UK

August riots inspires Rock against Racism gig

Caroline Gall
BBC News, West Midlands

Kieran Bott
Blanco Negra are among the bands who will perform next month

A musician and historical researcher affected by the rioting in UK cities over the summer has said he is organising a Rock Against Racism concert.

Kieran Bott, a doctoral researcher at University for Wolverhampton, said he was inspired to act after an Indian friend said he felt unsafe to meet him in the city during the August rioting.

Knowing the history of the Rock Against Racism movement in the 70s, he has organised several bands to perform at Newhampton Arts Centre in Wolverhampton in December.

Although racism would perhaps never be eliminated, he said, he wanted to do what he could to take a stand against it.

Six bands have so far been booked to perform, including Mr Bott's own group.

He will also open the event with a presentation on the Rock Against Racism movement, and speakers will be featured from community groups involved in combating racism or support refugees and asylum seekers.

Mr Bott said the venue was chosen as it was in the constituency of Enoch Powell, the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, known for his anti-immigration "Rivers of Blood" speech in the 60s.

"There's a cliche that everything comes from an idea and I realised that through my academic work and my music that the person who starts this is me," Mr Bott, who is hoping to plan more gigs next year, said.

"The ethos of the Rock Against Racism movement is that you just do it."

Kieran Bott
"The ethos of the Rock Against Racism movement is that you just do it," organiser Kieran Bott said

He said the idea spread rapidly with many Black Country bands - including Abhey Aneja, Bansal Electrics, Pasalacqua and Blanco Negra - wanting to be part of it and now he had a waiting list.

Mr Bott and two friends were also recently invited by singer Tom Robinson to promote the event at his concert in Birmingham, which he said was "successful and Tom was really supportive of what we are doing".

He said the summer riots in various cities resonated with him and his research and love of music, but really struck a chord when his friend said he felt unsafe to go outside.

"My friend is from India but has lived here for about four years now and we were meeting in the city centre but he said he was concerned and that he felt unsafe," he said.

"Racism has hasn't ever gone away but when someone feels concerned for their safety doing every day things and to see that level of it come back, I wanted to do what I could to stop it.

"I don't think you really eliminate it... but we challenge them and push them away to the maximum extent. People should feel safe."

Tickets have already gone on sale for the event on 7 December with all proceeds going to the Refugee and Migrant Centre and City of Sanctuary in Wolverhampton, once venue costs have been covered.

 WORKERS CAPITAL

Campaigners fear Welsh pension fund billions will be controlled from England

23 Nov 2024

Chancellor Rachel Reeves . Photo Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Martin Shipton

Campaigners have raised concerns about plans announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves that could see billions of pounds worth of Welsh pension fund money controlled from England.

Hywel Davies of the organisation Divest Cymru told Nation.Cymru: “I belong to a group that has long campaigned against local government pension funds’ investment in fossil fuels. The group has had some success in lobbying funds to divest from oil and gas, though always in the teeth of opposition from fund managers.

“We have had dialogue with pension trustees, the Wales Pension Partnership [which manages pension investments on behalf of thousands of public sector workers] and elected councillors across Wales. We have questioned the failure of pension funds to follow the mandate set for them by elected councillors and Senedd members.

Rachel Reeves

He added: “Recently we have had a speech from Rachel Reeves at the Mansion House that makes it clear that big changes will be happening to local government pension funds. By 2030 she intends to create eight mega funds. These will have assets of £50bn each on average. No details of the geographical areas covered by these mega funds nor their governance have been discussed, but the proposals have been put out for consultation. Discussion of the issue in the press has been very low key.

“The total amount of Welsh Pension Partnership assets, pooled and non pooled, is £22.5bn, so Wales has less than half the necessary funding. It seems clear therefore that unless some special dispensation is made for our nation status, perhaps alongside funds for Scotland and Northern Ireland, we are at risk of being amalgamated into a combined region.

“I would suggest that now is the time to draw attention to the political and financial consequences for Wales if it does not retain a say over its own pension assets. The benefits to sustainable investment projects could be significant – in the order of £1,5bin at 5% of the total sum.

“We have not been told whether there would be a role for the Senedd in overseeing any Welsh pension, or whether all decisions will be handed to fund managers and the UK Treasury. Will we have the space to assert our own, distinct democratic priorities?

“Could we for example decide that our pensions will no longer be used to invest in oil or gas? I would argue that this issue is a significant test of this government`s respect for the devolution settlement and our ability to manage our own affairs. It is part of a narrative that includes HS2, Levelling Up, the Crown Estate. the Barnett formula etc.

“When asked about it in the Senedd Mark Drakeford`s reply suggested that he was very relaxed about this not being a devolved matter.”

Sensitive

In October Fiance Minister Mark Drakeford told the Senedd in response to comments made by Plaid Cymru MS Heledd Fychan: “To advance the cause of Wales, it is not enough simply to think that a soapbox and a megaphone will always be the right answer. You have to be sensitive to the context you’re in and advance the case where it has the greatest sense of success.

