Nigel Farage, TikTok and Lord Haw-Haw
As I stood in front of a Rothko at Tate Modern 22 years ago, our four-year-old ran up to it and I asked her what she thought. 'Too big!' she replied instantly, and ran off. She'll be starting her masters degree in fine art at Oxford University this October (The worst thing about the damaged Rothko is that it fuels the ban-kids-from-galleries debate, 11 May).Robert PedersenTotnes, Devon
I once remarked to a pupil's father that I'd been impressed at how his son had handled a couple of disappointments. 'Just as well,' he replied. 'We're Everton supporters' (Letters, 13 May).Marilyn RowleyManchester
Oh dear. I am a citizen of nowhere living in 'an island of strangers' (Report, 13 May). This is getting difficult.Murray MarshallSalisbury
I read Joseph Harker's article opposing low-traffic neighbourhoods (14 May) and wish him well at his next newspaper.David BricknellPlymouth
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The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Benn says ‘no choice' but to repeal NI legacy act as veterans stage protest
Hilary Benn has said that 'only one soldier' has been convicted over a Troubles-related death since 1998 as he sought to justify Labour plans to repeal the Northern Ireland Legacy and Reconciliation Act. The Northern Ireland secretary, speaking at a debate in Westminster Hall, argued that of the 250,000 British military veterans who had served in the country, 'the number being prosecuted for offences has been very, very small'. Benn said he recognised 'the very real fears that many veterans have' and that the government took 'those concerns very seriously' – but he said Labour had no choice but to repeal and rewrite the legislation because it had been deemed incompatible with human rights law. Citing research by the Centre for Military Justice, Benn said the law firm 'records that only one soldier has been convicted since the Good Friday agreement' – a case in which a veteran received a suspended sentence for manslaughter. Benn was responding to a general debate brought after more than 176,000 people signed a petition demanding Labour not make any changes to the law. Before it began, a couple of hundred veterans staged a noisy protest at the Cenotaph in Whitehall and in Parliament Square with the support of the Conservatives, who passed the legislation in 2023. Veterans at the protest said they believed a simple repeal of the legacy act would lead to a reopening of investigations and prosecutions against them, in a gradual process that would take several years. David Holmes, an RAF veteran who did two tours in Northern Ireland, said that 'what's being proposed would be a return to inquests, that would lead to prosecutions, vexatious prosecutions that would be long, drawn-out'. Holmes, one of the leaders of the protest, said that although 'the chances of getting a prosecution are very slim, the veteran who is under prosecution will be punished for five to seven years' while the investigation took place. Dennis Hutchings died in 2021, aged 80, before he could be put on trial for attempting to murder John Pat Cunningham, who was shot in the back and killed as he ran from an army patrol in 1974. The prosecution had been begun six years earlier, in 2015. 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 Mick Curtis, 76, who served with the Royal Horse Artillery in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1971, said he believed 'the rules were being changed in retrospect' and that ordinary soldiers who were given rules of engagement that permitted opening fire in certain circumstances were no longer considered to have acted legitimately. The Legacy Act halted all but the most serious investigations into Troubles-related killings by soldiers and paramilitary groups – a compromise that also meant that inquiries into the deaths of 202 soldiers and 23 veterans were among those halted last year when the law took effect. Labour said it would repeal the act because it was opposed by many victims' families and Northern Ireland's political parties, as well as having been deemed by a court to be incompatible with human rights legislation. It has not yet decided exactly what to replace it with. The shadow defence minister, Mark Francois, one of those supporting the protest, said 'we think the government are beginning to hesitate now that the anger of veterans is becoming apparent'. A repeal of the law would open up former soldiers to 're-investigation endlessly', he said.
