Cancer warning after big rise in people smoking pipes, shisha and cigars in UK

THREE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS 

NO CHAIN SMOKING LIKE CIGARETTES

Tobi Thomas
Mon, 4 March 2024

Tobacco is estimated to be directly linked to 54,300 cases of cancer a year 

in the UK.

Photograph: David Jones/PA

The number of people smoking pipes, shisha and cigars in the UK has risen fivefold over a decade, and experts say this could lead to a rise in smoking-related cancers such as mouth and lung cancer.

Last year there were about 772,800 exclusive non-cigarette tobacco users, compared with 151,200 in 2013, according to a study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

The figures are based on research by UCL academics, who surveyed a representative sample of about 1,700 adults a month on their smoking habits between 2013 and 2023.


The research found that the greatest increase in the use of non-cigarette tobacco was among young adults, with 3% of 18-year-olds using these forms, compared with 1.1% of 65-year-olds. The study also found the prevalence to be higher among men and current vapers.

In 2022-23, one in 10 smokers used only non-cigarette tobacco, such as in cigars and shisha pipes. Cigars, shisha, cigarillos and pipes are non-cigarette forms of smoking and can be more harmful than cigarettes.

A person smoking a shisha pipe for between 20 and 80 minutes can inhale the same amount of smoke as someone smoking more than 100 cigarettes, according to the British Heart Foundation. The charity said tobacco-free shisha still produced dangerous toxins from the smoke.

The study said possible reasons for the stark rise could include people believing these forms of smoking may be less harmful than cigarettes, as well as financial reasons.

The study noted that the ban on menthol cigarettes in May 2020 did not include these forms of smoking. This could mean that people who preferred the flavour may have turned to other products not included in the ban, such as shisha and cigars.

Tobacco is estimated to be directly linked to 54,300 cases of cancer a year in the UK. Ministers are considering legislation that would mean anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 would not legally be able to buy cigarettes in England at any point during their lives, as the smoking age would be raised by one year every year.

Dr Ian Walker, the executive director of policy at Cancer Research UK, said: “Tobacco kills one person every five minutes in the UK. Research like this shows that the issue of smoking isn’t just about cigarettes – all tobacco products are harmful and cause cancer, no matter what form they come in.

“That’s why it’s crucial that the government’s age-of-sale legislation applies to all tobacco products. If implemented, this policy will be a vital step towards creating a smoke-free UK, preventing future generations from ever becoming addicted to tobacco.”

Dr Sarah Jackson, the lead author of the paper, based at UCL’s Institute of Epidemiology and Health, said: “This 10-year-long study captures the shift in trends of non-cigarette tobacco use and paints a concerning picture. Although rates of cigarette smoking have fallen, our data show there has been a sharp rise in use of other smoked tobacco products, particularly among young people.

“It’s vital that smoking cessation services are adequately funded and available across the UK so that the around 772,800 people who use non-cigarette tobacco products, and the millions who use cigarettes, are given the support they need to quit.”

‘If we can’t fish any more, we’re going to die’: the volunteer sea patrols protecting precious Philippine water



Sofia Quaglia in Zamboanguita,

 Negros Oriental, the Philippines

THE GUARDIAN
Mon, 4 March 2024

The small fishing community in Negros Oriental, where local 

volunteer groups have to guard the waters against illegal fishing

Photograph: Marla Tomorug/Edges Of Earth

It is midnight on a beach in southern Negros Oriental, a province in the central Philippines, and everything is dark and silent. Except, that is, for the scene playing out in front of a small guardhouse made of bamboo. There, seven people have congregated: one middle-aged man is splayed on a bench, a man and a woman in sports vests hug their knees to their chest while chatting, and others walk back and forth barefoot with torches and green laser pointers shining out beyond the sand. All eyes are set on a portion of the ocean loosely cordoned off by some white buoys.

These are the Bantay Dagat, the sea patrol, a team of village-appointed volunteers who take turns staying up all night to guard their waters. They fend off any local people trying to illegally fish in the community marine sanctuaries, and any commercial fishers trying to trespass into municipal waters within 15km (nine miles) of the coastline.

“The only chance for us to survive is to police among ourselves,” says the 48-year-old Antonio “Toni” Yocor, who helped found the local Bantay Dagat in 2005 and has spent thousands of nights on watch ever since, searching for the telltale glare of underwater lights. Just the night before, they had to chase eight intruders off into the darkness.

The ocean surrounding the 7,641 islands of the Philippines is one of the world’s most abundant in marine biodiversity. With a reef system that spans more than 22,000 sq km, it is the crown jewel of the Indo-Pacific Coral Triangle.

But this underwater treasure has been steadily depleted due to warming and acidifying seas, chemical and plastic pollution and, crucially, intensive overfishing and destructive harvesting techniques. Throughout the decades, commercial fishers have trawled and scraped through entire coral beds with superfine-mesh nets destroying everything in their wake.Interactive

For the 1.1 million Filipinos fishing in these reefs and, for the main part, living in poverty, the sea has just been thought of as a means to an end for eating and sustaining their family. “People are thinking about how to get as much fish as they can, but they don’t think about sustainability,” says Ceasar Ruiz, who was brought up in a small fishing village.

While fish were once so abundant they seemed to jump on to the hooks, fishers began to find their catch getting smaller.

To counter the trend, in the 1970s, the government introduced marine protected areas (MPAs) – no-fishing zones. MPAs, also known as marine sanctuaries, would not only protect precious coral reefs from further destruction to preserve biodiversity but also act as nurseries for juvenile fish.

Filipino waters are now home to more than 1,500 MPAs but while some of them are overseen and funded by the national government, more than 90% of sanctuaries are small and community-managed, relying heavily on local government and village volunteers for enforcement.

