RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: First they came for the soldiers, now it's the coppers... Orgreave is another excuse to dance on Mrs Thatcher's grave
Shamefully, members of the special forces and other troops posted to Northern Ireland during the Troubles are still being hounded through the courts while terrorists issued with 'letters of comfort' by the British government and freed from jail early enjoy a care-free retirement.
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Telegraph
22 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Alan Turing Institute scraps diversity drive under pressure from ministers
Britain's leading artificial intelligence (AI) institute has scrapped a key diversity scheme after coming under pressure from ministers. The initiative from The Alan Turing Institute, which last year was handed £100m in taxpayer funding, had aimed to get more women into science and promote 'equity in the data science and AI fields'. However, the programme has now been axed following a review by the organisation's board amid calls for it to focus increasingly on defence. The decision means the institute will no longer have a mandate to investigate 'diversity and inclusion in online and physical workplace cultures', while it will also end inquiries into how 'social bias' risks being built into machine learning systems. It comes just days after Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, urged the institute to 'reform'. In a letter to Doug Gurr, the former Amazon executive who is now chairman of the organisation's board of trustees, Mr Kyle said it must 'evolve and adapt' to 'prioritise its defence, national security and sovereign capabilities'. Drift from core mission Originally launched by David Cameron in 2015, the institute has come under growing scrutiny after it was awarded the £100m government funding. This week, a report from British Progress argued the organisation had 'lost its way' and needed 'major reform'. The think tank said the institute had a 'fragmented and thinly spread research portfolio' and that it had been 'susceptible to mission creep'. The report added: 'The most significant example of this has been its drift away from its core technical mission toward work rooted in social and political critique.' British Progress warned that, if it failed to reform, there would be grounds to 'decommission the institute entirely'. While the institute has made moves towards reforming its research, its staff have also criticised its allegedly chaotic management and a lack of diversity in senior roles. Last year, more than 180 staff signed a letter questioning its decision to hire four top male academics, as they criticised a 'trend of limited diversity within the institute's senior scientific leadership'. In December, The Telegraph reported that external consultants had raised concerns from staff about 'tokenism' and 'nepotism' at the institute, warning of 'pervasive issues of low morale'. That month, staff also sent a no-confidence letter to its leadership team and board, warning it had been left 'rudderless'. The scrapping of the gender representation scheme comes amid a wider retreat across the technology sector, with many businesses rowing back on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies after Donald Trump's return to the White House. The institute was named after the Second World War computer scientist Alan Turing, who was persecuted for his homosexuality. The mathematician, who died in 1954, led Britain's codebreakers at Bletchley Park and helped to design a machine to crack Nazi Germany's Enigma messages. Yet in recent years, the institute has been dogged by concerns that it missed out on the emergence of a new wave of technology. In 2023, a report from the Tony Blair Institute argued it had 'not kept the UK at the cutting edge of international AI developments '. A spokesman for the institute said it was in the process of reviewing 100 projects, two of which had been axed. They added: 'We're shaping a new phase for the institute focused on delivering real-world impact against society's biggest challenges and will respond to the national need to double down on our work in defence, national security and sovereign capabilities.'
BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Africa to be hit hard as foreign aid cuts revealed
The government has revealed details of its plans to cut foreign aid, with support for children's education and women's health in Africa facing the biggest government said in February it would slash foreign aid spending by 40% - from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% - to increase defence spending to 2.5% after pressure from the US. A Foreign Office report and impact assessment show the biggest cuts this year will come in Africa, with less spent on women's health and water sanitation with increased risks, it says, of disease and death. Bond, a UK network of aid organisations, said women and children in the most marginalised communities would pay the highest price. As well as less support for Africa, including big cuts in children's education, funding for the Occupied Palestinian Territories will fall by 21% despite promises to the the government said spending on multilateral aid bodies - money given to international organisations like the World Bank - would be protected, including the Gavi vaccine alliance, and it said the UK would also continue to play a key humanitarian role in hotspots such as Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. Baroness Chapman, minister for development, said: "Every pound must work harder for UK taxpayers and the people we help around the world and these figures show how we are starting to do just that through having a clear focus and priorities."The government said the cuts follow "a line-by-line strategic review of aid" by the minister, which focused on "prioritisation, efficiency, protecting planned humanitarian support and live contracts while ensuring responsible exit from programming where necessary".The Foreign Office said bilateral support - aid going directly to the recipient country - for some countries would decrease and multilateral organisations deemed to be underperforming would face future funding cuts. It has not yet announced which countries will be said it was clear the government was "deprioritising" funding "for education, gender and countries experiencing humanitarian crises such as South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia, and surprisingly the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Sudan, which the government said would be protected"."It is concerning that bilateral funding for Africa, gender, education and health programmes will drop," Bond policy director Gideon Rabinowitz said."The world's most marginalised communities, particularly those experiencing conflict and women and girls, will pay the highest price for these political choices."At a time when the US has gutted all gender programming, the UK should be stepping up, not stepping back."Foreign aid has come under intense scrutiny in recent years, with the one cabinet minister admitting the public no longer supports spending on it. One organisation that escaped the cuts was the World Bank. The Foreign Office confirmed that the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the world's lowest income countries, would receive £1.98bn in funding from the UK over the next three years, helping the organisation benefit 1.9 billion Labour governments under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown committed to increasing the overseas aid budget to 0.7% of national target was reached in 2013 under David Cameron's Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, before being enshrined in law in aid spending was cut to 0.5% of national income in 2021 under the Conservatives, blaming the economic pressures of Covid.
The Sun
22 minutes ago
- The Sun
Man, 27, arrested after ‘asking children to engage in sexual activity in park'
A 27-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested after he allegedly touched himself while asking children to engage in sexual activity in a park. Cops rushed to the scene at the park near Wingate Road, Grimsby, on Monday at around 4.20pm after multiple reports were made. The force said officers were immediately deployed and spotted a man matching the description. A 27-year-old man was then arrested on suspicion of causing children to engage in sexual activity. He remains in police custody at this time. A Humberside Police spokesperson said: "Officers were called at around 4.20pm to reports that a man allegedly indecently touched himself and was asking children to engage in sexual activity at a park near Wingate Road in Grimsby. "If anyone witnessed the incident or has any further information that may assist officers with ongoing enquiries, please contact us via our non-emergency number 101 quoting crime reference 25*101397." You can also give information anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. 1
