Boris Johnson Is Threatening To Review Channel 4's Broadcasting Licence After They Replaced Him With An Ice Sculpture At Thursday's Debate

A Conservative source told BuzzFeed News that if they win the coming election they will reassess the channel’s public service broadcasting licence.
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In a dramatic escalation of the war of words between the Tories and Channel 4 that will likely provoke outcry, a Conservative source told BuzzFeed News that if they win the coming election they will reassess the channel’s public service broadcasting licence.

“If we are re-elected we will have to review Channel 4’s Public Services Broadcasting obligations,” the source said.

“Broadcasting organisations are rightly held to a higher standard — and particularly Channel 4 which has a special role enshrined in legislation. Any review would of course look at whether its remit should be better focused so it is serving the public in the best way possible.”

The inflammatory move came after Channel 4 said it would empty-chair the prime minister and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage at its climate change leaders’ debate, after the two leaders declined to take part.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/boris-johnson-is-threatening-to-review-channel-4s

Michael Gove ✔
@michaelgove

Tonight I went to Channel 4 to talk about climate change but Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon refused to debate a Conservative #climatedebate

[Twitter video]

Radio Free Zeitgeist @ZeitgeistFree

"Like a drunk albino walrus, always groping women's thighs...."

[Twitter video]

Polymath also had career in medicine and was member of Beyond the Fringe comedy team
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He rose to prominence in the 1960s as part of the irreverent satirical show, Beyond the Fringe alongside Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett.

He studied medicine at Cambridge, qualifying as a doctor in 1959. He combined his early stage appearances with hospital rounds. But he was soon in demand as a theatre director, in both London and New York, and also worked with the BBC presenting cultural programmes and adapting plays for television.

He directed a series of critically acclaimed operas in the 1980s and 90s.

Oliver Mears, director of opera at the Royal Opera House, said: “Jonathan Miller was one of the most important figures in British theatre and opera of the past half century. Combining a supreme intellect with a consistently irreverent perspective, formed from his experiences in both comedy and medicine, Miller shone a unique light on our art form.”

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/27/jonathan-miller-writer-and-director-dies-aged-85

Boris Johnson is planning an extraordinary attack on the courts if he wins the general election, prompting accusations he is determined to prevent a repeat of judges thwarting Conservative Brexit plans.

The alarm has been raised over proposals in the Tory manifesto to curb the power of people to mount legal challenges – after historic defeats over the triggering of Article 50 and the unlawful shutdown of parliament.

A little-noticed section also hints at expanding the use of the royal prerogative to allow, it is claimed, the next government to ram through plans for the future relationship with the EU without proper scrutiny by MPs.

The moves appear designed to prevent a repeat of the damaging setbacks inflicted by the courts on both Theresa May, over invoking Article 50 without MPs’ approval, and Mr Johnson himself, over the prorogation of parliament.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/general-election-brexit-latest-boris-johnson-article-50-second-referendum-a9217656.html

In June, a message pinged on Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi’s phone. “Right, sorted out that Conservative party Islamophobia investigation!” it read triumphantly. The sender? Sajid Javid, who was then home secretary.

Earlier that evening, during a televised Tory leadership debate, Javid had bounced his fellow contenders, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, into apparently agreeing to the Conservatives holding an independent inquiry into Islamophobia.

For Lady Warsi, who had tirelessly campaigned against Islamophobia for years, having been the country’s first female Muslim cabinet minister, it was a moment she had longed to see. Unable to contain her delight, she tweeted her thanks to Javid, who now serves as chancellor. “It’s a shame,” she added, “that it’s taken four years and a leadership contest to finally drag my colleagues kicking and screaming to address this issue.”
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Now, however, it appears that that commitment has been watered down. Earlier this month, days after Gove insisted that the Tories would “absolutely” hold an independent inquiry into Islamophobia before the end of the year, Johnson performed a U-turn. It would instead be a “general investigation into prejudice of all kinds”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/27/sayeeda-warsi-tory-islamophobia-muslim-prejudice-investigation

Michael Gove has mocked Stormzy for expressing his support for Labour and Jeremy Corbyn in the forthcoming election.

Gove told Talk Radio: “I think we again know that Stormzy, when he took to the stage at Glastonbury wearing a stab vest, he made clear what his political views were then.”

During his headline set at the 2019 festival, Stormzy wore a stab vest painted with a monochrome Union Jack. The garment was customised by Banksy and hailed as “a perfect image of our moment” by the Guardian’s art critic, Jonathan Jones. “Stormzy’s tense and provocative stage-garb exploited the flag’s visual strength in a new way. Amid all the stage razzmatazz, he wore the banner of a divided and frightened nation.”

Gove added: “He is a far, far better rapper than he is a political analyst.”

Labour’s Angela Rayner tweeted: “And Michael Gove is crap at both”, adding a winking emoji. Gove responded: “I set trends dem man copy.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/nov/26/i-set-trends-dem-man-copy-michael-gove-mocks-stormzy-labour-support

General election: Voter registration spikes by 236 per cent on day Stormzy endorses Labour

Voter registration saw a 236 per cent spike on the day Stormzy tweeted in support of Labour (Monday 25 November).

The grime star wrote that he believed Boris Johnson to be a “sinister man” with a “long record of lying and policies that have absolutely no regard for the people that our government should be committed to helping and empowering”.

According to a performance breakdown on the GOV.UK website, 366,000 people registered to vote on Monday, compared to 109,000 the day before.

