Ruffling feathers on the allotment
According to Simon Tisdall, tyrants like Donald Trump always fall (Opinion, 27 April). But there are plenty of dictators – the nastiest being Vladimir Putin – whose continuing reigns suggest Tisdall's confidence is misplaced.Lewis CornerSouth Fremantle, Perth, Australia
Polly Llwynfedwen from Brecon shouldn't have let on about the prices of pints and coffees in her locality (Letters, 25 April). We will all be trying to move there now that the secret is out.Harvey SandersAnnandale, NSW, Australia
Whenever I pick up the phone to call a customer service number (Letters, 23 April), I can already hear the earworm for Cliff Richard's We Don't Talk Anymore establish itself.Paul McNelisSmethwick, West Midlands
Might I suggest 'Take me to your leader' for Andrew Dailey's response to 'How can I digitally help you' (Letters, 23 April)?Colin Prower Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
2 in 5 arrested over last summer's riots had been reported for domestic abuse
Two out of every five people arrested after participating in last summer's riots had been previously reported to the police for domestic abuse, the Guardian can disclose. Police data released under freedom of information (FoI) laws shows that 41% of 899 people arrested for taking part in the violent disorder last July and August had been reported for crimes associated with intimate partner violence. For those arrested by one police force, this figure was as high as 68%. Previous offences include actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, stalking, breach of restraint and non-molestation orders, controlling coercive behaviour and criminal damage. The disclosures come amid a growing debate over the legitimacy of protests outside asylum hotels. Police have issued a dispersal order at Epping, Essex, after a series of demonstrations outside the Bell hotel, which broke out after an Ethiopian asylum seeker who had recently arrived on a small boat was charged with sexual assault against a local girl. Ministers have said protesters are 'upset for legitimate reasons'. Far-right activists have become involved in promoting them online and have been present, in some cases clashing with police. Last summer's riots spread across the country in response to the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on 29 July. Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were murdered by Axel Rudakubana, who has been jailed for a minimum of 52 years. The Guardian's data was obtained through FoI requests sent to 21 police forces covering the 27 towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland where riots took place. The 27 towns were identified as sites of significant disorder in a House of Commons briefing document in September. Between 30 July and 7 August 2024, an estimated 29 anti-immigration demonstrations and riots took place. Many of these were violent, with participants attacking mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers. In Bristol, where there were 60 arrests, more than two-thirds of those arrested had been the subject of a previous domestic abuse report. In Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, Cleveland police reported there had been 107 arrests, 44 of whom had been subject to a prior domestic abuse report. In Rotherham, where rioters set fire to an asylum hotel, 75 people were arrested, 35 of whom had been reported for domestic abuse, South Yorkshire police said. Joshua Lane, a 27-year-old former serviceman who threw missiles at police guarding the hotel, pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He had previously received a suspended sentence for stalking, battery and criminal damage. There were 91 arrests in Sunderland where rioters set fire to cars, a building and attacked a mosque. Of those, 38 were subject to a prior domestic abuse report. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion One of the first arrests by Merseyside police for participation in the Southport riot was made after a suspect in a domestic incident was identified by officers based on footage from the previous day's violent disorder. Merseyside police arrested 160 people after days of disturbances in Liverpool and Southport, but did not provide the Guardian with a number of prior domestic abuse reports because of prohibitive costs. Gareth Metcalfe, 44, described by a judge as 'at the forefront of the disorder' in Southport, had previous convictions including sexual assault and breach of a non-molestation order. In Hull, where 47 of the 151 people arrested had been reported for prior domestic abuse, Ethan Armstrong, 26, who was jailed for violent disorder, had previously been convicted for causing actual bodily harm after repeatedly punching an ex-girlfriend. The Metropolitan police said there were 165 arrests in Whitehall last summer in connection to the riots, 48 of whom had previously been reported for domestic abuse. This information provided by police forces indicates overlaps between public violent disorder and domestic violence and abuse. Outcomes for reports held by police indicate that less than a quarter of individuals had been charged for any of the domestic abuse offences for which they were a suspect. Isabella Lowenthal-Isaacs, the policy manager at Women's Aid, said: 'A year on from the terrible Southport attacks on young girls, and as conversation about far-right protests once again starts to appear in the media, it is tempting to treat these events as isolated. 'However, the reality is that these acts of violence are part of a wider pattern rooted in the same dynamics that drive domestic abuse and violence against women and girls: control, coercion, and misogyny.' The National Police Chiefs' Council indicates that by May, a total of 1,840 arrests had been made in relation to the disorder and there were 1,103 charges related to the violence, most of which were serious public order offences. Most of those charged have come from the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods. Analysis of the Crime Survey for England and Wales data also shows that in the areas where riots took place, there is a higher prevalence of domestic abuse incidents (39 per 1,000 people) compared with the rest of the country (27 per 1,000 people). In Middlesbrough, a protest that began as two minutes' silence for the three lives lost ended in a 1,000-strong riot as homes and cars were damaged, with 'race checkpoints' set up for drivers. A recent report from the home affairs committee into the police response to the rioting called on the police forces to develop greater capacity to monitor and respond to social media. It also recommended the government set out ambitious reforms to meet its commitment to halve violence against women and girls. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The scale of violence and abuse suffered by women and girls in this country is nothing less than a national emergency. 'That's why we have pledged to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and will set out our transformative strategy to achieve that goal in the coming months.'
