Reganelite

More than three million people have been taken to court for council tax debt in some of the poorest parts of the country in the past two years, i can reveal. Since Covid, magistrates courts across England have handed out the equivalent of more than 4,500 debt orders a day in what campaigners say is the latest illustration of the scale of the cost-of-living crisis. Figures obtained via Freedom of Information requests show there has been a rise in local authorities taking legal action against people who haven’t paid their bills as coronavirus restrictions ended and inflation began to soar. https://inews.co.uk/news/council-tax-debt-3-million-uk-2387586 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, an the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine’s Kherson region collapsed, sparking an international blame game, mass evacuations and an unfolding ecological disaster. Here are the seven critical things you need to know: 1. The dam 2. The blast 3. The blame 4. The human cost 5. The ecological cost 6. The nuclear risk 7. The response https://www.kyivpost.com/post/17955 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

An Afghan mother who fled to Pakistan to avoid being killed by the Taliban risks being deported back to Afghanistan due to delays in Government processing of her resettlement to the UK. The ex-British Council teacher is eligible to come to Britain but is stuck in a cramped Islamabad hotel room with her newborn baby son, five-year-old daughter and husband while struggling to get nappies, baby milk, fruit and clean water. Nazila, not her real name, said the family-of-four are sleeping in one bed in the hotel, which houses more than 20 other families whose applications to come to the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) have been approved. https://inews.co.uk/news/afghan-mother-risk-deportation-taliban-death-squads-uk-government-visa-delays-2382728 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

An alleged Russian intelligence agent is living in the UK and his family used the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme to join him, an I investigation can reveal. The Ukrainian businessman is suspected by the FBI of being a foreign agent for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), according to a secret cache of intelligence documents, seen by I. He was able to travel to London after fleeing Ukraine at the start of the war, and his family then joined him through the official UK refugee scheme. https://inews.co.uk/news/alleged-russian-intelligence-asset-living-london-homes-ukraine-scheme-2374434 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

The bosses of Britain's biggest banks have told Rishi Sunak that technology companies must contribute to the cost of an online fraud "pandemic" that is undermining international investor confidence in the UK economy. Sky News has obtained a letter to the prime minister signed by the chief executives of nine lenders, including Barclays, NatWest and Nationwide, in which they warned that the UK has become "a global hotspot for fraud and scams". They said the government's National Fraud Strategy, unveiled last month, were inadequate to tackle the scale of the crisis, which they believe is costing more than £1bn every year to tackle. https://news.sky.com/story/bank-chiefs-tell-sunak-to-make-big-tech-bear-cost-of-fraud-pandemic-12904163 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

A parliamentary inquiry has concluded that Boris Johnson knowingly misled parliament multiple times with his statements about parties in Downing Street during the COVID pandemic. The privileges committee of MPs found Mr Johnson's breaches serious enough to recommend a suspension of 90 days if he were still an MP - far exceeding the period needed to trigger a recall petition and possible by-election. In the highly anticipated report, published this morning, the committee found that Mr Johnson: • Misled MPs on multiple occasions by insisting all rules had been followed in Downing Street, despite lockdown-breaching parties • Was "deliberately disingenuous" when he tried to explain and "justify the gatherings" • Breached the confidence of the committee • Committed further contempt in his conduct by impugning the committee - thereby undermining the democratic process of the House of Commons • Was "complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the committee" In a further sanction, the committee also recommended that Mr Johnson should not be given a former member's pass granting access to parliament following his resignation as an MP. Check out some YouTubers who has been covering this along the way! Daily Blasé YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@dailyblase4660 ROBUST Braverman Caught Out Not Telling The Truth AGAIN? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQrq7IB0tg All Shorts YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@AllShortsPolitics/featured Disgraced PM: Boris Johnson Resigned but it's never his Fault... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lg6mKLljAk&t=9s Phil's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@ADifferentBias Johnson Resigns in Disgrace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LByNzB70Jqw No Justice https://www.youtube.com/@NoJusticeMTG Boris Johnson is GONE - and he's taking the tories with him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcxKUBCNtj8 Maximilien Robespierre https://www.youtube.com/@MaximilienRobespierre1 Boris Johnson Resigns Over PartyGate Triggering A By-Election! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_bfS1GMyCs Main story! https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-knowingly-misled-parliament-over-partygate-privileges-committee-finds-12881403 https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-vows-ill-be-back-as-ex-prime-minister-formally-resigns-as-mp-12901336 https://news.sky.com/story/who-are-the-privileges-committee-mps-who-investigated-whether-boris-johnson-misled-parliament-over-partygate-12901035 https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-accused-of-using-distraction-tactic-on-eve-of-report-into-partygate-12902520 Sky News Live https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoMdktPbSTixAyNGwb-UYkQ Boris Johnson tells Sky News new allegations of lockdown rule breaking are 'total nonsense' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHEX7oRTCSU&t=1s Tories fear Boris Johnson supporters will form rival party as third MP quits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cum407IUSag You can catch Myself & Lee Corne back together again on 5th July Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Rishi Sunak is spending potentially millions of pounds on Government attempts to censor documents demanded by the Covid Inquiry. The Cabinet Office has set up an elaborate process that involves three different legal checks for every “redaction” it proposes, each incurring costs to the taxpayer, i has discovered. The system was buried in the Government’s “statement of facts and grounds” sent to Covid inquiry chair Baroness Hallett in response to her request for all documents covering the pandemic. https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid-inquiry-cabinet-office-legal-bill-censor-documents-millions-2412604 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

