Tory MP Paul Scully apologises for claiming there are ‘no-go areas’ in Britain
A former Tory minister has apologised for claiming there are “no-go areas” in London and Birmingham following a backlash.
Paul Scully, who served as the minister for London until the latest reshuffle, has expressed “regret” for the language he used in a BBC interview, where he said people were “concerned about, more and more, their neighbourhoods changing”.
In a post on X, he wrote: “Following the frenzy of yesterday I regret using language that could be misconstrued but at a time when we need to encourage moderate voices speaking up for our diverse communities, frankly my biggest regret is speaking out in the first place.”
Mr Scully, the MP for Sutton and Cheam, also used an interview with BBC Radio London to say he was “sorry for using the word “no-go areas”, adding it was a “blunt thing that also feeds into another set of conspiracy theories”.
The MP’s apology comes after he was encouraged to withdraw his comments by immigration minister Tom Pursglove.
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Asked about Mr Scully’s claims on Sky News Breakfast, Mr Pursglove said: “I don’t recognise that depiction.”
He said a “key part” of his role and the government’s migration plans were encouraging immigrants to integrate.
“I think it would be best, again, if that comment was withdrawn,” he added.
Mr Scully said he was feeling “really bruised” after his comments sparked criticism.
“I’m slightly furious that some of the pile-on I had yesterday in some areas, rather than actually people asking me…’what do you mean by that?'”
Tom Pursglove MP
He added: “Frankly, at the moment, I’m just feeling that I don’t want to get involved in the conversation for some time but I know in my heart that’s not going to last for long because London matters to me, the communities in London really matter to me.”
In his original BBC interview, Mr Scully said he wanted there to be “a sensible use of language so we have a constructive adult debate”.
“If you were just looking at the colour of skin and, for example, when a number of Indians were coming in the 70s – my father is half-Burmese, so I’ve seen it first hand – and if it is about the colour of skin, that’s one thing,” he said.
“The point I am trying to make is if you look at parts of Tower Hamlets, for example, there are no-go areas.
“Parts of Birmingham, Sparkhill, where there are no-go areas, mainly because of doctrine, mainly because of people using – abusing in many ways – their religion because it is not the doctrine of Islam, to espouse what some of these people are saying.”
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The comments were criticised by Tory West Midlands mayor Andy Street, who posted on X that it was “news to me and I suspect the good people of Sparkhill” to claim there were “no-go areas”.
Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, also wrote on the social media platform that she was “expecting an apology for this utter drivel”.
Mr Scully’s comments come as the Conservative Party faces accusations of Islamophobia following Lee Anderson’s claim that “Islamists” had taken control of London and its mayor, Sadiq Khan.
Mr Sunak has condemned Mr Anderson’s attack on Mr Khan as unacceptable and “wrong” but refused to say whether they were Islamophobic.
Asked whether Mr Anderson’s comments were racist, Mr Pursglove echoed the prime minister’s language and said: “I don’t think personally that Lee is racist, but what he said was unacceptable. He shouldn’t have said it.”
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
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Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
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Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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