Political news

• Grenfell Tower Fire: 31-Year-Old Man Charged With Fraud Relating To Tragedy

  17-04-2018 22:55
  A man has been charged with fraud in relation to the Grenfell Tower fire which killed 71 people.Mohammad Ali Gamoota, 31, was charged with two counts of fraud by false representation on Tuesday and will appear before magistrates on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said. A man has tonight been charged with fraud offences following the Grenfell Tower fire https://t.co/GmkvTNfhgZpic.twitter.com/iRpyETbcnE— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 17, 2018A Metropolitan Police statement
  
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• FT View: Windrush crisis—this is not who we are

  17-04-2018 22:02 via ft.com
  Theresa May's treatment of UK's Windrush families sends troubling signal
  
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• Woman Sucked Out Of Plane As Southwest Jet Engine Explodes

  17-04-2018 21:38
  A woman killed after a plane’s engine exploded forcing it to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia has been pictured and named for the first time. Jennifer Riordan’s death on a Southwest Airlines flight was the first in a US commercial aviation accident since 2009, according to National Transportation Safety Board statistics.Riordan was a mother-of-two from New Mexico and worked as a vice president of community relations for the Wells Fargo bank. The 43-year-old’s
  
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• Woman Sucked Out Of Plane As Southwest Airlines Engine Explodes

  17-04-2018 21:38
  A woman killed after a plane’s engine exploded leading to her almost being sucked out of a shattered window, has been pictured and named for the first time. Jennifer Riordan was sitting on the left side of the plane when an engine failure on the Southwest Airline flight sent a piece of shrapnel flying back into a window, shattering the glass.The 43-year-old was said to have hung out of the hole for several minutes amid chaotic scene in the cabin, before two men finally managed to pull
  
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• Southwest Airlines: One Dead In Jet Horror As Woman Almost Sucked Out Of Plane

  17-04-2018 21:38
  Officials say one person is dead after a plane’s engine exploded, forcing the jet to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia.Reports suggest the engine failure sent a piece of shrapnel flying back into a window - which caused the woman sitting next to it to be nearly sucked out of the jet. The chairman of the US’s National Transportation Safety Board confirmed one fatality - but it was not immediately clear if the passenger nearly sucked out of the window was the per
  
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• Southwest Airlines: One Dead In Jet Horror As Another Passenger Almost Sucked Out Of Plane

  17-04-2018 21:38
  A plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia, US, after its engine exploded as one passenger was killed and another one was nearly sucked out a window.Southwest Airlines and American officials confirmed engine failure sent a piece of shrapnel flying back into a window and shattering the glass.This caused a woman sitting next to the window to be almost pulled out of the plane as the cabin depressurised, according to witness accounts and local news media reports.The fatality was
  
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• Jewish Labour MP Applauded In Commons After Calling Out ‘Corrosive’ Anti-Semitism That Is 'Commonplace' In Party

  17-04-2018 21:02
  A Jewish Labour MP has warned that anti-Semitism within the party has become “commonplace, conspicuous and corrosive” as Jeremy Corbyn was repeatedly urged to get a grip of the problem.Luciana Berger was applauded by MPs from all sides after she gave an impassioned speech in the House of Commons where she detailed the abuse she has received since her teens, and argued there was a “time not long ago when the left actively confronted anti-Semitism”.Following her speech, ano
  
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• May says sorry to Caribbean leaders over Windrush scandal

  17-04-2018 20:13 via ft.com
  Home Office will not deport 35-year-old Mozi Haynes to St Vincent
  
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• May revels as Tory MPs shout down trigger-shy Syria sissy Corbyn | John Crace

  17-04-2018 20:01
  Parliament agrees with the prime minister that she only needs its approval for a really big warAfter the war-war, the jaw-jaw. Which was precisely what Jeremy Corbyn was so concerned about. Though the Labour leader was deeply grateful to the prime minister for sparing six hours of her time on a ministerial statement and a token debate the previous evening, he would rather the government hadn’t presented the Syrian strikes as a fait accompli to parliament.Not that many MPs seemed to care th
  
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• More Than 50 Labour MPs Defy Jeremy Corbyn In Vote On Parliament's Role In Military Action

  17-04-2018 19:53
  More than 50 Labour MPs have failed to back a bid by Jeremy Corbyn to embarrass the Government over Parliamentary votes on future military action.Dozens of backbenchers appeared to defy their leader as the Commons voted by 317 votes to 256 for a motion discussing the rights of MPs to approve intervention overseas.Corbyn had himself tabled the emergency motion in a bid to highlight Theresa May’s own failure to give MPs a vote on last weekend’s RAF airstrikes in Syria.He then ordered h
  
