Political news

• PMQs and MPs debate EU withdrawal bill – as it happened

  15-11-2017 23:59
  Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and MPs debating the EU withdrawal billPMQs - Snap verdictAfternoon summary 10.59pm GMTWhen somebody is leaving the club then such a person or such a member state has to pay the open bill. That is what we are asking for - simply fairness, simply to do what you promised to do.For the so-called sufficient progress question for the December council, the most important thing is
  
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• Housing associations reclassified as private to encourage building

  15-11-2017 23:40
  Sajid Javid says the switch should enable more borrowing for construction
  
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• Donald Trump's Bizarre Mystery Speech Was Basically Just A Victory Lap For Doing His Job

  15-11-2017 23:03
  Just before Donald Trump returned from his tour of Asia he teased us all with the promise of something big...
  I will be making a major statement from the @WhiteHouse upon my return to D.C. Time and date to be set.
  There were no other clues - could it be a major policy announcement? A firing? A hiring?Nope, it was none of those things, instead he spent 20 minutes in what amounted to a “victory lap” for what is essentially a fundamental part of just being President of the United States
  
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• 'The Apprentice': Fired Candidate Stands By That Terrible TV Advert After Norman Village Blunder

  15-11-2017 23:01
  Every episode of ‘The Apprentice’ is full of gaffes and blunders, but the latest episode saw one of the biggest in the show’s history unfold. Now, here comes your weekly spoiler warning, as we are about reveal who left in Wednesday (15 November) night’s episode. Sajan Shah was fired for his involvement in a disastrous TV advert, which saw his team accidentally set a car advert in a medieval village - but he has insisted he stands by the end product. The epi
  
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• Labour’s John McDonnell to call for ‘emergency’ Budget

  15-11-2017 23:01
  Shadow chancellor believes ‘crisis’ in public services demands ‘change of course’
  
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• Labour MP Ivan Lewis under investigation after conduct complaint

  15-11-2017 22:29
  Former minister apologised earlier this month if his behaviour towards women had made anyone feel ‘uncomfortable’Labour MP Ivan Lewis has been put under formal investigation following a complaint about his conduct, but the former minister has not been suspended by the party.
  A party spokesman refused to discuss details of the allegation on Wednesday but said any complaint of sexual harassment was treated extremely seriously.Continue reading...
  
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• Theresa May 'close to offering financial deal to progress Brexit negotiations'

  15-11-2017 22:09
  Manfred Weber, head of Europe’s centre-right MEPs, says he has seen change in British approach to divorce settlement which could help negotiationsTheresa May is close to offering a deal on money that would unlock the Brexit negotiations, according to the head of Europe’s centre-right MEPs, who said he had received “positive messages” during a meeting in Downing Street on Wednesday.
  Manfred Weber, a German leader of the European People’s party (EPP) who is also a clo
  
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• Dunmurry Fire: Four People Treated As Blaze Rips Through High-Rise Flats Near Belfast

  15-11-2017 22:05
  Four people are being treated by paramedics following a blaze that ripped through a high-rise block of flats in Northern Ireland.Emergency services are at the scene of the fire at Coolmoyne House in Dunmurry, near Belfast, where residents have been evacuated from the building.Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said the fire was reported from the ninth floor about 6pm on Wednesday.According to the Belfast Telegraph, hundreds of residents are now out in the street, with the local communi
  
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• Dunmurry Fire: Firefighters Praised For Preventing Deaths As Blaze Rips Through High-Rise Near Belfast

  15-11-2017 22:05
  Firefighters were praised after just four people were treated by medics following a blaze that ripped through a high-rise block of flats in Northern Ireland.Emergency services are at the scene of the fire at Coolmoyne House in Dunmurry, near Belfast, where residents have been evacuated from the building.Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said the fire was reported from the ninth floor about 6pm on Wednesday.The blaze comes months after a local councillor sought assurances that the high-rise
  
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• Intelligence watchdog urged to look at Russian influence on Brexit vote

  15-11-2017 21:53
  As evidence mounts about thousands of ‘troll factories’ interfering in UK politics, PM says security committee set to re-formBritain’s intelligence watchdog is facing demands to examine whether Russian “troll factories” interfered in UK politics, amid mounting evidence that thousands of fake accounts may have been used to influence the Brexit vote.An investigation by parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee would represent a significant escala
  
