What a Russian minister's suspicious suicide reveals about Putin
Although there is inevitable speculation that he was murdered (and there are some suggestions he died earlier than the investigators' neat narrative requires) at present it does appear that he killed himself. And in death he provided a useful lens through which to examine the slow-motion political crisis unfolding in Russia as hopes of an imminent end to the war that Putin started in Ukraine recede further.
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BBC News
24 minutes ago
- BBC News
Electric car purchases will be cheaper, pledges Heidi Alexander
The government will make it cheaper to buy an electric car (EV) in a bid to get more drivers to make the switch, the Transport Secretary has Alexander was responding to reports suggesting the government will offer drivers thousands of pounds in grants to cut the price of buying an without driveways will be able to have charge points fitted using "cross-pavement gullies" paid for with £25m allocated to councils, she told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Conservatives welcomed the investment but accused the government of "forcing families" into "expensive electric vehicles before the country was ready". "We are going to be making some announcements later this week on how we make it more affordable for people to buy an electric vehicle," Alexander pushed on whether this would come in the form of hundreds of millions of pounds in EV grants, as reports suggested, Alexander refused to say."I can guarantee to your viewers that we will be making it cheaper for those who do want to make the switch to an electric vehicle, " she Department for Transport would not comment comes after Alexander told the Telegraph the high cost of electric vehicles was making people wary, saying "It was right that the government thinks in the round about what we can do to tackle both of the issues, on charging and on the upfront cost of purchase."Richard Fuller MP, shadow chief Secretary to the Treasury, accused Labour of "forcing families into more expensive electric vehicles before the country is ready." 'I don't have an electric car' The reports come as the government said it would invest £63m to boost charging infrastruture across the UK. Alexander admitted she did not have an electric vehicle herself, adding that she lived in a terraced house without a driveway."I don't have an electric car... like millions of people in this country - I bought a new car about six years ago, I'm thinking about the next car that I will purchase and it will definitely be an electric vehicle," she said. Some 21.6% of new cars sold during the first half of the year were electric, according to the latest figures from the UK motor trade association the figures remain well below the mandated targets manufacturers have been set, ahead of the ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars which comes into effect in April, Alexander announced manufacturers would have more flexibility on annual targets and face lower fines to allow them to manage the impact of trade tariffs from the US.
Telegraph
28 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Starmer rejects Johnson's Brexit jet for smaller plane
The RAF jet that was resprayed in Union Jack colours by Boris Johnson at a cost of £800,000 has been sidelined by Sir Keir Starmer. The Vespina Voyager, an air-to-air refuelling plane, was given a patriotic upgrade by the former prime minister in 2020 and compared to the US president's Air Force One. But it has now been reported that the jet has not been used for VIP flights for two years, while Sir Keir has used a smaller plane for trips to visit other world leaders. The Sunday Mirror reported that the Vespina has only been used as a refuelling aircraft since Labour took office, despite its new paint job to make it suitable for transporting the prime minister. Mr Johnson ordered the plane to be resprayed in white, with a Union Flag on the tail and a blue swoosh on the fuselage. The upgrade cost almost £900,000, and was defended by Downing Street at the time as a livery that would 'better represent the UK around the world with national branding'. Sir Keir has instead opted to fly in the smaller government Airbus A321-2NX, which was also used by the King and Queen for their trip to Canada earlier this year. The smaller plane is leased from Titan Airways, rather than being wholly owned by the British Armed Forces. It is also decked out in red, white and blue paint, and has been rented by the Cabinet Office since 2021. Meanwhile, the RAF Voyager has been used solely for refuelling military aircraft over the North Sea, which a spokesman described as its 'primary role'. The jet, nicknamed the 'Brexit Plane', has no need to be painted in national colours when performing that role. Other RAF Voyagers are painted grey. The plane is based at RAF Brize Norton, where Palestine Action protesters last month attacked planes with red paint. The red, white and blue jet was not affected by the protest, which has resulted in Palestine Action being named as a proscribed terrorist group by the Home Office. Sir Keir described the protest as 'disgraceful', but the stunt appears to have increased the group's popularity. More than 70 people have been arrested at protests against the decision to proscribe Palestine Action, including 42 people in London on Saturday. An RAF spokesman told The Telegraph: 'The RAF Vespina Voyager continues to be available for all roles including its primary role of AAR [air-to-air refuelling] and when required VIP flights.'
The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ofcom head calls age checks a ‘big moment' for child online safety
The UK's chief media regulator has promised age verification checks will prove a 'really big moment' in the battle to keep children safe online, even as campaigners warn she needs to take tougher action against big technology companies. Melanie Dawes, the head of Ofcom, said on Sunday that the new checks, which have to be in place later this month, would prove a turning point in regulating the behaviour of the world's biggest online platforms. But she is coming under pressure from campaigners – many of them bereaved parents who say social media played a role in their children's deaths – who say the new rules will still allow young people to access harmful material. Dawes told the BBC on Sunday: 'It is a really big moment, because finally, the laws are coming into force. 'What happens at the end of this month is that we see the wider protections for children come online. And so what we're expecting to see then is that any company that shows material that shouldn't be available to under-18s, pornography, suicide and self-harm material – that should be either removed from their service or they're going to need highly effective age checks to screen out under-18s.' She added: 'It is a very big moment for the industry, a very serious moment.' The rules, which come in on 25 July, are the latest elements to be enacted from the Online Safety Act, which the Conservatives passed in 2023. That act was brought partly in response to criticism from campaigners such as Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter, Molly, died in 2017 from an act of self-harm after viewing several thousand pieces of online content relating to depression, self-harm and suicide. Tory ministers removed sections of the bill in 2022, however, amid an internal row over whether it went too far by banning certain types of content deemed to be 'legal but harmful'. Russell, who has previously called the act 'timid', said on Sunday he was worried about how it was being enforced by Ofcom. The regulator has told technology companies they can choose how to carry out verification checks, but will assess how well they are working. Russell said: 'The Ofcom PR is often spun such that it sounds like everything will change for the better in a matter of weeks. But I think it's quite clear that Ofcom, as a regulator, needs to do more than just be good at spinning their PR. They need to act within the bounds of the act in the strongest possible way, and they're not doing that. 'They're sitting in the middle, pushed on one side by families who've lost people, like me, and pushed on the other side by the power of the big tech platforms.' Sign up to TechScape A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives after newsletter promotion Russell called on Dawes to use her position to put pressure on the government to take tougher action against technology companies. Some critics have accused ministers of leaving major gaps in regulation, for example by failing to act on misinformation. A committee of MPs argued last week that social media companies incentivised the spread of misinformation after last year's murders in Southport, helping to fuel the riots that followed. Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP who chairs the science and technology committee, said the Online Safety Act 'just isn't up to scratch'. Dawes refused to call for powers to tackle misinformation, however, saying: 'If parliament decides to widen those towards mis- and disinformation, or wider issues around addiction for the kids, for example, then, of course, Ofcom stands ready to implement that.' She did, however, take aim at the BBC following the row over its coverage of Glastonbury and whether it should have continued to broadcast footage of the band Bob Vylan after its lead singer led the crowd in anti-Israel chants. 'The BBC need to get a grip quicker, get these reports and investigations [into the incident] concluded sooner,' she said. 'Otherwise there is a real risk of a loss of confidence in the BBC.'
