Monthly Archives: April 2023

Question Time audience member perfectly sums up Britain’s wealth inequality

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An excellent post from Left Foot Forward

Image of loads of money
Image of loads of money

Question Time audience member perfectly sums up Britain’s wealth inequality

An audience member on BBC Question Time last night offered a perfect summary of the wealth inequality in Britain as a result of the government’s politically motivated economic choices.

The comment came after a question on the show which asked, “is it a bit rich, for the rich, to tell us to accept being poorer?”.

This was in response to an insensitive, to say the least, remark earlier this week by the Bank of England’s Chief Economist Huw Pill who said Britons, need to accept being poorer.

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“If you put the tax burden on the very rich, it’s like, ‘ok I have a slightly smaller bank balance at the end of the year’, but you’re still rich.

“And when I say rich, I don’t mean people on £100,000 or £200,000, we’re talking about people who have billions, you could never spend it in a lifetime, you could never spend it in ten lifetimes.

“Why is that you’re then putting the burden on people who have no money, it just doesn’t make sense.”

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Question Time audience member perfectly sums up Britain’s wealth inequality

Continue ReadingQuestion Time audience member perfectly sums up Britain’s wealth inequality

‘Inflammatory, polarising and dehumanising’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/braverman-slammed-for-using-abhorrent-and-divisive-rhetoric

Braverman slammed for using ‘abhorrent and divisive’ rhetoric as anti-refugee Bill debated

SUELLA BRAVERMAN was slammed by anti-racists and migrant rights campaigners today after saying that those coming to Britain through non-government approved routes “have values at odds with our country.”

As the Illegal Migrant Bill returned to the Commons today, the Home Secretary said: “We are seeing heightened levels of criminality when related to the people who’ve come on boats, related to drug dealing, exploitation, prostitution.”

The Bill, dubbed the anti-refugee Bill by human rights groups, will change the law so that those who arrive in Britain on small boats and other dangerous routes will be detained and removed to the country they were trying to get away from or to a third country such as Rwanda.

It is expected to pass in the Commons but could face obstacles in the Lords.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/braverman-slammed-for-using-abhorrent-and-divisive-rhetoric

Continue Reading‘Inflammatory, polarising and dehumanising’

Greenpeace granted permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round

Read more about the article Greenpeace granted permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round
Greenpeace image, sign reads CHOOSE OCEANS, NOT OIL
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The High Court yesterday granted Greenpeace permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round, with fossil fuel companies submitting more than 100 licences to explore for new oil and gas. 

The judge has granted permission to Greenpeace for a full Judicial Review of the Government’s decision not to take into account the environmental effects of consuming the oil and gas to be extracted in the new licensing round. 

Greenpeace’s legal argument is that this is a glaring omission from the Government’s decision making, including its climate compatibility check. Since at no time do the test involve looking at the emissions created from burning fossil fuels, despite the fact that this will amount to more than 80% of the total emissions generated from the new licences.

This news comes one month after stark warnings from the IPCC and UN Secretary General which yet again restated that there must be no new fossil fuel development if the world is to limit warming to 1.5C, with current approved projects already enough to take us beyond that point. 

Philip Evans, Greenpeace UK’s climate campaigner, said:

“This verdict is the first real setback for the Government’s reckless oil and gas licensing round. Ministers will now be forced to justify in front of a judge why they want to unleash a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea against the advice of leading scientists and the UN chief, without assessing the climate impact. 

“The Government already has the solutions to tackle the scandal of the cost of living, guarantee our energy security, and help the climate but the Government is ignoring them in favour of their friends in the fossil fuel industry. They must instead upgrade our old fashioned electricity grid, invest in cheap home grown renewables and stop energy waste from our homes.”

North Sea drilling: Greenpeace prepares to challenge ‘disastrous’ UK decision

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A court hearing on Tuesday will determine whether the environmental group will be permitted a judicial review of the decision, made during Liz Truss’s short-lived time as prime minister.

Last year, her administration kicked off an oil and gas licensing round under which companies could bid for more than 100 new licences to explore for oil and gas.

The North Sea Transition Authority began the process in October, offering up about 900 locations for exploration, and it is expected to conclude in June. It is the first new licensing round since 2019-20.

The decision was carried out by the then energy secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, under Truss despite warnings of possible legal action by Greenpeace. The green organisation has since carried out that threat, arguing in its court filing that the new licences will further harm the environment.

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North Sea drilling: Greenpeace prepares to challenge ‘disastrous’ UK decision

Continue ReadingGreenpeace granted permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round

Record ocean temperatures put Earth in ‘uncharted territory’, say scientists

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/26/accelerating-ocean-warming-earth-temperatures-climate-crisis

‘Unprecedented’ warming indicates climate crisis is taking place before our eyes, experts say

Temperatures in the world’s oceans have broken fresh records, testing new highs for more than a month in an “unprecedented” run that has led to scientists stating the Earth has reached “uncharted territory” in the climate crisis.

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Prof Mike Meredith of the British Antarctic Survey said: “This has got scientists scratching their heads. The fact that it is warming as much as it has been is a real surprise, and very concerning. It could be a short-lived extreme high, or it could be the start of something much more serious.”

