David Lammy says 91 prisoners freed in error in England and Wales since April
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:38 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
guardianworldnews_feedJustice secretary tells MPs as many as four may still be at large and blames previous governments’ cuts for mistakes
The justice secretary has revealed that 91 prisoners have been released by mistake in England and Wales since April, of whom as many four remain at large.
David Lammy gave details in a Commons statement of three mistakenly released prisoners the police are trying to trace. He said the Prison Service was also investigating a fourth inmate released in errorlast Monday who may still be at large.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on Labour’s fiscal stance: it’s time to lay new foundations | Editorial
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:30 pmguardianworldnews_feedNo chancellor has raised income tax since 1975, but voters may accept it if everyone contributes, the richest most of all, and the money pays for fairer, better services
Denis Healey, a Labour chancellor, advised that when in a hole, one should stop digging. The failure to observe this iron law of politics is behind the sense of constant crisis engulfing Rachel Reeves. The current chancellor’s problem is one of her own making. She designed her fiscal rules with so little wriggle room that even small changes in economic forecasts – such as revisions to GDP – mean that her numbers stop adding up. That, in turn, starts chatter about budgetary “holes” and the need for tax rises and spending cuts – despite no change in the economy.
In politics, as in digging, it helps to know when to put down the spade. Ms Reeves could end this drama by relaxing her fiscal rules. Or better still, replacing them, as the economist Tim Leunig suggested, with a 250-word summary of Britain’s economic position at the budget, and the effect of the government’s proposals. Instead, she has framed her decision to break an election promise not to raise income tax as unavoidable. She told BBC radio: “It would, of course, be possible to stick with the manifesto commitments, but that would require things like deep cuts in capital spending.” But this is not true. She’s blaming her rules for cuts they don’t require.
Continue reading...Nandy rules out taking action to remove Robbie Gibb from BBC board – UK politics live
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:25 pmguardianworldnews_feedCulture secretary also condemns MPs who dismiss BBC as ‘institutionally biased’ in swipe at Badenoch and Farage
Here is a round-up of what various lawyers and commentators have been saying about Donald Trump’s legal case against the BBC.
Joshua Rozenberg, the legal commentator and a former BBC journalist, has said in a post on his A Lawyer Writes Substack that the corporation should settle. He explains:
Given what Brito is claiming, the lawyer is unlikely to be impressed with the BBC’s assertion that “the purpose of editing the clip was to convey the message of the speech made by President Trump so that Panorama’s audience could better understand how it had been received by President Trump’s supporters and what was happening on the ground at that time”.
So the BBC would be well advised to draft a retraction and apology in terms that the president’s lawyer finds acceptable. Brito is also calling for this to be broadcast as prominently as the original programme. And the corporation will have to pay compensation.
George Peretz KC, chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, says on Bluesky, commenting on Rozenberg’s blog, that the BBC might be better off with a more robust approach.
So at the moment, despite @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social’s piece, I wonder whether a better BBC response would be the Arkell v Pressdram one. proftomcrick.com/2014/04/29/a...
(At least to the extent he’s seeking more than a formal apology limited to the obvious mistake and a very modest offer of compensation.)
There is, after all, the risk of a dangerous precedent here. The BBC will often offend foreign leaders – some worse than Trump. Sometimes it will make factual mistakes in reporting on them. Yield to Trump now, and who next?
Mark Stephens, a media lawyer, told BBC Breakfast that a court case could reflect badly on Trump. He said:
Every damning quote that he’s ever uttered is going to be played back to him and picked over – not great PR.
Trump risks turning what’s currently a PR skirmish with the BBC very much on the back foot into a global headline that the court finds Trump’s words were incendiary …
George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York and a former lawyer for the New York Times, told the BBC that Trump “has a long record of unsuccessful libel suits – and an even longer record of letters like the one you received that don’t end up as lawsuits at all”.
Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who is trying to recover costs from Trump after the president sued him unsuccessfully in the UK, says Trump’s latest threat is preposterous.
Donald Trump’s threat to sue the BBC in London is preposterous. He remains in breach of English High Court orders in a case he brought and lost against Orbis 18 months ago. So any further abuse of the UK courts by him for such legal tourism and intimidation should be prohibited.
Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, says the BBC has been told Trump does not have a case.
The legal advice to the BBC I am told is that President Trump was not meaningfully damaged by Panorama’s manipulation of his 6 January speech, and that therefore there is no legal necessity to pay him compensation. The BBC board is therefore likely to resist and fight his demand to be “appropriately compensated” out of court, and will risk him carrying through on his threat to seek $1bn in damages by going to court.
These times are difficult for the BBC but we will get through it. We will get through it and we will thrive. This narrative will not just be given by our enemies. It’s our narrative. We own things.
I see the free press under pressure. I see the weaponisation. I think we have to fight for our journalism.
We have made some mistakes that have cost us but we need to fight for that.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feedThe president of world football’s governing body should abandon geopolitical networking and address criticisms over World Cup ticketing
To general bemusement, Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa, was pictured congratulating Donald Trump last month at the Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, having been personally invited by the US president. Mr Infantino did not hold back in lauding the president’s peace-making prowess, commenting: “Now we can really write some new pages. Pages of togetherness, of peace, in a region which really, really needs it.”
News that Fifa is to launch its own annual peace prize, with the inaugural award to take place in Washington next month, would therefore seem to point to only one outcome. To use a metaphor from another sport, it surely looks like a slam dunk for the man Fifa’s president describes as a “winner” and “close friend”. As Mr Infantino told an American business forum on the day he announced the prize: “We should all support what [Mr Trump is] doing because I think it’s looking good.”
Continue reading...Removing CO2 from atmosphere vital to avoid catastrophic tipping points, leading scientist says
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:18 pmguardianworldnews_feed10bn tonnes of C02 emissions must be removed from the air every year to limit global heating to 1.7C, says Johan Rockström
Removing carbon from the atmosphere will now be necessary to avoid catastrophic tipping points, one of the world’s leading scientists has warned, as even in the best case scenario the world will heat by about 1.7C.
Johan Rockström of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who is one of the chief scientific advisers to the UN and the Cop30 presidency, said 10bn tonnes of carbon dioxide needed to be removed from the air every year even to limit global heating to 1.7C (3.1F) above preindustrial levels.
Continue reading...Steve Borthwick warns England to prepare for pain in All Blacks clash
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:13 pmguardianworldnews_feedHead coach urges side ‘to give absolutely everything’
Ford returns at fly-half with Itoje back to captain side
Steve Borthwick has called on his side to prepare for “pain and suffering” if they are to end their losing run against the All Blacks, demanding the most selfless England team in history in the showdown on Saturday.
Predicting an aerial bombardment from New Zealand, Borthwick has recalled George Ford, insisting his fly-half general “will be an England coach in the future”, and again loaded his bench with the “Pom Squad”, including six British & Irish Lions among his replacements.
Continue reading...Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine sign voice deal with AI company
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:10 pmguardianworldnews_feedThe voices of the Oscar-winning actors can now be used to create AI-generated versions in a new deal with ElevenLabs
Oscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have both signed a deal with the AI audio company ElevenLabs.
The New York-based company can now create AI-generated versions of their voices as part of a bid to solve a “key ethical challenge” in the artificial intelligence industry’s alliance with Hollywood.
Continue reading...Israel attacked Palestinian water sources over 250 times in five years, data reveals
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:09 pmguardianworldnews_feedArmed forces and settlers used bombs, dogs, poison and machinery to attack people and infrastructure at key sites
Israeli armed forces and settlers have attacked Palestinian water sources more than 250 times in the past five years, amounting to the most sustained assault on civilian water supplies in recent years, new research reveals.
Bombs, dogs, poison and heavy machinery were among the weapons used to attack Palestinians and their infrastructure at drinking water, irrigation and sanitation sites in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on at least 90 occasions between January 2024 and mid-2025, according to the Pacific Institute, a California-based nonpartisan thinktank tracking water conflicts.
Continue reading...UK to reconsider decision to deny Waspi women pension payouts
Nov. 11th, 2025 05:58 pmguardianworldnews_feedMillions born in 1950s lost out because of government failings over changes to state retirement age, campaigners say
Millions of “Waspi women” have been given fresh hope that they might receive compensation after the UK government announced it would revisit a decision to deny them payouts.
