Toby Roberts secured Great Britain’s 14th gold medal in Paris with a thrilling victory in the boulder and lead climbing event, marking the nation’s first Olympic medal in this sport.
The 19-year-old climber was visibly stunned by his triumph, with his head in his hands as he watched Japanese favorite Sorato Anraku, the world silver medalist, falter on the 15-meter wall, handing Roberts the top spot.
Roberts, who honed his skills on a DIY climbing wall built in his father’s garden, had initially placed third in the boulder section, which featured four challenging routes. He later surged to the provisional lead with a score of 92.1 out of 100.
Anraku needed just 86 points on the lead wall to surpass Roberts, but he slipped, causing a collective gasp from the crowd of 6,000 spectators.
“I am just lost for words,” Roberts told the BBC. “Realizing I had won the gold in that moment was simply incredible.”
With Roberts’ gold medal, climbing, a sport introduced at the Tokyo Games, becomes the 44th different sport in which Great Britain has won an Olympic medal.
Sorato Anraku, 17, claimed silver for Japan, while veteran Jakob Schubert, 33, earned the bronze. British climber Hamish McArthur finished in fifth place.
Moscow warned that if Ukraine uses British weapons to attack Russian territory, Russia may strike back at British military bases and equipment in Ukraine or other places.
The comments were made before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fifth term in office and before Moscow’s celebration of Victory Day, which is an important holiday that marks Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
The drills are happening because certain Western officials have made threatening statements about Russia, according to the Defence Ministry.
This was the first time Russia publicly said they were practicing using small nuclear weapons, even though they regularly practice using their big nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are small bombs that can be carried by planes or launched from short-range missiles and artillery. They are used in battles on the battlefield. They are not as strong as the big weapons that can destroy whole cities.
Russia said that Ukraine’s friends in the West should be careful about getting too involved in the war. Russia’s army is doing well in the war because Ukraine doesn’t have enough soldiers or weapons. Some of Ukraine’s friends in the West are worried that the fighting could spread from Ukraine and turn into a war between NATO and Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron said again last week that he might send soldiers to Ukraine, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that Ukraine’s military can use British long-range weapons to attack targets in Russia. Some NATO countries giving weapons to Kyiv are unsure about doing that.
The Kremlin said those comments were dangerous and made tensions worse between Russia and NATO. The war has made the relationship between Moscow and the West very difficult.
Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, said Monday that Macron’s recent statement along with comments from British and US officials led to the nuclear drills.
“It’s getting worse,” Peskov said, talking about the Kremlin’s view of the made statements. “This has never happened before and needs extra attention and special actions. ”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry called for meetings with the ambassadors from France and Britain. It asked the British ambassador to consider the very bad results of the unfriendly actions from London.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said the nuclear tests make things less stable.
“In the current security situation, Russia is acting in a very irresponsible and dangerous way,” Billstrom told a news agency in Sweden.
Europe has supported Ukraine’s military before, and this caused threats of nuclear war. In March 2023, after the UK decided to send Ukraine special shells that can pierce armor and contain a type of uranium, Putin said he plans to put nuclear weapons in Belarus, which is next to Ukraine.
The government said the training is meant to make non-strategic nuclear forces more prepared for combat and is happening because Putin ordered it. The military will practice using missiles in the Southern Military District with the air force and navy.
In Ukraine, the Russian announcement didn’t cause much of a reaction. The spokesman for the Military Intelligence agency, Andrii Yusov, said on TV that Putin’s regime often uses nuclear threats, so this announcement isn’t surprising.
Western leaders say Russia is causing more problems by doing dangerous things that could start a bigger war. NATO countries are very worried about some sneaky activities happening on their land, and they think Russia is responsible for them. They believe these activities could be dangerous for their security.
Peskov said that those claims were “new, unfounded accusations against our country. ”
Germany said on Monday that it asked its ambassador to Russia to come back to Berlin for a week to talk about the alleged computer hack of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party.
At the same time, drones from Ukraine attacked two vehicles in Russia’s Belgorod region on Monday. Six people were killed and 35 others were hurt, including two children, according to local officials. Kyiv’s forces have attacked the area in the past few months.
One of the cars was a small bus carrying farm workers in Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said something.
Ukraine’s army is stuck on a long front line because they don’t have enough troops and weapons. But they are still able to use their long-range weapons to attack targets far inside Russia.
In the ongoing fighting, Russia has been using a lot of long-range missiles, artillery, and drones to seriously harm Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s forces continued to attack Ukraine’s power grid, using drones to target the energy infrastructure in the northern region of Sumy. Several towns and villages in the area, such as Sumy, had no electricity, according to local government officials.
Russia used 13 Shahed drones to attack Ukraine last night. Ukraine’s air force managed to stop 12 of them in the Sumy region.
The UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced new money for Ukraine’s military when he visited Kyiv. His goal is to show that the West is still helping Ukraine for almost two years after Russia attacked.
The UK will get Ukraine a big package of 2. 5 billion pounds (US$3. 2 billion) next year. The British government has given Ukraine more money since the war started, which is 200 million pounds (US$233 million) more than before.
I am here today with one message: The U. K”Will” means that something is going to happen in the future or that it is a possibility. “Do not hesitate,” Sunak said. “We will support Ukraine during difficult times and in the future. ”
The package will cover the costs of buying long-range missiles, thousands of drones, air defense, artillery ammunition, and maritime security, according to Sunak’s office. This happens when the U. Sgives money for other things. Europe is caught up in political arguments and disagreements.
“We’re not leaving,” Sunak said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukrainian leaders are happy that the U. K”The announcement shows that Western support for its fight against a bigger neighbor is not getting weaker, as some people thought. ”
Zelenskyy said, “This is a message to the world: Ukraine has support. ”
Sunak and Zelenskyy agreed to work together on keeping their countries safe for the next 10 years. “It will stay in place until Ukraine joins NATO, Zelenskyy said. ” Officials said they will tell us more about the agreement at a later time.
Kyiv has been asking Western countries to send more help like the U. KThe war is still going on and not much is changing at the front. Both sides are now using long-distance attacks.
Sunak said he went to Ukraine for his first trip of the year to show strong support and to stand with Ukraine, as the situation there is serious and they need international attention.
“We want Ukraine to succeed,” said Sunak, who mentioned that helping Kyiv is a way to keep the world safe. “If Putin wins in Ukraine, he will keep going. ”
Sunak visited shortly after the British and U. SleadersThe army attacked Yemen, hitting over 12 places used by the Houthis, who are supported by Iran.
Thursday’s attacks reminded us of the long-lasting war in the poorest country in the Arab world. The attack also had the potential to start a bigger fight in the region because of Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.
The worries have made people focus on something else instead of Ukraine’s problems, but Zelenskyy is working to solve this through talking with other countries.
Sunak went to Ukraine in November 2022, not long after he became prime minister. Britain strongly supports Ukraine. It is the second largest giver of military help to Ukraine after the U. SIt has given a total of 4. 6 billion pounds (US$5. 8 billion) in 2022 and 2023.
Ukraine and Russia are trying to get more weapons this year, say military experts. They think there might be big fights on the ground in 2025, so the countries want to be ready.
Sunak said that the United Kingdom (U. K) Aid is the largest amount of help one country has given for drones, which are important weapons in the battlefield.
The front line in Ukraine and Russia is about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) long. It has not really changed during the winter. Both countries need weapons like artillery shells, missiles, and drones to attack from far away.
Ukraine says that Moscow is getting artillery shells and missiles from North Korea and drones from Iran.
The son of Ada Sagi, who is from Britain and Israel, talked to the media after his 75-year-old mother was freed from Gaza last night.
Noam Sagi talked about what happened when they were reunited on BBC Radio 4’s Today show.
“It was an amazing night,” Noam says. “So many ideas and dreams and concerns and effort – everything led up to that moment. ”
To feel my mom – just to feel her breathing, her heartbeat, and to look into her eyes and see that she is okay and herself. “is really amazing in lots of ways. ”
Noam spent a long night with Ada, her other kids, and grandkids just holding hands and reconnecting on a deep level.
He says that after being held captive for 53 days without the freedom to make her own choices, the idea that she has more control over her life is amazing to Ada.
“Noam says she is very positive. She was concerned about us. ”
He doesn’t want to talk about what happened to Ada because his family is more focused on helping her get better. They are working with psychologists to understand what happened to her on 7 October.
A soldier from Britain who is in the Canadian Army has been accused of seriously hurting a businessman in downtown Toronto. He has been charged with a serious crime called second degree murder.
Craig Gibson, a 28-year-old police officer, was taken into custody after the police were notified about a problem on a street in Canada’s biggest city around 11. 25pm on August 28.
According to Toronto Police, Brett Sheffield, who was hurt very badly, received immediate medical attention at the scene to try and save his life. He was then taken to the hospital.
The person from Manitoba who started a company called NextGen Drainage Solutions in 2011, who was 38 years old, passed away two days after the accident.
Gibson, who is said to be from Dalry in Ayrshire, was supposed to go to the Toronto Regional Bail Centre at 10am on Monday.
The decision from the hearing has not been shared with the public.
According to an article in the Mail Online, Gibson is a soldier in a military unit called The Highlanders, which is part of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
According to comments from military sources, the news website said that he is accused of hitting Mr Sheffield in the jaw only one time.
A representative from the British Army said that a British soldier has been arrested and charged by the Toronto Police in Canada for second degree murder.
We are thinking about the victim’s family during this sad time.
‘We cannot say more because Canadian authorities are currently investigating the matter. ‘
NextGen Drainage expressed on social media that they greatly miss Mr Sheffield, and his absence is strongly felt by the community, the company, and his wide network of friends and colleagues.
Brett really cares about making everyone feel important and loved, and this will keep inspiring us.
We are taking comfort in our shared promise to make sure Brett’s memory continues to do well.
People from Britain who were on vacation are stuck and desperate for assistance because a Greek island experienced heavy flooding.
The island of Skiathos, which is located east of Greece, experienced heavy rain that resulted in sudden flooding this week.
Emergency services are telling people to stay inside because some tourists are stuck in hotels without power and are having trouble reaching out for help, according to the MailOnline.
According to news sources, the mayor of the island has asked for a state of emergency to be declared.
People are really scared and think the situation is really bad. No planes have been able to come or go from the airport on the island.
Jet2 announced yesterday evening that it had to cancel all five flights scheduled to go to the island on Tuesday and Wednesday. They said that the situation was completely out of their control.
