Commenting on the Prime Minister’s Living With COVID strategy, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard said: “The Prime Minister promised a plan for living with COVID, but he has left us in chaos and disarray. “It is shocking that Boris Johnson is scrapping free testing for most people, endingContinue Reading
Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and fears of a military attack on Ukraine, have once again drawn the world’s attention to these two rebel-held separatist regions. They have been outside Ukrainian government control since Russian-backed separatists fought Ukrainian forces to a standstill in 2014, a conflictContinue Reading
Russia has started evacuating its embassy in Kyiv and Ukraine urged its citizens to leave Russia as the region braced for further confrontation after Vladimir Putin received authorisation to use military force outside his country and the West responded with sanctions. Hopes for a diplomatic way out of a potentiallyContinue Reading
Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the independence of the two breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk followed a surreal live broadcast of a security council meeting in the Kremlin. Sitting facing the 13-member council, Putin cajoled and argued as, one by one, his most senior officials – including Dmitry Medvedev, aContinue Reading
The conflict in Ukraine is changing rapidly. In the latest escalation, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, declared two separatist areas of Ukraine as independent, and used this as the pretext to send in Russian troops for what he termed “peacekeeping operations”. The world is now watching to see whether thisContinue Reading
Dream of a caliphate as an Islamist homeland is receding. Mohammad Bash via Shutterstock A “proto-state”, a “socio-political movement, the ”beast“ – all names given to a single group that, at its height, seemed to embody the west’s worst nightmare. Islamic State appeared to be a motivated, well-led insurgency groupContinue Reading
Spyware and covert monitoring devices can be exploited to abusive ends. Trismegist san | Shutterstock Perpetrators of domestic abuse are increasingly exploiting digital tools to coerce and control their victims. Where there is abuse in a relationship, technology will also feature in how that abuse is conducted. Police forces nowContinue Reading
Making history: US president Richard Nixon meeting Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing in1972. White House Photo Office Collection (Nixon Administration) It was “the week that changed the world”. On February 21 1972, Chinese leader Mao Zedong and US president Richard Nixon met in Beijing to reset their countries’ relations,Continue Reading
A superyacht hired by Mauritius recently set out to conduct a scientific survey of the Blenheim reef, 230km off the coast of Diego Garcia in the Chagos archipelago. A group of Chagossians accompanied the scientists in what has been hailed as an “historic” event by Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth.Continue Reading
A former soldier who was convicted of “a cynical and cold campaign of rape” against a woman has been jailed for 10 years and ordered not to contact the woman again. The woman has previously described to the court the effects of a controlling and violent relationship with Niall KennedyContinue Reading
