News Today

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxrxqdkwqqo




Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said a new phase for his government will begin this week, under what he calls a "plan for change" for Britain.
Writing for the Sun on Sunday, externa], Starmer described the strategy as "the most ambitious yet honest delivery plan in a generation" as the government was "knuckling down" on delivering its election promises.
He said ministers would detail "measurable milestones" by which the public could track the progress of the government towards its commitments.
The Conservatives, however, say the new plan will not conceal what they describe as ‘the chaos’ which the government has unleashed in the five months since the general election.

Conservative co-chairman Nigel Huddleston dismissed the idea as "Keir Starmer’s 17th relaunch" and said that "the British people will rightly be wondering why they have been short-changed by the party that claimed to offer change".

[lozflan]

Eating out? the rip off Xmas season is upon us,only Pubs carry on as usual.

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news




US President Joe Biden has issued an official pardon for his son Hunter, who was set to face sentencing this month on federal felony gun and tax convictBiden had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence  But on Sunday evening, he said although he believed in the justice system, "politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of jusAnalysis[: Joe Biden's explanation might sound familiar to anyone who has listened to Donald Trump rail against the justice system in recent years, writes Anthony Zurcher  Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax charges in September, and was found guilty of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun in June - becoming the first child of a sitting president to be a convicted of a crime  ]President-elect Trump called the pardon an "abuse and miscarriage of justice", while some Republicans have branded Joe Biden"a liar"

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c36en9j3nj2o


Stalking victims are set to be given improved protection from their abusers under newly revealed government proposals.
Additional rights for those who have been stalked include knowing the identity of online stalkers as soon as possible, the Home Office said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pledged the government will use "every tool available" to take power away from abusers.
About one in five women aged 16 and over in England and Wales[size=inherit] have been a victim of stalking at least once, external, official figures show.

The proposed "right to know" statutory guidance aims at making sure police can reassure those being stalked that they will be told the identity of an online abuser at the earliest opportunity.
The government said it had worked with broadcaster and activist Nicola Thorp, whose stalker is serving a 30-month jail sentence, in developing the new protections.
Ms Thorp had been unable to find out the identity of her stalker until he appeared in court.
Stalking Protection Orders - which can ban alleged stalkers from contacting or being within a certain distance of their victims - will also be made more widely available, the government said.
The changed approach will see courts able to impose these orders after a conviction even when one was not in place before a criminal trial, in a change to the current system - where one needs to have been issued beforehand.
Offenders will also be prevented from contacting their victims from behind bars, the Home Office said.

[celeste]

Well not before time,  I've been stalked and wouldn't be surprised if the police knew about it  and did nothing, I've been
in restaurants and there were people who behaved as if they knew me, recently getting into my son's car, and the car
opposite turned their car's lights on.


It's also a human rights issue imo.

[ExileSteve]

Wow! That is scary stuff!


Glad you survived the ordeal, Celeste. I would hate to be on the receiving end of that kind of treatment.

[celeste]

Thanks Steve,  I've had loads of stuff like that.

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/


Violence and abuse against paramedics and emergency call handlers is on the rise, with reported cases up by more than a third since 2019, the BBC has found.
Almost 45,000 assaults were recorded by ambulance services across England over the last five years, with staff saying they had been punched, kicked, threatened with weapons and subjected to racist, homophobic and religious abuse.
Paramedic Nutan Patel-West, 41, said she had been racially abused "multiple times" while on shift and, during one call-out in 2021, narrowly avoided serious injury after a glass ashtray was hurled at her.
The government said there was a "zero-tolerance approach to this type of behaviour" and warned that those who assault emergency workers can face up to two years in prison.

Mrs Patel-West, who has worked for North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) for more than a decade, said: "I've been verbally abused, racially abused, punched and had a knife drawn on me.
"On one job a patient said 'you need to go back to your own country, you're not welcome here' before he threw an ashtray at my head. He missed by inches.
"I signed up to this job to help people, not this."

[celeste]

What's wrong with those people?
Help workers trying to do their jobs,  I've not seen them being attacked,  why aren't there decent people around at the time to explain to the
attackers that violence isn't the answer and is undeserved.

[celeste]

Marine le Pen

The no-confidence vote facing French Prime Minister Michel Barnier is a high-stakes moment for Marine Le Pen.
It could be her best chance of power yet as head of France’s far-right National Rally.
Before she decided to push for the downfall of Michel Barnier, she said she wasn’t "the master of the clocks" - the one who dictated the agenda.
But that may well be exactly what she becomes, by bringing down Emmanuel Macron’s second government since he beat her to the presidency for a second time in 2022.
As his presidency looks ever weaker, it is Le Pen who appears to have the upper hand.

However, this situation is not without immense risks for her too.
Le Pen has played a waiting game for years as National Rally’s leader. She may be tantalisingly close to power now - but she is having to make big choices.

[celeste]

Well I won't miss Barnier,  he was the EU negotiator who tried to stop us leaving the EU.

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news


France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier is expected to tender his resignation today, hours after being ousted in a no-confidence vote.
Barnier's government collapsed after MPs voted overwhelmingly in support of the motion against him, just three months after he was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron.
The prime minister is likely to stay on as caretaker while Macron chooses a successor, a process which could take weeks.
Last night's vote was the first time a French government had been voted down by parliament in more than 60 years.

Marine Le Pen's far right and the left-wing New Popular Front both united to censure Barnier's government after the former Brexit negotiator controversially used special powers to force through his budget without a vote.
A total of 331 voted in support of the motion, far more than the 288 required for it to pass.
Barnier is now obliged to present the resignation of his government, while the budget which triggered his downfall was automatically withdrawn.

[lozflan]

French pensioners,farmers and fishermen dont stand for any mistreatment.

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news


France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier is expected to tender his resignation today, hours after being ousted in a no-confidence vote.
Barnier's government collapsed after MPs voted overwhelmingly in support of the motion against him, just three months after he was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron.
The prime minister is likely to stay on as caretaker while Macron chooses a successor, a process which could take weeks.
Last night's vote was the first time a French government had been voted down by parliament in more than 60 years.

Marine Le Pen's far right and the left-wing New Popular Front both united to censure Barnier's government after the former Brexit negotiator controversially used special powers to force through his budget without a vote.
A total of 331 voted in support of the motion, far more than the 288 required for it to pass.
Barnier is now obliged to present the resignation of his government, while the budget which triggered his downfall was automatically withdrawn.

He seemed very autocratic,  dictatorial even.

[celeste]

Starmer is being explicit - this speech is for the public and civil service published at 11:32
11:32Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent.
There have been some questions from Sir Keir Starmer’s critics both within and outside the Labour Party, about how these six measurable milestones fit in with the five missions, which were first unveiled in February 2023,or the six first steps to change, brought out as recently as May.
The prime minister is clearly sensitive to this criticism, dedicating a passage of the speech to declaring that his strategy has “remained constant” throughout.
He said that those questioning whether they had “heard these missions before” were guilty of Westminster thinking.
It is also striking that Starmer is being explicit – in a speech boadcast live nationally – that there are two audiences for his speech.
Yes, one is members of the public. But, the other is “Whitehall”, or in other words the civil service.
The prime minister clearly hopes that by clearly articulating (or re-articulating, some would say) these priorities, the state will now be able to prioritise them.