Racial Wealth Gap Persists Despite Degree, Study Says. Outrage at ‘lavish’ spending by City of London Corporation. British Bobsleigh’s head coach said ‘black drivers do not make good bobsleigh drivers’ The new head coach of British Bobsleigh, Lee Johnston, who was promoted to the position just over a fortnight ago, was formally disciplined and warned as to his future conduct after making derogatory remarks about black drivers in 2013, the Guardian can reveal.
Johnston, a 12-times British champion who went to the Winter Olympics in 1998, 2002 and 2006 before becoming a coach, was accused of saying to a member of the squad, Toby Olubi, “I knew you would be late because you are black”, and later in the same training session, on 4 July 2013, “Black drivers do not make good bobsleigh drivers.” Leaked document reveals UK Brexit plan to deter EU immigrants. Britain will end the free movement of labour immediately after Brexit and introduce restrictions to deter all but highly-skilled EU workers under detailed proposals set out in a Home Office document leaked to the Guardian.
The 82-page paper, marked as extremely sensitive and dated August 2017, sets out for the first time how Britain intends to approach the politically charged issue of immigration, dramatically refocusing policy to put British workers first. Landlords admit turning away EU citizens to avoid Government regulations. Private landlords in the UK are refusing to rent homes to EU citizens in a bid to avoid new government regulations, a study has found.
According to a Residential Landlords Association (RLA) survey, almost one in five landlords say they are less likely to rent their properties to EU nationals because of the checks they must now complete on tenants who are not British citizens. Under the Government’s Right to Rent scheme, people renting out homes were made responsible for ensuring their tenants have a legal right to be in the UK. The scheme was introduced in the Immigration Act 2014, and came into effect last year. It was designed to crack down on illegal immigrants but research suggests it causes landlords to refuse to rent their properties to non-UK citizens because of the extra bureaucracy. As a result, EU citizens are seeing their access to rented homes significantly restricted. Revealed: Britain's most powerful elite is 97% white.
Barely 3% of Britain’s most powerful and influential people are from black and minority ethnic groups, according to a broad new analysis that highlights startling inequality despite decades of legislation to address discrimination.
From a list of just over 1,000 of the UK’s top political, financial, judicial, cultural and security figures drawn up by the Guardian in partnership with Operation Black Vote and in consultation with academics, only 36 (3.4%) were from ethnic minorities (BAME). Just seven (0.7%) were BAME women. The numbers betray a grotesque disconnect with the composition of the UK population, almost 13% of which has a minority background. In some sectors – the police, military, supreme court and security services as well as top consultancies and law firms – there were no non-white supremos at all. May suffers humiliation as DUP backs Labour on NHS pay and tuition fees. Theresa May has suffered a major embarrassment in the House of Commons after the Democratic Unionist party backed Labour motions in favour of increasing NHS pay and against a rise in tuition fees.
Government withholds Brexit food price report. Scotland isn't different, it's Britain that's bizarre. If I have to hear another sneering Remain voter say Cornwall 'got what it deserved' over Brexit, I'll explode. This week saw Cornwall receive much derision after the Government decided to award £18m to prop up the county’s weak economy, with the area now set to lose £60m of annual funding from the EU.
Social media was awash with commentators saying that the region got what it deserved for voting Leave. They wanted Brexit, people said, and now they have it, they want us to pay for the disadvantages. Today irony died: Theresa May says no referendum without knowing what alternative looks like. BBC risks undermining Brexit and damaging UK with 'pessimistic and skewed' coverage, 70 MPs warn. No 10 plays down House of Lords abolition warning over Brexit. Downing Street has sought to play down a warning from a government source that the House of Lords could be abolished if peers try to block the Brexit bill.
Heatherwick's secret Garden Bridge meetings revealed. London mayor Boris Johnson or senior members of his team held at least five meetings on the Garden Bridge with Thomas Heatherwick before the launch of the design contest for the bridge - a competition the designer went on to win.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) response to the Architects’ Journal from the mayor’s office (see attachment) has revealed Heatherwick attended four official meetings at the highest levels of London government about the Garden Bridge ahead of the invited competition organised by Transport for London (TfL). As has previously been reported, Heatherwick also met Johnson in San Francisco in early February 2013 to discuss a possible sponsorship deal with Apple - a meeting which took place just days before TfL’s invited tender went out later that month. Britain cannot easily dismiss Japanese Brexit warning letter. David Cameron 'ignored civil servants over Garden Bridge funding' Image copyright Heatherwick Studio David Cameron personally intervened to approve extra taxpayer funding for London's controversial Garden Bridge project, it has emerged.