The pictures and videos are really scary. They show that the streets of Skiathos became like rivers, and the strong water washed away bins, tables, chairs, and cars.
A person from Britain on vacation said that they and their spouse were supposed to take a flight back home at 8pm on Wednesday, but the flight got cancelled. They haven’t gotten much information from TUI about when they can return to Manchester Airport. Right now, they are stuck at their hotel with no electricity and they are running out of food.
The hotel is providing a place for local people to stay because their homes on the beach were destroyed by the floods.
He said: ‘We are running out of food at the hotel. ‘ We can’t bring any more things because the road near our hotel has fallen apart.
The rain has been really strong for about 36 hours. Our hotel is currently providing a place to stay for local families who no longer have a home near the beach.
Floods happen when there is very heavy rain in Greece, and the water flows fast down the streets. Two women were saved from a road that was covered in water.
Videos shared by people who live there show water moving quickly through the streets of the town. The flooding happened just a few days after British people had finished their summer holidays.
Emma Taylor was in Skiathos to celebrate her daughter’s 22nd birthday. The hotel staff, who were scared, told guests to leave their rooms if they needed to go back home by plane.
She said that if their flights were cancelled, they could check in again.
She said: ‘This storm is very dangerous. ‘ There is water coming into our hotel corridors and ceilings, the electricity keeps going out, but luckily we are safe because we are on a higher floor at the Skiathos Palace in Koukounaries. Some people have been told to leave the rooms they are staying in.
She said the entire experience has been intense and worrying. She and her family have been unable to leave their hotel.
Visitors to the island have said they cannot leave because they are stuck at the airport.
The rough sea has made it unsafe for ferries to travel to and from the island. As a result, passengers are not sure if they can catch their flights back home in the coming days.
In the past few days, there have been flash floods in the Mediterranean. This happened after very hot weather and intense wildfires.
Many bridges in Spain got damaged because the rivers overflowed. Turkey and Bulgaria also experienced flooding, and there was significant damage in the Turkish capital city, Istanbul.
Emergency services used boats to rescue people from cars and buildings on flooded roads.
Sam Newey decided to help on the frontlines after Vladimir Putin’s invasion in February last year.
The young man, who was 22 years old, had to fight in many fights while serving in a country that was destroyed by war.
He didn’t have any experience in the military and he was part of a group of adventurous volunteers called the Dark Angels.
He died in the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, according to his brother Dan, who shared a heartfelt message on social media.
It says, ‘I am feeling very sad and hurt, but I don’t have the right words to describe how I feel. ‘ I want to stress how proud I am of my younger brother.
Dan claimed that his brother “acted with courage, morality, and honour” and “gave his life for people he never knew.”
You’re not just my little brother, but also a remarkable man, a sterling soldier, and one of the bravest people I’ve ever had the honour of knowing, he said.
I appreciate you being a part of my life for the past 22 years so much. I will always adore you, brother.
Sam has also received several tributes on other social media platforms, with many hailing him as a “hero.”
The Sun reported that Sam, who was studying psychology at the University of Birmingham, chose to get involved in a conflict against Russia.
He chose to do what his brother did and joined the Dark Angels, a group started by a family friend, Daniel Burke, that fights for causes he believes in.
In June 2022, Sam filmed a video with a body camera showing the squad shooting a missile at a Russian position.
Videos showed the group secretly moving through an area with no people in the occupied Kherson province to launch the rocket attack.
It is said that Sam died because of a bomb attack. The person in charge, Mr. Burke, is also believed to have died after he disappeared in Zaporizhzhia and hasn’t been seen alive since August 11th.
Sam Newey, seen outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London in February 2020, was there because he and his father were accused of breaking the Terrorist Act. Their alleged crime was sending money to Sam’s brother in Syria.
In 2020, Sam and his dad Paul were accused of helping Kurdish forces in Syria by giving money to their friend Dan who was fighting against Isis. They were charged with terror crimes.
They were accused of helping Daniel Newey unlawfully, while Paul was accused of giving money for terrorism, even though Dan’s military group controlled by the Kurds was supported by Britain and trained by the SAS.
Dan used to be a paratrooper and fought alongside the People’s Protection Units (YPG). A Syrian Kurdish group was active from late 2017 to June 2018.
The YPG is the main part of a group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. They were created to fight against the group known as the Islamic State, but Turkey and some other countries think of them as a terrorist organization.
A few people protested outside the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London during the case. Later, the Crown Prosecution Service decided to drop the charges and take no further action.
In 2021, Dan said that he would prefer to stay in a place where there is a war happening, rather than being treated badly in the UK and being treated like a criminal.
In Britain, more than 11,000 officers have started a war on narcotics that has resulted in the destruction of hundreds of cannabis fields.
Police have promised to put an end to a chain reaction of crime caused by “low-level” offenders.
Every police department in England, Wales, and Scotland participated in Operation Mille, the largest of its type, which resulted in the seizure of 200,000 cannabis plants as well as 15 to 20 firearms and more than 40 other offensive weapons.
Across June, more than 1,000 cannabis farms were raided by police across Britain, with plants worth £130 million seized and some 1,000 suspects arrested.
Operation Mille targeted what law enforcement believe is a cash cow for organised crime gangs who are also involved in other offences such as money laundering, Class A drug smuggling, and violence.
Steve Jupp, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for serious and organised crime, said: ‘We know that organised networks involved in cannabis production are also directly linked to an array of other serious criminality such as Class A drug importation, modern slavery and wider violence and exploitation.
‘This operation not only successfully disrupted a significant amount of criminal activity, but the intelligence gathered will also help inform future law enforcement across the country.
‘Cannabis-related crime is often thought to be ‘low level’; however, there are clear patterns around the exploitation and violence organised crime groups are using to protect their enterprises.
Cannabis plants seized as part of Operation Mille (Picture: PA)Police want to crack down on ‘low-level’ crime that can lead us a gateway to wider illegal activity(Picture: Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images)
‘We also frequently find that cannabis production is just one aspect of their criminal operations and that they are complicit in wider offending which blights our communities.’
Around 11,000 officers were involved in the crackdown, during which £650,000 in cash was also seized.
Large-scale industrial units are used for cannabis farms but also empty residential homes.
Police say the buildings can become dangerous as a result of fire risks, unlawful abstraction of electricity, fumes and water damage.
A major concern for cops up and down the country is the county lines system which exploits young people and, like cannabis dealing, is carried out in the shadow of even bigger criminal operations.
Teenagers are being offered phones, vapes and clothes to take up ‘business opportunities’ promoted on social media, it has previously been reported.
County lines networks often exploit vulnerable teens to take drugs from cities to rural customers via train.
The pandemic exacerbated the problem as children spent more time online, and county lines are springing up more frequently in rural areas where reductions in youth services and support have left young people without protection.
Spokesperson for Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr. Gideon Boako, has strongly denied the allegations circulating on social media that the Vice President possesses British citizenship while serving as Vice President of Ghana.
In a Facebook post on Friday evening, Dr. Gideon Boako categorically stated that Dr. Bawumia has never held British citizenship or any other citizenship throughout his life.
These claims emerged after a screenshot supposedly displaying information about the Vice President on a purported UK website started circulating on social media.
The screenshot alleged that Dr. Bawumia holds British citizenship, which, if true, would contravene Ghanaian laws that prohibit individuals with dual citizenship from holding certain positions, including that of Vice President.
However, Dr. Bawumia’s spokesperson dismissed these claims on Facebook, urging people not to entertain or give any credence to such unfounded allegations.
Dr. Gideon Boako emphasized that the accusations should be disregarded and treated with contempt.
Dr Boako wrote: “The attention of the Office of the Vice President has been drawn to a malicious social media allegation that the Vice President holds a British citizenship while holding the office of Vice President, contrary to the laws of Ghana.”
“We wish to state in clear terms that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia does not hold British citizenship and has never held British or any other citizenship other than being a Ghanaian. The allegation should be treated with the contempt it deserves. Thank you.”
Article 8(2) of Ghana’s 1992 constitution states that “Without prejudice to Article 94(2)(a) of the Constitution, no citizen of Ghana shall qualify to be appointed as a holder of any office specified in this clause if he holds the citizenship of any other country in addition to his citizenship of Ghana.”
Recently, the Supreme Court directed Parliament to expunge the name of Mr James Gyakye Quayson for its records as it upheld the Cape Coast High Court’s decision to nullify the 2020 Assin North Parliamentary election since it believed Mr Quayson owed allegiance to the Canadian government while contesting.
The princess is the niece of King Charles III and the 11th in line to the British throne. She is the child of Prince Andrew, the monarch’s younger brother, and Sarah Ferguson, his former spouse.
Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank, the couple’s second child, was born on May 30th, Princess Eugenie revealed on Monday.
“Jack and I wanted to share the news that we had our little boy, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank on 30th May 2023 at 8.49 weighing 7.1lbs,” she wrote in the Instagram post.
“He is named after his great great great Grandfather George, his Grandpa George and my Grandpa Ronald,” it continues.
The couple have another boy, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, born in February 2021.
“Augie is loving being a big brother already,” said Eugenie in Monday’s post.
The princess married Brooksbank at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in October 2018, a few months after Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex tied the knot there.
Eugenie was born on March 23, 1990. The princess’ parents announced their separation when she was two and divorced in 1996, sharing joint custody of Eugenie and her older sister Beatrice.
Prime Minister of UK, Rishi Sunak has promised to deliver Ukraine hundreds more missiles and attack drones in an effort to shift the pattern of the war.
Zelenskyy landed by helicopter at Chequers, the British leader’s official country retreat, where he was greeted by Rishi Sunak with a handshake and a hug. It’s Zelenskyy’s second trip to the U.K. since Russia invadedUkrainein February 2022.
"Your country's bravery and fortitude is an inspiration to us all", PM Rishi Sunak tells Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as they meet at Chequers.
"We are thankful and privileged to be here," Zelenskyy responds.https://t.co/RaneCGCSkd
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/1PbH58KEQm
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 15, 2023
Zelenskyy thanked Britain for its support so far, and said the war was a matter of “security not only for Ukraine, it is important for all of Europe.”
Sunak told Zelenskyy that “your leadership, your country’s bravery and fortitude are an inspiration to us all.”
This is the fourth European country Zelenskky has visited in the past few days, after France, Germany and Italy. He is seeking more aid as Ukraine prepares a long-anticipated spring offensive to retake territory seized by Russia.
