing, a spokesperson for the Met said.

Ian Price, 52, who was mauled by two dogs thought to be XL bullies in Staffordshire in September.

The XL bully, which is developed from the American pit bull terrier, is not a recognised as a specific breed by the Kennel Club.

On Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said a “transition period” on a ban would be introduced, with details likely to follow a consultation on the plan.

UK
Tory big beasts turn on Rishi Sunak’s ‘insane’ plan to scrap HS2

HIGH SPEED RAIL


Jon Stone
Sun, 24 September 2023

(Getty/PA)

Rishi Sunak is facing open revolt from the top of his own party, key advisers and business leaders over HS2 after The Independent’s revelations about plans to ditch the multibillion-pound project.

Two former Tory prime ministers, the government’s infrastructure tsar, northern powerhouse groups and mayors both north and south all came out on Saturday to slam Mr Sunak.

Clamour has been building since The Independent broke the story 10 days ago, detailing how sunk costs of £2.3bn could be offset by a £34bn saving if HS2 was scrapped north of Birmingham.

This newspaper outlined how so-called Project Redwood was drawn up to enable the prime minister and chancellor to sit down face to face to discuss the cost and benefits. The nominal price tag for the first phase is expected to increase by another £8 billion thanks to inflation, compared to the most recent June 2022 estimate.

Downing Street has repeatedly refused to say whether the long-running and over-budget scheme will go ahead, despite repeated questioning from the British media.

The Independent understands a decision on the project could be announced as early as Friday, ahead of Tory conference in Manchester to try and quell discontent.

A chorus of objection to scrapping the second phase of the project came from:

• Sir John Armitt, chair of the government’s infrastructure commission, who said it would be a “disaster”

• Boris Johnson called it “Treasury-driven nonsense” which would “mutilate” HS2

• David Cameron is said to be concerned that it would be anti-Conservative

• London mayor Sadiq Khan described ditching the project as a “colossal waste of money”

• West Yorkshire mayor Tracey Brabin warned the move would damage jobs, investment and economy

• Business group the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said cutting back the line would be “wrongheaded”

Among the proposals being considered are stopping the line north of Birmingham, while another section of line into central Manchester, set to also be used by the Northern Powerhouse Rail project, is apparently on the chopping block and could be cut to save costs.

The final stretch of the line into Euston, the most expensive part of the project, could be abandoned in favour of terminating at Old Oak Common, six miles north.

Mr Johnson this weekend branded cost-saving measures “desperate”, urging the prime minister to deliver on the 2019 levelling-up pledge the Conservatives were elected on. He said it would “mutilate” the whole project.

“It is the height of insanity to announce all this just before a party conference in Manchester,” he said. “It is no wonder that Chinese universities teach the constant cancellation of UK infrastructure as an example of what is wrong with democracy.”

Mr Cameron has also privately raised significant concerns about the possibility that the high-speed rail line could be heavily altered, according to The Times.

In a letter to Mr Sunak, mayor of London Mr Khan warned that it would take longer to get from Birmingham to central London on HS2 than existing trains if plans to terminate at Euston station were abandoned.

“The government's approach to HS2 risks squandering the huge economic opportunity that it presents and turning it instead into a colossal waste of public money,” the Labour mayor said in a letter to the PM.

Sadiq Khan warned it may take longer to get from Birmingham to central London on HS2 than on existing trains (PA Wire)

When the railway first opens between London and Birmingham, expected between 2029 and 2033, its terminus in the capital will be Old Oak Common, in the western suburbs.

Mr Khan said: “Terminating the service at Old Oak Common would be a short-sighted decision which will have long-term implications, significantly downgrading the value of HS2 as a high-speed connection and leaving a ridiculous situation where a 'high speed' journey between Birmingham and central London could take as long as the existing route, if not longer.”

He said the “best case” journey time of one hour and 22 minutes from Birmingham to Euston, changing at Old Oak Common onto the Elizabeth line and Northern line, was “already one minute longer than the existing train time”.

Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, added: “Scrapping the project in the north of England will damage jobs, investment and the economy and leave plans to level up in tatters.

“Big infrastructure projects need long-term commitment over successive governments. There must be a better way than this piecemeal stop-start approach that we have seen from this government.”

Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which represents businesses across the north, told The Independent: “For both the north and for London the government is considering wrongheaded choices.”

