Political news

• Chris Grayling: No post-Brexit lorry checks at Dover

  15-03-2018 23:49 via bbc.co.uk
  The transport secretary says the UK will not "in any circumstances" create a "hard border" at Dover after Brexit.
  
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• Allies offer Britain reassurance over Russia stand-off

  15-03-2018 23:39 via ft.com
  The real test will come when the UK has to actually call for joint action against Moscow
  
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• Brexit is feeding UK business inertia, says productivity chief

  15-03-2018 23:30 via ft.com
  Sir Charlie Mayfield leading drive to improve corporate efficiency as EU exit nears
  
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• Six Dead In Miami Bridge Collapse As Rescuers Doubt They'll Find More Survivors

  15-03-2018 22:28
  Multiple cars and people were trapped under a newly constructed bridge at Miami’s Florida International University after it collapsed Thursday.Officials said there are at least six fatalities. They didn’t expect to find any more survivors amid the rubble. Ten victims were also taken to hospital.The Miami-Dade homicide bureau is leading an investigation into the collapse.Governor Rick Scott said investigations are being conducted at the local, state and federal level. He promised
  
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• Miami Bridge Collapse: 'Up To 10' People Killed As Newly-Built Pedestrian Bridge Crushes Vehicles In Florida

  15-03-2018 22:28
  Up to ten people have been killed after a newly-installed pedestrian bridge collapsed in the Miami area of Florida, a US Senator has said.The 950-ton span fell on Thursday afternoon at Florida International University’s main Miami-area campus.Emergency personnel searched for signs of life amid the wreckage of concrete, twisted metal and that rained from the collapsed structure and crushed vehicles on one of the busiest roads in the region.Eight vehicles were trapped in the wreckage and eig
  
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• Miami Bridge Collapse: Four People Dead As Newly-Built Pedestrian Bridge Crushes Vehicles In Florida

  15-03-2018 22:28
  Four people have been found dead in the rubble of a collapsed pedestrian bridge in Miami, south Florida, the Miami-Dade County fire chief has said.Dave Downey said at a news briefing that the four people had been found at the scene by first responders. He also said nine victims were removed “early on” and taken to hospitals. He did not elaborate on their conditions.He said “search and rescue mode” would be continuing after nightfall.The 950-ton span fell on Thursday after
  
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• Data firm pitched 'illegal offer targeting overseas donors' to Leave.EU

  15-03-2018 22:27
  Arron Banks gave MPs document with information about rejected offer from Cambridge AnalyticaA controversial data marketing firm appeared to propose raising money from Brexit-supporting foreign donors on behalf of the Leave.EU campaign, in breach of UK election law.Cambridge Analytica told the group fronted by Nigel Farage and Arron Banks they could target wealthy people from the US, Canada and Australia on behalf of the pro-Brexit campaign in November 2015, according to a pitch document released
  
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• Irish border remains biggest obstacle to Brexit deal

  15-03-2018 21:41 via ft.com
  UK concessions narrow differences on other withdrawal issues
  
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• UK business leaders stress need for speed on transition deal

  15-03-2018 21:04 via ft.com
  Downing Street meeting comes ahead of EU Brexit summit
  
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• Business leaders stress need for speed on transition deal

  15-03-2018 21:04 via ft.com
  Downing Street meeting comes ahead of EU Brexit summit
  
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• Opposition to hostile bid for GKN gathers pace

  15-03-2018 20:54 via ft.com
  Shareholders, customers and politicians warn over Melrose move on UK engineer
  
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• UK defence secretary tells Russia 'go away and shut up'

  15-03-2018 20:38 via bbc.co.uk
  Gavin Williamson makes the comments as he unveils plans for a new chemical weapons defence centre.
  
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• Russian spy: Theresa May visits Salisbury after 'brazen' attack

  15-03-2018 20:28 via bbc.co.uk
  The PM is briefed by health experts as Sergei Skripal and his daughter remain critically ill.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn: Salisbury attack 'evidence points towards Russia'

  15-03-2018 20:26 via bbc.co.uk
  But the Labour leader does not go as far as his defence spokeswoman in saying Russia was to blame.
  
