Political news

• Theresa May's Brexit vision dismissed as unrealistic in Brussels

  02-03-2018 20:48 via theguardian.com
  EU diplomats describe May’s proposals on customs checks and the Irish border as ‘fantasy’ Theresa May’s Mansion House speech on Britain’s future relationship with EU was dismissed as vague and unworkable in Brussels, although the bloc’s chief negotiator welcomed the prime minister’s belated acceptance of new trade barriers for UK exporters to Europe after Brexit.Michel Barnier said the UK’s clear confirmation that it will leave the single market an
  
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• Analysis: Hard Facts Point To Soft Brexit As Reality Finally Begins To Bite For Theresa May

  02-03-2018 20:38
  It was 6,695 words and more than 45 minutes long, but the most telling lines in Theresa May’s Mansion House Brexit speech came right at the very end.  “We know what we want. We understand your principles…So let’s get on with it.”Wait, what?  In the 20 months since the EU referendum, the reality has been the exact opposite: the Tory government has not known what it wants, it hasn’t understood the EU’s ‘principles’ and it certainly h
  
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• Abortion Is A Basic Healthcare Right, Not Something To Play Politics With

  02-03-2018 20:29
  A time limit debate signals a renewed attack on abortion rights. Maria Caulfield, vice-chair for women, is using the upcoming Irish abortion referendum as a hook to push for dramatically restricting the right to choose by slashing the limit from 12 to 24 weeks.Women need extension not further restriction of rights. April 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of enactment of safe, legal abortion in Britain as a result of the Abortion Act 1967, when doctors and healthcare professionals could start
  
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• Maria Caulfield Is Wrong to Say Abortion Laws Should Be Restricted - They're Not Liberal Enough

  02-03-2018 20:26
  in 2018 abortion remains governed by a criminal framework that threatens any woman who ends her own pregnancy without the permission of two doctors with life in prisonMaria Caulfield says the abortion time limit should be reduced, and that the 1967 Abortion Act protects women from coercion.  She’s mistaken on both counts.                           &nbs
  
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• Martin Rowson on Theresa May's third Brexit speech – cartoon

  02-03-2018 20:22 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• My Parents Were At Home In The UK - I Hope Today's Refugees Will Feel The Same

  02-03-2018 20:19
  I recently came across a little booklet that was given to my mother in 1939, when she arrived in the UK as an 18-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany.It is called ‘Helpful information and guidance for every refugee’ - and in the light of the current debate about refugees and immigrants, it makes fascinating reading.But first some context: in the 1930s and early 1940s, an estimated 70,000 Jewish refugees were granted asylum in the UK. Another 500,000 who applied for entry were unsuccess
  
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• Why I Almost Drank After 12 Years Sober

  02-03-2018 20:18
  I’m in the living room, when I realise it.I can’t fight this anymore. So now I’m in the hallway.I can take one step forward. One step to reach my coat and put it on.Or I can take the stairs.The stairs away from the front door.Up to my husband, who is with our newborn daughter.They are only one floor away.These two people, who were so unlikely to show up in my life.They are miracles to me.My new world. The one I fought so fucking hard for.It’s only upstairs.I could go up t
  
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• A Survival Guide For Raising Two Under Two

  02-03-2018 20:17
  My children are 14 months apart. I fell pregnant with Bessie when Sonny was a mere six months. How, you ask? I’m still not entirely sure what happened. I think we must have shared a towel, as six months in we were both still pretty shell-shocked and knackered from the storm that is new parenthood. But somehow we found time and energy to do the no pants dance and create Bessie, and finding ourselves with two so close in age was the best and hardest thing we’ve ever done.Recently I met
  
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• Why I Won't Wear A Uniform

  02-03-2018 20:14
  When confronted with a rule, do you instinctively want to break it? Do regulations bring out the rebel in you? Do you think dress codes are for spineless zombies?I went to a school that was ridiculously strict about uniform. Not just ‘wear a navy v-neck jumper’. But ‘wear this v-neck jumper from this shop.’When it came to shoes we were given a choice of two equally-hideous girlie styles from Clarks. The sight of them made me feel nauseous.We were told to wear one style of
  
