[Britse politiek] #134: Brain drain looming

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Op zondag 11 juni 2023 15:43 schreef Hyperdude het volgende:

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https://www.theguardian.c(...)are_AndroidApp_Other

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Zo dan!

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Nicola Sturgeon released without charge pending further investigation

Nicola Sturgeon has been released without charge pending further investigation after being arrested as part of a police probe into the funding and finances of the SNP, Police Scotland said.

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Op zondag 11 juni 2023 19:20 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:

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Dat duurde niet lang:
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https://www.theguardian.c(...)urther-investigation

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The former first minister was taken into custody and questioned by detectives at a police station after she attended voluntarily shortly after 10:00.

Officers had up to 12 hours from the time Ms Sturgeon was arrested before they had to decide whether to charge her with a crime or release her while their inquiries continue.

She was released from custody, pending further inquiries, at about 17:25 on the same day - well before the deadline expired.

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Op woensdag 14 juni 2023 14:51 schreef crystal_meth het volgende:

Kan me vergissen, maar politici die hun eigen partij of partijleider zo openlijk tegenwerken lijkt vooral voor te komen in landen waar men first-past-the-post toepast. Is dat maar een indruk?

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Op donderdag 15 juni 2023 10:54 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:
Well, well, well....

Johnson loog bewust en met opzet tegen het Parlement en als hij niet opgestapt was had hij een schorsing van 90 dagen opgelopen (wat een automatische by-election inhoudt)

https://www.theguardian.c(...)c6988f0834349c1d6e1c

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Op donderdag 15 juni 2023 10:54 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:
Well, well, well....

Johnson loog bewust en met opzet tegen het Parlement en als hij niet opgestapt was had hij een schorsing van 90 dagen opgelopen (wat een automatische by-election inhoudt)

https://www.theguardian.c(...)c6988f0834349c1d6e1c

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Op donderdag 15 juni 2023 10:54 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:
Well, well, well....

Johnson loog bewust en met opzet tegen het Parlement en als hij niet opgestapt was had hij een schorsing van 90 dagen opgelopen (wat een automatische by-election inhoudt)

https://www.theguardian.c(...)c6988f0834349c1d6e1c

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Op vrijdag 16 juni 2023 14:21 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Ze kunnen volop van hem gaan genieten in zijn nieuwe rol als columnist voor de Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail Song

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UK delis could be forced to put up prices after new Brexit tax

Plan to charge £43 per consignment could see some small businesses struggle to stay open

Many UK businesses which import food products from the European Union will have to pay a special “Brexit tax” that will further drive up prices, particularly in smaller shops such as delicatessens, under proposals set out by the government last week.

The planned charge of £43 per consignment, outlined in a consultation document issued by the Department for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was described on Saturday by a leading industry figure as “the sting in the tail of a post-Brexit food inspection regime” that was already fuelling inflation.

Shane Brennan, director of the Cold Chain Federation, told the Observer: “This government tax for importing food goods from Europe comes on top of the costs of vets’ and customs agents’ fees, as well as increased supply chain costs, all arising from the post-Brexit realities of trying to service the UK. Forty-three pounds doesn’t sound like a lot but, given that we import thousands of consignments of food goods through Dover every day, it amounts to a border tax costing the industry millions. It is unavoidable that these costs will filter through to consumers.”

Industry sources say they fear in particular for smaller retailers in the UK such as delis and other specialist food outlets which import lots of small amounts of special items from the EU such as Parma ham, French cheeses or Belgian chocolates.

In its consultation document for the industry, Defra admits that it is planning the new charging regime in order to “recover operating costs for government-run border control posts in England”, many of which were built shortly after Brexit to conduct a regime of checks on goods of plant and animal origin that has never come into force because of a series of government U-turns.

