SubscriptionsCategory: UK Politics
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The Data Doesn’t Back Dorries on TV Licence Fee
The Culture Secretary has announced sweeping changes to BBC funding will mean an end to elderly people being threatened by the Beeb – but are elderly people really going to prison for not paying their licence fee?
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A Johnson Regicide: Another Great Political Escape?
Professor Chris Painter evaluates the prospects of the Conservative Party should Boris Johnson’s latest crisis of leadership prove terminal
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Best of Bylines Network: 14 January 2022
Byline Times provides a guide to the top stories this week on its sister network of regional sites promoting local writers and citizen journalism
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Sajid Javid Signs Off £1 Billion Private Health Windfall as MPs Sound Alarm
The Health and Social Care Secretary has agreed an ‘insurance policy’ with private providers, in breach of Treasury spending guidelines, reports David Hencke
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The Metropolitan Police is Complicit in Downing Street Law-Breaking
The Met has outsourced the decision on whether to investigate a crime into the hands of the institution accused of committing it, says Adam Bienkov
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Trafficking Victims Will Face ‘Trauma Deadline’ as a Result of Nationality and Borders Bill
Successive Home Secretaries have made ending modern slavery a priority – but new clauses in the Nationality and Borders Bill could make identifying victims harder, Sian Norris reports
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Back to School – But Will Johnson’s Omicron Gamble Pay Off?
Two weeks into the new school term, as omicron cases continue to spread, what’s the impact of the Government’s Coronavirus policy on teachers, pupils and school staff?
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The Highs and Lows of 2021: A Disabled Person’s Perspective
Penny Pepper shares some of the enduring inequalities and the memorable breakthroughs which characterised the past year for disabled people
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English Rivers Suffering From a ‘Chemical Cocktail’ of Contamination
A new report exposes the deteriorating condition of England’s waterways, highlights Stephen Delahunty
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Law Firm Raises Concerns Over Head of Downing Street Parties Inquiry
Questions are being raised about the past record of Sue Gray, reports Sam Bright
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‘The Met’s Reputation is More Important than My Safety’: Can the Sarah Everard Murder Inquiry Rebuild Women’s Trust in Policing?
Women’s groups have raised concerns that the narrow confines of the Angiolini Inquiry – combined with a failure to grapple with women’s safety – means lessons won’t be learned
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BBC Airtime Must Not be Squandered on Liars and Cranks
Former BBC reporter Patrick Howse explains why comments this week by the corporation’s head of editorial policy to a House of Lords committee are so concerning when it comes to the BBC’s mission to ‘inform, educate and entertain’
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5,664 People Died From COVID While Downing Street Held Parties
Thousands of people lost their lives on the days that Government ministers, advisors and officials flouted lockdown rules, Sam Bright reports
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The Programme Remains the Same: Beware the Post-Johnson Conservative ‘Reboot’
It’s not who leads the Conservative Party that we should worry about – it’s the Conservative Party itself, says Brian Cathcart
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Boris Johnson was Created by the Media Now Destroying Him
Prime Minister was swept into power, with little consideration for his suitability for the job, by the same forces now deserting him, reports Adam Bienkov
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Covering Their Tracks: The Flaws in the Downing Street Parties Inquiry
Sam Bright considers the potential conclusions of Sue Gray’s investigation into the Number 10 lockdown breaches
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‘Another Country – Not the One I Represented as a Diplomat for 30 Years’
Alexandra Hall Hall, who resigned from the Foreign Office over Brexit lies, now thinks the British malaise is much deeper than that or Boris Johnson
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Catch-22? Why the Nationality and Borders Bill Risks Failing on its Stated Aims
The Government’s New Plan for Immigration, as set out in the Nationality and Borders Bill, wants to deter people from making Channel crossings and support women and children – but will it do so?