Some 150,000 of those registration applications were from people under the age of 25, while 114,000 were from those aged 25 to 34.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/general-election-jeremy-corbyn-stormzy-voter-registration-grime-a9218086.html

John Crace ✔
@JohnJCrace

Sajid has just said no one has ever accused leadership of Tory party if Islamophobia. Er.... Boris and letterboxes

Josh Halliday ✔
@JoshHalliday

NEW Sajid Javid refuses SEVEN times to say whether he would use the terms 'bank-robber' and 'letterboxes' to describe hijab-wearing women as Boris Johnson did in a Telegraph article.

The Twitter account of Arron Banks, the founder of the pro-Brexit campaign Leave.EU, has been hacked.

The perpetrator has leaked thousands of his private messages to and from dozens of other people spanning several years.

In a statement, Mr Banks accused Twitter of taking too long to tackle the issue and said the social network had "deliberately chosen" to leave his personal information online.

Twitter said it had "taken steps to secure the compromised account".

"We will continue to take firm enforcement action in line with our policy which strictly prohibits the distribution on our service of materials obtained through hacking," Twitter said in a statement.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50474626

Carole Cadwalladr ✔
@carolecadwalla

#arronbanksleaks Right. I've just been sent the first set of direct messages from the file. They're pretty explosive. What are the ethics/legals on this, world?

Guy Verhofstadt
?@guyverhofstadt

Arron Banks is angry that his personal data has been breached. I believe the Brits have a good saying for this: What goes around comes around...

Experts warn the cliff edge would reappear in 2020

... Over recent weeks experts have warned that Johnson’s deal would not in fact take no deal off the table at all. That while it would remove the immediate risk, taking Britain into a standstill transition period, it would not prevent a different version of no deal down the line. This is because the deal handles withdrawal issues but does not firmly establish the future trading relationship. The transition gives us less than a year to negotiate that and the PM has insisted he will not seek to extend it.

If time does run out, what would happen? How would this “no deal two” differ from the no deal we have been warned about, and how serious would it be? Having discussed the issue with leading experts, they are increasingly worried about the risk.

Cabinet ministers of course are keen to downplay it. Home Secretary Priti Patel only this week suggested that a vote for Johnson was a vote to leave with a deal. The government insists that it can negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement before the planned transition runs out at the end of 2020. The PM has said we can have a “super Canada plus” deal, like the EU’s deal with Canada but with add-ons, ready in time.

Yet many experienced figures are far less relaxed. Indeed they are alarmed about the dangers ahead. For Philip Rycroft, formerly permanent secretary in the Brexit department, “the prime minister, having endeavoured to get out of one time trap, is walking straight into another one, because by saying ‘I’m not going to seek an extension,’ he’s putting the power over time in the hands of those he’s negotiating with.” For another former official of similar stature, “If you look at the dynamics of the coming year under a majority Johnson government and with the 27’s position as I believe it to be,” then Britain falling off a second cliff edge “is clearly a substantial risk in late 2020.” In fact, “to be honest, I think it’s quite likely.” For David Gauke meanwhile, now an independent candidate but until recently a Conservative cabinet minister, “Johnson is boxing himself in… a Free Trade Agreement will not be agreed and ratified” in time.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/economics-and-finance/how-passing-boris-johnsons-withdrawal-agreement-could-still-end-in-a-no-deal-brexit-wto-terms-election-december-12

US President Donald Trump has confirmed he will travel to London 10 days before the UK general election.

He will be in the capital with the first lady for the Nato summit between 2 and 4 December.

Mr Trump will also attend a reception at Buckingham Palace, which will be hosted by the Queen.

The president has previously been criticised for voicing his opinions of British political leaders, including Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.

The White House said in a statement that the president "looks forward to meeting" the other Nato leaders and would "emphasize the need for the Nato alliance to ensure its readiness for the threats of tomorrow".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50436252

Almost third of urgent housing budget is spent on emergency bed and breakfasts, data shows
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A combination of soaring rents and more families without accommodation pushed spending on emergency housing to almost £1.1bn in England in the year to April 2019, analysis of figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government shows.

Almost a third of the budget (£344m) was spent on rooms in emergency bed and breakfasts, which are among the most expensive yet least comfortable forms of accommodation, particularly for families, according to housing experts.
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Shelter’s analysis shows that a 78% increase in spending on temporary accommodation in five years has far outstripped the 45% increase in the number of homeless households needing it. Similarly, the number of homeless families housed in B&Bs has increased by 61%, yet the amount spent on their rents has risen by 111%.

Last month, the Observer found that firms providing temporary accommodation in England’s top 50 homeless blackspots received an average of £10,000 of public money for each booking.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/14/cost-of-housing-homeless-families-rises-to-more-then-1bn

According to Guardian research and the Register of Member’s Financial Interests, 196 MPs are currently declaring rental income. The majority of those are earning in excess of £10,000 a year from property, on top of the basic MP’s salary of £67,060.

The Conservative party has the highest number of landlord MPs, with 128 of their MPs renting out property. This means that 39% of Tory MPs are landlords. This is compared with 26% of Scottish National Party MPs and 22% of Labour. To put this into context, it’s estimated that just 2% of the general adult population of this country are renting out homes.

When you consider the figures is it any wonder that Generation Rent aren’t being represented in Parliament? Is it any wonder that the majority of legislation favours landlords and that there is a reluctance on the part of this government to properly regulate lettings agents and ban letting fees altogether? All of the main political parties, with the exception of the Conservatives, pledged to ban letting fees before the General Election last year.

https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/mp-buy-let-landlord/

According to the latest figures from the English Housing Survey tenants in England now spend half of their pay on rent, while London renters spend 72% of their earnings.

Because renting is the new normal for young people today we need better regulation of the market, better renter’s rights and a fair deal for tenants. As things stand letting agents’ rule the market, and because of a lack of proper regulation and legislation can charge more or less whatever they like in terms of fees to tenants.

https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/mp-buy-let-landlord/