Oct 24, 2019 04:09 PM
(This post was last modified: Oct 24, 2019 04:26 PM by C C.)
Britain braces for heavy rain and first snowfall of season, as 'danger to life' warnings issued (live, updated weather blog): A month’s worth of rain is set to fall across parts of the UK on Friday, with forecasters warning fast-flowing or deep floodwater could pose “a danger to life”. Gale-force winds of up to 60mph will also batter some regions and the first snow of the year might hit higher ground, the Met Office said. There is a small chance that businesses and homes could be affected by the flooding with the potential for powercuts and communities to be cut off. The weather warning is in place from 12pm on Friday until midnight on Saturday, covering most of Wales, plus a swathe of northwest England stretching from Leeds to Carlisle.
Number of first-time knife crime offenders rises 25% in five years (excerpt): The number of first-time knife crime offenders has risen by 25% in the last five years, official figures show. The proportion of repeat offenders sentenced who had previous convictions for similar crimes has also jumped to nearly 30%, its highest level on record. There were 11,429 criminals who were caught for committing their first knife or weapon offence in the year ending June 2014 but this increased to 14,235 in the year ending June 2019, according to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data.
The proportion of repeat offenders sentenced who had previous convictions or cautions for possession of a knife or offensive weapon rose year-on-year from 3,873 (25%) to 5,774 (29%). In the 12 months to the end of June, 22,306 knife or dangerous weapon offences were formally dealt with by the criminal justice system in England and Wales, up from 21,314 in the same period the previous year. This is the highest number on record since 2010, when 22,689 offences were dealt with. But it is not the highest level ever recorded, as a year earlier, in the same period in 2009, the figure was 27,225.
Offenders are now more likely to be sent to jail and be behind bars for longer, the MoJ said. [...] But suspended sentences were also handed out in 4,326 cases – the highest rate since records began. Figures also showed rising rates of cautions and community sentences. The average length of a jail sentence rose over the same period of time from 5.9 months to 8.1 months...
UK police say 39 found dead in truck were Chinese (intro): British police said on Thursday that 39 people found dead in a truck near London were all believed to be Chinese nationals, as officers conduct the country's largest murder probe in more than a decade. Emergency workers made the grisly discovery on early Wednesday inside the refrigerated container of a truck parked in an industrial area east of London, shortly after it had arrived on a ferry from Belgium. The case has triggered shock and outrage in Britain, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson describing it as an "unimaginable tragedy".
The local police force said in a statement that eight of the dead were women and 31 were men. "All are believed to be Chinese nationals," Essex Police said. China's foreign ministry said its embassy staff in London were heading to the scene "to verify this situation". The grim discovery has drawn attention to the shadowy people trafficking business and efforts to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Britain...
The EU is set to grant the UK a Brexit extension, but its patience is running out (intro): Two things are certain in Brussels these days: no one wants to grant the UK another extension, but no one will deny it one. The EU is set to confirm a delay to the UK’s Halloween deadline in the next few days. But with Johnson’s threats to scrap the Brexit bill altogether rather than accept a three-month extension, EU leaders will meet on Friday to discuss the matter of its length – with some favouring a much shorter delay...
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Johnson's deal is Brexit endgame, UK says (intro): The United Kingdom will ultimately leave the European Union on the terms of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's deal, a senior Downing Street source says, as EU leaders mull offering London a three-month flexible Brexit delay. More than three years after voting 52 per cent to 48 per cent to be the first sovereign country to leave the European project, the United Kingdom is waiting for the EU to decide how long the latest delay to Brexit should be. "This ends with us leaving with the PM's deal," a Downing Street source who spoke on condition of anonymity said on Thursday. "We will leave with a deal, with the PM's deal."
When asked when Brexit would happen, given that the current deadline of October 31 is only a week away, the source said: "Parliament has taken back control." [...] So will there be an election before Christmas? "Perhaps," the Downing Street source said. "We shall see." As British politicians discuss the pros and cons of a Christmas election, responsibility for the timing of Brexit has passed to other European capitals: Berlin supports a three-month delay, while Paris is pushing for a shorter one...
Have the Tories become an anti-parliament party? (excerpt): After Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement was defeated three times, and then Boris Johnson’s deal suffered setbacks in the past few days, parliament has become the new target of the Conservative Party. Although the party has historically been the party of established institutions, in particular Westminster – long viewed as the sacrosanct emblem of national sovereignty – a new populist narrative has emerged among the hard Brexiters of the party. Parliament is now portrayed as ‘the enemy of the people’, who are therefore denied the possibility of seeing their views respected and Brexit delivered.
[...] As part of this populist narrative, a new rhetoric has developed inside the parliamentary arena blaming parliament for the constitutional chaos and social tensions which have gripped the country for the last three years. Once again, Boris Johnson set the tone in Manchester by arguing metaphorically that “If parliament were a laptop, then the screen would be showing the pizza wheel of doom. If parliament were a school, Ofsted would be shutting it down. If parliament were a reality TV show the whole lot of us would have been voted out of the jungle by now.” Although Conservative MPs are actually divided on this issue, the perception of parliament has radically changed among them. ... The latest audit of public engagement, published by the Hansard Society in 2019, revealed that Britons have more confidence in the military (74%), judges (62%) and even civil servants (49%) than in MPs (34%) to act in the public interest, and only 25% of them have confidence in the MPs’ handling of Brexit...
