In todays news...

[JackyJoll]

Who remembers George Galloway? He was a regular on the RT channel, so now Twitter has put “Russia state-affiliated media” on his heading. And he’s going to sue (fat chance)!

[irie]

Who remembers George Galloway? He was a regular on the RT channel, so now Twitter has put “Russia state-affiliated media” on his heading. And he’s going to sue (fat chance)!

Watching the court case might prove vaguely entertaining. Maybe.

[Saga Lout]

The UK leading the world on Ukrainian refugees - Ukrainian family abandon UK move after visa delays

A Ukrainian family has given up on moving to the UK after claiming their application took too long to process.

When the war in Ukraine started, Anton Mandziuk drove from his home in Rutland to the Polish border to collect his cousin and her family.

He then applied for them to live with him, but after weeks of waiting they have decided to go to Ireland instead.

A government spokesperson said they were moving as quickly as possible and had already issued almost 30,000 visas.

Lesha, her three daughters and six grandchildren fled their home in Ivano-Frankivsk on 5 March.

So far Ireland has taken in more than 20,000 refugees. How many has the UK grudgingly allowed in?

Is the answer "almost 30,000"?

[slowsider]

The UK leading the world on Ukrainian refugees - Ukrainian family abandon UK move after visa delays

A Ukrainian family has given up on moving to the UK after claiming their application took too long to process.

When the war in Ukraine started, Anton Mandziuk drove from his home in Rutland to the Polish border to collect his cousin and her family.

He then applied for them to live with him, but after weeks of waiting they have decided to go to Ireland instead.

A government spokesperson said they were moving as quickly as possible and had already issued almost 30,000 visas.

Lesha, her three daughters and six grandchildren fled their home in Ivano-Frankivsk on 5 March.

So far Ireland has taken in more than 20,000 refugees. How many has the UK grudgingly allowed in?

Is the answer "almost 30,000"?

According to the FT:
"as of Friday, entry has been approved for only 4,700 of 32,200 Ukrainian applicants."

[Saga Lout]

The UK leading the world on Ukrainian refugees - Ukrainian family abandon UK move after visa delays




So far Ireland has taken in more than 20,000 refugees. How many has the UK grudgingly allowed in?

Is the answer "almost 30,000"?

According to the FT:
"as of Friday, entry has been approved for only 4,700 of 32,200 Ukrainian applicants."

Lutin's BBC link says "almost 30,000 visas" have been approved.. I was replying to his question.

[irie]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... l-resting/

She’s richer than the Queen, but Rishi Sunak’s wife avoids UK tax as India is her ‘final resting place’

Akshata Murty, who has a personal fortune of around £725m, pays no tax on her foreign earnings because of her non-domicile status

I have Canadian citizenship and want Winnipeg as my 'final resting place', does that mean I can claim non-dom status?

Taxes might be higher than in the UK though, oops.

[slowsider]

Is the answer "almost 30,000"?

According to the FT:
"as of Friday, entry has been approved for only 4,700 of 32,200 Ukrainian applicants."

Lutin's BBC link says "almost 30,000 visas" have been approved.. I was replying to his question.

That suggests you believe what the govt says...

[Mussels]

According to the FT:
"as of Friday, entry has been approved for only 4,700 of 32,200 Ukrainian applicants."

Lutin's BBC link says "almost 30,000 visas" have been approved.. I was replying to his question.

That suggests you believe what the govt says...

Who else is going to tell you how many visas have been approved? Does the FT have another source or is it just out of date?

[slowsider]

Lutin's BBC link says "almost 30,000 visas" have been approved.. I was replying to his question.

That suggests you believe what the govt says...

Who else is going to tell you how many visas have been approved? Does the FT have another source or is it just out of date?

Lutin asked how many had been allowed in, not how many visas had been issued.

Are you standing in for irie today?

[Mussels]

That suggests you believe what the govt says...

Who else is going to tell you how many visas have been approved? Does the FT have another source or is it just out of date?

Lutin asked how many had been allowed in, not how many visas had been issued.

Are you standing in for irie today?

Is it not the same thing, does a visa not allow entry?

[JamJar]

Is it not the same thing, does a visa not allow entry?

The point is that out of the now 41 000 visas issued only 12 500 are for the "homes for Ukrainians" scheme amd the others are familial visas which Ireland and most if not all of Europe don't require. In fact only 1200 of the 12500 visas issued have made it here and there are 31000 still waiting for a visa.

[Horse]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61028712

Home Secretary Priti Patel has apologised for the "frustrating" visa delays which have prevented thousands of Ukrainian refugees entering the UK.

Just over a quarter of those Ukrainians granted visas - 12,000 - have reached the UK so far, Ms Patel told BBC News.

Would-be sponsors of refugees have criticised the bureaucracy and ensuing delays in the Homes For Ukraine scheme.