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
Six great reads: the world's new diplomatic capital, the Londonisation of Manchester and a perfect nightclub
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The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Caribbean leaders hail ICJ climate ruling as ‘historic' win for small island states
Leaders in the Caribbean have hailed the outcome of the international court of justice (ICJ) climate change case as a 'historic legal victory' for small island states everywhere. Several countries in the region had provided evidence to the ICJ case, which ended this week with a landmark advisory opinion that could see states ordered to pay reparations if they fail to tackle fossil fuels and prevent harm to the climate system. Describing the opinion as a 'historic legal victory for small states' that are bearing the worst impacts of climate change, the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), Ralph Gonsalves, told the Guardian it would strengthen the Caribbean's negotiating power. 'What is very interesting is that it says that the obligations laid out in the important [climate change] treaties are not simply procedural,' he said. 'They create substantive legal obligations.' In recent years the Caribbean has been plagued by a string of catastrophic hurricanes. Last year Hurricane Beryl demolished more than 90% of buildings in parts of multi-island SVG and left thousands homeless and without running water, electricity and food. Gonsalves said the advisory opinion – which said a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right – connects climate action treaties such as the Paris agreement to other international laws such as those governing human rights. Echoing Gonsalves' sentiments, the Bahamas' attorney general, Ryan Pinder, praised the ICJ for taking a 'very strong position' that allowed countries to 'speak and argue about the adverse effects of the climate crisis on its people' and potentially provided more legal options to small states. 'It certainly opens up the positions of … states like the Bahamas to go into other areas of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions that are human rights-focused,' he told the Guardian. Referring to the catastrophic Hurricane Dorian in 2019, which killed more than 70 people and caused an estimated US$3.4bn worth of damage, Pinder said: '[This] had a significant impact on the human rights of our people, whether that be displacement … the right to an adequate standard of living … [or] access to food, water and housing. 'All of those are fundamental human rights that the ICJ has now recognised as a significant component of the adverse effects of climate change.' The advisory opinion's focus on reparations, he said, was important for the Bahamas, because it was about the obligation of major polluters to restore a country and its assets if it suffered the effects of a climate change-related disaster. Human rights and climate justice lawyer Nikki Reisch said it was possible to connect devastating climatic events to climate change and to the states responsible and pursue justice. 'The science on attribution and causation is strong and only getting stronger. The court made clear that there is no technical barrier to connecting climate destruction to its causes, to the continued pollution from fossil fuels and destruction of carbon sinks,' she said. 'The science is there, and this decision confirms that the law is too.' Reisch added that countries were responsible for past and present environmental breaches. 'The court really rejected the attempts of the biggest cumulative emitters like the United States and others to sweep history under the rug and ignore the decades of climate destruction, of fossil fuel production and pollution, of colonialism that laid the foundations for the devastation that climate change is wreaking in so many parts of the world.' In the UK, some MPs criticised the ICJ opinion, with the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, describing it on X as a 'mad' decision, adding that the ICJ had 'lost its core purpose and is now joining political campaigns and bandwagons'. Dr Justin Sobion, who coordinated the Caribbean's ICJ submissions, said the opinion was an interpretation of climate obligations under international law, including global agreements that countries such as the UK – which recognise there is a climate emergency – have ratified. Pinder said: 'I'm not sure, given some of the commentary we've seen from larger developed countries and countries that were in the Industrial Revolution, that [the ICJ advisory] is really going to change their opinions.' He added that the 'rather unfortunate' comments from some political leaders in the UK on the ICJ opinion indicated that 'multilateralism is still going to be a significant challenge'. Pinder and Gonsalves said their countries were reviewing the ICJ opinion – which UN member states instructed the ICJ to produce in 2023 after years of campaigning by Pacific island law students and diplomacy led by Vanuatu – and considering how to work with other countries in the region on next steps. 'This has given us an excellent platform,' Gonsalves said. 'We have … to follow through with some heavy lifting, to do negotiations. At the end of the day, this is about life, living and production for all of us on planet Earth.'