A map of the project’s proposed services (HS2)

“As Boris Johnson rightly argues, this isn’t just the worst of Treasury orthodoxy stopping the most vital sections of HS2 allowing the north to benefit, but losing Northern Powerhouse Rail – or the Charles line as leading northern Tory John Stevenson has christened it.

“It was the current prime minister who convinced Boris to make it central to his domestic policy platform and general election campaign. It is time for him to remember it was in large part down to him – remember he is a northern parliamentarian as well as just respect the mandate of the 2019 election.”

HS2’s original leg to Leeds via Sheffield was already scrapped under Mr Johnson’s premiership, while Mr Sunak was chancellor.

Labour’s official policy is to build HS2 in full, including the previously cancelled spur to Leeds – though spokespersons for the opposition party have at times in the past two weeks appeared reluctant to confirm this.

It is also understood that any move by the government to pull the legislation for the northern phase of the project – which is currently going through parliament – would significantly complicate the process for a new government attempting to complete it.

This week, Mr Hunt said the government was “looking at all the options”, adding: “We do need to find a way of delivering infrastructure projects that doesn’t cost taxpayers billions and billions of pounds.” The Treasury chief said no decisions had yet been taken.

A government spokesperson said: “The HS2 project is already well under way with spades in the ground, and our focus remains on delivering it.”

UK

Government will fail to end rough sleeping by deadline, says expert group


Aine Fox, PA Social Affairs Correspondent
Sun, September 24, 2023 

A target to end rough sleeping by next year will not be met by the Government amid “chronic and unresolved” issues in the housing system, a report by a group of experts has concluded.

The failure will come as the country faces a housing and affordability crisis which is pushing more people onto the streets, and as pressure on public services results in a lack of early support to help prevention, the Kerslake Commission said.

The independent group of 36 experts was formed in 2021 to look at the lessons from the emergency response which supported people sleeping rough during the pandemic, but said the latest official figures show long-term progress has not been made.

In September 2022, the Government published its Ending Rough Sleeping For Good strategy, which re-stated its 2019 manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament.

With a general election expected to be called at some point next year, this means the pledge would have to be met by then.

But figures published earlier this year showed that the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough in England had risen for the first time since 2017.

A snapshot of a single night in autumn last year found 3,069 people sleeping rough, up 626 (26%) on the equivalent total for 2021 and nearly three-quarters (74%) above the level in 2010 when the figures began.

Meanwhile, the numbers of households and children in temporary accommodation – considered another form of homelessness – in England are at record highs.

Some 104,510 households were in temporary accommodation by the end of March – a 25-year high, according to Government statistics released in July.

The total number of children in this situation is also at the highest level since records for that measure began in 2004 – with 131,370 children living in temporary accommodation as of the end of March this year.

The number of households who were rough sleeping when they approached their local authority for help was up by almost a fifth (18.2%) from the first quarter last year, to 3,770 households, the statistics showed.

The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, in a report published on Monday, said: “The Conservative Government committed in its 2019 manifesto to end rough sleeping within the life span of the next parliament.

“During the pandemic, significant progress was made on rough sleeping and the Kerslake Commission was convened to learn the lessons from the emergency response and drive changes that would help end it by 2024.

“It is unfortunately the conclusion of the Kerslake Commission that this goal will not be met by the deadline.”

The late Lord Bob Kerslake was dismayed by rising homelessness, his family said (Peter Byrne/PA)

The family of the late Lord Bob Kerslake, who chaired the commission before his death in July, said he would have been “vociferous” in publishing the latest report’s conclusions and recommendations.

In a statement, they said he had been “saddened and dismayed by the rise of homelessness across our country”.

They added: “He was proud to chair the commission and totally committed to its findings. He would have been vociferous in publishing its conclusions and recommendations.

“His main focus would have been persuading those who have the power to make positive changes to read this report in depth, then work together to meet those recommendations.

“As his family, we firmly believe that this would be a fitting tribute to a great man who worked tirelessly for the betterment of others.”

Among its recommendations, the report said a lack of capacity within the system must be prioritised – blaming a severe shortage of social rented housing and supported housing for much of the current situation.

The commission also urged that homelessness and rough sleeping be treated as a priority within all Government departments “with all sectors working together in a trauma-informed way”.