A decade of austerity leading up to 2020 meant the health of the nation was already in decline, two experts said. A report from Prof Sir Michael Marmot and Prof Clare Bambra was filed as part of the public hearings exploring the UK's preparedness for a pandemic. Poor regions and ethnic minority groups were disproportionately affected. More attention should have been paid to reduce the added risks Covid brought to such vulnerable groups, their report said. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65929516 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Deposit return scheme Ministers ignored drinks giants by excluding glass from major new recycling project

Supposedly safe, legal asylum routes that Suella Braverman claims are open to refugees are so inadequate that a toddler died after waiting years to be resettled, OpenDemocracy has learnt. The government has sought to justify harsh new laws that would prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK by arguing that it already provides a safe and legal route for refugees referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). But speaking from Turkey, some of those accepted onto the scheme say they feel abandoned after waiting more than a decade for resettlement. “Sometimes I think, if I had taken the smuggling route, I would have gotten treatment for my children,” the boy’s mother, Mina*, told OpenDemocracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/nationality-borders-bill-refugees-iraq-turkey-unhcr-suella-braverman-child-died/ Support OpenDemocracy's work here https://support.opendemocracy.net/project/home?source=website-header-donate-button/ You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

An Australian travel firm previously slammed for its handling of Covid quarantine hotels has been quietly handed a £1.6bn contract covering the UK’s new asylum accommodation ships, The Independent can reveal. Corporate Travel Management (CTM) was put in charge of the lucrative two-year arrangement in February, weeks before the government revealed it would use a barge as its first offshore accommodation for asylum seekers. The contract was awarded directly to CTM without competition, and a lawyer with knowledge of the system said the government had pushed a wider deal originally drawn up for official travel “beyond what it was intended to be used for”. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/barge-australia-asylum-contract-travel-b2354578.html Does Braverman Know The HUGE Epic Cost Her Migration Bill Is? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEwz5ZsHIj4 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Tory chair of the Treasury select committee chair Harriet Baldwin told i banks must “do more” for savers, as experts including consumer champion Martin Lewis called for action. I analysis compared the publicly declared ‘net interest income’ from the annual accounts published by seven of the major UK high street banks. Net interest income is the profit made by banks from charging higher borrowing costs on mortgages and loans, compared to what they pay out in interest on savings accounts. Annual reports show they collectively raked in £4.8bn in additional earnings during 2022 due to interest rate rises – an increase from £28bn in 2021 to £32.8bn in 2022. https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/great-british-interest-rate-banks-mortgages-savings-2417875?ico=editors_picks You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Keir Starmer has moved to calm a growing rift with the GMB union over Labour’s energy policy, even as its leader renewed his attack on the party’s plan to prohibit new North Sea oil and gas developments. The Labour leader has pledged to enact the ban if his party wins power, proposing to invest instead in renewable sources, such as wind farms, and in nuclear power. The policy has angered some unions concerned over job security for oil and gas workers, with the GMB’s general secretary, Gary Smith, accusing the party on Sunday of “being naive” and risking a possible “cliff-edge with oil and gas extraction”. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/05/keir-starmer-gmb-union-energy-policy-north-sea-oil-gas You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Labour has ruled out offering universal free childcare for children over nine months old but is considering a means-tested offer, sources have told the Guardian, as the party strives to prove its fiscal credibility. Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, told the Sunday Times earlier this year that Labour would guarantee childcare from the end of parental leave until the end of primary school, saying her reforms would resemble the “birth of the NHS”. But shadow ministers are exploring options that backbenchers warn will fall short of that ambition. Instead of offering free or very cheap childcare to every family with a child over nine months old, Labour is looking at giving more support for poorer families, while tapering it off for those on higher incomes. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/13/labour-rules-out-universal-childcare-for-young-children-in-fiscal-credibility-drive You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Health ministers are to recruit a new volunteer army for social care to ferry medical equipment and drugs to people’s homes in a bid to free up congested hospital wards. Volunteers will also be sent to, though not into, people’s homes to tackle loneliness and carry out shopping and other errands. Under the plan, members of the public will be able to sign up on the GoodSam app for roles such as “check in and chat”, which involves support over the phone for people struggling with loneliness. There will also be the chance to “pick up and deliver”, helping to transport medicines or small items of medical equipment to people’s homes from NHS sites so they can be discharged from hospital, and “community response” roles will involve collecting and delivering shopping and prescriptions. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/06/ministers-seek-volunteer-social-care-army-to-speed-up-hospital-discharges Good Sam App https://www.goodsamapp.org/ You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