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Honours row grows after claim Charlotte Owen ‘worked as maternity cover’

The youngest life peer in UK history at the age of 29, the former assistant to Boris Johnson was covering maternity leave in his office

Concern is growing within Whitehall over Boris Johnson’s decision to make a former political aide the UK’s youngest ever life peer, amid claims that she only entered Downing Street’s political office to cover for another official’s maternity leave.

The former prime minister’s resignation honours list caused months of angst within the government as a result of some of the names that Johnson intended to either place in the House of Lords or award with another gong. It has already been confirmed that eight people that Johnson had wanted to place in the second chamber were rejected by the commission tasked with vetting new peers.

However, one of the seven who were approved was Charlotte Owen, 29, who is set to be Britain’s youngest ever peer. “She was perfectly inoffensive, but she is the most junior person in political history to have received a peerage,” said one Whitehall source. “She was maternity leave cover in the political office.”

The Observer attempted to contact Owen about the claim. A source close to Johnson said: “The former prime minister made nominations for peerages and honours in line with precedents. He believes that all those who were nominated were meritorious and will contribute to public service.”

Those who have worked with Owen are concerned over the attention she has received since being awarded a peerage, arguing that she was good at her job and was easy to work with. However, government insiders said she performed a role more like an executive assistant than a top adviser. While no one suggested she had performed badly in her No 10 job, a Whitehall source said that her junior position and short length of service meant she was “the most egregious” addition to Johnson’s peerage list. “It is impossible to defend, even as somebody who broadly thinks the current peerage system is right,” they said. “She was just incredibly junior.”

There is already a dispute over how long Owen served in Downing Street. While her own LinkedIn profile states that she served as a No 10 special adviser from February 2021 until October 2022, she is not listed in the official government directory of special advisers published in June 2021. She does appear in the official list published in July 2022. Even then, she split her time between working for Johnson and the then chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris.

Owen’s career in Westminster began in earnest in 2017. After stints as an intern, including in Johnson’s office, she worked in the offices of Tory MPs Alok Sharma, Jake Berry and Johnson before becoming a senior parliamentary assistant to the former prime minister in 2020. She later took a post in the political office in No 10. One former Downing Street figure said she did not attend the most senior meetings for most of her time there.

However, close allies of Johnson have issued a strong defence of Owen. Sir James Duddridge, who served as the former prime minister’s private parliamentary secretary from February to July 2022, spoke out in support of her role last week.

“As Boris’s PPS I can confirm Charlotte worked in No 10 as an adviser since February 2021 and did an outstanding job working for the boss,” he said. “She was in the shadows but was a serious player but never wanted to be in the limelight like so many inferior people.”

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Caroline Lucas flagged by disinformation unit over Covid criticism

Exclusive: Green MP calls for inquiry after being named by government units after she criticised ministers

The Green party MP Caroline Lucas has called for an inquiry into a government unit intended to combat disinformation after it emerged she had been flagged by it for criticisms of ministers and government policy over Covid.

Lucas, who lodged a subject access request along with the campaign group Big Brother Watch for details held on her by the counter-disinformation unit (CDU), said her inclusion in a series of reports amounted to “staggering overreach” by ministers.

A government spokesperson said the work of the CDU and the now-defunct rapid response unit (RRU) media monitoring service, which also cited Lucas, was more broad, and that inclusion did not mean someone was suspected of disinformation.

Among examples of information about Lucas held by the CDU was her inclusion in an RRU report on “vaccine hesitancy” based on what was described as a “prominent tweet” by her in 2021 arguing that booster vaccines should be sent to countries with shortages.

In April 2020, she was featured in a CDU “Covid mis/disinformation report” after being critical of the way the government had purchased medical equipment during the pandemic.

She was included again after a 2020 tweet she sent alleging poor government preparedness for a pandemic.

On another occasion in 2020, she was included in an RRU briefing about a tweet she sent about prime minister’s questions, where Dominic Raab stood in for Boris Johnson. Lucas called him “arrogant, complacent and patronising”.

In 2021, Lucas’s name appeared in a CDU report about “mis/disinformation narratives” ahead of that year’s local elections after she was included in a report in the Independent accusing Boris Johnson of being a liar.