The Kremlin said it took London’s promise to supply Ukraine with more weapons “extremely negatively,” but at the same time believed the supplies wouldn’t drastically change the course of the war, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
“Britain aspires to be at the forefront among countries that continue to pump weapons into Ukraine,” Peskov said. “We repeat once again, it cannot yield any drastic and fundamental influence on the way the special military operation (in Ukraine) is unfolding. But, definitely, it leads to further destruction, further action. … It makes this whole story for Ukraine much more complicated.”
Sunak responded by pledging the U.K.’s long-term support for Ukraine.
The U.K. has become one of Ukraine’s major military allies, sending Kyiv short-range missiles and Challenger tanks and training 15,000 Ukrainian troops on British soil. Last week, Britain announced it had sent Ukraine Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have a range of more than 250 kilometers (150 miles) — the first known shipment of the weaponry that Kyiv has long sought from its allies.
Sunak’s office said that on Monday Britain would confirm it was giving Ukraine hundreds more air defense missiles, as well as “long-range attack drones” with a range of more than 200 kilometers (120 miles).
“This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke,” Sunak said. “They need the sustained support of the international community to defend against the barrage of unrelenting and indiscriminate attacks that have been their daily reality for over a year.
“We must not let them down.”
Zelenskyy said more work was needed to have allies build a “fighter jet coalition” to provide Ukraine with vital air defenses.
While Sunak’s spokesman said no planes would be provided, the prime minister said the U.K. would be a key part of the coalition and would begin training Ukrainian fighter pilots as soon as this summer.
Sunak will also push allies to deliver more support to Ukraine at a meeting of Group of Seven leaders in Japan later this week, Downing Street said.
As Zelenskyy visited European capitals, Russia stepped up attacks across Ukraine with drones and missiles. On Sunday, Russia shelled two communities in the northern border region of Sumy, regional officials said on Telegram. They said 109 explosions were recorded.
Zelenskyy’s office said Monday that the shelling had killed nine civilians and injured 19 in the past day. Six of the deaths were in the Kherson region. Two civilians were killed in Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region and one in Prymorsk, which is on the Azov Sea coast about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Russian-occupied Berdyansk.
The presidential office also reported that Marhanets, which lies across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, was shelled.
Zelenskyy’s stop in London followed a previously unannounced visit to Paris on Sunday evening, where he met French President Emmanuel Macron. French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee palace in Paris, on May 14, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee palace in Paris, on May 14, 2023.
Michel Euler via Associated Press
Macron’s office said France would supply dozens of light tanks, armored vehicles and more air defense systems “in the weeks ahead,” without giving specific numbers.
About 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers would also receive training in France this year and nearly 4,000 others in Poland as part of a wider European effort, Macron’s office said.
France had dispatched a plane to pick up Zelenskyy in Germany, where he met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, shake hands during the award ceremony of the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany, on May 14, 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, shake hands during the award ceremony of the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany, on May 14, 2023.
Ina Fassbender/Pool via Associated Press
It was his first visit to Berlin since the start of the invasion and came a day after the German government announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.
After initially hesitating to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and 2 battle tanks, and the sophisticated IRIS-T SLM air defense system. Modern Western hardware is considered crucial if Ukraine is to succeed in its planned counteroffensive.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy met Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni shake hands during a press conference after their meeting at Chigi Palace, Government’s office, in Rome, on May 13, 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni shake hands during a press conference after their meeting at Chigi Palace, Government’s office, in Rome, on May 13, 2023.
Alessandra Tarantino via Associated Press
During his European trip, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would aim to liberate Russian-occupied areas within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, and not attack Russian territory.
The Washington Post cited previously undisclosed documents from a trove of U.S. intelligence leaks suggesting that Zelenskyy had considered trying to capture areas in Russia proper for possible use as bargaining chips in peace negotiations to end the war launched by Moscow.
This would put him at odds with Western governments that have insisted that weapons they provide must not be used to attack targets in Russia.
Asked about the report, Zelenskyy said: “We don’t attack Russian territory, we liberate our own legitimate territory.”
“We have neither the time nor the strength (to attack Russia),” he said, according to an official interpreter. “And we also don’t have weapons to spare with which we could do this.
“We are preparing a counterattack for the illegally occupied areas based on our constitutionally defined legitimate borders, which are recognized internationally,” Zelenskyy said.
Among areas still occupied by Russia are the Crimean peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine with mainly Russian-speaking populations.
Ghana has shown its respect and admiration for Britain‘s new monarch, King Charles III, by presenting him with a special gift from one of its talented artists.
Anthony Jefferson Hanson, also known as Ashenso, has created a stunning portrait of the King in his royal robes, framed in gold.
The painting was handed over to Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who attended the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6, 2023, along with the Asante King, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and his wife Lady Julia.
The painting will be delivered to Buckingham Palace through the Ghana High Commission as a gift from Ghana to the King.
Ashenso, whose work has been recognised both in Ghana and abroad, has also painted many Ghanaian heads of state and other prominent figures.
He wrote in an instagram post:
“Always an honor… Presentation of The King Charles III painting to the President, my President His Excellency @nakufoaddo the President of Ghana. The painting will be delivered to the Buckingham Palace through the Ghana High commission as a gift from Ghana to the King of The United Kingdom His Royal Highness King Charles III.”
King Charles III was crowned on Saturday in a magnificent and deeply religious ceremony that was attended by dignitaries from around the world. He succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September 2022 at the age of 96. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history. His wife, Camilla, was also crowned as Queen Camilla during the same ceremony.
The leader of Ukraine’s parliament stated that the country’s pilots are prepared to get training to operate British weaponry.
On his visit to Westminster today, Ruslan Stefanchuk stated that once his nation “gets the wings,” it can achieve “joint victory for Ukraine and the world.”
Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with nations again and time again for the aid of jets in their conflict with Russia.
Notwithstanding partners’ reluctance to deliver the cutting-edge airplanes, the RAF will train Ukrainian pilots on Nato-standard jets.
Mr Stefanchuk said: ‘We are ready for more intense training of Ukrainian servicemen.
‘We’re ready to send our pilots to be trained in fighter jets.’
He also thanked Britain for sending 14 Challenger 2 tanks, paving the way for other nations to do the same.
‘Today is the time for Britain to become a leader to also open the door to use aircraft and long-range rockets,’ he said.
Mr Stefanchuk also used his visit to call for the creation of a special tribunal to investigate Moscow’s war crimes.
‘We want to use all the legal mechanisms to make sure Russia is defeated legally, held accountable for all the crimes they commit in Ukraine,’ he said.
He added Vladimir Putin’s crimes are ‘not real if they are not prosecuted’.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart to Westminster, telling him: ‘Our Parliament is your Parliament.
‘Ukrainian politicians play a vital role in serving their people and telling the world the reality of war.
‘We are a friend that will listen, we are a friend that will support and continue to support.’
In the first instance of its sort, a Nigerian politician was found guilty of organ trafficking in Britain.
In an effort to obtain a young man from Lagos’ kidney, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and “middleman” Dr. Obinna Obeta, 50, formed a plan. All three were found guilty of the crime.
It is the first time defendants have been found guilty of an organ harvesting conspiracy under the Modern Slavery Act.
As the jury, which deliberated for over 14 hours, acquitted their daughter Sonia of the same allegation, she sobbed uncontrollably.
The victim, a 21-year-old street trader from Lagos, was brought to the UK last year to provide a kidney to Sonia in an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
The World Baseball Classic game between Great Britain and Mexico ended in a close 2-1 loss for Great Britain.
Despite the fact that the United States is a member of the Organization of American States, it is not a member of the Organization of American States.
With one victory and three losses from four games, they are at the bottom of Pool C.
However, if the USA defeats Colombia on Thursday, Great Britain will move up to fourth and qualify automatically for the 2026 World Baseball Classic (02:00 GMT).
Great Britain, making their tournament debut in the fifth iteration, stood out in a tense match against Mexico, who shocked Pool C favourites USA in their previous game.
After conceding a run in the bottom of the second inning, Britain levelled the score in the top of the sixth when a single from BJ Murray Jr allowed Chavez Young to scamper home from third base.
But Mexico, who will reach the quarter-finals with victory over Canada in their final group game, regained the lead in the next inning and held on toclaim a second win from their three matches.
He claims that he “loves everything about driving” and was motivated by his father Stuart, who has driven buses for 20 years.
Luke began training for a Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) license after receiving his driver’s license, and he successfully passed the exam the first time around without any difficulties.
He said working with his dad would be one of the best things about his new job, along with helping people get around.
A full-time driver in Coventry can earn £28,500 – even more with overtime.
Luke said: ‘I’m looking forward to spending more time on the road, helping more people get around and working alongside my dad, who has worked for the garage for the past 20 years.
‘Although, now there is a bit of competition between me and dad for who’s the better driver!
The 18-year-old is now Britain’s youngest ever bus driver
‘It feels great to have passed with no minors. I put a lot of time and effort into practising for the test so it’s very satisfying to know my hard work has paid off.’
He said he was also not made to feel ‘silly’ because of his young age, adding: ‘Having a supportive team around me has helped a lot.
‘During my training, no question was too silly and my instructor was calm and informative so I didn’t feel pressured at all, which I believe has really spurred on my development.’
Luke said one of the best things about his job is getting to work with his dad
National Express driving trainer officer Darren Dunbar said: ‘To pass a PCV licence at 18 years of age and with zero minors is a major achievement.
‘Each year we have hundreds of drivers start training, out of these, only about two or three pass their test without fault.
‘We were not surprised by Luke’s result. He puts 100 per cent into everything he does and that definitely shows in his driving.
‘I’m really pleased for him, he’s a lovely guy and a great asset to the garage.’
In describing Labour’s goal to achieve the highest sustained growth in the G7, Sir Keir Starmer stated that immigration is not “the answer to all of our issues.”
The Labour leader admitted that there was a short-term need for migrant labor due to a lack of workers, but he emphasized that the UK’s “skills deficit” needed to be fixed instead of importing workers from outside.
He promised that the growth strategy of his party would raise living standards “all across the country” in a speech he gave on Monday in the City of London.
Addressing business leaders, Sir Keir said Britain needs “growth from the grassroots, where wealth is created everywhere, by everyone, for everyone. Where we take off the blinkers to the potential of an active government that sets the direction and where we come together in a partnership, raise our collective sights beyond the day-to-day, deliver the long-term solutions our country needs”.
He continued: “The model for growth that we’re absolutely focused on is a model that increases living standards everywhere.”