And getting local communities on board with the sanctuaries hasn’t been easy, with MPA boundaries frequently being vandalised or ignored. Even authorities turned a blind eye to any wrongdoing because the fishers were often “their compadres”, says Yocor.

When Yocor started the patrol team, many family members and neighbours saw him as a traitor who’d turned his back on the town’s food security needs. He says he would routinely take a gun to his Bantay Dagat night shifts in case tensions rose and encounters got “nasty”.

Today, MPA intruders are less frequent and less violent, and mostly local poachers who are trying to sneak in for a large catch of fish just when their family has nothing to eat or a big debt to pay off. “It’s a very hard encounter, they are desperate. I understand, I’m a fisherman too,” says Yocor. The wardens flash their lights at the intruders, chase them away on foot or by boat, and sometimes manage to apprehend and fine them according to the powers they’ve been given.

Data on the progress of the wildlife in these MPAs is collected by citizen scientists from the nonprofit organisation Marine Conservation Philippines (MCP), who come out to the MPAs daily to survey the corals, invertebrates and fish. MCP also provides a large part of the funding needed to support the Bantay Dagat and other volunteer efforts, such as the team of 35 bantay women who safeguard the island’s mangrove forests, which are fundamental for flourishing ocean ecosystems as fish use them to spawn.

“People don’t care about the mangroves, they say their fishing nets get stuck in the mangroves, but preserving them will benefit the whole community living in this area, and all coastal areas,” says Evelyn Buca, who heads the volunteer project, as she looks out on to the mangroves she has been watching over since she was 11 years old.

Rose Anne Yocor, Toni’s niece, runs MCP’s coastal plastic-collecting programme. The Philippines is the one of the world’s largest ocean plastic polluters, and her team collects an average of 400kg of plastic every day from the water and beaches.

These collective efforts have helped change the narrative about how all ocean-safeguarding efforts are interconnected and fundamental for the sake of food security. “Everybody has started understanding that we need to conserve and protect our marine environments because it’s the last frontier, if we can’t fish here any more, we’re going to die,” says Mario Neil Montemar, the president of the local Fisherfolks Association and a former member of one of the Bantay Dagat chapters. “Fisherfolk are the poorest of the poor.”

But the issue of illegal fishing “will go on and on” if central government doesn’t provide proper resources, says Montemar. “The Bantay Dagat also needs to eat, they are fishers who also need to give their family food on the table.”

More than 20,000 commercial vessels entered Philippine municipal waters in 2023. When these ships encroach and rake in hundreds of thousands of kilos of fish – the second type of infraction Bantay Dagat need to look out for – a couple of volunteers sailing out on a small bangka (the boats used to fish and get around many Philippine islands) is not a very effective deterrent. Montemar once went face to face with a big commercial fishing operator and was told his life was worth less than the 5,000 pesos (£70) the mogul would pay to have him killed.

Even if all the municipal water restrictions were robustly enforced, Philippine law mandates that 15% of municipal waters be designated as no-fishing zones – but fewer than 1% of them are.

Related: Nomads of the sea: stateless Bajau face up to a future on land – photo essay

The Philippines would benefit from a network of connected and well-maintained MPAs with support from central and local governments, says Rene Abesamis, a marine biologist at the University of the Philippines and a leading expert on MPAs.

Bantay Dagat should also become professionalised, trained, and paid like the rangers on the Great Barrier Reef, says Abesamis, something that’s being discussed in the national parliament. “We may have a chance if we get things right,” he says.

At midday on another beach in southern Negros Oriental, wind chimes made of shells and coral branches tinkle in the wind, and a man and woman sit on the makeshift porch of a bamboo guardhouse looking out to sea. Spotting illegal fishers during daylight is a little easier: 64-year-old Carmen Pajula, who spearheaded the Fisherfolks Association before Montemar and has spent her fair share of days and nights patrolling MPAs, says she sees only one way forward for her people – molampos, which means “to prosper”.

What we know about suspected chemical leak in Manchester

One person has been taken to hospital following a chemical leak in Trafford Park, Manchester that has since been contained.


Connor Parker and James Hockaday
Updated Mon, 4 March 2024 

Emergency services were dispatched to the site of chemicals firm Lanxess on Tenax Road in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester. (MEN Media)

One person has been taken to hospital after a "major incident" was declared at a business site in Greater Manchester following a chemical leak on Monday morning that has since been contained.

Emergency services, including fire and ambulance crews, were sent to the scene near the site of chemicals firm Lanxess on Tenax Road in Trafford Park, with several vehicles seen parked outside.

A dozen people were assessed by paramedics, and North West Ambulance Service initially said no one required further treatment. On Monday afternoon, Lanxess said one of its employees was "taken to hospital for observation as a precaution", with one unconfirmed report claiming they had "breathed in chemical vapour".

The leaked substance was confirmed to be phosphorus oxychloride, which can cause serious illness if inhaled and, in some cases, can be fatal.

Paramedics at the scene on Monday morning. (MEN Media)
What we know

At around 9am Monday, Greater Manchester Police were called to reports of a “hazmat incident” at a business site in Trafford Park, in the town of Stretford.

Officers cordoned off the site as fire crews and ambulances were also sent to the scene.

No injuries were initially reported, and everyone at the affected business in in Tenax Road had been accounted for, emergency services said on Monday morning. North West Ambulance Service said: “Very quickly, we have been able to account for all potential patients, assessing more than a dozen people. Nobody has required further treatment.”

Lanxess said in a follow-up statement on Monday afternoon: "One person was taken to hospital for observation as a precaution. The cooperation with emergency services and authorities went smoothly."

Residents living near the 300m cordon were advised to keep their windows and doors closed. Yahoo News spoke to one business across the street from the plant, which took an independent decision to evacuate.

Surrounding businesses have not been ordered by authorities to evacuate, it is understood, with some telling Yahoo News they had opted to carry on as normal. A member of staff from a nearby crane hire centre said it was "business as usual" for them, adding that the only updates they were receiving were from reading the news.

