Devon man drowns in strong currents while on holiday
The yacht's captain and the Dutch company that organised the holiday said that the swimming and snorkelling trips were free activities, but the risks and responsibilities lay with the guests themselves.Mrs Weekes told the coroner she believes the sailing company should improve their safety procedures.
Mrs Weekes said her husband - a former editor of the Tavistock Times Gazette - was an "adequate swimmer" and had swum from the yacht on previous days.She said Mr Weekes chose not to use flippers on the day in question, as they were difficult to walk with on the beach.They entered the sea together, but she left the water when her mask misted up, before realising her husband was missing.She appealed to other tourists for help, before one of the yacht's dinghies returned after 20 minutes, when a "frantic" Mrs Weekes told the crewman her husband was missing.The crew searched for Mr Weekes, finding him clinging to ropes at the edge of the snorkelling zone.They took Mr Weekes back to the yacht, where he was given CPR, but could not be saved.A post mortem concluded he died from drowning and he also had atrial fibrillation and Parkinson's Disease.The senior Devon coroner, Philip Spinney, recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
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The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Jamaicans with Scottish enslaver names; a society still in trauma. Edinburgh University has much to answer for
The most famous enslaver in Jamaica, the island that was one of the most profitable of Britain's Caribbean colonies, is a ghost. One of the tellings of the legend has it that young Annie Palmer, the 'White Witch of Rose Hall', was a sadistic 19th-century killer and torturer who terrorised enslaved people, murdering the grand-niece of her African lover, Takoo, with a curse, before he killed her. Annie's spirit now apparently haunts a golf course in Montego Bay. Even as a kid, touring the beautiful island with Jamaican loved ones on holidays, I noticed the British men who had controlled the island's sugar plantations were largely forgotten. It was the heroes of the 18th- and 19th-century resistance against slavery's violence who were everywhere, such as the guerrilla commander Queen Nanny of the Maroons, who was said to have been able to catch bullets. Or Sam Sharpe, a pioneer of liberation theology whose uprising led to abolition, or the political activist Paul Bogle. Their faces were on the banknotes we used to buy pineapple soda. This is one way descendants process the legacies of enslavement: through the memory of ancestors who resisted their oppressors, the worst of whose crimes were so obscene that they became spectral, like Annie Palmer, or the pirates of Port Royal, swallowed by an earthquake. But the legacy of slavery in Jamaica, and across the Americas, is pervasive in persistent inequality, in generational trauma, and in the elite schools and words plantation owners left behind. Some of those words are Scottish. Scottish surnames, such as Campbell and Gordon, and placenames, including Aberdeen and Dundee, are everywhere in Jamaica. But until fairly recently, in the UK, there was relatively little interrogation of this deep Scottish imprint. Edinburgh University's report into its history, reported in the Guardian this week, is the latest research into this legacy. It illuminates the forgotten mechanics of Scotland's colonial project, exposing the institution's racial ideologies as algorithms of exploitation, from the 18th century onwards. The 2015 book Recovering Scotland's Slavery Past, edited by Prof Tom Devine, detailed how, at the height of transatlantic slavery, 'a fifth of the ship captains and two-fifths of the surgeons' on ships sailing out of Liverpool, which dominated the trade, were Scots. 'Scots owned and managed enslaved people – from Maryland to Trinidad, from St Croix to St Kitts,' comprising, in the late 18th century, a third of Jamaica's white population. The new report complements these histories, revealing that Edinburgh University was a 'haven' for white supremacist thought between 1750 and 1850. It found the institution had an 'outsized role in developing racial pseudo-sciences' that 'habitually positioned Black people at the bottom and white people at the top' – even hoarding Black people's skulls. The report charges moral philosophers of the Enlightenment such as Adam Ferguson, David Hume and Dugald Stewart – men long appreciated as intellectual giants – with leaving a 'damaging' legacy of ideas used to justify enslavement and colonialism, which in turn fuelled Edinburgh University's