Home Office figures published on Friday show the government has granted 41,000 visas to Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Of the visas granted:

28,500 were issued under the Ukraine Family Scheme
and 12,500 under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme which allow people to sponsor Ukrainian refugees
In terms of arrivals into the UK:

10,800 have arrived under the family scheme
and 1,200 under the sponsorship scheme

[Trinity765]

https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/202 ... tjTxUWzxek

Three off-duty police officers banned from the road after motorbike crash.

Two crashed with a car and both suffered several injuries.

All three were given suspended prison sentences and now face misconduct proceedings, Sussex Police said.

PC James Latter, 32, of The Dewpond, Peacehaven, rode a blue Suzuki GSXR750 motorcycle dangerously on the B2146 and the B2141 near Chichester on Saturday 11 July 2020.

Fellow Lewes-based officer PC Alan Harris, 32, of Mountfield Road, Lewes, rode a grey Triumph Street Triple 675cc motorcycle dangerously on the same road.

He was also speeding, riding faster than 60mph, towards Chichester on the B2141, a single carriageway road in Chilgrove.

PC Ahmet Yapicioz, 55, of Ardsheal Close, Broadwater, Worthing, rode a blue BMW R1200 motorcycle dangerously on the B2146 and the B2141.

The B2141 is perhaps the nicest, fast road in Sussex. Awwwww sounds like they were having a lot of fun.

[irie]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/20 ... id-policy/

500 container ships stuck outside Shanghai as Xi's zero Covid policy wreaks havoc

If right then that's about 9% of the global fleet of 5,400 container ships! Given that Omicron looks likely to run rife throughout China it looks almost certain that we've seen only the tip of the iceberg of future supply chain issues.

[Mussels]

Unless China gives up on its zero Covid policy but that would require admitting failure, not looking good.
There are also reports of residents running out of food with the government deliveries failing, they need to do something different.
Global food prices rising and China's economy stalling is almost like China has placed sanctions on itself.

[Horse]

No idea how busy it would usually be, but now:

20220412_094213.jpg (289.45 KiB) Viewed 219 times

[Mussels]

Is the Ever Given in there somewhere?

[Horse]

Is the Ever Given in there somewhere?

There was a similar view either end of the Suez Canal when it was stuck.

[Horse]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61042598

Snippets

Nearly three million people around the world have multiple sclerosis. Scientists think they have now uncovered a mystery cause of this incurable disease. It is a virus that nearly every one of us can expect to catch. So what does it mean for treating and even preventing MS?


Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is so common that nearly all of us can expect to catch it during our lives. Most of us won't even notice, but the virus is famous for "the kissing disease", which is also known as either glandular fever or mononucleosis. EBV has been on the list of suspects for MS for decades, but definitive proof has been hard to gather because the virus is so common and multiple sclerosis is so rare.

The crucial piece of evidence has come from the US military, which takes blood samples from soldiers every two years. These are kept in the freezers of the Department of Defense Serum Repository and have proven to be a goldmine for research.

A team at Harvard University went looking through samples from 10 million people to establish the connection between EBV and multiple sclerosis.

Their study, published in the journal Science, found 955 people who were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and, using the regular blood samples, they were able to chart the course of the disease.

"Individuals who were not infected with the Epstein-Barr virus virtually never get multiple sclerosis," Prof Alberto Ascherio, from Harvard, told me.

"It's only after Epstein-Barr virus infection that the risk of multiple sclerosis jumps up by over 30-fold."

The team checked for other infections, such as cytomegalovirus, but only EBV had a crystal clear connection with the neurodegenerative disease.

The soldiers caught the virus. Then signs of injury to the brain - called neurofilament light polypeptide, which is essentially the rubble from damaged brain cells - started to appear in the blood. Then they were diagnosed with MS around five years after the infection.

[JamJar]

I had to check if it was April 1st but apparently this is not a joke:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61097114

Some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on small boats across the Channel will be given a one-way ticket to Rwanda, under new government plans.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is in the African nation to sign a deal for a £120m trial involving mostly single men arriving in Britain via crossings.

BBC home editor Mark Easton said ministers face significant legal hurdles and substantial costs.

Refugee organisations have criticised the plans as cruel and urged a rethink.

Labour said the plan was "unworkable, unethical and extortionate" - the Lib Dems said it would be expensive and ineffective.

Precise details of the plan are yet to be confirmed, but, reporting from Rwanda, Mark Easton said the trial would be restricted to mostly single men the British authorities believe are inadmissible.

Under the proposal, Rwanda would take responsibility for them, put them through an asylum process, and at the end of that process, if they are successful, they will have long-term accommodation in Rwanda.

The Rwandan government said migrants will be "entitled to full protection under Rwandan law, equal access to employment, and enrolment in healthcare and social care services".

The UK Home Office believes existing asylum law will be enough to implement the plan, but questions remain about the legality of the scheme.

Opponents have also said the annual cost of the full scheme would be far higher than the initial £120m payment.