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• The Anger, Adjustment And Acceptance Of Parenting A Child With Special Needs

  02-03-2018 20:14
  Unsurprisingly, life doesn’t always go to plan. Sometimes this can work in our favour and other times it can be somewhat destructive. Life can change in an instant, it may be a curse, a blessing or both. It can be a welcome, sometimes encouraged change or a very uninvited, unexpected change. I first started to notice my son wasn’t developing as he should be when he was about three/four months old. He wasn’t engulfed by rolls of chub, expressive or particularly interactive. I vo
  
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• Cuts to Mental Health Services Are Creating 'New Asylums'

  02-03-2018 20:13
  As unwelcome as the drone of a thirsty mosquito, the shrill cry of my bleep wakes me with a start. Bleary-eyed, I strain to see the numbers on the tiny grey display and realise that it’s been all of half an hour since I finally fell asleep. The ward needs me urgently. But this is no ordinary hospital. This is an Asylum.As a junior doctor I was posted at High Royds Hospital, formerly the ‘West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum’, a magnificent gothic stone pile in Menston near Leeds w
  
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• May Brexit speech keeps government intact but faces frosty EU response

  02-03-2018 20:10 via ft.com
  PM sets out softest form of hard Brexit Eurosceptics can bear
  
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• Theresa May says Brexit will reduce UK access to single market

  02-03-2018 20:09 via theguardian.com
  PM says Britain needs to face up to ‘hard facts’, in her third major speech on exiting the EUTheresa May has promised to be “straight with people” and face up to the “hard facts” of Brexit, including that leaving the single market will mean the UK and EU enjoy less access to each other’s markets.The prime minister used her third major speech on what Britain wants after leaving the EU, delivered to ambassadors and business figures at London’s Mansio
  
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• May speech fails to provide Brexit border solutions, says Irish PM

  02-03-2018 20:08 via theguardian.com
  Leo Varadkar says UK leader’s reassurances urgently need to be backed up by detailed proposals
  Ireland’s prime minister has said he remains concerned about the Irish border after Brexit, saying Theresa May still does not recognise the consequences of leaving the customs union and single market.Leo Varadkar said May had given “some important reassurances” on the Good Friday agreement and the border in her speech on Friday, but they urgently needed to be backed up with deta
  
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• Theresa May bows to inevitable hard choices on Brexit

  02-03-2018 19:49 via ft.com
  The UK prime minister’s speech is enough to move talks forward
  
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• The key lines

  02-03-2018 19:30 via bbc.co.uk
  What were the key passages in Theresa May's big speech on Brexit at the Mansion House?
  
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• Brexit: May not compromising enough to make deal possible, say top MEPs - Politics live

  02-03-2018 19:23 via theguardian.com
  Rolling coverage of Theresa May’s Brexit speech, with reaction and analysisMay’s speech - Snap summaryAfternoon summary 6.11pm GMTRelated: Theresa May says Brexit will reduce UK access to single market Theresa May’s speech was serious. It was good that she recognised that the UK faces trade-offs and will lose some access to the single market. But the EU will see her demands on goods, such as mutual recognition in some areas, and on services like finance and media, as cherry-pic
  
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• Theresa May unveils fragile truce in third Brexit offering

  02-03-2018 18:50 via theguardian.com
  Compromise will be the name of the game as prime minister recognises enormity of taskIf Theresa May’s first two speeches unfurled the promise of a “red, white and blue” Brexit, a cold grey day in March will be remembered as the moment a more faded flag was fluttered.As the nation took shelter from the beast from the east, this was intended to be May’s “reality bites” speech. Ten times she used the word “recognise” to underline she no longer believe
  
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• Train Firms Tell Passengers 'Do Not Travel' Amid Storm Emma Chaos