The Illegal Migration Act should be repealed, the report said, highlighting that non-UK nationals “are the group the homelessness sector is most concerned about, as with the passing of (the Act) there could be as many as 190,000 people with an asylum claim deemed inadmissible, leading those with no realistic prospect of return to an indefinite period of extreme hardship and poverty”.

Emma Haddad, commission member and chief executive of St Mungo’s homeless charity, said the report “sets out starkly that we are working against the tide”.

She added: “We made so much progress on rough sleeping during the pandemic, which clearly demonstrated what can be done when we work together with a shared purpose and dedicated funding.

“It’s time we applied the same energy to stop this homelessness and rough sleeping crisis spiralling further.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities paid tribute to Lord Kerslake for his “life’s work” on the issue and said the Government is “focused on ending rough sleeping for good”, spending £2 billion “to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in the areas that need it most”.

They said “significant progress” had been made “with over 640,000 households prevented from becoming homeless or supported into settled accommodation since 2018”.

Shadow homelessness minister Mike Amesbury said “This report provides a sobering assessment of rising homelessness driven by a chronic shortage of decent, secure and affordable housing after 13 years of Tory failure.

“A toxic mix of rising rents, the cost-of-living crisis and a failure to end no-fault evictions are hitting vulnerable people.”

Separately, homeless charity St Barnabas said its research suggested “worrying insights into the public perceptions and awareness of homelessness”, with 70% of people it surveyed saying they do not consider unsuitable accommodation as a form of homelessness, and 82% admitting they would not know what to do if someone they knew was homeless.

The research, surveying 2,000 UK adults earlier this month, comes as the charity launched a new campaign to improve public understanding of homelessness and a free photographic and educational exhibition in central London featuring artists who have experienced homelessness across the UK.

Net zero: Rishi Sunak 'destroying' UK green credibility, says Yanis Varoufakis

Harrison Jones - BBC News
Sun, September 24, 2023 

Rishi Sunak has been accused of a "very special combination of incompetence and cynicism" over his major change of direction on climate policies.

Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told the BBC that the prime minister was "destroying" the UK's green credibility in a desperate bid to appeal to sections of the public.

But Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK was ahead on reducing carbon.

It follows a significant shift on net zero announced by Mr Sunak this week.

The PM pushed back a ban on new petrol-only cars from 2030 to 2035 and announced delays to several other key green policies.

Some sectors of the car industry backed the government's change in direction. But many - including Ford - said it undermined planning.

The Green Party co-leader said she felt "a bit sick" after Mr Sunak's announcement, which has since been welcomed by former US President Donald Trump.

Rishi Sunak delays petrol car ban in major shift on green policies

PM denies his net zero plan is wishful thinking

Speaking to the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Varoufakis - seen as a leading economic voice on the left - launched a scathing attack on the government's green ambitions.

He told stand-in host Victoria Derbyshire: "It takes a very special combination of incompetence and cynicism to manage to unite the car industry and the Greens against you, and Rishi Sunak has demonstrated that.

"It is very clear that this was the result of the Uxbridge by-election," Mr Varoufakis said - referring to the narrow Conservative win in the Uxbridge by-election in July, which some commentators attributed to anger at the expansion of London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

Mr Sunak was trying to appeal to "nativist, rightish, anti-climate policy segments of the population... destroying all the credibility that governments have tried to build up regarding commitments to net zero", Mr Varoufakis added.

Yanis Varoufakis accused Mr Sunak of appealing to 'nativist, rightish, anti-climate policy segments of the population'

On Tuesday, Mr Sunak announced the changes to the government's stance on green policies, including a delay on a ban of new petrol and diesel car sales.

The PM's speech, moved forward following a leak to the BBC, prompted fierce criticism from environmentalists, industry leaders and the opposition.

But Mr Sunak, who was also criticised by some in his own party, said he could not impose "unacceptable costs" on British families as a result of attempts to reduce emissions.

Mr Shapps told Victoria Derbyshire that he "entirely" backed the changed deadline on selling petrol and diesel cars, and defended the UK's green record.

"We have the leading position in the G7 in terms of the amount of carbon that we have reduced," he said.

What does net zero mean?