He dismissed a model where wealth is created in London and the South East and redistributed to the rest of the UK.
“I want that productivity, those good jobs, everywhere across the country,” he said.
“It can’t be just London and Manchester and Leeds, it’s got to be everywhere.”
The Labour leader also emphasised that stability is crucial in attracting investment to the UK.
“We have heard loud and clear about the need for certainty – that basic truth: chaos has a cost – that investors need a clear framework with policies that are always fully costed, fiscal rules, sound and followed rigorously, constraints accepted, institutions respected and not bypassed.
“A rock of economic stability. Our entire mission for growth is built on that, and don’t doubt it for a second.
“But honestly, isn’t that the least we should expect? I think so. Britain needs certainty, yes, but also change.”
Asked about businesses’ pleas to allow more migrant workers to come to the UK to fill labour shortages, Sir Keir said: “We recognise the short-term problem and we are not going to be anti-business or anti-growth or anti-farming about this and allow short-term problems to create long-term problems.
“But we do have to get ourselves off the idea that migration is the answer to all of our problems.
“We’ve had a skills problem in this country for decades.
“We want to fix the fundamentals. I’m still struck by how many children leave school without the skills they are actually going to need for the jobs they are likely to be doing, the lives they are likely to be leading.”
A visa scheme for industries hit by Labour shortfalls would be “more likely” than granting young people from the European Union access, Sir Keir indicated.
A paper detailing Labour’s plan for meeting and measuring its progress on its growth mission was published before the speech.
The nine-page document says a future Labour government “will create stronger links between our evidence-led, points-based immigration system and our skills bodies to make sure we have the skilled workforce we need”.
The paper also says that having the highest sustained growth in the G7 would mean income growing faster, people having more savings, jobs in new and growing industries, along with vibrant high streets.
In his speech, Sir Keir said the entire UK needs improved relations with the EU, “not just Northern Ireland”, and “a fixed Brexit deal” is required.
“A reset relationship with the EU, with the whole of the country, not just Northern Ireland,” he said.
Labour’s plan on growth, he added, is “the only show in town”.
After the speech, Sir Keir and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves hosted a roundtable meeting of business leaders, including Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden and Professor Jagjit Chadha of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
People need food. Instead, they’re being fed nationalism by an authoritarian government that misreads the public’s mood.
There are reasons why half a million people are on strike in Britain. The reasons are low wages, poor working conditions, poverty and stress.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector workers, particularly health service and local government, worked incredibly hard in often very difficult conditions in order to deliver a health service, and were applauded by everybody.
They are now being told: “We can’t afford to pay you properly. We’re going to continue underfunding all those services. And you are now officially an enemy of what the government is trying to achieve.”
Well, people do not like that. And people are very angry about that.
It is an unhappy, unsettled and divided country being fed a diet of excessive nationalism and excessive patriotism. This needs fixing as a society — not by individual endeavours and sharp elbows.
You go to people’s homes, and there is hardly any food in the house. They cannot afford to keep the lights on; cannot afford to heat the house. Children go to school hungry. There is a real issue of injustice and inequality. There is no shortage of food in the country. There is a shortage of the ability of public services to ensure that people can survive. And it all basically comes down to the level of wages that we have.
We are obsessed, as this government is, with the privatisation of public services, with disempowerment of working-class communities and the promotion of the individual at the expense of the collective. They have tried to turn Britain into an individualistic society rather than the post-war consensus, which was much more of a communal society.
Parliament has passed a bill that gives the government the power to enforce people to go to work, even though they are exercising the rights that they have to take industrial action. That to me is a threat to the rights and liberties of people.
The government has completely misjudged the public mood and many people who themselves are either unemployed or not in a union feel that the union leaderships are acting for them.
The government’s retreat into authoritarian legislation rather than negotiation is one of the big problems.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
As part of the nation’s war effort, the UK is expected to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, according toPrime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The equipment and additional artillery systems would be sent, he assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call on Saturday, according to No. 10.
According to Downing Street, the action demonstrates “the UK’s ambition to intensify support.”
14 tanks will be provided by the government to Ukraine.
Also anticipated is the delivery of about 30 AS90s, large self-propelled weapons.
President Zelensky has thanked the UK, saying that the decision to send the tanks “will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners”.
He said the UK’s support was “always strong” and was “now impenetrable”.
No 10 said that during the call, Mr Sunak and Mr Zelensky also discussed also recent Ukrainian victories, as well as the “need to seize on this moment with an acceleration of global military and diplomatic support”.
The announcement came as a series of missile attacks were launched across Ukraine on Saturday, including in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa.
At least 14 people were killed in a strike on an apartment block in the eastern city of Dnipro.
Mr Sunak said the Challengers, the British Army’s main battle tank, would help Kyiv’s forces “push Russian troops back”.
Built in the late 1990s, the Challenger tank is more than 20 years old, but it will be the most modern tank at Ukraine’s disposal. The tanks will provide Ukraine with better protection, and more accurate firepower.
The UK will begin training the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use the tanks and guns in the coming days.
While the donation alone is not considered a game-changer, it is hoped that the UK’s move will inspire other countries to donate more modern equipment to help Ukraine.
Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood said he welcomed the UK “getting serious about the hardware it supplies Ukraine”, but that international assistance had been “far too slow”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “That’s exactly what Russia wants us to do – to remain hesitant.
“Unless we step forward and support Ukraine, Russia will not go away – and that will mean the bully has won.”
He stressed that he wanted to see an arms factory in Eastern Poland which would allow Ukraine to procure its own weapons for the long term.
As it stands, Poland has plans to send 14 of its German-made Leopard tanks.
But the tanks, which are in greater supply and used by a number of European armies, need approval from Germany to be exported to Ukraine.
Ukraine also has hopes that the US will supply some of its Abrams tanks, which use the same ammunition as the Leopard.
Earlier this month, Germany and the US agreed to join France in sending armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine – a move seen as a significant boost to its military’s capability on the battlefield.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey said the government had “Labour’s fullest backing” for the decision to send the Challengers.
He said: “Modern tanks are crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to win its battle against Russian aggression.”
Responding to the news of the Challenger tanks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “As we’ve said previously, weapons supplies are legitimate targets for Russian strikes.”
Image caption,Soledar has been devastated by Russia’s bombardment, as shown by this satellite image from Tuesday
Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s military announced it had captured the salt-mining town of Soledar after a long battle, calling it an “important” step for its offensive.
The victory would allow Russian troops to push on to the nearby city of Bakhmut, and cut off the Ukrainian forces there, a spokesman said.
A man’s body was discovered in an airplane’s undercarriage that was flying from the Gambia to Britain.
A black male passenger’s unidentified body was discovered on a TUI Airways flight from Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, to Gatwick Airport in London, according to a statement released by the country’s government on Tuesday.
According to Sussex Police, the body was found at Gatwick on December 7 around 4 am.
In a statement, the force said: “Police were called after the body of a man was found in the undercarriage of an aircraft at Gatwick Airport, arriving from Gambia, at about 4am on December 7.
“Officers are investigating and a report will be prepared for HM Coroner.”
However, this is not the first time – Stowaways on planes and ships have happened before.
In 2015, Dutch authorities discovered a body in the landing gear of a plane from Africa in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
In November, three stowaways were found on a ship’s rudder in the Canary Islands after an 11-day ocean voyage from Nigeria.
In 2019, Stowaway reportedly fell from a Heathrow plane and landed next to sunbather.
The body was found on the undercarriage of a Kenya Airwaysflight that left from Nairobi.
The operator of the electricity grid in the United Kingdom postponed plans to activate emergency measures on Monday after power supplies were deemed adequate.
Earlier on Monday, the National Grid Electricity System Operator announced that it was considering using its Demand Flexibility Service for the first time in order to avoid blackouts the following day.
ESO launched the flexibility program in early November. By design, it’s meant to offer consumers and businesses incentives for cutting back on the amount of electricity they use during certain periods throughout the day.
High prices and concerns over supplies have put much of the region on edge as winter descends on the Northern Hemisphere. Natural gas prices jumped on Monday amid reports of a cold spell for the British isles.
But the grid regulator eventually backed off plans to impose the Demand Flexibility Service in response to industry sources reporting that gas-fired power facilities brought extra capacity online to avoid service disruptions, The Guardian reported.
Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, meanwhile, show that regional gas supplies — including those in Britain — are at an all-time high for this time of year, suggesting early-year concerns of major supply-side problems won’t materialize.
The sidelining of Russian natural gas as punishment for the February invasion of Ukraine has been more of a concern for members of the European Union, however, as the British economy relies on domestic natural gas and imports from Norway to keep the lights on.
Nevertheless, the Bank of England had pinned much of the blame on Russia, which created heightened volatility in the wholesale energy markets. For natural gas alone, the bank said prices have been changing by more than 15% a day at the most extreme.
Tony Jordan, a senior partner at the consultancy Auxilione, told The Guardian that warnings from the ESO should serve as a reminder of the importance of conserving power, but consumers shouldn’t be overly concerned.
“Spot prices (for natural gas) are rising on the back of the cold weather … but this is how the system works, it will convince people to cut back on their usage and balance out supply and demand,” he said. “There will be some scaremongering but it looks like we should be fine.”
The Met Office, Britain’s weather reporting agency, shows heavy rains and cool weather for London on Monday, with temperatures hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Cloudy skies with lows in the 40s are expected for the weekend.
The government has refuted reports that special forces from the United Kingdom are being brought to Ghana to help fight terrorism.
A report by British newspaper, the Telegraph, yesterday reported that Britain is in discussion with Ghana to send special forces into the country after it was forced to withdraw all of its peacekeepers from Mali.
“The Government of Ghana wishes to state that the information regarding British special forces is false. Neither Ghana nor any other member of the Accra Initiative has discussed with any partner, any such request nor contemplated the involvement of foreign forces in any of the activities”, a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional integration stressed.
The Ministry said the Government of Ghana has had no interaction with the United Kingdom for the deployment of soldiers into the country.
“The Government of Ghana has no interactions with the UK Government aimed at deploying UK soldiers to Ghana for purposes of operations as described in the story”, parts of the statement read.
It further explained that, the Accra Initiative rather aims to prevent spillover terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime within the common border areas of member states.
It’s been an early start for 5 Live’s Wake Up to Moneyat Cinderhill Farm in Gloucestershire. We’ve been chatting to the kitchen team, who produce handmade sausage rolls sold to suppliers across Britain, about the chancellor’s upcoming statement.
