Tag Archives: united kingdom

Featured, Health, International, Podcast

UK Institutes NEW SECOND LOCKDOWN- But Is It Based on Faulty Data?

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A new round of lockdowns has been announced by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after a warning by two scientists that the UK could see 50,000 new cases of coronavirus by mid-October. But are those numbers and predictions accurate?  We take a look at why other scientists are pushing back, calling those claims “implausible”.

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International

Alfie Evans’ Parents To Talk With Doctors About Taking Him Home, ‘They Hate Us’

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(DCNF) Alfie Evans’ parents dropped their fight to take the child to Italy and will speak with doctors Thursday about taking him home, but tensions remain high.

Tom Evans, who vowed to privately prosecute three doctors involved in 23-month-old Alfie’s care for alleged conspiracy to murder, told LBC’s Nick Ferrari that he and Kate James will speak with doctors at Alder Hey Hospital about taking their son home. The father alleged that the doctors hate them, according to Express. Evans claimed that doctors resent him because Alfie’s survival has proven his claims true and their prognosis false.

Even though the parents have dropped their legal battle, they will return to court if Thursday’s conversation with doctors “doesn’t go well,” the father claimed, according to the Mirror.

“Today, we’re going to have a meeting with the doctors at Alder Hey and we’ll now start asking to go home. Alfie doesn’t need intensive care anymore,” Evans said, according to Express.

“They hate us. They don’t like us, we’re not like them,” he added. “I’ve fought against them for so long and I’m right. It’s a misdiagnosis. It’s not a miracle, it’s a misdiagnosis.”

Evans added:

They’ve chosen to leave Alfie like that for months and months. We’ve done our best to work with them. They have acted so aggressively towards us. They’ve fought so hard towards us. They avoid us. They give us some horrible smug look like we’re in the wrong like we’re criminals. I feel like I am in a maximum security and I am being looked down upon.

The U.K. Appeals Court ruled Wednesday to uphold several past rulings denying the young child the chance to travel to Italy to receive continued treatment at the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital. The justices upheld the denial despite the hospital’s offer to take him, pleas on Evans’ behalf from Pope Francis, a grant of citizenship from Italy’s foreign ministry, and the Italian military air ambulance that stood by ready to transport the child from the U.K.

Evans would respect the court’s order not to reveal the names of any of the doctors involved in Alfie’s care, he said in a Sunday Facebook post, but noted that he would seek legal retribution against all of them in the event of his son’s death.

“But if my son dies now, I will instruct lawyers to start private prosecution of every single person who helps to make that happen,” he wrote in the post. “Remember it is not good enough, in law or in conscience, to say that you simply followed orders. There is a world of difference between giving up hopeless efforts to save life and taking active steps to bring about death.”

“I will not allow you to kill my son just because a bunch of smug lawyers in London has concluded this would be good for him. If you make my son die tomorrow, you will face justice from a jury of your twelve countrymen in this world, and a terrible judgement of God in the world to come,” he concluded.

The Italian embassy in Britain joined Evans in the threat of litigation and said that they would report the doctors involved for murder of an Italian citizen if they did not stop Alfie’s extubation. Doctors proceeded nonetheless, and the child has been breathing on his own for over 62 hours to the surprise of medical staff.

The appeals judges took note of the father’s litigation against three of the doctors involved in Alfie’s treatment.

“Your client purported to take out a private prosecution to have three named doctors charged with the criminal offence of conspiracy to murder,” Lord Justice Coulson said to attorney Paul Diamond of the Christian Legal Centre, according to the Mirror. “Those summonses were served on the doctors and I hear you say that there is no hostility to the NHS.”

“There are rather more than tensions … That simply doesn’t square with there being no hostility to the NHS. As my children would say ‘end of,’” he added.

The mother and father are currently in talks with the doctors at Alder Hey about the prospect of taking Alfie home.

Written by Joshua Gill: Follow Joshua on Twitter
This article was republished with permission from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
International

Judge Rejects Final Plea To Treat Alfie Evans, Even After He Defied Doctors’ Expectations By Breathing On His Own

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(DCNF) The U.K. High Court rejected a final plea to treat Alfie Evans in Italy, despite the fact that he breathed unassisted for 19 hours.

