NEW: Former US Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chief and Four Star General Colin Powell has died follow complications from Covid 19. He was America’s first African American Secretary of State. cnn.com/2021/10/18/pol…
Powell was 84. Before the election of President Barack Obama he was the highest ranking African American political figure in US history (later sharing the distinction with his successor, Condoleezza Rice).
President Obama issues a statement on Secretary Powell’s death: “He understood what was best in this country, and tried to bring his own life, career and public statements in line with that ideal.”
And from his successor as a Secretary of State: “Today our nation mourns the passing of a truly great man.”
Keir Starmer: "It's 3 years since the govt promised an online safety bill but it's not yet before the House. Meanwhile the damage caused by harmful content online is worse than ever." Asks PM to commit to bringing forward 2nd reading of bill before end of 2021.
PM slightly unclear, says it will "complete its stages" by end of the year. But says he's delighted by Starmer's expressions of support to get the bill through.
Starmer says he's determined to conduct this exchange in a "collegiate spirit"
There are important things to be said about civility in politics and our public life. It’s also important to ask whether that’s germane to what happened on Friday.
Depending on what emerges about the details, there are clearly questions to be asked and debates to be had about the role of radicalisation and what has happened with the security services with regards to this particular case and others. Likewise security of MPs and why more...
...wasn’t done after murder of Jo Cox.
Danger is we don’t focus on those by talking about civility which though important probably doesn’t really address the matters at hand in this case.
Second time I’ve been sent to cover the murder of an MP. Even thinking about that is shocking.
Local residents’ association chair tells me: “usually the worst crime around here is someone taking their bins out early. We just can’t believe it. The entire community is completely heartbroken.”
3 months ago I FOI govt for their estimate of the costs to fully repair all of the buildings under 18m affected by the building safety scandal (and not eligible for govt support). They defer and defer and defer and three months later confirm they have the info but are rejecting.
This is on the grounds that the info is part of the "policy making process"- which is odd, because it's a simple figure.
And clearly in the public interest to know it. Because if we did we could have a better idea of the total sum with which leaseholders are having to face.
We're so far into this scandal and we still can't be sure exactly what we're looking at because there is still so little concrete information in the public domain.