The Trump administration has finally filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over the spliced Panorama documentary footage. The apology did not work…
The lawsuit has been filed overnight in south Florida, where it argues Americans were likely to have seen the doctored footage of Trump’s 2021 speech:
“The Panorama Documentary’s publicity, coupled with significant increases in VPN usage in Florida since its debut, establishes the immense likelihood that citizens of Florida accessed the Documentary before the BBC had it removed”.
Seeing as the documentary came out a week before the 2024 presidential election Team Trump say it was “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the vote. Trump is seeking $5 billion for defamation and for breaching Florida’s deceptive and unfair trade practices act. The BBC has taken only one of those and has therefore halved the total damage claim to $5 billion for its headline…
19 Greater London Authority staff are delivering full-day mandatory training to the rest of them. If Reform wants to target civil servants…
Six of them come from a dedicated Climate Mitigation team in the GLA. Two each from the Waste & Circular Economy and Green Infrastructure teams…
The mandatory training has four stages:
‘Carbon Literacy’ training materials are produced by Manchester based Cooler Projects CIC. It recommends in its founding material that people are trained on Guardian articles. The GLA refuses to release a full raft training documents on ‘copyright’ grounds…
Staff spend the day “writing three pledges on the day on how you will take climate action through your work at the GLA.” Tube fares are going up by 5.8%…
The festive killjoys in the Commons HR department have been busy sucking the cheer out of Christmas. Ahead of recess, they’ve circulated solemn guidance to MPs hosting Christmas “End of Year” parties. They’ve even knocked up a template invitation letter ensuring guests arrive thoroughly warned…
Among the “important stuff” that must be spelled out:
Bah humbug…
Read the full invitation template below:
Starmer was pressed on his approval of David Kogan’s appointment to the football regulator, which Guido revealed had defied his own recusal from football matters.
“The decision to appoint was for DCMS minister that’s set out in the legislation in the statute. So I knew full well it wasn’t my decision. Um, as it happens, a note was put before me to say that’s what was going to happen and was I content. Um, and the independent adviser took the view, which I agree with, that it would have been better if that note had never been put before me. In other words, that the recusal meant I didn’t even get the note before me… Trust me, I’ve now asked him to look again at when someone says they’re recusing themselves, what are then the processes that need to be put in the office to make sure that even a decision which isn’t for the recused person is coming by way of note in effect uh isn’t put before them. And uh that’s what I just to make sure that we’re not in that position again. But I was well aware that I was not the decision maker because I knew by law it was the minister.”
That would be nice…
Keir Starmer is up in front of the Liaison Committee to be grilled by MPs ahead of Christmas recess. He’ll hope he doesn’t get too much of a skewering before he rushes off to Berlin…
Wes Streeting has slammed the BMA’s “irresponsible and dangerous” decision to go ahead with junior doctors strikes for five days from Wednesday. He said:
“I think that it is unreasonable and obviously unaffordable. Now there is serious risk to the NHS this week. I think that goes to show the kind of BMA that we are dealing with and the the fact they are choosing to strike this week at a time to inflict maximum damage on the NHS but also at a risk of serious harm to patients I think is unconscionable.”
He’s running out of patients…
Lucy Powell on LBC, asked by Tom Swarbrick for her reaction to Labour MP Samantha Niblett’s call for a ‘summer of sex’ debate in Parliament: “I personally don’t own any sex toys, but each to their own… I’m not really sure that’s the right place for it, no.”