Manchester Police had said a "number of surrounding roads have been closed as a precaution". Nearby Metrolink tram services were partially disrupted due to the incident but subsequently returned to normal.

Several emergency vehicles were seen parked outside the Lanxess site after a 'major incident' was declared. (MEN media)

In a statement, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue said: "Just before 9am this morning 12 fire engines from across Greater Manchester were called to reports of a suspected chemical incident at an industrial site on Tenax Road, Trafford Park.

"Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are working alongside site staff and other emergency services to contain the incident and keep the area safe.

In a statement issued at 11:55am, Lanxess said the situation was under control.

A spokesperson for the German chemicals firm said: "During the unloading of a supplier's tanker truck, a chemicals leak occurred on the factory premises in Trafford Park, Manchester at around 9am on March 4.

"Meanwhile, the leakage has been stopped. The leaked substance is phosphorus oxychloride. Residents are advised to keep windows and doors closed."

Later in the afternoon, the company said: “The safety of our employees and local residents is our top priority. We have started to investigate the incident thoroughly and regret the inconvenience caused.”

Lanxess opened in Trafford Park 1939 to manufacture phosphate-based plasticisers. Through the years, the research facility at Trafford Park developed a wide range of new products in fine chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates, plastic additives and flame retardants

An ambulance decontamination officer at Trafford Park. (MEN Media)

What we don’t know

According to the Manchester Evening News, the leak is believed to have been caused by a faulty valve on a tanker - though this has not been confirmed.

While the situation appears to have been contained, it is not clear how emergency services are expected to stay in the area for.

It is also unclear how long nearby residents will be advised to keep their windows and doors closed for, and how long Tenax Road is expected to be cordoned off for.

While a report by MEN said an employee had been taken to hospital after "breathing in chemical vapour", this has not been confirmed.

It is unclear what has happened to this employee and what condition they are in.

What is phosphorus oxychloride?

Phosphorus oxychloride is a clear, colourless to yellow, oily liquid that has a pungent odour.

It is used to manufacture a variety of products, including flame retardents and some pharmaceutical, textile and agricultural chemicals, according to chemicals firm Solvay.

Phosphorous oxychloride is corrosive and highly toxic, and can cause severe irritation or burns with symptoms of redness, itching, welling and severe pain if it gets on the skin or eyes, Lanxess says, warning that "permanent damage" is possible.

Inhaling the chemical is corrosive to the respiratory system, with symptoms including coughing, burning, sore throat, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, weakness, ulceration and pain.

Ingestion of phosphorus oxychloride is corrosive to the digestive tract and can cause symptoms such as coughing, burning, ulceration, abdominal pain, shock or collapse.

Exposure at high levels may be fatal, and the effects of exposure may be delayed. Pre-existing respiratory, skin and eye disorders may be aggravated by overexposure, Lanxess adds.

Prolonged or repeated exposure to phosphorus oxychloride may result in adverse effects including coughing, tightness of the chest, shortness of breath, bronchitis (inflammation of lung tissues) and pulmonary edema (fluid buildup in the lungs).

Files.libcom.org

https://files.libcom.org/files/Bookchin%20M.%20Our%20Synthetic%20Environment.pdf

Our Synthetic Environment - Libcom.org 

Our Synthetic Environment. Murray Bookchin. 1962. Table of contents. Chapter 1: THE PROBLEM. Chapter 2: AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH. Chapter 3: URBAN LIFE AND HEALTH.

House Of Lords Inflicts 5 Defeats On Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill

Graeme Demianyk
Updated Mon, 4 March 2024 

The House of Lords (left) and home secretary James Cleverly and Rwandan minister of foreign affairs Vincent Biruta signing a new treaty in Kigali, Rwanda in December.AP

The House of Lords has inflicted five defeats on the government over its controversial Rwanda scheme.

In another headache for Rishi Sunak, the unelected upper chamber voted by a majority of 102 to back a move to ensure the proposed legislation is fully compliant with domestic and international law.

The first defeat on the Safety of Rwanda Bill was followed by four more – including insisting parliament cannot declare Rwanda to be a safe country until the treaty with its promised safeguards is fully implemented, and a vote in favour of establishing a monitoring mechanism for the UK-Rwanda pact.


It paves the way for a back-and-forth between the elected Commons and the Lords, which is often referred to as parliamentary “ping-pong”, meaning MPs can overturn the changes at later stages in the process.



The Safety of Rwanda Bill is designed to overcome legal challenges to past attempts to send asylum seekers with a one-way ticket to the east African country.

The bill would compel judges to regard Rwanda as safe, and give ministers the power to ignore emergency injunctions.

The policy is central to the prime minister’s hopes of convincing voters he can “stop the boats” crossing the English channel.

The government hopes once the bill passes flights will be able to take off by the spring, but that timetable now looks in disarray.

Dick Newby, Liberal Democrat leader in the Lords, said: “For months this Conservative government has been pushing this policy that does nothing to solve the asylum backlog.

“This bill has cost hundreds of millions of pounds, and doesn’t combat dangerous Channel crossings or create safe, legal routes.

“By declaring Rwanda safe when it is clearly anything but, and excluding the courts, the bill also undermines the rule of law. It is the product of a morally and politically bankrupt government.”

Speaking in the Lords, Conservative grandee Lord Tugendhat, whose nephew is security minister Tom Tugendhat, accused the government of behaving like the ruling party in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

“This country is no dictatorship, it is a democracy,” he said. “If this bill goes onto the statute book in its present form, Rwanda will be a safe country regardless of reality until the statute is repealed.”

Conservative support falls to lowest level on record, poll finds


Christopher McKeon, PA Political Correspondent
Mon, 4 March 2024 

The Conservatives have hit their lowest polling score on record after a torrid start to the year for Rishi Sunak.