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• Windrush Crisis: Home Office Admits Destroying Thousands Of Migrant Landing Cards Amid Deportation Fears

  17-04-2018 19:31
  Thousands of landing card slips recording the arrival of ‘Windrush generation’ migrants to the UK were destroyed eight years ago, the Home Office has confirmed.The Labour Party condemned the “truly shocking” revelation first made by former Home Office employee to the Guardian.The whistleblower said the records helped immigration officials when seeking information about when a person arrived in the UK, particularly in cases where a migrant was attempting to resolve problem
  
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• Leave.UK accused of data misuse during Brexit campaign

  17-04-2018 18:50 via ft.com
  Cambridge Analytica whistleblower tells MPs abuse by Arron Banks’ companies was ‘rife’
  
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• Leave.EU accused of data misuse during Brexit campaign

  17-04-2018 18:50 via ft.com
  Cambridge Analytica whistleblower tells MPs abuse by Arron Banks’ companies was ‘rife’
  
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• Theresa May wins second vote on Syria air strikes

  17-04-2018 18:36 via ft.com
  Significant number of Labour MPs side with government
  
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• Labour MP Ian Austin Challenges Corbyn To Permanently Expel Ken Livingstone Over Anti-Semitism

  17-04-2018 18:29
  Labour MP Ian Austin has used a Commons debate on anti-semitism to directly challenge Jeremy Corbyn over the expulsion of Ken Livingstone from the party.Austin said it was “a disgrace” that the former London Mayor, who was suspended nearly two years ago after claiming Hitler was a Zionist, had not yet been “booted out” of Labour permanently. He called on shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne, who was speaking from the despatch box during the general debate table
  
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• ‘It's Heartbreaking’: On Brixton’s Windrush Square, Immigration Scandal Hurts And Angers The Black Community

  17-04-2018 18:05
  Amid the buzz of Brixton’s busy streets on a sunny Tuesday morning, it would be easy to assume that locals have yet to be affected by the Windrush Generation scandal – branded on Monday by one MP as a “day of national shame”. Here, there are no signs, no placards, no protestors – people continue to rush for the bus, run errands, and stock up on supplies at the borough’s historic indoor food market.But beneath the lively veneer, the mood is tense. At the h
  
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• 'It's Heartbreaking': On Brixton’s Windrush Square, Government’s Immigration Fiasco Angers The Black Community

  17-04-2018 18:05
  Amid the buzz of Brixton’s busy streets on a sunny Tuesday morning, it would be easy to assume that locals have yet to be affected by the Windrush Generation scandal – branded on Monday by one MP as a “day of national shame”. Here, there are no signs, no placards, no protestors – people continue to rush for the bus, run errands, and stock up on supplies at the borough’s historic indoor food market.But beneath the lively veneer, the mood is tense. At the h
  
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• The Windrush Generation Made Our Country A Better Place - Their Cruel Treatment Is Inconceivable

  17-04-2018 17:52
  This year our country celebrates two 70th anniversaries – the creation of the NHS and the arrival of SS Windrush at Tilbury Port. The two are intertwined and inseparable, with so many of the Windrush generation helping to build the health service that we all rely on.I am proud that Unison backed the Windrush campaign when many, including the Prime Minister, seemed unaware of the lives blighted and families placed under intolerable pressure.The Windrush generation served us all and made our
  
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• The First Day Back At Work After Six Months In A Psychiatric Hospital

  17-04-2018 17:45
  Doing something for the first time can often be nerve wracking.First day at schoolFirst dateFirst kissFirst sexual encounterFirst job interviewFirst pancake flipFirst time using a squat toilet in IndiaFirst time watching Die HardYou get the idea.The first time you decide to kill yourself takes it to a whole new level as you become painfully aware of the fact that it’s not just the first time you’ll do something but it will also be the last time you’ll do anything.Thankfully I d
  
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• UK asks Supreme Court to rule on Scottish and Welsh Brexit laws

  17-04-2018 17:35 via ft.com
  Legislation gives Edinburgh and Cardiff control over areas such as fishing and farming
  
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• Commonwealth dreams refuse to become reality

  17-04-2018 17:29 via ft.com
  An event meant as a celebration ended up starting with an anguished Windrush apology
  
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• One Year On, What Pundits And Others Got Wrong About The 2017 General Election Campaign