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• Merkel ally raises hopes of breakthrough in Brexit talks

  15-11-2017 21:42
  MEP Manfred Weber says after talks with Theresa May that he is ‘more optimistic’
  
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• Government Axes Plan For Dover Lorry Park Despite Brexit Warnings Over Customs Delays

  15-11-2017 21:18
  Lorry drivers risk being stuck in miles of tailbacks as they head to Dover after the Government abandoned plans for an alternative parking area.Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced today the Government would no longer try to build a lorry holding park in Stanford West in Kent after a judicial review ruled against the plan.The 3,600-capacity lorry park was an alternative to Operation Stack, which sees lorries park up on the M20 heading into Dover at times of cross-channel disruption.In a
  
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• Corbyn government would be 'disaster' for Northern Ireland, says DUP leader

  15-11-2017 21:00
  Arlene Foster says she could never work with Labour leader, claiming he would be ‘clearly partisan towards republicanism’ Any Jeremy Corbyn government would be disastrous for Northern Ireland because of his perceived bias towards the republican community, the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, has argued.Foster, who was Northern Ireland’s first minister until the power-sharing executive collapsed in January, said she could never work with the Labour leader, and she urged Theresa May &n
  
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• Theresa May hopes MPs can 'come together' on Brexit

  15-11-2017 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  Theresa May tells Prime Minister's Questions she's "listening" to "lively debate" on the Brexit bill.
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's Husband Richard Wants Her To Come Home To 'Real Life' After Iranian Imprisonment

  15-11-2017 20:52
  The husband of the woman imprisoned in Iran has described how he tries to be a “real husband” by trying to preserve the life they had in Britain before she was arrested 19 months ago.In a HuffPost UK interview, Richard Ratcliffe said he considered moving out of the Hampstead flat he shared with British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and their infant daughter Gabriella before her arrest in April 2016.But he resolved to keep it as it was so his wife could return to the “real l
  
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• PM criticised over plan to toughen up Westminster sexual harassment policies

  15-11-2017 20:50
  Members of cross-party working group on sexual harassment say proposals do not sufficiently protect those making accusations against MPsTheresa May’s plan to toughen up sexual harassment policies at Westminster has run into criticism from some members of the working group created by the prime minister who say it will not sufficiently protect those making accusations against MPs. Some MPs involved with the discussions told the Guardian they were unhappy that the current proposals were based
  
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• Landlord defends sending eviction letters ahead of universal credit rollout

  15-11-2017 19:50
  Lincolnshire property firm sends formal notice of possession to all tenants in case universal credit leads to rent arrearsA Lincolnshire property company has defended threatening all of its tenants with eviction if they fail to pay their rent because of delays in receiving universal credit payments, after sending all tenants pre-emptive notices ahead of the rollout of the welfare reform.The letter from GAP Property in Grimsby was highlighted by Jeremy Corbyn during prime minister’s questio
  
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• Gay Times Suspends Editor After Offensive Tweets Revealed

  15-11-2017 19:48
  Gay Times has suspended its newly-appointed editor after a series of offensive tweets were unearthed that saw him make derogatory comments about Jewish people, lesbians and women in general among many other targets.Buzzfeed News UK exposed the comments made Josh Rivers earlier on Wednesday, and the magazine swiftly announced he had been suspended less than a month after getting the job.The magazine said Rivers’ past tweets “do not align with the values of Gay Times, or any
  
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• Britain's housing crisis and the Brexit bill – Politics Weekly podcast

  15-11-2017 19:18
  Anushka Asthana is joined by Nick Boles MP, Dawn Foster and Ian Mulheirn to discuss the UK’s housing crisis and the return to the Commons of the EU withdrawal bill. Plus Labour MP Tulip Siddiq on her constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who is in prison in IranLast month, the prime minister vowed to fix Britain’s broken housing market. So with homelessness on the rise, private rents soaring and young people frozen out of the mortgage market, what would a solution look like?Joining A
  
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• Brexit populism targets the democratic process

  15-11-2017 19:18
  Conservative MPs are right to critique the government’s strategy
  
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• British Workers Wanted

  15-11-2017 18:59
  At Christmas last year, someone called Sarah wrote an email to our company, Drummer TV. She had seen some of the programmes we make and wanted to tell us about the colourful lives she and her friends led while at work at their busy recruitment agency in Bognor Regis. We get lots of emails from people wanting to be on TV but this one felt different - I could tell Sarah was ballsy and engaging and held strong opinions about most things and I remember leaving my family with a Christmas movie to ans
  