Justice Anthony Hayden of the U.K. High Court ruled against the option to take Evans to the Vatican’s Gesu Bambino Pediatric Hospital, even as an Italian air ambulance stood by ready to transport the toddler, according to the Mirror. Legal representation for his parents said doctors at Alder Hey Hospital predicted that he would last only a short time without assisted breathing, but Evans defied that prognosis when he began breathing on his own and continued to do so for over 20 hours after doctors removed his life support.

Now, the best the court could offer was to suggest to Alder Hey that they consider letting his parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, take their son home.

It was “the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy,” Hayden said, according to Josh Halliday with The Guardian.

Hayden did, however, ask if Alder Hey would consider allowing Evans to be transported home with his family.

“If there were a more constructive attitude from the family might other options become possible, away from Alder Hey?” Hayden said, according to the Mirror. “I’m not suggesting this, I don’t want it to be taken as an indication from me. One of the things Tom Evans said, if it can’t be Italy or Munich, which it cannot be, was whether they could take Alfie home.”

A hospital clinician reportedly told the court they had a “genuine fear” that angry protesters in support of Evans would make transporting him home currently impossible.

Despite allowing the child to receive oxygen and water, staff at Alder Hey have reportedly refused to allow him to have food for over 23 hours, according to a Facebook post from the father. Tom said that even so, Alfie was smiling, moving, and had good color since being allowed oxygen.

“He has now been starved from nutrition for 23 hours,” Tom wrote. “How is this HUMANE where does his DIGNITY LIE.”

The child’s life support has been switched off since 9:17 p.m. local time Monday, in accordance with court approved plans to end his assisted breathing treatment. He has continued to breathe on his own, doing so for at least six hours before hospital staff allowed him to have an oxygen mask. The mother and father launched their final legal appeal to the court shortly thereafter. The hearing began at 4:00 p.m., during which Hayden and Paul Diamond, the lawyer from the Christian Legal Centre representing Tom and Kate, engaged in a tense exchange.

“This really is an appeal, in our submission for common humanity and common sense,” Diamond said, according to the Mirror.

“I don’t think it’s helpful to use emotive terms. As a barrister confine yourself to the law,” Hayden said.

Diamond proceeded, giving a witness statement from Tom in which he claimed that doctors were “gobsmacked” that Alfie didn’t die and began to breathe on his own after being extubated.

“We do have a human being,” Diamond said.

“I don’t need to be reminded we have a human being. You do not have the moral high ground in this court. It is treacherous terrain,” Hayden said.

The court adjourned to allow representatives from Alder Hey to consider whether Evans can at some point be allowed to go home.

Supporters of Evans meanwhile urged Liverpool fans to “chant for Alfie” during the 23rd minute of the Champion League match against Roma on Tuesday evening, since he is 23 months old. They have also urged for a song to be played and for fans to give a round of applause in support for the toddler.

The hearing is ongoing.

Written by Joshua Gill: Follow Joshua on Twitter
This article was republished with permissions from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Featured, Foreign Policy, International

Russia Accuses UK of Masterminding Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria

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Hours before the United States, the UK, and France carried out “limited” strikes last Saturday morning, the Russian military presented what it claimed to be proof that the chemical weapons attack used as the pretext for those strikes was staged at the behest of the UK government.

During a Friday briefing, the Russian Defense Ministry showed interviews with medical professionals reported to work in the only functional hospital in Douma – the suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus where the attacks are said to have taken place. In their testimony, the two men asserted that the footage of the alleged chemical attack was taken after a Syrian air strike occurred and that the affected people shown in the video were suffering from smoke poisoning. They stated that a false claim of chemical weapons use was then circulated, leading concerned family members to douse those affected with water.

The Russian military then asserted that the White Helmets, the foreign-funded “humanitarian” group active in Syria, were pressured by the UK government to “speed up” a provocation that they had been preparing in order to push for Western intervention.

British UN Ambassador Karen Pierce called the allegations “grotesque,” “a blatant lie” and “the worst piece of fake news we’ve yet seen from the Russian propaganda machine.”

