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Palestine march

Mail
The Metropolitan Police has said ‘intense debate about protest and policing’ helped ‘increase community tensions’ before the chaos at Armistice Day which saw more than 100 arrests.
Pressure is mounting on Suella Braverman amid shameful scenes of far-right violence towards officers, after she branded pro-Palestinian demonstrators ‘hate marchers’ and accused the police of bias for letting the rally go ahead.
Nine officers were injured as they prevented a crowd of mainly football hooligans reaching the Cenotaph, with Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist calling their ‘extreme violence’ towards the police ‘extraordinary and deeply concerning
‘A week of intense debate about protest and policing’ helped ‘increase community tensions’, he said.
But former Cabinet minister David Jones questioned why the Met had allowed protesters onto Whitehall at all, saying: ‘I honestly think that the whole of Whitehall should have been off limits for demonstrators, this weekend certainly.’

Guardian
Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully through central London yesterday to protest against Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza, following a week of intense political debate over the policing of sensitive demonstrations.
The Metropolitan Police said around 300,000 people had converged on the capital from all parts of the country, while organisers of the pro-Palestinian event put the number closer to 800,000 and claimed it was one of the biggest marches in British history.
The attendance will add to political pressure on both the prime minister Rishi Sunak and the Labour leader Keir Starmer to back calls for a ceasefire in the conflict, which began after a Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October, murdering 1,200 Israelis and taking around 240 hostages

Telegraph
Rishi Sunak condemned far-Right “thugs” and “Hamas sympathisers” after a day of violence in the capital saw more than 100 arrests.
The Prime Minister said far-Right hooligans clashing with police, and pro-Hamas regalia witnessed during the National March for Palestine, had disrespected the military and Britain’s fallen on Armistice Day.
He will meet Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to seek assurances that evidence of anti-Semitic hate crimes will be followed up as robustly as far-Right were dealt with.
In the biggest pro-Palestinian march to date, hundreds of thousands of people made their way from Marble Arch to the US embassy in Nine Elms.

ITV News
Rishi Sunak has condemned “wholly unacceptable” actions by both far-right “thugs” and “Hamas sympathisers” at protests in London on Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police said officers faced “extreme violence” from far-right counter protesters in the hours before a pro-Palestine march was due to begin.
Nine police officers were injured, including two requiring hospital treatment, and 126 arrests were made.
The crowd bearing St George’s flags were seen walking along Embankment and shouting “England till I die”, as they attempted to reach the Cenotaph an hour before the two minute silence for Armistice Day was observed.
Around 300,000 people are estimated to have attended the protest in support of Palestine on Saturday afternoon, which was anticipated to be the biggest political march in British history.

Israel

Mail
Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that there will be no ceasefire in the war against Hamas until all of the hostages are returned.
Hamas’s deadly assault on October 7 saw around 240 taken captive and at least 1,200 Israelis have been killed.
Discussing the war at a news conference from Tel Aviv on Saturday, Netanyahu said Israel ‘will not stop until we complete our mission’ and that its only goal is to win.
He said Hamas has ‘lost its grip’ on Gaza and there is now ‘no place to hide’.
Netanyahu said he still has daily contact with US President Joe Biden, and also has the ‘political and ethical support’ of the American administration.
Several world leaders have come to visit Israel to show support but there are ‘minorities that pressure the governments’, he said.
He urged the government to ‘not succumb to this pressure’ and said ‘our war is their war’.
‘No international pressure, no false accusations… will deviate us from our cause,’ he said.
Rejecting calls for a ceasefire, he said: ‘If you want peace, we have to eliminate Hamas.’

Mail
Hospitals in Gaza today said they were under constant fire and running out of power as fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists raged around them.
One baby in an incubator died and ‘dozens more’ were at risk according to the Palestinian-run health ministry after fuel for generators ran out at the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital the Al Shifa.
‘We received calls about dozens of dead and hundreds wounded in air and artillery strikes, but our ambulances weren’t able to go out because of gunfire,’ said Shifa hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya.
Israel has denied targeting hospitals but its army has accused Hamas of using the medical facilities as command centres and hideouts, a charge the Palestinian militant group denies.
The suffering in Gaza has prompted growing calls for a halt in five weeks of fighting in order to protect civilian lives and allow humanitarian aid into the densely populated territory.

NHS

Telegraph
The Health Secretary has told NHS chiefs to stop “promoting woke ideology” as £13 million is still being spent on diversity tsars despite his clamp down on such jobs.
Steve Barclay’s team has condemned new revelations that equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) roles at trusts across the country are still costing the taxpayer vast sums.
He wrote to the chairmen of England’s integrated care boards in October demanding that they stop “actively recruiting” into EDI roles and “move resources from the back office to the front line”, the latest in a series of warnings to health bosses.
But The Telegraph can reveal that at least £13,586,636 is being spent on 336 diversity roles at 111 trusts, raising questions about how the burden on taxpayers can be further reduced without mass redundancies or job moves.