  02-03-2018 18:32
  Commuters urged ‘do not travel’ after Storm Emma meets Beast from the EastTrain companies earlier said services were “winding down” as cancellations and delays mountedAmber and red weather warnings lifted in the UK; but now it’s ‘freezing rain’ we’ve got to prepare forAirports closed, roads clogged and the military called in as Brits prepared for a night of CHAOSThousands faced being stranded overnight on Friday as train firms advised all
  
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• Southeastern Railway Tells Commuters 'Do Not Travel' As Storm Emma Chaos Continues

  02-03-2018 18:32
  Commuters urged ‘do not travel’ after Storm Emma meets Beast from the EastTrain companies earlier said services were “winding down” as cancellations and delays mountedAmber and red weather warnings lifted in the UK; but now it’s ‘freezing rain’ we’ve got to prepare forAirports closed, roads clogged and the military called in as Brits prepare for a night of CHAOSThousands face being stranded overnight as Southeastern railway became the fir
  
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• Don’t cry for Theresa May. This Brexit crisis is her fault | Jonathan Freedland

  02-03-2018 18:31 via theguardian.com
  Yes, her situation is impossible, but her repeated miscalculations made it inevitableWhen I was a young child I had a tantrum at a motorway cafe. My parents ordered for everyone, selecting baked beans on toast for me. I stamped my foot and demanded I choose for myself. I then proceeded to read the entire menu, holding up everyone, including an increasingly impatient waitress. Finally, I announced my choice: I would have baked beans on toast.The memory of that episode returned to me while watchin
  
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• 'Hard facts' for both sides in Brexit talks - Theresa May

  02-03-2018 18:26 via bbc.co.uk
  The PM says a free trade deal can be done but neither side will get everything they want.
  
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• May’s bad Brexit week not likely to change opinions

  02-03-2018 18:25 via ft.com
  Pollsters seeing little sign of buyers’ remorse
  
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• Why There Won't Be A #TimesUp Dress Code At The Oscars

  02-03-2018 18:17
  This awards season has been filled with celebrities wearing all black to honour the #metoo movement and raise awareness for the Time’s Up initiative.But the Oscars red carpet is set to be a more colourful affair, than the Golden Globes or the Baftas, as Tarana Burke, the rights activist who started the now viral “me too” hashtag, has said whether or not there is an all-black dress code doesn’t matter to her.“What happened at the Golden Globes was a unique actio
  
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• The Guardian view on Theresa May’s search for a Brexit solution: a long and winding road | Editorial

  02-03-2018 18:16 via theguardian.com
  The prime minister’s third major speech on exiting the EU shows her belatedly facing unhappy realities on border control and tradeTheresa May routinely overestimates her capabilities as a broker of Brexit truces, both in her government and the country. She sees herself as a unifying figure, but in reality the process has been shaped by her own divisive choices. In 2016, she rejected participation in the EU’s customs union and single market. She then avoided an hon
  
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• Theresa May's latest Brexit speech shows all bets are off | John Crace

  02-03-2018 18:06 via theguardian.com
  ‘Let’s get on with it,’ the PM announced. If only she had started getting on with it a year agoOutside the Mansion House, a remain campaigner was braving the freezing cold to offer journalists refreshments. “Have your cake and eat it,” he said hopefully. He must have nearly run out by the time the prime minister arrived, because her mission appeared to be to let most of her Brexit Ultras know that they would be going on a diet. While still allowing herself leeway to
  
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• Theresa May faces up to hard facts

  02-03-2018 18:02 via ft.com
  PM shows realism about the trade-offs and compromises UK will have to make with EU
  
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• Theresa May walks Brexit tightrope

  02-03-2018 17:52 via ft.com
  FT political editor George Parker asks if PM's speech goes far enough
  
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• Theresa May’s Brexit speech at Mansion House — annotated

  02-03-2018 17:46 via ft.com
  What the UK prime minister said on Britain’s future outside the UK — and what it means
  
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• The 20 Most Memorable Oscars Red Carpet Dresses Of All Time

