The prime minister has defended plans to widen police use of stop and search powers, describing it as a “kind and loving” way to get dangerous weapons off the streets.
Speaking as the government set out its new Beating Crime Plan for England and Wales, Boris Johnson said stop and search was not a “strong-arm” tactic and plays an “important part in fighting crime”.
The blueprint includes a permanent relaxing of conditions on the use of Section 60 stop and search powers, which allow officers to search someone without reasonable grounds in an area where serious violence is expected.
Image: The conditions on use of stop and search powers will be ‘permanently relaxed’ under the new plan
“They are not the only tool that we have got to use. They are part of a range of things we have got to do to fight street crime,” the PM said when asked about stop and search during a broadcast pool clip.
“I think that giving the police the backing that they need in law to stop someone, to search them, to relieve them of a dangerous weapon – I don’t think that’s strong-arm tactics, I think that’s a kind and loving thing to do.
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“The people who often support stop and search most passionately are the parents of the kids who are likely themselves to be the victims of knife crime.”
Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News earlier, policing minister Kit Malthouse defended the plans to relax rules on the use of police stop and search.
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He said that although it is not a “long-term solution” it can have a “big impact on suppressing knife crime” in the short term.
But human rights organisation Liberty has said easing the restrictions will “compound discrimination”.
Mr Johnson, who made the comments during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters alongside Home Secretary Priti Patel, also said he wanted hi-vis “chain gangs” to act as a deterrent against anti-social behaviour.
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Police pay freeze is ‘tough’
The PM said he wanted those who engage in such behaviour to be “properly paying their debt to society”, adding: “Somebody’s anti-social behaviour may be treated as a minor crime but it could be deeply distressing to those who are victims.
“If you are guilty of anti-social behaviour and you are sentenced to unpaid work, as many people are, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs visibly paying your debt to society.
“So you are going to be seeing more of that as well.”
Other measures contained in the government’s plan include the creation of league tables for 101 and 999 call answering times so the public can see how quickly their local force is responding to calls for help.
The initiative will also ensure every neighbourhood in England and Wales is allocated a named and contactable police officer dedicated to serving their area.
But the PM is facing anger from police officers over elements of the plan, as well as a pay freeze.
Image: The Police Federation of England and Wales passed a motion of no confidence in the home secretary last week
John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, will deliver a letter to Downing Street on Tuesday.
“Police officers are sick of gimmicks. Sick of underfunding. Sick of mixed messaging putting police at risk. Sick of government contempt for police,” it says.
“It’s time for a total reset of police-government relations.”
Surrey Police Federation criticised the pair’s visit, with chairwoman Mel Warnes saying: “Our colleagues should not be used as public relations pawns by politicians.
Image: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel during a visit to Surrey Police headquarters in Guildford, Surrey
“I very much doubt any of our colleagues will be smiling at the thought of meeting two people who have decided against giving them any sort of pay rise despite everything police officers across the country have done these past 18 months.
“Police officers have given everything. The government has given us nothing.”
Other measures proposed include:
• The 24 hour-a-day monitoring of burglars and thieves using electronic surveillance
• Permanently relaxing conditions on the use of stop and search powers to take more knives off the streets
• Getting offenders to clean up streets, alleys, estates and open spaces
• A new £17m package for Violence Reduction Units to divert individuals away from violence
• Rolling out two further rounds of the Safer Streets Fund including increased lighting and CCTV
• Enhancing the role of Police and Crime Commissioners by giving them the tools they need to drive down crime
Labour accused the government of being “all talk and no action” on crime and offering “rehashed policies” that “won’t make our streets safer”.
“On their watch, police numbers are down and community policing has been decimated,” shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said.
“Coupled with an insulting pay freeze, it is no wonder frontline police have declared no confidence in the home secretary.
“There are already targets in place for emergency response times and having named officers in wards is not enough to make up for the devastating scale of Conservative cuts to community policing that drove police numbers down by 21,000.
“Little wonder that, on their watch, anti-social behaviour is rocketing, there are record low convictions for rape, and violent crime is devastating communities across the country.”
The high-profile trial of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried kicked off on Oct. 3 with plenty of activity both inside and outside of the cramped Manhattan courtroom.
Journalists, crypto influencers and other gawkers reportedly gathered in a media overflow room to take notes on the day’s events. Here are some of the most colorful observations about the day.
