junesim63

junesim63, 6 hours ago to Israel

"After seven months of enabling Israel’s large-scale destruction of Gaza...Biden finally took a step toward accountability by suspending one shipment of bombs. But within days, it became clear he would allow Israel to receive a far larger flow of weapons.

Biden will go down in history as a president who had the power to restrain Israel, but refused to use his influence effectively – and allowed the US to be complicit in a ruthless war"
Mohamad Bazzi

#Biden #Israel #Gaza
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/20/biden-weapons-israel-gaza-war

junesim63, 22 hours ago to random

I prefer to call this the Fascist International.

"International far-right leaders, including France’s Marine Le Pen, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Argentina’s Javier Milei, came together in Madrid to rail against socialism and “massive illegal migration”

Other visitors included Israeli minister Amichai Chikli, André Ventura, the leader of Portugal’s far-right Chega party, and the Chilean far-right leader José Antonio Kast.

Lovely.

#Fascism
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/19/european-far-right-leaders-gather-ahead-of-eu-elections

junesim63, 21 hours ago to humanrights

The Rwandan government has barred Clementine de Montjoye, a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, from entering the country, prompting accusations that officials are seeking to dodge independent scrutiny just weeks before the UK government is due to send asylum seekers there for the first time.

#HRW #Rwanda #HumanRights #AsylumSeekers

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/19/rwanda-denies-entry-to-senior-human-rights-researcher

junesim63, 2 days ago to random

He's been a very good boy this morning. It only took two of us and some Dreamies to take his temperature at the vet, and he only growled once (as would I if someone stuck an implement up my bum).
He's had a virus infection, but he now has a clean bill of health. So it's a good #Caturday today.

junesim63, 2 days ago to UKpolitics

The Labour Party has been accused of “disgusting” behaviour towards a Palestinian man who lost his family in Gaza, after refusing to reveal what information the party has gathered on him.
Police dragged Dalloul Neder out of a Labour fundraising event attended by the party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, in January, after he held up a picture of his late mother and told the audience: “I lost my family in Gaza… I want to show you my mum.”

#LabourParty #Gaza #UKPolitics
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/freedom-of-information/labour-accused-racism-palestinian-dalloul-neder-angela-rayner-subject-access-request-gaza/?_kx=Y6Jr9DX7uTfIhCWL5xh7Xk6toSLI9GmA13iML-VdLDs.YjCYwm

junesim63, 3 days ago to random

Home Office officials fear the number of migrants deported on the first Rwanda flight could be in single figures because of legal challenges.

The concerns are believed to be behind moves to expand the scheme to include ALL failed asylum seekers on top of the initial cohort of 5,700 migrants so far earmarked for deportation.

Given Rwanda only has room for a few hundred currently, this is arrant nonsense and performative cruelty.

#AsylumSeekers #Rwanda #HomeOffice

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/16/fewer-10-migrants-first-rwanda-flights-officials-fear/

junesim63, 3 days ago to random

Graham King, an Essex businessman who won government contracts paying his firm £3.5m a day for transporting and accommodating asylum seekers has been named among the 350 richest people in the UK.

Profiting from misery the UK way.

#SundayTimesRichList #AsylumSeekers #Billionnaires

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/17/british-asylum-housing-tycoon-breaks-into-sunday-times-rich-list

junesim63, 3 days ago to random

John Woodcock, formerly a Labour MP & now a crossbench peer, has prepared a review of “far-left” involvement in disruptive protest, including activism against climate change & war. At the same time, he has been chairing & advising lobby groups representing arms manufacturers & fossil fuel firms.

Woodcock gained his peerage for his part in smearing Corbyn. He resigned from Labour to avoid investigations of sexual assault allegations.
A nasty little grifter.

#Protests
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/government-adviser-on-disruptive-protest-accused-of-conflict-of-interest?CMP=firstedition_email

junesim63, 3 days ago to Futurology

In the Financial Times today:

"Britain’s debt-laden water utilities are being encouraged by the regulator Ofwat to set up new privately financed companies to deliver billions of pounds worth of critical infrastructure such as reservoirs, treatment works and pipelines, which will be paid for through customer bills"

Outrageous. Nationalise them without compensation and abolish Ofwat, which is totally compromised.

