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Maritime tensions are escalating in the Middle East following the deadly attack on a tanker connected to an Israeli billionaire in the Arabian Sea. Two crewmembers, a Briton and a Romanian, died on Thursday when the Mercer Street tanker was attacked by an armed drone believed to be operated by Iran off the coast of Oman. The US, Israel and the UK are blaming Iran for the attack, which Tehran denies. Speaking Sunday at a cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Iran was denying the attack "in a very cowardly manner" and that Israel has intelligence evidence that it was behind the incident.

Labour has accused the Conservatives of enabling extremists to sue universities and students’ unions with upcoming laws the Government says are designed to protect freedom of speech. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill returns to the Commons on Monday, and Labour is urging Conservative MPs to vote with them against the legislation.

There wasn’t just one lockdown – we all had our own experience. Some people were forced into months of unbroken solitude, others trapped for weeks on end with an estranged spouse. Some saw it as a positive experience – a welcome opportunity to slow down, go for walks and relax with a loving partner, or enjoy quality time with the children. Whichever way the lockdown played out, there has been one near universal aspect to the past months – it abruptly disrupted our daily routines and living arrangements in ways that would not normally occur. We need to all start getting out there and getting back to normal.

The whole healthcare system is facing an “existential crisis” in staffing as doctors and nurses are burnt out and leaving the profession in growing numbers, healthcare providers have warned. They emphasised the NHS and private sector would need to “throw the kitchen sink” at the problem as having enough workers was now a bigger problem than dealing with the Covid pandemic.

US troops and their Nato and regional allies forced the Taliban from power in November 2001. The group had been harbouring Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda figures linked to the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US. But despite a continued international presence in the region, billions of dollars of support and training for the Afghan government forces, the Taliban regrouped and gradually regained strength in more remote areas. Their main areas of influence were around their traditional strongholds in the south and south-west - northern Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Zabul provinces. But also, in the hills of southern Faryab in the north-west and the mountains of Badakhshan in the north east.

You know you're in trouble when the Liberal Democrats are your only hope. They are demanding that Parliament comes back to debate the effective rolling out of Covid vaccine passports by stealth. This after the government admitted this week that the threat of Covid passports for entry into nightclubs and other venues is there to encourage young people to have the jab. For encourage, read blackmail. The NHS app has now been upgraded to allow it to be used as a Covid vaccine passport in England. A new section has appeared on the app for ‘domestic’ use and states: “You may need to show your NHS Covid Pass at places that have chosen to use the service”.

Social media companies are facing new criticism for failing to deal with racist abuse directed at black footballers. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all received racist abuse on social media following England's loss to Italy in the final of Euro 2020. The Football Association said social media companies "need to step up and take accountability", including taking action to "ban abusers from their platforms". It is not the first time black players have been targeted with racial insults on social media following a football match.

With the announcement in November 2020 that new petrol and diesel cars and vans will no longer be sold in the UK after 2030, with hybrid sales banned from 2035, there is now more momentum than ever around getting drivers into cleaner vehicles. So at the start of 2021, what progress is the country making, in terms of drivers choosing electrified cars over those powered by petrol and diesel engines, and when it comes to places to charge electric cars? And what do drivers say is holding them back from opting for an electric car next time they change their vehicle?

Two German women went to court after they were suspended from their place of work for wearing the hijab. Their employer believed that it had the right to stop its staff from wearing religious clothing. Last week, the ECJ agreed with the bosses and ruled against the two women. It affirmed the right of employers to ban the hijab at work, stating that banning ‘any visible form of expression of political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace may be justified by the employer’s need to present a neutral image’.

Boris Johnson has vowed Brits WILL be freed from crippling Pingdemic self-isolation rules on August 16 and predicted the UK will roar back from Covid. The PM said the switch from mandatory quarantine to testing for those who have been double-jabbed is "nailed on" and won't be delayed.

A total of 61,851 racially and religiously aggravated offences were recorded last year - up 7% on the 57,825 in 2019. That is more than double the 28,479 recorded in 2013 - the first year specific data was made available. Some forces saw much bigger rises, with Leicestershire Police's offences going up the most - by 82% to 1,297, followed by Dyfed Powys police in Wales, which had an increase of 49%.

The UK Supreme Court this week heard that people should be able to declare their gender as ‘X’ on their UK passports and that current practice in the UK, whereby individuals can only declare as male or female, is discriminatory and should be changed by the Home Office. The case was brought by Christie Elan-Cane, a non-gendered individual who identifies as per / per / perself and who called for the UK to follow the example of over a dozen countries who already offer the ‘X’ option on passports - namely Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, India, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nepal, Pakistan and Uruguay. The World has gone Mad!!

