Stories of the week 4 November
It’s hard to believe but Donald Trump was mentioned many more times in the Press this week than usual.
In South America, Jair Bolsonaro – dubbed the country’s Donald Trump or ‘Tropical Trump’ as one headline was brave enough to say – won the election becoming President of Brazil. A victory for the far-right.
It seems Donald Trump has had an opinion or two on elections himself. His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, claims the President said ‘black people are too stupid to vote for him’.
Continuing the electoral theme, Trump repeated his threat that migrants could be shot on the Mexican border or kept indefinitely in tent cities. Something that many in the Press saw as a cynical ploy for votes in the US midterms.
Philip Hammond’s budget this week was supposed to deliver Theresa May’s promise to end austerity. Did it? The Press didn’t think so. In fact, they pointed out it did the opposite with many hidden details.
More disturbing reports this week on how MI5 has taken over in the fight against right wing extremism.
As if to prove the need, Klu Klux Klansmen were pictured on British streets for the first time. All this on top of a recent report on a divided hate-filled Britain.
The big news this week was not on the final deal but how Arron Banks could afford his donation to the Leave Campaign and on what deal, if any, Theresa May made to stop an earlier investigation. Banks and other Brexit campaigners have been referred to the National Crime Agency over suspected criminal offences.
While the dreadful fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues to unfold and the dreadful war in Yemen continues to take a heavy toll, the UK has fallen out of step with Europe and the US. Germany immediately stopped arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the US is considering sanctions. The UK Government has refused to make any significant comment and Conservative MEP’s abstained from a vote on Europe introducing sanctions too. More questions are being asked about why the UK sends aid to the Yemen and supports bombing raids to destroy the good it does.
Following the recent UN report stating emissions need to be slashed by 2030 or we face a bleak future, another study found that a catastrophic 60% of wildlife on the planet has been wiped out since 1970. In other words, in less than 50 years.
In another environmental story, India have created anti-pollution police to combat the toxic toll on the Ganges.
