UK

UK Regulators Still Grappling With Brexit Impact

18May

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

UK Regulators Still Grappling With Brexit Impact

Several UK regulators are still grappling with the impact of Brexit. They are constantly struggling with staff shortages. There is also often a lack of data that is necessary to be able to perform their work properly. According to a report from the National Audit Office, there would also be no clear long-term planning. Regulators such as the competition watchdog CMA, the food and commodity authority FSA and HSE, the body that monitors national health and safety at work, have been given additional work due to Brexit. The three have also received additional funding for this. As a result, the workforce has also expanded. Nevertheless, it is challenging for the authorities to attract people with specialist skills. Only a quarter of the vacancies for legal positions at the CMA had be...

UK Looks at Easing Visa Rules for Ukrainians

10Mar

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, UK, Ukraine

UK Looks at Easing Visa Rules for Ukrainians

The UK is looking at how to relax visa rules for Ukrainian refugees. The move comes after criticism of the British government, which critics say with bureaucratic red tape is preventing refugees from being helped quickly enough. Refugee Ukrainians are now only allowed to enter the UK with a visa. Secretary of the Interior James Heappey, who is in charge of the British armed forces, said Home Secretary Priti Patel is exploring options to give Ukrainians easier access to the country. However, according to Sky News, Patel is under pressure from other ministers. The British news channel also reports that about 1,000 Ukrainians have been granted visas. However, it is not clear how many applications have been submitted; on Monday, there were still 17,700. This is because the government...

Trade In Nickel on London Stock Exchange Shut Down

8Mar

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Business, News, UK

Trade In Nickel on London Stock Exchange Shut Down

Trading in Nickel was halted on Tuesday on the metal exchange in London. Bloomberg news agency reported that trading would endure suspension for the rest of the day. Earlier in the day, the nickel price had broken the $100,000 per ton mark for the first time. Investors fear that Russia will no longer be able to export its production due to sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.

London Subway Does Not Run After Failed Collective Labour Agreement

1Mar

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, UK

London Subway Does Not Run After Failed Collective Labour Agreement

The London Underground is not running due to a strike. However, unions have decided to stop working on Tuesday and Thursday because negotiations on, among other things, pension rights and changing work agreements have failed. "All underground lines have been suspended," said a Transport for London spokeswoman. However, it is still unclear whether traffic will be restored during the day or not. Other public transport in the British capital, such as bus services, runs normally but is busier than usual. As a result, Londoners are advised to work from home as much as possible. Transport union RMT has urged Mayor Sadiq Khan to support the metro staff who "behaved so heroically during the corona crisis". The unions say that in order to save money, the government is "making a devastati...

London Police Arrest Seven Men Who Live-Stream Castrations from Their Basement for A Fee

7Feb

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, UK

London Police Arrest Seven Men Who Live-Stream Castrations from Their Basement for A Fee

Police in London in December arrested seven men suspected of having filmed and broadcast live how they were castrated and how genitals were surgically removed. To see that, viewers had to pay. British media report that. "Between Tuesday 7 and Friday 10 December 2021, officers searched a home in Finsbury Park (in north London)," said a London police spokesman, "as part of an investigation into alleged serious mutilation of bodies." The officers found seven people in the apartment. In the basement of the apartment building, they have filmed castrations and surgical removals of genitals and broadcast them live for payment via an account on Twitter. The practices are said to be linked to a subculture in which people have their genitals removed to no longer fit into a gender box. The...

London Police Ask Report on Party Gate to Limit

28Jan

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, UK

London Police Ask Report on Party Gate to Limit

London police have asked top public servant Sue Gray's team investigating illegal parties at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's residence to report as little as possible about meetings the force itself is investigating. This should guarantee that police investigator can do their work without prejudice. The publication of Gray's report, which has been eagerly awaited for days, should not be delayed if it is up to the police. It is possible that passages in it are deleted or not released at the request of the police. It is unclear when the investigation, which could cause serious harm to Johnson, will be made public. It may be Monday. According to the BBC, Gray wants to send the government a report that can be published in full. British politics has long been under the spell of partie...

British Court Hears Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange’s Appeal Against Extradition to US

24Jan

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, UK, US

British Court Hears Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange’s Appeal Against Extradition to US

It may be a decisive twist in a legal saga that has been going on for years: London's High Court will hear on Monday a request to appeal to the Supreme Court against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. If he refuses, he threatens to be extradited to the United States. The United States accused the Australian of having released more than 700,000 classified documents about US military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, since 2010. As a result, there are a lot of charges against him, and he faces a total of up to 175 years in prison. According to his supporters, the case constitutes a severe attack on press freedom. At the beginning of last year, Judge Vanessa Baraitser had spoken out against the extradition of Assange. His mental heal...

British Minister Calls on People to Go to Office

21Jan

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, UK

British Minister Calls on People to Go to Office

The UK economy secretary has called on people to return to the office to take advantage of face-to-face cooperation. "The world must learn to live with the coronavirus after a pandemic that wiped out trillions of dollars from a global manufacturing," Kwasi Kwarteng said. Since the outbreak of the corona crisis, millions of Britons have been working from home, whether or not forced by the measures. Next Wednesday, the British government's advice to work from home will end. This call comes after announcing the termination of a large part of the corona measures. "People who work in the office benefit from working with colleagues to be able to interact with them directly," he said. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is betting that the omikron variant of the coronavirus has reached i...

Brexit Attracts A Lot of British Companies to Flanders

18Jan

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

Business, Europe, News, UK

Brexit Attracts A Lot of British Companies to Flanders

2021 was a full year in terms of foreign investment in Flanders. Thanks to Brexit, there was a remarkable amount of investment from the United Kingdom. Flanders Investment and Trade, the agency that attracts and guides foreign investors, can announce record figures. International companies launched 295 new investment projects in Flanders last year. In addition, they announced 6,233 additional jobs. Traditionally, American companies are the largest investors in Flanders. Only last year - in full corona crisis - they had to leave the first place to the Netherlands. But this year, America is again number 1, with 64 files representing a quarter of the total number of investment projects. The British are in second place, with 49 investment projects accounting for a market share of al...

Buckingham Palace Didn’t Want A Candle in the Wind

3Jan

By Alan LorenzNo Comments

News, UK

Buckingham Palace Didn’t Want A Candle in the Wind

Of Princess Diana's funeral, many people especially remember the moment when Sir Elton John sang the adapted version of his song Candle in the wind. But according to archival documents that have just been released, the Palace was not in favour of this. Buckingham Palace would have found the text too sentimental. An early draft of the program stated that Elton John would be singing another song, Your song. The Dean of Westminster pleaded for Candle in the wind in a personal letter to the Palace. He felt that a "daring" choice was needed at that point in the celebration, pointing out that the song is "played and sung all over the country in memory of Diana". The dean suggested not to print the text if it was found to be too sentimental. A saxophonist would have been ready to play...