Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

1 dead, 7 hurt in Birmingham, UK stabbings
https://thehill.com/policy/international...-stabbings

INTRO: One man was killed and seven people were injured Saturday night in a series of stabbing attacks in the U.K. city of Birmingham. Birmingham Police confirmed on Twitter Sunday afternoon they were actively looking to identify and arrest a male suspect seen on security camera footage. Police said in statements the attacks were seemingly at random and did not appear to be terror-related or a hate crime, though at least one took place in the city's Gay Village... (MORE)

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Police charge 77 over Extinction Rebellion newspaper protests
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr...04583.html

INTRO: Seventy-seven people have been charged by police over the climate protest targeting newspaper printing presses owned by Rupert Murdoch. Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists blockaded factories in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and Knowsley, near Liverpool, using vans, a boat and towers made of bamboo on Friday night.

The demonstration disrupted overnight deliveries of News UK’s titles The Sun and The Times, as well as The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail, to newsagents across the UK as police struggled to clear the roads on Saturday morning. At least 80 people were arrested. Home secretary Priti Patel described it as “an attack on our free press, society and democracy” and Boris Johnson said it was “completely unacceptable to seek to limit the public’s access to news in this way".

XR defended its actions, claiming that “the right wing media is a barrier to the truth”, and called on Mr Murdoch to "stop suppressing the truth about the climate crisis and profiting from the division your papers create"... (MORE)

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Coronavirus: fears UK government has lost control as cases soar
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/s...cases-soar

EXCERPTS: The UK has recorded a massive rise in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus, amid concerns the government has lost control of the epidemic just as people are returning to work and universities prepare to reopen. [...] On Sunday almost 3,000 people in the UK tested positive for Covid-19, a 50% increase in a single day and the highest daily total since May.

“They’ve lost control of the virus,” said Prof Gabriel Scally, a former NHS regional director of public health for the south-west. “It’s no longer small outbreaks they can stamp on. It’s become endemic in our poorest communities and this is the result. It’s extraordinarily worrying when schools are opening and universities are going to be going back.”

As seen in other countries opening up after lockdown, the majority of new cases appear to be in younger people who typically have milder infections than the over-50s. The number of people needing hospital treatment has remained steady, but these lag behind new cases by about two weeks... (MORE - details)

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For-profit care homes 'failing their residents,' says Leonard
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/...ys-leonard

INTRO: Care homes that are run for profit are failing their residents, Scottish Labour warned today after 17 establishments were sent “letters of concern” by the country’s Care Inspectorate. The letters required immediate action to rectify failings. Of the 17, Ashwood House in Callander was told that, after repeated warnings, it is to lose its official registration, meaning it may face closure. Only one care home run by a local authority has received a similar warning. Scottish Labour said the disproportionate number of complaints made to the watchdog over the quality of care for older people in privately owned care homes underlines the need “to eliminate the profit motive from any future national care service.” (MORE)

(Sep 6, 2020 09:53 PM)C C Wrote: [ -> ]XR defended its actions, claiming that “the right wing media is a barrier to the truth”, and called on Mr Murdoch to "stop suppressing the truth about the climate crisis and profiting from the division your papers create"... (MORE)

You know what the solution is to a "barrier to the truth"? More press, not less press. Authoritarian censorship is what people who can't make counterarguments do. It's a sign of impotence.

Brexit: What is the latest row about?: The Internal Market Bill
INTRO: The government has published proposals which could override parts of the Brexit withdrawal deal and breach international law. A major part of that deal concerned NI and preventing a hardening of the land border with the Republic of Ireland... MORE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54092940

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UK plans to snub withdrawal agreement stuns EU
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2020/09/...exit-deal/

INTRO: European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic wants an extraordinary meeting with British officials in the wake of London’s announcement it plans to table legislation to supersede parts of its withdrawal agreement with the European Union. Mr Sefcovic said he “expressed our strong concerns and sought assurances that the UK will fully and timely comply with the withdrawal agreement, including the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland” in a phone call with Michael Gove, who is Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s senior minister for Brexit. A meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee on the Withdrawal Agreement should be held as soon as possible so British officials can “elaborate and respond to our strong concerns on the bill,” he added on Wednesday... (MORE)

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British PM Defends New Brexit Bill to Protect UK's 'Internal Market'
https://www.voanews.com/europe/british-p...nal-market

INTRO: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he plans to "press on" with proposed legislation that explicitly acknowledges his government could break international law by ignoring some parts of the Brexit treaty it signed with the European Union. Britain plunged Brexit trade talks into crisis Wednesday when it published a bill that says London could ignore parts of the Withdrawal Agreement, which was signed in January, though Johnson said it was only for “technical reasons.”

