Bdfl What we saw alarmed us : the long fight to expose VIP lane Covid contracts
Sporadic downpours have not stopped Mark*, penny whistle in hand, trying his luck near cashpoints in the centre of Birmingham. The 47-year-old rough sleeper sits cr
stanley cup ossed-legged playing a jig
stanley thermosflasche opposite a supermarket entrance. Im not begging, Ive found the loophole, he says sincerely after a member of the public drops a pound in his plastic container. Im not asking anyone for anything. Im providing entertainment. But the law is not on Marks side. A police officer could decide he is violating section 3 of the Vagrancy Act, which outlaws begging in England and Wales, and arrest him. If convicted of the offence, Mark would be judged a criminal rogue and vagabond , lia
stanley cups uk ble to a maximum fine of 拢1,000.In Birmingham, arrests and charges under the Vagrancy Act have fallen markedly in recent years despite a surge in rough sleeping. West Midlands police made 17 arrests for begging in a public place in 2018, compared with 141 in 2014, according to figures obtained by the Guardian under a freedom of information request. But rough sleepers in the city centre say police regularly use the law to move them on.Arrests graphicIt is an experience shared in other parts of the country, where banning orders for begging convictions under the act have prevented rough sleepers from getting emergency accommodation in freezing weather. Nationally, there were 1,320 prosecutions under the Vagrancy Act in 2018, a 6% increase from the previous year.Pudsey, who left care aged 15 and moved to Blackpool for a Rfdn She had magic : my grandmother s forgotten role at Summerhill, the English school with no rules
Not dead yet. Alive, alive-O was Labour s message heralded by trumpets. Though delivered in deathly regal deadpan, here was a programme with substance flashing out a lighthouse reminder of what Labour stands for. Electioneering Of course, and why not The Westminster village had made up its mind long before Her Majesty drew the goat s skin parchment from the velvet bag. The last gasp of a fag end government would be nothing but old smok
stanley usa e. The 13 bills delivered in seven minutes would, they said, not catch the public eye.What s more, most of these laws would never see the light of statute book. Westminster group-think says a party caught in the downward vortex of the opinion polls can make no upward headway, whatever its poli
stanley flasks cies.These three received opinions may not be quite the eternal verities they seem. Many bills will pass, many will be welcomed 鈥?and the Conservatives could still just fail to win an outright majority. Fake dividing lines, David Cameron protested as Labour did indeed lay out policies to define gut differences. That is what politics a
stanley quencher re made of. Government can be a force for good, was how Mandelson painted the thick, red line.That theme ran through a raft of bills that nail future governments to hard targets: whoever is in power will at least be shamed if they miss the mark. The equality bill obliges all state bodies to narrow the gaps between rich and poor, while the child poverty target is enshrined in law.The Tories protest these