The poll published by Ipsos UK on Monday suggested just 20% of the public would vote for the Tories at the next election, down seven points since January and the lowest score recorded by the party since Ipsos started its regular polling in 1978.

The figure is even lower than the 23% recorded in December 2022, shortly after Mr Sunak replaced Liz Truss as Prime Minister, and puts the Conservatives 27 points behind Labour, who are on 47%.

(PA Graphics)


Ipsos’s previous lowest score for the Conservatives was 22%, recorded by John Major in December 1994 and May 1995, only a few years before Tony Blair’s landslide win in 1997.

The slump in Conservative support follows a series of bad headlines for Mr Sunak at the start of 2024, with confirmation that the UK had entered a recession at the end of last year, two large by-election defeats in Wellingborough and Kingswood, and an Islamophobia row over comments by now-suspended Tory MP Lee Anderson.

Monday also saw former minister Paul Scully announce that he would leave Parliament, adding to an exodus that has seen more than 60 Tory MPs say they will not fight their seats at the next election – the highest total since 1997.

Mr Scully said: “Fuelled by division, the party has lost its way and needs to get a clear focus which I hope the Budget can start to provide. It needs a vision beyond crisis management which can appeal to a wider section of the electorate including younger people.

“If we just focus on core vote, eventually that core shrinks to nothing.”

Warning against abandoning the political centre ground he said: “The standard deviation model is true in politics. Most people are in the middle.

“We can work with the bell curve or become the bell-ends.”

Another poll published by YouGov on Friday also had the Conservatives on 20% and gave Labour a lead of 26 points, further compounding the Prime Minister’s woes.

Labour, meanwhile, appeared to be weathering the storm caused by the Rochdale by-election, when it was forced to withdraw support for its candidate over his remarks about the Israel-Hamas conflict, paving the way for George Galloway’s victory last week.

Despite this setback, Labour’s polling figure was only down two points on the start of the year in a survey that, if replicated at the general election, would see the party win a landslide victory.

The poll saw a significant rise in support for Reform UK, doubling from 4% to 8% since January in a development that will further alarm some Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats and the Greens saw their positions improve slightly, reaching 9% and 8% respectively.

Keir Starmer’s personal ratings have weakened, but his party remains well ahead of the Conservatives (Jane Barlow/PA)

Ipsos also noted an apparent “enthusiasm gap” opening up, with only 62% of Conservative supporters saying they were certain to vote, compared to 76% of Labour supporters.

Monday’s poll, based on a survey of 1,000 British adults between February 21 and 28, also saw Mr Sunak score his lowest net approval rating so far.

Just 19% of people said they were satisfied with the Prime Minister’s performance, while 73% said they were dissatisfied.

Satisfaction with Sir Keir Starmer has also fallen since January, despite Labour’s overall position holding up. Some 55% said they were dissatisfied with the Labour leader, up seven points since January, while 29% said they were satisfied.

(PA Graphics)

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos, said: “The historical comparisons continue to look ominous for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives.

“The Ipsos Political Monitor series started in the late 70s and has never recorded a Conservative vote share this low – and the job satisfaction trends for the Prime Minister and his Government since he took office are also heading downwards.

“Combined with Labour taking leads on issues of economic credibility to go with their traditional strengths in public services, this means the Conservatives face big challenges across a number of fronts if they are to turn the situation around.”



There was slightly better news for Mr Sunak in a Deltapoll survey, which suggested Labour’s lead had narrowed to 14 points, excluding those who did not express an opinion or said they would not vote.

The survey of 1,500 British adults conducted between March 1 and 4 put the Tories on 27%, up four points from the pollster’s previous survey between February 23 and 26.

Labour was down three points on 41%, with the Liberal Democrats down two points on 9%.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
£50million London property empire 'bought by Azeri tycoon via extraordinarily complex money laundering operation'


Martin Bentham
Sun, 3 March 2024 

Azeri MP and businessman Javanshir Feyziyev (Handout)

A £50 million London property empire was bought by an Azeri tycoon and his wife using money brought into Britain via an “extraordinarily complex” money laundering operation involving payments for “nutritious baby food” and fake and fictitious invoices, the High Court has been told.

The National Crime Agency told a judge that it believes that Javanshir Feyziyev, an Azeri MP and businessman, and his wife Parvana acquired 22 homes, mostly purchased jointly, using the proceeds of crime and corruption.

It said the money used to buy the properties – which include two in Belgravia’s Chelsea Barracks development bought for £18.4 million and £8.1 million respectively - had been channeled into this country via a huge network of shell companies in countries ranging from the Marshall Islands, the Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands to Russia and Hong Kong.


It said the scheme also involved the use of forged invoices and other false accounting to mask the vast cash transfers and included transactions labelled as “payment for nutritious baby food”, as well as the deception of banks in Estonia and Latvia, and “corruption and fraud in Azerbaijan”.

Lawyers for Mr Feyziyev and his wife have strongly denied any wrongdoing by the couple and insisted that the politician used his “substantial fortune” generated legitimately by his tobacco, pharmaceutical and hotel businesses among others to fund the purchases.

They are also seeking the removal of court freezing orders imposed on the properties on the basis of the NCA’s claims, arguing that there is no risk of the Feyziyevs disposing of their assets to avoid any future attempt to seize them.

They have further alleged that the orders were “improperly obtained” after “egregious” disclosure failures by law enforcers and the presentation of the “flimsiest of cases” against the Feyziyevs.

At a High Court hearing to decide whether the freezing orders should stay in place, the NCA’s barrister Andrew Sutcliffe KC insisted that there was “compelling public interest” for the properties to remain frozen while law enforcers continued their investigations into the couple and that there was a “good arguable case” that the homes had been bought with the proceeds of crime.

