The Conservatives could lose traditionally loyal key councils and up to 550 councillors in local elections in the UK on Thursday, a poll has shown.
True blue Westminster and Wandsworth councils in London could be among the casualties as Labour gears up for its most successful night since the 1990s, Tony Blair and Cool Britannia.
The survey suggested Labour will hold 3,500 council seats — a gain of more than 800 — while the Tories will retain about 980, a fall of 548.
Although the elections are for local authorities, the national government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson has endured a series of ethics and standards scandals, including partygate, second jobs and pornography in Parliament.
Mr Johnson, interviewed on British television on Tuesday, argued that he was an honest politician.
If the vote mirrors the opinion poll, it could put more pressure on the prime minister to step down.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the International Trade Secretary, was asked about the 550 number and its relevance.
“I am not close to the precise detail but I would expect us to win some and lose some, that would be normal and expected, but what I think we will see is a really strong showing from Conservative voters who want to come out and demonstrate that they know that locally-run councils run by Conservatives are better,” she said.
The opinion poll found that Barnet in London, Southampton on the south coast and Newcastle-under-Lyme in the Midlands could all be lost by the Conservatives, while Labour could gain 16 councils.
The predicted vote share was 24 per cent for the Tories, 39 per cent for Labour and 15 per cent for the Liberal Democrats — figures not seen since Tony Blair was Labour leader.
The pollsters pointed out, however, that previous apparent Labour strength has not necessarily translated into votes.
In the fallout from the partygate controversy, where government ministers held drinks parties at work during Covid-19 lockdowns, Mr Johnson had to pay a fixed penalty notice for breaking the law.
He insisted on Tuesday he was an “honest” politician as he admitted to being “inadvertently” wrong in his comments to Parliament about the partygate row.
“Yes. I think the best way to judge that is to look at what this government says it's going to do and what it does,” he said.
The party has been criticised for its reaction to the Ukraine refugee crisis and the Rwanda plan to send Channel-hopping migrants to East Africa and imposing tax rises while inflation is soaring.
On Saturday, Neil Parish MP resigned his seat after admitting he had watched pornography while in the House of Commons.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party has a “real wind in our sails” before the local elections on Thursday.
Asked what success would look like for Labour, he said: “We want to hold seats where we've already got them, and we want to make gains where we can.
“I'm conscious that we've got to earn every vote, I'm taking nothing for granted. What I can tell you is we've got thousands of fantastic activists across the country making the positive case for Labour. There's a real wind in our sails at the moment.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
AUSTRALIA SQUAD v SOUTH AFRICA
Aaron Finch (capt), Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa
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Brief scores:
Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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The finalists
Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho
Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson
Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)
Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid
Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
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Company%20profile
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Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
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Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
