EXC w/@TomCalver2: Wealthy areas are avoiding lockdown despite having higher COVID-19 rate than poorer areas under measures
This is warning of public health director for one of Lancashire's biggest councils in leaked memo to govt
Risks "double whammy" of Covid & more inequality
Eg. Rishi Sunak and Robert Jenrick's seats are not currently subject to lockdown measures
However, they have higher coronavirus infection rates than areas that are
This is consequence of a lack of standardisation. There is no cases threshold beyond which measures are imposed
@SteveReedMP: "We're at a critical stage in our fight against this virus. It is crucial the public have maximum confidence in the decision-making process. That can only happen with far greater transparency from Whitehall and council leaders in the room when decisions are taken"
More in tomorrow's ST
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EXCLUSIVE 🚨 The Sunday Times has obtained "black box" data from a tracking device inside the Mercedes rental car used by Akbar Shamji — a suspect in the case of teenager Zac Brettler's death.
We have used its GPS data to create minute-by-minute reconstruction of his movements on the night.
It shatters his story and shows he lied to police repeatedly during their investigation.
Met had the data, but failed to analyse it in depth, so never confronted him about inconsistencies, such as his claim he was at home during fatal fall:
Former bankrupt crypto investor Shamji and gangster Dave Sharma were the last people to see Brettler alive.
They confronted him about money they felt he owed them before he jumped off a 5th floor flat opposite MI6 headquarters.
A coroner delivered an "open verdict" meaning his death was suspicious but its cause unknown.
Before and after his death, Shamji was driving a rental vehicle fitted with a state-of-the-art tracking device, whose data we have analysed over several months.
He told police he went home hours before Brettler's fatal jump at 2.24am. In fact, he was in the same building. He had returned after taking call from Sharma and suddenly speeding back at 80 km/h. He went upstairs and remained alone with Sharma for 11 minutes.
Data shows other striking details such as detour over Vauxhall Bridge just after he had gone down to the river by foot and "looked for Zac" in the water.
Here's a vintage example of FOI vandalism I've been dealing with.
The department: David Cameron’s Foreign Office.
The subject: David Cameron’s lobbying career.
🧵
In January 2023, Cameron visited Sri Lanka.
While there, he met the president twice. Once at his residence. Another time at lunch with the British ambassador.
Within months, he was being paid to drum up investment for Port City Colombo, a highly controversial Chinese infrastructure project.
It is part of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative. Critics believe it could become a military base.
In November 2023, shortly after Cameron’s appointment as foreign secretary, I asked the Foreign Office for copies of:
1) any notes or memos about the former PM’s trip to Sri Lanka 2) any correspondence with his team beforehand
I specifically asked for any emails from/to Laurence Mann, Cameron’s long-term adviser who was involved in the Greensill scandal and who now works for the Foreign Office.
Under law, I was supposed to get a response within 20 working days. In other words, by 21 December.
I was privileged to know Zac Brettler when he was a little boy.
Following @praddenkeefe's investigation into his death, I spoke to his extraordinary parents.
Today, they give The Sunday Times previously unpublished evidence about the night their 19-year-old jumped from a balcony after a confrontation with a gangster.
It poses huge questions of the Metropolitan Police. Like crime-scene photos of the blood-like smears detectives somehow did not swab or test... (1/6)
The king's cousin fixed a private jet and luxury safari holiday for Oleg Deripaska while he was sanctioned by the US
Lexi Bowes-Lyon - NY-based Brit at US charity - did so in 2021, years after Putin ally sanctioned by America thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-…
Her employer, UK and US registered charity Space for Giants, says: “We are not in a position to confirm or deny that Space for Giants has or has not breached US sanctions in relation to the 2021 safari given that no competent authority has ever ruled on this."
The charity was questioned as part of a DOJ/FBI investigation into Deripaska sanctions violations
It says it cooperated as “witness"
It will not say if it disclosed involvement of US team in Deripaska holiday
US persons face 30 years in prison for dealing with sanction people.
A post-script on David Warburton, the disgraced Tory MP who has quit after being accused of sexual assault or harassment by three women
(He also took cocaine and a secret £100k loan from a Russian he lobbied for)
On Sunday, he did a sit down interview in the Mail on Sunday. 1/
In it, he presented himself as a victim - and lashed out at the woman who accused him of assault. He was, he said, the victim of a set up. A sinister plot.
The outgoing MP said his accuser spoke fluent Russian - inflaming his fears of "Russian infiltration".
2/
The suggestion of Russian influence is not new.
Last year, in fact, hours after we published the story, the MoS splashed its own extraordinary "exclusive".
Namely, our story with the added claim that a "Foreign Communist Party" (!!??) may have released the material. 3/