Officials argue that many of the examples come from the RRU, which they said acted largely as a straightforward media-monitoring unit. It was closed last year.

The subject access request sets out that some of the examples of Lucas being named were not connected to potential disinformation, or “specific” to it.

But Lucas, who has said she will stand down as an MP at the next election, told the Guardian she was alarmed at the work of the CDU, which was set up in 2019 as part of the Department of Culture, and is now within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

“This is simply staggering overreach from a government which has had, at the very least, a socially distanced relationship with the truth on multiple occasions in recent years,” she said.

“The right of citizens to share entirely valid and objective criticisms of government ministers without fear of the consequences is a cornerstone of our democracy, and must be protected.

If these disinformation units focused their efforts on genuine disinformation, dangerous conspiracy theories and foreign hostility, rather than my tweets, our politics might be in a better place. The CDU is clearly not fit for purpose, and a full investigation must be opened immediately.”

Silkie Carlo, the director of Big Brother Watch, said the information showed the government “has dangerously blurred the lines between genuine disinformation and legitimate political dissent”.

She said: “It’s particularly alarming to see an elected MP’s criticisms of the government logged in reports on so-called ‘election misinformation’, which could then be subject to the most harsh restrictions, including around election periods.”

A government spokesperson said: “The CDU tracks narratives using publicly available information – it has never monitored the activity of any individual and has a blanket ban on referring content from journalists and MPs to social media platforms.

“Mentions in subject access requests are not evidence that the unit considered those references to be disinformation. We are happy to discuss the work of the CDU with any parliamentarian should they wish to find out more about the important work of the unit.”

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Fact Sheet on the CDU and RRU

Published 9 June 2023

A number of media reports have appeared in recent days concerning the government’s Counter Disinformation Unit.

Here you can read the facts about how it operates and what it does and does not do. It also includes information on the Rapid Response Unit, which was closed in summer 2022.

1. Fact Sheet on the Counter-Disinformation Unit

• What is mis/disinformation?

The UK government defines disinformation as the deliberate creation and spreading of false and/or manipulated information that is intended to deceive and mislead people, either for the purposes of causing harm, or for political, personal or financial gain. Misinformation is the inadvertent spread of false information.

Misinformation and disinformation are not new. But social media and new technologies have made it easier, quicker and cheaper than ever before for both domestic and foreign malign actors to spread disinformation to huge audiences and specific targeted groups.

• What is the Counter Disinformation Unit?

The Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) was first set up within the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in 2019 and it has since responded to periods of acute disinformation risk including Covid-19.

Following Machinery of Government changes in February this year, the unit sits with the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

The team works with partners across government, civil society and in tandem with the regulatory approach through the Online Safety Bill and DSIT’s Media Literacy Strategy.

Its purpose is to understand disinformation narratives and attempts to artificially manipulate the information environment to ensure that the government understands the scope and reach of harmful mis and disinformation and can take appropriate action. Such action can include posting a response on social media rebutting the claim, awareness raising campaigns to promote the facts, and working with social media companies to encourage them to promote authoritative sources of information and consistently enforce their terms of service.

• What areas does the CDU work across?

The CDU focuses on content targeted at UK audiences across which poses a risk to:

Public health,
Public safety, or
National security.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, this has seen the CDU counter disinformation threats that have suggested bleach is an effective way to cure COVID-19 and that 5G masts should be burned down to prevent the spread of the virus. It is currently focused on disinformation related to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and has already countered Russian disinformation about Ukraine including denials of mass casualty events – including the Bucha massacre and the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol.

• How does the CDU conduct its monitoring work?

The CDU uses publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to develop an understanding of disinformation narratives and trends. It does not, and has never, monitored individuals and all data is anonymised wherever possible.

See the CDU Privacy Notice for further details

• How does the CDU work with social media platforms?

