Walk through central Beijing today and one thing quickly becomes apparent: foreigners are back. They are taking photos outside the Forbidden City and sitting in cafes around Gulou and Sanlitun. The shift is visible online, too; YouTube is increasingly filled with videos titled “China Shocked Me” or “My First Week in China”. Most of the…
In the next few months, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will make one of the highest-profile decisions in its 29-year history: whether to send the conviction of Lucy Letby for the murder of seven babies, and attempted murder of seven others, back to the court of appeal. Given the level of interest in this…
While a drama student in London at the time of the Festival of Britain in 1951, Paddy (Patricia) Greene worked as a conductor on the No 38 bus, as did her great friend Alan Bates. They would wave from the rear platform when they passed each other in Piccadilly Circus. Through Bates, she was later…
The Ali Lmrabet case deserves careful consideration. Not because it definitively closes the debate on freedom of expression in Morocco, but because it could mark a turning point. For many years, cases involving journalists or opponents critical of the government have often fueled the concerns of human rights defenders. Public opinion has become accustomed to…
Mercifully for a prime minister whose defenestration was swift and brutal after Labour’s catastrophic local election results in May, Sir Keir Starmer’s valedictory week has offered several opportunities to point to what he got right. Sir Keir’s steadfast record in corralling international support for Ukraine – and ensuring Britain stayed out of Donald Trump’s illegal…
It’s a story that warms the heart and lifts the soul: last week, Virgin Media was fined a record £28m by Ofcom for repeatedly preventing customers from cancelling their contracts. Its methods were insidious: deliberate call-dropping, unnecessary call transfers and constantly putting customers on hold. For anyone who has experienced the mental anguish of attempting…
The Covid-19 inquiry’s procurement report and the Hillsborough law are not accidental companions. The same movement of bereaved families, many of the same lawyers and the same ideas connect them. In both cases the movement for justice was driven by ordinary people who refused to let institutions control the account of their own failures. That…
Morocco continues to take new steps in recognizing and valorizing its cultural diversity. The recent appearance of Tifinagh, the official alphabet of the Amazigh language, on the new Moroccan biometric passport is a striking illustration of this. From now on, the information on this official document is written in Arabic, French, and Amazigh, bearing witness…
Andy Burnham will walk into No 10 on 20 July to a bulging in-tray of policies, proposals – and problems. One he may be less aware of is a ticking political timebomb launched by David Lammy in his role as justice secretary, which could affect millions of people who have chosen not to marry. Under…
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is not personally responsible for the mess that the government finds itself in with regard to the release from prison of Shabir Ahmed, who was a ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, earlier this month. Ahmed, who has spent most of his life in the UK, was stripped of British…