Former Executive Editor of the Sun newspaper Dan Wootton interviews George on the Batley and Spen by-election. I was underwhelmed by the suboptimal presenter/interviewer. Andrew Neil he was not! His 3+ minute introductory monologue was too long and scripted to make Galloway appear like some kind of pantomime villain. The most important sentence contained therein was the fact that George Galloway stood up against the Iraq war. This was mentioned as though it had no real significance and the compere's focus was on "negative campaigning" and other tall stories. By contrast GG was articulate, natural and spoke the truth. I do hope the legal action succeeds and that GG is found to be on the right side of history, again!

Back in 2013, campus activists started demanding the policing of speech. They pushed to ban “microaggressions” (words or phrases that may offend certain minorities often unintentionally) and demanded “trigger warnings” before professors assigned certain controversial reading materials. Recently, the Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center (PARC) at Brandeis University released a new list of verboten words and phrases — and “trigger warning” itself has been cancelled, along with words like “victim,” “addict,” “survivor,” “tribe,” “picnic,” and even the phrase “people of colour.” What the hell is going on? And where is this crap leading us?

Former President Donald Trump laid into General Mark Milley Friday over viral comments he made in support of critical race theory on Capitol Hill, continuing his attacks on the loosely defined academic framework that’s become a subject of derision on the right.

Proposed new laws will be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday under the Nationality and Borders Bill as part of the Home Office’s anticipated “new plan for immigration". Earlier this year, Home Secretary Priti Patel vowed to tackle “illegal migration head-on” as she announced the “most significant overhaul of our asylum system in decades”. The government insists the plan will be “fair but firm” and will put those with a genuine need for refuge at the heart of proposals, as well as pledging to tackle people smugglers and remove people from the UK who have “no right” to be there.

An agreement was made between police, prosecutors, the National Crime Agency, Border Force and the Home Office over cases of "illegal entry", also covering those arriving by lorry. The guidance - published on Thursday - sets out the circumstances in which attempting to cross the English Channel is considered criminal. Criminal charges may be considered for people bringing migrants into the country while posing a risk to their lives.

In light of the damage caused to the public finances by the coronavirus crisis, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced today that foreign aid spending will be reduced to 0.5% of GDP – a reduction of £5bn. Such a move is controversial in political circles. David Cameron and fellow former Prime Minister Tony Blair have both described the move as a “strategic mistake”, while former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell has said the cuts will cause "100,000 preventable deaths, mainly among children". One group among whom the cut is not controversial, however, is the British public. New YouGov research conducted in the run-up to the announcement shows that two thirds (66%) say that reducing the amount spent on overseas aid is the right decision. Only 18% think it is the wrong call. The People of the UK use Common-Sense once again.

Ending lockdown now is "potentially devastating" as Covid "advances ferociously", a WHO expert has warned. David Nabarro, the World Health Organisation's special envoy on Covid, said "the virus is troubling and dangerous". These Globalists want to keep us locked up! I followed the Restrictions during the Pandemic, had to, it was my job. But Enough is Enough!

Matt Hancock has resigned as health secretary after admitting breaking coronavirus rules, Downing Street says. In his letter of resignation, Mr Hancock said: "The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis. "I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need (to) be with my children at this time."

Hundreds of women forced into giving up their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s have called on the prime minister to issue a government apology. Up to 250,000 women in Britain were coerced into handing over their babies because they were unmarried. Many of the women never had more children and say the loss caused them to lead a lifetime of grief. They want the UK to follow Australia, which in 2013 was the first country to apologise for forced adoptions.

“White privilege” is a term often invoked as a causal explanation for the success of whites relative to other groups. But the problem with white privilege isn’t its assumptions about racial discrimination, but its causal disposition. White privilege suffers from a bad case of mono-causality, or “one-thingism” as Jonah Goldberg puts it.

Neil Oliver - “We’re in failed state territory. I hang my head in disbelief and sadness at what Scotland has become – the state of the economy, the state of the health service, of education, the fiasco of the ferries, the drugs deaths. It’s a shambles and shameful and I look on at the country of my birth with nothing but sadness at how far we’ve fallen.” He argues that if there’s to be another Referendum on Independence, the Scots living in the rest of the UK need to have a voice.

Britain and Australia have agreed a trade deal - the first negotiated from scratch post-Brexit. The UK-Australia free trade deal, which has been agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his counterpart, Scott Morrison, means British products such as cars, Scotch whisky, biscuits and ceramics will be cheaper to sell to Australia.

Mobile phones should be banned from schools because lockdown has affected children’s “discipline and order,” the education secretary has warned. Gavin Williamson told The Telegraph phones should not be “used or seen during the school day”, though he said schools should make their own policies.