All posts tagged: calls

European tech industry coalition calls for ‘radical action’ on digital sovereignty — starting with buying local

European tech industry coalition calls for ‘radical action’ on digital sovereignty — starting with buying local

Published by skeptic

A broad coalition drawn from across the ranks of Europe’s tech industry is calling for “radical action” from European Union lawmakers to shrink reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure and services to bolster the bloc’s economic prospects, resilience, and security in increasingly fraught geopolitical times. In an open letter to European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU’s digital chief, Henna Virkkunen, which TechCrunch reviewed ahead of publication, more than 80 signatories (representing around 100 organizations) said they want regional lawmakers to rethink current support efforts so that they are centered on fostering uptake of homegrown alternatives with the strongest commercial potential — from apps, platforms, and AI models to chips, computing, storage, and connectivity. Companies spanning areas including cloud, telecoms, defence, along with several regional business and startup associations, have put their names to the letter — which was sent to the Commission on Sunday — urging the bloc to switch its tech strategy onto a quasi-war footing by committing to support “sovereign digital infrastructure.” The plan pushes for reducing reliance on foreign-owned …

School complaints review calls as 80% of leaders abused

School complaints review calls as 80% of leaders abused

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Over 80 per cent of school leaders have been abused by parents in the last year – with one in 10 having been the victim of an assault, a new poll suggests, prompting calls to review complaints procedures. A poll of 1,600 National Association of Headteachers members revealed some have been pushed to the brink of quitting the profession by the vitriol, threats and violence, while others now suffer from anxiety and depression. Paul Whiteman Just over a third said they experienced such abuse on a monthly basis, with 16 per cent saying this typically happened every week. The NAHT is urging ministers to review “complaints procedures to deter vexatious use of the existing system by parents” – which can involve referrals to the misconduct agency and Ofsted before school processes have been followed. Paul Whiteman, the union’s general secretary, said there has been “a worrying increase in the amount of abuse” in recent years. “Some of the stories we are hearing about the appalling abuse leaders and their …

Keir Starmer Calls Choosing Between US and EU “Totally Unserious”

Keir Starmer Calls Choosing Between US and EU “Totally Unserious”

Published by Sam

(Alamy) 4 min read03 March It is “totally unserious” to suggest that the UK must choose between siding with Europe or the United States in its approach to the war in Ukraine, Keir Starmer has said. The prime minister described the US as an “indispensable” ally in a House of Commons statement on Monday afternoon. Starmer updated MPs on government efforts to help bring about peace in the region after hosting a summit with European leaders on Sunday and meeting US president Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday. At the summit in London on Sunday, Starmer said the UK and other European countries were ready to form a “coalition of the willing” — a commitment to defend Ukraine militarily if a peace deal with Russia is agreed. Some opposition MPs had urged Starmer to distance the UK from the US after how Trump and his vice president JD Vance treated Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during his own trip to Washington last week triggered outrage in the UK.  However, in his statement today, the prime minister stressed that the government must work with both …

Palantir Plunges After Hegseth Memo Calls For Sweeping Cuts To Pentagon Budget

Palantir Plunges After Hegseth Memo Calls For Sweeping Cuts To Pentagon Budget

Published by skeptic

US defense stocks faced pressure in late afternoon trading after The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had directed senior Pentagon leaders to prepare for an 8% budget cut over the next five years. Here’s more from WaPo’s report: Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be drawn up by Feb. 24, according to the memo, which includes a list of 17 categories that the Trump administration wants exempted. Among them: operations at the southern US border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, and acquisition of one-way attack drones and other munitions. . . .  The memo calls for continued “support agency” funding for several major regional headquarters, including Indo-Pacific Command, Northern Command and Space Command. Notably absent from that list is European Command, which has had a leading role in executing US strategy during the war in Ukraine; Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East; and Africa Command, which manages the several thousand troops the Pentagon has spread across that continent. “President Trump’s charge to DoD is clear: achieve Peace …

Church of England bishop calls for disestablishment

Church of England bishop calls for disestablishment

Published by skeptic

The Anglican bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty, has called for the Church of England to be disestablished. “I personally would favour the Church of England being disestablished”, said Conalty (pictured), who is also the Church’s deputy lead bishop for safeguarding. The National Secular Society has long campaigned for disestablishment and recently supported a bill to separate Church and state. Conalty’s comments come as the General Synod voted last week against making safeguarding fully independent from the Church, in the wake of a series of abuse scandals which led to the resignation of archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. The vote dismayed victims and survivors of abuse and went against the recommendations of a report by Professor Alexis Jay, the former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. Jay said: “Church safeguarding, as it stands, falls below the standards of secular organisations, and I do not think that can continue when it has also led to such serious weaknesses”. Remarking on the vote, Conalty said: “As a Church we still weren’t able to listen to …

