FREE Take 5: A news summary for anxious times
Lost your appetite for rolling news? These are the stories you need to know about this week…
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s Take Five – The Flock’s weekly news round-up designed to help you feel a little more in control of your current affairs consumption.
While the first section of this newsletter is not always the happiest read, it aims to let you stay up to date with the issues most affecting women and marginalised communities, without having to immerse yourself in wall-to-wall coverage.
As always, in addition to the week’s five key news stories, you’ll also find five positive tales to raise your spirits, along with five thought-provoking longer reads to dive into whenever suits you.
It’s news, curated especially for you, and in this overwhelming world, I hope that helps at least a little.
Now, to business…
The headlines
1. Met Police a breeding ground for misogyny, racism and homophobia, report finds
London’s Metropolitan Police force is a breeding ground for predatory behaviour and may need to be broken up, according to a landmark report released on Tuesday.
Former government advisor Louise Casey found the force allowed racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour to flourish, with 55% to 60% of misconduct complaints resulting in no action — leading to deep mistrust.
Public confidence in the Met’s ability to do a good job has fallen to record lows, with the force having become “unanchored from the principles of policing by consent”, Casy warned.
Responding to calls for the force to now be broken up and restructured, Met Commissioner Mark Rowley apologised, saying the report made “painful reading for proud police officers.”
Read more here
2. Cost of living crisis deepens as interest rates, energy bills and council tax rise
The Bank of England raised interest rates for the 11th time in a row on Thursday, taking the cost of borrowing to a 14-year high.
The BoE voted 7-2 in favour of an increase to 4.25% amid a continuing struggle to bring inflation under control, with the consumer price index rising again in February to reach 10.4%.
The decision dealt a further blow to pressed British households, with official figures suggesting average council tax bills in England will top £2,000 for the first time this year.
Millions of households will also pay £67 more a month for energy from April as the UK government’s scheme to help with fuel bills winds down.
Read more here
3. Starmer paid higher rate of tax than Sunak, returns show
Sir Keir Starmer was effectively taxed at a rate almost 10% higher than Rishi Sunak during the last financial year, according to the release of both men’s tax bills.
The Labour leader paid nearly 32% tax on his total income, which included £126,154 in salary and nearly £85,000 in capital gains from the sale of a house that he helped his sister buy.
The prime minister, meanwhile, paid roughly 22% in tax on earnings of more than £1.9million – an income almost nine times higher than the Labour leader’s.
Rishi Sunak’s tax records, released during Boris Johnson’s appearance before the privileges committee, show he made more than £5million during the last three years, primarily from shares and investments.
Read more here
4. Boris Johnson defends Partygate stance before privileges committee
Boris Johnson this week pleaded “hand on heart” that he had not lied to MPs over the Partygate scandal, as he made a long-awaited appearance before the Commons’ privileges committee.
In a fractious three-and-a-half-hour evidence session on Wednesday, the former PM insisted he hadn’t broken strict parliamentary rules in his addresses to parliament over social gatherings in Downing Street during lockdown.
But MPs on the committee denounced his “flimsy” explanations and suggested he had wrongly interpreted Covid guidance, raising expectations they will sanction him for “recklessly” misleading the Commons.
In a separate blow to Johnson on Wednesday, he also failed to lead a successful Commons revolt against Rishi Sunak’s post-Brexit agreement, which passed by a majority of 486.
Read more here
5. World Athletics bans transgender women from female classification events
World Athletics has banned transgender women from competing in the female category at international events from next week.
The governing body's president, Lord Coe, said no athlete who had gone through male puberty would be permitted to compete in female world ranking competitions from March 31.
The ruling marks a change to previous rules which required transgender women to ensure blood testosterone levels remained below a set threshold for 12 months before competition.
Lord Coe said the ban would be imposed while a working group conducted further research into transgender eligibility guidelines, adding: “We're not saying no forever”.
