Reform UK suspends mayoral candidate over comments on Jewish group
Reform UK has suspended one of its key mayoral candidates after he described members of a Jewish neighbourhood watch group as “cosplayers” and likened them to “Islamists on horseback”,Chris Parry, who had remained the mayoral candidate for Hampshire despite a previous controversy in which he said David Lammy should “go home” to the Caribbean, made the latest comments on Monday about Shomrim, a volunteer group that safeguards communities including Orthodox Jewish families,The former rear admiral was condemned for comments made when he retweeted a post on X by Catherine Blaiklock, a co-founder of the Brexit party, hours after news emerged of an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity in London,“Can Christian’s [sic] in Britain set up their own police and patrol certain neighbourhoods?” said Blaiklock, who posted a picture of a number of Shomrim vehicles,Parry shared the post, adding: “Remember that these cosplayers have no more jurisdiction or legal authority than ordinary citizens.
”When he was challenged over the original post’s characterisation of Shomrim, Parry replied: “They are a community organisation, not a legal entity,It’s the same with Islamists on horseback,”When contacted by the Guardian after news that he was being dropped and would be investigated, Parry said that was not what he understood and that he was “mid-Atlantic”,A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Chris Parry has been suspended by Reform UK pending investigation,” The party has also suspended his mayoral candidacy.
Shomrim has worked alongside Hatzola, the charity ambulance service that was targeted by arsonists early on Monday morning and provides emergency medical response and transportation to hospitals for both Jewish and non-Jewish people,Shomrim’s president, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, described Parry’s comments on Monday as “ignorant” of the organisation’s work, adding: “It shows a level of bias and ignorance which I’m surprised at given that this is a politician who aspires to be a mayor,”Parry, who is also the honorary president of Veterans for Reform, a group that brings together ex-military personnel supporting the party, had been set to stand in the Hampshire and the Solent mayoral contest in 2028,He had apologised for his “clumsily worded” post on X about Lammy in January after saying the deputy prime minister, who was born in London to Guyanese parents, should “go home to the Caribbean” where his “loyalty lies”,Nigel Farage had expended political capital on defending Parry, describing some of his past comments as “a bit rich” but insisting he was “intensely patriotic” and had given enormous service to the UK.
However, the latest controversy appears to have tipped the Reform UK leader over the edge as he faced being questioned about Parry’s latest comments at a time when Jewish communities are reeling after the arson attack in Golders Green and Reform is preparing for elections in May.The party now faces having to find a new candidate to replace Parry for the Hampshire and the Solent mayoralty, a new post created after a new combined authority was agreed by the government.Reform would have been in a strong position to win.The Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesperson, Max Wilkinson, had called on Farage earlier in the day to drop Parry.He later said: “This is a good start, but Farage has some way to go.
There are serious questions to answer as to how this candidate got approved in the first place.”Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP who wrote to Farage about previous comments attributed to Parry, including calling female MPs “harpies”, said: “It should not take repeated incidents for basic standards of decency to be upheld.”