  17-04-2018 17:26
  “So, tomorrow, let the House of Commons vote for an election, let everybody put forward their proposals for Brexit and their programmes for government, and let us remove the risk of uncertainty and instability and continue to give the country the strong and stable leadership it demands.”And so it began. This was how Theresa May concluded her address outside Downing Street announcing the calling of the General Election a year ago today. What followed was perhaps one of the strangest e
  
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• Tory Leaders And Policies Are To Blame For The Windrush Scandal

  17-04-2018 17:25
  Public opinion is outraged over the treatment of the Windrush migrants to this country. This stretches beyond the ‘Windrush generation’ themselves and their friends and loved ones.  News outlets who are not usually supportive of issues relating to the mistreatment of migrants are highly critical of the Government. Commonwealth Heads of Government are incredulous.As a result Tory leaders are isolated, especially Amber Rudd and Theresa May. Tory MPs and commentators who have alway
  
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• IVF Access Should Be Dependent On Your Need, Not Your Post Code Or Bank Balance

  17-04-2018 17:22
  Following Prime Minister’s Questions this week, I plan to introduce a Ten Minute Rule Bill with the intention of equalising access to NHS fertility services across England.I first became aware of this problem in 2016 when I was contacted by constituents who were being refused IVF treatment because of new criteria drawn up by their Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). This criteria judged that if one partner had had a child from a previous relationship, no matter how long ago and what the le
  
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• Third Of Women With Vaginal Mesh Seek Urgent Help Due To 'Incredible Pain'

  17-04-2018 17:09
  More than a third of women who have undergone vaginal mesh surgery have sought urgent care in trauma units due to the subsequent pain they experience, the latest figures reveal. Forced to seek emergency help due to “incredible pain”, campaigners say many sufferers are also forced to attend multiple medical appointments before being properly diagnosed. They say the new figures, buried deep within an experimental report published by NHS Digital, are shocking. The statist
  
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• Stephen Lawrence: The Murder That Still Haunts Britain, 25 Years On

  17-04-2018 17:05
  Stephen Lawrence was 18 when he was murdered by a gang in a racist attack as he stood at a bus stop in Eltham, south east London, 25 years ago.It was 10.35pm, and Stephen was with his friend, Duwayne Brooks, waiting for a bus, chatting about football, when a group of attackers descended on them. It would later emerge in court that one of the group was heard to say: “What, what n******?” as they rushed towards the two young men.Brooks managed to run off, shouting “Get up an
  
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• Morrissey Faces Criticism After Controversial Comments On Brexit, Sadiq Khan And Theresa May

  17-04-2018 16:49
  Morrissey is facing criticism after his latest interview, in which he discusses politicians including Theresa May, Sadiq Khan and Diane Abbott, and offering commentary on Brexit, halal meat and animal welfare. The former Smiths frontman has often hit headlines for his controversial comments in recent years and, he says, in a bid to combat being misquoted in the press, the new interview has been published on his own site, Morrissey Central.However, many fans have said the star does not come acros
  
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• Assad Regime's ‘Dirty Money’ And UK Assets Should Be Seized, John McDonnell Urges

  17-04-2018 16:10
  Key figures in the Assad regime should have their British-based assets seized as part of a new crackdown on ‘dirty money’ from overseas, Labour’s John McDonnell has urged.The Shadow Chancellor told MPs that 261 individuals are sanctions targets in the UK yet there was no update on how much cash they held.McDonnell said that £5bn in assets was held worldwide by the Assad regime, yet just £151m had been frozen in the UK so far.Speaking during Treasury Questions in the
  
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• Labour's Kezia Dugdale Confronts Minister With 'Rape Clause' Form Amid Claims Policy Benefits Women

  17-04-2018 15:53
  “It’s a very simple form” says @AlokSharma_RDG“Are you reassured by what Alok Sharma said?” @jo_coburn“No, and it’s utter nonsense” @kezdugdale on the so-called rape clause#bbcdppic.twitter.com/z351yz3X3c— BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) April 17, 2018Employment Minister Alok Sharma was told the so-called rape clause policy is “an abomination” after Government claims it sees women get “double support
  
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• Law Students And Barristers Slam Short Skirt Rule As ‘Oppressive’ And ‘Disappointing’

  17-04-2018 15:20
  Law students and barristers have slammed BPP university law school’s strict dress code, which penalises students who wear “short skirts” in their exams.The BPP handbook, obtained by website Legal Cheek, says students will be docked two points if they wear a short skirt - defined as any skirt that is above the knee - to their advocacy assessments. The strict rules also stipulate that colourful socks will lose students one point, while “kinky boots”, such as
  