As many as 3.6 million women born in the 1950s are said to have lost out because of government failings in the way changes to the state pension age were made, prompting the Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaign to launch in 2015.
Continue reading...NHS trust fined £565,000 after woman killed herself on ‘death trap’ ward
Nov. 11th, 2025 05:56 pmguardianworldnews_feedAlice Figueiredo, 22, died in 2015 on the Hepworth ward at Goodmayes hospital after 18 similar attempts to self-harm
A woman whose daughter killed herself on a “death trap” mental health ward in London has called for urgent change after an NHS trust was fined more than half a million pounds.
Alice Figueiredo, 22, took her own life at Goodmayes hospital, Redbridge, after 18 similar attempts.
Continue reading...Government to reconsider compensation for women not warned of pension age change
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:24 pmbbc_feedHamas fighters trapped in tunnels present new obstacle to Gaza ceasefire progress
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:16 pmbbc_feedMan dances for 144 hours to break video game marathon record
Nov. 11th, 2025 05:19 pmbbc_feedIn which I am a bear of little brain.
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidgillonMe, Last night: It's bloody freezing in here!
Me, this morning: It's not bad, but still colder than it should be. Maybe I should check the central heating?
Central Heating: Look at all my pretty blinkenlights!
Me: It's probably the water pressure, I'll need to top up the system, but I need to warm up first
So I go put the fan heater on in the living room until the room is nice and toasty and I warm up
Warmed up, check the pressure: 0 Bar.
So I turn the awkward little knob underneath that lets water into the system (not the nice big handle next to it that doesn't) and fill the system to 2 Bar. Turn the system on, blinkenlights keep flashing
Me: I'll give it quarter of an hour to sort itself out
Quarter of an hour passes
Central Heating: Pretty blinkenlights!!
Me, still cold: Hmm, that big red blinkenlight says 'reset', it couldn't be? Yes, it's also a button.
Me, after pressing the reset light/button and an obvious restart: I'll give it quarter of an hour to sort itself out
Another quarter of an hour passes
Central Heating: Pretty, pretty blinkenlights!!
Me, still still cold: Bugger, must be something -- oh, you idiot!!!
Walk into still toasty living room, pick thermostat up and carry it into kitchen
Central Heating: Oh, wow, it's cold in here, hang on a minute and I'll get that sorted
Historical Reasons
Nov. 11th, 2025 05:35 pmmikehoye_feedIn 2011 after Dennis Ritchie died, I wondered if we should start retiring usernames on unix systems as an honorific, in the same way sports teams will retire the numbers of great players. I’d proposed a patch to useradd.c at the time that was rejected; understandable, I suppose, but I ran the modified version on my own machine for a while, to no effect and for no reasons but my own. Those few lines of code might have run a dozen times, inspecting the names of service accounts that they’d never object to, but I knew they were there.
I frequently wonder what building a deeper cultural history into the functioning of the common codebase would look like, and what a shared heritage might mean and maybe gain over time. How history might invisibly accrete, not in load-bearing bugs or temporary-permanence, but in the touchstones of the human history.
You can’t wear 99 in the NHL now, or 6 in the NBA. Maybe you shouldn’t be able to log in as dmr for the same reasons.
Nandy rules out taking action to remove Robbie Gibb from BBC board – UK politics live
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:06 pmguardianworldnews_feedCulture secretary also condemns MPs who dismiss BBC as ‘institutionally biased’ in swipe at Badenoch and Farage
Here is a round-up of what various lawyers and commentators have been saying about Donald Trump’s legal case against the BBC.
Joshua Rozenberg, the legal commentator and a former BBC journalist, has said in a post on his A Lawyer Writes Substack that the corporation should settle. He explains:
Given what Brito is claiming, the lawyer is unlikely to be impressed with the BBC’s assertion that “the purpose of editing the clip was to convey the message of the speech made by President Trump so that Panorama’s audience could better understand how it had been received by President Trump’s supporters and what was happening on the ground at that time”.