Noticeably leaner, signature haircut gone
The defendant, Bankman-Fried, appeared noticeably leaner, according to multiple reports.
Flanked by five defense lawyers, he was dressed in a navy suit that seemed bigger on him in previous appearances, and his signature unkempt curly locks were subbed for a shorter hairstyle.
Some of the first court sketches of SBF’s new haircut by Jane Rosenberg for Reuters: pic.twitter.com/n0FqW71PWD
Unchained Crypto’s Laura Shin noted that Bankman-Fried was noticeably “less jittery than normal.”
“I did not see him shake his leg at all,” she said in an Oct. 3 podcast.
The only time he spoke was to say “yes” to the judge and occasionally look at the jurors. Other times, he conferred with his lawyers or was seen typing and scrolling on his air-gapped laptop.
SBF has spent the past seven weeks or so locked up at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. When his lawyers unsuccessfully argued for his release, they claimed that he was subsisting on “bread and water” and lacking vegan meal options.
Crypto influencer Tiffany Fong said, “He kind of looks more criminal now.”
Journalists, influencers and skeptics come to “crypto prom”
The first day of the trial was described as feeling like “the first day of school,” according to some journalists in attendance.
“I’ve never seen the courthouse like this,” remarked an unnamed member of the press, according to The Slate.
“While waiting to access the media overflow room, I spotted practically anyone and everyone who’s had something to say about decentralized currency over the last few years,” said The Slates’ Nitish Pahwa.
He described it as a “crypto prom” crammed with a hodgepodge of paid media participants, crypto influencers, obsessives, skeptics and more.
Cointelegraph reporter Ana Paula Pereira is also in attendance and will give daily updates on the most significant developments throughout the trial.
Jurors get whittled down, and some share sad crypto stories
Judge Lewis B. Kaplan told the burgeoning crowd of potential jurors: “You are to do no research. You are not to read press coverage”; however, he lightened up when it came to questioning the crowd, reported Cointelegraph.
Potential jurors were asked if they had prior knowledge about FTX and Alameda, with one saying they learned about it from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, according to a partial transcript from Inner City Press.
One juror said they worked with a company that invested in (and lost money on) FTX and Alameda. Another potential juror said:
“I invested in crypto. I lost money.”
One juror shared that he wasn’t sure if he could be unbiased with crypto: “I’ve felt negatively about it since I learned about it.” He was later dismissed from the pool of potential jurors.
Another juror even asked the judge whether a death sentence could be imposed for Bankman-Fried, to which the judge answered:
“We’ll get to it in a minute or two, and my answer will have to suffice. Anyone unwilling to accept that punishment is up to the court? No one.”
At the end of the session, Judge Kaplan said, “We now have a sufficient group of qualified jurors, 50.” He added that 18 people will be selected in total, 12 of whom will be jurors with six alternates.
He added that on the next day (Oct. 4), a microphone will be passed around for each juror to speak for a minute. “Then the lawyers will confer, and the final selection will be made,” he concluded.
Witnesses for the prosecution
An assistant U.S. attorney read out a list of potential witnesses for the prosecution. This included some expected names, such as former company executives Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Ryne Miller and Constance Wang; family members Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried; and even Anthony Scaramucci.
Several institutions were also listed, including Jane Street Capital, Sequoia Capital, BlockFi, Genesis, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Binance, Nexo, Guarding Against Pandemics (the nonprofit of SBF’s brother) and Voyager Digital.
Six-week trial expected
Judge Kaplan said that the trial was expected to take about six weeks, but he also noted that it could be over in a much shorter time.
However, by the end of the day, he had not succeeded in finalizing the jury. Kaplan predicted that this would be completed by the morning of Oct. 4, after which both sides are expected to give opening arguments totaling around 90 minutes.
We decided to illustrate the lead-up to @SBF_FTX‘s trial. Here’s Bankman-Fried’s life in the slammer. From mirror monologues to peanut butter banquets, the fall is real. pic.twitter.com/v73IA6d5l2
United States Representative and crypto-friendly lawmaker Patrick McHenry has been appointed as interim House Speaker after the high-profile ousting of U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy’s ousting came after a 216–210 vote by Congress, with eight of the 216 votes coming from McCarthy’s fellow Republicans, marking the first time a House Speaker has been removed in U.S. history, according to Reuters.