“There is strong evidence that the property freezing order properties have been obtained through money laundering,” he told the court in a skeleton argument submitted to the hearing.

“The .. detailed tracing evidence.. reveals money flows of extraordinary complexity which appear to have been accompanied by inconsistent, false or fictitious descriptions [and] can be traced back, in part, to companies which have been found to have been involved in money laundering [and] remain largely unexplained.”

The document adds: “The transactions are breathtaking. The available banking material records payments made from different entities including Baktelekom, Polux and Hilux through companies in multiple jurisdictions (including the Marshall Islands, Hong Kong, Seychelles, Anguilla, Ireland, Russia, British Virgin Islands, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, and the Dominican Republic), and with payment descriptions such as “account replenishment”, “payment for medicines”, “fees for licenses to clientbase” and “payments for nutritious baby food”

As well as the two homes at Whistler Square in Chelsea Barracks, which were bought by Mr Feyziyev alone, the properties subject to the court freezing order include 19 properties in the Beaufort Square development in Colindale and a home which cost the Feyziyevs just over £4 million and which cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The court document states that all the properties are held in a trust set up by the London law firm Withers and that the freezing order also covers a bank account in Liechenstein and rental income from the Feyziyevs’ London property empire.

It adds that the “estimated value of the property freezing order properties is over £50 million” and there is a “risk of dissipation” if the orders were to be lifted.

On the alleged money laundering, the document states that “specific examples of transactions that are prima facie fraudulent” include payments which funded the Chelsea Barracks and 15 of the Colindale properties.

It says these payments included “a purported contract for the sale of medicines.. (which does not appear to be genuine)” and “purported payment instructions from Les Laboratories Servier (a French pharmaceutical company which has confirmed that the document is a forgery)”. Other allegedly fraudulent transactions cited in the court document include “a purported loan agreement (which does not appear to be genuine)”.

The skeleton argument submitted by Mr Sutcliffe KC also points out that Mrs Feyziyeva, the couple’s son Orkhan, and Mr Feyziyev’s nephew Elman Javanshir have already been successfully targeted by the NCA in account forfeiture proceedings at Westminster Magistrates which led to a total of £5.6 million being seized from their bank accounts as the likely proceeds of crime.

The court concluded that the forfeited money had entered Britain via a complex money laundering scheme known as the “Azerbaijan laundromat” involving banks in Estonia and Latvia and an elaborate network of shell companies overseas.

In response, Kenneth MacLean KC, representing the Feyziyevs, said the court order freezing the couple’s properties should “never have been granted” and should be removed.

He said this was because there was no “good arguable case” against them and “no real risk of dissipation” and because of “multiple and serious breaches of the NCA’s duty of full and frank disclosure/fair presentation” in securing the orders.

He said Mr Feyziyev was a “respected academic, businessman and (independent) legislator” who had achieved “substantial success in various business ventures over the course of two decades”.

Mr MacLean added: “There is absolutely no evidence that the Respondents [the Feyziyevs] engaged in any unlawful conduct in Azerbaijan or that their funds derived from any such conduct.”

He said Mr Feyziyev also “clearly had sufficient legitimate funds to acquire all of the properties” and accused the NCA of presenting evidence that was “desperate” and “quite extraordinary in its irrelevance” in conduct that was “testament to the weakness of its actual case”.

The judge, Mr Justice Poole, adjourned the hearing and will give judgment on whether the freezing orders over the Feyziyevs’ properties will continue.

The new hearing follows the earlier account forfeiture proceedings involving Mrs Feyziyeva, the couple’s son Orkhan and the couple’s nephew Elman Javanshir.

The court heard then that Mr Feyziyev, who was not a party to those proceedings, was the source of the funds being targeted in the case.

The hearing also led to the later naming of the Tory donor and businessman Javad Marandi as “a person of importance” in the case. Mr Marandi, who owns the Conran Shop, the Emilia Wickstead fashion brand, and a stake in the Anya Hindmarch handbag retailer, had initially secured an anonymity order to conceal his connection to the case and denied any wrongdoing.

But the order, which was opposed at the outset by the Evening Standard was lifted by the High Court in a judgment which said that anonymity should never have been granted.

UK

Just Stop Oil to continue protests outside MPs’ homes despite Sunak’s call to end ‘mob rule’


Jonathan Leake
Sun, 3 March 2024

Just Stop Oil protesters outside Rishi Sunak's London home last year - PA

A leading Just Stop Oil activist has confirmed that the group will continue targeting businesses and MPs’ homes despite Rishi Sunak warning against the rise of “mob rule” in Britain.

Dr Grahame Buss, a retired scientist who previously spent 40 years working for oil giant Shell, has said Just Stop Oil’s demonstrations will not stop even as the Prime Minister tries to halt “intimidatory” protests.

The spotlight has been thrown on protecting MPs following an increase in threats in recent months, albeit these have been linked to the conflict in Gaza rather than environmental issues.


Dr Buss said: “We’re going to be standing outside the homes and offices of MPs but in an entirely non-violent way.”

His comments come after Conservative backbencher Tobias Ellwood’s home was targeted by pro-Palestine protesters last month, while Tory MP Mike Freer has said he will step down over safety fears after arsonists attacked his office.

Dr Buss said Just Stop Oil needs to distinguish itself from “violent mobs”, as he claimed that his group’s actions were legitimate, justified and safe.

He said: “I think that if you look at the attacks on MPs, they’ve not been from activists. They’ve been from lone wolves, people with mental health problems and other issues.

“The risks to other people associated with [environmental] activism are extraordinarily low. This whole [mob rule] thing has been cooked up by the Government.”

Mr Sunak, whose home in Yorkshire was targeted by Just Stop Oil activists last year, spoke out on Friday against a “shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality”.

He said that people had a right to protest but should do so “decently, peacefully and with empathy for your fellow citizens”.

Just Stop Oil has refused to say which politicians may be targeted.