So the BBC would be well advised to draft a retraction and apology in terms that the president’s lawyer finds acceptable. Brito is also calling for this to be broadcast as prominently as the original programme. And the corporation will have to pay compensation.
George Peretz KC, chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, says on Bluesky, commenting on Rozenberg’s blog, that the BBC might be better off with a more robust approach.
So at the moment, despite @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social’s piece, I wonder whether a better BBC response would be the Arkell v Pressdram one. proftomcrick.com/2014/04/29/a...
(At least to the extent he’s seeking more than a formal apology limited to the obvious mistake and a very modest offer of compensation.)
There is, after all, the risk of a dangerous precedent here. The BBC will often offend foreign leaders – some worse than Trump. Sometimes it will make factual mistakes in reporting on them. Yield to Trump now, and who next?
Mark Stephens, a media lawyer, told BBC Breakfast that a court case could reflect badly on Trump. He said:
Every damning quote that he’s ever uttered is going to be played back to him and picked over – not great PR.
Trump risks turning what’s currently a PR skirmish with the BBC very much on the back foot into a global headline that the court finds Trump’s words were incendiary …
George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York and a former lawyer for the New York Times, told the BBC that Trump “has a long record of unsuccessful libel suits – and an even longer record of letters like the one you received that don’t end up as lawsuits at all”.
Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who is trying to recover costs from Trump after the president sued him unsuccessfully in the UK, says Trump’s latest threat is preposterous.
Donald Trump’s threat to sue the BBC in London is preposterous. He remains in breach of English High Court orders in a case he brought and lost against Orbis 18 months ago. So any further abuse of the UK courts by him for such legal tourism and intimidation should be prohibited.
Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, says the BBC has been told Trump does not have a case.
The legal advice to the BBC I am told is that President Trump was not meaningfully damaged by Panorama’s manipulation of his 6 January speech, and that therefore there is no legal necessity to pay him compensation. The BBC board is therefore likely to resist and fight his demand to be “appropriately compensated” out of court, and will risk him carrying through on his threat to seek $1bn in damages by going to court.
These times are difficult for the BBC but we will get through it. We will get through it and we will thrive. This narrative will not just be given by our enemies. It’s our narrative. We own things.
I see the free press under pressure. I see the weaponisation. I think we have to fight for our journalism.
We have made some mistakes that have cost us but we need to fight for that.
Continue reading...‘Ciao, bambino!’: Paris agreement architect says absence of US is good for Cop30 - live
Nov. 11th, 2025 06:00 pmguardianworldnews_feedChristiana Figueres tells summit that decarbonisation of global economy is inevitable despite disruptive Trump presidency
In the run-up to Cop30, the Guardian published a series of articles looking at the ten biggest polluters of greenhouse gas, and their plans to clean up. Here’s a piece my colleague Jonathan Watts wrote in September about China, which according to an analysis published today has plateaued its emissions.
Chinese power took on an old-fashioned hue in the past week with a huge military parade, a gathering of former allies Russia and North Korea, and President Xi Jinping’s defiant vow not to be intimidated by bullies.
Continue reading...UK to reconsider decision to deny Waspi women pension payouts
Nov. 11th, 2025 05:58 pmguardianworldnews_feedMillions born in 50s lost out because of government failings over changes to state retirement age, campaigners say
Millions of “Waspi women” have been given fresh hope that they might receive compensation after the UK government announced it would revisit a decision to deny them payouts.
As many as 3.6 million women born in the 1950s are said to have lost out because of government failings in the way changes to the state pension age were made, prompting the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign to launch in 2015.
Continue reading...NHS trust fined £565k after woman killed herself on ‘death trap’ ward
Nov. 11th, 2025 05:56 pmguardianworldnews_feedAlice Figueiredo, 22, died in 2015 after 18 similar attempts to self-harm on the Hepworth ward at Goodmayes hospital
A woman whose daughter killed herself on a “death trap” mental health ward in London has called for urgent change after an NHS trust was fined more than half a million pounds.
Alice Figueiredo, 22, took her own life at Goodmayes hospital, Redbridge, after 18 similar attempts.
Continue reading...