London Fire Brigade is ‘institutionally misogynist and racist’, damning review finds
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is “institutionally misogynist and racist” with a “toxic culture that allows bullying and abuse”, an independent review has found.
One black firefighter had a noose put above his locker while a female firefighter said she advised female friends not to let male firefighters in the house to check smoke alarms because they “go through women’s drawers looking for underwear and sex toys”.
She said the threshold for bullying is so high “you would have to gouge someone’s eyes out to get sacked”, adding: “Everything else is seen as banter.”
In another incident, a Muslim had bacon and sausages put in his coat pockets and a terrorist hotline sign posted on his locker.
Read more: ‘Toxic culture’ of London Fire Brigade revealed
Nazir Afzal, the author of the review and a former chief crown prosecutor for the North West, said he and his team “found dangerous levels of ingrained prejudice against women and the barriers faced by people of colour spoke for themselves”.
People from ethnically diverse backgrounds were more likely to be subject to disciplinary action, less likely to be promoted and largely unrepresented at senior levels, and also frequently racially abused.
There was also “clear evidence of racism, misogyny and bullying, which made it hard for many firefighters to do their job and forced others out of the Brigade”.
In his conclusion, Mr Afzal said: “My review found evidence that supports a finding that LFB is institutionally misogynist and racist.
“We found dangerous levels of ingrained prejudice against women and the barriers faced by people of colour spoke for themselves.
“Not only were they more likely to be subject to disciplinary action, less likely to be promoted and largely unrepresented at senior levels, but they were also frequently the target of racist abuse.
“We also saw examples of how this was driving some people of colour out of the brigade and there was evidence that talented people, committed to public service, were being lost as a result.”
Report commissioned after firefighter’s suicide
Mr Afzal said he wished to draw an important distinction with similar issues experienced by the Metropolitan Police, which was put “on notice” earlier this year after evidence emerged of sexist, racist and homophobic behaviour among officers.
“Where there has been flagrant examples of police officers misusing power and allowing prejudice to shape their actions, we did not find the same level of operational bigotry,” he said.
The report said the disadvantage and discrimination affecting staff did not translate into its operations or affect the way it prevents and responds to incidents.
Over 10 months, Mr Nazir and his team heard the experiences of more than 2,000 current and former staff and the public, including members of the community affected by the Grenfell fire.
The report, which makes 23 recommendations, was established after the suicide of firefighter Jaden Francois-Esprit. His family were concerned he had been bullied because of his race, the report said.
‘Abhorrent’
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the review “must be nothing short of a watershed moment”.
He said for LFB to be trusted to protect all Londoners it must be a workplace free from discrimination, unfairness and inequality, where people of all backgrounds can thrive.
He said: “The details published today of institutional misogyny, racism and discrimination are abhorrent.
“Londoners, including firefighters and other staff, have been let down by those who should have supported them have every right to be angry, as I am.
“I fully supported the fire commissioner, Andy Roe, in commissioning this review and we both agree that all of its recommendations and findings must be acted upon with urgency and conviction to rebuild public trust and the confidence of LFB staff and firefighters who have been failed for far too long.”
‘A very sobering day’
London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said: “Today is a very sobering day. There is no place for discrimination, harassment and bullying in the Brigade and from today it will be completely clear to all staff what behaviour isn’t acceptable and what the consequences will be.
“I am deeply sorry for the harm that has been caused. I will be fully accountable for improving our culture.”
UK
Poorer people dying increasingly younger than richer people as ‘dismal’ life expectancy gap grows, report finds
People from poorer neighbourhoods in England are dying increasingly younger than those in wealthier areas, a report has found.
General life expectancy has fallen by 0.2 years for men and remained the same for women since 2010-12, according to the research, at 82.8 and 78.8 for females and males respectively in 2020-22.
It had increased over the previous 10 years, from 2000-2 to 2010-12, by 2.3 and 3.1 years for females and males respectively.
But while the COVID pandemic contributed to the change in figures up until 2022, researchers from the UCL’s Institute of Health Equity (IHE) said healthy life expectancy had fallen slightly for women and stalled for men in the 10 years until 2019.
Graphic: IHE
Healthy life expectancy is the average number of years that a person can expect to live in “full health”, by taking into account years lived in less than full health due to disease and/or injury.
Although there has been a markedly slower rate of increase in life expectancy at birth in England since 2011 than in previous decades, even this increase has varied across regions – with a widening of the north-south gap and women.
