Tory MP Richard Holden posed a pointed question to David Lammy today on why the government publishes online policy updates on Israel in Arabic but not in Hebrew. Lammy responded with a muddled word salad coupled with BBC praise, finishing in a dismissal of the question:
“The art of diplomacy is speaking to foreign leaders foreign nations as best we can. Sometimes that does involve foreign languages that’s why for example we support the BBC World Service. It was a slightly bizarre question.”
Holden’s query follows the government’s website publishing the ban on 30 arms exports to Israel with an Arabic translation, yet strangely, not a Hebrew one. The same applies to the UK’s statement at the UN Security Council on a ceasefire and the move to resume funding to UNRWA, despite the fact that the “Israel and UK News” section of the government website offering a Hebrew translation. Meanwhile, Starmer’s still dodging questions on whether Netanyahu would face arrest if he set foot in the UK…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”