United Kingdom

Only state investment can revive Britain’s zombie economy

Oct 29, 2020 07:06

Britain is sleepwalking into a debt crisis that will undermine its prospects of a sustainable recovery. It’s not the debts of the government that are at issue; it is the monumental amount of borrowing by the private sector, much of it from the Treasury, that will hang like a dead weight on the shoulders of thousands of businesses, possibly for a decade.
Rich countries are total vaccine hogs; COVID-19 must change that

Oct 07, 2020 06:18

Multiple COVID-19 vaccines are working their way through trials, but we haven’t yet figured out what to do when they get here. Distribution faces technical challenges — shortages of glass vials and syringes are already being reported — but there are also ethical supply quandaries. How do we decide who gets a shot first?
Video shows British soldier being arrested for opposing UK arming of Saudi Arabia

Sep 02, 2020 12:12

British soldier Ahmed Al-Babati has been arrested for opposing the United Kingdom’s role in the Saudi-led US and UK- supported war against Yemen.
The world needs a ‘people’s vaccine’ for coronavirus, not a big-pharma monopoly

Jul 27, 2020 11:58

Once a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine is discovered, the only barrier to providing sufficient doses should be the world’s manufacturing capacity. But other artificial barriers stand in the way. The intellectual property laws that grant pharmaceutical companies the exclusive rights to produce a particular medicine for a certain number of years are intended to reward investment and innovation into new medicines.
Self-inflicted wound of Brexit will make it harder for UK to recover from COVID

Jul 27, 2020 11:42

Even as Britain pivots its pandemic response and struggles to reopen businesses and schools amid the global pandemic, it is simultaneously hurtling toward its final, year-end break with the European Union (EU) — a self-inflicted wound that will be even harder to heal from in the age of COVID-19, as it will not have access to the huge pool of rescue funds recently negotiated by the 27 remaining EU nations.
Therapists, teachers warn of looming mental health crisis in UK

Jul 22, 2020 06:26

Ross O’Brien, the Digital Innovation Director at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, one of the country’s biggest mental health trusts, said: “There is the real risk that the mental health impact of COVID-19 will be more than the physical effects of the virus. This, coupled with the expected huge increase in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) referrals, means we are seeing a very worrying trend.
Winning the tech war against China by losing

Jul 20, 2020 13:30

China says the remark by US President Donald Trump that he personally convinced the UK government to ban Chinese technology giant Huawei’s 5G network equipment shows that the ban is politically motivated and has nothing to do with security. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during a daily news briefing in Beijing recently that the comment showed that commercial and trade matters had been politicized.
US, UK must suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Jul 14, 2020 03:46

British weapons sales to Saudi Arabia are a serious violation of International Law and Arms Trade Treaty. They contribute to serious human rights violations, where the Saudi-led bombing campaign is systematically hitting civilian targets in contravention of the rules of war.
‘Gov’t says UK to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite ‘possible’ war crimes in Yemen

Jul 11, 2020 03:42

The US and the UK governments continue to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia even though it’s a morally bankrupt and illegal choice to prop up the Wahhabi regime in its unlawful war on Yemen.
Drug couriers disguised as key workers during COVID-19 lockdown in UK

Jul 08, 2020 05:46

According to a senior officer in charge of tackling county lines dealing at one of the UK’s biggest police forces, young drug mules disguised as nurses and Deliveroo workers were utilized by criminal gangs to deliver cocaine, heroin and illegally acquired prescription drugs during coronavirus lockdown.