Tweet

The New Statesman

Mar 16 • 7 tweets • 6 min read

Angela Rayner asks "whether the lazy comments of the Prime Minister worsened the situation" in regards to the detainment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Follow this thread for video updates from #PMQs

@AngelaRayner

"Is there any time he overruled or ignored direct advice from the British security services?"

@AngelaRayner replaces Keir Starmer in #PMQs today as she squares off against Dominic Raab.

Read Kate Mossman's interview with Rayner here: newstatesman.com/katemossmanint…

@AngelaRayner

"British intelligence reportedly warned against the granting of peerage to the Prime Minister's close friend and now Lord Lebedev of Hampton and Siberia" - @AngelaRayner in #PMQs

Read an analysis of why Lebedev is a headache for the Conservatives here: newstatesman.com/politics/conse…

@AngelaRayner

"It shouldn't matter how much champagne and caviar he served."

@AngelaRayner presses further on the issue of oligarch influence over the Government in #PMQs.

Read more here: newstatesman.com/politics/conse…

"The Prime Minister has gone cap in hand from one dictator to another" - #PMQs

Read an analysis of the UK's reliance on foreign oil here: newstatesman.com/comment/2022/0…

@MattWestern_

"What first attracted the Prime Minister to the Billionaire Russian oligarchs?"

@MattWestern_ questions the PM's choice of tennis partner in #PMQs

Read more here: newstatesman.com/world/europe/u…

@Ianblackford_MP

"I shouldn't have been sending letters to the authorities in Ukraine and Poland, the Home Office should."

@Ianblackford_MP challenges the Government's response in accepting refugees from Ukraine, in #PMQs

Read more here: newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @NewStatesman

The New Statesman

@NewStatesman

Mar 16

@cheesemanab

"As Russian forces unleash terror on Ukraine, fragile economies in the Middle East – many battered by war – face a new backlash from the Russian president’s adventurism: a push into even deeper food insecurity." | Writes @cheesemanab
newstatesman.com/world/2022/03/…

In many Arab economies, bread makes up the majority of calories consumed; its cost is a political issue.

Globally, food prices are at their highest since 2011, when a surge in the cost of living helped trigger the Arab Spring.

Read 12 tweets

The New Statesman

@NewStatesman

Mar 16

"The question often asked about Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is: why? The answer lies in geography, history and personality." | Writes Tim Marshall newstatesman.com/world/europe/u…

"According to many Western intellectuals the end of the Cold War was supposed to usher in an era of peace and prosperity... It was a poor reading of history."

"Those who argued that war was an anachronism in 21st-century Europe are having to face the limitations of reasonable engagement with an unreasonable violent power. Underpinning Putin’s rationale for his criminal invasion of Ukraine is an appeal to nationalism."

Read 14 tweets

The New Statesman

@NewStatesman

Mar 15

Across the country, Britons are preparing to host Ukrainian refugees. newstatesman.com/world/europe/u…

A new scheme called “Homes for Ukraine” was announced on Monday by Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, whereby individuals, community groups, charities and businesses can put Ukrainians up for six months.

From parishioners in the Cornish village of St Mabyn to anarchist squatters occupying a sanctioned oligarch’s Belgravia mansion in the hope that it could be repurposed to house refugees, a variety of volunteers have mobilised.

Read 14 tweets

The New Statesman

@NewStatesman

Mar 15

In the face of Russia’s indiscriminate attack, Ukrainians’ care for their animals is an act of defiance. newstatesman.com/world/europe/u…

Over the past few weeks, many fleeing refugees are using an extra suitcase in order to carry their cat or dog to safety.

Photos of countless refugee cats and dogs being clung to by the newly displaced are now in circulation. In one particularly striking instance, a family took turns to carry their large, elderly German Shepherd the last 17km to the Polish border.

Read 9 tweets

The New Statesman

@NewStatesman

Mar 14

We have long known what oligarchy and kleptocracy meant in theory, but Russia’s savagery is forcing the UK into a national moment of recognition.
newstatesman.com/culture/books/…

So how exactly does the UK prop up Putin’s gangster state?

🟥Firstly, Slapps (“strategic lawsuits against public participation”) - intimidatory actions brought against journalists for reporting on the business dealings of Russian oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich and their associated entities.

Read 16 tweets

The New Statesman

@NewStatesman

Mar 14

Scotland's official embrace of literature reveals much about its comfortably stuck political culture, cosily immured from an increasingly illiberal world. newstatesman.com/ideas/2022/03/…

Nicola Sturgeon loves books. It says so on her Twitter bio, with her picture against a wall of colourful hardbacks.

The virtues of reading are also key to the government Sturgeon leads. There is a First Minister’s reading challenge, a nationwide project to “develop reading cultures” and encourage reading for pleasure.