The vote was prompted by a motion from one of McCarthy’s political rivals, Matt Gaetz, who called into question several contradictory promises made by McCarthy.
Though temporary, McHenry’s appointment could be seen as a small win for the digital asset sector. The Speaker sets the House’s legislative agenda, controls committee assignments, and schedules specific bills to be debated and voted upon in the chamber.
The House Speaker is considered the most influential position in the U.S. government behind the president and vice president.
McHenry also grilled SEC Chair Gary Gensler in his testimony before Congress last week, suggesting he’s attempting to “choke off the digital asset ecosystem.” McHenry also called Gensler out for refusing to be transparent with Congress about the SEC’s connections with FTX and its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried.
SEC Chair @GaryGensler refuses to schedule a Commission vote to provide Congress with requested documents.
Should Gensler continue to stonewall, Republicans will have no choice but to issue the first subpoena to the SEC from my Committee to compel their production. https://t.co/Aw5U0aJ0Tt
However, McHenry’s tenure as House Speaker may be short-lived, with an official vote on a new House Speaker set for Oct. 11, according to Bloomberg.
A Reuters report speculates that, along with McHenry, there is a possibility that pro-crypto Representative Tom Emmer or even Donald Trump could be a possible replacement for McCarthy, though none have publicly expressed interest in taking the position.
50-50 we get a crypto champion as Speaker now, with Whip Emmer and Speaker pro tempore McHenry in the running. Wild day.
(Speaker of the House is third in power behind President and VP for the non-US followers out there.) https://t.co/2ow5li2lnw
Rishi Sunak will try to convince the public he is the person to “fundamentally change the country” and fix Westminster’s “broken system” – despite the fact his party has been in government for 13 years.
In his speech to the Tory Party conference, the prime minister will present himself as a reformer who is prepared to take difficult decisions, unlike opponents, who take “the easy decision, not the right one”.
Mr Sunak will tell the conference hall that politics “doesn’t work the way it should” and that his Labour opponent, Sir Keir Starmer, is “betting on voters’ apathy.”
The speech will round off what has been a chaotic four days at the party’s annual conference in Manchester – an event that has been overshadowed by the announcement that the northern leg of HS2 will not go ahead as originally envisioned.
He warned the government: “To pull that plug here in Manchester would show complete contempt to the city region and to the north of England as a whole.”
The Tory mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, also warned it would be “an incredible political gaffe” allowing opponents to accuse Mr Sunak of having decided to “shaft the north”.
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In his speech, Mr Sunak will rail against “30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one – 30 years of vested interests standing in the way of change”.
He will reflect on his first year in Number 10 and acknowledge a “feeling that Westminster is a broken system”.
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2:52
No high speed link north of Birmingham
“It isn’t anger, it is an exhaustion with politics,” he will say.
“In particular, politicians saying things, and then nothing ever changing.
“And you know what? People are right. Politics doesn’t work the way it should.”
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9:12
Sunak: ‘No one wants an election’
Poll shows most voters think Sunak is doing a bad job
A new poll of 1,000 people from Ipsos UK suggests most voters think Rishi Sunak is doing a bad job when it comes to hitting his goals.
On inflation, 57% said Mr Sunak was doing a bad job, up from 55% in May.
Some 54% said he was doing a bad job on growing the economy, up from 50% in May.
And 54% of people said he was doing a bad job on reducing national debt – up from 49%.
On cutting NHS waiting lists, dissatisfaction sits at 71%, compared to 62% in May.
On ‘stopping the boats’, two-thirds of people said he was doing a bad job.
The poll was carried out just before the Conservative party conference.
And he will say: “Politicians spent more time campaigning for change than actually delivering it.
“Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.”
As well as the HS2 announcement, Mr Sunak has also been undermined by his predecessor Liz Truss, who drew big conference crowds as she demanded immediate tax cuts to “make Britain grow again”.
Mr Sunak has instead compared himself to the late Baroness Thatcher, who tackled inflation before cutting taxes during her premiership between 1979 and 1990.
While Mr Sunak has repeatedly sought to dodge questions over HS2, he did say on Tuesday that the costs of the project had gone “far beyond” what had been predicted, and the sums involved were “enormous”.
The HS2 scheme was given a budget of £55.7bn in 2015 but costs have ballooned, with an estimate of up to £98bn – in 2019 prices – in 2020.