ruby lott-lavigna
@RubyJLL
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political correspondent covering housing, democracy + human rights @openDemocracy @VICEWorldNews @PrivateEyeNews @guardian commissions: rlottlavigna @gmail .com
london
Joined August 2011
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i am in italy for the month of june working on some things. best way to get in contact with me is via email which is in my bio (or whatsapp). i won't be on twitter loads as i must use that time to befriend the village gatti. ciao!
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allegra stratton's husband is the political editor of the spectator
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🚨cutting whatsapp messages from cabinet secretary simon case and former downing street head of comms lee cain
"i was always told that dom was the secret PM...the real person in charge is carrie"
"we look like a terrible, tragic joke"
"i cannot cope with this"
😬
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🚨NEW: housing minister lee rowley made false claims this morning on the BBC's today programme when he said the gov had built "700,000 new social homes"
gov statistics show that between 2010 and 2022, there was a *net loss of 120,382 social homes*
🧵
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NEW: berlin campaigners
@dwenteignen
set to win a radical housing referendum to take flats off mega landlords who own more than 3000 properties in the city
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very revealing watching kemi badenoch at the covid inquiry say "we can't remove poverty" and "we don't have a cure for poverty"
helpful insight into the mindset of the people running this country
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🚨 NEW: the cabinet office has been withholding key information from the covid-19 inquiry and has removed important details from evidence it has already handed over
just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...
me for
@openDemocracy
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have deleted that video. was sharing with my reporter hat on but had no intention of putting the driver’s job at risk.
if you’re a journalist/producer asking to use the video you absolutely do not have permission.
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"the only thing growing under this government are mortgages, rents and bills. is that what she really meant when she declared herself a pro-growth prime minister?"
SNP leader ian blackford skewering truss at PMQs
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🚨i am being made redundant, alongside many of my amazing colleagues at
@openDemocracy
it is a sad day for radical, not-for-profit media (but also this seems strangely inevitable in this industry)
here are some pieces i'm proud of:
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🚨some personal news: i'm being evicted – again.
something a bit closer to home from me. i've written about when the professional becomes personal, and how broken and cruel our rental system is.
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🚨NEW: labour has refused to commit to disclosing meetings it has had with lobbyists in the run-up to the election
voters will have no idea who has influenced starmers policies before a likely labour government
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yesterday, as i was moving the final things out of my home following my eviction, a guy turned up who turned out to be the new tenant.
turns out the landlord has bumped the rent by *£700*. a 30% increase.
the greed and cruelty of landlords in this country is outrageous.
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sunak’s response here obviously disgusting, but don’t forget that starmer and much of the labour front bench only condemn transphobia when they deem it politically convenient
Rishi Sunak made a crack about Keir Starmer “defining a woman”…with Brianna Ghey’s mother watching
#pmqs
from the gallery. Shouts of “shame” from Labour MPs. “Of all the days…” says Starmer.
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🚨boris johnson arrives at the covid inquiry at 7am - 3 hours before doors open - presumably to avoid bereaved families and press
video taken by charlie williams from
@CovidJusticeUK
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read the full story of those whatsapp messages here, and my dispatch from the inquiry room:
‘we look like a terrible, tragic joke’: covid whatsapps show government chaos
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🚨SCOOP: the covid-19 inquiry has hired tory-linked PR firms to manage the voices of bereaved families
@CovidJusticeUK
say it is an "obvious" conflict of interest
me for
@openDemocracy
:
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FYI - at the covid inquiry hearing centre we are shown the documents on a screen very briefly, and they won't be published until the end of the day, so apologies for the bad quality (and no point asking the inquiry team for them earlier...you won't get them)
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🚨NEW: weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel companies and a spyware firm are among those sponsoring events at this year’s labour party conference
key sponsors so far include palantir, boeing, babcock, SSE, cadent gas and more...
