All posts tagged: Shadow

Laura Trott appointed shadow education secretary

Laura Trott appointed shadow education secretary

Published by skeptic

MP for Sevenoaks and former chief secretary to the Treasury tapped by Kemi Badenoch to lead Conservative education team MP for Sevenoaks and former chief secretary to the Treasury tapped by Kemi Badenoch to lead Conservative education team More from this theme Recent articles Laura Trott has been appointed shadow education secretary in Kemi Badenoch’s front-bench team, it has been reported. The appointment was made today just hours before education secretary Bridget Phillipson and her ministers are due to face education questions in Parliament. Trott is the MP for Sevenoaks in Kent and served as pensions minister and then chief secretary to the Treasury in Rishi Sunak’s government. The appointment comes after Badenoch won the Conservative leadership election, beating opponent Robert Jenrick with 56.5 per cent of the members’ vote. Trott replaces Damian Hinds, the former education secretary and schools minister, who had served in the shadow role since the Conservatives lost the election in July. It is not clear whether Hinds will be appointed to another role in the front-bench team. Source link

‘We should hang heads in shame’, says shadow minister

‘We should hang heads in shame’, says shadow minister

Published by skeptic

Gagan Mohindra apologises at the Conservative Party conference, saying his party ‘didn’t do enough’ on SEND Gagan Mohindra apologises at the Conservative Party conference, saying his party ‘didn’t do enough’ on SEND More from this theme Recent articles The Conservatives “didn’t do enough” to fix the SEND crisis and “should hang our heads in shame”, according to one of the party’s shadow education ministers.  Gagan Mohindra told the party’s annual conference that Hertfordshire council, in his constituency, “has invested more money into SEND provision but actually, it’s awful”. He told a NASUWT union fringe event: “I hold my hand up as a Conservative member of parliament saying: my government didn’t do enough on this.  “Yes we were fighting both the pandemic and the cost of living crisis and the rest of it, but actually the inability for politicians to step in when those most in need needed our support, I think is something we should hang our heads in shame and apologise for, and I’ll happily do that on stage today.” Hertfordshire has “widespread and/or …

‘There is nowhere to fish any more’: life in the shadow of Nigeria’s biggest industrial complex | Global development

‘There is nowhere to fish any more’: life in the shadow of Nigeria’s biggest industrial complex | Global development

Published by skeptic

On the outskirts of Lagos sits Africa’s largest oil refinery, and beside it, the continent’s biggest fertiliser plant. Armed men guard the gates and the perimeters are lined with floodlights and security cameras. Owned by Dangote Industries, a multinational conglomerate founded by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest person, the compounds are in the Lekki free trade zone, abutting the Atlantic Ocean about 30 miles outside Nigeria’s commercial capital. The zone was designated by the federal government to develop industry and jobs. The $2.5bn (£2bn) urea and ammonia plant opened in 2022 and the $21bn refinery opened last May and began production in January. Dangote and the government, which has a 20% stake, hope this will make Nigeria less dependent on expensive imported petroleum “and stop, once and for all, the dumping of substandard petrol products in our markets”, Dangote said in a televised speech last year. People living near the site were happy about the developments when they were first mooted a decade ago, says Tajudeen Ismaila, 35. But the mood has changed. “We prayed for …

‘People have died on the waiting lists’: South Africa’s housing crisis casts a shadow over election | Global development

‘People have died on the waiting lists’: South Africa’s housing crisis casts a shadow over election | Global development

Published by skeptic

A picture of Nelson Mandela watches over the dimly lit room where Maggie Mothemba has lived for six years. “He’s like my father,” says the 57-year-old, who remembers the day in April 1994 that she voted for Mandela’s African National Congress in South Africa’s first democratic election. She was then “full of hope” to be on the list for a government-subsidised house to raise her two children – a key ANC’ election promise. But Mothemba is still waiting, along with 2.5 million households languishing in a housing crisis. In 2017, facing eviction from a private rental , she moved into a derelict hospital in Woodstock, a Cape Town neighbourhood, squatted by people protesting the slow pace of affordable housing development. Maggie Mothemba, 57, moved into Cissie Gool House six years ago. She lives in a small room across from the one in which her adult daughter lives. Photograph: Julie Bourdin While the government has accommodated almost 5 million households in 30 years, delivery has slowed drastically over the past decade. As South Africa holds a …

With just one tank present, today’s march in Moscow was a shadow of previous years

With just one tank present, today’s march in Moscow was a shadow of previous years