The CDU works closely with the major social media platforms to understand their terms of service and to encourage them to promote authoritative sources of information, for example providing links to NHS information on covid vaccines.

It is not the CDU’s primary purpose to monitor for harmful content to flag to social media platforms.

However, where the unit encounter content which meets the two criteria below, content may be referred to the platform concerned for their consideration:

The content poses a demonstrable risk to public health, safety or national security
Is assessed to breach the platform’s terms of service

No action is mandated by the government and it is up to the platform to independently decide whether or not to take any action in line with their terms of service. The Online Safety Bill will require the biggest platforms to have transparent terms of service and to consistently enforce them.

• What sort of disinformation did the CDU refer to social media companies?

Examples of narratives the CDU has referred to social media platforms includes:

COVID-19 disinformation narratives, such as claims pushing harmful ‘cures’ for COVID-19 e.g. bleach.
Disinformation related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as denial of mass casualty events by Russian Embassy accounts, e.g. claims the Bucha massacre and the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, were both hoaxes.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, over 95% of referrals made by the CDU related to state backed disinformation.

• How does the CDU ensure freedom of expression?

Preserving freedom of speech is extremely important as part of the CDU’s work. It does not monitor political debate and the CDU does not refer any content from journalists, politicians or political parties to social media companies.

The Online Safety Bill will put in place legal protections to ensure that platforms enforce their terms and conditions and cannot arbitrarily remove content.

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Op zondag 18 juni 2023 19:47 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:
Iemand van 29 wiens enige "prestatie" is geweest om Johnson's assistente (whatever that means) geweest te zijn in het Hogerhuis te plaatsen is wel behoorlijk ridicuul.

Maar ja, zonnekoninkjes, he?

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Children raised under UK austerity shorter than European peers, study finds

British children who grew up during the years of austerity are shorter than their peers in Bulgaria, Montenegro and Lithuania, a study has found.

In 1985, British boys and girls ranked 69 out of 200 countries for average height aged five. At the time they were on average 111.4cm and 111cm tall respectively.

Now, British boys are 102nd and girls 96th, with the average five-year-old boy measuring 112.5cm and the average girl, 111.7cm. In Bulgaria, the average height for a five-year-old boy is 121cm and a girl, 118cm.

Experts have said a poor national diet and cuts to the NHS are to blame. But they have also pointed out that height is a strong indicator of general living conditions, including illness and infection, stress, poverty and sleep quality.

“They have fallen by 30 places, which is pretty startling,” said Prof Tim Cole, an expert in child growth rates at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London. “The question is, why?”

GPs in poorer areas of the country have reported a resurgence of Victorian diseases such as rickets and scurvy caused largely, they say, by nutritional deficiencies. NHS data shows that about 700 children a year are admitted to hospital with malnutrition, rickets or scurvy in England.

Separate research suggests that dietary inequalities in children from poorer backgrounds are driving higher rates of problems including obesity, type 2 diabetes and dental decay.

Cole, who was not involved in the study, said the data suggests that growing up in the 2010s “which happens to coincide with the period of austerity … tells me that austerity has clobbered the height of children in the UK”.

Food experts point out that a diet of cheap junk food makes people simultaneously overweight and undernourished.

“Children in the poorest areas of England are both fatter and significantly shorter than those in the richest areas at age 10 to 11,” said Henry Dimbleby, the former government food adviser.“This is a big enough problem to have an impact at an international level.”

In the Netherlands, the average five-year-old boy is 119.6cm and the average girl is 118.4cm tall. In France, the figures are 114.7cm and 113.6cm respectively. In Germany they are 114.8 and 113.3. Danish boys are on average 117.4cm tall, and Danish girls 118.1cm.

Dimbleby said that in modern Britain the way we eat is one of the clearest markers of inequality: annual surveys show children from the poorest fifth of families consume about a third less fruit and vegetables, 75% less oily fish, and a fifth less fibre than children from the most well-off families.