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🚨more whatsapps from the inquiry today...
dom cummings: "as always discussions with these ministers is moronic"
lee cain: "this is embarrassing"
[from two days later]
lee cain: "hancock has to go. joker"
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today is my last day at vice after 4.5 years (!)
i'm most proud of creating the
@VICEUKUNION
, which let us negotiate more £££ for workers and wind up management on a regular, formalised basis
thx to all my colleagues for tolerating me xxx
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🚨these are the bereaved who were kicked out
their signs say "the dead can't hear your apologies"
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🚨HUGE news that our small, independent, not-for-profit
@openDemocracy
has been shortlisted for news provider of the year at the british journalism awards (despite being about 1/5th of the size of other shortlisted news orgs)
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🚨abortion in the UK🚨
i spoke to an academic recently who said we *must* stop calling abortion in the UK controversial
according to the social attitudes survey, 90% believe abortion should be available in some circumstances, while 60%+ believe it should be the person's choice
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🚨NEW: top private schools' 'paltry' charity work revealed
i looked into some of the absurd ways the UK's top private schools justify their billion-pound tax breaks
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kemi badenoch accused labour MP kate osborneit of lying when she said that badenoch uses "inflammatory language that likens children and young people coming out as trans to the spread of a disease"
but is it a lie?
Furious argument at the women and equalities committee between Kemi Badenoch and Labour MP Kate Osborne, who accused the minister of using "inflammatory language" about children coming out as trans
Badenoch accused her of lying
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for the
@guardian
, i wrote about rising no-fault evictions, their cruelty, and why labour will need to embrace radical ideas if it wants to fix the rental crisis
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all white panel to discuss “how much immigration is too much immigration” at tory party conference today, including minister for immigration robert jenrick
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🚨NEW: damning whatsapp messages shown to the covid inquiry reveal key boris johnson advisor simon case describing the government as a “terrible, tragic joke” and labelling carrie johnson the “secret PM”
read the full story of those whatsapps here⬇️
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🚨dark money think tanks are taking credit for part of jeremy hunt's autumn statement today, calling it "amazing news"
what is "full expensing" and why do right-wing think tanks love it? have a read below ⬇️
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✨today is my first day at
@openDemocracy
as their news and politics reporter
super interested for stories around housing and inequalities - especially linked to the cost of living crisis
drop me an email / say hi / send goss - ruby.lott.lavigna
@opendemocracy
.net
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🚨more juicy whatsapps from the covid inquiry...
chief scientific adviser angela mclean called rishi sunak "dr death the chancellor" in 2020 re eat out to help out
she also called prof carl heneghan a "fuckwitt" [sic]...who happens to be next up to give evidence today😬
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🚨NEW: the gov has announced an indefinite delay to banning no-fault evictions following "extensive lobbying" from the UK's biggest landlord group
it also comes days before michael gove delivers the keynote speech at the national landlord conference...
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just spoke to a russian journalist who told me russians are exasperated at the ridiculous clampdown on language during the invasion – where they're not allowed to call it a "war" but a "special operation"
they joke - that famous tolstoy book? special operation and peace
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every day thankful i live in a whole milk house. sometimes gold top. porridge? amazing. coffee? creamy. don't settle x
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🚨i have led our coverage of the covid inquiry, and broke the story that the cabinet office was refusing to hand over boris johnson's whatsapps
but mostly, i'm proud of being able to share the stories of the bereaved
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🚨whatsapps between boris johnson and dominic cummings discussing former cabinet secretary mark sedwill, now a peer
johnson: "talked to sedwill and he is still miles off pace"
cummings: "the fucker shd be in the office now"
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🚨i also revealed the involvement of two tory-linked PR firms in the inquiry, which ultimately led to the withdrawal of one of the firms from the process
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🚨lobby akinnola from
@CovidJusticeUK
gives a statement outside the inquiry
“the evidence we’re hearing is so much worse than we ever imagined”
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🚨NEW: that conspiracy theory about 15-minute cities that transport secretary mark harper repeated today at tory party conference?
his own government have already debunked it...multiple times
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🚨NEW: a housing scam is spreading through london – with councils and police doing little to stop it
my investigation with
@SaferRentingCH
into a confusing and shady rent-to-rent scam hitting vulnerable tenants:
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🚨NEW: a top boris johnson aide changed the settings on a gov whatsapp group to delete messages automatically weeks before the covid inquiry was first announced...
martin reynolds said he could not "recall" why he did it
from
@FinJohnston1
and me
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@MichaelOnassis
evidence isn't published until the end of the day, but it is shown while the hearing is going on
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🚨NEW: the UK failed to consider almost *any* health inequalities – including structural racism – in its emergency planning in the years leading up to the pandemic, leading experts have found
my report from the covid-19 inquiry today for
@openDemocracy
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🚨 i have enjoyed working in the lobby (despite it being a very strange place)
last year, i broke the story that a tory MP, then on bail for alleged rape, had been reselected to stand in his seat
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hello from the second week of the covid inquiry
long covid groups are protesting outside the hearing centre today
this morning we’ll be hearing from alex thomas, formerly of dept of heath and cab office, and in the afternoon, a long covid expert and
@LongCovidSOS
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🚨NEW: the UK's new minister for "net zero" has links to an oil-funded think tank that has targeted climate protesters
claire coutinho MP was a senior fellow to the opaquely funded right-wing group policy exchange in 2021
full story below...