Businesses will also remain a key target, as Just Stop Oil activists last Friday occupied the Colmore Building in Birmingham - which is home to leading insurance companies that work with fossil fuel firms.

Despite spending 40 years at Shell, Dr Buss said that most of the research he worked on was “largely greenwash”.

He said: “I’ve looked back on my career, and I think it was wasted. It was very interesting. I had a lot of fun. A lot of the time I had a lot of money. But I don’t think I achieved anything of any value.”

Dr Buss said his time at Shell had shown him that the millions of pounds being invested in technological solutions to climate change, such as sustainable aviation fuel, were being misspent.

He opted to join Just Stop Oil shortly after his retirement, where he is now a spokesman and an organiser.

“It’s now my life,” he said.

A Home Office spokesman said: “While the right to protest is a pillar of our democracy, so is the right for democratically elected officials to go about their daily lives and we utterly condemn the targeting of MPs’ family homes.

“We will do whatever is necessary to defend our democracy which is why we have given the police a comprehensive range of powers to tackle protests that cause harassment, alarm, distress or intimidation, including those outside MPs’ homes, offices and Parliament.”

UK

Labour says jobless cannot ‘live a life on benefits’ as it pledges to be ‘party of work’

RED TORIES SAY: ARBEIT MACHT FREI

Daniel Martin
Sun, 3 March 2024

Liz Kendall said Labour will fight the next election as the 'party of work' 

- Heathcliff O'Malley/Heathcliff O'Malley

PARTY OF WORK NOT WORKERS

Labour will fight the next election as the “party of work” and warn the jobless they will not be able to live a “life on benefits”, the party’s shadow work and pensions secretary said.

Liz Kendall said young people will be told they have a “responsibility” to accept jobs or training opportunities when they are offered.

In an interview with The Telegraph, she made a direct appeal to life-long Conservative voters, saying: “If you believe in hard work, responsibility, taking care of yourself and your family… then take a look at us.”

And as Jeremy Hunt prepares to deliver his Budget, she accused the Chancellor of having “failed” on work - overseeing a huge increase in the numbers off work through sickness.

The shadow work and pensions secretary accused the Chancellor of overseeing a huge increase in the numbers off work through sickness - UNPIXS/UNPIXS

Ms Kendall will today unveil a new offer for young people, including better mental health support in schools, and improved work experience and careers advice to help them enter work or training.

She will point out that one in eight young people are now not in work, education or training (NEET), the highest level since 2016 - costing the taxpayer billions in benefits.

There are now 851,000 so-called NEETs, an increase of 20,000 in a year.

“We will not write them off like the Conservatives,” she said. “In return for those new opportunities, young people will have a responsibility to take up work or training when it’s offered.

“Because under a changed Labour Party, if you can work there will be no option of a life on benefits.

“And that’s not just because the vast majority of the British public think rights and responsibilities go hand-in-hand. But because if you’re out of work or you lack basic qualifications, that could have a lifelong impact.

“That is not good enough for young people and it’s not good enough for our country. We believe that you should have the chance to fulfil your potential and live your hopes and dreams, no matter where you’re born, no matter what your parents did, no matter what your gender or the colour of your skin.”

She added: “Labour is the party of work… Labour was founded by working people for working people, it is our name, and under Keir Starmer and the changed Labour Party, work will absolutely be at the heart of what we do.

“We believe in the value of work, and that that goes beyond a payslip.

“For millions of families across Britain, holding down a job and providing for themselves and their family gives them a sense of dignity and self respect, and good work is good for mental health. Good work gives you pride and purpose and sense of fulfilment, and for many women, it gives them freedom and independence too.”

The Labour party has changed under Sir Keir Starmer, she said - Reuters/Reuters

The shadow minister said the Tories had “failed” over 14 years by not tackling Britain’s worklessness crisis, and Mr Hunt had also failed to tackle the issue despite making big promises in previous Budgets.

She pointed out that the UK has a record high in the number of people out to work due to long-term sickness: 2.8 million people.

“For all the Tories’ talk about being tough on benefits, if you look over the next five years, there’s going to be 600,000 more people on sickness and disability benefits, and it’s going to cost an extra £33 billion,” she said. “So they have failed on work.

“I know many of your readers are lifelong Conservative voters - but I would say to them: Take a look at Labour, we have changed.

“If you believe in hard work, responsibility, taking care of yourself and your family; if you believe in being careful with taxpayers’ money - because it’s not the government’s money, it’s your money; if you want a leader and a chancellor who will build everything on the rock of fiscal credibility, then take a look at us, because we we want your support.

“We know we’ve got to work hard to convince Conservative voters that we share those values, those decent British values. And we’re going to work day and night to convince people to trust us at the next election.”

Bringing down the number of inactive people will not only benefit individuals and taxpayers, it will help business, she said.

“Every single day I’m speaking to my businesses who say the number one barrier for them growing is they can’t recruit,” she said. “So we’ve got to sort out everything from the apprenticeship levy and other skills to make sure our businesses can recruit.”

She said Labour would bring in 1,000 new careers advisers, specialist mental health support in every school and a new growth and skills levy to boost apprenticeships.

New technical excellence colleges will improve young people’s skills, there will be new employment advisers for young people after they have left school, and more help for the disabled.

 

VALUE = $$$$$

Young people valued but must take opportunities to learn and work, Labour to say


Samuel Montgomery, PA
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Young people will be told they are valued and “important” but have a responsibility to take up the work or training that is being offered as part of Labour’s plan to invest in their future.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall will say there is “no option of a life on benefits” for those able to work as she unveils the party’s plan to reduce the number of young people out of work, education or training in a speech on Monday.

Labour’s plan focuses on recruiting thousands of mental health professionals and career advisers to encourage young people to work, which it would fund by targeting tax breaks for private schools and closing tax loopholes used by some private equity fund managers.

