Home
Six people were arrested during a protest by 1,000 outside the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex, which houses asylum seekers; an asylum seeker had earlier been charged with sexual assaults in the town. The Conservative leader of the council said: ‘It’s a powder keg now.’ The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 21 July was 1,030. The Lionesses, the England women’s football team, decided not to take the knee before winning their semi-final Euro game, after a player, Jess Carter, had been inundated with racist abuse on social media during the tournament. The Chief Constable of Northumbria Police ordered the removal of Pride rainbows and transgender livery from police cars after a judge ruled it was unlawful for her force to have taken part in uniform in a Pride march last year.
At the next general election, 16-year-olds will be able to vote, the government said. Diane Abbott had the Labour whip removed again, pending an investigation into an interview she gave to James Naughtie, in which she said: ‘It’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.’ Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, earlier suspended the Labour whip from four MPs – Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff – who were accused by government sources of ‘persistent knobheadery’ and were among 47 who voted against the welfare bill. Sir James Cleverly became shadow housing secretary in a reshuffle. Hospital consultants were told by the British Medical Association to charge £6,000 for being on call this weekend when resident (junior) doctors are on strike.
The government announced it would abolish Ofwat in response to a 464-page report by the Independent Water Commission headed by Sir Jon Cunliffe, who said that water bills would rise by 30 per cent over five years. Government borrowing jumped to £20.7 billion last month, £6.6 billion higher than in June last year. British manufacturers’ sales fell by £14.5 billion last year to £452 billion. Unemployment for the three months to May rose to 4.7 per cent, from 4.6 per cent in the three months to April. Brewdog was to close ten of its 71 bars in the UK. The train operator c2c, which runs services between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness, was nationalised. Britain and Germany agreed to create a direct rail link between London and Berlin under the so-called Treaty of Kensington signed at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Andrew Saint, the former editor of the monumental Survey of London, died aged 78. Ozzy Osbourne, the frontman of Black Sabbath, died aged 76. Sir Roger Norrington, the conductor, died aged 91.
Abroad
Britain signed a statement with 26 other countries saying: ‘The war in Gaza must end now.’ It declared: ‘The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity’, adding: ‘The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas… continue to suffer terribly.’ Israel launched a ground and air assault on Deir al-Balah in Gaza. The UN World Food Programme said a food convoy in northern Gaza ‘encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire’, after crossing the border from Israel. At least 80 died, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health. (Journalists are not allowed into Gaza.) Israel said it ‘deeply regrets’ a strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, Holy Family, which killed three people.
Israel struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus in actions to defend Druze in the south of Syria. Bedouin fighters retreated from Suweida to surrounding villages and Syrian government forces guarded the road into the city, where Druze had been killed by government and Bedouin forces. The number of Druze and Bedouin deaths exceeded 1,100. China began work on the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet.
A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia caused Moscow’s four major airports to be temporarily closed. A Bangladeshi air force training jet crashed into a school in Dhaka, killing 19. In elections, Japan’s ruling coalition lost its majority in the upper house as well as the lower. President Donald Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, for at least $10 billion, over its report that his name was on a lewd birthday note for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 that contained a reference to secrets they shared. Connie Francis, whose hits included ‘Lipstick on Your Collar’, died aged 87. CSH
Comments