“Nor do I share a nationalist approach to pension funds. I want pension funds to work for the people who contribute to them, and that means there is a very direct interest for Welsh people whose money is in those pension funds to see that money being used for long-term investment here in Wales.

“Does that mean that I wouldn’t be willing for money invested in an English pension fund to be spent here in Wales? Of course it doesn’t. I want that money to be used to the best possible use and if that means that we will co-operate with pension funds on the other side of the border, because it is to Wales’ advantage to do so, then I’ve no difficulty with that at all.”

‘Not devolved’

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Workplace pensions are not devolved. Local government pensions authorities in Wales have worked hard to create the Wales pension partnership and the UK Government’s consultation will offer the opportunity for local government pensions authorities to give their views.”

The spokesperson pointed out that the UK Government consultation proposes changes to the existing local government pension scheme asset pools by mandating certain minimum standards deemed necessary for an optimal and consistent model in line with international best practice. This does not require the combination of these existing pools into larger ones.

It also suggests boosting local government pension scheme investment in their localities and regions in the UK as well as strengthening the governance of both local government pension scheme administering authorities and local government pension scheme pools.

UK

Opinion: The fight for farming's future has only just begun

FARMERS ARE LANDOWNERS

Zoe Leach

NFU
Sat 23 November 2024 

Zoe Leach, East regional director for the National Farmers' Union (NFU) (Image: NFU)

The day of action in London was spectacular – but the fight for farming’s future has only just begun says Zoe Leach, NFU regional director for the East of England.

This week I had the pleasure of attending a very special day in London in which farmers and the public united to fight for the future of the farming industry.

On Tuesday, the NFU (National Farmers' Union) held a mass lobbying event where 1,800 of our members, including many from East Anglia, met with their MPs at Church House, Westminster, and in parliament, to highlight why the government must reconsider its planned changes to inheritance tax.


At the same time, thousands of farmers, including many NFU members, joined the public and marched through Westminster to make their feelings clear that the ill-thought-out changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR), announced in the recent budget, must be reconsidered.

Farmers at the protest rally in London on November 19 (Image: Chris HIll) These changes are based on bad data and with no consultation with the farming industry.

They threaten the future of family farms and the entire rural economy, which is so vital to this region.

The fact that there is such a huge gap between the Treasury’s calculations that 27pc of farms in England will be impacted by the changes and Defra’s own figures, which state that more than 65pc will be hit, show just what a mess they have made of this.

In reality, we believe the changes to APR and BPR could severely impact more than 70pc of farms in England.

The government’s changes to inheritance tax, which are due to come into effect from April 2026, mean farm businesses will need to pay a tax rate of 20pc on agricultural assets valued over £1m.

Just because a farm business has valuable assets, it does not mean that farmers themselves are wealthy. The average farmer’s return on capital invested is less than 1pc.

Their farmland is merely the means for farmers and growers to produce food for the public.

These assets only become profit when farmland is sold off, making farms less viable and jeopardising farmers’ ability to grow traceable and affordable food.

So, if the changes go ahead, many small and medium-sized family farm businesses will have no choice but to sell up, just to pay the tax bill, and that will have repercussions for future generations.

The Labour government declared in its manifesto that "food security is national security".

But farmers’ ability to deliver this will be severely compromised by the changes to APR and BPR.

They will also devastate rural economies, which are so reliant on farming, and remove some of the fantastic work being done by farmers to support the environment and protect the great British countryside.

This is clearly not what the government intended when it announced this policy, but there is still time to reconsider and work with the NFU and its members to put things right.

If the government was in any doubt about the strength of feeling from farmers and the public in opposition to these plans, the spectacular day of action in London on Tuesday has surely put an end to that.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) held a mass lobbying event with MPs in Westminster on November 19 (Image: NFU) There is so much anger and so much passion to protect our great industry, but the behaviour of everyone who took part in the NFU’s mass lobbying event and the rally was exemplary.

Everyone made their case in a passionate, respectful and dignified way.

To be there and witness farmers and growers fight for their industry in such a way was a pleasure to see, although we wish it wasn’t necessary.

I am also very proud of all the NFU staff, including my NFU East regional staff team and the group secretaries for the huge amount of work that went into organising the mass lobbying event and ensuring that it ran smoothly.

But the government should be in no doubt that this does not end here.

Tuesday’s day of action in London was not the culmination of everyone’s efforts, merely the start.

Farmers, by their nature, are determined and resilient and, with a huge amount of public support behind them, will continue to show to the government how they have got things so badly wrong and must reverse this damaging policy.

All our futures depend on it.


Treasury didn’t consider real working farms when assessing tractor tax, NFU says

Emma Gatten

THE TELEGRAPH
Fri 22 November 2024 

On Tuesday, more than 10,000 farmers took part in a protest in Westminster 

- Paul Grover for the Telegraph

The Treasury failed to consider real working farms when assessing the impact of its tractor tax, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said.

