UK News and Discussions

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Gap closing: How many stores are shutting and why?

1 hour ago

US clothing retailer Gap has announced it is closing all 81 of its high street stores in the UK and Ireland by the end of 2021, transitioning to an online-only model after being hard-hit during the pandemic like many other brands.

Explaining its decision in a statement, the company said: “In the United Kingdom and Europe, we are going to maintain our Gap online business.

“The e-commerce business continues to grow and we want to meet our customers where they are shopping.

“We’re becoming a digital first business and we’re looking for a partner to help drive our online business.

“Due to market dynamics in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, we shared with our team today that we are proposing to close all company-operated Gap Specialty and Gap Outlet stores in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland in a phased manner from the end of August through the end of September 2021.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/busi ... 76090.html

[Time_Traveller]

Batley and Spen by-election: Relief for Starmer but the reality of the result is more complicated

Friday 2 July 2021

Labour confounded expectations and held on to its Batley and Spen constituency.

Kim Leadbeater, sister of murdered former MP Jo Cox, won by the slender margin of just 323 votes.

Many believed that the seat would go the same way as Hartlepool, lost to the Conservatives at the beginning of May.

The result was close with demands for recounts of bundles of votes extending the count, with the final result being declared at 5.25am.

A Labour majority of 3,525 votes has been reduced ten-fold. Labour's vote share fell to 35.3%, a drop of seven percentage points from the last general election and a 20 point decline since the 2017 election.

https://news.sky.com/story/batley-and-s ... d-12346864

[Ozzie guy]

I wasn't paying much attention however a gist of the news I got from the TV was that the UK is scrapping most/all? Covid restrictions making all previous restrictions and lockdowns basically pointless. I imagine wjfox is fuming at this.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Major and controversial bill passed the Commons last night:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57680917

[Yuli Ban]

Artificial Intelligence used on Army operation for the first time

Soldiers from the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade used an AI engine which provides information on the surrounding environment and terrain.

Through the development of significant automation and smart analytics, the engine is able to rapidly cut through masses of complex data. Providing efficient information regarding the environment and terrain, it enables the Army to plan its appropriate activity and outputs.

The Army’s Director of Information, Major General Jonathan Cole said:
The deployment was a first of its kind for the Army. It built on close collaboration between the MOD and industry partners that developed AI specifically designed for the way the Army is trained to operate.

The lessons this has provided are considerable, not just in terms of our support to deployed forces, but more broadly in how we inform Defence’s digital transformation agenda and the best practices we must adopt to integrate and exploit leading-edge technologies.

This AI capability, which can be hosted in the cloud or operate in independent mode, saved significant time and effort, providing soldiers with instant planning support and enhancing command and control processes.

Announced by the Prime Minister last November, Defence has received an increase in funding of over £24 billion across the next four years, focusing on the ability to adapt to meet future threats. Further outlined in the Defence Command Paper, the MOD intends to invest £6.6billion over the next four years in defence research and development, focusing on emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, AI-enabled autonomous systems, cyber, space and directed energy systems.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

I know it's horrible and whatnot, but I'm surprised anyone's surprised by this. Hooliganism and football ultras literally got their start in the UK decades ago. It's where we got the Orks from Warhammer 40k from.

Actually there's a fascinating rabbit hole of ultras around the world:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultras

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Home Secretary Priti Patel is getting absolutely roasted on social media.

Another one here (see Twitter thread for more replies).

[Time_Traveller]

Government to introduce statute of limitations on Troubles prosecutions

Wed 14 Jul 2021

Ministers are expected to introduce a statute of limitations to end all prosecutions related to the Troubles before 1998 to stop Northern Ireland being “hamstrung by its past”.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, will outline the approach in the Commons on Wednesday as government sources rejected claims it would amount to an amnesty for army veterans and paramilitaries.

A source said: “We want to give Northern Ireland society the best chance of moving forward as one – to do that we must confront the difficult and painful reality that the realistic prospect of prosecutions is vanishingly small and while that prospect remains Northern Ireland will continue to be hamstrung by its past.

“Our legacy package will support Northern Ireland to move beyond an adversarial cycle that doesn’t deliver information or reconciliation for victims and survivors nor end the cycle of investigations against our veterans.”

Louise Haigh, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said Boris Johnson needed to explain the move.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... osecutions

[Time_Traveller]

UK drug companies fined £260m for inflating prices for NHS

Thu 15 Jul 2021

The UK’s competition watchdog has imposed fines totalling more than £260m on pharmaceutical companies after an investigation found that they overcharged the NHS for hydrocortisone tablets for almost a decade.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the drug’s makers Auden Mckenzie and Actavis UK, now known as Accord-UK, used their position as the sole providers of hydrocortisone to inflate the price of the drug. Tens of thousands of people in the UK depend on hydrocortisone tablets to treat adrenal insufficiency, which includes life-threatening conditions such as Addison’s disease, the CMA said.

The investigation found that the companies were able to inflate the price of hydrocortisone tablets by more than 10,000% compared with the original branded version on sale in 2008. This meant the amount the NHS had to pay for a single pack of 10mg tablets rose from 70p in April 2008 to £88 by March 2016.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... arging-nhs

[Time_Traveller]

Boris Johnson appears to rule out sugar and salt tax to cut junk food reliance

Thu 15 Jul 2021

Boris Johnson has set himself on a likely collision course with the authors of a new national food strategy by effectively ruling out its key recommendation for a £3bn sugar and salt tax to tackle the dominance of junk food.

The government-commissioned report, drawn up by the restaurateur Henry Dimbleby, called the taxes a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to reduce reliance on processed food, with the resultant burden on the NHS.

Asked about the proposal after a speech in Coventry, Johnson said: “I’m not, I must say, attracted to the idea of extra taxes on hardworking people. Let me just signal that. I shall study the report with interest.”

He was non-committal on the report more generally, saying: “It’s an independent report. I think there are doubtless some good ideas in it. As I said earlier on we believe in tackling obesity, trying to help people to lose weight, promoting exercise and tackling junk food advertising and so on.”

The report’s most eye-catching recommendation would be a levy of £3 a kilo on sugar and £6 a kilo on salt sold wholesale for use in processed food, restaurants and catering, which it says would be a world first. This would raise up to £3.4bn a year, some of which should fund an expansion of free school meals to an extra 1.1 million children and an overhaul of Britain’s food and cooking culture.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... d-reliance

[wjfox]

Beth Rigby – one of the UK's best journalists, IMO.

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Siân Berry quits as Green party leader in dispute over trans rights

Wed 14 Jul 2021

Siân Berry is to quit as leader of the Greens, citing conflict within the party over transgender rights and claiming it had been a “failure of leadership” on her part that the party was sending “mixed messages”.

The Guardian understands there had been a significant clash of opinion with a particular colleague.

Berry, who was the party’s candidate for London mayor, had been co-leader with Jonathan Bartley, who announced he was stepping down earlier this month. She said she had been agonising over whether to stand in the forthcoming leadership election but said she felt divisions in the party were too great.

A vocal supporter of trans equality, Berry had said one of the first things she would do as mayor would be to set up a commission on the rights of trans Londoners. In her resignation letter on Wednesday, Berry said there had been significant disagreement with colleagues elected to the party’s frontbench team.

She said the party’s democratic structure meant decisions could be made that leaders did not agree with and she felt it was irreconcilable with her own position.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ans-rights

[wjfox]