In a speech to the Demos think tank in central London, Ms Kendall is also expected to say: “Under our changed Labour Party, if you can work there will be no option of a life on benefits.”

The speech comes as new figures revealed almost 851,000 people aged 16-24 are not in education, employment or training (Neet), an increase of 20,000 in a year and the highest level since 2016.

Ms Kendall has pledged to recruit 1,000 new career advisers in schools and the creation of new employment advisers in Labour’s Young Future hubs, which have been billed to provide tailored specialist support.

She is expected to say: “The Labour Party was founded by working people, for working people.

“And that core belief, that Labour is the party of work, is at the heart of Keir Starmer’s changed Labour Party today.

“This is our commitment to young people. We value you. You are important.

“We will invest in you and help you build a better future with all the chances and choices this brings.

“But in return for these new opportunities, you will have a responsibility to take up the work or training that’s on offer.

“Under our changed Labour Party, if you can work there will be no option of a life on benefits.”

(PA Graphics)

The party plans to expand the provision of specialist mental health support for young people by recruiting 8,500 more mental health professionals.

Ms Kendall will accuse the Tories of having “failed on the economy – and that’s because they have failed on work”.

Labour plans to overhaul the Tories’ apprentice levy with new technical excellence colleges and a growth and skills levy for those who did not achieve the required qualifications at school

The party will also pledge to improve access to work for young disabled people by ensuring they know what equipment, adaptations or personal support they will get before they start work so they feel more confident.

Some 281,500 people aged 18-24 are claiming unemployment related benefits, which is 14,800 more than a year ago, according to ONS figures.

Life on benefits will not be an option under Labour, says Liz Kendall

Ben Quinn Political correspondent
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Liz Kendall, centre, meets students at the Euston Skills Centre in north London after delivering a speech during an event hosted by thinktank Demos.Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Under a Labour government there would be “no option of a life on benefits”, the party has said, as it set out plans to reduce the number of young people not in work, education or training.

The shadow work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, said the party would recruit 8,500 more mental health workers and promised that the sickness benefits bill would fall under Labour.

Kendall did not specify what form the tougher measures on universal credit would take.

“Under our changed Labour party, if you can work there will be no option of a life on benefits,” she said in a speech to the centre-left Demos thinktank in London, where she sought to outline Labour’s commitment on “investing” in young people.

“Not just because the British people believe rights should go hand in hand with responsibilities. But because being unemployed or lacking basic qualifications when you’re young can harm your job prospects and wages for the rest of your life.”

The tough language on welfare – reminiscent of 90s-era New Labour – prompted concern about the implications of sanctions for those struggling with mental health issues.

Kendall also spoke of overhauling jobcentres to end a “tick-box culture” and devolving employment support to local areas “because the man – or even woman – in Whitehall can never know what’s best for Leicester, Liverpool and Leeds”.

She took aim at what she described as “Tory claims about being tough on benefits”, and said that over the next five years there would be 600,000 more people on incapacity and disability benefits, costing an extra £33bn.

Kendall made the speech as new figures revealed that almost 851,000 young people aged 16-24 were not in education, employment or training (Neet) – an increase of 20,000 in a year. It was largely driven by the increase in young men who are Neet.

Kendall was challenged in a question-and-answer session by Ollie Steadman, a policy and campaigns manager at the charity Mind, who prefaced his comments by welcoming her emphasis on the need for “quality” work.

But he added: “Many of the same people might feel a bit concerned about the talk around responsibility, and potentially for it to lead to sanctions and a kind of wider system or harsher system that doesn’t get mental health.”

Steadman said afterwards: “Supporting disabled people to find long-term, fulfilling work can only be achieved by taking a supportive approach. Punitive action does not work and only pushes disabled people further into poverty. Whoever forms the next UK government should restore trust in the benefits system by establishing a commission led by disabled people to redesign benefits assessments.”

Kendall responded to his question by saying there was clear evidence that having a good job was very good for mental health, adding: “We know that if you’re in good work, your relapses can be cut by a third or even half. That’s better for you. It’s better for the NHS, it’s better for taxpayers.”

Other concerns were expressed by Dr Michael Orton, of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, who welcomed much of what Kendall had outlined, in particular around devolving employment support.

“But there are questions as to how this differs from programmes going back to the 1980s and which the evidence shows have marginal impact at best,” he said. “Some critical issues weren’t mentioned including fluctuating health conditions, which standard jobs can’t accommodate, and the need to update our social security system to meet new challenges not repeat punitive approaches which do more harm than good.”

Mark Winstanley, the chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, welcomed Kendall’s plans to help tear down obstacles that prevent people from getting into and staying in employment, but he added: “We also need reform of an overly punitive benefits system which too often has harmed the very people it was set up to help.”

Labour promises crackdown on benefits payments to inactive young people


Harry Stedman and Samuel Montgomery, PA
Mon, 4 March 2024 

Labour has promised tougher measures on handing out benefits payments as it sets out plans to reduce the number of young people out of work, education or training.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said the party would recruit 8,500 more mental health workers and reform the Government’s “failed” apprenticeship levy to solve inactivity.

But Ms Kendall did not specify what form the tougher measures on universal credit would take.

She added Labour would give young people “chances and choices” as they were “chomping at the bit” to take up new opportunities.

Labour’s plan focuses on recruiting thousands of mental health professionals and career advisers to encourage young people to work, which it would fund by targeting tax breaks for private schools and closing tax loopholes used by some private equity fund managers.

New figures revealed almost 851,000 people aged 16-24 are not in education, employment or training (Neet), an increase of 20,000 in a year and the highest level since 2016.

Ms Kendall was promoted to shadow work and pensions secretary in a Labour cabinet reshuffle last September.

In a speech to the Demos think tank in central London on Monday, she said: “This is our commitment to young people – we value you, you are important.