The Government claimed just 27 per cent of estates will be hit by the 20 per cent inheritance tax on farming assets worth more than £1 million.

It cited data from HMRC on the number of claims for agricultural property relief, the existing exemption, for estates worth more than £1 million in 2021-2022.

But it has not given a figure for how many working farms will be impacted by the policy, referring only to estates that claim the tax break.

In a new analysis, the NFU said the true figure is more like 75 per cent.

It added the data used by the Treasury underestimates the figure because it includes a significant number of plots that would be too small to constitute a working farm.

It pointed out that it is possible to make a claim for inheritance tax relief “on a single field that has been let out”.


More than a quarter of claims in the Treasury data are for estates valued at less than £250,000, which based on land prices would make them just 12 acres in size on average.

“This is clearly too small to be a ‘working farm’ in the conventional sense,” the NFU said.

Working farms produce the vast majority of British food.

Another 23 per cent of the claims are for land just 50 acres in size on average, the NFU calculated, likely to be very small working farms, but mostly let land.

Land can currently avoid inheritance tax if it is used for agricultural purposes, which include trees planted and harvested every 10 years, and stud farms for breeding and rearing horses.

The NFU said the Treasury figures of the impact of the tax in 2026 also fail to take account of the increase in asset values, in particular farmland, in the five years since it took the data.

On Tuesday, more than 10,000 farmers and their supporters took part in a protest against the tax in Westminster.

A petition by the NFU to reverse the tax had gained more than 250,000 signatures by Friday.

The Government has said the effective tax threshold is £3 million for a farming couple and that the tax can be paid back over 10 years.

But the NFU said that low farming incomes mean few farmers will be able to afford the tax bill even over a decade.

“The majority of estates protected by the £1 million threshold are too small to be viable commercial family farms, whereas the majority of medium-sized working farms that will be hit by the liability will not be protected by the 10-year payment window because the resulting payments would still be unmanageably large relative to the economic returns they earn,” the NFU said.

A government spokesman said: “We have been clear since this change was announced that around 500 claims of agricultural and business property relief each year will be impacted – this is based on actual claims data – and even when inheritance tax does kick in, it is effectively at half the rate paid by others.

“It is not possible to accurately infer inheritance tax liability from farm net-worth figures as there are different circumstances affecting each farm, such as who owns it, the nature of ownership, how many people own it and how affairs are planned.”

Rachel Reeves standing firm against U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers

Rowena Mason, Helena Horton and Peter Walker

 THE GUARDIAN
Fri 22 November 2024 

A Whitehall source said they believed if any U-turn was likely it would have happened before the farmer’s protest this week.

Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock


Rachel Reeves is holding firm against a U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, despite the Treasury analysing ways of softening the impact.

The chancellor is understood to be determined not to drop the policy even though some Labour MPs – and even ministers – are worrying about the political fallout that has led to farmers protesting in Westminster this week.

The Treasury has been assessing ways to mitigate the impact of changes, including amending gifting rules for those aged 80 and above so they can pass on their farms to their family without having to live for another seven years.

Officials have also been looking at the impact of changes announced in the budget in October on active small- and medium-sized farms compared with smallholdings.

But one Labour MP said the messaging from the Treasury about a U-turn was “absolutely no, not happening”.

Despite the Treasury’s insistence, some Labour MPs still believe the policy will be softened. A Whitehall source said they believed any full U-turn would have happened already, before the farmers’ protest, but that any future mitigation would be more likely at a fiscal event or spending review “when some of the heat has gone out of the issue”.

Asked about the research into exempting those aged 80 and above from the policy, a No 10 spokesperson said: “We’re committed to implementing the policy as set out in a budget. We’re not considering any mitigations. It was obviously a difficult decision, but the economic situation the government inherited has required us to make tough choices.”

Some in Downing Street continue to argue the backlash from farmers will not present a major problem for the government because Labour voters are largely unaffected. However, other senior Labour figures are concerned about the political and media attention being taken up by the row.

Images of tractors chugging around Parliament Square have dominated the news, while Steve Reed, the environment secretary, was confronted by a farmer at a countryside conference this week arguing his best way of preserving his farm for his children was suicide before it comes into force in 2026.

Keir Starmer has also not escaped a grilling on the subject. He was asked by BBC Radio Lincolnshire: “Do you have a problem with Lincolnshire? Have the people of Lincolnshire upset you in some way?”

Pressed on those who say family farms will be put out of business by the budget, the prime minister said: “Firstly, I do understand their concerns … In the budget, we allocated £5bn over two years to farming. That’s the single biggest amount of money into sustainable food production, plus money for dealing with flooding and the outbreak of disease … On the IHT, obviously, what farmers want to do is make sure the family farm is preserved … In a typical case … the threshold before IHT is £3m. It means the vast majority of farms are completely unaffected.”

Reed has been taking a conciliatory tone with farmers and defending the policy on the airwaves. He met the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on multiple occasions over the last fortnight, most recently at their mass lobbying event on Tuesday, in an attempt to soothe tensions.