Kirsty says rising costs have impacted how much she’s able to save for her own place. “I’m still living with my mum and dad, and it has affected things. Things are costing more and I’m trying to help them out with bills as well.”
Head chef Michael says he would like to see tax cuts – both to income tax and VAT. “It would affect everything. They promised the income tax cut and then they’ve taken it away.”
Funding for training is important for Toby: “I’m an apprentice, so I want the governmentto keep funding that.”
But on the soaring cost of living, Tom adds: “I’m not a very political person – I just want to be able to afford to live.”
At the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF this month, lobbyists circulated photographs of Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta sitting together with Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng.
Before the end of the week, Chancellor Kwarteng was on a flight back to London, forced to cancel his participation in the rest of the summit because his job was at risk. Within days, the British government had collapsed, and Prime Minister Liz Truss had joined Kwarteng on the back benches.
This week Ghana’s Ofori-Atta faces a rebellion from MPs in his own party, calling for his resignation and accusing him of mismanaging the economy. The risk that London’s political drama plays out similarly in Accra must worry Ofori-Atta and President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Common shaky ground
On the surface, both men are relatively similar; Ghanaian economists and bankers are in charge of the fiscus of two countries with a shared colonial experience.
However, there is a deeper layer to the symbolic ties between the Chancellor and the Minister.
Kwasi Kwarteng’s woes are universally acknowledged to have stemmed from his botched mini-budget. At a time of widespread anguish about inflation and interest rate hikes in America, the mini-budget, with its ideological flourish of “the largest tax cuts since 1972” and unfunded growth pills, rang of neoliberal excess.
Interestingly, the heaviest backlash came from the markets. A Conservative Prime Minister and her Chancellor didn’t expect the blowback to come from the financial heartlands.
After all, caps on bankers’ bonuses were to be scrapped, and the highest tax rate (for the top 1.1%, roughly a third of whom work in financial services) was to be brought down from 45% to 40%. Planned corporation tax increases were dropped.
And a raft of regulations bogging down business was to be cut’ more free zones, with even fewer taxes and regulations, created. A Conservative newspaper, the Daily Mail, crooned: “A Tory budget at last!”
Surely the grandees of the historic square mile of central London, the fount of global capitalism, would jump on board? The charm offensive of the Chancellor, himself a JPMorgan alum and longtime finance guy, must have seen to that?
They didn’t.
Analysts deciphered the consequences of a mini-budget to include a massive spate of borrowing at a time of rising interest rates, an undoing of the Bank of England’s efforts to tackle inflation, and a squeeze of middle-class incomes (in the ~£60,000 to ¬£120,000 band), with potential effects on demand.
The market took a longer horizon and broader-demographic perspective. That aligns with the increasingly nuanced view of the link between pro-growth tax cuts and market benefit that has emerged from the vast literature on the Trump tax cuts.
So, the markets revolted.
Yields on long-term government securities, a measure of investors’ sense of the state’s creditworthiness and likely cost of future borrowing, rose by a staggering 150 basis points. The pound sterling sank immediately.
Lunging for stability, the blindsided Bank of England announced a £65 billion program to buy back government bonds caught in therout, reversing an earlier plan to sell £80 billion more into the market. Only the wholesale repudiation of the Kwarteng-Truss mini-budget could calm the markets.
Off the straight and narrow
It is mainly the short-lived tenor of Britain’s most recent episode of fiscal adventurism that marks it out from Ghana.
In their six years in power, the ruling party in Ghana has sought to transform the country’s finances into a rollercoaster capital market play. It has devised various unprecedented fiscal devices to do so.
It has securitised future tax streams, grabbed the cash up-front, and splashed on massive capital and welfare projects. The securitisation extravaganza has touched taxes meant to fund the educational sector, energy sector levies, and road taxes.
As future revenue streams have been packaged into products on the capital markets and sold and spent upfront, the government’s budget has become rigid, unable to respond to international pressure. The government’s love for fiscal gaming encouraged support for a domestic debt securities market (GFIM) in Ghana.
At its birth in 2015, total trade turnover hovered around cedis 5 billion in local currency units. In the first nine months of this year, trade volumes exceeded cedis170 bn.
Even adjusted for inflation, it has grown ten times, but almost all securities traded are government-issued. This means they reflect more than anything the government’s unrelenting use of the capital markets to fund a degree of fiscal expansion never before witnessed. And not just domestically.
From tripling Eurobond issuances, to opening up domestic debt to foreign investors, Ghana’s government took capital market liberalisation to every possible extreme. At one point, Ghana ranked number five worldwide for foreign ownership of domestic debt.
International capital maestros like Michael Hasenstab, at the height of his “Emerging Markets Bond King” reputation, piled in. In 2017, Ghana rode on the back of such powerbrokers to launch Africa’s largest-ever dollar-denominated domestic bond.
Bills, bills, bills
All this fiscal brinksmanship came at a cost: debt servicing.
Today, Ghana is on course to spend nearly 60% of all government revenue just dealing with debt. This is up from about 10% a decade and a half ago when the international community forgave a chunk of Ghana’s debt pile from previous decades of excesses.
Now, Ghana’s capital market friends have brought out the whips. They have shut her out of the market and are dumping the bonds they bought previously.
Their actions have finally driven Ghana to the IMF for much-needed disciplining. Inflation is hovering around 40% and the cedi has plunged from about 5.8 to the dollar at the beginning of the year to more than 14.5 to the dollar.
It seems that the government’s bubbly enthusiasm for capital market devices, and the massive hoard of fees and commissions (some shared by companies founded by the Finance Minister and his deputy), have not been sufficient to keep the love story going.
These days, far from endearing politicians to the markets, neoliberal fiscal adventurism is a sure way to invite their painful censure.
People are avoiding buying soap and deodorant because they are already struggling to pay their other bills.
Thousands of people are refusing to go to work because they cannot afford basic hygiene products, according to a charity.
A report suggests that 3.2 million adults in Britain are in hygiene poverty and many are ashamed to go to work because they cannot afford items such as soap and deodorant.
The Hygiene Bank, which conducted the research with YouGov, said 12% of people they’d questioned had avoided facing colleagues as a result of this “hidden crisis”.
Chief executive Ruth Brock said: “It’s much more widespread than we feared, it’s increasing, and it’s disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable.
“I think it just doesn’t occur to people in the same way that fuel and food poverty do.
“But the truth is by the time you’re not switching on your heating or you’re going to a food bank for food essentials, you’ve stopped buying essential hygiene products weeks before.”
According to the report, people in hygiene poverty were most likely to go without shaving products, deodorant, washing powder, and other cleaning products.
A quarter of the 2,200 people asked said they had gone without a loo roll or soap, and 30% of women had not bought period products.
Hygiene Bank was set up in 2018 after Lizzy Hall watched the Ken Loach movie I, Daniel Blake, in which a single mother steals sanitary towelsand deodorant. People donate products to charity which are then distributed to organisations such as charities and schools which pass them on to people who need them.
One mother said: “I wash my hair once a week now, used to be every other day… I don’t buy body wash anymore, I use the froth from the shampoo.”
‘A toss-up between toothpaste and heating’
Another said that it was regularly a “toss-up” in her house between buying toothpaste or having the heating on for a few minutes.
Half of the people in hygiene poverty said that it made them feel anxious or depressed and a similar number said they were ashamed and embarrassed.
One person said: “I used to go out and see my friends, but I got anxiety about the way I looked and smelt, so I became a recluse, I was so upset that my life had changed.”
Rising fuel and food prices have exacerbated the problem and new figures show almost half of UK adults are struggling to make ends meet.
Data from the Office for National Statistics released on Tuesday showed that 45% of adults who pay energy bills were finding it very, or somewhat, hard to afford them, up from 40% in June.
Separate data also showed that the price of the lowest-priced supermarket items had risen by 17%.
Rishi Sunak is favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister after Boris Johnson pulled out of the Conservative Party leadership race to replace Liz Truss, who resigned last week after an economic upheaval.
The only other challenger, Penny Mordaunt, has reportedly the backing of less than 30 MPs. A candidate requires nominations from at least 100 MPs to stand in the race.
Johnson had raced home from a holiday in the Caribbean to try and secure the backing of 100 legislators to enter the contest to replace Truss, the woman who succeeded him in September after he was forced to quit over a string of scandals.
He said late on Sunday that he had secured the backing of 102 legislators and could have been “back in Downing Street”, but that he had failed to persuade either Sunak or the other contender Mordaunt, to come together “in the national interest”.
“I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time,” Johnson said.
The former prime minister had secured the public backing of just less than 60 Conservative legislators by Sunday.
Johnson’s statement likely paves the way for his archrival, the 42-year-old Sunak, to become prime minister, possibly as soon as Monday.
If confirmed, he would replace Truss, who was forced to resign after she launched an economic programme that triggered turmoil in financial markets. According to the rules, if only one candidate secures the backing of 100 Conservative legislators, they will be named prime minister on Monday.
If two candidates pass the threshold, they will go forward to a vote of the party membership, with the winner announced on Friday, just days before new Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt lays bare the state of the country’s finances in a budget plan due to be released on October 31.
That had raised concerns that Johnson would return to Downing Street with the backing of the party members and not a majority of legislators in parliament, leaving the party badly divided. Hunt declared his backing for Sunak late on Sunday.
“I’ve never known this sort of rancour and division and it is very destabilising,” said Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative legislator. “It is destabilising for the party, and destabilising for the country.”
‘Torn itself apart’
Some Johnson supporters could switch to Mordaunt, who has presented herself as the unity candidate, but many immediately switched to Sunak. A source close to the Mordaunt campaign said the former defence minister would continue in the contest.
“She is the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the Conservative Party together,” the source said.
Johnson has loomed large over UK politics ever since he became mayor of London in 2008 and went on to become the face of the Brexit vote in 2016. While he led the Conservative Party to a landslide election in 2019, he was forced out just three years later by a rebellion of his ministers.
Sunak said he hoped Johnson would continue to contribute to public life “at home and abroad”.
One Sunak supporter, who asked not to be named, told the Reuters news agency that his main reaction was relief because if Johnson had won, the “party would have torn itself apart”.
Another Conservative legislator, Lucy Allan, said on Twitter: “I backed Boris for PM, but I think he has done the right thing for the country.”
Other Johnson backers immediately jumped ship.