The data is taken from national measurement programmes, collated by the Non-communicable diseases risk factor collaboration, a global network of health scientists.

A government spokesperson said: “There are a range of factors that can impact children’s growth, which are not just limited to diet, and we are taking steps to support families by providing record financial support to families who need it most.”

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Op donderdag 22 juni 2023 16:17 schreef Jaeger85 het volgende:
https://www.theguardian.c(...)-brexit-success-poll

Only 18% of 2016 leave voters believe Brexit has been a success, according to polling for the thinktank UK in a Changing Europe.

A large majority of those polled – 72% – said they would vote again the way they did in 2016 even knowing what they know seven years later; while 72% also said they wanted to stop discussing Brexit.


Hopeloos die 72%.

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Only 18% of 2016 leave voters believe Brexit has been a success, according to polling for the thinktank UK in a Changing Europe – but 61% think it will turn out well in the end.

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Op donderdag 22 juni 2023 16:25 schreef _-_ratjetoe_-_ het volgende:

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Je laat wel een vrij cruciaal stukje weg.

En Brexit is iets dat je inderdaad het best kan analyseren over meerdere decennia voor een definitief oordeel.

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Suella Braverman’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda suffered a fresh blow on Thursday after the court of appeal ruled by a majority of two to one that it was unlawful. Here are some of the key findings by the court of appeal justices and what they mean.

“There are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that the asylum claims of RIs [relocated individuals] may be wrongly refused. On the face of it, it would appear to follow that there was a real risk of them being refouled. Where an asylum seeker’s claim is rejected the country in question will typically require them to leave the country (in the absence of any other basis on which they might claim residence), and since they will have been found to be at no risk in their country of origin, there is no reason why they should not be returned there; and even if they are in the first instance returned to some other country that does not exclude the possibility of indirect refoulement.”

This passage by Lord Justice Underhill gets to the heart of the whether Rwanda is a safe country for refugees, which was part of the basis for the court of appeal challenge. Two of the three judges decided that it was not, and that there were “substantial grounds” for believing that refugees would have their application for asylum incorrectly refused which would put them at risk of refoulement – the forced removal of refugees to countries where they will be at risk.

“The ultimate reliability of the safeguards in the Rwandan asylum system will depend on the promised ability of asylum seekers to appeal to the court. That is not to ignore the fact that the bulk of the claims will be determined by non-judicial means, but to reassert that access to the courts is a core component of the right of access to justice. The divisional court in government of Rwanda v. Nteziryayo [2017] EWHC 1912 (Admin) considered the independence of the Rwandan judiciary in an admittedly different context, but at some considerable length. It concluded … that ‘the evidence points to some risk, depending on the evidence before them and the safeguards in play, that judges might yield to pressure from the Rwandan authorities’.”

This section explains why the court of appeal judges feared that refugees may have their claims wrongly refused. Underhill cites the lack of independence of the Rwanda judiciary, highlighting findings from a 2017 case heard in England arising from the Rwandan genocide. Thursday’s judgment also cited a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office document from April last year that found the Rwandan legal system was “not independent, is regularly interfered with and is politicised”.

“I have concluded that there were substantial grounds for thinking that asylum seekers sent to Rwanda under the MEDP [the UK’s agreement with Rwanda], as at the date of the SSHD’s decision-making in these cases in July 2022, faced real risks of article 3 mistreatment. That is the consequence of the historical record described by the UNHCR [United Nations high commissioner for refugees, an intervener in the case] the significant concerns of the UNHCR itself, and the factual realities of the current asylum process in Rwanda. In practice, Rwanda can only deliver on its good faith assurances if it has control mechanisms and systems in place to enable it to do so. Both history and the current situation demonstrate that those mechanisms have not yet been delivered. They may in the future be delivered but they are not, on the evidence, there now.”

Here, the master of the rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, who concurred with Underhill, points to the specific rights that may be violated. Article 3 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), incorporated in the British Human Rights Act, states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” The reliance of the judgment on the ECHR has prompted predictable – and perennial – Tory grumblings about the convention and whether the UK should leave it.