The defence secretary argued that the UK had exceeded expectations set out in previous carbon budgets, which place restrictions on the amount of greenhouse gases the UK can emit over five years. Work is now being done on the latest version, which will start in 10 years' time.

Mr Shapps continued: "We have already identified - even after these changes in pace, to give families some relief - 90% of the things we need to do by 2037, so I am completely confident we will get there as well."

But panellist Rachel Johnson, a journalist and the sister of former PM Boris Johnson, said: "The lectern that he (Mr Sunak) stood in front of in Downing Street said something like 'long term decisions for a brighter future'. As I saw it, I thought, no, we are making short term decisions for a darker future... These are populist measures.

"He is equating green with expensive, which is wrong, green is going to be very good for the economy if they grip it."

In the USA, former president Trump - who reversed climate measures during his presidency - praised the "smart" British PM.

Railing against "fake climate alarmists that don't have a clue", he claimed green measures could "destroy and bankrupt" the UK.

"(Mr Sunak) has very substantially rolled back the ridiculous 'climate mandates' that the United States is pushing on everyone, especially itself", wrote Mr Trump, posting on his social media platform Truth Social.

On Saturday, the BBC revealed that a taskforce to speed up home insulation and boilers upgrades has been scrapped.

Mr Shapps did acknowledge the country had "found it difficult" to keep up with the rest of Europe on heat pumps and insulation.

But, he added: "We want to allow more time so we are not penalising households.

"The thing we are not prepared to do is to say to every household within a couple of years... a ban on gas boilers means that perhaps an average home would spend about £8,000 on having to rip out their gas boiler.

"We think that we can both meet our 2050 commitments and give families a bit of a break and enable them to change their boilers as time comes rather than force this sort of pace which is unrealistic."

Net zero means emitting no more greenhouse gases - such as carbon dioxide - than the amount taken out of the atmosphere.

UK

‘This is just a Tory line – they don’t care about us’: Taunton’s voters refuse to buy into Sunak’s net zero U-turn


Tom Wall
Sat, 23 September 2023 

Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

Emergency worker Alice Bowen pauses for a moment in the golden autumnal sunshine warming the bustling centre of Taunton. She should be exactly the kind of voter receptive to the prime minister’s efforts to help struggling families by junking what he claims are costly net zero pledges.

“We are a family of four. We cannot afford to get an electric car,” she says, as shoppers and office staff queue for sandwiches and bags of chips in Somerset’s county town. “It is not feasible for us. We both work full-time. He is a civil servant and I’m in emergency services. It’s not like we have bad jobs – it’s just that the cost is very prohibitive.”

But Bowen, 34, does not for a second buy into Rishi Sunak’s attempts to position himself as a friend of hard-pressed families – and plans to vote for the Liberal Democrats, who are seeking to overturn an 11,700 Conservative majority in Taunton Deane.

Emergency worker Alice Bowen says Rishi Sunak’s wealth means he is ‘not relatable’ to ordinary working families. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer


“Sunak is not relatable in any way, especially when you know what his wife does,” she notes, referring to the wealth of Sunak and his heiress wife, Akshata Murty, who are among the richest people in Britain.

This is echoed by other parents on the high street, where union jacks and Somerset red dragon flags flutter in a gentle breeze.

Grounds maintenance worker Terence Lowe, 38, who is out shopping with his daughter, scoffs at Sunak’s suggestion the old net zero goals would have imposed unacceptable costs on the British people.

“That’s just the line [the Tories] give you to make out that they are doing it for you, but they don’t care,” he says, resting on his crutches, which he is using to recover from a sporting injury. “Just look at the amount of private jets [Sunak] takes. He doesn’t care about the cost of living crisis. Let’s be honest … he lives in a totally different world than we do.”

There are also fears here that delaying the transition to a zero-carbon economy could jeopardise the green investment starting to come into the county.

Tata, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, is building a giant electric vehicle battery factory in Somerset, creating 4,000 jobs and many more in the supply chain. “As soon as you take your foot off the accelerator, which they’re doing, then it will risk investment, because firms will go elsewhere,” says a steward at Somerset cricket ground, who asks not to be named. “They will go to other countries working to make the world a greener place.”

Even those who wholeheartedly support delaying green targets cannot bring themselves to vote Conservative again. “Sunak has made the right move politically for the party but whether it would make any difference for us … probably not at this point,” says Vivien Bowers, strolling with her husband, Tim, towards the muddy waters of the River Tone.

