Politics

More US schoolchildren have died this year than members of the country's military, The Washington Post has revealed. Following the deadly shooting in Houston on Friday new figures show that classrooms in the US are more dangerous than battlegrounds as the country comes to grips with a spiralling gun crisis. Ten children were killed at Santa Fe High School last week, bringing the total number of deaths to almost 30. A total of 22 school shootings have occurred so far this...

John Bercow is just 6/4 to step down as Speaker of the House of Commons this year and now priced at 16/1 to follow Ed Balls’ lead and switch politics for pirouettes by signing up for Strictly Come Dancing. Under fire for comments condemned as “completely unacceptable” by government ministers, Bercow’s future as speaker is on very thin ice and he could be looking for a new job by the time Parliament sits after their summer break in September. Bercow...

In a desperate attempt to appeal to those closer to the cradle than the grave, the Tories are trying to widen their appeal to millenials. One idea that was floated was a discount deal at high street restaurant chain Nando's. However, a spokesman for Nando’s told said: “As a brand we have no political affiliations and we are not considering this.” The Tories will need to go back to the drawing board to get more people to join the party....

We were trying to steer clear of the whole boring gammon controversy: whether it is racist to call the roaring pulmoan-ary purple-faced middle aged men bellowing stuff like “just-get-on-with-it” about Brexit on Question Time gammon-coloured or not. Especially when Kathy Burke nailed it: But then Matthew Hankins just wrote this amazing anthem for gammon coloured men, and the ham-fisted pig’s ear that seduced them and tucked them up like pigs in blankets: Boris Johnson. Slightly altering the words of Pulp’s...

As the date to leave the EU comes ever closer another company is jumping ship before Brexit actually begins. This time it is Thomson Reuters who have said they will shift their foreign exchange derivatives trading to Ireland. The outfit will relocate to Dublin so they can continue to do business within the EU. There are fears of a mass exodus of companies, especially in financial services, in the run up to Brexit. A spokesperson said: “Thomson Reuters has commenced...

The Home Office are telling couples who they have refused the right to remain to use "modern channels" to maintain their relationship. According to campaigners, the ministerial department responsible for immigration is refusing thousands of people the right to remain in the UK each year and telling families that while they will be separated, the existence of phones, messaging apps, Facebook, and other internet modes of communication makes the distance immaterial. The new policy is designed to head off judicial challenge...

Mapped: Revolving Doors between UK Government and the Energy Industry DeSmog UK have investigated the undue influence of climate science denial and the fossil fuel industry on Britain's energy and climate policy since 2014. From the latest research on connections between energy industry figures and those in position to influence policy on the industry and tackling pollution and climate change, DeSmog UK has made this handy and sinister map of the connections between former government officials and the fossil fuel and other energy companies...

At least 41 Palestinians have been killed and 1,800 wounded by Israeli troops as Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka cut the ribbon the new US embassy in Jerusalem. The Trump administration opened the embassy today formally breaking decades of established American policy and international practice in a move that US officials say will create greater regional stability. Critics say the decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital could make a region already struggling with four ongoing conflicts all the more...

New independent analysis into political coverage in the run-up to the local elections has proved that the BBC had a de-facto bias towards right-wing newspapers. Despite strong editorial guidelines around election coverage the BBC managed to shun media titles that are sympathetic to Jeremy Corbyn in its newspaper round-up. Those with a Conservative sway, on the other hand, dominated its coverage at the start of the month, accounting for over 70 per cent of the stories discussed on five days out...