During “question time” in parliament, Johnson said the bill was "a legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations" of the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement that could threaten peace in the British province. The bill, if approved, would give ministers the power to ignore parts of the protocol by modifying the form of export declarations and other exit procedures. European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen expressed strong concern about Britain's plans, noting it would destroy trust and undermine trade talks... (MORE - details)

RELATED: Can the UK Breach the Withdrawal Agreement and Get Away With It? – the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill

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Greece calls on UK to review ‘unfair’ quarantine decision
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/s...e-decision

EXCERPTS: Greece’s tourism minister has said the UK government should review its decision to quarantine people travelling from seven of the country’s most popular islands, labelling the move “unfortunate and unfair”. Harry Theoharis said infection levels in Greece remained below the UK’s threshold for taking countries off its exemption list. [...] Until this week countries had been removed from the UK’s quarantine exemption list when Covid-19 infection rates exceeded 20 people per 100,000 citizens for a period of seven days.

But taking a new regional approach to quarantine policy, Britain’s transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said on Monday that increased coronavirus caseloads on Greek islands posed a risk to public health in the UK. The seven islands singled out were Zakynthos (Zante), Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Lesbos, Serifos and Tinos. The Greek mainland was not removed from the exemption list. [...] The diminishing arrivals from Britain are expected to hit the Greek economy hard... (MORE - details)

Brussels could 'carve up' UK if Tories reject Brexit bill, says Johnson
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/202...ys-johnson

EXCERPTS: Boris Johnson has said his controversial legislation to override parts of his Brexit deal is needed to end EU threats to install a “blockade” in the Irish Sea. The prime minister said Brussels could “carve up our country” and “seriously endanger peace and stability” in Northern Ireland if Conservative MPs rebel to block the internal market bill.

Johnson is working to quell a plan to amend the legislation from senior Tories who are angry that it could break international law by overriding the withdrawal agreement signed with the EU last year. The EU has said the move is a serious breach of trust and has threatened to take legal action if Johnson does not alter the bill by the end of the month.

[...] Writing in the Telegraph, Johnson said: “We are now hearing that unless we agree to the EU’s terms, the EU will use an extreme interpretation of the Northern Ireland protocol to impose a full-scale trade border down the Irish Sea. “We are being told that the EU will not only impose tariffs on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, but that they might actually stop the transport of food products from GB to NI. I have to say that we never seriously believed that the EU would be willing to use a treaty, negotiated in good faith, to blockade one part of the UK, to cut it off; or that they would actually threaten to destroy the economic and territorial integrity of the UK.” (MORE - details)

New trade deal between the UK and Japan might put pressure on EU.

Oh dear, Brussels! Japan trade deal puts EU on alert - UK hand strengthened in Brexit row

Tories May Warm to Biden, But They’ll Miss Trump
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/tories-may-w...-1.1495818

EXCERPTS: The barbs being traded across the Atlantic, between British Conservatives and American Democrats, are a reminder of how this U.S. presidential race is an awkward one for Boris Johnson’s Tories. Whisper it, but Donald Trump has been almost as influential in reshaping the means and mien of the U.K.’s Conservative Party as he has the Republican Party. Many Tories quite like it that way.

Chances are that Joe Biden, if he wins in November, would be a little less interested in Britain and a little frostier toward Boris Johnson. It’s pretty clear already that he’s far less enamored of Brexit.

[...] The current U.S. president is so unpopular in the U.K. that Johnson spent most of Trump’s last visit to the country avoiding being photographed with him. And yet, it’s easy to see why some Tories would miss him. ... There is no Democratic figure that speaks to Tories in the same way.

[...] Of course, if Biden wins, both sides would quickly bury the hatchet by inauguration day, not least because of the many policy synergies to build on.

On the virus, Johnson’s government would find itself far more aligned with a Biden administration. After early blunders made Britain one of the world’s worst performing countries in battling the pandemic, Johnson has been quick to impose new quarantines and lockdown measures, even over opposition from some Conservative quarters. Unlike Trump, whose interest in the virus extends only so far as he can blame his enemies for its effects, Biden’s plan is for exactly the kind of extensive test-and-trace policy that Johnson has been struggling to put in place.