  02-03-2018 17:43
  The Oscars attendees always pull out all the stops to ensure their red carpet style choices are iconic, for this, the grand finale of awards season.Every year, there’s at least one winner at the Academy Awards who doesn’t walk away with a statuette - that’s the person whose choice of dress or outfit earns a place in our collective memories for years to come.The most beautiful and unusual dresses in Oscars history always deserve another moment in the spotlight, so sit back,
  
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• Sinn Féin can be no saviours of Ireland | Letters

  02-03-2018 17:42 via theguardian.com
  Oscar Despard and Andrew Anderson respond to Polly Toynbee’s piece about Sinn FéinPolly Toynbee (Come to parliament, Sinn Féin, as saviours of Ireland – and Britain, 1 March) aggrandises the former political wing of a paramilitary group. There is undoubtedly merit to her suggestion that Sinn Féin should take their seats in Westminster, as has been suggested by the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. However, to claim as Ms Toynbee does that they would do so as “a cava
  
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• As Brexit approaches, the gulf between Britain and Ireland widens

  02-03-2018 17:42 via ft.com
  Dublin feels patronised, while London suspects the Irish of double-dealing
  
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• 'No clarity and no real sense of priorities'

  02-03-2018 17:38 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn sums up Theresa May's big Brexit speech as "yet more confusion on the road to complications".
  
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• Theresa May’s road to Brexit: FT commentators on the speech

  02-03-2018 17:18 via ft.com
  The UK prime minister has outlined her aims for the UK’s future relationship with the EU
  
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• The snowed-in speech: May pedals furiously down a dead end

  02-03-2018 17:11
  
  Another Brexit speech from the prime minister, another inch further down the road to nowhere.
  
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• 5 Recipes You Can Make From Kitchen Cupboard Staples If The Snow Has Left You Housebound

  02-03-2018 17:10
  If you’ve been housebound for the past few days due to the snow, by now you may be running out of ideas of what to cook using the little food you have in.To help, chefs and HuffPost UK bloggers have shared their favourite “kitchen cupboard” recipes, designed to help you utilise odds and ends in your home you never realised could make a delicious snack or meal.To kick off proceedings, blogger Jessy Ball told us how to make a scrummy honey granola pot from oats. Many of the ingre
  
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• Theresa May’s Brexit speech: our writers give their verdict | Polly Toynbee, Katy Balls, Maya Goodfellow and John Redwood

  02-03-2018 16:54 via theguardian.com
  Four writers react to the prime minister’s latest Brexit plans, unveiled in London today Continue reading...
  
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• Theresa May's Mansion House Brexit speech in full

  02-03-2018 16:44 via bbc.co.uk
  Access to the EU market will be "less than it is now" says the PM outlining new details in the government's position over Brexit.
  
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• Snow Day Work Policy And Other Rights Explained

  02-03-2018 16:28
  As the ‘Beast from the East’ and Storm Emma collide, people face difficult decisions about whether they brave the extreme weather and head to work, or stay at home where it’s safe and dry.The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on bosses not to force staff to make dangerous commutes in the snow. The warning comes after a seven-year-old girl in Cornwall died after a car crashed into a house and a 46-year-old van driver died after a collision involving a lorry. While
  
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• Man Guilty Of Trying To Recruit 'Army Of Children' For Isis-Inspired Attacks

  02-03-2018 16:20
  A self-styled teacher has been found guilty of trying to recruit an “army of children” for a series of Isis-inspired attacks across London.Umar Haque, 25, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of two charges of preparing for acts of terrorism.Though he had no teaching qualifications, Haque was allowed to supervise Islamic Studies classes at a school in east London, during which he showed students videos of beheadings and re-enacted attacks on police officers. Haque was accused
  
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• In full: Theresa May's speech on future UK-EU relations

  02-03-2018 16:09 via bbc.co.uk
  The full transcript of Theresa May's Mansion House speech about UK-EU relations after Brexit.
  