Number of first-time knife crime offenders rises 25% in five years (excerpt): The number of first-time knife crime offenders has risen by 25% in the last five years, official figures show. The proportion of repeat offenders sentenced who had previous convictions for similar crimes has also jumped to nearly 30%, its highest level on record. There were 11,429 criminals who were caught for committing their first knife or weapon offence in the year ending June 2014 but this increased to 14,235 in the year ending June 2019, according to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data.
The proportion of repeat offenders sentenced who had previous convictions or cautions for possession of a knife or offensive weapon rose year-on-year from 3,873 (25%) to 5,774 (29%). In the 12 months to the end of June, 22,306 knife or dangerous weapon offences were formally dealt with by the criminal justice system in England and Wales, up from 21,314 in the same period the previous year. This is the highest number on record since 2010, when 22,689 offences were dealt with. But it is not the highest level ever recorded, as a year earlier, in the same period in 2009, the figure was 27,225.
Offenders are now more likely to be sent to jail and be behind bars for longer, the MoJ said. [...] But suspended sentences were also handed out in 4,326 cases – the highest rate since records began. Figures also showed rising rates of cautions and community sentences. The average length of a jail sentence rose over the same period of time from 5.9 months to 8.1 months...
UK police say 39 found dead in truck were Chinese (intro): British police said on Thursday that 39 people found dead in a truck near London were all believed to be Chinese nationals, as officers conduct the country's largest murder probe in more than a decade. Emergency workers made the grisly discovery on early Wednesday inside the refrigerated container of a truck parked in an industrial area east of London, shortly after it had arrived on a ferry from Belgium. The case has triggered shock and outrage in Britain, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson describing it as an "unimaginable tragedy".
The local police force said in a statement that eight of the dead were women and 31 were men. "All are believed to be Chinese nationals," Essex Police said. China's foreign ministry said its embassy staff in London were heading to the scene "to verify this situation". The grim discovery has drawn attention to the shadowy people trafficking business and efforts to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Britain...
The EU is set to grant the UK a Brexit extension, but its patience is running out (intro): Two things are certain in Brussels these days: no one wants to grant the UK another extension, but no one will deny it one. The EU is set to confirm a delay to the UK’s Halloween deadline in the next few days. But with Johnson’s threats to scrap the Brexit bill altogether rather than accept a three-month extension, EU leaders will meet on Friday to discuss the matter of its length – with some favouring a much shorter delay...
- - -
Johnson's deal is Brexit endgame, UK says (intro): The United Kingdom will ultimately leave the European Union on the terms of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's deal, a senior Downing Street source says, as EU leaders mull offering London a three-month flexible Brexit delay. More than three years after voting 52 per cent to 48 per cent to be the first sovereign country to leave the European project, the United Kingdom is waiting for the EU to decide how long the latest delay to Brexit should be. "This ends with us leaving with the PM's deal," a Downing Street source who spoke on condition of anonymity said on Thursday. "We will leave with a deal, with the PM's deal."
When asked when Brexit would happen, given that the current deadline of October 31 is only a week away, the source said: "Parliament has taken back control." [...] So will there be an election before Christmas? "Perhaps," the Downing Street source said. "We shall see." As British politicians discuss the pros and cons of a Christmas election, responsibility for the timing of Brexit has passed to other European capitals: Berlin supports a three-month delay, while Paris is pushing for a shorter one...
Have the Tories become an anti-parliament party? (excerpt): After Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement was defeated three times, and then Boris Johnson’s deal suffered setbacks in the past few days, parliament has become the new target of the Conservative Party. Although the party has historically been the party of established institutions, in particular Westminster – long viewed as the sacrosanct emblem of national sovereignty – a new populist narrative has emerged among the hard Brexiters of the party. Parliament is now portrayed as ‘the enemy of the people’, who are therefore denied the possibility of seeing their views respected and Brexit delivered.
[...] As part of this populist narrative, a new rhetoric has developed inside the parliamentary arena blaming parliament for the constitutional chaos and social tensions which have gripped the country for the last three years. Once again, Boris Johnson set the tone in Manchester by arguing metaphorically that “If parliament were a laptop, then the screen would be showing the pizza wheel of doom. If parliament were a school, Ofsted would be shutting it down. If parliament were a reality TV show the whole lot of us would have been voted out of the jungle by now.” Although Conservative MPs are actually divided on this issue, the perception of parliament has radically changed among them. ... The latest audit of public engagement, published by the Hansard Society in 2019, revealed that Britons have more confidence in the military (74%), judges (62%) and even civil servants (49%) than in MPs (34%) to act in the public interest, and only 25% of them have confidence in the MPs’ handling of Brexit...