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• The Ethical Smartphone Revolution Is Now. Here's How To Get On Board

  15-11-2017 18:55
  Apple will reportedly launch three new iPhones in 2018. The tech giant's latest model, the iPhone X, came out in early November, priced at £999.Now, we don't have the stats, but we're pretty confident that a fair few super fans who ran to buy the latest release will be all over an even newer one when it comes out: lured in by shiny super screens and even fancier cameras.When you factor in that the average person in the UK checks their smartphone 85 times a day, according to a 2015 study fr
  
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• Victory in non-league PMQs brings out the trademark Maybot gurn | John Crace

  15-11-2017 18:51
  Corbyn decided it had been a quiet few weeks in politics and so gave the PM a few easy shots to lift her party’s spiritsIt had been two weeks since Jeremy Corbyn had last faced the prime minister at the dispatch box and he was struggling to remember if anything of any importance had happened in the intervening period. He opened his diary and began to idly flick through its pages.Michael Fallon. Removed for being a sexual harasser. Priti Patel. Sacked for being a freelance foreign policy fa
  
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• The Right To Be Treated As An Individual - One Of The Biggest Challenges Facing Minorities

  15-11-2017 18:24
  You're labelled already, before you've even had a chance to say or do anything, if you're from an ethnic minority background, and particularly if you're from a Muslim background, you're not an individual in your own right, you're carrying the can for everyone else too. That you may have your own individual struggles does not matter. You represent a group, first and foremost. You've got to answer for your community and 'your people'. Your mistakes have a far greater price attached to them, they'r
  
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• David Davis Ignoring Requests For Meeting With Trade Unions, Claims GMB Chief

  15-11-2017 18:19
  Ministers are ignoring meeting requests with one of the UK’s biggest trade unions to discuss working people’s Brexit fears, the GMB chief has claimed.Tim Roache, General Secretary of the 630,000-strong GMB union, said ministers had not responded to his offer to meet with him to discuss the UK’s negotiations with the EU.His concerns over a lack of engagement were echoed by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), with one source telling HuffPost UK there’s been “very li
  
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• London and Harare

  15-11-2017 18:04 via bbc.co.uk
  The relationship between a former imperial power and its ex-colony is a complex one, says our diplomatic correspondent.
  
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• UK government funds Matthew Herbert's Brexit Big Band

  15-11-2017 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Musician Matthew Herbert hopes to tour Europe to heal "huge divisions" caused by Brexit - helped by a UK government grant.
  
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• How Cancer Changed My Marriage

  15-11-2017 18:00
  Someone once told me that a cancer diagnosis makes or breaks a marriage. Having survived five months of major surgery and chemotherapy I'm happy to say that mine is still very much intact. There have been moments though, particularly during those long, interminable hours on my local chemo unit, when our rock-solid foundation has developed fissures and flaws.Cancer is relentless. It's a test of endurance like no other. Not even a new baby can render you more emotionally and physically exhausted t
  
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• Over 250 Years Ago, The Skies Above Asia Turned A Fiery Red And Now We Know Why

  15-11-2017 17:59
  Nearly three centuries ago ominous red skies hovered parts of Asia for days and days, mystifying local people who recorded what they saw, but had very little understanding of what was happening.Now for the first time researchers think they have finally worked out what caused the apocalyptic scenario. And concluded the event actually went on for far longer than we had previously believed.Historians have long understood that on the 16 -18 September 1770, during the Edo period, fiery skies lit
  
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• Ralf Little's Takedown Of Jeremy Hunt Is Astounding

  15-11-2017 17:54
  Ralf Little has launched an incredible takedown of Jeremy Hunt after a “double dare” on Twitter escalated into a weeks-long war of words between the pair.The actor was incensed by the Health Secretary’s comments on mental health provision made on The Andrew Marr Show last month after which he accused him of lying to the British public.This is what it looks like when a man goes on TV and knowingly lies to the public. If I’m wrong @jeremy_hunt, sue me. I double dare yo
  
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• Goal Kicks To Field Goals: Meet Ex-GK Josh Lambo Who Has Pulled Out A Soccer Celebration In The NFL