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• Aloof British government helped steer Unilever to Rotterdam

  15-03-2018 20:10 via ft.com
  Paul Polman was afforded regular contact with the Dutch PM but UK relations were icier
  
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• Grenfell Campaigners Fear Others Could Be Living Behind Doors That Failed 30 Minute Test

  15-03-2018 20:02
  Grenfell campaigners have raised fears that more residents could be living in buildings with fire doors that have failed safety tests, amid fresh criticism of the government over its “lack of urgency” in tackling issues relating to the blaze.Safety concerns mounted after it was revealed that tests showed a flat front door from Grenfell Tower could only hold back a fire for 15 minutes - half the time it had been designed to resist a blaze.Relatives of those who died in the June blaze
  
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• Setback for Theresa May after Unilever moves base from UK

  15-03-2018 19:57 via ft.com
  Britain’s third-largest group denies decision to shift to Netherlands was related to Brexit
  
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• Davis the diplomat

  15-03-2018 19:41 via bbc.co.uk
  Brexit secretary winds up visits to more than half EU capitals which he hopes will east talks on post-Brexit trade.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Warns Against A 'McCarthyite Intolerance Of Dissent' Over His Russian Spy Poisoning 'Questions'

  15-03-2018 19:31
  Jeremy Corbyn has warned against a “McCarthyite intolerance of dissent” as he defended questions he raised about Russia’s responsibility for the Salisbury nerve agent attack.In a clear sign the Labour leader is refusing to soften his line on the poisoning controversy, Corbyn wrote in the Guardian that Theresa May should not “rush way ahead of the evidence” and described the atmosphere in Westminster as “fevered”.He also suggested that the nerve
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Defies Global Condemnation Of Russia Over Spy Poisoning

  15-03-2018 19:31
  Jeremy Corbyn has defied the global condemnation of Russia over the Salisbury nerve agent attack, warning against a “rush” to judgement.As the UK awaited Russia’s retaliation for expelling 23 diplomats, Corbyn wrote in the Guardian that there was a “McCarthyite intolerance of dissent” in a clear sign the Labour leader is refusing to soften his line on the poisoning controversy.He also suggested that the attack could have been carried out by Russian-linked
  
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• Anti-Muslim letters to MPs bear hallmarks of earlier hate campaign

  15-03-2018 19:18
  Monitoring group Tell Mama warns of similarities to letters sent to UK and US mosquesAnti-Muslim letters and suspicious packages received by MPs may be linked to a two-year hate campaign against mosques on both sides of the Atlantic, the monitoring group Tell Mama has warned.
  The “Punish a Muslim” letters sent this week bear a number of similarities to letters sent to mosques in London, South Yorkshire and the US in 2016-17, including sharing the same postmark. Continue reading...
  
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• HSBC Reveals Female Staff In Britain Earn Almost 60% Less Than Men

  15-03-2018 19:03
  HSBC has unveiled a 60% gulf between women and men’s pay making it one of the worst offenders in the industry in the UK.Figures from Europe’s biggest bank on Thursday showed a gap in average hourly pay of 59% last year, the biggest yet disclosed by a British bank.The gap was even more stark when focusing on bonuses. On this measure, awards handed to male workers were 86% higher than those handed out to women.HSBC’s median gender pay - which takes the middle number from a l
  
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• Responding to Russia – Politics Weekly podcast

  15-03-2018 19:01
  Heather Stewart is joined by Rafael Behr, Anne Perkins and Andrew Roth in Moscow to discuss the government’s response to the nerve agent attack on the former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury. Plus Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the chancellor’s low-key spring statementThe nerve agent attack in Salisbury on a former Russian spy and his daughter has provoked a diplomatic backlash in Britain. We hear from the Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select
  
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• Russian spy: Theresa May in Salisbury fist bump

  15-03-2018 18:55 via bbc.co.uk
  The PM greets a member of the public on a visit to Salisbury where a Russian ex-spy was poisoned.
  
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• ESA repayments: Terminally ill people are 'priority'

  15-03-2018 18:51 via bbc.co.uk
  The government is "scaling up" the team identifying ESA underpayments, from 50 to 400 people.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn defies critics and calls for calm over Russia

  15-03-2018 18:41
  Labour leader warns against ‘McCarthyite intolerance of dissent’ after nerve agent attackJeremy Corbyn has defied critics in his own party and warned the prime minister against “rushing way ahead of the evidence” over the Salisbury poisoning, in what he called the “fevered” atmosphere of Westminster.The Labour leader used an article in the Guardian to urge the government to take a “calm, measured” approach – and warn against the drift towards
  
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• ‘Penny Dreadful’ Spring Statement for the chancellor

  15-03-2018 18:35 via ft.com
  1p and 2p coins are no longer practical, but will be protected
  
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• Why Academics, Developers, And Politicians Must Collaboratively Contemplate AI