The main group that has provided footage and evidence purporting to show the chemical weapons attack in Douma are the White Helmets. Syria’s White Helmets, while they have largely been portrayed in Western media as a humanitarian first responder group, were actually founded in Turkey in 2013 by a British mercenary named James Le Mesurier. Le Mesurier is a former officer in the British military and also formerly worked for British intelligence. He eventually left his work with the British government to join with the Olive Group before it merged with Blackwater-Academi to become Constellis Holdings. He then worked in Abu Dhabi before moving to Turkey and founding the White Helmets.

To found the group, Le Mesurier raised $300,000 in seed funding provided by the UK, the U.S. and Japan, according to journalist Vanessa Beeley. Since its founding, the White Helmets have received over $123 million from 2013 to 2016 from the U.S. and UK governments, as well as Western NGOs and Gulf state monarchies. In addition, during the past five years, the White Helmets have been instrumental in blaming the Syrian government for any and all chemical weapons attacks in Syria, acting as both witnesses and responders to events that were later reported to be the work of the armed opposition in Syria or staged.

In Mid-March, the Syrian Arab Army intercepted a truck containing weapons and ammunition destined for the militant rebel groups in the area where the chemical weapons attack is said to have occurred. Among the items found were canisters apparently containing smoke grenades made in Salisbury, England – where the UK government has a chemical weapons laboratory.

Regardless of what information emerges from Douma regarding the alleged chemical weapons attack, the UK and its allies have already unilaterally attacked Syria even though they have admitted that they have no evidence that the attack even took place, beyond social media posts and YouTube videos created by controversial groups with ties to U.K. intelligence.

Foreign Policy, International

British Parliament Approves Expanding Air Strikes Into Syria

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by Jason Ditz

In a 397-223 vote that followed over 10 hours of debate, the British House of Commons voted in favor of expanding the nation’s involvement in the ISIS war into neighboring Syria. A previous resolution had only allowed them to conduct strikes in Iraq.

Shortly after the vote, the first four British bombers took off from an air base in Cyprus, heading toward Syria. Officials indicated that the first strikes were likely to happen within a matter of hours, but didn’t offer further clarification beyond that.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been pushing hard for the vote, and accused those voting against it of being “terrorist sympathizers.” During today’s debate he labeled ISIS “medieval monsters” and insisted attacks would begin as soon as possible. Officials have since indicated the first strikes could happen as soon as tonight.

The vote was much more strongly in favor of the airstrikes than most had expected, as the opposition Labour Party was said to have strongly opposed the vote, but 67 MPs ultimately switched sides. Cameron had also come under criticism from some in his own party for claims about 70,000 “moderate” Syrians willing to back Britain in the strikes.

Despite being explicitly forbidden from doing so until today’s vote, British warplanes have bombed Syrian targets several times in the past year, with Cameron arguing those were “technically” legal because the planes were embedded with Canadian forces. With Canada withdrawing from the war, Cameron has since needed to come up with a new justification, and so sought today’s vote.

International, Politics

U.N. Security Council Unanimously Votes To Endorse Iran Nuclear Deal

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The 15 members that make up the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of adopting a deal between Iran and major world powers that intends to limit Iran’s nuclear ability, in exchange for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.

The deal, which was called “historic” by both the European Union’s foreign policy chief and Iran’s foreign minister, was settled on Tuesday between Iran, the United States, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom after 20 months of negotiations, four target dates and three extensions.

The Hill reported that the vote “sends a strong signal of international support for the agreement,” and that some U.S. lawmakers have criticized the Obama administration for “pushing for U.N. action before Congress has a to chance to weigh in.”

Reuters noted that the UN will be able to re-impose penalties “during the next decade if Tehran breaches the historic agreement” and that no sanctions relief can be implemented until the International Atomic Energy Agency “submits a report to the Security Council verifying that Iran has taken certain nuclear-related measures outlined in the agreement.”

U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power said that although the deal “does not address many of our profound concerns,” it would ultimately make the world “safer and more secure.”

Power also said that if Iran “abides by the commitments” that it agreed to in the deal, then it will find both the international community and the United States “willing to provide a path out of isolation and toward greater engagement.”

The nuclear deal, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will start lifting sanctions on Iran in 90 days, after the “respective capitals and legislatures have had a time to review the deal’s provisions,” according to Power.