Related: Starmer v farmers – will the government have to backtrack? – podcast

Nevertheless, the NFU has complained that Defra has no real powers over this policy. Downing Street sources confirmed that Reed was only told about the policy on the eve of the budget – in common with many other cabinet ministers who learned about tax changes in their area at the last minute.

Now, the president of the NFU, Tom Bradshaw, is understood to have decided there is no point dealing with Reed over this policy as his department has no decision-making capabilities. The organisation is demanding to meet Reeves, who has so far not seen its representatives personally.

A new Treasury analysis this week showed its workings for how it calculates that 500 farms a year out of about 200,000 will be affected by the policy.

The NFU released its own impact assessment on Thursday finding that small- and medium-sized farms would have their incomes wiped out by tax payments, even if the cap was set at £2m which it would be if the holding was owned by two spouses.

One Labour MP who represents a heavily rural constituency which was Conservative-held until the election, said they had spent much of the last few weeks sitting at the kitchen tables of local farmers who were certain they would be affected by the tax changes, even if they were not caught by the new rules.

Related: What are the key arguments in the farm inheritance tax debate?

“This isn’t the case for everyone, there are some of my local farmers who will be affected, and I don’t think we should hide from the fact of that,” the MP said.

“But what really struck through to me was the confusion caused by people getting information from social media. In part this is because we barely have any good local newspapers any more. In the past, even if you disagreed on policy, there was a shared idea of what the basic facts were. That doesn’t exist now.”

The MP said they felt the Labour government had in part become the conduit for wider anger over issues such as haphazard government support and subsidy schemes, and badly negotiated post-Brexit trade deals: “If you’re a farmer, of course you’re going be angry, because for last 14 years, the government has promised things and not delivered them.”

There was, they accepted, real anger about the inheritance tax changes, with the MP saying it was vital for Labour to be “in full listening mode” to farming voices if they wanted to keep many rural seats at the next election.

“I’m making sure all the time I spend around kitchen tables gives me a message I can take back to the government. And it has struck me how often I’m being asked for my feedback – it does feel like we are listening.”

New polling shows that the general public – including half of Labour voters – support the farmers over the government.

The research, by More in Common, found that 58% said they support the protests, with 24% of Labour voters saying they strongly support them. Just 6% of Labour voters said they strongly opposed the protests.

The director of More In Common, Luke Tryl, said: “Our latest polling suggests further evidence the government may have ended up on the wrong side of public opinion in the row with farmers.”

Elderly farmers pressured into ‘suicide window’ by inheritance tax changes

Camilla Turner

THE TELEGRAPH
Sat 23 November 2024 

Farmers in protest at the Houses of Parliament over inheritance tax raid


Ministers have been accused of creating a “suicide window” for elderly farmers who feel staying alive is a “burden” on their families because of inheritance tax changes.

Farmers have told The Telegraph that their older relatives feel the “honourable” thing to do would be to end their life before April 2026, when the Government’s tax raid comes into effect, so they can pass on their estate intact to the next generation.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, sparked a backlash in the farming community by placing a 20 per cent inheritance tax on farmers’ assets worth more than £1 million in her first Budget.

Previously, tax breaks designed to allow family farms to pass down the generations were exempt from the 40 per cent duty.

Farmers argue that many will now have to sell part of their land to release the cash to pay the inheritance tax bill, making the farm commercially unviable, which would mean having to wind up the business altogether.

Oliver Harrison, a fifth generation arable farmer from Prescot, Merseyside, and one of the organisers of last week’s London protest, said he has spoken to multiple farmers who now feel like they are placing a burden on their family by staying alive.

“It’s horrendous, what government incentivises people to be dead?” he said.

“If you are getting on in life in your 80s, you’ve worked all your life to build it up for your children, and then someone makes it so that it’s got to be given up for a tax bill – a lifetime’s work or several generations’ work can all be undone with one careless Budget.”

He urged Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves to “own the problem you’ve started and look for a solution”. He added: “Have a look at the unintended consequences of incentivising old people to be dead. Be human here.”

Farmers who know they will live for another seven years can give their farm to their relatives tax-free. But those who are not certain they will live this long argue that the only way to ensure they can pass on their farm to the next generation would be to die before the changes come into effect.

Many older farmers fear the only way of preserving their family businesses could be suicide, campaigners say - John F Scott/E+

The Telegraph spoke to a female farmer in the south-west who said her own father had talked about ending his life in the next eighteen months.

The fifth-generation farmer said: “The Government has either deliberately or unwittingly created a suicide window where farmers are incentivised to kill themselves. I can understand a government doing this accidentally. But any government that is aware of it and does not act to close it is not morally capable of running the country.”

“My father has spent decades farming, he is out in all weather. He is now saying he should be dead by April 2026, because that is the way to protect his life’s work. It is just horrific.