Humanists UK calls for diverse school communities in order to boost community cohesion

Humanists UK calls for diverse school communities in order to boost community cohesion

Published by skeptic

Humanists UK has responded to a consultation on community cohesion run by the Women and Equalities Committee. In its response, it has highlighted how divisive rhetoric by authoritative public figures and in the media has created a political and social atmosphere that has emboldened racists and enabled last summer’s far-right violence. It has also argued that schools can play an important role in promoting community cohesion to combat such divisions and placed schools at the centre of its recommendations. In its response, Humanists UK recommends the Government reinstates the requirement for Ofsted to inspect how schools contribute to community cohesion which was removed in 2011. This requirement was first introduced after the 2001 race riots in Bradford, Oldham, and Burnley. Evidence reported in The Cantle Report noted that riots had not arisen in diverse areas, such as Southall and Leicester, where pupils learnt in integrated schools, suggesting segregated schools were contributing to increased tensions across cultural lines in some communities. Professor Ted Cantle, author of the report, said at the time that faith-based admissions criteria …

New Lakers star Luka Doncic calls trade from Mavericks ‘a big shock’

New Lakers star Luka Doncic calls trade from Mavericks ‘a big shock’

Published by Sam

The Lakers introduced superstar Luka Dončić on Tuesday, and he expressed the same shock as the rest of the basketball world about the trade that brought him to Los Angeles from Dallas. “You can imagine how surprised I was,” Dončić said at his introductory news conference. “I was almost asleep. When I got a call, I had to check it was April 1st. I didn’t really believe it at first. It was a big shock. It was hard moments for me.” The Lakers acquired Dončić on Saturday in exchange for power forward Anthony Davis and a first-round draft pick. They also sent guard Jalen Hood-Schifino to the Utah Jazz in what was a three-team deal. The Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Dončić at an introductory news conference in El Segundo, Calif., on Tuesday.Jae C. Hong / AP Dončić is coming off a season in which he led the Mavericks to the NBA finals. In his career, Dončić has averaged 28.7 points per game, third highest all time in NBA history. His playoff scoring average of 30.9 …

Scottish Children’s Commissioner calls for changes to collective worship in schools

Scottish Children’s Commissioner calls for changes to collective worship in schools

Published by skeptic

The Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland has warned the Scottish Government that its proposed changes on religious observance in schools do not go far enough to ‘empower children to make a decision on their participation in collective worship.’ Similar issues with collective worship exist across the UK and a Private Members’ Bill is to be debated in the House of Lords next week seeking to tackle the issue. Humanists UK has welcomed the call. Collective worship: what the law says Throughout the UK, the law requires that there be periodic collective worship in state schools. Where schools are religious, this must be in line with the faith of the school, whereas in other schools it must be Christian. In Scotland such assemblies have to happen six times a year, whereas in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland the law says they must happen every day. Issues with Scottish Bill In seeking to give children more power over their engagement with collective worship, the Scottish Government has proposed schools have the power to reject parental …

John Cleese calls Piers Morgan ‘lazy’ and ‘sloppy’ as he weighs in on Hugh Grant row

John Cleese calls Piers Morgan ‘lazy’ and ‘sloppy’ as he weighs in on Hugh Grant row

Published by skeptic

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter John Cleese has weighed in on a row between Piers Morgan and Hugh Grant over Rupert Murdoch, with the Fawlty Towers star calling Morgan “lazy” and “sloppy”. Grant and Morgan have been engaged in a spat on X this week after the government ruled out a reopening of the Leveson Inquiry, which Grant has been leading calls for. Defence secretary John Healey insisted that there will be no new inquiry or restrictions into the activities of the media in the UK despite The Sun paying damages to Prince Harry this week. In response to the government’s decision, Grant had told Radio 4’s Today: “I have some sympathy, when I’m in a generous mood, for politicians terrified of the Murdochs.” Murdoch owns News Group Newspapers (NGN), owner of The Sun and the now defunct News of the World. Morgan then took to X to call Grant a “hypocrite”, claiming the actor had …