“On the one hand, I would accept that this is not a case where the Home Office was merely going through the motions of assessing the adequacy of the Rwandan asylum system. There were evidently dedicated civil servants genuinely trying to establish how the … process worked and to obtain assurances that addressed the perceived problems. On the other hand, however, perhaps as the result of the pressure of the timetable to which they were required to work, I believe that the officials in question were too ready to accept assurances which were unparticularised or unevidenced or the details of which were unexplored.”

The Rwanda agreement is a flagship policy of the UK government, and above Underhill suggests the pressure on civil servants to get it over the line meant their due diligence was not up to scratch.

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Op donderdag 22 juni 2023 16:25 schreef _-_ratjetoe_-_ het volgende:

En Brexit is iets dat je inderdaad het best kan analyseren over meerdere decennia voor een definitief oordeel.

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Op donderdag 22 juni 2023 17:06 schreef Jaeger85 het volgende:

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Dat Brexit nog een succes gaat worden is ook gebaseerd op wensdenken. Net zo hopeloos.

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Op donderdag 22 juni 2023 17:06 schreef Jaeger85 het volgende:

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Dat Brexit nog een succes gaat worden is ook gebaseerd op wensdenken. Net zo hopeloos.

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Op donderdag 29 juni 2023 17:30 schreef Hexagon het volgende:

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Precies je kan de doelpalen tot in de eeuwigheid verschuiven voor een falend plan.

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Op donderdag 29 juni 2023 18:24 schreef Perrin het volgende:

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Hope-based politics.

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Op vrijdag 30 juni 2023 10:22 schreef _-_ratjetoe_-_ het volgende:

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Nouja mensen denken hier vrij binair over, maar het zal toch echt wel voor- θn nadelen hebben. Als er een gigantische (klimaat)vluchtelingencrisis wordt dan wordt dat nog wat in de EU. Ook als je vluchtelingen zelf geen probleem vindt heeft het als gevolg dat radicaal rechtse partijen wind in de zeilen krijgen, met alle moeilijke (bestuurlijke) gevolgen van dien.

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Op vrijdag 30 juni 2023 10:22 schreef _-_ratjetoe_-_ het volgende:

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Nouja mensen denken hier vrij binair over, maar het zal toch echt wel voor- θn nadelen hebben. Als er een gigantische (klimaat)vluchtelingencrisis wordt dan wordt dat nog wat in de EU. Ook als je vluchtelingen zelf geen probleem vindt heeft het als gevolg dat radicaal rechtse partijen wind in de zeilen krijgen, met alle moeilijke (bestuurlijke) gevolgen van dien.

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Op vrijdag 30 juni 2023 10:31 schreef Hexagon het volgende:

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Na de Brexit komen er vooral meer migranten naar de UK
https://nos.nl/artikel/24(...)ft-wat-uit-te-leggen

Dus noem eens een voordeel dat wel bestaat?

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Op vrijdag 30 juni 2023 10:51 schreef _-_ratjetoe_-_ het volgende:

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Ik heb zelf geen enkel probleem met vluchtelingen, dus ik zie dat niet als voor- of nadeel an sich. Maar Britten vinden het wel geweldig dat ze er meer controle over hebben, en de negatieve ideeλn (en negatieve pers) over vluchtelingen is drastisch verminderd. Dergelijke dynamiek lijkt mij in het voordeel voor de electorale kansen voor Labour. Dat zie ik persoonlijk als een voordeel, maar misschien heb jij liever dat de conservatives of ukip het goed doen .

Daarnaast is het ook wel kortzichtig om de situatie van nu door te trekken naar de verre toekomst. Wat als er geen personeelstekort is? Wat als er nog veel en veel meer vluchtelingen komen?