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All the Lies Boris Johnson Told About the Downing Street Parties
The Prime Minister and his spokespeople told lie after lie about the gatherings held inside Downing Street during Coronavirus lockdowns, reports Adam Bienkov
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The Growing Regional Wealth Gap and Why it Matters
Sam Bright evaluates new data showing a growing divide between richer and poorer parts of the country
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The Taliban Protection Racket
As the Government launches a new Afghan Resettlement Scheme, desperate refugees expose the Taliban’s violence and their fears for families left behind
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The Colston Four: It is the Attorney General Who Seeks to Set a ‘Dangerous Precedent’
The four defendants were found not guilty of criminal damage for removing the statue of the slave trader in Bristol – the rule of law in Britain will be significantly eroded, says Gareth Roberts
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Building Back Botched
The Government’s housing and construction plans are failing to deliver the country’s housing needs, a new parliamentary report has found
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Best of Bylines Network: 7 January 2022
Byline Times provides a guide to the top stories this week on its sister network of regional sites promoting local writers and citizen journalism
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A Portrait of Broken Britain
Sam Bright explores the social, political and economic crises that have been stoked by successive Conservative administrations
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‘Corruption Plain and Simple’: Hidden Texts Reveal How a Conservative Donor Bought Access to Downing Street
The Prime Minister agreed to push plans for a post-Brexit ‘Great Exhibition’ during exchanges with Lord Brownlow about the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat
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Conservative Succession: The Failures of Liz Truss
Sam Bright examines the record of the Foreign Secretary, as she eyes-up Boris Johnson’s throne
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Rhetoric and Reality on ‘Levelling Up’ Don’t Match, Finds New Research
Thomas Perrett reports on findings by the New Economics Foundation which expose a significant problem with the Prime Minister’s flagship, if vague, policy
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‘A Deeply Dangerous Power Grab by the Home Secretary’: Conservative Peer Calls for Plans to Strip Citizenship Without Warning to be Scrapped
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi told peers that immigrants’ fears that future generations would be treated like outsiders and second-class citizens are not unfounded
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Why I’m Happy Answering to Subscribers Rather than Newspaper Tycoons
After 30 years working for rich, often tax avoiding press barons, Peter Oborne celebrates funding his ‘Boris Johnson Lies’ website through contributions from the public
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Boris Johnson’s Four False Claims at Prime Minister’s Questions
The Prime Minister was back to his old tricks behind the House of Commons despatch box for the first time in 2022, reports Adam Bienkov
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‘Refugees and Migrants Do Not Come From a Different World’
Malka Al-Haddad introduces a new magazine aiming to challenge stereotypes about refugees and migrants by showcasing their writing and editing and building a ‘bridge’ of understanding
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‘A Total Waste of Police Time’: Labour Rows Over Drugs Policy as Cannabis Offences Surge
New data shows a mounting drugs problem in England and Wales, while Labour and the Conservatives remain committed to status quo solutions, reports John Lubbock
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Politics For All and the Changing Face of News Media
Sam Bright investigates the suspension of the controversial Twitter account and speaks to insiders about the evolution of the platform. With additional reporting by Katherine Denkinson
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NHS Privatisation Represents the Pillaging of Our National Inheritance
The infiltration of private sector providers into state services amounts to the robbery of resources that belong to us all, says Rachel Morris
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Plans to Strip Citizenship Without Notice Must Kickstart A Popular Movement Against the ‘Hostile Environment’
Building opposition to the Government’s controversial Nationality and Borders Bill must go beyond a focus on its clause on citizenship deprivation, says Liam Shrivastava
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Otto English’s 2021 Round-Up: Part Three
Downing Street Christmas parties, Omicron, North Shropshire – the end of 2021 was a hellish one for Boris Johnson’s Government
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Otto English’s 2021 Round-Up: Part Two
Euro 2020, a manufactured ‘culture war’, anti-vaxxers, a rare resignation and the fall of Kabul – the summer of 2021 was an eventful one
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Otto English’s 2021 Round-Up: Part One
Brexit, Coronavirus, insurrection – the first five months of the year were packed with concerning developments on many fronts
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Settling Scores: The Private School Prime Minister Takes his Revenge
Author Richard Beard, who was sent to an English private school in the same year as Boris Johnson, explores why the politician’s time there explains his destructive approach to leading the country
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A Fellowship in Dark Times
A 2021 message from Byline Times’ co-founder and executive editor Peter Jukes
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The Silent Struggle Behind the NHS Waiting List
James Reid reports on the human face of pressures on the health service – which was already struggling for the past decade under austerity, before inevitably being impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic
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Tipping the Scales of Freedom: 2021 – The Year of Living Dangerously
Richard Haviland documents the multiple and manifest threats to rights of citizenship, free assembly and democratic accountability from a Government reliant on propaganda and disinformation
