What happened on 25th July 2023 - With your comments in the Web

On Tuesday, ministers and train companies have been spooked over legal challenges to how the process has been conducted, amid claims that the 21 day consultation was too short and unlawful.

Controversial plans to close almost every railway ticket office in England were thrown into disarray that day amid a mounting backlash as it emerged consultations could run on all summer. A public consultation on proposals to shut nearly 1,000 ticket counters was due to end at just before Wednesday midnight.

The process could yet be extended following crisis talks between the Department for Transport and train operators earlier today.It is understood the consultations could even be extended over the summer and could run into September.

Ministers and train companies have been spooked over legal challenges to how the process has been conducted. At its heart are claims that the 21 day consultation was not only too short but also unlawful and discriminated against disabled people.

It is understood the 15 train operating companies are now considering how to proceed. It could still be that most, or all, stick with Tuesday’s 11.59 pm deadline for responses. But it also throws up the possibility that some, and not others, extend the process. Train companies now back under public ownership could be under the most pressure to act, as they could be seen as more open to a legal challenge.

Yet, Brits don't trust machines at all.

"Only yesterday I had to help a old couple who had no idea on to use the ticket machine and if there is no staff about how do the get tickets to travel. I then tried to help a guy who had a code to get his ticket but because he used is girlfriend card he could not get his ticket and no staff to help just keep them open."

"When the machines aren’t working then it’s mayhem."

"Staff cuts are modernisation? How many disabled or old people will be put off travelling by this? Would you stand next to a ticket machine waving your bank card about to someone you can't see?

Money before people every time, privatisation for shareholder profits and not customers."

 "It's just become ideological at this point. Because a small number of train lines can be automated we've got to remove all human involvement for some reason. Accessibility, safety, antisocial behaviour etc. be damned."

"It's the same in supermarkets, clothing stores, airport shops even. Everything is moving towards self-service machines. I feel sorry for all the lonely people in society who already don't get enough human interaction."

"I think it's totally backwards that we're looking at making public transport less accessible right at the point where we need to be encouraging usage of these services. Roads are congested and environmentally damaging, so what do we do? Start picking the flesh off the railway lines, of course!"

Also on Tuesday, the BBC turned to be involved into scandalous case regarding their ‘dangerous’ question about gay players in Morocco at Women’s World Cup. 

It has issued an apology after one of its journalists probed the Morocco women’s national team captain with a potentially dangerous question about gay football players. 

During a Women’s World Cup press conference before Morocco’s opening game against Germany on Monday (24 July), a reporter from the broadcaster asked captain Ghizlane Chebbak: “In Morocco, it’s illegal to have a gay relationship. Do you have any gay players in your squad and what’s life like for them in Morocco?”

The question – which had the potential to out and endanger players if any on the team are gay – was met with visible disbelief from Chebbak. The press conference moderator refuted the question, saying it was “political” in nature and reporters should “just stick to questions relating to football”. 

The unnamed journalist, however, hit back and claimed the question was not political but “about people”. In Morocco, homosexuality is punishable with a prison sentence between six months and three years and a fine of up to 1200 dirhams, with LGBTQ+ people also facing state-enforced censorship and no protections from discrimination. 

British Redditors stood for their co-nationals:

"This was a foolish move in the part of the journalist, but criticism should also be aimed at Morocco and their barbaric, outdated and discriminatory laws."

"We at the very least don’t throw people in prison for being LGBTQ. Whether or not the UK as a whole has a place in criticising it is irrelevant anyway, I have every right to."

"Why shouldn’t we be able to [criticise other countries] when these countries are objectively worse than the UK by an insane margin even though we are nowhere near perfect?"

At the same time, numbers in temporary accommodation in England hit record on Tuesday.

Almost 105,000 households were in temporary accommodation, including more than 131,000 children, on 31 March this year. This figure is 10% up on the same day last year, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities data shows.