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Some scientists fear that the rapid warming could be a sign of the climate crisis progressing at a faster rate than predicted. The oceans have acted as a kind of global buffer to the climate crisis over recent decades, both by absorbing vast amounts of the carbon dioxide that we have poured into the atmosphere, and by storing about 90% of the excess energy and heat this has created, dampening some of the impacts of global heating on land. Some scientists fear we could be reaching the limit of the oceans’ capacity to absorb these excesses.

Meredith said it was still too soon to tell. “The rate [of temperature rise] is stronger than climate models would predict,” he said. “The cause for concern is that if it carries on, this will be well ahead of the climate curve [predicted] for the ocean. But we don’t know yet if that is going to happen.”

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Mark Maslin, professor of Earth system science at University College London, said the climate crisis was taking hold before our eyes. “Climate scientists were shocked by the extreme weather events in 2021,” he said. “Many hoped this was just an extreme year. But they continued into 2022 and now they are occurring in 2023. It seems we have moved to a warmer climate system with frequent extreme climate events and record-breaking temperatures that are the new normal. It is difficult to see how anyone can deny climate change is happening and having devastating effects around the world.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/26/accelerating-ocean-warming-earth-temperatures-climate-crisis

World Economic Forum: Ocean surface temperatures reach record high

Rich Davosers: El Niño is coming, and ocean temps are already at record highs – that can spell disaster for fish and corals

Continue ReadingRecord ocean temperatures put Earth in ‘uncharted territory’, say scientists

The Home Office says you don’t need to know about its ‘spying’ on lawyers

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Image of GCHQ donught building. Doesn't look like a doughnut. Look. Oh c'mon, can't you see - open your eye.

Original article republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Exclusive: Government refuses to answer questions about its surveillance of immigration lawyers

Jenna Corderoy 24 April 2023, 10.00pm

The government has refused to answer questions about its “monitoring” of human rights lawyers – saying revealing the extent of its surveillance is not in the public interest.

In February, immigration minister Robert Jenrick admitted during a parliamentary debate that the Home Office is “monitoring the activities” of “a small number of legal practitioners”, after claiming that “human rights lawyers abuse and exploit our laws”.

Using Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, openDemocracy asked the Home Office how many legal practitioners it is monitoring, the nature of the monitoring and when it began. We also asked which unit within the department is carrying out the surveillance or if it has been outsourced to private firms.

The Home Office has now rejected the request, saying it is not in the public interest to disclose any of the information. openDemocracy has appealed against this decision.

Paul Heron, senior solicitor at the Public Interest Law Centre, told openDemocracy: “Government ministers spying on lawyers sounds like something from an authoritarian state. It is a direct threat to the rule of law and undermines the principles of justice and fairness.

“State surveillance of lawyers, and indeed any worker, is a clear violation of human rights and civil liberties and undermines the very foundation of a free and democratic society.”

Heron added: “The Home Office’s refusal to respond openly, adequately and indeed at all to the FOI request from openDemocracy regarding the monitoring strategy of lawyers by the Home Office should be a real concern, indicating not only a fundamental lack of transparency but a fundamental lack of accountability.”

State surveillance of lawyers, and indeed any worker, is a clear violation of human rights and civil liberties

Jon Baines, a senior data protection specialist at law firm Mishcon de Reya, shared Heron’s concerns.

Speaking to openDemocracy, Baines said: “The secrecy shown by the Home Office is regrettable, particularly as there is a distinct lack of any meaningful analysis of the public interest factors weighing in favour of disclosure.

“Secret monitoring of lawyers by the state has very serious connotations, and if the information really is exempt from disclosure, it is incumbent on the Home Office to give more detail and more justification for what is an inherently oppressive activity.”

The Home Office’s silence comes ahead of the return of the Illegal Migration Bill to the Commons this week, for its third and final reading before moving to the Lords. On Monday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission warned that the bill “risks breaching international obligations to protect human rights and exposing individuals to serious harm”.

The government claims the legislation will deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

In February, Tory MP Bill Wiggin used a parliamentary session about a violent incident outside a hotel used to temporarily house asylum seekers in Knowsley, Liverpool to ask about legislating to stop such crossings.

Jenrick replied: “This is one of the most litigious areas of public life. It is an area where, I am afraid, human rights lawyers abuse and exploit our laws.”

The Home Office must give more detail and more justification for what is an inherently oppressive activity

Later in the debate, Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael asked: “The minister told us a few minutes ago that part of the problem here is human rights lawyers who abuse and exploit our laws… could the minister tell the House how many solicitors, advocates and barristers have been reported by the Home Office in the last 12 months to the regulatory authorities?”

Jenrick did not answer the question or provide figures. Instead, he said: “We are monitoring the activities, as it so happens, of a small number of legal practitioners, but it is not appropriate for me to discuss that here.”

At the time, Jenrick’s comments prompted dismay and concern among lawyers.

In its FOI refusal, the Home Office stated that a disclosure would “inhibit free and frank analysis in the future, and the loss of frankness and candour would damage the quality of risk assessments and deliberation and lead to poorer decision-making”.

Explaining its decision to withhold the information, the department said: “The Home Office has a process that allows caseworkers to check companies and individuals are qualified to provide immigration advice and reporting mechanisms that allows us to escalate any issues to regulatory bodies.”

Original article republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Continue ReadingThe Home Office says you don’t need to know about its ‘spying’ on lawyers