Published by skeptic

War in Ukraine is reshaping our world. Every weekday The Telegraph’s top journalists analyse the invasion from all angles – military, humanitarian, political, economic, historical – and tell you what you need to know to stay updated. With over 70 million listens, our Ukraine: The Latest podcast is your go-to source for all the latest analysis, live reaction and correspondents reporting on the ground. We have been broadcasting ever since the full-scale invasion began. Ukraine: The Latest’s regular contributors are: David Knowles David is Head of Audio Development at The Telegraph, where he has worked for over three years. He has reported from across Ukraine during the full-scale invasion.  Dominic Nicholls Dom is Associate Editor (Defence) at The Telegraph, having joined in 2018. He previously served for 23 years in the British Army, in tank and helicopter units. He had operational deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.  Source link

Keir Starmer risks major shadow cabinet split after accepting Tory MP defector | Politics | News

Keir Starmer risks major shadow cabinet split after accepting Tory MP defector | Politics | News

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Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to welcome the right-wing MP Natalie Elphicke into the Labour Party yesterday has sparked a major rift in his party as frontbenchers and MPs brief against the “disgusting” defection. Sir Keir proudly showed off his second Tory MP defection yesterday at PMQs, asking Rishi Sunak: “What is the point of this failed Government staggering on … [when] the Tory MP for Dover, on the frontline of the small boats crisis, says the Prime Minister cannot be trusted with our borders?” However behind the scenes the news was greeted with disbelief, anger and tears in Labour circles. Coming as she did from the hard right of the Conservative Party, one shadow minister said: “People are upset and angry right across the party about the decision.” Another shadow minister told The Guardian: “Logically or politically, we didn’t need this”. “I worry that they’ll not have done sufficient due diligence on her. “Her hard-right views are a big red line too. Are we welcoming Nigel Farage next week?” One Labour MP also said there …

Holocaust survivors march in Auschwitz in shadow of Oct 7 attacks

Holocaust survivors march in Auschwitz in shadow of Oct 7 attacks

Published by Sam

OSWIECIM, Poland: Several thousand Jews, including Holocaust survivors personally affected by the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, walked through the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp on Monday (May 6) for the annual March of the Living ceremony in Poland. Walking along the three kilometre path towards the crematoria of Birkenau, they paid tribute to the millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War Two. This year’s ceremony was overshadowed by the events last year when 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas-led rampage through Israeli towns and 253 hostages were taken, according to Israeli tallies. Daniel Louz, a 90-year-old whose hometown Kibbutz Beeri lost a tenth of its residents to the Palestinian attackers, came to the Auschwitz camp on Monday for the first time since his mother’s family was killed there in 1942. “I am convinced that on Oct 7 in Beeri the good souls (of the Holocaust dead) protected me and did not let the Hamas criminals shoot at our home,” Louz told Reuters. “So that I might be able …

Shadow of war hangs over Orthodox Easter as Zelenskiy and Putin mark holiday | Ukraine

Shadow of war hangs over Orthodox Easter as Zelenskiy and Putin mark holiday | Ukraine

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Orthodox Easter services in Ukraine and Russia have taken on a political tone, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy asserted that God had a “Ukrainian flag on his shoulder” and Vladimir Putin attended a church service led by a staunch supporter of Moscow’s invasion. Noting that Ukraine had now been fighting Russia for 802 days, Zelenskiy called on Ukrainians to pray for each other and the soldiers on the frontline. “And we believe: God has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder,” said the president, dressed in a traditional embroidered Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt and khaki trousers. “So with such an ally, life will definitely win over death.” Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter this weekend, while most western churches observed the holiday on 31 March. A priest blesses people during an Orthodox Easter service in Chernihiv, Ukraine, on Sunday. Photograph: Maksym Muzychenko-Kishka/Reuters In Moscow, Putin attended an Easter service led by the head of the country’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a supporter of the Russian president. Video of the service showed Putin, dressed in a dark suit and …

Sweden prepares to host Eurovision Song Contest in shadow of Gaza war

Sweden prepares to host Eurovision Song Contest in shadow of Gaza war

Published by Sam

Glitter and rhinestones or pro-Palestinian demonstrations and slogans? The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest opens in the southern Swedish city of Malmo on Tuesday overshadowed by the war in Gaza. Looming over the festivities is Israel’s participation in the almost 70-year-old contest, which this year brings together 37 countries, concluding with the final on May 11. Malmo resident Anders Puschel told AFP that he will be taking part in a demonstration on May 9, the same day Israel will be competing in the second semi-final. “During the ongoing war, Israel’s participation should be banned in the same way they banned Russia,” Puschel said. In 2022, Russian broadcasters were excluded from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) — which oversees the competition — in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Read moreEurovision: With Russia excluded, Ukraine wins the political contest “The message was, we don’t like people who are not living up to democratic standards,” anthropologist and Eurovision specialist Lisanne Wilken said. Since the beginning of the year, several petitions have demanded Israel’s exclusion. Direct threats have …