On climate change, the U.K.’s commitment to a net-zero emissions target is so far from Trump’s stance on the subject that Britain would welcome the U.S. returning to international consensus. On geopolitics, it’s too simplistic to say that a Biden administration would revert to Obama-era policies on Iran, China or other issues. The world has changed in many ways. But on a range of issues there is likely to be a deeper discussion of strategy and coordination between Britain and the U.S... (MORE - details)

Rumours Tom Hardy to be cast as next James Bond heat up as bookies suspend bets
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/rumours-tom...t-22708705

INTRO: Betting has been suspended on the next James Bond, after rumours circulated that Venom star Tom Hardy is tipped for the top role. Speculation over who is to play 007 next has been rife ever since Daniel Craig announced his departure, with fans eager to see who dons the famous tuxedo next... (MORE)

COMMENT: A couple of years ago Richard Madden was top contender prior to that being aborted by Daniel Craig's late decision to do a 5th Bond film. (Echoes of Pierce Brosnan back in the late '80s originally losing out on the role because he got called back for an unexpected additional season of Remington Steele -- having to wait till the mid '90s to reclaim the opportunity.) Madden is still among the candidates, but some of the sheen he had back then from Bodyguard and the earlier stint as Robb Stark in Game of Thrones has apaprently worn off since.

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UK’s second largest heroin bust leads to three Dutch arrests
https://nltimes.nl/2020/09/19/uks-second...ch-arrests

INTRO: Dutch, Belgian and British police officers teamed up to bust a drug smuggling operation that resulted in one of the largest heroin busts in UK history. A total of 1,196 kilograms of heroin and morphine derivatives were found hidden in bags of rice, according the the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA). The NCA said the drugs had a wholesale value of 21 million pounds, or about 23 million euros, and a street value six times higher. Several people were arrested in the case including three in the Netherlands... (MORE)

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Woman sentenced after fake cigarettes and tobacco seized from Darlington shop
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1...arlington/

EXCERPTS: The owner of a Darlington store has been sentenced after being caught selling fake cigarettes and illegal tobacco after police dogs tracked it down. Veronika Kutkova, 28, of Howdene Road, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to five offences after police found a total 383 packs of cigarettes and 2.55 kg hand rolling tobacco at the premises of her Corner Shop in Darlington in September 2019.

[...] The shop, along with several others in the town, were visited simultaneously as part of a multi-agency operation led by trading standards, and assisted by BWY Canine who provided a team of tobacco dogs, Durham Police, Immigration Enforcement and the Council’s Community Safety Teams’ civic enforcement and licensing officers.

Behind the counter in the Corner Shop in plain view were open bags of what were clearly illicit and counterfeit cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco. [...] She was sentenced to a 12 month Community Order with 15 days of Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £643.80 plus a victim surcharge of £90.,, (MORE - details)

UK: What is illegal tobacco?

CIGARETTES

“Illicit white” cigarettes which have no legal market in the UK. These are cigarettes legally mass manufactured in factories in Russia and the East and imported illegally to the UK. Duty has not been paid and the appropriate health warnings and images might not be present.

Counterfeit cigarettes which are illegally manufactured and sold by a party other than the original trademark or copyright holder.

Genuine cigarettes which are smuggled into the UK without duty paid. Tobacco companies themselves have been strongly implicated in this. As well as cigarettes made for the UK this may include cigarettes intended for sale in another country that have been smuggled into the UK or duty free cigarettes being illegally sold, rather than kept for personal use.

HAND-ROLLING TOBACCO

Non-UK hand-rolling tobacco brands are not intended for sale in the UK.

Counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco is, like cigarettes, illegally manufactured and sold by a party other than the original trademark or copyright owner. It can also include the counterfeiting of non-UK products.

Genuine or UK hand-rolling tobacco brands include products intended for both the UK and non-UK markets.

http://www.illicit-tobacco.co.uk/problem...t-tobacco/

Tom Hardy as Bond? Yuck. If we must a British actor as Bond, I'd go Benedict Cumberbatch.

UK had highest number of young cocaine users in Europe, shows report
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020...ear-report

EXCERPTS: . . . A report on the latest trends in illicit drug use suggests that 5.3% of people aged between 15 and 34 in the UK took cocaine in 2018, the most recent year for which records are available. About half of Europe’s 15,000 crack-related treatment demands have been reported by the UK authorities.

The second highest proportion of cocaine users in 2018 was recorded by Denmark and the Netherlands, where 3.9% of young adults had taken the drug in the 12 months previous to being asked about their habits. [...] The purity of cocaine sold on the streets is higher than ever. The number of seizures in the EU reached the highest levels ever recorded ...

The additional concern in the UK will be that a significant proportion of the shipments entering Spain, Belgium or the Netherlands have subsequently ended up in the British market. [...] a Home Office drug review ... found that middle-class drug takers were driving a rise in heavy cocaine use. ... organised crime had also proven to be “extremely resilient” during the coronavirus pandemic, fuelling a digital transformation of the illicit trade in consumer countries. ... consumers and dealers turned to the use of online “dark net” markets, social media platforms and parcel and home delivery services... (MORE - details)

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No bail for man caught with drugs as lawyers criticise charges are 'lottery'
https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court...es_lottery

EXCERPTS: A man arrested with sachets of what police suspect is cocaine, heroin and crack in his car has been denied bail, with his lawyers arguing that if he had been stopped 100m further down the road, he could have been tried by a drugs court. [...] Douglas Briffa’s lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia entered a plea of not guilty on the man’s behalf and requested bail. Debono asked Inspector Scerri about the charge of being in possession of the drugs within 100m of a place frequented by youths, with the witness replying that the man had been arrested in between two playing areas.

