This weeks snapshot of interesting news stories, presented in a short catch-up style format in order to save time and to help bring our readers up to speed on the most talked about topics this week. All sources are included for those who like to dig a little deeper.
Incidentally, if you’d like to receive free email notifications for Spotlight articles and Bitesize summaries then just drop us a quick email to admin@spotlight-newspaper.co.uk with the words – SEND NOTIFICATIONS – in the subject heading or the body of the email. Fyi, you can opt out at any time but simply emailing us to let us know.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
1) When a deeply racist Islamophobe and vocal advocate for an exclusively Jewish controlled state of Israel like Melanie Phillips tries to label anyone who supports Black Lives Matter (BLM) as “anti-white” and “anti-Jew”, simply because BLM is a global movement that demands that black lives should have as much worth as white lives and that people should be treated equally, regardless of their race, it reveals just how threatened the colonial apartheid state of Israel really feels by a global movement that aims to stamp out human rights abuses and empower the abused. What she is actually trying to do is align the agenda of white racists with that of the racist and apartheid state of Israel.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
2) BBC stitch up a focus group full of people who haven’t voted Labour for decades, just to bash Corbyn (and Corbyn supporters) and to attack voters under 25 (who came out in large numbers for Jeremy Corbyn in 2 elections), labelling them as lazy and unwilling to work.
No wonder GB News is dead in the water – they could never compete with BBC propaganda and gerrymandering.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3) 51 asylum seekers died in Home Office accommodation in past five years including 3 babies and 4 suicides. Causes of 31 deaths as yet remain unknown.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4) FoI data retrieved from the Home Office shows nationals from certain countries who ‘commit crimes’ are more likely to be targeted for deportation than those who commit crimes from other countries. Currently, an average of 65% of overseas nationals, who have been jailed for at least 12 months, are deported. However Caribbean countries like Jamaica, along with Ghana, Nigeria, Albania and Vietnam have amongst the highest rates of deportations, ranging from 75% to 90%.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
5) Windrush father served in Royal Air Force for 13 years but his daughter has been denied citizenship because she was born in Germany while her father was deployed there. 48yr old Sharon Vitalis who had worked for the NHS for more than 15 years also had to be dismissed from her job after she was issued deportation proceedings by the Home Office.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
6) Parliamentary report finds 2/3rd of female military personnel have raised bullying and sexual abuse complaints. The report includes evidence of gang rape, sex for career advancement and trophies to ‘bag the woman’. Some reported how they were even bullied for refusing sexual advances. One female veteran, said: “We heard accusations of senior officers sweeping complaints under the rug to protect their own reputations and careers.”
The report also highlighted other areas of concern such as failing to get basics like suitable uniforms and equipment right. Armored plates would restrict movement, oversized helmets restricted vision, and lack of toilet facilities for women, forcing some servicewomen to deliberately dehydrate themselves.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
7) Yet another Tory Cllr got £120Million fast track procurement contract for useless face shields. The Independent has also estimated that “the shields used so far have cost the equivalent of £423 each, despite similar ones being available to buy online for less than £1.”
Additionally, nearly 7 per cent of all items purchased by the Department for Health and Social Care failed quality checks, 2.1 billion items were found unsuitable for use in medical settings and we’re paying £6.7m per week just to store them. These figures don’t include a further 10,000 shipping containers still to be unpacked.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
8) Greenpeace threatens UK Govt with legal action if it persists with plans to allow oil exploration near Shetland, having previously promised to end all new oil exploration licences.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
9) Here’s the bit when Dawn Butler repeatedly calls Boris Johnson a liar in the House of Commons and is asked to leave Parliament for the rest of the day. So you get banned for telling the truth but you get given the platform of the highest possible office in government if you lie. I get it now!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
10) Labour sacking a 3rd of it’s permanent staff while secretly recruiting staff on insecure temporary contracts with worse employment conditions. According to the Independent, under Starmer, Labour’s finances have been severely impacted by a mass exodus of members and this has been further compounded by the party paying out hefty settlement fees after former staffers sued the party over its handling of antisemitism.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
11) Starmer declares plans to purge 1000’s of Corbyn supporters from the Labour Party. Starmer is making moves to ban members who belong to or support 4 key left wing, pro-Corbyn, groups. He has asked Labour’s NEC to proscribe ‘Labour Against the Witchhunt’, ‘RESIST’, ‘Labour in Exile’ and ‘Socialist Appeal’, who he has labelled as “poisonous.” This comes as recent polls show that Starmer is still 11.6 points behind Johnson in the popularity stakes and Labour has struggled to hold onto seats in a series of parliamentary and council by-elections. A Labour source told the Mirror “We need to be fighting to form the next government and that means cleaning out the stable.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
12) Starmer, on the subject of Dawn Butler calling Johnson a liar in the commons… “In fairness to the temporary speaker, Judith Cummings, who was there, she did the right thing, she followed the rules because parliament doesn’t allow you to call other parliamentarians liars in the chamber, so I don’t criticise the speaker … the deputy speaker for what she did, she was following the rules. But do I support Dawn in what she said? I absolutely do.”
In other words, he wouldn’t say it himself but he says he agrees with what Dawn said. Note, it only took him 5 days to say anything at all and let’s not forget that Starmer is not averse to telling the odd fib himself, like all those pledges he made during the leadership competition, for example.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
13) Labour’s London conference debacle. Starmer officials cut off the Conference Arrangements Committee Chair, Kathryn Johnson, in the middle of her closing speech and then shut down conference altogether because she dared to criticise Keir Starmer. Apparently she wasn’t the first person who attempted to criticise Starmer and another delegate was muted in the middle of their speech earlier in the conference for exactly the same reason. Skwawkbox have invited Kathryn to give her speech in full on Socialist Telly – now scheduled for Tuesday night at 8pm (link below).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
14) Organisers of the European Beach Handball Championship fine female participants for refusing to follow a blatantly sexist rule that insists they must wear bikinis to play. The Norwegian women’s beach handball team decided to wear shorts, just like the men do, but apparently that cost them £1,295 in fines. The outpouring of support has been immediate with Pink offering to pay their fines and encouraging them to “keep it up.” The Norwegian Handball Federation has agreed to pay the fines.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
15) DUP’s Arlene Foster joins GB News. According to Arlene, it’s an opportunity to “have a space for a civilised discussion in a meaningful way” and “to bring Northern Ireland into the mainstream of UK politics”.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
16) Marcus Rashford has asked that any remaining funds that were raised to repair the damage to his mural (after it had been vandalised by racists following Englands loss), be given to Fare Share Greater Manchester, the food charity helping to provide school kids with meals over the summer.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
17) Ben & Jerry’s decide to boycott Israeli occupied Palestinian territory.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
18) Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) loses libel case. A young Syrian school boy who was viciously attacked by EDL supporters after they’d been stoked up by ‘Tomeh’ has won his libel case. The court has ordered Yaxley-Lennon to pay £100,000 in damages plus legal fees (estimated at around £500,000).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Spotlight is 100% independent. Our content is free for all to read and share and we also prefer to stay advert free. If you appreciate this content then please consider supporting Spotlight by subscribing or making a one off donation. You can take out a monthly subscription for as little as £1 a month or you can make a one-off donation if you prefer.