Guardian
Rishi Sunak’s pledge to slash NHS waiting lists has effectively been downgraded, the Observer has been told, amid an increase in the number of patients in  England waiting longer than 18 months for treatment.
Hospital leaders are warning that morale is low, staff absences are high, and funds for new equipment and repairs are having to be raided ahead of winter. They have now been told to prioritise controlling costs in favour of some of the extra work being done towards the prime minister’s pledge to bring down waits.
The news comes as the latest data reveals that one key waiting time target is heading in the wrong direction. The number of people waiting more than 18 months for treatment climbed back above 10,000 in September – a similar level to that recorded in March, and up from 8,998 in August.
With trusts already frustrated that they will not be fully compensated for costs created by NHS strikes, hospital leaders and analysts said that a memo sent last week effectively signalled the downgrading of No 10’s battle against waiting lists.
The memo said that to show “how you will deliver financial balance”, trusts needed a treatment plan “identifying the insourcing/outsourcing and waiting list initiatives you still consider necessary within a balanced financial plan”. One NHS finance chief said they believed it was the first time in a decade that they had been told the “bottom line for the NHS” this winter was “the financial bottom line”.

Iceland volcano

Mail
Iceland is in nationwide panic over the fear of a possible volcanic eruption after it was hit with 1,485 earthquakes in 48 hours.
The country has felt a seismic swarm over the past two weeks as hundreds of tremors have been felt every day in the youngest part of Iceland – Reykjanes peninsula in the southwest.
A build-up of volcanic magma three miles underground is the cause behind the potentially life-threatening event.
The nation declared a state of emergency, and 4,000 people were evacuated overnight from Icelandic town Grindavik after hundreds of tremors were felt from a volcanic eruption.
Thorvaldur Thordarson, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, told state broadcaster RUV: ‘I don’t think it’s long before an eruption, hours or a few days. The chance of an eruption has increased significantly.’
The UK Foreign Office has warned the public that a volcanic eruption is increasingly likely.

ITV News
Thousands of people have been evacuated and an emergency declared in Iceland after a series of earthquakes caused concerns of a volcanic eruption.
Residents in Grindavík were evacuated late on Friday night, as Icelandic Met Office (IMO) data showed a large magma tunnel was forming underground and could reach the area if it erupts.
There are fears an eruption may be “days away” around Mount Thorbjorn on the Reykjanes Peninsula.
The area has been shaken by hundreds of small earthquakes every day for more than two weeks and land in the region has risen by 9 centimeters since 27 October according to the IMO.
On Friday, the Civil Protection Agency declared an Emergency Phase and said: “This decision is made with the safety of the residents in mind.
“It’s important that everyone remain calm, because we have a good amount of time to react.”

Independent
An Icelandic volcano could erupt in ‘hours or days’, experts have warned, as 3,000 residents have been evacuated from the southwestern town of Grindavik.
After 1,485 earthquakes have rocked the country over the past 48 hours, Iceland residents are bracing themselves for the eruption of Fagradalsfjall volcano.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office said there was a “considerable” risk of an eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula due to the size of the underground magma intrusion and the rate at which it was moving.
“I don’t think it’s long before an eruption, hours or a few days. The chance of an eruption has increased significantly,” Thorvaldur Thordarson, professor of volcanology at the University of Iceland, told state broadcaster RUV.
The UK have ramped up its advice to British travellers, saying it is “increasingly possible” that a volcanic eruption could occur.

Farage

Mirror
Nigel Farage has reportedly ditched the booze during a big health kick ahead of his stint on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
The politician and former UKIP leader, 59, is a big drinker, and has sworn off the alcohol as he prepares to enter the Australian jungle later this month. Nigel is well-known for his love of ale, and even launched his own brand of gin earlier this year, simply called Farage Gin. However, he’s banned the beer and is drinking orange juice instead, as he faces up to three weeks on basic rations of water, rice and beans while on the show.
He’s also avoided drinking tea and coffee so he can beat any caffeine cravings, and was spotted drinking a pint of orange juice, instead of his usual ale, at the Westminster Arms in London on Thursday, according to The Sun. Nigel has taken his rumoured stint on the show very seriously, and his health kick is just one of the ways he’s trying to make sure he stays in the jungle for as long as possible.
But the former politician, who once described himself as a “boozer not an alcoholic” has yet to quit smoking, and was seen having a smoke outside London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday ahead of his flight to Australia. Nigel was treated to a £9,000 trip on Singapore Airlines by ITV bosses, and his long flight will go by in a flash as he’ll be enjoying the utmost in luxury with a double bed, and a leather armchair to relax in.

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