Cabinet office minister Nadhim Zahawi, who minutes earlier had published an article on the Daily Telegraph website praising Johnson, said “a day is a long time in politics”.
“Rishi is immensely talented, will command a strong majority in the parliamentary Conservative Party, and will have my full support and loyalty,” he said.
Earlier, many of the Conservative legislators who normally back Johnson switched their support to Sunak, saying the country needed a period of stability after months of turmoil that has sparked headlines – and raised alarm – around the world.
Johnson is also still facing a privileges committee investigation into whether he misled parliament over Downing Street parties during COVID-19 lockdowns. He could be forced to resign or be suspended from office if found guilty.
Alex Deane, a Conservative commentator, said despite Johnson dropping his comeback bid, many people in the UK believe he could still run again in the future.
“A week ago we would have been surprised if we were thinking of Boris Johnson becoming our prime minister again very soon. So it’s been a whirlwind of events here in London,” Deane told Al Jazeera.
“Never write off Boris Johnson completely. The political graveyard is littered with the careers of people who say Boris Johnson is finished. Indeed, he’s left the door open for a return down the road in his message to his supporters saying he’s not going to run this time.”
‘Questions over legitimacy’
Deane said Sunak, while all but certain to be confirmed as the UK’s next prime minister, faces many challenges.
“The Conservative Party has now brought down three prime ministers in a row. If you were to ask Theresa May, or Boris Johnson, or Liz Truss, I think all of them will tell you, it was people within their own party that they feared the most and we are now going to have our third prime minister in a single year. He’s going to face some questions over legitimacy. You know, people voted in 2019 for Boris Johnson, as prime minister, and not Rishi Sunak. And he’s got a large number of people in the party that weren’t keen on him becoming prime minister. So there’s real challenges, but the biggest issue isn’t actually with Sunak’s behaviour. The biggest issue is going to be the party rallying together and coming behind him.”
Sunak first came to national attention when, aged 39, he became finance minister under Johnson just as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the UK, developing a furlough scheme to support millions of people through multiple lockdowns.
“I served as your chancellor, helping to steer our economy through the toughest of times,” Sunak said in a statement on Sunday. “The challenges we face now are even greater. But the opportunities — if we make the right choice — are phenomenal.”
If chosen, Sunak would be the first prime minister of Indian origin in the UK.
His family migrated to the UK in the 1960s, a period when many people from former British colonies arrived to help rebuild the country after the Second World War.
After graduating from Oxford University, he later went to Stanford University where he met his wife Akshata Murthy, whose father is Indian billionaire N R Narayana Murthy, founder of outsourcing giant Infosys Ltd.
The prestigious Cambridge University in Britain has acknowledged that it benefited from the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which took place from the 16th to the 19th Century and involved the forcible removal of African people from their homes and forcing them to work for European landowners in the Americas.
Cambridge’s own Advisory Group of Legacies of Enslavement found that families connected to the trade sent their children to the university, that many colleges funded their operations through investment in companies connected to colonialism and slavery, and that some intellectuals at Cambridge defended slavery.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen J Toope explained the reason why the report was commissioned: “The inquiry set out to add to the sum of our historical knowledge, working on the principle that as a mature, research-driven university, Cambridge is better off knowing than notknowing about its past.”
“The report and its recommendations are not ends in themselves. Instead, I hope they will enable some of the conversations and decisions needed to make the Cambridge of tomorrow more self-reflective, more equitable, and more open to all talent,” Prof Toope continued.
The university said it will try to address the findings of the report including being more inclusive, by expanding access to black students.
TheGhanaian community in Britain is getting ready to perform a funeral service for the late queen in accordance with Ghanaian customs as the British government and monarchy conduct the last funeral rites of the deceased, who was the first Head of State of Ghana.
The ceremony’s venue was decorated with Ghanaian flags and red and black fabrics, according to a video posted by GhanaWeb.
Additionally, there were royalumbrellas, drums, and other artifacts that were typical of Akan festivities.
The lady who recorded the video indicated that the venue of the burial was Conel, Victoria Line, a community in London, the capital town of England.
She invited all Ghanaians in the UK to join them to celebrate the late queen.
“We are inviting all Ghanaians to Conel as we celebrate our queen mother, Elizabeth and also mourn with the family and wish them all the best,” she said.
For two minutes today the drumming will cease, the pipers will fall silent, the march of boots on procession routes will still.
For two minutes today, at the end of the funeral service in Westminster Abbey, before the national anthem is heard, before the coffin is taken away for committal and burial at Windsor, there will be silence.
And a door will swing shut.
A reign of seven decades will come to a close. For 10 rather bewildering days we have spoken of the Queen and the new king as if they could somehow both be with us.
Today that long week of transition comes to an end.
In the earliest years of her reign, a new Elizabethan Age was proclaimed by some. Such was the excitement over the young queen, the marvels of technology and the new prosperity, after the grinding grey of the depression years, the sacrifice of World War Two and the hard road of recovery after it.
She – wise in her earliest decades to fickle fashion – dismissed all that talk. But if this was not an age – and who are we to contradict her? – then it was an era, the Elizabethan Era.
Over decades of wrenching change, she was constancy, for a largely still-conservative country. That profile on the stamps, that voice at Christmas, that bowed head on Remembrance Sunday.
Today the door swings shut on that.
It swings shut too on “Prince” Charles, on his many decades as Prince of Wales.
His staff always bridled at the idea of him as an understudy or apprentice, pointing to his decades of achievement, of carving out a distinct role.
His challenge, once Royal Mourning is over, is in part to enjoy – and show that he enjoys – the role of monarch.
His mother understood that part of the job was to rally people – to take people’s minds off bills and dull jobs and complaining relatives, to entertain and divert and sometimes delight.
That he did good work as prince, transforming so many lives for the better, is unquestionable. But often, alongside, the impression given was that things were grim, that there was a lot of cause for complaint. The word “appalling” seemed to come up a lot.
Now the door swings shut on that. Britons want to see the best of themselves reflected in their sovereign.
And, as the silence stretches out across Westminster, across the capital and the country, the door swings shut on Elizabeth, on the woman known to so many and never really known at all, on the little girl known to her grandpa as Lilibet.
This is the moment history stops; for a minute, an hour, for a day, or a week; this is the moment history stops.
Across a life and reign, two moments from two very different eras illuminate the thread that bound the many decades together. At each a chair, a desk, a microphone, a speech. In each, that high-pitched voice, those clipped precise vowels, that slight hesitation about public speaking that would never quite seem to leave her.
One moment is sun-dappled, though the British people were suffering through a terrible post-war winter. A young woman, barely more than a girl really, sits straight-backed, her dark hair pulled up, two strings of pearls around her neck. Her youthful skin is flawless, she is very beautiful. A life opens out ahead of her.
She pledges that life to her audience around the world. She tells them: “I shall not have the strength to carry out this resolution alone.” And she asks for their company in the years to come.
Two moments from two eras – the Queen makes a broadcast on her 21st birthday, top, and on the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe
The other speech is more formal. More than seven decades later, on the 75th anniversary of the day the war in Europe ended, she sits behind a desk, a picture of her father, the late King, in uniform, to her right.
Her hair – still pulled up – is white now. She wears a blue dress, two brooches, and three strings of pearls. The many decades have left their mark, but her eyes still sparkle and her voice is still clear. The desk is practically empty but for the photo and to the right, in the foreground, a dark khaki cap, with a badge on its front.
“All had a part to play,” she says of a long-ago war.
The cap belonged to Second Subaltern Windsor, of the Auxiliary Territorial Service; the young Princess Elizabeth nagged her adoring father to allow her to join, so she could serve in uniform, even as the war that defined her – and for many decades her nation – drew to an end. Now, 75 years on, the cap has pride of place as she speaks to the nation on the anniversary of a great and heroic victory.
The cap is a simple reminder of what she admired most – service: the service she offered that golden day decades beforehand, the service she saw in her formative years as nation, Commonwealth and Empire gave life and limb so that others could be free; the service that she believed lay at the heart of the Crown she inherited and devoted her long life to.
Three decades on from that vow of service, she would allow herself a rare moment of public introspection; “Although that vow was made ‘in my salad days when I was green in judgement’,” she told the Guildhall on her Silver Jubilee, “I do not regret or retract one word of it.”
Over the decades she spoke little, and revealed even less, about herself in public. She – a child of the broadcast age – never gave an interview. Once or twice she would be filmed “in conversation” with a trusted friend, talking amicably about something uncontroversial, like the royal jewellery collection.
Her words would be scoured for a hint of controversy or an opening into her character. But she was too careful – and her friends too loyal – for anything important to slip out.
She did not neglect the medium that came of age as she did. It was her decision to allow her coronation to be televised, her decision to televise the Christmas Broadcast, and her decision to speak live to the nation after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. “I have to be seen to be believed,” she would say.
Service to the nation – being crowned in 1953, and with then Prime Minister Edward Heath at a concert in 1973
Broadcast and newspaper coverage, the endless pictures of her in well-chosen gowns and dresses – these were part of what it was to be Queen, part of the job she had pledged her life to. Talking about her feelings publicly was not.
And she came from a generation – and from a nation – that did not feel the need to share its feelings. The nation would change. She would not.
Here fate and character would collide. It was her fate to take the Crown as the country moved into far-reaching change. But the Queen was open about her liking for tradition, for the ways things had always been done, and her dislike of change.
Her heart was in the countryside, and there, with horses and dogs and amongst those who loved animals as she did, was the reassurance of a place that changed incrementally, if at all.
“I find that one of the sad things,” she would say in the late 1980s, is “that people don’t take on jobs for life, they try different things the whole time.”
Monarch and monarchy fitted hand-in-glove; a sovereign who relished tradition leading an institution established upon it.
A life-long love of the countryside – in Windsor Great Park with Prince Charles and Princess Anne in 1956, and with Prince Philip at a farm on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland in 1972
Beyond the palace gates, a whirlwind of change would transform Britain. She came to the throne at a tipping point in British history. Victorious in – but exhausted by – war, the country was no longer a global, military, or economic power.
The rise of trade unions, the collective provision of services, and the creation of a universal welfare state signalled a sea-change in the organization of state and economy. The stately withdrawal from Empire became a hurried exit.
As her reign progressed, the old order – Church and aristocracy, the gradations of class and knowing your place – crumbled. Financial success and celebrity overtook accident of birth as a measure of societal achievement.
