6:51 am, September 3, 2022
Liz Truss criticised by police chief as UK waits for leadership ballot results
Liz Truss faced fresh criticism as the ballot to pick the UK’s next prime minister closed, with a police chief describing some of her policies on law and order as ‘meaningless’.
Chief constable of Dyfed-Powys Police, Richard Lewis, wrote in The Guardian that while some of the leadership frontrunner’s proposals might make ‘attractive headlines’, such ideas are ‘meaningless without further explanation from the Tory leadership hopeful’.
‘Police performance is complex, and, despite Truss’s view that chief constables of “failing forces” should appear before the national policing board (a meeting that does not enjoy legal status) to account for poor outcomes, well-established methods to improve underperforming forces already exist through the police performance oversight group,’ he said.
‘There is also an inherent contradiction between Truss’s call for government intervention on the performance of any given police force and the localised role of police and crime commissioners (a Conservative creation, after all).’
Russia’s Gazprom keeps gas pipeline to Germany switched off
Russian energy giant Gazprom said Friday that it cannot resume the supply of natural gas through a key pipeline to Germany for now, because of what it said was a need for urgent maintenance work, just hours before it was due to restart deliveries.
The Russian state-run energy company had shut down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Wednesday for what it said would be three days of work. It said in a social media post on Friday that it had identified ‘malfunctions’ of a turbine and added that the pipeline would not work unless those were eliminated.
Germany’s economy ministry said it had ‘taken note’ of Gazprom’s latest announcement and would not comment on it directly, but added that ‘we have already seen Russia’s unreliability in recent weeks’ as they continued their efforts to reduce the country’s reliance on Russian energy imports.
1.6m care home residents, staff and housebound first in line for Covid booster
Hundreds of thousands of care home residents, staff and housebound people in England will receive their autumn coronavirus vaccine booster from Monday, with millions more people in line in the coming weeks.
Health teams will visit care homes and private homes to vaccinate around 1.6m residents, staff and housebound people in the latest phase of the vaccine rollout, NHS England said. They expect to visit hundreds of care homes in the first week, with thousands more to follow.
An additional four million people will be able to book their booster jabs from Wednesday, as well as health and social care staff who do not work in care homes.
Nasa ready for second attempt to launch Artemis 1 moon mission
Nasa will try to launch its latest moon rocket on Saturday after a failed attempt earlier this week.
Initially planned for August 29, the launch had to be abandoned moments before lift-off due to a temperature problem in one of the engines.
Nasa is now targeting 7.17pm (BST) for the launch of Artemis 1, the first integrated test of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft, and the ground systems at the agency’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The test is an uncrewed mission around the moon that will pave the way for a crewed, flight test and future human lunar exploration as part of Artemis.
Harry and Meghan to touch down in UK for first time since Jubilee
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are back in the UK this week for the first time since returning for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Harry and Meghan will appear at events in London and Manchester, as well as jetting off to Germany to mark the one year countdown to the Invictus Games.
It is not known what day the couple will arrive on British soil, or if they will visit the Queen in Balmoral, but it is thought unlikely they will bring their children Archie and Lili on the working trip.
Ferrari 250 GT TdF awarded best in show at Salon Prive
A 1956 Ferrari 250 GT TdF Berlinetta by Zagato has been awarded Best of Show at this year’s Salon Prive Concours d’Elegance presented by Aviva, and which took place at Blenheim Palace.
Owned by David and Ginny Sydorick, the 250 GT TdF is one of just five Ferrari 250 GT long-wheelbase chassis cars designed by Zagato. Chassis 0515GT was originally built for one of Ferrari’s best customers, Vladimiro Galluzzi. Galluzzi raced the car extensively during the 1956 season, before selling it to racing driver Luigi Taramazzo. It was eventually retired from racing at the end of 1958. The V12-powered lightweight model has an elegant coachbuilt body with Zagato’s trademark double-bubble roof.
Salon Prive chairman, Andrew Bagley, said: ‘Once again, Salon Prive has attracted the cream of the crop for its Concours d’Elegance, with some truly exceptional motor cars presented for judging. As we mark Ferrari’s 75th anniversary, it’s extra special that our overall winner should be a Maranello product, and one that took our collective breaths away: David and Ginny Sydorick’s 250 GT TdF perfectly embodied the style and emotion behind the Ferrari brand, and was impeccably presented, too, as were all our trophy winners.’
Friday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Auto Trader says there is no crash in sight as used car prices rise again
- Polestar sees sales go through the roof with further boom expected as France lifts ban on brand
- BMW Park Lane books £4.9m loss for 2021
- Motors.co.uk to give away a brand new car as it partners with Radio X’s prize dump competition
- Steve Catlin jumps from VW Group to Volvo to head up financial services arm in UK
- Dealer group Chapelhouse creates more than 30 new jobs with redeveloped Blackpool Suzuki site
Emily Maitlis: Andrew ‘told everyone he was happy’ with Newsnight interview
Emily Maitlis has said after her Newsnight interview with the Duke of York he ‘told everyone he was happy’ and the palace felt it had been ‘firm but fair’ but she does not feel they anticipated how the public and press would react.
During the November 2019 interview, Andrew was grilled over his relationship with the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the interview went on to win the scoop of the year at the Royal Television Society Awards in 2020.
The journalist told The Times she does not feel guilty that he steppe d down from public life following the broadcast and the furore over his friendship with Epstein. Maitlis revealed that ‘almost no one knew except the Queen’ about the interview in advance and that she thought he had ‘guts’ for agreeing to speak to them.
Bus fares in England to be capped at £2
Bus journeys in England will be capped at £2 from January to March next year, the government has announced.
The move, announced by transport secretary Grant Shapps, will see the price of a single bus journey in England capped at £2 for three months amid growing concerns about the cost of living this winter.
According to the Department for Transport, the £60m plan could see some passengers save more than £3 per single bus ticket. The Department said the average fare for a three-mile journey is around £2.80, meaning that passengers will now save 30 per cent of the price every time they travel.
Weather outlook
Bands of heavy rain for most of the country today, reports BBC Weather. The rain will push in from the southwest, although the north will hang onto sunny spells.
Rain will clear the south-east and north-east tonight but will still be around in western parts and Northern Ireland. Dry elsewhere.