growth. In an era of 'anti-woke' backlash, this research is bound to invite accusations that the university is putting dead heroes of their time on trial, excavating their bones to shore up a present-day reputation. But the research undoubtedly matters. Building on Eric Williams's seminal 1944 work Capitalism and Slavery, it fights the false, seductive notion that enslavement, critical to sectors from commodities to finance and philanthropy, was a discrete chapter, separate from the wider story of British national development. It throws down the gauntlet to other institutions reluctant to examine their past. But, most importantly, research of this kind, though unsettling, matters to descendants of the millions of enslaved Africans trafficked to the Americas, as the Caribbean's determined genealogists seek answers. 'New World' slavery societies offered lots of opportunities to Scottish settlers, 'sojourners' and landowners. Devine's book describes Scotland, for centuries, as a country in which 'emigration was the norm'. Slaving voyages from Scottish ports were only a fraction of the British total, but 'nomadic' Scots went to the West Indies as professionals and adventurers seeking social mobility, as well as indentured workers, pirates, and transplanted Jacobite prisoners, in smaller numbers, leading to a 'greater per capita Scottish stake' in slavery than any other UK nation. Scotland's claimants accounted for 15% of compensation payouts after abolition, with Glasgow's enslavers representing 'one of the largest regional groups of claimants'. The Caribbean provided markets for Scottish textiles and herring, supplying Scotland in turn with coffee, cotton, rum, sugar and tobacco. Against this backdrop, Edinburgh's thinkers sustained a racial 'ideology that helped to exploit, kill and dominate', says Prof Tommy J Curry, who co-chaired Edinburgh University's report, adding that 'Scotland has a moral debt to pay'. The Enlightenment had a shadow. In the same climate in which the values that underpin liberal democracy developed, so did 'some of the most damaging ideas in human history', says the university. For Peter Mathieson, the university's principal, these revelations align with the Enlightenment's 'enormously important' spirit of inquiry, opposing the comfort of 'selective memory'. The reasons why Edinburgh University assumed this 'outsized' role lie in the modern, unified, secular structure it had by the 18th century, attracting some of Europe's most curious minds. The city was in the vanguard of medicine, which meant it produced doctors for slavers' ships and plantations in countries such as Jamaica, which took these theories of race with them, before funnelling back profits from the plantation economy. The 'great irony' of this, says the university's Ian Stewart, was that while their racial ideas were adopted by the enslavers of the American south, Scottish Enlightenment figures such as Ferguson and Dugald Stewart were 'lifelong, vocal abolitionists'. 'They understood the law of unintended consequences better than anyone,' Ian Stewart says. 'They wouldn't be phased one bit by the fact these ideas took on an awful life of their own.' Edinburgh University didn't invent racism. What it did was provide a thinktank, codifying ideologies – in the yellowing handwritten books examined for the first time in years for the new research – that aligned with the basest interests of capital. But from the Windrush scandal to racial inequalities on maternity wards, to the UK government's refusal to formally apologise and pay reparations for slavery, and on to the far right's 'Dark Enlightenment', the ghosts of Edinburgh's theories still haunt. Chris Osuh is a community affairs correspondent for the Guardian
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Funfair owner insists ride was tested just hours before teen suffered life-changing injuries after ‘getting hair caught'
A FUNFAIR owner has insisted his ride was tested just hours before a teen was left with potentially life-changing injuries in a "freak accident." The horror at Netley Marsh Steam and Craft Show near Southampton, saw the teen's hair caught in a ride. Charles Cole, owner of the funfair, has now spoken out to say he sympathises with the 18-year-old. He called the horror a "freak accident" and went on to insist his ride is 20 years old but it "had been tested that day." The incident on Saturday prompted a large emergency response with the Health and Safety Executive becoming involved. An 18-year-old girl was left with serious head injuries when her hair was caught in a ride at the funfair, she was raced to hospital and treated by medics. The girl was taken away on a stretcher and fire crews reportedly had to cut away a section of the ride. Mr Cole said that the walk-on ride had been subject to daily checks. Speaking to the Daily Echo he added: "Approximately 50 people had been on the ride before the 18-year-old, and there were no issues. 