Consumer goods – fridges, washing machines, televisions, and vacuum cleaners – transformed homes and social lives. Women joined the workforce; old working-class communities were swept away with the slums that housed them; a society once cohesive and homogeneous became mobile, atomized, and diverse, uprooted from old certainties and loyalties.
There was some change at the Palace too, especially early in the reign – the end of the debutante “season” would mean the daughters of the “best” families would no longer be presented at court, and fresh faces were seen among those invited to lunch and dinner, and television meant Britons could see their Queen and how she lived – first for the Christmas broadcast, then for a full-length documentary in the late 1960s.
But this was changed with a very small “c”; as her seventh decade on the throne drew to a close, the rhythm of the monarchy remained one which would be recognizable from the first, one which her father or even her grandfather would be unsurprised by Christmas and New year at Sandringham, Easter at Windsor, the long summer break in Balmoral, Trooping the Colour, Royal Ascot, the Investitures, the Changing of the Guard, Remembrance Sunday.
Changing times – riding the London Underground in 1969, and preparing to deliver her televised Christmas message in 1967, the first to be delivered in colour.
Changing times – riding the London Underground in 1969, and preparing to deliver her televised Christmas message in 1967, the first to be delivered in colour
When change pressed in all around, she resisted. Her fate was to inherit the crown as the country stood on the cusp of change, and to reign as change swirled around the palace. Her character dictated that she would not change with it, would not bend to fashion. That resistance, that deep appreciation – love, even – of tradition, was her greatest strength, and led to perhaps her greatest test and gravest crisis, as her family unravelled.
Family always came second to the Crown. When her first two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, were little more than toddlers, they were left behind – as she and her sister Princess Margaret had been left behind by their parents two decades earlier – as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh went on a six-month world tour.
She was not an unfeeling mother, but she was a remote one. The Crown and its responsibilities had come to her when she was just 25, and she took those responsibilities very seriously. Many decisions about the children were delegated to the duke.
Three of her four children’s marriages would end in divorce. She believed in marriage, it was part of her Christian faith and her understanding of what knitted society together. “Divorce and separation,” she once said, “are responsible for some of the darkest evils in our society today.”
No doubt that view, held by many in the late 1940s, mellowed as the years went by. But no parent relishes seeing their child’s marriage fail. The Queen’s self-proclaimed “annus horribilis” in 1992 saw the separation of the Duke and Duchess of York, the divorce of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips and the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
“A low point in her life,” wrote one biographer, not because of what had led to the rare public admission of tough times, “but because of the lack of gratitude, even derision, with which her 40 years of dedication appeared to have been crowned.”
Her first decade had passed in a dazzle of adulation, at home and abroad. Vast crowds turned out for her on international tours. Back home, some proclaimed a new Elizabethan Age, although the Queen was clever enough to immediately disavow it.
Image caption,
Family time and personal loss – with Prince Philip and their four children in 1972, and looking at fire damage to Windsor Castle in 1992.
The 1960s saw a slow cooling off – the Queen was more involved with her family, the novelty of a new monarch had passed, and the generation of the post-war baby boom now coming of age was gripped by different passions than their parents. The 1970s and 80s saw no let-up in her service, but the focus of some Royalty enthusiasts – and the media – shifted to her children, their marriages, and their partners.
By the mid-90s, the monarchy seemed to some to be out of touch with the popular mood; in the newspaper comment columns, there was a direct criticism of the Queen, and contemplation of the monarchy’s future. Her reign at times seemed associated with another epoch. What was her place – and the monarchy’s – in the new “Cool Britannia” and the informal style embraced by Tony Blair? How did the Palace – repository of tradition – fit in with the popular demand for change expressed in Labour’s crushing election victory?
Just months after that victory, one hot August night in Paris, came the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. A broiling carpet of flowers soon stretched out in front of Kensington Palace. The flag pole above Buckingham Palace remained bare. Many in the nation found themselves desolate at the loss of the Princess.
“Show us you care, Ma’am” bayed the Daily Express headline. “Where is our Queen? Where is her flag?” demanded the Sun. For five long days, the Queen remained in Balmoral, seemingly unaware of the spasm sweeping parts of the country. Perhaps, as the Palace would brief afterward, it was to protect and console the young Princes William and Harry.
But given her character, that deep dislike of change appears to have driven the decisions taken at the time; Balmoral was not to be interrupted, no flag ever flew from Buckingham Palace in her absence, and the Royal Standard never flew at half-mast.
It was a terrible misjudgement. She hurried back to the capital, back to Buckingham Palace. She stopped to look at the flowers piling up all around. “We were not confident,” one former official told a biographer, “that when the Queen got out of the car, she would not be hissed and jeered.” It was that bad.
She had refused to broadcast at first, then yielded, then agreed to speak live. She spoke to the nation, just before the BBC Six O’clock news. She – who had once driven broadcast executives to despair with her wooden delivery – barely had time to prepare.
Her performance was flawless, her speech brief but perfectly pitched. She spoke of “lessons to be learned”; she spoke “as a grandmother”; she spoke of the “determination to cherish” Diana’s memory.
It was a triumph, pulled from the jaws of deep crisis. The poison swirling around the Royal Family, around the Palace and around the very institution of the monarchy, was drawn. Once in her reign – just once – fate and character had collided with near-disastrous consequences.
They would combine more happily in the Queen’s international role. By the time of her death, she had not toured for many years. But for decades she was not only a global celebrity like no other but also a subtle instrument of influence.
Nothing would compare to the first dazzling decade of her reign, before television made her image commonplace and her tours accessible from the living room. On her long 1954 tour of Australia, two-thirds of the country is thought to have turned out to see her; in 1961 two million people lined the road from the airport to the Indian capital Delhi; in Calcutta three-and-half million would stand and wait to see the daughter of the last Emperor.
Fate would dictate that she would oversee the long twilight of the Empire, though not once did the Queen attend a flag-lowering ceremony. Many times in the 1950s and 60s, a member of the Royal Family would stand as the Union flag came down over a former colony, the national anthem playing one last time.
A determination that something should emerge from the imperial family that she had pledged to serve, would mean that she would build a new association on the ashes of Britain’s imperial legacy.
In palaces and houses dotted across the capital and the country, lived her blood family. Across the world was spread her territorial family – a group of wildly diverse nations, vast and tiny, rich and impoverished, republics and monarchies – that she charmed and cajoled and nudged to remember what bound them together, and what together they might achieve.
International tours were taken on behalf of the government of the day; they were tools of foreign policy – if not explicitly, then on the understanding that the Queen’s influence would be beneficial to the relationships between Britain and the places she visited.
It looked glamorous – the Royal Yacht, the Queen’s Flight, banquets, and galas – and before international air travel became commonplace, it was an extraordinary experience. But it was always hard work, long days and weeks of receptions, exhibitions, openings, lunches with officials, state dinners and speeches given and listened to patiently. Those who have observed a royal tour find it hard to imagine it is any fun for those at the heart of it.
The person most likely to replace Boris Johnson as leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the UK is a political chameleon who has gone from radical abolitionist to flag-bearer of the Euroskeptic, Conservative right.
Liz Truss, who was only elected to Parliament in 2010, has — in a relatively short period of time — established herself as a political force of nature who pursues her agenda with relentless vigor and unequivocal enthusiasm.
However, with most opinion polls suggesting she’s poised to get the keys to Number 10 Downing Street, her critics are asking: What exactly does she stand for?
Many who have observed her over the years question whether she has any sincere beliefs at all, or if she simply endorses whatever is the most convenient at the time.
To say that Truss has been on a political journey would be an understatement. She was born in 1975 into a family that she herself has described as “to the left of Labour,” the main socialist opposition. She grew up in parts of the UK that didn’t traditionally vote Conservative, moving between Scotland and the north of England.
In contrast to her privately educated Cabinet colleagues, Truss went to a state school in Leeds, and later won a place at Oxford University. There she was an active member of the Liberal Democrats, a centrist opposition party that has long been an effective opponent to the Conservatives in large parts of England.
During her time as a Liberal Democrat, Truss supported the legalization of cannabis and the abolition of the royal family — positions that are at total odds with what most would consider to be mainstream Conservatism in 2022.
Truss says she joined the Conservatives in 1996, just two years after she gave a speech at a Liberal Democrat conference calling for the end of the monarchy.
Even then, fellow Liberal Democrats questioned her sincerity and spotted traits that they still see in her today.
“I honestly think she was playing to the gallery back then, whether she was talking about decriminalizing drugs or abolishing the monarchy,” Neil Fawcett, a Liberal Democrat councilor who campaigned with Truss in the ’90s, told CNN.  “I think she is someone who plays to the gallery with whatever audience she is talking to, and I genuinely don’t know if she ever believes anything she says, then or now.”
Truss has certainly continued to capture the attention of her audience. Since joining the Conservatives and becoming a member of Parliament, she has fervently supported almost every conceivable ideology. She served loyally under three prime ministers in several different cabinet jobs, and is currently foreign secretary.
Most notably, she supported remaining in the European Union in 2016. At the time, Truss tweeted that she was backing those who wanted to remain in the bloc because “it is in Britain’s economic interest and means we can focus on vital economic and social reform at home.”
Truss now backs Brexit, saying that her fears before the referendum that it could cause “disruption” were mistaken. The aspiring Tory leader is even threatening to scrap all remaining EU legislation in the UK and override the Brexit deal that Johnson negotiated with Brussels in a way that the EU believes is illegal. She has also blamed France and the EU for border checks at Dover, the main port between the UK and France.
There is a debate within the Conservative Party as to how real this support of Euroskepticism really is. Some think Truss was reluctantly following government orders at the time of the referendum in 2016, which opposed Brexit. Others find that argument inconceivable.
Anna Soubry, a former Conservative cabinet minister, told CNN that Truss “had the most cover out of any of us to support Brexit. Her brief at the time included the farming community, who supported Brexit on the whole. I sat around the cabinet table and heard everyone’s reason for doing what they did and find it hard to believe she’s changed her mind quite this much.”
On the other hand, Gavin Barwell, who served as former Prime Minister Theresa May’s chief-of-staff, said that, after the Brexit vote, “Truss made a decision very quickly that there wasn’t room for a compromise. If you were to do it, it needed to be done fully. And as the stalemate dragged on, she argued that a binary choice was coming between leaving with no deal and Brexit being reversed, and the latter would be catastrophic for the government.”