Read more here
The good news
1. UK urged to set up ‘mutually beneficial’ visa scheme for those fleeing climate change
A think tank has suggested the UK could help thousands of refugees – and plug its own skills shortages – by providing visas for people fleeing natural disasters caused by climate change.
Centre-right group Onward said providing safe, legal routes to the UK for climate refugees would also help relieve pressure on British border agencies.
Climate change is expected to displace hundreds of millions of people over the next 30 years, with some likely to seek refuge in the UK, including by illegal routes.
Now, in a report entitled Forced to Move, Onward has proposed a natural disaster visa scheme to help people settle permanently and work in the UK.
Read more here
2. Dutch to boost climate fight by reducing air traffic at busiest airport
Dutch officials are set to limit the number of international flights leaving Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in order to help tackle the climate crisis.
The Netherlands’ government said restrictions would be imposed on all flights leaving the country to help cut carbon emissions.
It’s part of an effort described as seeking a “new balance” between the economic benefits derived from Schiphol, one of Europe’s busiest airports, and its impact on the environment.
Previous European efforts have focussed on limiting short-haul and local flights, but the scheme is believed to be the first to also target international journeys.
Read more here
3. World Happiness Report celebrates surge in human kindness
The Covid-19 pandemic has not affected humankind’s happiness and may have actually made the world kinder, according to a major new international study.
Interviews with more than 100,000 people across 137 countries for the 10th World Happiness Report found higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic.
And when asked to score their lives out of ten, respondents gave an average rating just as high in 2020-2022 as in 2017-19.
The report’s co-editor, Professor John Helliwell, said “It’s amazing,” adding: “Even during these difficult years, positive emotions have remained twice as prevalent as negative ones, and feelings of positive social support twice as strong as those of loneliness.”
Read more here
4. Scientists to get ‘once in a decade’ look at huge passing asteroid
A giant asteroid will zoom harmlessly past Earth on Saturday, offering scientists a ‘once in a decade’ opportunity to see such a structure up close.
According to NASA, the asteroid will be in such close range tomorrow that a standard telescope or set of binoculars will be able to spot it in the night sky.
The structure in question, named 2023 DZ2 by scientists, is so large that could easily wipe out a city – but NASA experts say it will pass smoothly between Earth and the moon.
“While close approaches are a regular occurrence, one by an asteroid of this size (140-310 ft) happens only about once per decade, providing a unique opportunity for science,” NASA tweeted.
Read more here
5. Scientists ‘elated’ by sighting of rare wild wolverine
Two US fishermen left scientists ‘elated’ this week after they photographed a rare wild wolverine on the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon.
It marks the first confirmed sighting of a wolverine outside of the Wallowa Mountains region in over 30 years, according to local conservationists.
Officials said a follow-up survey by wildlife biologists on Tuesday confirmed a set of wolverine tracks at the site, though there have been no other sightings of the animal.
Wolverines, which are a member of the weasel family and resemble a small bear, are officially listed as a threatened species.
Read more here
The best of the rest
1. Why I stopped taking the pill and will never take it again
This week a new scientific paper linked hormonal contraceptives to an increase in cancer risk. We need an alternative, says Charlie Gowans-Eglinton. Plus: Anna Maxted on the pill’s risks, side-effects and benefits
2. Sofia Coppola’s Daughter’s TikTok Debut Has Everything
Camp friends, shallots and generational trauma…
3. Are Helicopter Parents Actually Lazy?
It doesn’t take only energy and attention to teach your kids to navigate independence safely. It takes a certain willingness to accept that someone out there might think you’re a bad parent.
4. Will the Ozempic Era Change How We Think About Being Fat and Being Thin?
A popular, growing class of drugs for obesity and diabetes could, in an ideal world, help us see that metabolism and appetite are biological facts, not moral choices, argues Jia Tolentino
5. It’s Barbie’s World Now. We Just Live Here
With a feature film due later this year and giant swaths of social media that owe ever-increasing debts to her plastic pioneering, the 11.5-inch-tall ur-influencer is having a moment. How does she keep pace?
How are you feeling about this past week? I’d love to hear your thoughts here…
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