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• Regular Coffee Consumption Could Actually Help Regulate An Irregular Heartbeat

  17-04-2018 14:55
  Contrary to what you might have heard, or is indeed prescribed by many clinicians, coffee could actually help those with an irregular heartbeat.In a new study by Prof Peter Kistler and his team at The Alfred, and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute it was found that there is often a misconception about the affect caffeine can have on those suffering from Atrial fibrillation.By looking at population-based studies, the team examined for a link between those who consumed caffeine and its po
  
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• 'Violence Against Women Is Not Our Culture': The Men Of The Mosou

  17-04-2018 14:49
  I have spent more than 15 years travelling around the world learning about the different forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls. I have come across domestic violence, rampant sexual harassment and blatant discrimination. I have learned about honour killings, slavery and ‘cultural’ ideas that deliberately deny women from having the same rights to education, work and freedom as men have.Throughout these travels I have heard many voices speaking up to express their
  
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• The Windrush debacle and Brexit

  17-04-2018 14:30 via ft.com
  Worries EU nationals living in the UK could face similar treatment
  
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• Cambridge Analytica Created 'Sex Compass' Quiz To Harvest Facebook Data, Says Former Director

  17-04-2018 14:15
  The number of people who have had their personal information compromised as a result of data harvesting from Facebook is “much greater” than the 87 million already acknowledged, a former Cambridge Analytica employee has claimed.Brittany Kaiser, the former director of program development at CA, told MPs on Tuesday that the company created several of its own Facebook quizes designed to harvest data from individuals.The questionnaires the firm created included a “sex compass&rdquo
  
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• Facebook Reportedly Uses AI To Predict Your Future And Then Sell It To Advertisers

  17-04-2018 14:07
  Facebook has an artificial intelligence program that can be used to predict your behaviour and then sell that to advertisers.This is according to a leaked confidential document that was obtained by The Intercept a few days ago.According to the site, Facebook’s ‘FBLearner Flow’ software isn’t just able to help advertisers identify what we like and dislike but also predict what we could buy in the future.Say for example you’re looking for a new car, but you&rsquo
  
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• UK wages rise faster than inflation for first time in a year

  17-04-2018 14:06 via ft.com
  Pound climbs to its highest level since the Brexit referendum in 2016
  
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• 'RuPaul's Drag Race': Netflix Confirms Classic Seasons To Be Removed At The End Of April

  17-04-2018 14:03
  We’ve got some bad news for fans of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’, as classic episodes of the show to be removed from UK Netflix at the end of this month.Until recently, Netflix was the main stop for British ‘Drag Race’ fans to catch up on the hit reality show, which airs on VH1 over in America.However, the streaming service has now announced that as of Monday 30 April, seasons two through seven will no longer be available to watch.And this pretty much sums up how
  
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• Outrage As Windrush Briton Was Said To Be Facing 'Imminent Deportation'

  17-04-2018 13:50
  A Briton who reportedly belongs to the Windrush generation was threatened with “imminent deportation” by the Home Office, according to an MP.Ruth Williams, whose 35-year-old son Mozi Haynes’ is due to be deported tomorrow, got in touch with Labour MP David Lammy to say she feels “betrayed” by the Government. She told the Tottenham MP: “I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country. This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show som
  
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• Outrage As Windrush Briton Said To Be Facing 'Imminent Deportation'

  17-04-2018 13:50
  A Briton who reportedly belongs to the Windrush generation faces “imminent deportation” by the Home Office, according to two MPs.Ruth Williams, whose 35-year-old son Mozi Haynes’ is due to be deported tomorrow, got in touch with Labour MP David Lammy to say she feels “betrayed” by the Government. She told the Tottenham MP: “I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country. This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Won't Take Part In Parliament's Anti-Semitism Debate

  17-04-2018 13:48
  Jeremy Corbyn will duck a challenge to debate tackling anti-Semitism in Parliament this afternoon, his office has confirmed.Communities Secretary Sajid Javid threw down the gauntlet to the Labour leader last month after Corbyn found himself engulfed in yet another row about anti-Semitism in the party.But Corbyn will not take part in Tuesday’s Parliamentary debate, with his office telling HuffPost UK that Javid’s opposite number – Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne &ndas
  
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• Piers Morgan Says Ant McPartlin 'Does Not Deserve Sympathy’ After Star Is Fined £86K For Drink Driving