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before the tories start debating the renters' reform bill (now called the rented homes bill), I'll just leave this here
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🚨i hope that i can continue to report on the injustice that is the housing crisis in this country – like this piece revealing how social landlords were lobbying to raise rents on the most vulnerable tenants
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🚨rowley claimed there had been: "a significant increase in social housing over the last 14 years"
but that's not true...
between 2010 and 2022, 161,553 social homes were completed but 210,396 were sold. 71,541 were demolished, resulting in a net loss
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surprise appearance from sunak’s wife, akshata murthy, heir to infosys billions, to tell us how she and sunak are “best friends”
PM often refuses to answer questions about his family - but happy to use them when convenient for his campaign
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🚨NEW: a conservative MP accused of rape has been "unanimously" re-selected to run in the next general election
since his arrest and bail, the MP has continued to work in his community – often alongside children
my report for
@openDemocracy
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want to free yourself from the perpetual insecurity of renting but don’t have enough money to buy a house?
try this one trick landlords hate!
i wrote about trying to turn our home into a co-op for
@guardianopinion
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if you’re wondering why i didn’t do this earlier…i’ve just been sat in the cinema for three hours 🙃
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🚨martin reynolds turned on the disappearing messages function on a whatsapp group with the PM and others as soon as covid inquiry was announced, evidence to the inquiry shows
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more developments on the
@openDemocracy
scoop that the treasury, under sunak, allowed a putin ally to circumvent sanctions…
PM was apparently not involved in the key treasury decision while chancellor – raising questions over lack of ministerial scrutiny
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🚨NEW: the covid-19 inquiry appears to be distancing itself from tory-linked PR firms – months after
@openDemocracy
revealed concerns about their involvement
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vice execs collected millions in bonuses while filing the company for bankruptcy
this is everything you need to know about how that company was run as it dies its millionth death
Today at VICE I was unable to pull a court record, which costs 10 cents, because the company isn't paying bills
Meanwhile so many execs, some which led VICE to bankruptcy, make $700-900k, including bonuses at the time VICE laid off much cheaper workers. It's worse than I thought
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if you want to support our journalism so that we can cover every single day of the inquiry (and spot whatsapps like these that otherwise might have been missed) you can donate here:
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NEW: a family who have lived in the UK for 17 years were asked by a london council whether they'd considered going "back to peru" in a meeting about emergency social housing
my piece for
@VICEWorldNews
:
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@openDemocracy
🚨this follows an investigation this week from
@openDemocracy
that revealed that at least 20 of the 215 candidates the labour party has so far selected are lobbyists or former lobbyists
(from
@EJShone93
)
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🚨conflict of interest stories have been a big part of my job, including this story that weapons manufacturers and spy-tech firms were set to host events at labour conference
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🚨NEW: green candidate for brighton pavillion
@sianberry
tells me she wishes the party had "been able to deal with transphobia sooner"
i spoke to berry, likely to be the next green MP in westminster, about housing, the environment and that court case
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🚨NEW: boris johnson described scenes of women being pinned to the ground during a peaceful vigil for sarah everard, who was raped and murdered by a serving police officer, as “argy bargy”.
the former PM made the comments in evidence seen by covid inquiry
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horrible as ever to see a PM so proud to be transphobic
won’t be repeating the comments, but it’s not representative of so many in this country, and just a culture war ploy from a party about to lose power
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NEW: those responsible for dangerous cladding are "getting away with it" as government recovers just 3% of loans
from me and
@LucasAm1n
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NEW: the national conservatism conference has blocked openDemocracy, novara media and byline times from attending its flagship event this week
so much for free speech?