The former prime minister did so against advice from officials, an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) found. Rachel Johnson joins Lib Dems in protest against Tory backing for Brexit. Rachel Johnson, the journalist and sister of two Conservative ministers, has joined the Liberal Democrats in protest against Tory support for Brexit, the Guardian has learned.
The Mail on Sunday columnist and author has also toyed with the idea of running as a Lib Dem candidate for a West Country seat but may not have enough time to be selected to stand in the general election on 8 June. A member of the Conservative party until 2011, Johnson, whose brothers Boris and Jo are foreign secretary and universities minister respectively, has made no secret of her support for Britain remaining in the EU, either in her newspaper columns or during her regular slot on Sky. In the aftermath of the referendum in June she wrote about how she “sat down and wept” over the result. UK arms exports escape scrutiny under Tory government. London garden bridge users to have mobile phone signals tracked. Visitors to the garden bridge in London will be tracked by their mobile phone signals and supervised by staff with powers to take people’s names and addresses and confiscate and destroy banned items, including kites and musical instruments, according to a planning document.
The lengthy document (pdf) submitted as part of the planning process for the bridge, which will be part-financed by at least £40m of public money, said the trust behind the scheme hoped to “maximise the opportunity provided by the status of the bridge as private land” by imposing rules to “establish expectations for behaviour and conduct”. If it goes ahead, people’s progress across the structure would be tracked by monitors detecting the Wi-Fi signals from their phones, which show up the device’s Mac address, or unique identifying code. The Garden Bridge Trust says it will not store any of this data and is only tracking phones to count numbers and prevent overcrowding. Britain’s ‘Twitter troops’ have ways of making you think… Amid disclosures of mass surveillance and government hacking, the Snowden revelations have exposed a hitherto unknown branch of the British intelligence services dedicated to influencing human behaviour with psychological science.
'Silent peers' claim almost £1.3m despite not speaking in Lords debates. Europe Should See Refugees as a Boon, Not a Burden. Photo. School questioned Muslim pupil about Isis after discussion on eco-activism. A Muslim schoolboy was questioned about Islamic State after a classroom discussion about environmental activism, the Guardian has learned. Freedom of information commission not very free with its information. David Cameron backs MPs’ 10% pay rise as ‘the rate for the job’ David Cameron performed a surprising U-turn last night and claimed that MPs should accept a £7,000 pay rise in the face of opposition from the public.
Cameron's new cabinet: half of PM's top team went to private school. Following a majority win for the Conservatives in Thursday’s election, David Cameron has been busy re-shuffling the government cabinet. The Royal Baby: a winner in Britain's infant mortality lottery. EXCLUSIVE: Gove and PM school made forbidden donation request. The state secondary school selected by David Cameron and Michael Gove for their daughters appears to have breached school admission laws by asking parents for money when offering them a place, Schools Week can reveal. In the past week, it has emerged that the prime minister’s daughter would be attending The Grey Coat Hospital in September, the Westminster school where the former education secretary’s daughter is already a pupil. Supreme court clears way for release of secret Prince Charles letters. Doctors will be asked to help identify people at risk of becoming terrorists. Data from death inquiries lost by Ministry of Justice.
Suspected benefit cheats arrested in early morning Croydon raid. Dozens of arms firm employees on MoD secondments. Royal Family granted new right of secrecy. How to protect yourself in the event of receiving a counter-terrorism leaflet. Michael Gove bars Tory minister Amber Rudd from Lima climate change talks. Theresa May accused of personally delaying critical reports on immigration. Journalists demand police destroy 'surveillance' files. The surveillance state has failed. Queen confirms government's web surveillance plans. Snowden NSA files: US and UK at odds over security tactics as row escalates. Planes, trains and a redecoration – the Queen sets out accounts. Police want right to see medical records without consent. Parties should explain why they award peerages, says Lords Appointments Commission. Government in supreme court bid to keep Prince Charles letters secret.