Toby Young gets a peerage.

Here's a few of his very Lordship-worthy moments. Misogyny
Toby Young faced backlash for calling female MPs "uglier than reality TV contestants" & making crude remarks about Carol Vorderman.
📢 "Had my first 'Vorder Moment' watching Carol Vorderman unveil a new letter on Countdown"

1/ I have serious concerns about lenient sentencing in the UK’s court martial system, particularly in cases involving sexual offences against children. Some recent cases highlight troubling patterns of justice. 🧵 2/ In 2023, an Air Specialist (Class 1) from RAF Brize Norton was found guilty of:
- Attempted sexual communication with a child
- Creating an indecent photograph of a child
- Possessing extreme pornography

The sentence? He was just “admonished.” A formal reprimand.

A massively undereported story: 🧵
1/ US arms giant Raytheon Technologies to pay almost $1,000,000,000 in fines after defrauding the US Department of Defense (DoD) & bribing a Qatari military official.
aoav.org.uk/2024/us-arms-g… 2/ RTX inflated contract costs for Patriot missile systems and radar services, causing the DoD to overpay by $111M. This is a major breach of trust between the Pentagon and one of its key contractors but isn't getting any traction in the US media ⚠️💸

🧵 THREAD: Why Higher Capital Gains Tax Can Boost the Economy

1/ Higher capital gains tax might seem counterintuitive for growth, but it can actually strengthen the economy by addressing long-standing imbalances. Here's how 👇 2/ Reduced Wealth Inequality: Capital gains disproportionately benefit the wealthiest. By raising taxes on these gains, Labour can begin to redistribute wealth and invest in public services—education, healthcare, and infrastructure—that benefit everyone. 💰➡️🏫🏥🚇

.@airwars has found that in the first month of the war, the Israeli military published footage of 17 strikes where more than 400 civilians were reported killed.

The Killings They Tweeted

🧵1/

idf-tweets-gaza.airwars.org Israel has shared more videos of its airstrikes in Gaza than any modern military, showcasing "precision strikes." But the reality? Many civilians were killed, and the footage doesn’t show who or what was targeted. It’s a message of "trust us." 2/

Israel’s Actions in Gaza Violate International Disability Rights Protections

1/ In 2006, the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights for all persons with disabilities, especially during times of conflict. 2/ Article 11 of the CRPD requires states to take "all necessary measures" to protect and ensure the safety of persons with disabilities in situations of armed conflict.

🧵 THREAD: the ECHR is the Epitome of British Justice

1/ The European Convention on Human Rights, so criticised today, is a product of British legal thought and leadership. After WWII, the UK created a document to safeguard freedom, democracy, and the rule of law across Europe. 2/ Winston Churchill, a (arguably selective) advocate for human rights, was at the forefront. He believed Europe needed a legal framework to protect people from tyranny. The ECHR was part of that vision, with British values at its core.

Tracking Gaza’s war death toll: Ministry of Health improves accuracy in latest casualty report
New report for @aoav from @Michael_Spagat aoav.org.uk/2024/tracking-… 2/ The Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) has released a detailed list of 34,344 Gazans reportedly killed since October 7, reflecting a significant improvement in casualty reporting accuracy. #Gaza

🧵 The Ministry of Justice has been accused of hiding the full extent of racism within British prisons. An investigation by me for @bylinetimes reveals that data on racism complaints isn't centrally collected. This raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability.
bylinetimes.com/2024/09/09/min… 2/ The MoJ says data on complaints of racism is kept locally by individual prisons, not collected centrally. This refusal to reveal the numbers, citing costs, raises fears that racial discrimination is more widespread than admitted.

1/ Gaza's War, marked by intense violence and profound human suffering, has led to great scrutiny of casualty recording procedures. Michael Spagat from Royal Holloway, University of London explains overlooked data patterns here for @aoav
Thread explains...
aoav.org.uk/2024/has-inter… 2/ At the war's onset, the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) meticulously documented casualties using hospital morgue records, capturing detailed info like name, age, sex, and ID number. This system's transparency allowed cross-referencing with Gaza's official population register.

1/ A British charity, UK Friends of The Association For The Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (UKAWIS), is being investigated by the Charity Commission: its fundraising videos seem to show footage of Palestinians being killed.
My story for @BylineTimes
🧵
bylinetimes.com/2024/01/08/uk-… 2/ UKAWIS, based in London, is dedicated to supporting Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers. Their website features a video showing a Palestinian reportedly throwing an object and then being blown up, followed by air strike footage.

1/5 🚨 Conservative Chairman Graham Brady caught in tax haven controversy 🏝️✈️ Brady received £19,000 in free trips to the Cayman Islands, seeking access to Foreign Office ministers for a senior Cayman official. #TaxHaven #GrahamBrady 2/5 📧 Emails released under FOI reveal Brady's attempt to connect Cayman Islands' Eric Bush with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Lord Goldsmith. 🤝 #CaymanIslands #FOI #ForeignOffice

*BREAKING*
1/ Today I got confirmation that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has found the UK Cabinet Office breached the Freedom of Information Act by failing to search former adviser Dominic Cummings’ private emails for information requested under the Act. 2/ The initial request was made by myself, working with @allthecitizens and @BylineTimes, because I wanted to know the number of messages Cummings sent on WhatsApp on 7 September 2020, in his role as Chief Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson

1/ 🚨 New analysis by @AOAV reveals at least 29 civilians were killed in 9 RAF airstrikes in Iraq & Syria between 2016-2018, 10 more civilian deaths than previously concluded. RAF only accept one civilian death during this period. #RAF #CivilianCasualties

aoav.org.uk/2023/10-more-c… 2/ 📊 AOAV's investigation cross-referenced 950 strike reports from RAF press releases with Pentagon airstrike data, Airwars data, & AOAV's explosive violence monitor. The strikes occurred between March 2016 & March 2018, with five in Iraq & four in Syria, mostly around Mosul.

1/5 📢 Lord Justice Haddon-Cave leads an independent inquiry into alleged unlawful killings by UK armed forces in Afghanistan. Focusing on night raids by special forces, it aims to restore the military and the country's reputation. #AfghanistanInquiry

https://twitter.com/AOAV/status/1638516962903851008

2/5 🕵️ The inquiry follows legal challenges by Leigh Day, investigations by AOAV and BBC Panorama, and will assess the adequacy of Royal Military Police investigations, credibility of information, potential cover-ups, and lessons learned. #Accountability

The latest data released by the federal government show that the US’s life expectancy declined for a second year in a row in 2021, to its lowest level in more than 25 years. From about 79 years in 2019, it fell to around 76, the sharpest two-year decline in nearly a century. The decline among American Indian and Alaskan Native people is particularly striking: their life expectancy fell from 71.8 years in 2019 to 65.2 in 2021, close to the national average during the Second World War