#Water #Privatisation #Ofwat #PFI
#UKPolitics
https://archive.is/K408y

junesim63, 4 days ago to india

"A defining feature of life in India today is the suffocating atmosphere of menace and threat to critics of the government. Shah is the face and embodiment of this fear, which lurks everywhere, from the newsrooms to the courtrooms, and which inspires a sense of alarm that is bigger than the sum of the facts and anecdotes that can be amassed to illustrate it"

Chilling long read on the rise of Amit Shah, Modi's right-hand man.

#India #BJP #AmitShah #Fascism

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/amit-shah-narendra-modi-right-hand-man-india

junesim63, 4 days ago to Israel

"Adnan Al-Bursh was the head of the orthopedic wing at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. During the war, he had to wander from one hospital to the next, as they were all destroyed by the IDF. He has not been back to his home in Jabalya since the start of the war, and last December all trace of him disappeared. Recently, it transpired that he had died in an Israeli jail, apparently due to the torture of beatings during interrogation"
New from Gideon Levy

#Israel #Gaza #Torture
https://archive.is/UafQq

junesim63, 5 days ago to Israel

"This is not the life of any normal human being. There is nothing: no water, no food, no health care, not even a toilet. My children ask me if they could just have potatoes but we have no money now. All we have is canned food distributed [by the United Nations],” she said.

“My children have already had flu, and fevers, and hepatitis. They are weak now, and there aren’t enough antibiotics, so I’m very worried.”

#Gaza #Israel #Rafah #AlMawasi #WarCrimes #Genocide

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/15/no-water-food-health-care-toilet-desperation-deepens-in-gazas-camps

junesim63, 5 days ago to random

United Utilities failed to stop pumping millions of litres of sewage into Lake Windermere for 10 hrs in February & didn't report it to the Environment Agency until 13 hours after it started.

The pumping station is only permitted to discharge untreated sewage into Windermere if it’s overwhelmed by rainfall or snowmelt.

And therein lies the bigger problem: allowing privatised water companies to pump raw sewage into waterways & lakes at all.

#Sewage #Windermere #England
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv266nqq48xo

junesim63, 5 days ago to ghana

Interview with agroforestry researcher John Tennyson Afele about the rapidly declining forest cover in Ghana.
#Ghana #Africa #Forests #Cocoa #Agriculture #Environment

Ghana’s forests are being wiped out: what’s behind this and why attempts to stop it aren’t working
https://theconversation.com/ghanas-forests-are-being-wiped-out-whats-behind-this-and-why-attempts-to-stop-it-arent-working-229739

junesim63, 6 days ago to Palestine

"I wear the traditional black and white scarf to celebrate my heritage. That’s enough to make you a target in the US today"
Arwa Mahdawi

#Keffiyeh #Palestine #USPolitics

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/14/palestinian-keffiyeh-symbol-of-my-identity-should-not-be-afraid-to-wear-it-public

junesim63, 6 days ago (edited 6 days ago) to random

The b@stards at the #HomeOffice issued new guidance yesterday on detaining asylum seekers for deportation to #Rwanda.

You can be forcibly sent to Rwanda if your asylum claim has been refused, withdrawn, or treated as withdrawn (which catches anyone in hiding or not turning up to sign on).

However, now you can be detained if you have no ongoing claims or appeals, which catches anyone in the process of appealing but whose solicitors have not yet filed the claim.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/662b66431179821456b81e5e/Safety+of+Rwanda+guidance+MEDP.pdf

junesim63, 6 days ago to Israel

Israeli forces have carried out at least eight strikes on aid workers’ convoys and premises in Gaza since October 2023, even though aid groups had provided their coordinates to the Israeli authorities to ensure their protection.
Israeli authorities did not issue advance warnings to any of the aid organizations before the strikes, which killed or injured at least 31 aid workers and those with them.