'The ride is 20 years old but it had been tested that day. This was a freak accident. 'Somehow, the girl's hair got caught and she could not grab on to the handrails. "Nobody wants to hurt anyone, and we are a family business. Last night was very upsetting, especially for the man who owns the ride. 'Safety is our priority, and we sympathise with the girl and her parents. 'It is under investigation and the ride is closed.' The ride has now been closed for the duration of the event as the Health and Safety Executive probe the "freak accident." A full inspection of the site was carried out on Monday. A Hampshire Police spokesperson said: "We were called at 10.53pm on July 26 with reports that an 18-year-old woman had sustained potentially life-changing injuries to her head while on a ride at Netley Marsh Steam and Craft Show. "She was taken to hospital for treatment. " Police attended and have liaised with the Health and Safety Executive." Meanwhile, the fair announced today: "Good morning from day three of the show." 1
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Police use spit hoods on suspects once an hour
Police officers are using spit hoods to defend themselves in potentially violent situations once every hour, new figures have shown. The mesh fabric hoods are placed over a suspect's head to prevent them from spitting or biting when arrested or in custody. Figures show that they were used 26,4000 times over three years and that their use is increasing each year. Official data showing the use of spit hoods between 2021 and 2024 has been released by the Home Office, following a House of Lords written question by Lord Palter of Spalding. In 2021-22, they were used by police 8,281 times, in 2022/23 it was 8,275 and in 2023-24, it was 9,844. On average, that is 8,800 each year, which breaks down to 24 times a day. The Metropolitan Police had the highest number with 4,503 over the three years, Greater Manchester Police with 1,951 and West Midlands Police using 1,875. Critics of the tactic have voiced concerns that spit hoods can be dangerous, potentially leading to suffocation or distress, and that they can mirror a waterboarding effect. Two serving Metropolitan Police officers and a former officer are facing a gross misconduct hearing after a 90-year-old black woman with dementia was 'red-dotted' with a Taser, handcuffed and put in a spit hood. The woman was targeted with the Taser when she refused to drop kitchen utensils she had been holding after officers were called to an address in Peckham, south London, in May this year over reports of a disturbance. Officers approached the woman who spat in the direction of some officers. She was physically detained and placed in handcuffs and then a spit hood was applied, but she was not arrested. Ambulance staff attended and the woman was taken to hospital still in the handcuffs and spit hood. These were later removed at the hospital. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is now investigating the police officers' actions. Steve Noonan, the IOPC director, said: 'We are concerned by some of the actions and decision-making of police officers involved in the detention of this elderly and vulnerable lady, and we recognise this incident has also caused community concern. 'It's important that an independent investigation takes place to establish the full circumstances.' But officers have defended their use of spit hoods. Peter Bleksley, a retired Metropolitan Police detective, said: 'This is the shocking reality of policing in 2025. If there's a risk of an officer being spat on, I'd say put the hood on. ' Violence against police is out of control. It needs a proper crackdown. The use of these hoods is a clear sign it is not acceptable in any form.' 'Put yourselves in the shoes of the officers' He added: 'It's a horrific thing to have to go through. Anyone who does not believe me, I'd say put yourselves in the shoes of the officers it is happening to. 'They are there for a reason. Anyone making the human rights argument, what's humane about being spat on? It's a disgraceful act.' One officer from Kent, who did not want to be named, said: 'It's becoming an increasing problem. There is more reporting of it now. 'No police officer wants to have to use them. But if we're being spat on, we have to. It's also about controlling what could be an unfolding violent situation and not making it worse.'