  15-11-2017 17:41
  ​Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo became a hero on Sunday night as a result of his game-winning field goal in overtime against former team Los Angeles Chargers, but channelled his soccer background in a brilliant celebration.It was Lambo's 34-yard field goal with just seven seconds of regulation time remaining that sent the 17-17 tied contest into overtime in the first place and he stepped up again in the extra period to kick through the posts from 30 yards and win the game.It was Ja
  
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• Children's Commissioners Plead With Chancellor To Pause Universal Credit

  15-11-2017 17:41
  The UK’s four Children’s Commissioners have written to Philip Hammond begging him to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit.Anne Longfield, Bruce Adamson, Sally Holland and Koulla Yiasouma say the government’s changes to the benefits system will push hundreds of thousands more families into poverty.They urged the chancellor to use his Autumn Budget next week to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit, which many MPs say is leaving some families without income for six weeks while
  
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• David Davis Ignoring Requests For Brexit Talks With Trade Unions, Claims GMB Chief

  15-11-2017 17:39
  Ministers are ignoring meeting requests with one of the UK’s biggest trade unions to discuss working people’s Brexit fears, the GMB chief has claimed.Tim Roache, General Secretary of the 630,000-strong GMB union, said ministers had not responded to his offer to meet with him to discuss the UK’s negotiations with the EU.His concerns over a lack of engagement were echoed by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), with one source telling HuffPost UK there’s been “very li
  
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• Matthew Sheehan, Man Beaten Into Two-Year-Long Coma In Row Over Barking Dog, Dies In Hospital

  15-11-2017 17:23
  A man who spent two years in a coma after being attacked on his doorstep in a row over a barking dog has died.Matthew Sheehan, 36, died in hospital last week following an assault by Raymond Burrell outside his home in Adamsdown, Cardiff, in September 2015.Burrell was jailed for life in April last year and ordered to serve a minimum of eight years after being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, the Press Association reported. He was cleared of attempted murder.Cardiff
  
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• Ed Westwick Accused Of Sexual Assault By Third Woman

  15-11-2017 17:23
  A third woman has come forward to accuse actor Ed Westwick of sexual assault.Rachel Eck has said that Westwick “aggressively groped her” in a hotel room on the night before the 2014 Academy Awards, the same year that actresses Kristina Cohen and Aurélie Wynn have both said that they were raped by former ‘Gossip Girl’ star.Speaking to BuzzFeed News, Eck said that she arrived at a hotel at around 2.30am, expecting to meet up with her ex-boyfriend, and was surprised t
  
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• Husband of Briton Zaghari-Ratcliffe jailed in Iran meets Johnson

  15-11-2017 17:21
  Foreign Office urged to escalate case and look into £400m tank dispute with Tehran
  
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• Husband of Briton Zaghari-Ratcliffe asks Johnson to step up case

  15-11-2017 17:21
  Foreign Office urged to escalate diplomacy and look into £400m tank dispute with Iran
  
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• What Are Uterine Fibroids? Symptoms And Treatment Explained

  15-11-2017 17:13
  Uterine fibroids are so common that there are even Reddit threads dedicated to discussing them and the impact they have on women’s lives.While some of these threads contain images of fibroids after being removed from the body, you shouldn’t let graphic photos concern you. In the majority of cases, fibroids do not lead to problematic health complications.In fact, you may not even know you have them.With that in mind, we spoke to two experts about how to recognise the symptoms of
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Government considers diplomatic protection

  15-11-2017 17:12 via bbc.co.uk
  Foreign Office mulls diplomatic protection for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, after meeting with her husband.
  
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• Teen With Alopecia Asks Mum To Paint Head For Breathtaking Photoshoot Celebrating Her Baldness

  15-11-2017 17:04
  A 17-year-old with alopecia has stuck two fingers up to narrow beauty standards in a captivating photoshoot which sees her display her bald head with pride.Madisyn Babcock, from Kansas, asked her mum, who is an artist, to paint flowers on her head for the shoot, which she hopes will raise awareness of the condition and “reclaim the beauty that society sometimes takes away from those with hair loss”.The photos - taken by photographer Chelsea Taylor - are nothing short of stunning.&ldq
  
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• CQC Report Finds 'Major Issues' Surrounding Access To Mental Health Care