“My father’s case is not unusual. This is causing anxiety for a lot of families out there. People are feeling pressurised almost, they are feeling that this is the honourable thing for their family, to protect their family, so as not to land their children with a huge inheritance tax bill.”

‘Horrible pressures and huge nerves’

Farming groups have been calling for it to be made easier for farmers aged over 80 to pass their estates down without landing a huge inheritance tax bill.

However, the Treasury has denied that it is considering this move, which would water down the Government’s inheritance tax raid on farmers.

Dominic Armstrong, a 59-year-old farmer from West Berkshire, said: “The suicide window is the talk among farmers from Northumberland to Hampshire down to Cornwall. Children are worried their parents will do something stupid to save them.

“Suddenly, there are horrible pressures and huge nerves about what people are considering. Can you think of any government in the free world forcing people to make that sort of choice? It is beyond despicable.”

Last week, Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, was confronted by a farmer at a conference who said the “one sure way” he could avoid the Government’s “farm tax” was to “kill myself”.

Steve Reed at the Country Land and Business Association conference, where the Environment Secretary was confronted by a farmer who warned of suicides - James Manning/PA Wire

At the Country Land and Business Association conference, Tom Allen-Stevens, an Oxfordshire arable farmer, told Mr Reed he faces a £400,000 bill, which he “cannot afford”.

“If I was elderly, infirm or I had mental health issues and financial worries that is an option I would seriously consider,” he said.

“How many of the most vulnerable will have to take their lives before you and Rachel Reeves understand the wretchedness of the policy you have put upon us?”

A Government spokesman said: “We recognise the concerns among our farming communities. Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast – we have committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years, including more money than ever for sustainable food production.

“Our reform to Agricultural and Business Property Relief will impact around 500 estates a year. For these estates, inheritance tax will be at half the rate paid by others, with 10 years to pay the liability back interest-free.

“This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while also fixing the public services that we all rely on.”

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY 

US Death Row prisoner uses final words to swear - before taking 10 minutes to die in nitrogen execution

TORTURE BY ANY OTHER NAME

Sky News
Updated Fri 22 November 2024




A Death Row prisoner in the US made obscene hand gestures and swore at a prison warden before being executed for the gruesome murder of a hitchhiker 30 years ago.

Asked if he had any final words, Carey Dale Grayson swore at Terry Raybon, warden of the William C Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama, prompting prison officials to turn off the microphone.

Mr Raybon pulled the microphone away after Grayson started by saying, "for you, you need to f*** off" according to Alabama-based AL.com, which added that the rest of his statement "went unheard" by witnesses.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q Hamm told reporters: "He [Grayson] has cursed out most of our employees tonight, so we were not going to give him the opportunity to spew that profanity."

The curtain to the execution chamber opened just after 6pm local time. Grayson raised both middle fingers as nitrogen gas began to enter his body via a breathing mask.

Strapped to a gurney with a blue-rimmed gas mask on his face, the 50-year-old shook at times and took a series of gasping breaths as the gas flowed - as two others previously executed by nitrogen did.

He was also seen rocking his head and pulling against the gurney restraints.

Mr Hamm said the deadly gas flowed for 15 minutes and that an electrocardiogram showed his heart stopped beating after around 10 minutes.

He appeared to stop breathing at 6.21pm and was pronounced dead at 6.33pm.

Grayson was one of four male teenagers convicted of killing Vickie DeBlieux as she hitchhiked from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to her mother's home in West Monroe, Louisiana in February 1994.

Ms DeBlieux, 37, was attacked, beaten and thrown off a cliff and her mutilated body was found at the bottom of a bluff near Odenville, Alabama.

Prosecutors said that, after offering her a ride, the four men took her to a wooded area and attacked and beat her, returning later to mutilate her body.

They left her face so fractured that she was identified by an earlier X-ray of her spine, a medical examiner said.

The teens were identified as suspects after one of them showed a friend one of the victim's severed fingers and boasted about the killing, according to investigators.

It is the third time an inmate has been put to death using nitrogen hypoxia in the state this year.

The condemned person breathes only nitrogen gas through a mask while being deprived of oxygen.

Campaigners say it can cause prolonged suffering, but a federal appeals court this week rejected arguments made by the condemned man's lawyers, allowing Grayson's execution to go ahead.

Ms DeBlieux's daughter, Jodi Haley, who was 12 when her mother died, told reporters at the prison after the execution that her parent was "unique", "spontaneous", "wild" and "funny".

But she criticised the sentence handed to Grayson, saying "murdering inmates under the guise of justice needs to stop".


The execution was carried out hours after the US Supreme Court turned down Grayson's request for a stay.

Alabama is the only US state to have used nitrogen hypoxia to carry out a death sentence, but two others, Oklahoma and Mississippi, have also approved its use.

'Immediate action' taken after blueprints of prisons in England and Wales leaked on dark web

Sky News
Sat 23 November 2024




"Immediate action" is being taken after blueprints of jail layouts were shared online.

The maps detailing the layouts of prisons in England and Wales were leaked on the dark web over the past fortnight, according to The Times.