  17-04-2018 13:22
  Piers Morgan has insisted his friend Ant McPartlin does “not deserve sympathy” after the troubled star’s court appearance on Monday.The Ant and Dec star was fined £86,000 and banned from driving for 20 months after he pleaded guilty to drink driving at the hearing at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court.During a discussion about the TV presenter’s court case on Tuesday’s ‘Good Morning Britain’, Piers said: “He does not deserve sympathy.”T
  
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• Nerve Agent Used To Poison Sergei Skripal Was Delivered In 'Liquid Form'

  17-04-2018 12:58
  The nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury was delivered “in a liquid form”, the Department for Environment (Defra) has revealed for the first time. The 66-year-old and his daughter, 33, were poisoned in Salisbury on March 4 with a nerve agent called Novichok.Defra revealed at a press briefing in Salisbury on Tuesday that a “very small amount” of the nerve agent was used in the attack and that the highest concentration was
  
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• Chief Inspector Of Probation Lambasted For Taking Second Job While Service In Crisis

  17-04-2018 12:57
  The Chief Inspector of Probation “shocked” MPs when she defended taking on a second job by joking her husband would cook. Dame Glenys Stacey continues to be paid her £140,000 salary for heading HM Inspectorate of Probation, despite dropping down to just three days a week. Stacey accepted an offer from Environment Secretary Michael Gove to chair the Government’s farming review two days a week. Her salary is being reviewed by ministers.  But MPs on Parli
  
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• Finding My Rainbow - My Experience Of Pregnancy After Loss

  17-04-2018 12:53
  A rainbow baby is a baby born following the loss of another. The idea is that the rainbow baby is the beauty at the end of the storm. It doesn’t deny the storm happened but brings light and hope.After I lost my son Toby halfway through my pregnancy I was desperate to conceive again and four months later I found I was expecting my rainbow, my son Joshua.But a rainbow pregnancy is a unique experience. Something I’d never really considered before. As well as all the usual worries, it co
  
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• A charter for tyrants: The bleak reality of a Corbyn foreign policy

  17-04-2018 12:52
  
  Corbyn places total emphasis on the need for UN authorisation for military action - but Putin is unlikely to play ball
  
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• What It's Like Raising Kids In A Rented Home: 'It Can Be Taken From You At Any Time'

  17-04-2018 12:48
  “No matter how long you live in a rented place it is never truly yours,” single mum Hannah-Marie Fox, 35, who lives in rented accommodation in Worthing with her four children, tells HuffPost UK. “It can be taken away from you at any time. It will never be a true family home because you’re always on edge that it’s not permanent.”In the UK, 1.8 million families with children now rent privately, up from 600,000 in 2003. The Resolution Foundation think-t
  
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• Russia Investigative Reporter Maxim Borodin Killed In Mystery Balcony Fall

  17-04-2018 12:48
  A Russian reporter investigating the deaths of Kremlin-linked mercenaries in Syria has died in a mysterious accident.  Maxim Borodin was found badly injured by neighbours on Thursday after falling from the balcony of his fifth floor flat in Yekaterinburg. He died in hospital on Sunday.According to local reports, police said the apartment was locked from the inside and there was no suicide note. They said they were not treating the 32-year-old’s death as suspicious.The local inves
  
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• Why Trade Unionists Are Backing A Shake-up Of Westminster’s Political System

  17-04-2018 12:38
  For those who agree Westminster is in need of an overhaul, the movement for political reform has just won some important new support.A report out this week from campaigners ‘Politics For The Many’ is calling for a shift in the UK’s political set-up - away from the adversarial, centralised Westminster model, to a more inclusive and pluralistic ‘consensual model’. And key figures in the trade union movement are backing it.What does the shift mean in practice? The grou
  
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• Teachers’ Strike Speaks To The Plight Of Working Americans

  17-04-2018 12:36
  After years of shrinking wages, teachers across the United States are striking back. On Monday, after the historic victory in West Virginia, thousands of teachers in Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona went on strike after decades of unfunded schools and low salaries.There’s bound to be more protests because teacher strikes are just one dimension of the surging economic inequality. For all the government’s talk about the booming economy, hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs have be
  
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• Harry Anderson Dead: 'Cheers' And 'It' Actor Dies, Aged 65

  17-04-2018 12:35
  US actor Harry Anderson has died at the age of 65. The star was best known for his role as Harry ‘The Hat’ Gittes on 80s sitcom ‘Cheers’ and Judge Harry Stone on ‘Night Court’. He was found dead at his home in Asheville, North Carolina, by police on Monday (16 April). Asheville Police Department later confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that no foul play was suspected. As well as his role in ‘Cheers’ and ‘Night Court&rsquo
  
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