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• Robert Peston Drops Huge Clanger During Theresa May Brexit Questions

  02-03-2018 16:07
  Robert Peston was left seriously red-faced on Friday as he posed a question to Prime Minister Theresa May during her historic “Road to Brexit” speech. Peston, who moved from the BBC to ITV in 2015 to become political editor, was granted the question after May’s flagship address at London’s Mansion House.But as he rose to identify himself, the veteran journalist dropped a huge clanger.Watch the clip, above.One of Peston’s former colleagues was very understa
  
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• Theresa May warns Eurosceptics to ‘face facts’

  02-03-2018 16:03 via ft.com
  Prime minister sets out series of compromises intended to secure trade deal with the EU
  
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• Theresa May Changes Her Tune On Brexit In Mansion House Speech - HuffPost Verdict

  02-03-2018 15:56
    K E Y   P O I N T S Theresa May set out the ‘hard facts’ about Brexit and reminded voters ‘life is going to be different’ after the UK leaves the EU.The prime minister acknowledged the UK can not have ‘all the benefits’ of the single market without ‘all of the obligations’. May said Britain had to accept that the European Court of Justice would ‘continue to affect’ the UK even if it was no longer under it
  
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• Labour councillors say they are being cut out of Grenfell fire inquiry

  02-03-2018 15:38 via theguardian.com
  Request for core participant status representing survivors of blaze was rejected three timesLabour councillors representing the survivors of the Grenfell tower fire have claimed they are being excluded from the inquiry.The councillors, including Emma Dent Coad, who unexpectedly overturned a Conservative majority of more than 7,000 to win the seat for Labour the week before the blaze, said their request for core participant status had been turned down three times by the inquiry chairman, Sir Mart
  
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• Grenfell Inquiry Beginning To Look Like A Stitch-Up, Says Labour MP Emma Dent Coad

  02-03-2018 15:38
  The Grenfell Tower public inquiry is beginning to look like a stitch-up, Emma Dent Coad has said.Kensington’s Labour MP made the claim after the local Labour group was refused core participant status in the investigation led by Sir Martin Moore Bick.  At a press conference in London on Friday, Labour councillors said there would be a “clear conflict of interest” if they are represented at the inquiry by lawyers acting for the Tory-run authority.At present, Dent Coad a
  
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• Walking Helped Me Focus On The New Me, Not The Sick Me

  02-03-2018 15:33
  One day, enjoying a country walk in North Yorkshire with my husband Billy, I was sick at a pub lunch. I had been participating in a Slimming World programme and feeling better than ever, so booked a doctor’s appointment for what I thought was food poisoning. But then I was referred for an endoscopy, where doctors identified a lump in my oesophagus. Within a week, I had an appointment with a surgeon. I asked, “Is it a good lump or a bad lump?” and the doctor told me that t
  
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• UK Weather Forecast: Transport Disruption Creates Friday Night Chaos

  02-03-2018 15:26
  Commuters urged ‘do not travel’ after Storm Emma meets Beast from the EastTrain companies admit services are already “winding down” amid swathes of cancellations and delaysAmber and red weather warnings lifted in the UK; but now it’s ‘freezing rain’ we’ve got to prepare forAirports have closed, trains halted and the military called in as Brits prepare for a night of CHAOSCommuters have been urged to make their way home immediately amid mountin
  
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• How Alzheimer's Affected Three Generations

  02-03-2018 15:18
  My grandma was one of those ‘cool’ grandmas, she wore high heels and had her nails painted in bright pinks and reds. I thought she was…trendy. She was always out socialising. As kids we used to joke that we needed to book an appointment to see her – calling in on the way home from school was usually a waste of time!My grandpa died very suddenly in 2005. He was as strong as an ox and it was a shock to us all. No one more so than my grandma, who was hospitalised and nearly
  
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• What's Happening To Brexit?

  02-03-2018 15:16
  Whether you voted Leave or Remain in the referendum, the draft EU Withdrawal Agreement should be of huge concern to you. Yet for all the media talk of Northern Ireland being ‘annexed’, it seems that the rest of this Agreement has gone completely unscrutinised. I can’t comprehend why.If you voted Remain, you should be unhappy that if this goes through the UK will get the worst of both worlds. If you voted Leave, you should be hugely concerned by the text. Yet everyone, on all si
  
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