“Doctors are threatening to continue strikes throughout the rest of this parliament as almost all non-emergency hospital care is halted by “unprecedented” industrial action this week. Junior doctors and consultants will strike together for the first time on Wednesday, and thousands of appointments and operations will be cancelled. NHS leaders say that disruption to services this week will be unprecedented, and volunteers will be drafted in to A&E to help patients. Leaders of the junior doctors’ union said they would strike until there was a new government and blamed Rishi Sunak’s ego for the deadlock. Hospital consultants in England will strike tomorrow and Wednesday, and junior doctors will strike on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.” – The Times
“The Home Office is exploring stopping a special visa scheme that allows foreigners to come and teach Mandarin for the Confucius Institutes amid criticism of the body’s ties to Beijing. Suella Braverman’s officials are looking at changes to the Government Authorised Exchange, through which people living abroad can move to the UK temporarily to teach a language. The Confucius Institute is funded by the Chinese government and promotes the country’s language and culture. It helps teach Mandarin in various UK schools and universities. Rishi Sunak pledged to ban the body when he ran for the Conservative leadership in the summer of 2022, but now in office has backed away from the campaign promise.” – The Daily Telegraph
“We have been working hard with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership, to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and to make sure the full force of the law is applied. Owners who let their dogs terrorise people or other animals are already breaking the law, and we already have a full range of powers to apply penalties to owners who do not control their pets. Any dog that is dangerously out of control can be euthanised and their owners put in prison for up to 14 years and be banned from ever owning a dog. However, given the recent rise of fatalities and other attacks it is clear that the time has now come for more decisive action – aimed specifically at the American XL bully.” – Daily Express
“Millions of teenagers across Britain will arrive at university for the first time on Monday as freshers’ week begins. Almost all will experience bouts of loneliness with nearly half being worried they will be judged if they admit to it, according to a sample of 1,000 students, collected by YouGov for the government. To try to tackle the issue, the minister for loneliness, Stuart Andrew, has launched an awareness campaign. Partnering with the charity Sporting Wellness, Student Radio Association, Student Roost and Student Minds, he wants students to open up and talk to each other. “Going to university can be the biggest transition young people have faced,” he said…The government has said that tackling loneliness across the UK is a priority.” – The Guardian
“As the son and the grandson of emphatic working-class conservatives, I am under no such patronising illusion. But it does make me think that the Conservative Party, in a desperate attempt to hold its coalition together, is getting working-class conservatives wrong. Their red wall rhetoric is all stop the boats, send them to Rwanda, cancel the cancel culture, woke is broke. The working-class conservatives of my own history were not turned on by all that. The sense of gloom and hostility that spins off Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch just doesn’t capture their motivation. Working-class conservatism was not rooted in a world gone wrong; it was rooted in the aspiration for a better life. The working-class conservatives…wanted their children and grandchildren to become middle-class.” – The Times
“Liz Truss will claim on Monday that UK economic growth would be 2 per cent higher in 2030 if her economic policies were still in place, in a speech defending her approach. Speaking ahead of the one-year anniversary of her mini-Budget, the former prime minister will deliver a vehement defence of the tax-slashing policies she unveiled in office. Ms Truss will take a swipe at her critics, saying the policies “aren’t fashionable on the London dinner party circuit”, but they were the right ones nonetheless. She will also call for the retirement age, currently 66 for men and women, to rise further in the years ahead – a policy debate still live in Whitehall. Ms Truss’s premiership became the shortest in British history – just 49 days – in the wake of her mini-Budget…” – The Daily Telegraph
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>Yesterday:
“The future of the European Union is at stake unless it can stop a huge surge in uncontrolled migration across the Mediterranean, the Italian prime minister has said. Giorgia Meloni, a populist rightwinger, issued her warning on a joint visit with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, to the island of Lampedusa. Thousands of people have arrived on the southernmost Italian territory in recent days as Europe returns to the crisis levels of irregular migration last seen in 2015. “The future that Europe wants for itself is at stake here,” Meloni declared at a press conference… There have been scenes of chaos and unrest on Lampedusa, once renowned for the beauty of its beaches, after more than 8,500 irregular migrants…arrived in 200 boats…” – The Times
“Sir Keir Starmer has promised to seek a major rewrite of Britain’s Brexit deal in 2025 if Labour win the next general election, saying he owes it to his children to rebuild relations with the EU. Starmer…would put a closer trading relationship with Brussels and a new partnership with business at the heart of his efforts to bolster Britain’s economic growth. Britain’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU…is due for review in 2025 and Starmer said he saw this as an “important” moment to reset relations. “Almost everyone recognises the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal — it’s far too thin,” he said in an interview. “As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK.” Starmer was speaking at a conference of centre-left leaders in Montreal.” – The Financial Times
“The return of a totem pole which it was claimed was “stolen” from an indigenous people in Canada is to cost taxpayers £300,000 after SNP ministers agreed to pay to send it back. The Scottish Government is to meet the huge bill despite a National Museums of Scotland policy stating that the costs of returning foreign artefacts should be the responsibility of those who had requested them. Documents disclosed under Freedom of Information laws suggest that SNP ministers privately indicated a “political willingness” to fund the return of the 36ft Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole to the Nisga’a Nation, an indigenous people based in British Columbia, last year with no idea how much it would cost.” – The Daily Telegraph