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, IHE director, said: “Put simply, Britain is a poor, sick country, getting sicker, with a few rich and healthy people; the results of a dismal failure of central government policies since 2010.
“Not only is health the foremost concern of your local constituents, communities and businesses, health is also an indicator of how well a nation is performing. Unfortunately, Britain is performing poorly.”
The study, England’s Widening Health Gap: Local Places Falling Behind, found women in the most deprived neighbourhoods had seen a fall in their life expectancy even before the pandemic.
And its headline findings showed there were no statistically significant decreases in inequalities in life expectancy for men or women in any of the English local authorities.
Graphic: IHE
The largest increase in inequality between 2010 and 2019 was in female life expectancy in Kensington and Chelsea – where the difference between the poorest and richest neighbourhoods grew from 6.2 to 11.9 years.
This means women in the most affluent parts of the area are expected to live to an average of 90.7 years, compared to 77.2 in the poorest neighbourhoods.
Among the other local authorities with the biggest increases in inequality of life expectancy was also for women, in Stoke-on-Trent – where the difference grew from 3.8 to 8.9 years (the ages of 75.8 and 85.8).
Graphic: IHE
Of English regions, the North East saw the largest growth in life expectancy inequality, with a rise of 1.9 years among women and 1.5 years among men.
The IHE said there had been statistically significant increases in life expectancy inequality in 17 local authorities in total.
Sir Michael has written to the 58 MPs whose constituencies lie wholly or partially in these local authorities, along with each area’s local authority leaders, to highlight “particularly concerning health trends” in the areas.
Among them are six former or current cabinet ministers, including former prime minister Liz Truss, levelling up,
housing and communities secretary Michael Gove and former housing, communities and local government secretary Robert Jenrick.
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Sir Michael added: “This is a dismal state of affairs. I’m saying to party leaders: make this the central plank of the next government – stop policies harming health and widening health inequalities.
“To MPs: If you care about the health of your constituents, you must be appalled by their deteriorating health. It’s time for action and political leadership across the board.
“Important as is the NHS – publicly funded and free at the point of use – action is needed on the social determinants of health: the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These social conditions are the main causes of health inequalities.”
A government spokesperson said: “As set out in our Levelling Up White Paper, we are committed to narrowing the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030 and to increasing healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035.”
The complete list of the 17 local authorities with statistically significant increases in life expectancy inequality are:
- Amber Valley
- Bexley
- Cambridgeshire
- Charnwood
- Cornwall
- County Durham
- Erewash
- Guildford
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Newark and Sherwood
- Norfolk
- Norwich
- North Somerset
- Northumberland
- Rotherham
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Telford and Wrekin
Less than a week after she survived a migrant boat disaster in which five people died, Heivin is standing in a car park next to a shabby hotel near London, smiling and joyous.
After a string of failed attempts to reach England, her dream has finally been fulfilled.
“It was really hard and dangerous for me, but I finally made it here, thanks to God,” she said.
“I am very happy to be here because I think it is a safe country and it is very suitable for me. But part of me is still in shock that the journey is finally over.”
She is a slight young woman, just 18 years old but blessed with a confidence that allowed her to persevere when others might have given up.
She left Kurdistan around a year ago, crossing Europe to France, and living in camps, woodland and in underpasses along the way.
“It was very hard,” she said.
“Especially when you’re on your own, and a young woman. It can be very dangerous.”
Kurdistan is a region that straddles Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq, and whose people have historically faced ethnic and political persecution from the governments of those countries.
Heivin tried 30 times to reach England from the coast of northern France, with her penultimate attempt seeing her take a place on a boat that was wildly overcrowded after it was violently hijacked by a rival group of migrants.
In the ensuing melee, five people died, including a young child.
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Survivor recalls ‘hijacking’ of migrant boat
It was shortly after that trauma that we met Heivin for the first time, as she was recovering from the ordeal of that boat.
The memories still haunted her of seeing people crushed.
Even then, Heivin said she would be trying again and, in the early hours of Saturday morning, she made it.
Her boat left a French beach in the early hours and chugged towards Britain.
The people smugglers who arranged the crossing, she said, were “good with us”.
“We only had to wait for three to four hours, then we went down the beach and boarded the dinghy,” she added.
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But the boat, as so often with these crossings, was ill-equipped and struggled in the water before being intercepted by a French coastguard vessel, which offered assistance.
Of nearly 60 people on board, 33 were taken off, but the others, including Heivin, remained at sea, determined to get to Britain.
