H
politics
H
HOYONEWS
HomeBusinessTechnologySportPolitics
Others
  • Food
  • Culture
  • Society
Contact
Home
Business
Technology
Sport
Politics

Food

Culture

Society

Contact
Facebook page
H
HOYONEWS

Company

business
technology
sport
politics
food
culture
society

CONTACT

EMAILmukum.sherma@gmail.com
© 2025 Hoyonews™. All Rights Reserved.
Facebook page

Starmer digs himself into a hole in Tirana while Tories froth about a flag | John Crace

1 day ago
A picture


During Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions, Keir Starmer said the Conservative party was heading for brain-dead oblivion.The very next day, the Tories screamed: “Hold my beer.You ain’t seen nothing yet.” They seem to look on the prime minister’s description as a challenge.One to which they are determined to rise.

Forget Ukraine and Gaza.Forget the growth and immigration figures.Come Thursday morning, the most pressing question on the minds of the shadow paymaster general, Richard Holden, and other Conservative MPs was their outrage that Downing Street would not be flying the Middlesex flag on Friday to mark Middlesex Day.Never mind that Middlesex barely exists any more.Never mind that almost no one but a few supporters of Middlesex county cricket club could even recognise the Middlesex flag.

Never mind that only about two people can even see the Downing Street flagpole, let alone care what flag it is flying,This was a major snub to the Middlesex regiment and its part in the Battle of Albuera during the peninsula war,A date that was on everyone’s mind,Clearly,“Keir Starmer would rather hoist the white flag of surrender,” thundered the increasingly unhinged Holden.

Not a day goes by when he does not thank his stars for the defeat of Napoleon.Yet another foreigner trying to subjugate the plucky Brits.Just like the EU.Give me strength.This was a stunt so ludicrous it was beneath even Reform.

The Tories sometimes wonder why they are no longer taken seriously by most of the country.They need wonder no more.While the Conservatives were having their very public psychiatric breakdown, Starmer was otherwise engaged on the latest round of his “island of strangers” immigration tour.If it’s Thursday, it must be Tirana, where he was off to meet the 6ft 7in Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, for a bilateral meeting and a press conference.The difference in height between the two men was marked.

Keir looked as if he was standing in a hole and was struggling to see over the lectern.This was the first time a UK prime minister had visited Albania and Rama was keen to express his gratitude.It was an honour, he said, and he was looking forward to ever closer ties between the two countries.Though maybe not quite as close as Keir would have liked, because Edi was keen to point out that Albania was not open to being used as a returns processing hub for other countries’ unwanted asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.The relationship with Italy was a one-off, Rama said.

One forged out of a special relationship between the two countries,A geographical and emotional intensity,He was too polite to mention that the deal had also stalled in the Italian courts,No point in upsetting anyone,So his ties with Giorgia Meloni were like a marriage.

And he wasn’t looking for any one-night stands with the Brits.Or anyone else, for that matter.This seemed to come as a bit of a surprise to Starmer.The simultaneous translation feed faded in and out and he tapped his earpiece to make sure he had heard correctly.Unfortunately for him, he had.

Most members of the media had been led to believe that one of the objectives of this first trip to Albania was to secure the outlines of a deal for a returns hub.This was all part of the government’s immigration express, after all.Now everything was rather more confused.Surely the UK prime minister hadn’t come to Albania a day ahead of the European Political Community summit just for a schmooze and to express solidarity over Ukraine?It rather looked as though Keir had done just that.Sounding rather more keen about returns hubs than he ever had in opposition – he’s desperate to offload immigrants somewhere – Starmer went into waffle mode.

He was talking to other countries about returns hubs.Just not Albania.That had never been on his list.Oh no.Though he couldn’t say exactly which countries he had in mind.

But fingers crossed and all that.Rama looked as if he was beginning to enjoy himself.This was all going a lot better than expected.Now he turned up the heat.Yes, there had been a high point of 12,000 Albanians arriving illegally in the UK via small boats in 2022.

But thanks to cooperation between the two countries that figure had been cut by 95%.So there were hardly any Albanians making the trip these days.So there was no problem.Only, there was for Keir.He hadn’t come to Tirana to praise the efforts of the previous government in cutting illegal migration.

But that was rather what he was forced to do.Though not in quite so many words.It had all been a lucky coincidence.The presser ended with an Albanian journalist demanding an apology from the Brits for our politicians’ negative portrayal of Albanians as all criminals.Edi came to the rescue.

It had only been some – viz Suella Braverman – he observed,And she and the Tories had got their comeuppance at the ballot box last July,So no hard feelings,Keir smiled gratefully,Edi continued.

Surely now was the time to celebrate the 100,000 Albanians who had legally settled in the UK and who paid their taxes and had integrated into society.Keir smiled less gratefully.A successful immigration story was not on the government’s news grid.He was in Albania to talk about Britain’s squalid history of immigration in the last 14 years.The incalculable damage that foreigners had done to the country.

Having to be nice wasn’t part of the script.He headed off to lunch.You win some, you lose some.Perhaps no one had been watching.Having a rather better day was Rachel Reeves.

It’s been one long run of bad news for the chancellor since last July, but on Thursday she learned that growth had risen unexpectedly by 0.7% in the first quarter of the year.So she was out and about, telling anyone who would listen.Fastest-growing economy in the G7.Everything was fine.