  15-03-2018 18:34
  If you give a group of tech developers a whiteboard, and ask them to imagine how AI could impact the everyday individual, they’ll likely see a window of opportunities: a road where the drunk “driver” can instead let the car control itself; a sky where drones take unprecedented photographs, manage disaster relief, and spare human causalities from combat; drawers upon drawers of digital file cabinets – within which big data algorithms create customised consumer profiles, pu
  
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• 'Love A Muslim Day'? Muslims Don't Need Your Love

  15-03-2018 18:32
  Every few months the same cycle repeats itself. Someone says something hateful towards Muslims, like banning them from an entire country, or something happens to threaten either large groups of white civilians, or Muslims. When either of these groups are threatened, the response that is triggered is exactly the same. Muslim communities, and left-wing liberals who get their kicks from helping the underdog, begin to apologise and validate the place of Muslims in the Western world. The internet is
  
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• UK/Russia: Moscow mules

  15-03-2018 18:23 via ft.com
  Targeting individuals likely to be more effective than sanctions against the state
  
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• Refugees Like Me Are Going Without Food To Pay The Legal Costs Of Reuniting With Family

  15-03-2018 18:17
  This morning I woke up crying at 5am – I dreamt that my family were still in Cameroon.  Today I am lucky to have my wife and five children safely in the UK with me, but for a long time this wasn’t the case. My family originates from Cameroon in central Africa. I worked as a tailor and my wife was a primary school teacher. But one day I spoke out against the elected government and was persecuted as a result. I had no choice but to flee my home, leaving behind my pregnant wife and
  
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• MSPs vote to repeal football bigotry law

  15-03-2018 18:13 via bbc.co.uk
  MSPs vote to scrap the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act despite opposition from the Scottish government.
  
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• The UK Must Do More To Help Separated Refugee Families

  15-03-2018 18:12
  Ask people all over the world what’s most important to them and you’re likely to get a similar answer time and time again: family. Whether it’s our child, mother, father, husband or wife, we all have an inherent longing to be close to our loved ones. Last year the British Red Cross helped to reunite over 2,000refugees in the UK, over half of which were children. We are privileged to witness those precious moments when a mother first embraces her children after years of separati
  
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• Scottish law banning ‘offensive behaviour’ at football matches repealed

  15-03-2018 18:12 via ft.com
  SNP defeated over curbs on sectarianism that were seen as hitting freedom of speech
  
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• I Met An Elderly Lady On The Bus Who Was Looking For Noise. It Taught Me A Lot About Loneliness

  15-03-2018 18:12
  Ever been brought to tears on your commute? (No, delays on the Overground or missing your bus do not count.)Last week, a journey home was rather emotional. To the point where I actually spent the rest of my evening wanting to turn back time and change my actions. Here’s why:Picture the scene. I’m on route to a doctor’s appointment, on a bus that seemed to be hit with a severe case of red light syndrome. The anxiety of my looming appointment, teamed with the rocking back and for
  
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• No, Brexit Is Not A Distraction From NHS or Housing Crises

  15-03-2018 17:59
  According to John Rentoul, writing in The Independent at the weekend: “Brexit is distracting the centre of Government – No 10, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury – from attending to the pressing problems facing the country.” You can see his point. The demands exerted by negotiating a Brexit deal in Brussels that neither party wants, while fending off a Remainer-dominated parliament in London, is hardly conducive to solving big and worsening domestic problems.He is rightl
  
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• Tribute Cartoons Of Stephen Hawking 'Free' From His Wheelchair Are Deeply Offensive

  15-03-2018 17:54
  In the wake of Professor Stephen Hawking’s death, I saw an obituary piece from the Los Angeles Times that blew my mind. Not because it expanded upon Hawking’s scientific theories, but because it described him as a “British physicist whose body was chained to a wheelchair”. Chained?To a wheelchair?Are you kidding me!I shouldn’t be too surprised though. While scrolling through Twitter, it’s not long before you stumble across a number of images that depict an abl
  
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• We Can Both Hold Russia To Account For Salisbury, And Acknowledge Britain's Problematic Foreign Policy History

  15-03-2018 17:41
  Here are two facts. One: Britain has a long history of foreign policy errors, some of which have had catastrophic consequences. Two: The Russian Government is vicious, authoritarian and downright dangerous, and it was almost certainly responsible for the recent nerve agent attack in Salisbury.What I can’t work out is why so few people seem able to hold both of these opinions at once.Many were angry on Wednesday when Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesperson noted that the record of British intell
  
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• Aldi Christmas Murder: Man Jailed For 30 Years For 'Revenge Killing' Of Jodie Willsher

  15-03-2018 17:30
  A man has been sentenced to 30 years in jail after being found guilty of a “cold-blooded execution” in a supermarket. Neville Hord, 44, had been in a relationship with the victim’s mother and had spent two weeks planning the murder. He attacked Jodie Willsher, 30, where she worked at an Aldi supermarket in Skipton, North Yorkshire, just before Christmas.  The plumber had fitted a tracking device to Willsher’s car, purchased two knives, an axe, a cross-bow a
  
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• UKIP peer criticised over Tommy Robinson meeting

  15-03-2018 17:25 via bbc.co.uk
  UKIP's former leader faces criticism for inviting the former English Defence League leader to Parliament.
  