In Plymouth, one mum told BBC News of cramped conditions living in a hotel. This latest figure for temporary accommodation surpasses a previous high of 101,300 reached in 2004, and is the highest since records began in 1998. The figures also show almost 14,000 households were in hotels or bed and breakfasts in the three months to March.

Many users are indignant with migrant issues made more important than domestic political crisis.

"Shocking that the UK allows in so many 'fleeing france' while so many of their own people are homeless."

"The current UK government has the same amount of sympathy for a homeless uk citizen as they do a refugee on a boat, none at all. We're all just political footballs being kicked around, used when we're beneficial, abandoned when we're not."

"Yeah immigrants are the issue here, not failed government policy."

On Tuesday either, Lord Frost, the Tory former minister and Brexit negotiator said he is ‘sceptical’ about mitigating the impacts of climate change.

 

Speaking during a debate on the level of Government preparation for the impacts that climate change will have on health, the economy, food security and the environment, the Tory peer said: “We have all too little debate on climate change.

“It’s all the more important that we have it now since critics of any aspects of this policy find it increasingly difficult to get a hearing in the media.

“Here in this House, at least, we cannot be censored, though it seems we do run some risk of losing our bank accounts if we dare to speak up.”

He noted “more will need to be spent on things like flood protection and reservoirs”, but speaking about calls for the UK to adapt to the health consequences of rising temperatures, Lord Frost said: “Digging deeper, what are those consequences of the hotter, warmer summers and warmer, wetter winters?

 

"The Tory former minister and Brexit negotiator

Oh my word.... that explains so much. This muppet think Britain somehow exists entirely independently not only of Europe but the entire planet, he can only be months off suggesting we simply sink the boats to stop them."

"People laugh at us. This is the standard of intellect running our country and making the big decisions. On the geo-political stage, we are a standing joke. I don’t blame them for thinking that. We’ve been hijacked by morons."

"What gets me is that most of these people went to Eton, Oxford and Cambridge and clearly have intellects somewhere below that of a mango.

But these schools are seen as some of the best in the world (personally they are only very good at churning out well connected Nepo babies who are as dim as a 5 watt bulb).

I seriously think we need to ban private education, it just produces the type of person who becomes a Tory MP. So not particularly intelligent, very self assured and sadly incredibly well connected."

This day too, Brits were happy to learn that UK economy defies forecasts of doom to outperform Germany in 'big upgrade' to growth.

Britain’s economy is expected to defy Brexit doom mongers to perform better than expected after a major upgrade by international forecasters. The International Monetary Fund said the UK will outpace Germany this year with growth of 0.4 per after previously predicting it would do worse than most major economies including Russia.

Leading Brexiteer Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said the IMF’s anti-Brexit bias meant it had consistently underestimated the UK economy. He said: “The IMF since 2016 has consistently underestimated the UK’s growth because it is more of a political than economic organisation. It has, out of its dislike of Brexit, assumed the UK would do badly and has consistently been wrong.

Sir John Redwood said: “It’s good to see the IMF recognising that the UK can once again outperform Germany. But we need to do much better than that. We could grow faster if we cut some taxes and controlled public spending better.If we go on with the Brexit freedoms we would grow even faster.”

 Yet, very few Britons trusted the IMF figures.

"Brexiters have been fine with the IMF's forecast that Britain will outperform France and Germany. Manipulated figures too?"

"It is interesting to see the IMF to take this view as they have been wrong about the UK for years.""Leave it to the Telegraph to try to frame this report as a good thing - the same IMF report shows that every advanced economy on earth other than Germany will outperform the UK this year, and also shows that Germany is projected to catch up and outperform the UK in 2024. The report also shows that the UK has the highest rate of inflation of any country in the G7.

This headline and article are extremely misleading and biased, clearly written in an attempt to deflect attention away from the Tories' horrific economic mismanagement."

"The imf always predicted doom and gloom for the UK. It's always wrong"