Top of the world, Ma,One in the eye for the Tories and Reform for talking the country down,Rachel should enjoy it while it lasts,With the imposition of tariffs, the next quarter is unlikely to look so rosy,
societySee all
A picture

Residents of Dorset village that inspired Thomas Hardy fight back against expansion

Thomas Hardy described his fictional village of Marlott as being in an “engirdled and secluded region, for the most part untrodden as yet by tourist or landscape-painter, though within a four hours’ journey from London”.But the Victorian realist would now barely recognise Marnhull, the real-life village in north Dorset upon which Marlott was based, and would probably be surprised to know his name is repeatedly invoked in official submissions arguing against its expansion.Nestled in the Blackmore Vale, the opening backdrop for Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Marnhull is a patchwork of hamlets with a hotchpotch of architectural styles, from Tudor manors and thatched cottages to postwar developments.In recent months, an acrimonious row has broken out over plans to build up to 120 homes, which residents fear will merely be “phase one” of a continuing, wider expansion of the picturesque village. The situation has underlined some of the tensions rising out of the Labour government’s drive to build more houses

about 20 hours ago
A picture

More protections have been added to assisted dying bill, says Kim Leadbeater

The bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people in England and Wales will be strengthened and made more workable by proposed changes, Kim Leadbeater, the MP behind the legislation, has said.As the House of Commons prepared to debate amendments, Leadbeater said fresh protections had been introduced to allow a further check on applications for assisted dying, and ensure doctors and others were able to opt out of involvement in the process.More than 100 campaigners on both sides of the assisted dying argument gathered outside parliament in a sign of strength of feeling about the issue.The bill, which passed its second reading by 55 votes, had been due to face another yes-or-no vote on Friday, the committee stage. But the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, granted more time for the debate, meaning the only votes will be on specific amendments

about 22 hours ago
A picture

‘Much-needed grit’ to be fostered in England’s schoolchildren, say ministers

Schoolchildren will be helped to develop “much-needed grit” for life beyond school with increased mental health support, the education and health secretaries have said.Writing in the Telegraph, Bridget Phillipson and Wes Streeting said they would expand mental health support in schools to nearly 1 million extra children in England.Asked what she meant by “grit” on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Phillipson said: “It’s about having the grit, the resilience, the ability to cope with life’s ups and downs, about the challenges that are thrown at you.“And young people today face many challenges, very different to the some of the challenges that I faced, and what I’m announcing today with the health secretary is that a million more young people will be able to access mental health support teams in schools.“That’s about getting in there early when young people are struggling, making sure they’ve got access to trained, qualified professionals who can help them manage all of this

1 day ago
A picture

Ministers ‘oblivious’ to UK’s scale of violence against women and girls, say MPs

Ministers appear to be “oblivious” to the true scale of harm caused by violence against women and girls and must do more to “reverse the worrying rise in misogyny”, MPs have said.Parliament’s cross-party public accounts committee heard evidence that women’s refuges were being forced to turn down 65% of requests for support amid soaring cases, while other dedicated services operating in communities were able to help only about half of those who requested it.Highlighting figures that showed at least one in 12 women each year were affected by violence and one in five recorded crimes related to violence against women and girls, the committee said the Home Office’s way of monitoring prevalence did not include all types of crime.The MPs also say it is a “particular concern” that in spite of evidence that the age range of those most likely to become a victim or perpetrator of sexual violence is between 11 and 20, the Home Office does not include under-16s in its information gathering.Launching the government’s promise to halve incidents of violence against women and girls within a decade last year, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “Our mission is for the whole of government, agencies, organisations and communities to work together

1 day ago
A picture

Starmer defends prison recall shake-up that will free some domestic abusers

Keir Starmer has defended plans that will release some domestic abusers on recall earlier in order to ease jail overcrowding in England and Wales as ministers faced a backlash over concerns for public safety.Under emergency measures announced by the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, some criminals serving sentences of between one and four years who breach their licence conditions will be returned to custody for only a fixed 28-day period.Offenders are recalled to prison if they commit another offence or, having been released early on licence, breach their conditions, such as missing probation appointments.A government source admitted that “many but not all domestic abusers” would be released under the scheme.Starmer told reporters while on a visit to Albania on Thursday: “I do not want to be in the position where we have this [scheme]

1 day ago
A picture

NHS gave private firms record £216m to examine X-rays in 2024

The NHS handed private firms a record £216m last year to examine X-rays and scans because hospitals have too few radiologists.The amount of money NHS organisations across the UK are paying companies to interpret scans has doubled in five years as demand rises for diagnostic tests.Despite the growth in privatisation, the NHS in England failed to read 976,000 X-rays and CT and MRI scan results within its one-month target – the highest number ever. Scans play a crucial role in telling doctors if a patient has cancer or a broken bone, for example.The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), which collated the figures from doctors across the UK, said the £216m given to private firms in 2024 was “a false economy” which it blamed on the NHS’s failure to recruit enough specialists to read all the scans patients have in its hospitals

1 day ago
foodSee all
A picture

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for courgette, onion and chickpea flour bake, or scarpaccia | A kitchen in Rome

2 days ago
A picture

How to turn old bread into a classic Portuguese soup – recipe

3 days ago
A picture

Chilli oil udon and salmon salad: Justin Tsang’s speedy noodle recipes for one

3 days ago
A picture

The cardamom conundrum: what’s the difference between green and black pods? | Kitchen aide

4 days ago
A picture

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for soy and peanut trout with smashed cucumber, radishes and beans | Quick and easy

5 days ago
A picture

Elly Curshen’s quick weeknight recipes for using up leftover greens, bread and vegetables

5 days ago