Category Archives: Uncategorized

New Reform UK Council Leader Calls Ukraine War ‘A Distraction’

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A new Reform UK council leader has called the Ukraine war a “distraction”.

Linden Kemkaran, named leader of Kent County Council a week after Reform UK’s sweeping victories in the local elections, appeared to downplay the impact of the largest conflict in Europe since World War 2.

Speaking after she was named as council leader on Thursday evening, she promised to remove the Ukrainian flag from the chamber.

Kemkaran told the BBC: “This is Kent country council. We are here to represent the residents of Kent.

“A foreign war being fought thousands of miles away is simply a distraction.

“We are here to serve the people of Kent. That’s what we were elected on. That is what we are going to do.”

The councillor said Ukrainian people are “amazing” who have contributed to British society, “but a flag doesn’t change any of that”.

Kemkaran continued: “You have to understand that we won a massive majority and we have absolute, ultimate control.”

She was chosen as the council leader from six potential candidates, after a total of 57 Reform councillors were elected.

But, when pressed about her plans for the council, she said: “This is my first day in a brand new job and you wouldn’t expect me to have all the answers.

“We are going to get the auditors to come in and take a leaf out of Elon Musk’s book and appoint some sort of DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] to go through everything in detail and find out where the money is being spent and whether we can make any changes and make life better for the residents.”

When Yusuf first announced Reform’s plans to change council flags on Monday, the Labour MP for Dover and Deal Mike Tapp accused the party of “sucking up to Moscow”.

He said: “It tells you all you need to know about Nigel Farage’s Reform that their very first act after winning elections is to ban the Ukrainian flag from our town halls, in this of all weeks.

“Farage and Reform councillors should stop sucking up to Moscow and drop their ban on flying the Ukrainian flag immediately.”

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Dementia Is The UK’s Leading Cause Of Death, But How Does It Actually Kill?

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Dementia has been the leading cause of death in England and Wales for years now, with Dementia UK adding that more people die from dementia in the UK overall than of any other condition.

Still, a 2017 YouGov poll found that roughly half of us have no idea that dementia, which kills about 55 million people worldwide, can be a direct cause of death.

That means the dementia itself leads to their death.

So, we spoke to Simon Wheeler, Senior Knowledge Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, about how dementia actually kills.

“Dementia is a terminal condition”

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Wheeler explains: “Around 1 in 3 people born today will develop dementia. It’s the UK’s biggest killer, but many people don’t understand why.

“It shortens a person’s life by several years if they are already old, and potentially by several decades if they have young-onset dementia,” he continues.

One of the ways it does this is by diminishing a person’s ability to perform the essential skills and bodily functions that are needed to stay well.

“At first, these changes are mainly cognitive – for example, not remembering to take medicines or not being able to react to dangers around the house or outside,” Wheeler tells us.

“If they need surgery for other health problems, their dementia can make these procedures more challenging and recovery more difficult. This is why people with dementia tend to have much worse outcomes when they have to go to hospital.”

The later stages of dementia have more physical effects

“As the condition progresses to its later stages, its effects become more physical as the parts of the brain involved in eating, swallowing, moving, and communicating become severely damaged,” the expert adds.

That’s when people with dementia tend to notice physical, as well as cognitive, changes.

“They become increasingly frail,” Wheeler explains.

“Injuries and infections become more difficult to recover from. Eventually, an illness or other event happens that they can’t recover from and this is what ultimately causes the person to die.

“There is the near cause of death, such as pneumonia, and then there is the underlying condition that has resulted in the person being in such a frail and vulnerable condition – this is what dementia does.”

Early intervention still matters

More than half of those with suspected dementia wait for over a year to get a diagnosis.

But the NHS says that’s not ideal, because “an accurate early, or timely, diagnosis of dementia can have many benefits.”

These include getting the right support, getting access to treatments that can make your symptoms easier to manage and slow down the progress of the disease, and giving you more time to plan.

If you’re worried about yourself or someone close to you, speak to your GP.

You can also check your symptoms using Alzheimer’s Society’s symptom checklist or call the Dementia Support Line on 0333 150 3456.

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Trump Boasts Of New Deal That Triples Taxes On Americans Buying British Products

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President Donald Trump boasted on Thursday of a new trade agreement that, on average, triples the taxes Americans will have to pay on British imports while signalling that higher tariffs will be the norm for agreements with other countries as well.

According to a chart used by Trump, the new trade deal with the United Kingdom will bring in $6 billion in “external revenue,” a term he and his administration dishonestly use to describe payments collected by U.S. Customs from American importers.

The new 10% rate for nearly all goods, which was announced last month for countries all over the world, is three times higher than the 3.4% average rate Americans have paid for goods from Britain and Northern Ireland.