Taunton residents Vivien and Tim Bowers both voted Tory at the last election but say they are are disillusioned with politics Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer

The couple plan to spoil their ballot papers at the general election, which is expected next year. “We both voted Tory last time,” says Tim. “But we are disillusioned with politics. At the moment, we’re going to go in and write ‘politics is not working’ and spoil the ballot – at least that would be noted.”

Yet there are some staunch Conservative voters who are pleased that Sunak is delaying a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars.

Andy Smith, 78, says electric cars are too expensive and the changing infrastructure will not be ready by 2030: “He’s done the right thing to put it off for a while because we cannot afford it.”

His friend Teresa Lawrence, however, is not convinced by Sunak’s big reset. “I don’t know if he understands because of his privileged life.” Lawrence, 78, may switch from Conservative to Labour. “I always was Conservative but I’m not in the financial situation where I should be voting Conservative. I’m torn.”

Andy Smith says he thinks Rishi Sunak has done the right thing, but his friend Teresa Lawrence is less convinced. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer

There is no shortage of ideas about how Sunak could actually help those such as Lawrence feeling the pinch of rising costs.

David Waddilove, 69, who is a member of a local climate action group, says: “If it was actually about helping with the cost of living, then there were a lot of other things they could be immediately doing, including bigger windfall taxes [on oil and gas producers] and reorganising the tax system so the ultrarich are paying a little bit more and the rest of us could get by a little bit more.”.

Tory-supporting residents feel like the time might be up for Conservative environment minister Rebecca Pow, who has seen her majority in Taunton Deane slip from almost 15,500 to 11,700 since she won in 2015.

Retired maths teacher Geraldine Brearley, 72, will still be voting for Pow but she suspects the Conservatives will lose the seat: “I think people are struggling and when you struggle you think: ‘I’m going to try and change this.’”

India-Canada Clash Should Be a Wake-Up Call

For their own sake, Western nations must contend with the politics of the large and growing diaspora communities they host.

September 24, 2023 

Opinion
By Mihir Sharma
Mihir Sharma is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, he is author of “Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy.”

Divisions on display.

Photographer: Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images

To most of the world, the Indian government’s response to Canada’s charge that it may have sponsored the murder of a Sikh activist in British Columbia must be befuddling. India has strenuously denied the charges, for which Canada has provided no evidence publicly as yet.

But the Indian government has also gone further and blasted Canada for supposedly hosting a “nexus of terrorism,” serving as a “safe haven” for extremism and organized crime, and much else. Indian investigators have even released a list of what they call “terror-gangster networks” based in Canada. This is all absurdly detached from Canada’s popular image as a polite and welcoming multicultural utopia.

India’s rage is misplaced and hardly serves to endear the country to those appalled by the idea that it may have had a Canadian citizen killed. Still, it does reflect widespread sentiment — in India and beyond — that many countries in the West have long paid insufficient attention to the overseas activism of the immigrant communities they host.

That will no longer be possible. Even small, liberal countries such as Canada, Australia, and Sweden must now contend with the consequences of diaspora politics.

Sweden, for example, faced a particularly pernicious dilemma when Turkey blocked its entry into NATO on the grounds that it hosted Kurdish separatists. The Swedish government had to balance Turkey’s concerns and its own urgent security needs against its constitutional commitments to free speech and dissent.

Of course, peaceful political expression must be defended. And countries with a reputation for taking in refugees and asylum seekers, such as Canada and Sweden, will naturally host many more dissenters than elsewhere.

The problem is when, as sometimes happens in communities still focused on the disputes they left behind, dissent slides into extremism. How long can governments ignore political radicals merely because they are confining their activities to their old homes, not their new ones?

Canada, in particular, has had a long history of tolerating supporters of militancy abroad. Even after 9/11 built pressure on all Western allies to root out supporters of terrorism, Ottawa resisted calls to clamp down on local financial support for Hezbollah.

Canadian communities also provided much of the financing for Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — who, famously, invented suicide bombing. A lot of that money was raised, according to human-rights activists, by intimidating Canadian citizens who still had relatives in Sri Lanka.