The UK’s largest teaching union has announced two further teacher strikes for the summer term, claiming its demands for a substantive pay rise have “fallen on stony ground”. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) in England will walk out on Wednesday 5 July and Friday 7 July, marking the seventh and eighth days of industrial action by teachers this year. The walkouts will not affect formal exams, with all GCSE, AS level and A levels set to wrap up by 27 June at the latest. Most schools will break up for summer several weeks later. https://inews.co.uk/news/education/neu-announces-two-further-teacher-strikes-july-government-pay-dispute-2419855 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

The NHS will be “looking into the abyss” if hospital consultants follow the example of junior doctors and go on strike over pay, the leader of England’s hospital bosses has said. Hospitals will be left unable to function normally if consultants – the most senior doctors on wards – stage walkouts in pursuit of their pay claim, Sir Julian Hartley said. “If consultants withdraw their labour, as junior doctors are doing again this week, that would be unthinkable without considerable derogations,” said the chief executive of NHS Providers. “It would be incredibly difficult to run a hospital and other critical services.” https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/16/nhs-providers-boss-health-service-abyss-if-consultants-strike You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

The controversial reform has caused an intense and protracted dispute between the Polish government and the European Commission. Poland's judicial reform infringes upon European law because it undermines the right to have access to an independent and impartial judiciary, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said in a highly-anticipated ruling. "The value of the rule of law is an integral part of the very identity of the European Union as a common legal order and is given concrete expression in principles containing legally binding obligations for the member states," the judges said on Monday afternoon. "The measures thus adopted by the Polish legislature are incompatible with the guarantees of access to an independent and impartial tribunal, previously established by law." https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/06/05/polands-legal-overhaul-violates-the-right-to-have-an-independent-and-impartial-judiciary-e You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

“Democracy fails when your press fails to scrutinise and hold the government accountable, and instead choose to get into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo… The country and the British public deserve to know… We will be better off for it.” Today, the Duke of Sussex was the first senior member of the Royal Family in more than 130 years to give evidence to a civil court. He also became one of the British establishment’s very own – a prince of the realm, no less – to expose what he alleges was illegal information gathering by one of this country’s major tabloid newspaper groups. Will he receive the praise he deserves for speaking the unspeakable? Unlikely. With all his privilege and wealth, Prince Harry is painted as playing the ultimate victim by the press he hopes to hold accountable. In turn, these tabloids can then claim the victimhood they often hide behind when challenged. Who is a prince to tell the free press anything? https://bylinetimes.com/2023/06/06/prince-harry-takes-a-stand-for-us-all-if-theyre-supposedly-policing-society-who-on-earth-is-policing-them/ https://www.youtube.com/@BylineTV https://byline.tv/join/ You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Not a single witness offered up by the UK’s largest group for families bereaved by Covid has been called to speak at the official inquiry, OpenDemocracy can reveal. Those representing the voices of the bereaved say they are being “marginalised by the process” just days before the inquiry is set to begin. It follows a scandal sparked by OpenDemocracy’s revelation that Tory-linked PR firms had been hired to manage the voices of the bereaved. The Covid-19 inquiry, which will hear its first evidence next week, has selected experts, politicians and individuals affected by the pandemic to give evidence where the country’s preparedness for a pandemic will be interrogated. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/covid-19-bereaved-families-witnesses-cut-out-inquiry/ Support their work here https://support.opendemocracy.net/node/67 You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

