Tag: UK

TikTok Pushing ‘Dumbed Down’ Content to Western Teens Warns Peer

TikTok is feeding Western teens “dumbed down” content while providing Chinese youth with educational and motivational videos, the president of the British Chambers of Commerce has claimed. Baroness Martha Lane Fox—a former Twitter board member—said the video sharing app was “eroding ambition and motivation” by bombarding Western young people with addictive content. According to the…


Mastermind Behind iSpoof Scam Site Jailed for 13 Years

SOUTHWARK—A cyber criminal who ran a website which enabled fraudsters to trick 200,000 people around the world—many of them elderly—out of £100 million has been jailed for 13 years and four months. Tejay Fletcher, 35, was the co-founder and administrator of iSpoof, a website which became a “fraud shop” for scammers who defrauded around £43 million…


Phillip Schofield’s Brother Jailed for 12 Years Over Child Sex Abuse Offences

Phillip Schofield’s brother has been sentenced to 12 years in jail after being convicted of child sex offences. Civilian police worker Tim Schofield, 54, was convicted at Exeter Crown Court of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child. Giving evidence Schofield, from Bath,…


Oxford Chief Wades into University Trans Row Over Free Speech Threat

An Oxford University chief has waded into a trans row that has rocked the institution. Professor Martin Williams—one of Oxford’s pro-vice-chancellors—said students must “encounter and confront difficult views” after attempts to ban a gender-critical speaker from a university event. Leading feminist Kathleen Stock has been invited to speak by members of the Oxford Union at…


Sunak: Guardrails Needed to Regulate Growth of AI

“Guardrails” need to be put in place to make sure artificial intelligence (AI) is developed and used “safely and securely,” the prime minister has said. Speaking to journalists travelling with him in Japan, Rishi Sunak said he expects to have discussions with world leaders on AI at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. “If it’s used…


England’s Universities Warned Over Financial Reliance on Chinese Students and Confucius Institutes

Over-reliance on Chinese and other international students has put England’s universities at financial risk, a higher education regulator warned on Thursday. The Office for Students (OfS) said it has written to high-risk universities, asking them to lay out contingency plans to protect their financial sustainability. It comes as a China-focus think tank said it’s writing…


Age of ‘Massive’ House Price Rises May Be Nearing an End: Government Economist

The age of “massive rises of house prices” may be coming to an end, a senior economist from the government’s spending watchdog has said. Prof. David Miles, one of the three members of the top committee of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said on Wednesday that an increase in remote working following the outbreak…


Water Companies Apologise for Sewage Spills, Announce £10 Billion Modernisation Plan

Water and sewage companies in England have apologised for sewage spills in rivers and seas and announced the biggest modernisation of sewers since the Victorian era. The upgrade of the sewage system will cost £10 billion in the next 10 years, announced Water UK, a membership body representing the UK water industry. To make amends…


Shetland Islands Spaceport Bosses Plan 1st Launch in Summer

The UK’s first orbital rocket launch could blast off from the Shetland Islands this summer, as industry bosses expect to become licensed within months, British lawmakers have heard. The Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee met on May 17 to discuss the future of the UK’s space strategy and satellite infrastructure. The MPs heard evidence from…


Putin Has ‘Vendetta Against Me’, Architect of Sanctions Regime Says

A UK-based financier claims Russian President Vladimir Putin has “a personal Vendetta” against him over his role in the global sanctioning of oligarchs. Bill Browder, a U.S. born financier who later became a UK citizen, is best known for successfully pushing for a piece of U.S. legislation known as the “Magnitsky Act,” which allowed the sanctioning of…