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Op vrijdag 30 juni 2023 10:31 schreef Hexagon het volgende:

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Na de Brexit komen er vooral meer migranten naar de UK
https://nos.nl/artikel/24(...)ft-wat-uit-te-leggen

Dus noem eens een voordeel dat wel bestaat?

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Revealed: record 170,000 staff leave NHS in England as stress and workload take toll

Health service shown to be under some of worst pressure in its history in week Rishi Sunak launched plan to retain and recruit workforce

Nearly 170,000 workers left their jobs in the NHS in England last year, in a record exodus of staff struggling to cope with some of the worst pressures ever seen in the country’s health system, the Observer can reveal.

More than 41,000 nurses were among those who left their jobs in NHS hospitals and community health services, with the highest leaving rate for at least a decade. The number of staff leaving overall rose by more than a quarter in 2022, compared to 2019.

The figures in NHS workforce statistics of those leaving active service since 2010 analysed by the Observer show the scale of the challenge facing prime minister Rishi Sunak. He launched a new workforce plan on Friday to train and keep more staff.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Staff did brilliant work during the pandemic, but there has been no respite. The data on people leaving is worrying and we need to see it reversed.

“We need to focus on staff wellbeing and continued professional development, showing the employers really do care about their frontline teams.”

Hartley said he welcomed the workforce plan, particularly the expansion of apprenticeship routes for clinical staff and the ambition to train more staff and reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency workers.

In the year to 31 December 2022, 169,512 staff left NHS service in hospitals, community health services and other core health organisations, compared to 149,678 the previous year. The figures are for all staff, including doctors, nurses, ambulance staff, managers, support workers and technical staff.

Experts believe 2022 may be a peak year for NHS departures because of those who may have deferred retirement because of the pandemic, but there has also been a surge in employees citing work-life balance as the reasons for quitting.

The number of staff who quit the NHS citing work-life balance stood at 27,546 in 2022, more than those who left because they had reached retirement age (24,143).

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We must admit Brexit is a mistake and rejoin the single market, says senior Tory Tobias Ellwood

Chairman of the Defence Select Committee said both Labour and the Conservatives need to be brave enough to say what many MPs privately think.

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Op maandag 3 juli 2023 22:02 schreef Perrin het volgende:

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Wie weet over een jaar of 5-10.

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Op maandag 3 juli 2023 22:07 schreef Hyperdude het volgende:

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5 jaar lijkt mij onhaalbaar. En onwenselijk. Waarom een splijtzwam binnenhalen?

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Op maandag 3 juli 2023 22:14 schreef Perrin het volgende:

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Ja misschien te vroeg, maar als ze zich netjes aan de regels houden en geen uitzonderingspositie krijgen, lijkt me het acceptabel.

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Op maandag 3 juli 2023 22:21 schreef Hyperdude het volgende:

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Denk dat ze in Parijs en Berlijn geen enkele haast hebben. Labour is ook nog steeds niet tegen Brexit, dacht ik.

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Op dinsdag 11 juli 2023 21:18 schreef Perrin het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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Op dinsdag 18 juli 2023 10:09 schreef Perrin het volgende:
De trend is duidelijk.

[ afbeelding ]

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Op dinsdag 11 juli 2023 21:18 schreef Perrin het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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Op dinsdag 18 juli 2023 13:43 schreef HiZ het volgende:

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Hoeveel kinderen heeft De Pfeffel nu? Negen of zo? Hij gedraagt zich wel als White Thrash. Misschien had hij dat Amerikaanse paspoort gewoon moeten houden.

