Free Republic

Labour's deputy leader has apologised for branding a Conservative MP 'scum' during a heated debate in the Commons on the Covid-19 crisis today, but stopped short of retracting the jibe. Tory backbencher Chris Clarkson demanded an apology from Angela Rayner in a public letter after he suggested that the Labour frontbench was viewing the pandemic as a 'good crisis' to be exploited. However, the hard-Left Corbynite then heckled Mr Clarkson, who asked: 'Excuse me, did the honourable lady just call me scum?'

LONDON: An Islamic State supporter, who promoted the global terror group on social media including through a video that called for an attack in central London, has been convicted of terrorism-related offences following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. Shehroz Iqbal, 29, from east London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey court here on Tuesday of one count of dissemination of terrorist material, contrary to Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006, and one count of encouragement of terrorism, contrary to Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006. He will be sentenced for the convictions at...

The UK’s coronavirus lockdown has impacted every area of healthcare, including cancer treatment, paediatrics, and cardiovascular care, resulting in excess deaths and delays to treatment, according to analysis. Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures had already revealed on Monday that there were 25,000 excess deaths at private homes since the beginning of the year — with only nine per cent being as a result of coronavirus. Another piece of analysis predicted excess deaths would rise directly as a result of the government’s “Protect the NHS” message which deterred people from making medical appointments.

Researchers in Britain are preparing to start a controversial COVID-19 "human challenge" study in which dozens of healthy volunteers will be exposed to live coronavirus in an effort to speed up vaccine development. The Human Challenge Programme will be conducted by Imperial College London, which said Tuesday in a statement that it would be working in cooperation with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, and hVIVO, a clinical company that has worked on viral human challenge models. The U.K. government is preparing to invest $43.4 million (33.6 million pounds) in the...

Cost-cutting proposal may see the Army reduce its manpower target to 75,000 Thousands of roles being recruited for are likely to be axed, sources have saidSenior Army chiefs recognised that some positions can be filled by machines The Army will slash its 82,000 manpower target by 7,000 under cost-cutting proposals handed to ministers, it can be revealed. Thousands of roles that are currently being recruited for are likely to be axed, with some of the gaps being filled by machines. As part of a ten-year plan, the Army has offered to reduce its current target of 82,000 regular troops to...

couples living apart in the UK aren’t allowed to have sex — and are forbidden from meeting up anywhere but outside — under a strict new coronavirus measure. The law orders romantic partners who haven’t been shacking up or self-isolating to not touch each other, government officials told the Guardian on Friday. “The purpose of the measures we’ve put in place is to break the chain of transmission between households, and the scientific advice is that there is greatest transmission of the virus indoors,” a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the paper. But some observers were hot...

The UK has rebuffed Brussels' offer of intensified trade talks next week, telling the European Union's chief negotiator there is "no basis for negotiations". The Prime Minister on Friday accused European leaders of having "abandoned the idea of a free trade deal" and told the country to "get ready" for a no-deal outcome in the negotiations after his October 15 deadline for reaching an agreement passed. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had responded to his media statement by vowing that the EU would carry on negotiating, suggesting talks next week in London would go ahead as planned. But...

Unilever’s UK shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of plans to move the Marmite owner's legal base to London, despite warnings that a vote on a proposed exit tax if it leaves the Netherlands could go down to the wire. The shift to a single legal headquarters in Britain was backed by 99.5pc of voting investors at a meeting on Monday, bringing the firm one step closer to abandoning its dual-headed Anglo-Dutch structure after 90 years. Dutch investors in Unilever, which also owns Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, approved the move with 99.4pc support last month. But...

British ministers have been told to forge links with the White House frontrunner Joe Biden after “writing off” Donald Trump’s chances of re-election, amid fears that the UK could be left out in the cold if the former vice-president wins. Boris Johnson has been warned that Trump is on course for a landslide defeat with his Democratic opponents set to land a historic “triple whammy” by seizing control of the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Private polling and computer models shown to No 10 last month put Biden’s chances of victory at more than 70 per cent....

Boris Johnson is reportedly trying to woo US Presidential candidate Joe Biden with Downing Street increasingly convinced that Donald Trump will not be re-elected. Johnson has been shown private polling that shows Biden is on track for a landslide victory, spurring him to try to build ties with the former Vice President. The Sunday Times reports that a foreign secretary Dominic Raab and the UK’s ambassador to the US Dame Karen Pierce have been conducting backroom talks with close Biden allies. A senior Tory source told the Times: “They’re writing off Trump in Number 10 now.” Downing Street is worried...

