Ukraine officials to boycott Winter Paralympics opening ceremony over Russian athletes
Ukraine’s sports minister has condemned the decision to allow six Russians and four Belarusians to compete under their nation’s flags at next month’s Winter Paralympics as “disappointing and outrageous” and said Ukraine officials will not attend the opening ceremony or other official events as a result.“The flags of Russia and Belarus have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect,” said Matvii Bidnyi in response to the International Paralympic Committee’s decision on Monday.“These are the flags of regimes that have turned sport into a tool of war, lies and contempt.In Russia, Paralympic sport has been made a pillar for those whom Putin sent to Ukraine to kill – and who returned from Ukraine with injuries and disabilities,” he added.Russia’s flag and anthem has not been heard at an Olympics or Paralympics since Sochi in 2014 because of the state-sponsored doping scandal and the invasion of Ukraine.
However, in September the IPC lifted its ban, before confirming on Monday that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete.Bidnyi urged the IPC to reconsider its decision before the Games begin on 6 March.“Athletes and para-athletes in Russia glorify the war and receive state honours,” he said.“That is why Ukraine imposed sanctions on sports propagandists, the Paralympic Committee of Russia, and its president, Pavel Rozhkov.“Giving them a platform means giving a voice to war propaganda.
When the Russian flag is raised on the international stage, it becomes part of Russia’s propaganda machine,” he added,“It sends a message to the world that the war is ‘normal’,No, it is not normal,It is deeply outrageous that officials of the IPC refuse to understand this,”Of the decision to avoid the opening ceremony, Bidnyi added: “We will not be present at the opening ceremony.
We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events.We thank every official from the free world who will do the same.We will keep fighting!”The Russian news agency Tass says that Aleksey Bugaev, a three-time Paralympic champion in alpine skiing, along with cross-country skiers Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian, who are both world championship medallists, have been given invitations to Milano Cortina.All three returned to competition in January and both Bugaev and Bagiian have since won World Cup titles, raising the strong possibility that Russia’s anthem will be heard next month.The UK’s culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, also urged the IPC to think again, saying it had made “completely the wrong decision”.
“Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal invasion of Ukraine continues sends a terrible message,” Nandy wrote on X.“The IPC should reconsider this decision urgently.”Meanwhile, on Monday the owner of Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk said he had donated more than $200,000 to the skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the Winter Olympics for wanting to wear a “helmet of memory”, depicting 24 athletes killed in the war with Russia.The amount is equal to the prize money Ukraine pays athletes who win a gold medal at the Games.
Nigel Farage unveils Reform UK frontbench team and warns over dissent
Nigel Farage has unveiled the first part of Reform UK’s frontbench team, saying it shows that the party is no longer reliant entirely on him – while also warning that he will not tolerate any dissent from his colleagues.Two of the four appointees are recent defectors from the Conservatives: Robert Jenrick, who takes on the Treasury brief, and Suella Braverman, whom Farage has put in charge of education, skills and equalities.Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, who before Jenrick’s arrival had been expected to have the Treasury role, has instead been handed a combined brief of business, trade and energy. Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy and the only one of the quartet not in parliament, has been given the home affairs and migration brief.Farage said the emergence of this team, with more posts to be announced soon, should end criticism that he runs a “one-man band”
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Norfolk council leader pulls out of long-awaited devolution deal over election U-turn
A Norfolk council leader has accused the government of “bullying” her local authority into postponing elections in return for extra funding and powers, as she pulled out of long-awaited devolution deal for the county.Kay Mason Billig, the Conservative leader of Norfolk county council, said she would no longer take part in local government reorganisation (LGR) or devolution plans in the area, saying the council could not participate in that and simultaneously hold elections.Her announcement came after the government scrapped plans to postpone local elections at 30 councils in England undergoing reorganisation, in the face of a legal challenge from Reform UK.There are concerns the election U-turn, which will see officials scrambling to organise ballots in time for polling day in May, could throw plans for the biggest council shake-up in 50 years into disarray.“Words fail me for describing the mess the government have created with their election hokey cokey,” Billig said
Keir Starmer buys personalised silver cufflinks given by Trump on state visit
Keir Starmer has bought a pair of personalised silver cufflinks which were given to him by Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, according to the latest transparency records.The cufflinks, which were worth more than £140, were an official gift from the Trumps during the US president’s second state visit last September. They were the second gift from Trump that Starmer has chosen to buy, having paid for a personalised necklace last year.Official rules say the government should keep ministerial gifts worth more than £140 unless the minister in question decides to pay the value over that limit.Downing Street would not reveal the exact value of the cufflinks, which are understood to have been purchased as a gift for the prime minister’s son
UK politics: Farage insults female reporter as Braverman says Reform UK wants to scrap Equality Act – as it happened
Anna Gross from the Financial Times asked a two-part question at the press conference: about whether Reform UK would create an Ice-style migrant deportation unit, and about all five of the people on the platform having been educated at private schools.Nigel Farage responded. He said sarcastically that he “loved” the FT; the day after the Mandelson story broke, its front page carried a story about a Reform councillor in Kent, he said. He said there was no point addressing Gross’s question. “Just write some silly story,” he told Gross
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