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Op donderdag 20 juli 2023 09:25 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Met de aantekening dat Uxbridge het voormalige district van Johnson was,,dat maakt het wat extra pikant

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Op vrijdag 21 juli 2023 07:38 schreef borisz het volgende:
Uxbridge blijft blauw

Andere zetels naar Libdems en Labour zoals verwacht

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Op woensdag 5 juli 2023 00:48 schreef ipa84 het volgende:
Om even terug te komen op het sluiten van Farage zijn rekening. Het bleek dat hij te weinig geld op zijn rekeningen heeft staan bij een speciale bank voor rijke stinkers. Dus nu moet hij weer naar een normale bank voor plebs. Zijn geldschieter zal het wel te druk hebben met Oekraοne en zijn salaris vergeten over te maken.
[ twitter ]

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Planned changes by the Treasury will force banks to spell out why they are shutting an account and give three months’ notice before ending their relationship with a customer. City minister Andrew Griffith said it would create “a much fairer playing field” by giving consumers more time to appeal against their lenders’ decisions

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Banks are free to deny additional services to customers for a number of reasons, from threats of violence towards bank staff to suspicions of financial crime, but usually avoid explaining their decisions in any substance or detail. Saying as little as necessary can be a helpful way to avoid signalling to customers that they are under investigation by the NCA or are of interest to any other government departments. While this can be frustrating for customers, banks are more concerned with following laws laid out in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which make it an offence to disclose information regarding a potential investigation “in the course of a business in the regulated sector”.

The government could still block lenders from informing customers they have flagged to authorities or are suspected of taking part in financial crimes.

However, there is a risk that if all other customers receive explanations, the mere omission of detailed information could inadvertently alert potential criminals that their funds and transactions are being investigated or are of interest to government departments. This had been a problem in some rare instances in investigations already, sources said.

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Op vrijdag 21 juli 2023 07:38 schreef borisz het volgende:
Uxbridge blijft blauw

Andere zetels naar Libdems en Labour zoals verwacht

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Starmer urges Khan to 'reflect' on Ulez implementation, saying it was reason for Labour losing in Uxbridge

Keir Starmer has also urged Sadiq Khan to “reflect” on the implementation of the Ulez extension. Referring to the result in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he told broadcasters:

We didn’t take it in 1997 when we had a landslide Labour victory. And Ulez was the reason we didn’t win there yesterday.

We know that. We heard that on the doors. And we’ve all got to reflect on that, including the mayor.

Asked what “reflect” meant and whether the scheme should now be scrapped, Starmer replied:

We’ve got to look at the result. The mayor needs to reflect. And it’s too early to say what should happen next.

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Op zondag 23 juli 2023 10:30 schreef Hexagon het volgende:
Pffff, een beetje alsof Lilian Marijnissen zich druk zou gaan maken dat ze niet de grootste zijn geworden in de gemeente Bloemendaal.

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On 16 February 2022 it was announced that the 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held for a record sixth time in Australia, but for the first time they will be decentralised, as the state of Victoria signed as host city. The games will have 4 regional clusters mainly focused in Bendigo region and another 3 regional centres. The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be the first games to be held under the reign of King Charles III. It was also confirmed that the Commonwealth Games, scheduled for 2030 were likely to be awarded to Hamilton, Canada.[54]

However in July 2023, Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 games,[13] with Alberta, Canada pulling out of their bid for the 2030 edition of the games shortly after.

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Fifty-seven swimmers fall sick and get diarrhoea at world triathlon championship in Sunderland
Athletes competing on stretch of UK coastline where reduced water quality at centre of dispute over sewage discharges je

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Op zondag 6 augustus 2023 11:38 schreef Hyperdude het volgende:

[..]
https://www.theguardian.c(...)ace?CMP=share_btn_tw

Britannia Rules the Waves.

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Op zondag 6 augustus 2023 14:58 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Zeg maar gerust dat het voor de klanten/consument een ramp is geweest maar heel leuk voor de "investeerders", dat woord staat tussen aanhalingstekens omdat ze vooral niet geinvesteerd hebben maar alleen de kas hebben leeggehaald. Maar goed, dat is natuurlijk bij uitstek een Tory special skill van de laatste decennia.

Torenhoge schulden, een uit elkaar vallende infrastructuur, enorme salarissen en bonussen voor leidinggevenden en ondertussen holt de waterkwaliteit achteruit en loost men onbehandeld rioolwater in rivieren en de zee.