Judge in rugby brain injury lawsuit tells legal teams to hurry up as cases drag on
The judge overseeing the pretrial phase of the two landmark litigation cases about brain injuries in rugby has issued another rebuke to the legal teams on both sides over their lack of progress.Senior Master Jeremy Cook started the latest round of case management hearings by reminding both the defendants and the claimants that “it won’t have escaped anybody’s notice that some of these claims are now over five years old, and we haven’t made much progress”.Since the cases involve claims of degenerative brain diseases, Cook said, time is at a premium.He has told both sides to provide him with written updates between now and a scheduled case management hearing in October, when both sides will be required to have identified their lists of 28 lead claimants from among the hundreds involved.The idea is these 28 will then be whittled down into a smaller group, who will represent the entire cohort.
Cook said that the case was unique and as such requires “utmost cooperation between the parties” instead of the “usual sort of kickabout” between them,Despite that, Matthew Phillips KC, representing the claimants, warned that the case is “probably headed for an almighty battle in August” over the ongoing issue of whether or not the claimants have complied with their disclosure obligations,Many of the claimants in the rugby league case in particular have been living with the grim possibility that after all this time their claims may yet be struck off if their legal team cannot satisfy the court that they have complied with the judge’s onerous order to disclose all available medical records to the defence, a process which, Phillips says, “will take at least two years and millions of pounds”,Cook insisted that he did not want the hearings to get “sidetracked” by this issue, which has dominated the past year of the proceedings, but it increasingly feels as if the defendants in both league and union believe it is crucial to the case,The claimants’ legal team say they are on top of the situation and that they will be able to comply with the deadline for disclosure set this summer.
The Rugby Football League has also failed to disclose records in its possession relating to the international playing careers of the men and women involved, and Cook noted that what was “sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”,The rugby union case is further along, with one last remaining point of contention being the defendants’ need to set out in detail the particulars of breach of duty they claim was committed by World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union,“We need to know what it is you allege should have been done by what point in time,” Cook said,“There’s been far too much looking down the telescope the wrong way, explaining why we can’t do things, the telescope needs to be turned around so we can concentrate on what can be done,”Sir James Dyson, meanwhile, has acquired a 50% ownership stake in Bath and will become co-owner alongside the current chairman Bruce Craig.
The company Dyson has sponsored Bath since 2014 but this is the first personal investment of the founder, who has been a fan of the club for more than 45 years.
Bank of England expected to raise UK interest rates twice this year to fight inflation shock from Middle East crisis – business live
City traders are betting that the Bank of England will raise UK interest rates at least twice this year, to combat the inflationary hit from the Middle East crisis.The money markets are now fully pricing in a quarter-point rise in Bank rate, to 4%, by June.A second hike, to 4.35%, is fully priced in by September.These implied interest rates are volatile today, though
Oil and gas prices jump after Iran and Israel attack gasfields
Gas prices jumped to four-year highs and oil prices rose again after an escalation of attacks by Israel and Iran on gasfields heightened fears of prolonged disruption to international energy supplies.On Thursday, QatarEnergy told Reuters Iran had damaged facilities that produced 17% of the state-owned company’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity and that it would take three to five years to repair them.Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 8% to $116 a barrel. Crude prices have soared by 60% since the US-Israeli war on Iran started on 28 February.European gas prices jumped, with the Dutch wholesale gas price up 24% at €68 a megawatt hour, the highest since the end of December 2022
Essex police pause facial recognition camera use after study finds racial bias
Essex police have paused the use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology after a study found cameras were significantly more likely to target black people than people of other ethnicities.The move to suspend use of the AI-enabled systems was revealed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates the use of the technology deployed so far by at least 13 police forces in London, south and north Wales, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Surrey and Sussex.The ICO said Essex police had paused LFR deployments “after identifying potential accuracy and bias risks” and warned other forces to have mitigations in place. LFR systems are either mounted to fixed locations or deployed in vans. In January, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced the number of LFR vans would increase five-fold, with 50 available to every police force in England and Wales
US startup advertises ‘AI bully’ role to test patience of leading chatbots
Imagine a day at work where your main task is to pick a fight with a computer. No meetings, no emails – just you, a chair and a chatbot with the maddening tendency to think it has the cleverest mind in the room.The job title alone raises an eyebrow: “AI bully”. But this is precisely what a California startup called Memvid is offering: $800 to spend eight hours testing the patience and memory of artificial intelligence.“You’ll spend a full eight-hour day interacting with leading AI chatbots – and your only job is to be brutally honest about how frustrating they are,” the company’s job listing states
Striking gambit: Erling Haaland invests in new world chess championship
Erling Haaland has become a significant investor in a new world chess championship tour that is expected to star his fellow Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the Guardian can reveal.The deal was agreed shortly before Manchester City played at West Ham last Saturday, with Haaland shown on Sky Sports wearing a Norway Chess cap as he entered the London Stadium – without anyone noticing.Haaland said that his investment in the Total Chess World Championship Tour, which will have an annual prize pool of $2.7m (£2m), was part of his ambition to help chess become a bigger and more spectator-friendly sport.“Chess is an incredible game,” Haaland said
Prem ‘train’ returns with Saracens looking for instant lift at Bath
Remember the Prem? It’s been in hibernation almost as long as your tortoise. The last sighting of England’s elite men’s domestic league was on 24 January but now, finally, it is re-emerging from the shadows of the Six Nations, starting under the Friday night lights at the Rec where second-placed Bath are hosting sixth-placed Saracens.It has certainly felt like a protracted hiatus, even if the lower-profile Prem Cup has taken up some slack. And with only eight regular season rounds remaining every would-be playoff contender has no choice but to hit the ground running. As Bath’s head coach, Johann van Graan, says: “It doesn’t really matter what you’ve done before
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