Heivin said: “This time I went, but I always had the feeling that I would not make it and have to return like the other times.
“It was also extremely cold that night and my clothes were soaking wet. I kept saying to myself ‘I won’t make it’, but thank God, I did make it.”
The decisive point came when the dinghy entered British waters and, before long, the passengers on board were collected by a Border Force vessel and taken to the mainland.
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I asked her: “How did you feel when you saw the British boat?”
Heivin’s face breaks into a broad smile as she says “so happy” with a shake of her head that is loaded with emotion.
She added: “I felt overjoyed. I didn’t expect that we would make it to Britain. I thought we would just end up back in France again, like the other times.
“When I saw the British boat, I was extremely happy – I just can’t explain it. I’m so happy.”
UK
Shellfish industry on a ‘knife edge’ as sewage dumped in designated waters for 192,000 hours last year
Untreated sewage was released into designated shellfish waters for 192,000 hours last year, new research has found.
The dirty water pouring into English seas was a 20% jump from 159,000 hours in 2022, according to the analysis of Environment Agency data by the Liberal Democrats, shared with Sky News.
The hours of sewage dumping were spread across 23,000 separate incidents – a slight fall from the previous year, but still an average of 64 times a day.
Some fishing waters in Cornwall were forced to close last year after high levels of e.coli were found in oysters and mussels, and norovirus can also be transported via human waste.
While the fishing industry can usually clean its catch before it reaches the plate, it has branded the situation a “stitch-up” because it foots the bill for the process.
Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP said: “This environmental scandal is putting wildlife at risk of unimaginable levels of pollution.
“The food we eat, and the British fisheries industry, must be protected from raw sewage.”
The Lib Dems are calling for an investigation into shellfish water quality – which should be protected from deterioration under the Water Framework Directive – and a government clampdown on polluting companies.
“It is getting worse on their watch and there will be real concerns for the fishing industry if this trend continues,” added Mr Farron, whose party is targeting many rural seats in the upcoming general election.
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Why are some forced to live with bad smells and trails of sludge?
The worst offender was South West Water, responsible for 13,000 sewage discharges, totalling 98,000 hours, followed by Southern Water, which released sewage 7,000 times for 73,000 hours.
Southern Water pointed to the fact 2023 fell in the wettest 18-month period on record, while South West Water said it has a high proportion of shellfish waters across its vast West Country coastline.
Just 9% of shellfish waters in England reach the top “class A” status – clean enough that shellfish harvested from them can be sold without being purified first.
Anything caught from lower quality waters must be cleaned first in depuration tanks, where the molluscs purge themselves with sterile water, or cannot be sold at all.
Read more:
UK water sports demand clean-up, blaming sewage for illness and event cancellations
‘Shocking’ incidents of sewage spewing into gardens – with disease outbreaks ‘very possible’
Martin Laity, of Sailors Creek Shellfish, and his son. Pic: Martin Laity
Fishing industry on a ‘knife edge’
Martin Laity, of Sailors Creek Shellfish, has been catching native oysters from the waters of Cornwall for 34 years.
He tracks alerts on the latest sewage discharges, so he can avoid fishing in those waters, and sometimes soaks the oysters in purification tanks for days longer than mandated just to be safe.
He calls the situation a “stitch-up” because it pushes up producers’ electricity and labour costs, and reduces the value of their catch, for which they receive no compensation.
Joe Redfern from the Shellfish Association Of Great Britain said producers “live on a knife edge”.
“Just one bad result can shut down their business overnight, leading to huge impacts to their business. It is a desperate situation and one that seems to be getting worse, with some businesses shutting for good,” he said.
It wants compensation for producers from the fines the government imposed on water companies for excessive sewage releases.
A spokesperson for industry body Water UK said: “Water companies understand and sympathise with the issues these businesses and coastal communities are facing, which is why we are proposing to spend £11bn to reduce spills as quickly as possible, halving spills into shellfish water by 2030.”
An environment department (Defra) spokesperson said: “We’re already taking action to clean up shellfish sites by driving the water industry to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in history – £60bn over 25 years – to cut spills by hundreds of thousands each year.
“Shellfish sites will be prioritised alongside bathing waters and sites of ecological importance.”
Defra is also increasing inspections and regulator funding, and considering banning some water company bonuses, they added.
South West Water said its plans will ensure all shellfish sites in its area meet the government’s target of less than 10 spills per year by 2030, and Southern Water said shellfish can also be infected by farming, run off from roads, boats, marine life and pesticides.
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