Royal Mail owner pushes back against criticisms that service has declined
Daniel Křetínský, the Czech billionaire who bought Royal Mail’s parent company for £3.6bn last year, has insisted that service has not declined under his ownership, despite heavy criticism of late deliveries and price rises.In a defensive and sometimes impassioned performance in front of MPs on the business select committee, Křetínský said he was “deeply sorry” for any letters that arrive late.Since his takeover, Royal Mail has battled trade unions over working conditions, raised first-class stamp prices from £1.70 to £1
Crispin Odey: I can’t remember telling female employee ‘I could attack you now’
Facing a litany of questions over sexual harassment allegations that have left his career in tatters, the hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey has told a court he does not remember cornering a female employee after a boozy lunch and saying to her “I could attack you now”.The 67-year-old made the comments during his first day in the witness box as part of a three-week court case that Odey hopes will overturn the City regulator’s decision to ban him from the UK’s financial services industry.Odey, who appeared in the London courtroom wearing a pink tie and braces, said that while he remembered the employee as an “attractive girl”, he did not recall the alleged incident, which lawyers for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said had been recorded in the employee’s diary.The entry referring to Odey, dated 24 January 2020, said: “Comes back from boozy lunch and corners me in the corridor. Him: I could attack you now
Baltimore sues Elon Musk’s AI company over Grok’s fake nude images
The mayor and city council of Baltimore, Maryland, filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI company on Tuesday, alleging that its Grok chatbot violated consumer protections by generating nonconsensual sexualized images.Baltimore’s lawsuit argues that xAI deceptively marketed Grok as a general-purpose AI assistant and X as a mainstream social media site, failing to disclose the risks, limitations and exposure to harm that come with using the platform and chatbot. The suit, filed in the circuit court for Baltimore city, argues that the court has jurisdiction over xAI given that the company advertises and operates in Baltimore.“Grok has flooded the feeds of Baltimore’s X users with NCII (non-consensual intimate imagery) and CSAM (child sexual abuse material),” the city’s complaint states. “Grok further exposed Baltimore residents to the risk that any photograph they uploaded – of themselves or of their children – could be ingested by Grok and transformed into sexually degrading deepfakes without their knowledge or consent”
Protect men and boys from manosphere influencers, Labour MPs tell Ofcom
Men and boys need as much protection as women and girls from harmful influencers and “the worst parts of the internet”, a group of MPs have told Ofcom as they called for the regulator to give specific guidance to online platforms.More than 60 Labour MPs have written to the Ofcom chief executive, Melanie Dawes, urging her to protect men and boys from “manosphere” influencers who may expose them to gambling, sextortion and violent pornography.The Online Safety Act forced Ofcom to give tech platforms guidance on how to tackle “harmful content and activity that disproportionately affects women and girls”, but MPs argued that men and boys are also targeted in specific ways.According to the Gambling Commission, 53% of 11- to 17-year-old boys see gambling adverts online each week, compared with 31% of their female peers, while 91% of sextortion victims are male, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.Alistair Strathern, the MP for Hitchin and a co-chair of the Labour group for men and boys, said the Louis Theroux documentary Inside the Manosphere was “another reminder of a particular way some of the worst of the internet can prey on young men and boys”
World Cup-winning captain Johnson urges England to think about summer break for players
England’s legendary World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson says the current management should consider resting key players this summer to boost the chances of history being repeated in Australia next year. Johnson was among several senior squad members who did not tour Argentina in the buildup to their 2003 global triumph and suggests a similar policy could assist England’s 2027 campaign.In 2002 England beat the Pumas 26‑18 in Buenos Aires with only eight of their subsequent World Cup-winning squad involved. Johnson is fully aware that post-game recovery and conditioning techniques have moved on significantly but believes the current captain, Maro Itoje, and others require careful handling if they are to prosper in 2027.“If it’s the right thing for a guy who’s just had a big Lions tour to have a summer off and not go on the trip, that’s just managing your player with the World Cup in mind,” said Johnson, who also led a British & Irish Lions squad to Australia in 2001
Ben Duckett pulls out of £200,000 IPL deal in bid to save England Test spot
Ben Duckett has pulled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League and now faces a three-year ban from the tournament after deciding he needs county cricket to shore up his place in England’s Test team.The opener was signed by Delhi Capitals at the IPL auction in December in a deal worth £200,000 and, with the competition starting on Saturday, he was due to miss the first two months of the English season.But a combination of a poor Ashes series – playing all five Tests in the 4-1 defeat for a highest score of 42 – and heavy travel after reserve duties at the recent T20 World Cup has convinced Duckett to turn out for the county champions Nottinghamshire instead.“It was a very difficult decision, and I want to apologise to everyone at Delhi that I won’t be coming,” Duckett told the Telegraph.“I’ve spent a lot of time away from home in different places, and it felt like the best thing for me to do to be ready to play for England is to be here right now, at home, refreshing my mind and body
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