MPs security under review

The murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess on 15 October has once again put the spotlight on the safety and security of Members of Parliament. 

Amess, the member of parliament for Southend West, had been using the church on Friday to hold a constituency surgery. These meetings form the bedrock of British democracy, providing constituents with the opportunity to engage directly with the MPs they elect about issues that matter to them.

While many MPs will be thinking about how to balance their security with their ability to be accessible to their constituents, no doubt there will be some who will be contemplating their future as Members of Parliament. 

The home secretary, Priti Patel, said she is considering offering police protection for MPs at their constituency surgeries, as a review takes place to ‘close the gaps’ in security.

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long confirmed that MPs in NI have been contacted by the PSNI’s chief constable following the killing of Sir David Amess. 

Meanwhile, Infrastructure Minister Nicola Mallon has expressed deep concern for the safety and wellbeing of her constituency staff after her office was targeted by anti-vaccine protesters last Monday.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell dies

Colin Powell, the US military four-star general who became the first African-American Secretary of State has died after contracting Covid-19, aged 84.

Mr Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H W Bush and Bill Clinton, before being made secretary of state under Republican president George W Bush.

He oversaw Operation Desert Storm during the first Gulf war, as Iraq annexed Kuwait and was also a driving force behind the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Announcing his death, his family said they had lost a “remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American”.

COVID-19 – UK’s early response worst public health failure ever

MPs on the Houses of Common’s Health and Social Care Committee and the Science and Technology Committee published their report into the UK’s handling of the early days of the Covid-19 crisis. The 150-page document, Coronavirus: Lessons learned to date, states that the UK’s failure to do more to stop Covid spreading early in the pandemic was one of the country’s worst public health failures. 

The government approach – backed by its scientists – was to try to manage the situation and in effect achieve herd immunity by infection, it said.

This led to a delay in introducing the first lockdown, costing thousands of lives, the MPs found.

The report did highlight some successes including the approach to the vaccination rollout, describing the research and development through to the rollout of the jabs, as “one of the most effective initiatives in UK history”.

Researchers at University College London have shared their findings into the accuracy of lateral flow tests, claiming that they are very good at detecting people most likely to spread Covid-19 and positive results should be trusted. 

Committee Investigating January 6th

The US Congressional Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection are taking aggressive steps in their efforts to hold members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle to account for the events on January 6

The committee announced on Thursday that it was moving forward to hold Trump ally Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena. Bannon was scheduled for a deposition in front of the committee last Thursday, but the committee received a letter from Bannon’s lawyer the day before saying that his client would not provide testimony or documents until the committee reaches an agreement with Donald Trump over executive privilege or a court weighs in on the matter.

On Friday President Biden received some pushback after saying that he hoped that the select committee would hold those who attempted to defy subpoenas to account criminally. When asked if the Justice Department should aid in that effort, Biden responded: “I do, yes.”

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger and a member of the investigating committee defended President Biden’s right to weigh in on the prospect of prosecuting those who defied their subpoenas. He also refused to rule out issuing a subpoena for Donald Trump as it seeks to obtain information from his allies.

2021 Earthshot Prize Winners announced

With less than two weeks to go until the beginning of COP26, the inaugural winners of the Earthshot Prize were announced in London on Sunday night. 

The prize, a Nobel-like award founded by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and renowned British naturalist David Attenborough, aims to inspire innovative solutions to the most pressing environmental challenges currently facing the planet. 

The prize, to be awarded to five winners every year until 2030, is billed as the most prestigious of its kind. Each winner will receive a grant worth 1 million pounds to develop and scale up their ideas.

2021 winners included the government of Costa Rica, which was honored for a project that pays local citizens to restore natural ecosystems, and the city of Milan, which was handed a prize for its Food Waste Hubs program, which recovers food from supermarkets and restaurants and distributes it to those in need.

Also published on Medium.