The UK government knew as early as September 2020 that its desire to free up hospital beds in the early stages of the pandemic had been “to the detriment” of care homes, OpenDemocracy can reveal. It is one of a number of explosive admissions in a highly secret Covid “lessons learned” review document that was released tonight following a two-year transparency battle between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and OpenDemocracy. Ministers have publicly maintained they “threw a protective ring” around adult social care and “specifically sought to safeguard care homes” even after losing a high-profile court case last year over their failures. But behind closed doors, the department admitted the “operational response centre” (ORC) at the heart of the government’s Covid response had prioritised hospital capacity and failed to fully understand social care. “The unprecedented speed with which this new virus emerged inevitably focused attention primarily on how the NHS would be able to cope,” reads the draft document, which is marked “OFFICIAL SENSITIVE”. “This prioritisation of the protection of hospital capacity, without adequate acknowledgement of key interdependencies, was to the detriment of ASC [adult social care].” https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/secretive-covid-lessons-learned-review-transparency-fight/ ‘Spy tech’ firm Palantir made £22m profit after NHS data deal https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/spy-tech-firm-palantir-made-22m-profit-after-nhs-data-deal/ We’ve won our lawsuit over Matt Hancock’s £23m NHS data deal with Palantir https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/weve-won-our-lawsuit-over-matt-hancocks-23m-nhs-data-deal-with-palantir/ No.10 Admits Whitehall Has Conducted Secret 'Lessons Learned' Review On Covid https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/lessons-learned-secret-review-covid-no10-admits_uk_609bcf73e4b069dc48f5344c You can catch Myself & Lee Corne back together on 5th July Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Sue Gray “breached Whitehall impartiality rules” when she had talks with Labour about becoming Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff while she was still working as a civil servant, an investigation has found. An official Cabinet Office inquiry found she could have been “suspended or sacked had she not quit”, The Telegraph reports. As second permanent secretary in the Cabinet Office, Ms Gray compiled the report into the Partygate scandal which contributed to the downfall of Boris Johnson as prime minister. The after effects of the illicit gatherings by Tory members are still being felt with a new video on Saturday showing a party organised by Shaun Bailey’s mayor of London campaign team at the heart of lockdown restrictions in December 2020 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sue-gray-labour-job-starmer-impartiality-b2359605.html Sue Gray did not inform ministers of contact with Labour despite civil service rules https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/03/05/sue-gray-may-have-broken-civil-service-rules-failed-declare/ You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

Many UK businesses which import food products from the European Union will have to pay a special “Brexit tax” that will further drive up prices, particularly in smaller shops such as delicatessens, under proposals set out by the government last week. The planned charge of £43 per consignment, outlined in a consultation document issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was described on Saturday by a leading industry figure as “the sting in the tail of a post-Brexit food inspection regime” that was already fuelling inflation. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/17/uk-delis-could-be-forced-to-put-up-prices-after-new-brexit-tax You can catch Myself & Lee Corne every Wednesday 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow

The government is prepared to block the pay rises that public sector review bodies recommend, a senior minister has confirmed, as unions threaten to strike over the issue. The chief secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, said on Sunday that ministers might overrule the review bodies. The Times reported on Saturday that ministers were likely to block some of the recommendations, under which teachers, police officers, prison officers and junior doctors would receive pay rises of 6% or more. That report sparked outrage among trade unions, which said such a move would have “profound consequences for future industrial relations”. Glen told Sky News on Sunday: “What happens is we have the reports of the pay review bodies, most of those have come in, and then we look at those and make an assessment. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/25/uk-government-willing-to-ignore-public-sector-pay-review-bodies-minister-says You can catch Myself & Lee Corne Return Wednesday 5th July 9PM UK Time on The Snowflake Show https://www.youtube.com/@TheSnowflakeShow