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🚨 the cabinet office has refused to hand over boris jonson's whatsapp messages or notebooks to the inquiry, calling it "unambiguously irrelevant"...despite its own staff handing over the same evidence to the police over potential covid breaches
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🚨more recent, data from the regulator for social housing shows there was another loss of 6,635 social homes in 2022/23
rowley kept repeating that social housing was a "finite resource" - but that's only because the tories have made sure of it
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🚨finally, thanks to my brilliant editors,
@journoramzy
and
@samgelder
any lucrative and exciting opportunities, please drop me a DM x
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🚨NEW: landmark legislation hoping to ban criminal landlords from the rental market is barely in use,
@openDemocracy
can reveal
there are currently only 16 banning orders in england right now – yet councils say they're seeing criminal activity "daily"
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thanks to the guardian for properly crediting our simon case/covid whatsapp story
we may be a small org but
@openDemocracy
will be reporting every day of the covid inquiry so we don't miss details like this
full story here:
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🚨the biggest own goal has to be that the cabinet office handed over docs that it had partially redacted - this time without the redactions, to prove it was only taking out irrelevant material
...except the chair of the inquiry did not share this view
"not a promising start"
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at the height of the pandemic, boris johnson had a phone call and then a meeting with evgeny lebedev, owner of the evening standard, according to his diaries
months later, johnson made lebedev a life peer
we don't know why they met at this time
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🚨yes, ministers sometimes are flexible with the truth, but this is pretty outrageous
@Lee4NED
will you be correcting the mistake?
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landlord peers with property empires debating the renters reform bill...what could go wrong?
my piece in the new private eye - out now!
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🚨
@CovidJusticeUK
have called the whole thing "a desperate waste of time"
"any attempt to appeal this decision or hinder [the inquiry's] work further would be utterly shameful."
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🚨NEW: rishi sunak likely knew that eat out to help out would "cause an increase in transmission risk"
scheme to boost restaurant attendance "reversed" all advice given to UK public, says former chief scientific adviser patrick vallance
read below ⬇️
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NEW: in 2019, the tories pledged to end rough sleeping by the next election
four years on, a key policy is still in its pilot stage, more people are dying homeless than before and the number of people sleeping rough is going up.
what happened?
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i spoke to
@KwajoHousing
about his viral campaign to expose the uk's poor quality social housing
"i said to myself, the voices of tenants and the working class will be listened to now because for so long, they've been ignored."
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final results show over 56% – 1,034,709 people – voted in favour of taking properties owned by big corporate landlords into state control
my report for
@VICEWorldNews
:
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🚨NEW: the covid-19 inquiry currently has no plans to sanction boris johnson for not yet handing over his whatsapp messages
@CovidJusticeUK
say the inquiry "must be prepared to take legal action" against him if messages are not disclosed in their entirety
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how the hell do you fight against berlin's billion-euro property industry...and win?
for
@VICEWorldNews
, i spent time with activists, politicians + renters to understand how a major housing campaign to expropriate flats took on mega landlords–and won.
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🚨nicola sturgeon not holding back when she called boris johnson a "fucking clown" after he announced the second national lockdown in 2020
"his utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere"
(from the covid inquiry today)
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telling of labour’s changing direction when free-market think tank, the adam smith institute, says they are “extending their network” into the labour party, and will soon be announcing a labour peer as a patron…
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"at the moment you go to a bar not to hang out with your friends but to discuss all the shit that is happening. on each table, at each bar, people are talking about it"
my piece on the young ukrainians living in the shadow of a potential russian invasion
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🚨boris johnson is set to appear at the covid inquiry this week – but for
@openDemocracy
i spoke to those on the other side of the hearing room who make it their mission to be there in person
meet the people attending the covid inquiry every day:
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🚨NEW: a free-market think tank that doesn't declare its funders is set to "expand" its network into the labour party
it will announce one of the party's peers as a patron in the coming weeks
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NEW: sarah everard's killer – a serving met police officer at the time – will receive a whole life order with no chance of parole
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"everyone has just left us"
ukrainians facing the new reality of war tell me they don't understand why the west isn't doing more to help them
@VICEWorldNews
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🚨NEW: potentially dangerous concrete known as RAAC has been found in a housing estate,
@openDemocracy
can reveal
social housing campaigners have called this a "cladding-style crisis in the making"
story below...
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NEW: charity lgb alliance has been lobbying pro-lgbtq priests to oppose the inclusion of trans people in the uk's conversion therapy ban
@VICEWorldNews
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NEW: labour has been criticised for holding a deliveroo-sponsored event on the gig economy...with no gig workers on the panel
the fringe event advertised there would be a "deliveroo rider" speaking. he turned out to be a manager at deliveroo.
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