Now tensions have begun to flare domestically as well. Last year, violence between Hindus and Muslims broke out in the post-industrial town of Leicester, while Sikhs and Hindus clashed in the middle of downtown Melbourne in January. Two years earlier, a Hindu man who had been deported from Australia for allegedly attacking Sikhs was given a “hero’s welcome” when he returned to India.

It’s easy to view such clashes as the natural consequence of India’s increasingly radicalized and divided politics. But that’s only part of the story. In fact, diaspora communities themselves are often more radical than those they have left behind and have exported their fundamentalism back home.

The revival of Hindu supremacism in India, for example, owes a great deal to the financing and ideological leadership provided by Indian Americans. For their part, Indian investigators have long worried that a rash of murders of Sikhs for supposed blasphemy are related to fundamentalist views being financed from Canada.

As Leicester and Melbourne show, ignoring the political churning within diaspora communities is unwise. Yet politicians have clear political incentives to minimize the danger, especially in countries such as the UK or Canada that pride themselves on their multiculturalism. In 2019, for example, the Canadian government removed a reference to Sikh extremism from an official report on security threats after community complaints.

The risk is that the most deeply conservative, and sometimes extremist, members of a diaspora are then treated as their community’s legitimate voices. Law enforcement and political parties will reach out to them — or the religious institutions they often run — for support.

This severely disadvantages more liberal figures within the communities themselves. It creates tensions that threaten to spill out onto the streets of the West. And, as we’ve seen, it can enrage governments you may hope to befriend.

Western nations must continue to welcome dissenters and persecuted minorities — and should vigorously defend their right to free speech, their property, and their lives. But governments should also try to promote healthier conversations with and within diaspora communities.

The West is still struggling to do both. The concerns India is raising would not justify the actions of which it’s accused. Nonetheless, Canada and others should examine those concerns for their own sake, not India’s.

Opinion

Russia is taking my friends one by one – and now I struggle even to write about them

Oleksandr Mykhed
Fri, 22 September 2023 

Photograph: Scott Peterson/Getty Images

Day 563 of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ninth year of the war. Kyiv is saying goodbye to Ihor Kozlovsky, philosopher, religious scholar and lecturer. A Teacher. A man whose reputation was crystal clear.

In the winter of 2016, 62-year-old Kozlovsky was seized in his apartment in Donetsk by terrorists of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic. He was accused of being pro-Ukrainian and of having educated many students who took a pro-Ukrainian patriotic stance when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine. Kozlovsky found himself in Russian captivity, which did not comply with any norms of international humanitarian law: humiliation, beatings, limbs broken while handcuffed, electric shocks, strangulation, hangings.

Kozlovsky was held captive for 700 days, almost two years.

After his release, he radiated warmth and started calling himself “an eternal debtor to love”, which gladdened the students and friends who had supported him. Kozlovsky said that he felt responsible for this “portal of love”.

On 6 September 2023 he died in his sleep. He was 69. Another incredible person who Russia took from us, bringing grief and pain, an ordeal that no heart can withstand. Nor any body. Losses with which you learn to live afresh every time.

The last breath of the second summer of the invasion. And just like during the previous one, hardly anyone paid any attention. Like any season of the year now, it is just a sticky mixture of days, losses, fury and glimmers of hope.

Ukrainians are learning to bypass Meta algorithms in order to carry on talking about the horror of the invasion; volunteers are finding new ways to raise funds for vehicles, drones and tactical medical materials for the front. Singing a cover of a Backstreet Boys hit, playing a concert, auctioning off a spent missile case or a rare book from a private library. Anything. The important thing is that it helps to save lives and bring victory closer.

On 25 August, the day after Independence Day, Capt Andriy Pilshchykov, Maj Vyacheslav Minka and Maj Serhiy Prokazin, the future of Ukrainian aviation, died in a horrific plane crash. Pilshchykov, 30, (whose call sign was “Juice”) was one of the key voices to advocate on a global stage for the provision of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine, needed to hasten the victory. All three were a part of the collective Ghost of Kyiv, as the 40th tactical aviation brigade, which defended Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion, is called.

