UK to shake off mild recession by end of this year, City analyst predicts January 16, 2023 The UK economy will experience a very mild recession and could be out of it by the end of this year, a top City economist has forecast. International energy prices have marched back down the steep hill they climbed after Russian president Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February last year. On some measures, [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Putin scrambles to salvage war campaign replacing spies May 11, 2022 Vladimir Putin has replaced Russia’s main spy agency – the Federal Security Service (FSB) – with military intelligence chiefs who will now oversee intelligence operations in Ukraine. The individuals appointed are part of the GRU, the service allegedly behind the Salisbury poisonings in 2018, and heavily involved in operations in the Donbas and in Syria. [...]
Government bans services exports to Russia – but UK lawyers excluded May 4, 2022 Ministers have announced a ban on services exports to Russia, including management consulting, accounting and public relations but excluding legal professions. In the latest tranche of sanctions from foreign secretary Liz Truss, Russian businesses will no longer be able to do businesses with UK professional services firms. Many businesses have already cut connections with the [...]
Advantage Putin? Wimbledon U-turns to let Russia and Belarus stars like Sabalenka and Medvedev compete March 31, 2023 Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete at Wimbledon this year, the All England Club has announced. Athletes from the two countries must sign declarations of neutrality and must not express support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while players who receive funding from the Russian or Belarusian states, including sponsorship from state owned [...]
Eurovision: Ukraine victorious, United Kingdom comes second May 15, 2022 The United Kingdom had a remarkable showing at the Eurovision song contest, coming in second place and narrowly missing out to hot favourites Ukraine. Sam Ryder swept to the dramatic win with the jury, after his Spaceman track wowed the audience getting 283 points. His performance received the maximum 12 points from countries including Ukraine, [...]
Zelensky invokes Churchill as tells MPs ‘we will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets’ March 8, 2022 Volodymyr Zelensky invoked Winston Churchill’s most famous speech in a historic address to the House of Commons today, telling MPs “we will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets” and that “we will not lose”. In the first ever address by a foreign leader in the Commons, the Ukrainian [...]
Putin is ‘mirroring’ the fascism of Hitler, says Ben Wallace May 9, 2022 Vladimir Putin is “mirroring” the fascism of Hitler and must face the same fate as the Nazi top command, the UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said today.
ULEZ: Sadiq Khan to shut scrappage scheme as London drivers scramble to apply August 16, 2024 London Mayor Sadiq Khan will close the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone) scrappage scheme next month as drivers in the capital scramble to make last-minute applications. The announcement comes after Khan expanded the controversial scheme to more areas of greater London shortly before his re-election earlier in the year. The scrappage scheme, which drivers can apply to [...]
Labour MP receives death threats calling her ‘Putin’s whore’ February 26, 2022 A Labour MP has received death threats following her involvement in a Stop the War statement that criticised NATO expansionism, alongside 11 current Labour MPs. The Stop the War coalition “condemns the movement of Russian forces into eastern Ukraine and urges that they immediately withdraw, alongside the resumption of diplomatic negotiations to resolve the crisis”. Zarah Sultana, [...]
Huge amount of work to do, Starmer tells ministers at first Cabinet meeting July 6, 2024 Keir Starmer told ministers there was a “huge amount of work to do” as he chaired the first meeting of his new Cabinet on his first full day in Downing Street.