The detailed information is said to include the locations of cameras and sensors, prompting fears they could be used to smuggle drugs or weapons into prisons or help inmates plan escapes.


Security officials are now working to identify the source of the leak and who might benefit from the details.

The Ministry of Justice did not disclose which prisons were involved in the breach.

A government spokesperson said in a statement: "We are not going to comment on the specific detail of security matters of this kind, but we are aware of a breach of data to the prison estate and, like with all potential breaches, have taken immediate action to ensure prisons remain secure."

The leak comes amid a chronic prison overcrowding crisis, which has led to early release schemes and the re-categorising of the security risks of some offenders to ease capacity pressures.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is launching a sentencing review in a bid to ease the crisis.


Blueprints for English prisons leaked online in major security breach

Kate Devlin

THE INDEPENDENT
Sat 23 November 2024 

Scroll back up to restore default view.


Urgent action has been taken to secure prisons in England and Wales after it emerged that blueprints of jails had been leaked online.

The Ministry of Justice said immediate steps had been put in place in the wake of the major security breach.

There are fears organised crime groups could use the information to plan escapes or smuggle drugs or weapons to prisoners.

Last year former soldier Daniel Khalife escaped from HMP Wandsworth and spent four days on the run.

The 23-year-old slipped out of the jail by clinging to the bottom of a food catering truck using a sling made from kitchen trousers, triggering a major manhunt which saw him arrested on a canal towpath next to the Thames.

There are fears maps could be used to plan escapes (iStock/Getty)

The blueprints were said to include the locations of cameras and sensors, a key security precaution in jails.

Officials are now working to identify the source of the leak.

Ian Acheson, a former prison governor, told The Times that organised crime groups could use copies of the layouts along with other public information.

He said: “If plans of high-security prisons have been leaked, coordinating that with open source material or Google maps could aid an escape after an attack on the exterior of the prison. Much more plausible is using additional data to coordinate drone drops. But if you can deliver half a kilo of drugs via a drone then you can deliver weapons, explosives, whatever you want. These places are wide open.”

He added: “The dark web is a marketplace for criminals and terrorists. Detailed maps of our most secure institutions which hold enormous national security and organised crime risk should never end up as commodities for sale online.”

He called the breach a “very serious breach of IT security” and called for a wide-ranging and independent investigation into how the plans were leaked.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We are not going to comment on the specific detail of security matters of this kind, but we are aware of a breach of data to the prison estate and, like with all potential breaches, have taken immediate action to ensure prisons remain secure.”

Last month, police warned that gangs were recruiting skilled drone pilots to fly drugs to prisoners’ cell windows.

The machines were capable of flying “huge payloads” of up to 7kg, in highly accurate deliveries, they said.

UK

Powering an e-bike using disposable vapes is about more than engineering

By Redmond Shannon 

 Global News
Posted November 23, 2024 

WATCH:

 Sales of disposable e-cigarettes have surged in recent years, raising not only health concerns but also environmental issues. Many vape users may not be aware that each device contains a battery made from precious metals, which can be potentially toxic. However, as Redmond Shannon reports, a young engineer has discovered a way to repurpose old vape batteries for a new use.

It’s estimated almost five million single-use vapes are thrown away every week in the U.K.; that’s about eight every second.

In recent years, usage of the disposable items has risen sharply — including in Canada where, according to one study, it is now the most-used type of e-cigarette among young people.

What many vapers don’t realize is that the devices they discard contain rare earth metals that are key to so many new technologies.

The non-profit group Material Focus estimates the batteries inside all the vapes thrown away in the U.K. in 2022 held enough lithium to power at least 5,000 electric vehicles.

For Chris Doel it’s an unconscionable waste.

View image in full screenChris Doel is an electronics engineer who designs electric vehicle technology for a wekk-known car brand. Global News / Braden Latam

Doel is a 25-year-old engineer who works for a large car-maker in England’s Midlands.

“I’m seeing people around me smoking these and throwing them away after one use. And the electronics engineer in me was thinking, ‘How can these be disposable?'” said Doel from his garage workshop in the town of Rugby.

“Especially when you see little blinking lights. I knew that they had possibly valuable electronics inside.”

So, Doel did what any engineer worth his sodium chloride would do — he cracked open a vape to see what the battery cell looked like.

“When I first saw these cells, I was thinking these are remarkably similar to the cells that we actually use inside our e-bike batteries, anyway. So I see no reason why we couldn’t use these instead.

“So the first step is collecting them and that’s something not too hard. They’re littered absolutely everywhere. You find them in bushes, kicking them around on the pavement.”

Doel calculated he’d need 130 of the units to power his bicycle.

View image in full screenElectronics engineer Chris Doel warns that it can be very dangerous to assemble an e-bike battery like this unless you know what you’re doing. Global News / Braden Latam

He tested each battery to make sure they were safely working, designed the wiring and a 3D-printed casing to hold them together.

Doel warns that no one should try this unless they are fully familiar with electronics and batteries.