  15-11-2017 16:58
  Access to mental health crisis care presents a “major issue”, a new report has found, with 26% of people who try to contact support services not getting the help they need.The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) community mental health survey 2017, shows that access to crisis care has worsened since 2014 and “paints a picture of a service under pressure and users struggling, at times, to access the support they need”.The survey, which asks people about their experiences
  
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• Duke Of Cambridge Praises Women Working To Ensure No More Parents Lose A Child To Cyberbullying

  15-11-2017 16:48
  Shortly after the birth of Prince George, the Duke of Cambridge learned of a young boy who had killed himself following a vicious campaign of online bullying.After learning of many similar cases in the UK and around the world, the Duke is now preparing to unveil a national action plan to prevent cyberbullying created by The Royal Foundation’s Taskforce.Ahead of the launch he met with Chloe Hine, who attempted suicide at the age of 13 after being attacked online, and Lucy Alexander, whose s
  
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• Prince Harry Hands Out HIV Self Test Kits Ahead Of National HIV Testing Week

  15-11-2017 16:41
  One year after taking a HIV test live on Facebook, Prince Harry is continuing the fight against the virus by handing out self test kits to people in London.The Prince attended the opening of Terrence Higgins Trust’s HIV self test pop-up shop in Hackney to launch National HIV Testing Week (18-24 November).There, his Royal Highness met with Andrew Bates, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2015, and Yvette Twagiramariya, a reporter who took a live HIV test in front of Harry to demonstrate how
  
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• To Eliminate Leprosy - A Governmental Refocus Is Imperative

  15-11-2017 16:15
  Photo credit: Idris AhmedThe latest WHO leprosy update acknowledges that leprosy cases are at their highest since 2007. However, despite this recognition, the report overlooks the 3 million unreported cases of leprosy.This is because, over the years, the infrastructure dedicated to detecting and treating leprosy has been dismantled. As a consequence, millions of people are living undiagnosed - even though it has been declared 'eliminated'.This is because in 1991, the target for eliminating lepro
  
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• Artificial Intelligence In R&D: Hope Vs. Reality

  15-11-2017 16:10
  Picture the scene: An R&D lab where ground-breaking research is taking place.
  "Will this new molecule work in the treatment of Alzheimer's?" the scientist asks.
  A computer responds. "Gathering data .... Analysing data ... Working... Analysis complete. This new molecule has a 56% chance of showing effects in the treatment of Alzheimer's but only in the male population with gene mutation X."
  This is how the utopian state of R&D will work if scientists have their way, but getting there will
  
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• Sexual Harassment And The Christmas Party

  15-11-2017 16:08
  Christmas parties are positive occasions, held to celebrate the festive season and the end of a year of hard work. There is, however, a darker side to these events where overuse of alcohol, proximity to colleagues and inappropriate behaviour can create a troubling atmosphere. During these events, incidents of sexual harassment can take place in the hope that these will fall under the employer's radar. It is imperative, therefore, that employers take proactive action to limit the risk of harassme
  
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• Humans 4.0: We Need To Dream

  15-11-2017 16:07
  Photo: Blue by Omar Unlu / CC BY 2.0Welcome to Industrialisation 4.0There's no escaping, like or hate it, we have officially entered the Forth Industrial Revolution. Digitalisation, automation and AI are changing the landscape around us. Even reality seems to be in flux."The thing our grandchildren will think quaint about us was that we distinguished the digital from the real." William Gibson, Rolling Stones Magazine.
  My taxi driver last week explained to me how he saw it: robots will take our j
  
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• EU citizens: Record numbers working in UK - official figures

  15-11-2017 16:03 via bbc.co.uk
  New figures show fears of a post-referendum exodus of EU citizens are "nonsense" say campaigners.
  
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• The Drugs Don't Work: Antibiotic Resistance And The End Of Modern Medicine

  15-11-2017 16:02
  Antibiotics have arguably been the single most important discovery of modern medicine and their invention has saved millions of lives.But, to understand the current problem with antibiotics, you need to go back to Albert Alexander, a policeman working in Oxford in 1941. He had the misfortune of being scratched on the face by a rose. A bacterium, called Staphylococcus caused such a severe infection that one of his eyes had to be removed, and he became critically unwell.Luckily for Albert, he beca
  
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• UK Supreme Court rejects challenge to minimum alcohol pricing

  15-11-2017 15:57
  Decision could have wide-reaching implications for government intervention in markets
  
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