The closer she edges to power, the more Britons wonder what a Truss premiership would look like. She has campaigned to lead on the most conservative of agendas. She has pledged to slash taxes from day one, tear up EU regulations and encourage private sector growth with low corporation tax. She has said that she will not impose a windfall tax on energy companies despite them posting huge profits during the cost-of-living and energy crisis.
These sorts of policies are, of course, red meat to the Conservative members who will ultimately vote for her. And while some of those who know her question how much she actually believes in them, there is little doubt she will put her full effort into implementing them and making her impact immediately felt.
It’s likely that a Truss premiership would ultimately look a lot like Johnson’s, but with a greater emphasis on cutting taxes, shrinking the state and, potentially, an even harder line on Europe. Critics have said that the tax cuts she’s promised would lead to even greater inflation and rises in interest rates amid a forecast recession. Questions have also been raised over a pledge Truss made to cut public sector pay, allegedly saving the public $8.8 billion. Her economics have been questioned by her critics, and the uproar over perceived callousness towards public sector workers forced Truss to U-turn.
Julian Glover, a journalist and speech writer to former Prime Minister David Cameron, was a university contemporary of Truss and remembers traits in her that are still recognizable today: Determined but unfocused.
“We only passed each other briefly and she was in a different year to me, but despite that, she stands out in my memory as a sort of strange, unfocused force, hugely in favor of action and change,” said Glover. “It was always hard to see the aim of it all, or where it might lead, except that she would be at the center of it.”
Roger Crouch, who succeeded Truss as president of Oxford University Liberal Democrats, told CNN that he remembers a woman who was “determined, single-minded and willing to challenge orthodox and prevailing, often male, wisdom.”
Unlike many of those who knew Truss in her younger years, Crouch, who is now a teacher, thinks that her opinions haven’t changed a huge amount since the ’90s. “Liz was always more of a privatizing, libertarian liberal so there is a consistent thread of thought there. I remember a student discussion group in which she advocated privatization of lamp posts.”
If she wins, Truss will have a hard time uniting her party, which has been in power for 12 years and has been bitterly divided over Brexit for six of them.
She will also have to lead the country through its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. Inflation is at a 40-year high, energy bills are set to increase by hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds a year, and the UK is forecast to enter a recession before the end of the year. This winter, many families will have to make a tough choice between eating or heating. And for a party that has been in power for over a decade, it’s hard to deflect the blame for that onto anyone else.
Her supporters see the chance for a fresh start in Truss. They believe that with Brexit out of the way and the scandals that led to Johnson’s downfall soon to be a distant memory, the party will turn its focus to remaining in power and winning a historic fourth consecutive general election.
For her detractors, it is more complicated. During this leadership contest those who have supported her rivals feel that they have been unfairly maligned simply for disputing that Truss should be handed the keys to Downing Street.
When it comes to running the country, this might be a problem for Truss. She had the support of fewer MPs than her rival Rishi Sunak during the early stages of the contest and the bad blood between the two camps has worsened over time.
And for all of Truss’s determination and single-mindedness, if she takes over a party torn by infighting and suffering in the polls during a cost-of-living crisis that happened under the Conservatives’ watch, she might find her key objective too hard a task to achieve: Making her party electable at the next general election after almost a decade and a half in power.
Some 224 stranded Ghanaians have returned from the United Kingdom.
They arrived on Wednesday night, June 17, through a special travel arrangement.
The Government of Ghana has been assisting stranded Ghanaians to return home due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Upon arrival at the Kotoka International Airport Terminal 3, the 224 Ghanaians were checked in by the Ghana Immigration Service personnel and health officers.
A second batch of Ghanaians are expected to return from the UK this coming Sunday.
The returnees are expected to bear the full cost of their 14-day mandatory quarantine.
As such, they are expected to be quarantined at the Airport View Hotel, Alisa Hotel and Marriot Hotel.
The cost of staying at the Airport View Hotel is GHS500 a night, Alisa Hotel going for GHS600 a night and Marriot Hotel going for GHS600 a night.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, had earlier this week briefed the media that so far Government had evacuated 856 stranded Ghanaians back to Ghana.
The UK government said Sunday it will reopen places of worship for individual prayer on June 15 as it reportedly looks to speed up easing measures in order to save jobs.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said services and worship groups will still be banned for the time being due to concern that the new Coronavirus spreads more quickly in enclosed spaces.
“People of all faiths have shown enormous patience and forbearance, unable to mark Easter, Passover, Ramadan or Vaisakhi with friends and family in the traditional way,” Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said in a statement.
“We are now able to move forwards with a limited but important return to houses of worship.”
Britain’s official COVID-19 death toll of 40,465 is second only to that of the United States.
But cases across Europe have fallen off sharply and Britain is now cautiously proceeding with partial school reopenings and the resumption of basic business activity that ended when the country shut down on March 23.
The UK government also intends to reopen all stores on June 15 and then push ahead with a reported plan to return to something resembling the old way of life in July.
Johnson has had to weather intense criticism for his handling of the health crisis in the past month.
Critics say Britain had ample time to take the appropriate precautions – such as shutting down retail and closing schools – after seeing the disease spread from China to Italy and other parts of Europe at the start of the year.
“We should have gone into lockdown earlier,” the government’s scientific advisory group member John Edmunds told the BBC.
“I think it would have been very hard to pull the trigger at that point but I wish we had – I wish we had gone into lockdown earlier,” the scientist said.
“I think that has cost a lot of lives unfortunately.”
Emphasis on economy
The government is now coming under attack for starting to lift the restrictions too quickly.
The average reinfection rate in some northwestern and southwestern parts of Britain is still perilously close to the 1.0 figure above which the virus begins to spread.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock argued that the government was proceeding with abundant caution because it was wary of the dire economic effects of a second lockdown.
“The worst thing for the economy would be a second spike,” he told Sky News.
Hancock dismissed reports of a raging policy clash between pro-business government ministers and more health conscious scientific advisers.
“I care deeply about getting the economy going and the best way to get the economy going is to ensure that we get the number of new infections right down,” he said.
The Sunday Times said Johnson signed off on a sped-up scheduled after being told Friday that a failure to reopen the hospitality sector by the summer could cost 3.5 million jobs.
The newspaper added that Johnson wanted the government to cut social distancing guidelines from two metres to one “if scientific evidence can be found to justify the move”.
“It’s right that the emphasis has shifted to the economic side and a return to normal life,” an unnamed cabinet minister told the paper.
“Boris wants us back to normal, or as near to it as possible before the summer,” another unnamed source told The Sunday Times.
Britain will trial a new coronavirus tracing programme next week on the Isle of Wight, just off the south coast of England, cabinet minister Michael Gove said on Sunday as the government looks at how to minimise the risk of a second wave of infection.
Suffering one of the worst death tolls in Europe from COVID-19, Britain is confident that the peak of the virus has passed and is now looking at how to restart its shuttered economy and ease social restrictions on citizens.
“This week we will be piloting new test, track and trace procedures on the Isle of Wight with a view to having that in place more widely later this month,†Gove told a news conference.
A mass testing system along with the ability to trace people who have been in contact with those who test positive are seen as crucial to preventing a second spike and facilitating the relaxation of a lockdown which has lasted almost six weeks.
Gove said the system being trialled next week would include asking citizens on the island to download a smartphone app as well as traditional ways of tracing those who have come into contact with a patient who has tested positive.
“We will be able to make sure that people who are suffering from the virus … they and their contacts can be encouraged to stay at home, so that we can limit the potential of any outbreak,†Gove said.
Britain’s health minister said Tuesday he was “very worried” at signs of a coronavirus-related syndrome emerging in children but stressed it needed more research and remained very rare.
The state-run National Health Service (NHS) issued an alert at the weekend about a small number of children presenting an unusual set of symptoms, including abdominal pain and inflammation around the heart.
They have required admission to intensive care, according to a report in the Health Service Journal.
“I’m very worried about the early signs that in rare cases, there is an impact of an auto-immune response in children that causes a significant disease,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told LBC radio.
He added: “It’s a new disease that we think may be caused by coronavirus and the COVID-19 virus.”
But Hancock said that while some of the children who have this new disease tested positive for the virus, others had not.
“We’re doing a lot of research now. What I would also stress is that it is rare. Although it is very significant for those children who do get it, the number of cases is small,” he said.
The Guardian newspaper reported that there had been at least 12 cases.
According to the Paediatric Intensive Care Society, the NHS alert warned of common overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome (TSS) and atypical Kawasaki disease and blood parameters consistent with severe COVID-19.
TSS is a serious illness associated with infections while Kawasaki causes blood vessels to become inflamed and is mostly found in children under the age of five.
The national medical director for NHS England, Stephen Powis, said on Monday it was “too early to say” whether the new disease was linked to coronavirus but the issue was being looked into urgently.
England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said it was “entirely plausible” that it was linked to COVID-19.
Children have died from coronavirus but serious complications are rare.
“Evidence from throughout the world shows us that children appear to be the part of the population least affected by this infection,” said Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
But he added: “New diseases may present in ways that surprise us, and clinicians need to be made aware of any emerging evidence of particular symptoms or of underlying conditions which could make a patient more vulnerable to the virus.”
Small companies in Britain have received 6.1 billion pounds of a total 12 billion pounds available in emergency grants to help them withstand the coronavirus crisis, a finance ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
Nearly 500,000 companies have so far received grants which are worth either 10,000 pounds or 25,000 pounds and do not have to be repaid to the government.
The grant plan was announced last month as part of a string of measures rushed out by finance minister Rishi Sunak.
He has faced criticism that too few loans have been made to small firms as part of a 330 billion-pound program of state-backed credit.
Sunak said on Monday that banks had approved 12,000 loans under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, up from just over 6,000 as of April 14.
The government has also pledged to pay 80% of the salaries of workers who are temporarily laid off among other measures.
Britain reported 563 daily coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, the first time the national toll has exceeded 500, bringing the total fatalities to 2,352, according to official figures.
“As of 5pm (1600 GMT) on 31 March, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,352 have sadly died,” the health ministry said on its official Twitter page.
Some 29,474 people have now tested positive, an increase of 4,324 over the previous day, it added.
Britain locked down last week in an attempt to combat the virus, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself has tested positive, warned that it would “get worse before it gets better”.
The virus has also hit the royal family, with Prince Charles only coming out of isolation on Tuesday after displaying mild symptoms of the disease.
On Wednesday he released a video message praising the “remarkable” state-run National Health Service. “None of us can say when this will end, but end it will,” he said.
“Until it does, let us all try and live with hope and, with faith in ourselves and each other, look forward to better times to come