“They can generate excessive heat. They can burn you, they can explode, they can burn your house down,” he says.

Doel estimates his homemade e-bike battery cost about a quarter of the price of a commercial model, but he says the project was not about saving money.

“It’s an unbelievable source of e-waste and I’m really glad that I have been able to harvest all these and build some really interesting battery packs,” says Doel.

“Because I’m able to show the rest of the world — and all the other countries that haven’t yet banned them — what they’re capable of, and hopefully accelerate that process and also raise awareness to get people to move to reusable alternatives.”

View image in full screenIt’s estimated almost five million single-use vapes are thrown away in the UK every week. Global News / Braden Latam

The U.K. will ban ban single-use, disposable vapes in 2025, and other countries are set to follow.

Mark Miodownik is a professor of Materials and Society at University College London.

He says the vape waste issue is part of a much greater problem.

“Once you’ve got lithium out (of the ground), you really want to keep hold of it. It’s just an absolute crime to be throwing it away,” says Miodownik.

“Why is throwing away valuable materials cheap? Well, because the price is artificial. It doesn’t include the pollution. And if you were to include the pollution, they would not be cheap and disposability would not be an option.”

Miodownik beleives both legislation and education are key to creating a more circular economy where we reuse, repair or reduce our consumption of valuable or harmful materials.

View image in full screenChris Doel says his e-bike battery made from 130 recycled vapes can take him about 32 kilometres without pedalling. Global News / Braden Latam

With the U.K. vape ban imminent, Doel knows time could be running out for him to complete his next projects.

He wants to use hundreds, or even thousands of vapes to create a powerwall — possibly connected to solar panels — to power his workshop, or even his home.

Since one of his YouTube videos went viral, he’s even had people offer to send him their own used vapes.

‘Catastrophic’ marine heatwaves are killing sealife and causing mass disruption to UK fisheries

Robin McKie Science editor

  THE GUARDIAN
Sat 23 November 2024 

Temperature rises in coastal seawater are affecting marine habitats and seafood production.Photograph: eye35.pix/Alamy

Britain is facing a future of increasingly catastrophic marine heatwaves that could destroy shellfish colonies and fisheries and have devastating impacts on communities around the coast of the UK.

That is the stark conclusion of a new report by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), based in Southampton, which is pressing for the launch of a targeted research programme as a matter of urgency to investigate how sudden temperature rises in coastal seawater could affect marine habitats and seafood production in the UK.

Across the planet, marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense as rising fossil fuel emissions force up atmospheric temperatures around the globe, causing the sea to warm.

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These events not only disrupt shellfish colonies and fisheries, but also cause the bleaching of coral reefs, the spread of harmful algal blooms, the destruction of seagrass meadows, and mass mortality of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. “Marine heatwaves have catastrophic impacts and we need to be prepared for them. At present, we are not and that position needs to be rectified as a matter of urgency,” said Dr Zoe Jacobs, the lead author of the NOC report, Marine heatwaves and cold spells in the Northeast Atlantic: what should the UK be prepared for?

“We need to know how these marine heatwaves are going to affect plants and animals that live in the sea and find ways to protect them, as well as the coastal communities that depend on them.” In early summer 2023 Britain was engulfed in a marine heatwave in which major rises in the temperature of sea water were experienced off the north-east coast of England and off the west of Ireland.

For more than two weeks, the sea in these regions was around five degrees above normal temperatures, smashing records for late spring and early summer. The Met Office reported that the North Sea and north Atlantic experienced higher temperatures at the same time, with sea temperatures reaching an all-time high, according to records that date back to 1850.

As global temperature continues to soar, scientists believe it is inevitable that many more of these record-breaking heatwaves will affect water around Britain and Ireland in the near future, with the report by the NOC highlighting three main areas of concern.

One is in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, one is in the North Sea off northern England and Scotland, and the last is off the coast of south-east England.

“These regions are areas where marine heatwaves can coincide with extremely low oxygen concentrations in the water, which makes them especially vulnerable. It’s like a double whammy. They get the extreme heat stress and extremely low oxygen levels at the same time. And that is going to cause serious trouble for any creatures or plants that are living there,” said Jacobs.

The problem for researchers and marine conservationists is that the long-term consequences of such jumps in temperature are still unknown. “There have been stories that there were widespread die-offs of shellfish such as whelks, and disruption to many fisheries during last year’s heatwave, but there is no hard evidence to back up these because we have not carried out any detailed research into the exact effects, and that is a problem.

“Global temperatures are rising and we are going to experience more and more marine heatwaves as a result. These are already having catastrophic impacts in other parts of the world, for instance in waters off Australia and other regions where fisheries have had to be closed and hectares of seagrass have been wiped out. We need to be able to pinpoint our most vulnerable regions and monitor them very closely.”

Related: Race is on to produce a super-coral to survive world’s warming seas

A key example is provided by seagrasses, which form vast meadows around the shores of the UK where they absorb high levels of carbon and provide homes for hundreds of different species of marine creatures. These have been depleted in the past and a major restoration programme is now under way.

