The government has now incorporated counter terrorism policing into the Defence and Security Media Advisory Committee notice system. A D-Notice instructs news outlets not to print details which are considered sensitive for national security reasons.
The system’s extension was “unanimously agreed” and effectively restricts newspapers or broadcasters from providing details to the public on matters of counter terror policing deemed sensitive by the government. An eyebrow-raising choice – D-Notices are usually for things like protecting the identity of intelligence officials or very specific ongoing military operations…
Speaking at an IPPR think tank event in London, the Health Secretary compared striking junior doctors to mutinous sailors.
“I feel like we’ve turned the ship, the boat’s going in the right direction, except some of the crew are trying to row in one direction while the rest of us are going in the other. You can’t make progress that way. We are seeing an improving NHS, and we’ve seen improvement despite resident doctors’ strikes, but the fact is, performance would have been better and there would have been more money to invest in staff and services if the BMA hadn’t been undertaking the strike action.”