The British defense committee reported on Oct. 8 that there’s “clear evidence of collusion between Huawei and the Chinese state” and urged the government to urgently remove Huawei’s equipment from the country’s telecommunications infrastructure by 2025. In July, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered that Huawei be purged from Britain’s 5G networks by 2027 amid fears of spying and sabotage, and following tough U.S. sanctions against the company affecting its supply of up-to-date chips. The defense committee report, however, states that the purging should be done years earlier even if it involves recompense for current operators. “The Government should take necessary...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pressed ahead with his Intermarket Bill, calling Brussels' bluff about its threats to sue London over what many have described as a unilateral violation of an international treaty. As Brussels presses ahead with a drawn-out and tedious legal action - which will ultimately come to nothing since a decision might not arrive until after the transition period ends Dec. 31 - allowed per the resolution mechanisms hashed out in the withdrawal agreement, Johnon is once again drawing a line in the sand, upping the pressure by declaring Oct. 15 - ie a week from...

Earlier this week, the House of Commons in Westminster passed the Internal Markets Bill, a law that asserts British sovereignty over sovereign British territory. Fairly uncontroversial, right? Downright tautological, even. Not according to the European Union. As I wrote about here, the British government made an ill-advised decision last year to sign on to a very bad Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union. The text of this agreement allowed the EU to economically annex Northern Ireland, one of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom, and to keep it under the European customs and regulation regime. The EU’s pretense...

THE QUEEN'S officials in Buckingham Palace sent a message to Prince Harry after the Duke of Sussex broke with royal protocol this week by intervening in the US presidential election.

By the last American mail we have the reply of the President of the United States to the proposal submitted by Lord JOHN RUSSELL for putting an end to the Slave-trade, and we regret to learn that they do not, upon the whole, appear to meet the views of the American Government. Our readers will recollect that the Foreign Minister has expressed an opinion to the effect that three things must be done before this traffic can be suppressed. The first is to establish a more efficient system of cruising off the coasts of Cuba; the second is to establish...

Broadcast media does not run the country, but it does set the parameters of what it is possible for Governments to do. It is at least in part responsible for some of the mistakes that have been made in the past few months. The British economy shrank by just over 20% in the second quarter of this year. This is just a number to most of us. Because of furlough we haven’t really felt the economic shock. Lockdown has been one long holiday for many of us without any noticeable decline in our living standards. What’s not to like? But...

A video clip shows a grandmother confronting a teacher over the phone about how she told a student she didn’t have a right to an opinion because she was “white” and “blonde.” The footage starts with the grandmother explaining to the teacher that her granddaughter is crying and hasn’t been to school because of this “BLM crap.” She then accuses the teacher of telling her granddaughter that she had no right to express an opinion on the issue because she’s British, white and has blonde hair. After being told there is an audio recording of the exchange, the teacher responds,...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Dr. Deborah Birx, from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, met with state and local officials, healthcare professionals and university leaders at the University of Kentucky Monday to review the university’s plan to fight COVID. Governor Andy Beshear and the local health department have raised concerns about the number of students testing positive campus, but Dr. Birx feels the university has the situation under control. “To every parent who has a student at the University of Kentucky, I’m not worried about your students because they’re wearing masks, socially distancing and doing everything that’s right,” Dr. Birx...

The United Kingdom’s fourth largest party suspended a candidate for mayor of London who was filmed in 1997 telling voters not to support a Jew. The Liberal Democrats suspended Geeta Sidhu-Robb, who was vying to become their candidate in London’s 2021 mayoral elections, the Jewish News of London reported. Over the weekend, a video emerged on Twitter showing her during her 1997 general election campaign for the constituency of Blackburn in northern England. In that campaign, Sidhu-Robb was running as a member of the Conservative Party against Jack Straw, a former Labour lawmaker. “Don’t vote for a Jew. Jack Straw...

British scientists are beginning a small study comparing how two experimental coronavirus vaccines might work when they are inhaled by people instead of being injected. In a statement on Monday, researchers at Imperial College London and Oxford University said a trial involving 30 people would test vaccines developed by both institutions when participants inhale the droplets in their mouths, which would directly target their respiratory systems. Larger studies of the Imperial and Oxford vaccine are already under way, but this study aims to see if the vaccines might be more effective if they are inhaled. […] The study is currently...