The Guardian
41 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy shakes up government with Svyrydenko as PM
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has nominated Yulia Svyrydenko to become Ukraine's new prime minister while moving the long-serving incumbent, Denys Shmyhal, to defence minister. It increases the likelihood that Rustem Umerov – current defence minister – will become the Ukrainian ambassador to Washington. Ukraine's president said he wanted Svyrydenko, 39, an economist, to lead the government and 'significantly renew its work'; while Shmyhal's 'vast experience' would be 'valuable in the position of minister of defence of Ukraine. This is precisely the area where the country's maximum resources, maximum tasks and a great deal of responsibility are currently concentrated.' Svyrydenko posted that she would pursue deregulation, cut back bureaucracy, protect business and reduce non-critical expenditure to achieve the 'full concentration of state resources' for defence and post-war recovery. 'The state apparatus has no right to waste the resources and potential of our country,' she said. 'Ukraine deserves to be among the strongest economies in Europe.' The nominations require parliamentary approval. It comes as Donald Trump confirms he will authorise billions of dollars' worth of US military supplies to Ukraine including defensive Patriot missiles and the launcher systems, known as batteries, that fire them. The US president and the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, met and announced Ukraine's European allies would pay for the equipment, with some drawn immediately from their existing stockpiles and then replaced. Trump had promised a major announcement on Russia on Monday, but apart from the weapons announcement he gave Vladimir Putin another 50 days to make a peace deal. After that, 'we're going to be doing very severe tariffs', the president said, referring to 'secondary tariffs' that would target Russia's remaining trade partners. The US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal praised Trump's 'powerful' move. However, they have a sanctions bill ready to go through the US Congress in short order, whereas Trump's announcement represents a further prevarication on taking tough action against Putin and his trade partners, among whom the senators singled out 'China, India and Brazil, that prop up Putin's war machine'. A retired US army officer who worked as a civilian for the air force has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit classified information about Russia's war with Ukraine on a foreign online dating platform. David Slater, 64, who had top secret clearance, pleaded guilty to a single count in exchange for two other counts being dropped. He is due to be sentenced on 8 October with prosecutors and his lawyers agreeing he should serve between five years and 10 months and seven years and three months in prison, with the government recommending the low end of that range. Russian drones killed two people on Monday in Ukraine's southern Kherson region. The governor, Oleksander Prokudin, said a woman was killed in the region's main town, also known as Kherson, and a man died in an area north of the city along the Dnipro River.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
King Charles and Prince Harry aides 'peace summit' part of 'charm offensive by the Sussexes to turn around their negative public image'
A meeting between King Charles and Prince Harry 's senior aides came amid a charm offensive by the Sussexes to turn around their negative public image, the Mail understands. Harry and Meghan's new chief of communications, Meredith Maines, met with Tobyn Andreae, the King's communications secretary, at the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) a three-minute walk from Clarence House, the monarch's London residence on Wednesday. Also present was Liam Maguire, who runs the Sussexes' PR team in the UK. Images of the rendezvous raised hopes of a reconciliation between Harry, 40, and his father, 76. The extraordinary summit came after Ms Maines, who is head of Harry's household in Montecito, California, flew to the UK earlier in the week for a series of meetings alongside Mr Maguire, their new 'UK and Europe communications manager'. These included British business and charitable partners, as well as a host of London-based press and television journalists. Their itinerary suggests that the couple - Harry in particular - are launching a new charm offensive on the UK in a bid to turn around their negative public image. The Mail understands it was subsequently suggested that a meeting with Buckingham Palace's director of communications, Mr Andreae, might be possible while Ms Maines was in the UK. This is not as surprising as it might initially seem. The extraordinary summit came after Ms Maines, who is head of Harry's household in Montecito, California, flew to the UK earlier in the week for a series of meetings alongside Mr Maguire, their new 'UK and Europe communications manager (pictured) Even after the Sussexes' acrimonious departure from the Royal family, tentative 'lines of communication' were kept open between the palace press office and the duke and duchess' PR team on occasional matters of importance. However in recent years these have all but dwindled out in the wake of Harry's repeated and increasingly vitriolic attacks on his family, as well as the institution of the monarchy. His latest, with the BBC, in which he blamed his recent decisive defeat in the British courts over his ongoing security in the UK on an 'establishment stitch-up' and insensitively raised the issue of how long his father has to live, went down extremely badly in royal circles. While understandably wary, it is understood that the palace believed a tentative meeting was sensible in the circumstances - if only to re-open those channels once again with yet another new Sussex PR team, following another series of enforced departures both in California and the UK. There was 'considerable surprise' and a 'weary resignation' amongst senior courtiers to see details and pictures of Wednesday's meeting, which was such a closely-guarded secret, published in the media at the weekend. Senior officials on all sides have repeatedly declined to say whether Prince William's team at Kensington Palace were aware that the meeting was going ahead, even if they were not represented. One source stressed to the Mail that the relationship between father and son was 'inevitably different' to that of the siblings. It has also been noted that while angry and not wishing at present to make any sort of personal overtures to his brother, William has on a number of occasions over the years made magnanimous gestures of kindness towards him, despite huge provocation, including inviting Harry and Meghan to meet mourners and collect flowers at Windsor Castle following the death of Queen Elizabeth. A source said the summit was only the 'first step towards reconciliation between Harry and his father, but at least it is a step in the right direction' Harry is next due back in the UK in September for the annual WellChild events, raising the prospect of meeting his father for the first time in 18 months. The 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham is another opportunity for a public reconciliation. The Duke is said to have sent email invitations to Buckingham Palace in the hope that it will give the King sufficient time to fit the event into his busy schedule. While the meeting was significant, it is understood it was largely to 'open a channel of communication' after Harry said in a BBC interview his father would not speak to him, and to discuss how to avoid media clashes and conflicts around calendar dates. Harry and Meghan are said to be frustrated after the meeting was caught on camera in pictures published by the Mail on Sunday. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex denied leaking details of the rendezvous.