While several members of Congress were irked at the fact that the U.N. Security Council was taking a vote on the nuclear deal before they had time to weigh in on it, Secretary of State John Kerry said that he felt it was their right to vote.

“I mean honestly, it’s presumptuous of some people to suspect that France, Russia, China, Germany and Britain ought to do what the Congress tells them to do,” Kerry said. “They’re individual countries and they have sovereignty. They’re members of the United Nations and they have a right to have a vote.”

Along with Republicans in Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been very critical of the nuclear deal, calling it a “historic mistake for the world,” and saying it will not stop “Iran’s aggression.”

Beginning Monday, Congress has 60 days to review the deal’s provisions before Obama can begin removing congressional sanctions. Obama has said that he will veto any congressional legislation seeking to block the agreement.

The Hill noted that President Obama, Vice President Biden and other officials have recently begun an “aggressive lobbying push to rally Democrats,” including a “rare golf outing” over the weekend between Obama and three Democratic House lawmakers.

Marijuana Prohibition, Opinion, Politics

UK Has Its First Cannabis Party, Could America?

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According to Vice, the UK has its first cannabis party.

CISTA, which stands for Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol, wants to legalize marijuana because they believe the War on Drugs has failed and that new direction has to be taken.

“There is no drug policy related political party here in the UK. That’s why we started it. If it was already there, we wouldn’t need to,” said Paul Birch, the group’s founder and financial backer.

One of CISTA’s major project is recruiting 100 candidates that are pro-pot. Right now, the group says they have five.

Question is: Could America have its first Cannabis Party with its growing support for legalization?

International

Will Scotland Vote “yes” to Secede from the United Kingdom In September?

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Mainstream media is full of stories from around the world, but one story that isn’t receiving the coverage it deserves is what’s happening in Scotland.

On September 18, Scotland voters will vote yes or no to a complicated question: Should Scotland be an independent country?

According to the BBC, since the Scottish National Party won the 2011 Scottish Parliament election by a landslide, it gave them the mandate to stage the referendum.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said that Great Britain no longer serves a purpose and that an independent Scotland would be one of the world’s richest countries, thanks to its oil wealth.

On the other side, Prime Minister David Cameron called Great Britain one of the world’s most successful social and political unions.

North Sea oil and gas are central to Scotland’s case for independence.

Salmond recommends earmarking a tenth of revenues to form an oil fund familiar to Norway’s.

Those in opposition of independence argue that oil and gas will eventually run out.

Another spot of contention is what would be Scotland’s currency?

An independent Scotland wants to still use the pound as its official currency, but Britain’s three main political parties, the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, won’t go for that. Watch the debate on currency below:

But the majority of Scotland doesn’t want independence, according to a recent poll.

In a poll that took place on August 5, 2014 for the BBC, 55 percent of Scotland would vote no on the referendum. Thirty-five percent would vote yes, and 11 percent don’t know.

“It will be the biggest poll in Scotland’s history in terms of turnout,” said Historian Tom Devine.

Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, said that people should disregard opinion polls: “…And many of the people who will be voting will be people who are not touched by opinion polls and opinion surveys, which tend to discount people with no voting record, and I think that’s going to be a major factor.”

According to Forbes, it is in Scotland’s best interest, business wise, to remain as part of Great Britain.

Isolating itself from UK’s established banking system would complicate things.

“Banks that could remain in Scotland would also face difficulties. Upon independence, Scotland would have to develop, fund, and staff a new financial regulatory authority, establish a central bank and approve a mechanism for insuring consumer deposits,” wrote Jodie A. Kirshner, a law professor at Cambridge University.

So this secession movement would mean Scotland would keep more of its own money. However, Scottish leaders are not talking about creating a Libertarian utopia. The Scots’ plan is to make the revenues from oil production public in order to pay for free education and other social welfare programs.

In 2012, the Cato Institute’s David Boaz wrote,

“…the land of Adam Smith has become one of the poorest and most socialist parts of Great Britain. So maybe a libertarian shouldn’t look forward to Scottish independence. On the contrary, I think it’s easy for Scotland to whine and demand more money from the British central government. An independent Scotland would have to create its own prosperity, and surely the people who produced the Enlightenment are smart enough to discover the failures of socialism pretty quickly if they become free, independent, and responsible for their own future.”