We have laws to deal with crimes linked to protest. What this is really about is a government complicit in the Gaza atrocities seeking to silence dissent
Juliet Stevenson is an award-winning actor
Strongly worded emails are not doing it. Appeals to MPs are not doing it. Taking to the streets in our hundreds of thousands with banners and placards is not working. Elected representatives from every party in parliament have stood in the Commons and asked the government to act. Some government ministers themselves have condemned Israel’s starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. Every poll of public opinion shows that the nation demands we stop arming Israel, and wants to see an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. But none of these things are working.
Keir Starmer and his cabinet remain impervious to all calls for humanitarian intervention, and Israel is still killing children in Gaza with the support of the British government.
Juliet Stevenson is an award-winning actor
Continue reading...Mary Dainton ‘stunned’ when police told her DNA evidence led them to man who raped and murdered Louisa Dunne
When police officers sat Mary Dainton down last year and told her they needed to talk about her grandmother, she asked at once: “Have they caught him?”
The officer confirmed they had a suspect for the rape and murder of Dainton’s grandmother, Louisa Dunne, almost 60 years earlier.
Continue reading...Not one member of the work and pensions secretary’s party came to her rescue as she laid out the government’s concessions – sorry, measures
It was clear from the start that this was largely a domestic dispute. The Labour benches were as tightly rammed as they are for prime minister’s questions and everyone had come determined to have their say. No longer willing to be sidelined by ministers as “noises off”. No one had just turned up because they had nowhere better to be.
On the other side of the Commons, only a handful of Tory backbenchers had made the effort to show up. Fair enough. Disabled and vulnerable people have never really been their priority. To be charitable, maybe they just found it a bit awkward intruding on the government’s private grief.
Continue reading...The latest instalment marks a return to form after some recent duds, with all the expected Spielberg-style set pieces and excellent romantic chemistry between the leads
What a comeback. The Jurassic World film series had looked to be pretty much extinct after some increasingly dire dollops of franchise content: Fallen Kingdom in 2018 and Dominion in 2022. But now, against all odds, these dinosaurs have had a brand refresh: a brighter, breezier, funnier, incomparably better acted and better written film, with unashamed nods to the summer smashes of yesteryear, that makes sense of the dino-spectacle moments that earn their place.
Screenwriter David Koepp and director Gareth Edwards have been drafted in to take us back to basics with a new story, all but retconning the drama with a “17 years previously” flashback at the start that entirely (and thankfully) ignores the tiresome convoluted dullness of what has recently happened. Then we’re in the present day, when the existence of dinosaurs in the wild is accepted but they’ve all pretty much died out – except in and around the lush fictional Île Saint Hubert in the Caribbean.
Continue reading...From vintage finds to Spotify and savings goals, four gen Zers share what budgeting looks like in their real lives
From no-buy-years to second-hand shopping, gen Z seems to have its own unique spending habits. A global rise in the cost of living combined with a highly competitive job market means that 69% of gen Z use some sort of budget to manage their finances.
Their priorities, and what they choose to save for, are different from their boomer counterparts. Gen Z is more likely to spend money on subscriptions, from meal kits to Spotify. There’s also the trend of “doom spending”, which is purchasing non-essential items to cope with either personal or wider political issues.
$40 for electricity
$40 for internet
About $85 on average for gas
$110 for car insurance
$100 for upcoming medical procedure [not included in medical healthcare]
$530 for six months of medical testing, so about $89
$120 for supplements such as painkillers, vitamins, collagen powder and protein powder
Continue reading...Artificial intelligence has entered the personal chat. What does that say about human relationships?
Earlier this spring, Nik Vassev heard a high school friend’s mother had died. Vassev, a 32-year-old tech entrepreneur in Vancouver, Canada, opened up Claude AI, Anthropic’s artificial intelligence chatbot.
“My friend’s mom passed away and I’m trying to find the right way to be there for him and send him a message of support like a good friend,” he typed.
Continue reading...MPs including select committee chairs express doubts that concessions agreed last week go far enough
Downing Street’s plans to see off a major Labour welfare rebellion were in chaos on Monday night, amid continued brinkmanship between MPs and the government over the scale of the concessions.
There was significant division between government departments over how to respond to rebels’ demands – with seemingly little idea how to quell continuing anger ahead of the knife-edge vote on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Offshore wind power boom helps push profit from land and property to more than double what it was two years ago
King Charles is set to receive official annual income of £132m next year, after his portfolio of land and property made more than £1bn in profits thanks to a boom in the offshore wind sector.
Profits at the crown estate – which partly funds the monarchy – were flat at £1.1bn in its financial year to the end of March but more than double their level two years ago, at £442.6m.
Continue reading...Dealing with very serious blazes means fire and rescue service has limited ability to respond to other emergencies
Firefighters battled wildfires in the Scottish Highlands for a third day on Monday in a situation the first minister has called “extremely serious”.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), which has helped tackle the blazes, warned the fires are “becoming a danger to human life” that are leaving “stretched” firefighters unable to attend other incidents.
Continue reading...Reigning champion wins 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
Spaniard: ‘I was really nervous at the beginning’
Carlos Alcaraz said he was proud to have squeezed into the second round after struggling with his nerves and the heat on Centre Court during his dramatic five-set win against Fabio Fognini on Monday.
In searing temperatures, Alcaraz started his pursuit of a third consecutive Wimbledon title by outlasting the veteran Italian 7-5, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 after 4hr 37min on-court.
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