#Israel #Gaza #AidWorkers #WarCrimes #HRW

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/14/gaza-israelis-attacking-known-aid-worker-locations

junesim63, 6 days ago to humanrights

Some good news.

"Today, a High Court Judge declared key provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Police Act 2022), which gave police the power to ban Gypsies and Travellers from an area for up to 12 months under sections 60C, 61 and 62A of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, as incompatible with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights"
#Gypsies #Travellers #HumanRights #UKPolitics

https://www.gypsy-traveller.org/news/high-court-declares-parts-of-police-act-2022-in-breach-of-european-convention-of-human-rights/

junesim63, 6 days ago to random

"In the latest local elections, the Greens took more seats from the Conservatives than from Labour (32 to 31). It’s the second wave of a dramatic surge: in May last year, three-quarters of the party’s gains were from the Tories across the south, south-east & east of England. Much of this was in picturesque areas where, says Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay, locals feel “overlooked” or “left behind”.
#GreenParty #UKPol

‘True blue’ turns Green as party rides countryside wave
https://archive.is/42FDK

junesim63, 6 days ago to Palestine

Today at 4.30pm, MPs will debate whether to offer a family reunion scheme for Palestinians living in the UK with families trapped in Gaza.

There’s still time to write to your MP with the tool below & ask them to attend & speak up for Gaza families.
HT Zoe Gardner

#Gaza #Palestine #FamilyReunion
#UKPolitics
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/gazafamily

junesim63, 6 days ago to australia

"It is a stain on Australia’s reputation that some of its soldiers have been accused of war crimes in Afghanistan, and yet the first person convicted in relation to these crimes is a whistleblower not the abusers,”

Daniela Gavshon, Human Rights Watch Australia Director

#Australia #Afghanistan #WarCrimes #HumanRights #Whistleblower

Army whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is sentenced to prison"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-australian-afghanistan-melbourne-army-b2544584.html

junesim63, 6 days ago to UKpolitics

The number of international students paying deposits to study at UK universities has “plummeted” after Rishi Sunak put restrictions on education visas.
Now Sunak is under pressure from ministers to abolish the graduate visa route entirely. Ludicrous short-sightedness, just to appease rightwing headbangers.

#Universities #UKPolitics #InternationalStudents #StudentVisas

International student numbers in UK dive after graduate visas tightened
https://archive.is/Wkf00

junesim63, 8 days ago (edited 8 days ago) to Cats

Has anyone had experience of a cat with hay fever?
For a week now, Copper has been intermittently sneezing, with red eyes, runny but dry nose, wheezing and lethargic. He's still eating heartily, doesn't have a temperature, and everything else is normal.
He improves overnight when I keep him in, which makes me think it's an external stimulus.
He loves being outdoors so I don't want to deprive him.

Edit: Muting as thread has been hijacked. Thanks to all who offered genuine advice.

junesim63, 8 days ago to disability

Contrary to recent Tory spin, the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) is rejecting 40% of all Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims.

Shockingly, these include:

50% with cerebral palsy
25% of amputees
40% with muscular dystrophy
45% with multiple sclerosis

This government continues its war on the disabled and vulnerable, purely to appeal to that portion of the electorate which has been taught to believe disability is a scam.

#Disability #PIP #DWP #UKPolitics

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/12/claims-conditions-personal-independence-payments-disability-benefits-cancer-arthritis-amputees?CMP=GTUK_email

junesim63, 9 days ago to UKpolitics

Thousands of migrant care workers have been threatened with deportation, despite doing nothing wrong, after the Home Office took enforcement action against their employers.
In 94% of cases, the reason for the cancellation was that the company that hired them had its right to sponsor workers revoked.

Ludicrous, when we're desperate for care workers in the UK.

#CareWorkers #Migrants #MigrantWorkers #HomeOffice #UKPolitics

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/11/migrant-care-workers-told-to-leave-uk