A soldier at the funeral of Ukrainian fighter pilot Andriy Pilshchykov in Kyiv, Ukraine, 29 August 2023. Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/EPA

It has been a summer of alarming calls. After news about yet another Russian shelling of civilian infrastructure in any given Ukrainian city, the calls begin. The scale and number of attacks and the choice of targets are such that we often know the victims. The theatre in Chernihiv, the market in Kostyantynivka, the residential district of Sumy. Russia is aiming for global famine and destroying port infrastructure in the south of our country. Destroying the crops. Destroying the ships. Destroying the cathedral in the very centre of Odesa. Blow after blow, shock after shock batters our consciousness. Tragedies that take your breath away – and each subsequent one instantly relegates the previous horror further back into the annals of time. It is like every week you are being plunged into yet unknown depths of the ageing process.

My friend: a 45-year-old professor, an ichthyologist, who lost everything after the occupation of his home town and joined the armed forces in the first days of the invasion. Call sign “Lucky”. Deployed near Bakhmut. A tank shell fragment got lodged in his armpit. Doctors made five holes in his body to get it out. But it is not known how much of it is still there.

Another friend: a 26-year-old pizza chef, the kindest and most life-loving sort. Call sign “Muffin”. Deployed near Bakhmut. For the first time in his life, he is trying to rescue a seriously wounded person. There are three of them. They have to leave behind those who cannot be saved. He calls me. I am looking at the broken pixels of video communication. We are crying together.

A mutual friend of ours: a 28-year-old artist, the son of an Orthodox priest, the fifth child of six. Call sign “Trunk”. He joined the air assault troops. A month of hard battles. Badly wounded. Now in rehabilitation. He wants to return to his brothers and sisters-in-arms as a chaplain. Wants to be closer to the frontline. To support his own.

An astonishingly handsome man with a heart-melting smile: a 23-year-old manager of educational programmes and a band. Call sign “Dwight”. Without telling his parents and friends, he is mobilised into a famous assault brigade. I ask him about his motivation. He says: “Survive the war with dignity and move on. Burnish myself. Learn from the warriors who, more than anyone, are familiar with how this war works.” He says his motivation is “revenge for the dead. Love for those who are close.”

The armed forces of Ukraine are retaking territories that have been under Russian occupation since 2014. If anyone still thinks that Ukraine is regaining the occupied territories too slowly, they should remember that for every de-mined and liberated metre of our free country, the highest price has been paid by our soldiers.

The pantheon of our national myth is being formed before our eyes. Our friends, teachers, brothers are already in it. And the only thing I dream of is that the living will take their places in the pantheon after victory.

People sheltering in the metro during an air strike alarm in Kyiv, Ukraine, 24 August 2023. 

Photograph: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images

This summer I deleted the missile alarm app from my phone. All the same, the phones of those nearby will alert me. Or the city’s warning sirens. At some point my brain passed this anxiety checkpoint. It is now just a component of this new mutilated reality.

On the day we learned about the death of Ihor Kozlovsky, I met Olena Stiazhkina, a historian, academic and writer from Donetsk. She had known Kozlovsky for decades and had been a close friend of the writer Victoria Amelina, who was killed at the beginning of this terrible summer.

We embraced warmly, literally feeling the fragility of life.

I said that I can no longer write requiems for my fallen friends. I understand how important it is to preserve their memory. But it is becoming difficult for me to put pain into letters.

Olena asked whether we can write about the dead without mentioning ourselves and our feelings.

I said we can’t. Because Russia is taking away my friends and loved ones from me personally. Tearing out my heart piece by piece.

Kozlovsky said that he had witnessed many cases of suicide and madness among prisoners in Russian captivity. What did Kozlovsky do while there? On particularly difficult days, the teacher would give lectures to the rats, so that he could at least hear his own voice. To preserve that which cannot be lost.

Translated by Maryna Gibson

Oleksandr Mykhed is a writer and member of PEN Ukraine

Donald Trump's 'Extremist' Gaslighting Exposed In Damning Montage

Lee Moran
Mon, September 25, 2023 

MSNBC’s “The Mehdi Hasan Show” laid bare the delicate dance that Donald Trump is attempting to perform on abortion issues.

Trump, the 2024 Republican frontrunner, is “trying to paint himself as a moderate when it comes to abortion ahead of the 2024 election,” the show captioned a supercut it aired on Sunday.

“Too bad for him that we have the receipts to remind you of his extremist record,” it wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The 48-second montage contrasts Trump’s middle-of-the-road commentary with his repeated boasting about being responsible for ending federal abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Watch the video here: