Political news

• Harvey Proctor sues Met Police over false child abuse claims

  04-05-2018 23:11 via bbc.co.uk
  The former MP says the accusations led to him losing his job and home and suffering from depression.
  
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• Donald Trump Claims London Hospital Is 'Like A War Zone For Stabbing Wounds' At NRA Convention

  04-05-2018 22:26
  Donald Trump has claimed a London hospital “is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds”. Speaking at a National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting, the president promised to protect US gun rights, telling the Dallas conference they were currently “under siege”.  Comparing the US to the UK, he said a top hospital in the capital was like a “military warzone hospital” despite “unbelievable tough gun laws”. “I recently read
  
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• Jamie Acourt, One Of Britain's Most Wanted Fugitives, Captured In Barcelona

  04-05-2018 21:25
  Jamie Acourt, one of Britain’s most wanted fugitives, has been captured in Barcelona, the National Crime Agency has said. The 41-year-old from south London, who was wanted by the Met Police, is believed to be involved in the large-scale supply of drugs. Acourt was detained by armed officers after he left the Metropolitan Sagrada Familia Gym on Friday afternoon, an NCA statement said.It was part of a joint operation between the NCA, Met Police and Spanish National Police. One
  
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• Local elections: Greens say they are 'England's fourth party'

  04-05-2018 20:56 via bbc.co.uk
  Caroline Lucas says her party defied expectations in a "David and Goliath" battle against big parties.
  
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• 50 Live Crocodiles Destined For Meat Farm Seized At Heathrow Aiport

  04-05-2018 20:44
  An illegal shipment of 50 live crocodiles has been seized by border officers at Heathrow Airport.The year-old juvenile saltwater crocodiles were found in five boxes by staff in a live shipment from Malaysia, UK Border Force said.They were destined for a farm in Cambridgeshire, where they were to be bred for their meat, the Press Association reported. The animals, weighing around 40kgs, had not been packed in accordance with International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations, invalid
  
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• Local disputes prove crucial in Tories’ Trafford downfall

  04-05-2018 19:49 via ft.com
  Land development plans that outraged residents propelled swing to Labour
  
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• Local elections give no respite from a Brexit-induced stalemate

  04-05-2018 19:43 via ft.com
  Poll leaves the main UK political parties with no reason to change track
  
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• Justin Bieber Sends Kanye West 'Love' After 'Slavery' Comments Spark Backlash

  04-05-2018 19:08
  Justin Bieber has publicly reached out to Kanye West with a message of support, after the rapper faced a heavy backlash for his comments suggesting 400 years of slavery “was a choice”.The Biebs - who was one of a number of celebrities to unfollow Kanye on Twitter when he penned a string of tweets in support of Donald Trump - shared a post on his Instagram on Thursday night (3 May), sending “love” in Kanye’s direction.He wrote: “Our job is to love not to always
  
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• Charges of anti-Semitism halt Labour push in north London

  04-05-2018 19:07 via ft.com
  Labour councillors in Barnet blame leadership for election loss
  
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• Local Elections 2018: No Party Can Claim Victory But The Lib Dems Will Be Smiling

  04-05-2018 18:56
  Labour and the Conservatives enjoyed mixed results in the 2018 local elections, with neither party able to claim a decisive victory.Jeremy Corbyn cheered a Labour gain in Plymouth, but the party failed to pick up any other new councils - including in London where activists had targeted the Conservative strongholds of Westminster and Wandsworth.As well as holding off Labour in the capital, the Tories picked up the hung council of Barnet. It wasn’t all good news for Theresa May’s party
  
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• Tory Who Called Diane Abbott A 'Pig' Reinstated As Member Straight After Election

  04-05-2018 18:53
  A Tory suspended for “offensive” social media posts was reinstated by the party as soon as he was elected as a councillor. Antony Mullen was suspended by CCHQ following Twitter posts, which  included describing Sunderland, whose council he has been elected onto, as a “post-apocalyptic ****hole” and Labour MP Diane Abbott as a “filthy, bulbous pig”.The teaching assistant won the Barnes ward of Sunderland with a 322 majority over his Labour rival
  
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• Sir Vince Cable: Lib Dem fightback on after local elections

  04-05-2018 18:52 via bbc.co.uk
  The party gains seats and wins control of Richmond-upon-Thames council in England's local elections.
  
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• Local elections: why did Labour's possible victories fail to materialise?

  04-05-2018 18:14
  Critics say key figures talked up party’s chances and failed to address concerns of white working-class votersLabour’s election postmortem began in earnest amid claims that an inability to manage expectations and a failure to address the concerns of white working-class voters had led to a disappointing showing in the polls.Jeremy Corbyn admitted that unrealistic expectations of Labour’s chances had become accepted wisdom and blamed the Conservatives for successfully talking up
  
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• Ingram Pinn’s illustration of the week: Lost in Space

  04-05-2018 18:10 via ft.com
  Brexit talks between Britain and the EU go stratospheric
  
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• Conservatives Take Control Of Pendle Council After Reinstating Councillor Suspended Over Racist Joke

  04-05-2018 17:52
  The Conservatives took control of a council in Lancashire after reinstating a councillor who had been suspended for sharing a racist joke on Facebook. Rosemary Carroll - a Tory councillor for Pendle Borough Council - was suspended from the Conservative Party for three months in June 2017 after she allegedly re-posted a joke comparing Asian people to dogs. But the Earby ward councillor was reinstated by the Tories, giving the party 25 seats - and control of the council by one. Meanwhile, Lab
  
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• Tory Suspended For Racist 'Joke' Rejoins - And Party Clinches Council By One Seat

  04-05-2018 17:48
  A Tory councillor suspended for sharing a racist ‘joke’ on Facebook has been allowed to rejoin the party - in turn handing the party a council win. Former mayor Rosemary Carroll was forced to stand down for three months after the post, which compared an Asian to a dog.But Labour is calling for immediate action after the local party decided to lift her suspension on Thursday morning. The controversial move allowed Theresa May’s party to clinch overall control of Pendle
  
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• I Am A Baby Boomer, And There Is Something I Want You To Know - It’s Not Our Fault

  04-05-2018 17:39
  I am a baby boomer, and there is something I want you to know.It’s not our fault.We didn’t vote for a low-tax, free market economy in which schools, the NHS, and social services were starved of cash and public utilities were flogged off to foreign-owned corporations.Nor did we vote to strip trades unions of their powers, so that employees were left without job protection and at the mercy of zero hours contracts.And we certainly didn’t vote for a housing market which has effecti
  
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• I Found Out I Was Pregnant 10 Days After My Cancer Diagnosis

  04-05-2018 17:35
  It was May 2015 and I was sat at home one evening with my husband Tony and our then two-year-old daughter Poppy watching TV. As I leant on the side of the sofa, I felt a lump I hadn’t noticed before. The next day I told my mum and she told me to book an appointment to see my GP.  
  I went the following day and my GP decided to book me into a breast clinic, I went along two weeks later with my mum and had an ultrasound and a mammogram. Before they even told
  
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• I've Learnt So Much From The Homeless People I Host In My Spare Room

  04-05-2018 17:28
  Up and down the country people are looking for ways to solve our homelessness crisis. On Facebook groups we share our heartbreak at what we see on the streets and try to think of ways that we can make a difference in such a huge and ongoing social crisis.Through my work at Sounddelivery I met a mother supported by the charity Little Village; she had been evicted from her rental accommodation, leaving with a suitcase in one hand and her tiny baby in the other. I’ve met rough sleepers throug
  
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• Imagine: A World Where Immigration Wasn't The Home Secretary's Job

  04-05-2018 17:28
  Following his appointment, the new Home Secretary, struck a superhero pose outside number 2 Marsham Street and announced radical change. Well, as suggested by Nicholas Soames MP earlier today, here is one idea to match his Avenger scale ambitions: handover migration to another department.In the past weeks, press reports have focused on the negative organisational culture and administrative errors within the Home Office. These are indeed big challenges. But the problems affecting immigration poli
  
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• Reading elects one of the youngest councillors in UK

  04-05-2018 17:24 via bbc.co.uk
  Labour's Ellie Emberson is one of the youngest councillors elected in the country.
  
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• Labour MP Dan Jarvis elected South Yorkshire mayor

  04-05-2018 17:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Dan Jarvis secured 144,154 votes after a count of second preference ballots
  
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• The Tories Said 'Jump' And Labour Asked ‘How High?’

  04-05-2018 17:22
  Labour let the Tories set the bar in this year’s local elections. We didn’t challenge their agenda, and that has to change if we are to look realistically into the next General Election with a view to winning power. The fact is that Labour bought into extremely unrealistic targets, in particularly in London, but also across the country. The idea that Tory strongholds such as Wandsworth and Westminster were to turn red was beyond farcical, but allowed the Tories to dictate whethe
  
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• The Power Of The Oratory Trumped By Big Data

  04-05-2018 17:20
  I was recently privileged to hear Bob Woodward of the Watergate Affair speak in the US, giving his views on the current state of the world and the role that the press is currently taking and how this is perceived. This was around time that Carole Cadwalladr’s investigation into Cambridge Analytica first made its appearance in the Guardian for the wider world to see.With this week’s announcement that Cambridge Analytica has shut down due to its recent actions, it appears we are just a
  
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• Hostile Formulas Will Not Fix The Problem In The Home Office

  04-05-2018 17:19
  As I watched the appointment of the new Home Secretary this week, I could not help remembering little Irma during the Bosnian war. The five year old girl was being brought to the UK for medical treatment from Bosnia where she was wounded during the fighting there and the Prime Minister of the day, John Major was uncharacteristically emotional about her case.I had just arrived in the UK from another part of the former Yugoslavia, and had been watching in bewilderment the government’s reacti
  
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• UK to ban most hybrid cars, including Prius, from 2040

  04-05-2018 17:08 via ft.com
  Government will issue document banning vehicles that rely on traditional engines
  
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• UKIP official likens party to the Black Death after big losses

  04-05-2018 17:06 via bbc.co.uk
  A party chief says it is "not all over" despite losing almost all of the seats it was defending.
  
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• Local elections 2018: Labour 'quietly satisfied', Tom Watson says

  04-05-2018 16:39 via bbc.co.uk
  The party gains seats and wins Plymouth but fails to win control of any new London councils.
  
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• Ukip likens itself to the Black Death after council wipeout

  04-05-2018 16:37 via ft.com
  Anti-EU party will become ‘dormant’ unless Brexit battle is needed
  
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• Curtice's view

  04-05-2018 16:25 via bbc.co.uk
  Prof John Curtice looks at what the local election results mean for the state of the parties.
  
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• Local Elections 2018: Councils Reveal How Many People They Turned Away In Voter ID Trial

  04-05-2018 16:23
  Councils who trialed a controversial scheme requiring voters to take ID to polling stations have revealed how many people were denied the chance to take part in this year’s local elections. Many MPs and councillors were left furious after constituents in Woking, Gosport, Bromley, Watford and Swindon were turned away from ballot boxes if they failed to present proof of who they were.Scores were told they would not be allowed to vote as part of the test being run in the five areas by th
  
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• Daryll Rowe, Who Deliberately Infected Men With HIV, Jailed For Further Eight Years

  04-05-2018 16:15
  Daryll Rowe, an Edinburgh hairdresser who set out to deliberately infect victims with HIV, has been jailed for eight years.Rowe, 27, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh, to four incidents where he intentionally had unprotected sex with partners, while fully aware that he was HIV positive.Last month he was jailed for life for trying to infect 10 men in England.Rowe became the first man in the country to be found guilty of intentionally setting out to spread the virus.Brighton Crown Cour
  
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• Labour’s disappointing England poll results put brakes on ‘momentum’

  04-05-2018 16:11 via ft.com
  Failure to win north London borough of Barnet dents party’s high expectations
  
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• New Labour mayor Rohksana Fiaz plans to abolish her role

  04-05-2018 16:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Newly elected Rohksana Fiaz says she intends to hold a referendum during her four-year term.
  
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• UKIP official compares his party to the 'Black Death'

  04-05-2018 16:02 via bbc.co.uk
  UKIP is "dormant" like the Black Death, its general secretary has said after the party suffered heavy losses in the English local elections.
  
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• Heathrow Airport Officially Wins 'Star Wars' Day With Their #MayTheFourthBeWithYou Efforts

  04-05-2018 15:58
  Any ‘Star Wars’ fan worth their salt will know that 4 May marks a very special day in the calendar.However, Heathrow Airport has won what has affectionately become known as ‘Star Wars’ day with their ‘May The Fourth Be With You’ offering. Good morning from Heathrow. The force is strong with us today and we've got some special new routes. Will you be travelling to galaxies near... or far, far away? #Maythe4th#MayTheFourth#MayThe4thBeWithYou#StarWarsDay
  
  
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• Labour party stumbles in UK local elections

  04-05-2018 15:57 via ft.com
  FT's Henry Mance on Labour's small gains and losses, Ukip's drubbing
  
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• Boris Johnson: EU customs pledge was 'key' to local election results

  04-05-2018 15:46 via bbc.co.uk
  The foreign secretary says Brexit was "key" to the Tories' local elections performance.
  
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• Royal Wedding: Meghan Markle's Father Will Give Her Away

  04-05-2018 15:42
  Meghan Markle’s parents will both be in attendance at the royal wedding on 19 May, with her father Thomas Markle, 73, walking her down the aisle. A statement from Kensington Palace says Markle’s father and mother Doria Ragland will fly into London the week before in order to “spend time with” The Queen, The Duke Of Edinburgh and The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge. Ragland, 61, also has an active part to play: on the Saturday morning she will travel
  
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• The Government's Crackdown On No-Platforming On Campus Is No Such Thing

  04-05-2018 15:36
  “Students will be banned from refusing speakers a platform at their universities” declared the Times, ahead of a summit where Universities Minister Sam Gyimah was tipped to announce a new ‘ban’ on No Platform policies at universities.It’s a great story. Except it didn’t happen.Having attended the event, it was made clear to myself, and all of the other representatives from across the Higher Education sector, that it will be institutions and independent student
  
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• Teen councillor

  04-05-2018 15:27 via bbc.co.uk
  Newly Reading councillor Ellie Emberson, 19, explains why young people 'deserve to be represented'.
  
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• Analysis: Ukip Suffers Its Own 'Black Death' In The Local Elections

  04-05-2018 15:25
  As political spin strategies go, comparing your party to the Black Death is certainly novel.But the claim by Ukip’s General Secretary, made as the local election results came flooding in, is very much in keeping with a party that is proud of not playing by the book.Indeed in 2014, when these council seats were last up for grabs, Ukip had something of the plague about it. Borne across England on the back of eurosceptism, the Ukip fleas attached themselves to councils such Labour-led Bolton,
  
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• Breast Cancer Screening Error: What To Do If You Can't Get Through To The Helpline

  04-05-2018 15:16
  A helpline set up two days ago for women who didn’t receive invitations for crucial breast cancer screening appointments had received just under 10,000 calls by midday today. The large figure is perhaps unsurprising given that 450,000 women are believed to have been affected by the computer error.Public Health England (PHE) said the helpline has been particularly busy during peak times - so first thing in the morning, lunchtime and evenings.When the helpline struggled to cope with dem
  
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• The Importance Of Showing Mental Health In Daytime Drama

  04-05-2018 14:45
  At some point in our lives, all of us will either experience mental health issues or know someone else who has. Sometimes they are people who are around us every day and we are unaware of what they are going through. Because, one of the hardest things to do when we are feeling anxious, depressed or low is to talk about it. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder a few years ago and it was one of the most difficult journeys I have ever gone on. I remember it coming out of the blue with no obviou
  
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• Ford Develops Car Window That Lets Blind People 'See' The View

  04-05-2018 14:44
  Ford has revealed that it is working on a new type of car window that lets blind passengers feel the environment around them.Called simply ‘Feel the view’ the experimental technology uses powerful LED lights to recreate the image and then passes vibrations through the glass creating a physical recreation of the surrounding landscape that the passenger can then feel by running their hands across the window.The system is being developed by Ford Italy and a local startup called Aedo tha
  
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• Delay is not an option for Theresa May

  04-05-2018 14:43 via ft.com
  Playing for time will face problems over Irish border and legislative timetable
  
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• Lib Dems: 'We're Back'

  04-05-2018 14:09
  Sir Vince Cable says that the Lib Dems have been underestimated and predicts a break through at the next general election, but says they are not contemplating a coalition with Tories or Labour pic.twitter.com/Vj7FT64zKo— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 4, 2018One party leader who was authentically able to be all smiles on Friday morning was Sir Vince Cable.Labour and the Conservatives both had a mixed night. The two main parties made advances in some parts of the country while falling back in othe
  
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• Zoe Ball Gathers Billy Yates' Friends To Mark First Anniversary Of Boyfriend's Death

  04-05-2018 14:04
  Zoe Ball commemorated the first anniversary of her late partner Billy Yates’ death with his friends on Thursday (3 May).The presenter gathered those that loved the former BBC cameraman together, who took his own life last year, to to raise a glass in his honour. Zoe posted a picture of herself with all of Billy’s friends wearing ‘Mates With Yates’ t-shirts.She captioned it: “One year @billwahweewoo sending out some big love, across the universe #mateswithy
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn ‘Should Go To Barnet To Apologise’ For Anti-Semitism Row Wrecking Labour’s Hopes Of Taking Tory Flagship

  04-05-2018 13:58
  Jeremy Corbyn should apologise in person to Labour activists in Barnet for allowing the party’s anti-semitism problem to ruin its chances of winning the key Tory council, a defeated councillor has told HuffPost UK.Adam Langleben, whose seat in the heavily Jewish ward of West Hendon fell to the Conservatives, said that the Labour leader had a duty to say sorry for the way he had personally failed to get a grip of the issue.Labour had hoped it would win the north London Tory flagship, but in
  
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• Zara, H&M And Topshop Ban Mohair After Animal Cruelty Exposé

  04-05-2018 13:43
  Mohair jumpers and scarves will not be sold in Zara, H&M and Topshop from 2020, as many high street stores have chosen to ban the fabric following a Peta exposé that showed Angora goats farmed for the fabric being mistreated and abused.Peta shared the undercover footage with large fashion conglomerates such as Inditex, Arcadia and H&M both of which have promised to no longer stock mohair products from 2020.The upsetting footage, filmed in 12 farms in South Africa, shows
  
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