Northern Ireland poverty
17 Mar 2022
A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report published on 16 March tells us that as Northern Ireland entered the pandemic, nearly one in five people lived in poverty, including over 100,000 children. 1 in 14 households are in food insecurity, and the recent spike in energy prices, and wider inflation. People in workless families, disabled people, carers, and people in ethnic minority households have much higher poverty rates. So people across Northern Ireland need the new Executive to focus on whether to reverse or partly mitigate the impact of the £20 per week cut to the basic rates of Universal Credit. It could also match benefit up-rating more effectively to the cost of living. A targeted payment, such as the Scottish child payment, would reduce child poverty. The Executive could also consider the role that DLA/PIP can have in helping disabled people into the labour market, including considering how the administration of payments could be redesigned with dignity and poverty reduction at their heart.
Concerns over Scotland’s £5bn Covid funds
17 Mar 2022
A detailed analysis of where almost £5bn of Covid business funding went is not possible due to gaps in data, a spending watchdog has found. The Scottish government provided £4.4bn in grants and business rates relief between the start of the pandemic and October 2021. A further £375m was announced following the emergence of Omicron last winter. Although the speed and scale of the rollout helped to safeguard thousands of jobs and businesses, Audit Scotland was unable to determine where all the money ended up. It also identified gaps in information about how quickly applicants received funding. Auditor general Stephen Boyle said, ‘Knowing where the money went matters’. Information to enable wider analysis of how funding supported groups, such as female-owned businesses, is not available from centrally held data. The Accounts Commission said that councils' fraud arrangements are generally robust, but during the pandemic they were severely relied upon.
Yachts with links to oligarchs
17 Mar 2022
The department of transport has blocked yachts from leaving Britain over suspected links to oligarchs, and ships linked to Russia have been turned away or redirected when attempting to enter British shores. Grant Shapps told the House of Commons, ‘I can confirm that we are investigating yachts moored in this country we suspect are linked to Russian oligarchs. I have taken steps to ensure that they are unable to depart, and investigations are ongoing. Ten Russian-linked ships have been turned away or redirected on their course. Eight ships or their companies have severed their Russian ties.’ Data from Marine Traffic, a global intelligence group, shows yachts owned by oligarchs are on the move, and sailing out to sea. Anti-corruption activist Bill Browder said, ‘No self-respecting oligarchy exists without a yacht. What we're seeing now is an escape on the high seas.'
Another rise in Interest rates
17 Mar 2022
On 17 March Interest rates rose again for the third time in four months to counter higher prices and calm the rise in the cost of living. It means interest rates are now at their highest level since March 2020, when the Covid pandemic began. Energy bills and food costs are increasing and there is concern the war in Ukraine will push prices up further. Inflation, the rate at which prices rise, is currently 5.5%, well above the Bank of England's 2% target. The Bank expects inflation to reach 8%, possibly higher, in coming months, and cited rising prices and strong employment as the reasons for the latest rise. About two million households will see an immediate increase of about £26 a month to a typical tracker mortgage, and £16 to a typical standard variable rate mortgage.
Ukraine: far-right and anti-Semitism
17 Mar 2022
One of Vladimir Putin’s often-repeated aims is to ‘denazify’ Ukraine. On the face of it, this is absurd, not least because President Zelensky is himself Jewish. Labelling political enemies ‘Nazis’ is also a common political ploy in Russia. Putin’s destructive actions - among them the devastation of Jewish communities - make clear that he is lying when he says his goal is to ensure everyone’s welfare. However, even if his claims may seem absurd propaganda, Ukraine has more neo-Nazi groups than any nation. The best-known of these is Azov, an all-volunteer ultra-nationalist military unit of around 900 which unofficially is part of the parliament.
Russia recruiting mercenaries
17 Mar 2022
Russian social media and private messaging groups are recruiting a brigade of mercenaries to fight in Ukraine alongside the army. The BBC interviewed a serving mercenary and former fighter linked to Russia's leading mercenary organisation who gave details of the recruitment campaign. He said many veterans of the secretive Wagner organisation were contacted on a private Telegram group a few weeks before the start of the war and invited to ‘picnic in Ukraine’, with references to tasting ‘Salo’, a pork fat traditionally eaten in Ukraine. The message appealed to ‘those with criminal records, debts, banned from mercenary groups or without an external passport’ to apply; plus ‘those from the Russian-occupied areas of Luhansk and Donetsk republics and Crimea are cordially invited’. The Wagner group, a most secretive Russian organisation, officially does not exist. Serving as a mercenary is against Russian and international law. Recruits are placed in units under officers from the GRU (Russian military intelligence unit).
The world has been watching what is happening in Ukraine with shock and sadness. Thousands across the USA are taking to the streets to show their support, including a large group who gathered recently in Virginia Beach. For many who attended, the war is personal. Hundreds marched along the oceanfront with signs, songs, and desperate prayers to raise awareness and funds to help Ukrainians who are right now fighting not just for their country, but for their very lives. ‘Every day we text him and make sure he's alive!’ said 32-year-old Olga who was born and raised in Ukraine now living in Virginia Beach with her husband. She marched with her parents, who came to America two months ago. Her twin brother is still in Ukraine.
The South Africa Council of Churches (SACC) has launched a national indaba (conference with indigenous tribes) to engage interested parties to find solutions to tensions over foreigners living and working in South Africa. Bishop Mpumlwana said they must create ‘a national process towards a stable national environment where the growing lawlessness over non-South Africans can be addressed before it spills into a broader decline of the rule of law, through “justifiable” acts of public frustration.’ He said that deep poverty gnawing at the lives of the economically excluded majority of South Africans is behind murmurings that ‘non-South Africans are stealing our jobs’ and sporadic acts of brutal violence against foreigners. ‘It is a manifestation of the failure of democratic South Africa to achieve the promise of the post-apartheid South Africa. The failure to achieve this causes a mentality that grips poor communities without hope’. he added.