“It’s an anti-trade deal,” said Scott Lincicome, the director of economics at the Cato Institute’s Centre for Trade Policy Studies.

He and other economists said that Trump’s description of that 10% rate as the minimum tax level for all coming trade agreements effectively makes the United States a high-tariff country and will be a continuing drag on the economy.

“That is largely in line with my fears,” said Jason Furman, a top economist in the Obama White House and now a professor at Harvard University. “Best case is emerge from Trump with a 12% average tariff rate on world. That is back to the 1940s and on par with Iran and Venezuela.”

Vice President JD Vance (left) and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Trump announced a trade framework with the U.K., hailing it as a “breakthrough” that will bring down barriers and expand market access for American imports.
Vice President JD Vance (left) and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Trump announced a trade framework with the U.K., hailing it as a “breakthrough” that will bring down barriers and expand market access for American imports.

Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers said, “A 10% across-the-board tariff is ridiculously high, and about five or ten times higher than any of our trading partners.”

Trump said he agreed to lower his 25% tax on imported cars to 10% for the first 100,000 cars entering from the U.K. each year to help the British auto industry because it mainly produces high-end luxury cars. “They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury, and that includes Bentley and Jaguar,” he said.

In return, the UK has agreed to open its market to American beef and other agricultural products, Trump said. “We’re a very big country. We have a lot of beef. We’re a very big country,” he added.

Trump also continued pushing his repeated lies about how international trade works, claiming, again, that the United States “loses” money when Americans buy foreign goods and that other countries pay US tariffs.

“That means we lose less money,” he said when asked during an Oval Office photo opportunity about shipping traffic falling off at US ports and dock workers and truckers fearing for their jobs. “Look, China was making over a trillion ― 1.1 trillion, in my opinion. You know, different numbers from 500 billion to 1 trillion or 1.1 trillion. And frankly, if we didn’t do business, we would have been better off.”

He then repeated a favourite falsehood of his over the years about the tariffs he imposed on Chinese imports during his first term: “China paid hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, when I was president.”

In reality, foreign nations pay none of those tariffs. American importers do, predominantly manufacturers buying raw materials and retailers. Both pass along the import taxes in the form of higher prices paid by consumers.

If all the tariff rates announced by Trump on his so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2 go into effect, it will cost American importers and consumers an extra $2.4 trillion in new taxes over a decade.

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Kemi Badenoch Humiliated As Shadow Minister Breaks Ranks To Praise UK-US Trade Deal

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Kemi Badenoch has been embarrassed after one of her shadow cabinet broke ranks with her to praise the US-UK trade deal.

Andrew Griffith, the shadow trade secretary, said the agreement “will be welcomed by exporting businesses”.

His intervention came just minutes after Badenoch said the UK had been “shafted” by Donald Trump.

Under the terms of the deal, import tariffs on British steel and aluminium being sold to America will be reduced from 25% to zero.

Tariffs on a maximum of 100,000 British cars being exported to the US will also be cut from 27.5% to 10%.

In addition, farmers in America and Britain will be able to sell beef into each other’s countries. However, the ban on hormone-treated beef coming into the UK will stay in place.

Keir Starmer said it was a “historic” deal that will save thousands of British jobs.

But posting on X, Badenoch condemned the agreement, referring referring to a US government graphic showing that, overall, the UK had cut tariffs on American imports while America has trebled those on British goods.

Badenoch said: “When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. We cut our tariffs — America tripled theirs.

“Keir Starmer called this ‘historic.’ It’s not historic, we’ve just been shafted.”

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When Labour negotiates, Britain loses.

We cut our tariffs — America tripled theirs.

Keir Starmer called this ‘historic.’ It’s not historic, we’ve just been shafted! https://t.co/hWzoCAGcKx

— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) May 8, 2025

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When Labour negotiates, Britain loses.

We cut our tariffs — America tripled theirs.

Keir Starmer called this ‘historic.’ It’s not historic, we’ve just been shafted! https://t.co/hWzoCAGcKx

— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) May 8, 2025

But Griffith said: “The reduction in tariffs announced today will be welcomed by exporting businesses. The ability to strike our own free deals is a Brexit benefit and I hope this moves us conclusively into an era where this government is committed to preserve that freedom.

“Conservatives have been consistent in their support for trade agreements and the reduction of tariffs and today is the continuation of a process which started under the first Trump presidency.”

Labour leapt on the Tory disarray, posting on X: “Your own shadow trade secretary has rightly welcomed the deal Kemi Badenoch.

“Keir Starmer’s Labour government has negotiated and secured an historic UK-US trade deal. Kemi Badenoch can’t even negotiate with her own shadow cabinet.”

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