It emerged that the police had ordered the man to stop at the place in question and Debono lost no time in arguing that the aggravation of the charge “was not a random thing, therefore” and asked the court to take into consideration the fact that the accused could otherwise benefit from the lower sentencing regimes of a drug court. It would otherwise become "a lottery" argued the lawyer.

Bail was objected to by the prosecution on the grounds that Briffa was “certainly not trustworthy” – he had been charged with aggravated and not simple possession of drugs, he had breached bail, had a colourful criminal record and several previous convictions, said the inspectors. There were also third parties yet to testify, they said... (MORE - details)

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Is Queen about to turn her back on the grouse shooting industry?
https://www.channel4.com/news/is-queen-a...g-industry

INTRO: It’s long been under scrutiny over the potential damage it does to wildlife and the environment. Now the government’s decision to exempt hunting and shooting from the Covid rule of six has led many to turn their fire on the grouse-shooting industry...

Warning: this report contains scenes of animal cruelty.

Ascension Island: Priti Patel considered outpost for UK asylum centre location
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54349796

INTRO: The government has considered building an asylum processing centre on a remote UK territory in the Atlantic Ocean. The idea of "offshoring" people is being looked at but finding a suitable location would be key, a source said. Home Secretary Priti Patel asked officials to look at asylum policies which had been successful in other countries, the BBC has been told.

The Financial Times says Ascension Island, more than 4,000 miles (6,000km) from the UK, was a suggested location. The Foreign Office is understood to have carried out an assessment for Ascension - which included the practicalities of transferring migrants thousands of miles to the island - and decided not to proceed.

However, a Home Office source said ministers were looking at "every option that can stop small boat crossings and fix the asylum system". "The UK has a long and proud history of offering refuge to those who need protection. Tens of thousands of people have rebuilt their lives in the UK and we will continue to provide safe and legal routes in the future. As ministers have said we are developing plans to reform policies and laws around illegal migration and asylum to ensure we are able to provide protection to those who need it, while preventing abuse of the system and the criminality associated with it."

No final decisions have been made. Labour's shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: "This ludicrous idea is inhumane, completely impractical and wildly expensive - so it seems entirely plausible this Tory government came up with it." Alan Nicholls, a member of the Ascension Island council, said moving asylum seekers more than 4,000 miles to the British overseas territory would be a "logistical nightmare" and not well received by the islanders.... (MORE)

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Government won't rule out constructing offshore migrant centres despite deeming them too expensive
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-...nts-226994

RELEASE: The government has refused to rule out using remote islands to process asylum seekers despite saying the plan was too costly. Home secretary Priti Patel reportedly scrapped plans to build an offshore migrant processing centre on the Atlantic islands of Ascension and St Helena after a review found it would be too expensive and logistically complex to do.

But, when repeatedly probed by reporters on whether the government would consider processing asylum seekers on islands in the English Channel or off the coast of Scotland, Boris Johnson's official spokesperson said that the UK was considering all its options. He said: "As part of the work that we are conducting on preventing abuse of the system and the criminality associated with it, we have been looking at what a whole host of other countries do, in order to inform a plan for the UK. "The work is ongoing and when there is more to say on it, we will do so."

His remarks has sparked concerns the UK may follow in Australia's footsteps which has build offshore detention centres on the remote islands of Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The Australian centres were determined to be in breach of international law by the International Criminal Court in January. Earlier on Wednesday the FT reported that the home secretary ordered her staff to explore the possibility of building a processing centre on Ascension island, which is more than 4,000 miles away from the UK.

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Middle-aged man loses 'unprecedented' legal bid to force wealthy parents to financially support him
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho...21934.html

INTRO: A 41-year-old unemployed man has failed in an “unprecedented” bid to force his wealthy parents to keep supporting him financially. The man, a qualified solicitor who has mental health disabilities, said his parents had “nurtured his dependency” on them and recently “significantly reduced” their financial support after his relationship with them deteriorated.

Lawyers representing the man argued that a judge could order parents to provide support, citing laws relating to marriage and children, while his parents said the claim should be dismissed. Sir James Munby described the case as “most unusual” and, as far as he knew, “unprecedented”, adding: “I suspect that the initial reaction of most experienced family lawyers would be a robust disbelief that there is even arguable substance to any of it.”

The judge ruled against the man after considering arguments at a remote family court hearing, concluding that the 41-year-old had “no case”... (MORE)