In a speech at the US state department last week, President Biden turned the war in Yemen from a forgotten crisis to front-page news. Since March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition, militarily and diplomatically backed by the US and UK in particular, has been involved in the conflict, which grew out of a failed political transition … Read more
Finally, here comes the confession from the Conservatives that they have done monumental damage to the NHS. The great upheaval created by Andrew Lansley in 2012, with the support of the Liberal Democrats, blew the NHS into fragments, each compelled to compete and submit to private tender to “any willing provider”. The Health and Social … Read more
More than 90% of over-75s in the UK have taken up the chance of a first coronavirus vaccination, Matt Hancock has announced, as Britons were told they might need a third “booster” jab in the autumn to fully protect against new variants. At a Downing Street press conference the health secretary and Jonathan Van-Tam, the … Read more
Parish councils in England collected £596m in local taxes in 2020-21. For around 20 million people, and 100,000 councillors, they are a part of our democratic fabric and civil society (arrangements in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales vary). As well as small villages with just a few hundred residents, parish councils (the name is confusing) … Read more
A Democratic Unionist party MP has sparked condemnation after describing an edition of Songs of Praise that featured only black people as the “BBC at its BLM worst”. Politicians in Northern Ireland and anti-racism campaigners urged Gregory Campbell to apologise and called on the DUP to sanction him. Sinn Féin said it had reported his … Read more