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• Rihanna Slams Snapchat Advert For ‘Intentionally Bringing Shame To Domestic Violence Victims’

  15-03-2018 17:11
  Rihanna has slammed Snapchat, for publishing an advert that asked users: “Would you rather... slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown?”When Snapchat users spotted the advert - which was created by a third party publisher - earlier this week, the company soon removed it, issuing an apology and stating it “was reviewed and approved in error”. At the time, Rihanna herself did not respond to the controversy. On Thursday (15 March) afternoon, though, the singer b
  
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• Volunteer Vets Are Making Sure Homeless Dogs Get The Care They Need

  15-03-2018 17:07
  As a homeless man sleeping rough in London, Sam* had no way of paying for the essential products his beloved dog needed to be happy and healthy. “I used to shoplift for my dog’s food and have a criminal record for stealing it. I don’t do that any more,” he says.Sam, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, is just one of the hundreds of homeless people who’ve been helped by DOTS (Dogs On The Streets) London, which provides free food, collars, leads,
  
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• These Types Of Workers Are The Happiest, Research Reveals

  15-03-2018 17:03
  The self-employed are happier at work despite long hours and more uncertainty, a new study suggests.The research carried out by experts from the universities of Sheffield and Exeter showed self-employed people felt more engaged with their work, predominantly because they enjoyed more freedom to innovate and influence their working environments.Academics studied data collected from 5,000 workers in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand across a number of sectors – including heath, finance a
  
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• UK Weather: Met Forecasts A Bitterly Cold And Snowy Weekend

  15-03-2018 16:42
  Forecasters have issued yellow weather warnings for snow and ice across large swaths of the country from Friday throughout the weekend.  The Met Office said temperatures are expected to plummet from 12C in London to -2C by Saturday, with snow to widely affect central and southern areas.A plume of bitterly cold air will spread the UK’s way from Scandinavia, bringing the spectre of snow and strong easterly winds.Between 3pm and midnight on Friday, a band of rain will increasingly turn t
  
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• Grenfell Tower doors 'resisted fire for half the time expected'

  15-03-2018 16:39 via bbc.co.uk
  Experts say the door was supposed to resist fire for 30 minutes, but only lasted 15 minutes.
  
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• Austerity Is Economically Illiterate And Morally Bankrupt

  15-03-2018 16:39
  Following the economic crash of 2008, Tory governments have put cutting the budget deficit (the difference between what the government receives in taxes and what it spends) and reducing the national debt at the centre of their economic policy. Austerity, principally, was their method of doing that. That is cutting government spending on our vital services and additionally freezing public sector pay. Austerity has caused untold misery to millions of our citizens; meanwhile Britain’s nationa
  
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• What Could Happen To The Environment After Brexit

  15-03-2018 16:35
  What will happen to the environment after Brexit? That is the question which will arise – and hopefully be addressed – at a major summit in London on Thursday, attended by Environment Secretary Michael Gove.Once upon a time, because of foot-dragging over the elimination of acid rain, Britain was dubbed ‘The Dirty Man of Europe’. But latterly its reputation has improved, most notably following the 2008 Climate Change Act.For many environmentalists Brexit was a cause of sig
  
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• Theresa May Fist Bumps A Member Of The Public In Salisbury

  15-03-2018 16:32
  Theresa May shares a fist bump with a member of the public in Salisbury. #MayBumppic.twitter.com/rE0ia5p6Kp— On Demand News (@ODN) March 15, 2018Theresa May fist bumped a member of the public in Sailsbury on Thursday, as she visited the city at the centre of the nerve agent attack.The prime minister greeted residents and the emergency services and repeated he conclusion that it was “very clear” that Russia was behind the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.“Salis
  
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• UK-Russian relations are getting colder

  15-03-2018 16:29 via bbc.co.uk
  Relations between the UK and Russia have been going from bad to worse in recent years.
  
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• Northamptonshire County Council 'should be scrapped'

  15-03-2018 16:17 via bbc.co.uk
  Local MP Michael Ellis says the management of Northamptonshire County Council is a "national scandal".
  
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