Category Archives: Britain

Britain, Government, National Security, Society

Islamic State bride and her wish to return to the UK

BRITAIN

BEWITCHED by propaganda on the internet, 15-year-old Shamima Begum and two of her classmates fled their homes in East London four years ago, to join Islamic State. They travelled to war-torn Syria to become jihadi brides for the brutal terror group.

As the medieval caliphate collapses, that warped adventure is now over. Begum – now 19 and heavily pregnant – has pleaded to be allowed back into Britain.

This is not from a newly-discovered loyalty to the country she abandoned and made an enemy state in her struggle, nor is it because she realises her terrible error. On the contrary. “I don’t regret coming here,” she says. “But I just want to come home to have my child.”

She has not shown one iota of contrition or repentance. Just a desire to be cared for in an NHS hospital to give birth. Given the savagery of IS – public beheadings, crucifixions and rapes – many will shudder at the prospect of her returning to these shores.

It is abhorrent she aligned herself with a group that executed British hostages and inspired atrocities on UK soil. Not unreasonably, many believe she should now lie in the bed she has made. As a government minister has said: “Actions have consequences.”

Again, many will share those sentiments. Every fibre of our being should recoil from having anything to do with Begum, who openly boasted she was “unfazed” by seeing a severed head.

With deep reluctance, however, we must accept she is a British citizen – and our responsibility. Denying her access would breach international law. It should be accepted, too, that she was a vulnerable child when groomed at her computer by evil recruiters, and, has since, been indoctrinated by jihadists in Syria.

She must be thoroughly vetted to ensure she poses no security risk, and deradicalised through government anti-terrorist programmes. If she has committed battlefield crimes, she must be punished. If not, she must help police and the security services to fight IS.

Most Britons will have no time for those who enjoy the advantages of our liberal society, then abuse it.

But offering someone the chance to atone for their mistakes – however heinous – is what separates us from the barbarians.

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Banking, Britain, Economic, Government, Politics, Society

Carney says leaving the EU could restore faith in democracy

BREXIT

THE Bank of England Governor has said that Brexit could restore faith in free trade and democracy if the UK leaves the EU with a deal.

In a statement that is sharply at odds with his previous warnings that Brexit could spark chaos, Mark Carney said that a managed departure would show voters that they matter and encourage them to trust the parliamentary system again.

But he also warned that a No Deal Brexit would spark an economic shock – something which he says the whole world should be trying to avoid.

The Governor said millions of workers feel let down and left behind by globalisation – and the only solution is to give power back to the people.

He added that a Brexit deal may be a step towards a world where families are comfortable with free trade because they feel in control.

The Governor said: “In many respects, Brexit is the first test of a new global order and could prove the acid test of whether a way can be found to broaden the benefits of openness while enhancing democratic accountability.

He said Brexit could lead to new “international cooperation”, allowing for better cross-border trade deals and a more effective balance of “local and supranational authority”.

Mr Carney’s backing for Brexit if a deal is struck marks a major change of tone.

He has long been accused by Eurosceptics of opposing our departure from the EU and whipping up Project Fear.

And in the run-up to the referendum, he was attacked for politicising the Bank of England when he claimed Brexit could trigger a recession.

Last year, Mr Carney claimed the vote to leave had cost households £900 each by damaging economic growth – and he has always been one of the loudest critics of No Deal.

The Bank also claimed No Deal could tip the UK into its worst recession for a century, knocking a third off house prices and triggering a dramatic surge in unemployment.

Mr Carney warns again that a deal is needed to avoid chaos – although he does sound more upbeat about the future following an orderly exit from the EU than he has done previously.

The Governor said Britain’s departure from the European Union comes at a time of growing risks for the global economy. The Canadian also said that No Deal would be “a shock for this economy”, and that UK investment has not grown since the referendum of 2016 was called, saying it had “dramatically underperformed”.

Mr Carney used his speech – given to senior business figures at London’s Barbican – to warn them that China is increasingly risky and businesses around the world are taking on worrying levels of debt.

He said: “China is the one major economy in which all major financial imbalances have materially worsened. While China’s economic miracle over the past three decades has been extraordinary, its post-crisis performance has relied increasingly on one of the largest and longest running credit booms ever.

A 3 per cent drop in the Chinese economy would shave 0.5 per cent off the UK, he warned.

On Corporate debt, he said a surge in high-risk business lending has worrying echoes of the US boom in unsustainable loans which led to the 2008 financial crisis.

Mr Carney also took a swipe at Donald Trump, who has cracked down on imports from China. The US President once tweeted: “Trade wars are good and easy to win.”

Mr Carney batted away Mr Trump’s casual brag, saying: “Contrary to what you might have heard, it isn’t easy to win a trade war.”

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Arts, Britain, Culture, Government, Media, Society

Probe launched into online giants

CULTURE & MEDIA

GOOGLE and Facebook are facing two new probes into their “opaque” advertising business amid Government fears that they are making it impossible for online news publishers to survive.

. See also The demise of the printed press?

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said he had written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), asking the watchdog to investigate the “digital advertising market” and see whether it prevents “fair competition”.

And he announced a formal probe by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport into how online advertising is regulated.

He also took aim at the BBC, calling on regulator OFCOM to consider opening a formal investigation into the size of its online news website. He asked the media watchdog to look at whether the broadcaster is “striking the right balance” between pushing its own content and driving traffic to commercial news websites.

The investigation comes after a damning report said online journalism is “at risk” because of the stranglehold the web giants have on the online advertising business.

The Cairncross Review, commissioned by the Prime Minister, and led by Dame Frances Cairncross, called for the CMA and OFCOM inquiries as it warned that Google and Facebook have become too powerful and too secretive.

At the moment, online news providers struggle to make ends meet because Google and Facebook hoover up so much of every pound spent on advertising on news websites.

The web giants keep their algorithms – the computer codes that dictate the order of search results – closely guarded secrets, but even the smallest changes can have a huge impact on the amount of traffic news websites receive and their ability to make money from their content. Google and Facebook control so much of the online advertising market that they can simply “impose terms on publishers”, Dame Frances said.

Mr Wright has now thrown his weight behind her report. In a Commons debate about the review, he said: “Online advertising represents a growing part of the economy and forms an important revenue stream for many publishers.

“But this burgeoning market is largely opaque and extremely complex, and therefore it is at present impossible to know whether the revenue shares received by news publishers are fair.”

He said the CMA probe would “examine whether the online marketplace . . . enables or prevents fair competition”.

Mr Wright added that his own department will conduct a review into “how online advertising is regulated”.

Some Conservative backbenchers have called for even more draconian measures. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the social media giants need to be “broken up”. “This kind of monopoly cartel is damaging to people as individuals, and damaging to the functioning democratic society”, he said.

Sir Edward Leigh MP, said: “I think we’re being weak with these American tech giants . . . they are a monopolistic, anti-competition force in our society.”

In her review, Dame Frances said the web giants should have to sign up to a new code of conduct – overseen by a regulator – to ensure they deal with publishers fairly, and Google and Facebook should disclose how much of every pound spent on online advertising reaches the publisher.

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