“We will invest in you and help you build a better future, with all the chances and choices this brings.

“But in return for these new opportunities, you will have a responsibility to take up the work or training that’s on offer.

“Under our changed Labour Party, if you can work there will be no option of a life on benefits, not just because the British people believe rights should go hand in hand with responsibilities, but because being unemployed or lacking basic qualifications when you’re young can harm your job prospects and wages for the rest of your life.

“This isn’t good enough for young people or for our country.”

Ms Kendall pledged to recruit 1,000 new career advisers in schools and the creation of new employment advisers in Labour’s Young Future hubs, which have been billed to provide tailored specialist support.

She said Labour would create specialist mental health support in every school to intervene at earlier ages with young people, and said she wanted to see job centres working in partnership with the NHS.

Ms Kendall said: “Under Labour, the Department of Work and Pensions and Job Centres will do what they say on the tin.

“We will have a relentless focus on helping more people get work and get on at work, and on making workplaces healthier and more productive places to be.”

(PA Graphics)

The party plans to expand the provision of specialist mental health support for young people by recruiting 8,500 more mental health professionals.

Ms Kendall accused the Tories of having “failed on the economy – and that’s because they have failed on work”.

Labour plans to overhaul the Tories’ apprentice levy with new technical excellence colleges and a growth and skills levy for those who did not achieve the required qualifications at school

The party will also pledge to improve access to work for young disabled people by ensuring they know what equipment, adaptations or personal support they will get before they start work so they feel more confident.

Some 281,500 people aged 18-24 are claiming unemployment related benefits, which is 14,800 more than a year ago, according to ONS figures.

UK ‘not fast enough’ on energy transition, says Siemens Energy boss


August Graham, PA Business Reporter
Sun, 3 March 2024 




The UK is not moving fast enough on the energy transition, the boss of the British arm of Siemens Energy has said.

Darren Davidson, who runs a company employing 6,000 people in the UK, said that the country is not on track to meet its targets on offshore wind.

Siemens Energy runs a factory in Hull making blades for the turbines which are popping up off the British coast.


“Siemens Energy employs 6,000 people in the UK, across transmission, power generation, wind, hydrogen-enabled gas turbines, so we’re across all the energy landscape,” Mr Davidson said.

“I think what we need to do is be at the front end, leading and helping our customers and the Government to come up with plans as to what we can to achieve because, if I’m brutally honest, we’re not fast enough.

“I think it’s clear to everyone. From a speed perspective, we need to improve or, I would say, help to do things faster.”

He added: “I think if we go at the current speed our objectives to get 50 gigawatts of (offshore) wind around the UK won’t be achieved. And I think that it’s really important that we recognise that and push for change.”

The UK has reduced its annual carbon emissions over the last decades but still has far to go before it can be considered net zero – that is to say that every year no more carbon is emitted in the UK than is absorbed, for example by the country’s trees.

Along that road the Government has pledged to build enough renewable energy so that all the electricity that is added to the grid comes from decarbonised sources.

Much of this will be achieved by wind power, with nuclear, solar power and other technologies also in the mix.

This could also include burning hydrogen to create electricity. Proponents say that hydrogen can be produced from wind power when it is windy at night and at other times when production outstrips supply. Then it can be burnt when wind speeds are low or demand rockets.

Siemens Energy is currently supplying gas plants which it has ensured can in future burn hydrogen.

“I think you’re always going to need that peaking plant back-up power, and I think hydrogen would give us that,” Mr Davidson said.

“So I see that being part of our future from an energy storage perspective. We will need that because we need to have that immediate responsiveness.”

He said that the challenge now is to get to 30 gigawatts of hydrogen power in the UK, and kicking off the projects is “slightly behind wind” power.

Mr Davidson is only around three months into the role as vice president of Siemens Energy UK&I and Siemens Gamesa UK. He worked his way up in the company, starting as an apprentice aged 16 in Newcastle.

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Barclays and Legal & General under fire for investing billions in arms companies


Elliot Gulliver-Needham
Sun, 3 March 2024 

The financial sector invested almost $1trn globally in the arms sector between 2020 and 2022, a report from the Global Alliance for Banking on Values has revealed.

Barclays and Legal & General have come under scrutiny for being among the top 10 major European investors in arms companies, both investing billions in the sector every year.

The financial sector invested almost $1trn globally in the arms sector between 2020 and 2022, a report from the Global Alliance for Banking on Values has revealed.

69 per cent of the investments in weapons came through shareholding, with 19 per cent coming from loans and 11 per cent from underwriting.


Funding for arms companies is dominated by American institutions, with the top ten funders globally all being American and collectively giving $464bn between 2020 and 2022, almost half of the total estimated investment in the sector.

Meanwhile, Barclays and Legal & General were among the top 10 European investors in arms companies overall, contributing $6bn and $5bn respectively.

Collectively, the top 10 European investors contributed $79bn, or about eight per cent of the total invested worldwide.

Martin Rohner, executive director of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, said: “We call on the financial industry to stop fuelling the production of, and trade in, weapons and arms, and let’s start to all profit from peace, not war.”

While the report didn’t detail which arms companies were being selected for investment by the major banks, it comes after firms such as BAE Systems and Chemring reported bumper profits.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, BAE has seen its stock price soar, with the firm’s order backlog reaching record levels in 2023, as global defence spending rose by nine per cent to a record $2.2trn (£1.7trn) last year.

However, some have argued that arms companies should be seen as a less controversial investment following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, defence secretary Grant Shapps claimed that divestment from the weapons industry due to ESG investing was threatening “industries critical to our national security”.

“The important values within ESG should not undermine capabilities developed to help us preserve peace and security,” the minister argued.

In November, it was revealed that some ESG funds had quietly begun to add arms companies to their portfolios, reigniting the debate.

Barclays and Legal & General were contacted for comment.