“However, we do not know what will happen to that programme if marine heatwaves start to kill off seagrass again,” added Jacobs. “We need to understand how this will happen and investigate now to find out if there are strains that are more resilient than others and concentrate on planting these.

“At the same time, we may need to be prepared to close down fisheries at certain times or impose quotas to protect them as heatwaves start to strike. These are the kinds of actions that have had to be imposed in other parts of the world and we may have to follow suit.”

Eight more charged after UK defence firm break-in

Ten others have appeared in court and are due to stand trial in 2025

BBC  November 23, 2024, 

Eight more people have been charged over an alleged break-in at an Israel-based defence firm's UK site as part of a pro-Palestinian protest.

Elbit Systems UK, near Patchway, Bristol, was allegedly attacked by members of Palestine Action in the early hours of 6 August, the Old Bailey heard previously.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it would submit to the court that the alleged offences had a terrorist connection when the defendants appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later.

Israel-based Elbit Systems is a global defence contractor. Elbit Systems UK is run separately and previously told the BBC that claims the facilities supply the Israeli military are "completely false".

Six people have been charged with aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder:

Sean Middlebrough, 32, of Woodlee Road, Liverpool

Aleksandra Herbich, 40, of Warfield Road, London

Huba Muraisi, 30, of Bedford Avenue, London

Qesser Zuhrah, 19, of Llandover Road, London

Zahra Farooque, 24, of Delorme Street, London

Kamran Ahmed, 27, of Langdon Crescent, London

Tutea Hoxa, 28, from Beckenham, south-east London, and Julija Brigadirova, 32, of Manchester, have been charged with aggravated burglary and criminal damage.

A previous hearing was told a vehicle was driven into the doors of buildings and two responding police officers and a security guard were injured.

Ten others have appeared in court and are due to stand trial in 2025 charged over the same incident, including one charged with wounding a police sergeant.

Eight activists appear in court over break-in at Israeli defence firm’s UK site

The group appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on

 Saturday where they were ordered to appear at the Old Bailey

 on December 6.

By Jewish News ReporterNovember 23, 2024, 

Police jump on demonstrators as they throw red paint on the building front of Elbit Systems, covering Israel activists in the substance in the process.

Eight pro-Palestine protesters have appeared in court after being charged over allegedly breaking into an Israel-based defence firm’s site in South Gloucestershire.

Elbit Systems UK’s site near Patchway, Bristol, was allegedly attacked by members of Palestine Action in the early hours of August 6, the Old Bailey heard previously.

Sean Middlebrough, 32, Aleksandra Herbich, 40, Tutea Hoxa, 28, Julija Brigadirova, 32, Huba Muraisi, 30, Qesser Zuhrah, 19, Zahra Farooque, 24, and Kamran Ahmed, 27, are all accused of aggravated burglary and criminal damage.

Hoxa, from Beckenham, south-east London, and Brigadirova, of Manchester, only face those two counts.

While Middlebrough, of Liverpool, Herbich, of Kensal Rise, north-west London, Zuhrah, of Woolwich, south-east London, Muraisi, of Bloomsbury, central London, Farooque, of Fulham, south-west London, and Ahmed, of East Ham, east London, have also been charged with violent disorder.

The group appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday where they were ordered to appear at the Old Bailey on December 6.

District Judge Snow refused the defendants bail and remanded them in custody.

At least 30 friends and family appeared in the public gallery, waiving at the defendants and pumping their fists in the air as they appeared.

After the judge’s decision to refuse them bail, a number of supporters burst into tears. Outside, a small group was staging a protest and waving Palestinian flags near the entrance to the court.

A previous court hearing was told a vehicle was driven into the building’s doors during the protest, and two responding police officers and a security guard were injured.

Ten others have appeared in court and are due to stand trial next year charged over the same incident.

Samuel Corner, 22, of Devon, is charged with criminal damage, violent disorder, and aggravated burglary using a sledgehammer as an offensive weapon.

He is also charged with wounding police sergeant Kate Evans “with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detention of another”.

It is also alleged he caused actual bodily harm to Angelo Volante and Pc Aaron Buxton.

Jordan Devlin, 30, of Stoke Newington, north-east London, Charlotte Head, 28, of Caerleon, Newport, South Wales, Leona Kamio, 28, of Hackney, east London, Fatema Rajwani, 20, of East Mitcham, Merton, south-west London, and Zoe Rogers, 20, of Enfield, north London, are all charged with criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary using a sledgehammer.

Hannah Davidson, 51, of Calder Gardens, Edinburgh, Ian Sanders, 45, of Regent Place, Leamington Spa, William Plastow, 33, of High Croft Avenue, Manchester, and Madeline Norman, 29, of Wester Drylaw Drive, Edinburgh, are also jointly charged with criminal damage and aggravated burglary using a sledgehammer in relation to the incident.

Norman is also charged with violent disorder.