Cameron calls countries attending anti-corruption summit ‘fantastically corrupt’
The government’s anti-corruption summit may get off to a rough start Thursday after David Cameron was caught on camera telling the Queen that some “fantastically corrupt” countries would be attending.
Cameron made the remarks at a Buckingham Palace reception celebrating the Queen’s 90
th birthday, according to a
Guardian report. The prime minister singled out Afghanistan and Nigeria as two of the most corrupt countries in the world. Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the summit.
A spokesman for Buhari said he was “shocked and embarrassed” by Cameron’s comments, and that he assumed Cameron was referring to corruption that pre-dated his election last year, the
Guardian reported.
NHS discharge system failing vulnerable patients – report
A new report shows that NHS is failing too many vulnerable patients.
An independent arbitrator investigated 211 complaints over the course of a year and found that poor planning, communication and co-ordination in the NHS discharge system is compromising the safety of elderly and otherwise vulnerable patients, according to a BBC report.
The report highlighted cases in which patients were discharged before they were medically ready to leave the hospital, patients weren’t consulted before discharge, and where patients were discharged without relatives of caregivers being notified, according to the
BBC.
The NHS said the findings were being taken seriously.
“Rather than frail elderly people staying in hospital longer than they need to, it is better to get patients home as quickly as possible and to assess them in their own homes rather than in a hospital – but this must be done with the right help and support in place,” an NHS spokesman said.
BHS owner sold main distribution centre to pay off loan
The owner of BHS used proceeds from the sale of the failed retailer’s main distribution centre to pay off a loan he had taken out when buying the department store, the
Guardian reports.
Dominic Chappell oversaw the process as BHS sold its Warwickshire distribution centre for £15 million last August, then paid £5 million to Retail Acquisitions, Chappell’s company, as an inter-company loan. Retail Acquisitions then used the money to pay off a loan it had taken out with Allied Commercial Exporters.
There doesn’t seem to be anything illegal about the transactions, but some are questioning why cash raised from the sale of BHS assets would be diverted elsewhere, considering the retailer’s financial struggles, the
Guardian reported.
The retailer collapsed into administration last month, leaving a pension scheme with a £571 million deficit and putting 11,000 jobs on the line.
MPs pay family members thousands more than other staff, report finds
When MPs employ family members, they pay them an average of £5,600 more than other staff, according to a BBC report.
Pay of “connected parties” has also increased at twice the rate of pay for other staff, a review by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has found.
A total of 139 MPs employ relatives, at a total public cost of about £4.5 million per year. Ipsa has called for a review of whether MPs should be allowed to employ family members in the future, the
BBC reported.
“Public concern about the employment of connected parties has remained,” Ipsa said in its report. “In order to determine whether these constitute any grounds for concern, Ipsa would need to undertake intrusive and potentially disproportionate work to investigate the employment practices of MPs’ offices. But, given that there remains a perception of risk to taxpayers’ money, we are obliged to address it.”
West Ham to ban bus-bashing hooligans for life
West Ham has announced that anyone who is confirmed to have been among those who attacked Manchester United’s team bus will be banned for life, Sky News reported.
Manchester United’s coach was surrounded by West Ham supporters at Boleyn Ground in East London, and bottles and other objects were lobbed at the bus. Police had to intervene, and kick-off was pushed back by 45 minutes for the teams’ final game of the season. A police officer and a member of the crowd were injured during the disturbance,
Sky News reported.
The Football Association said it “strongly condemns the unsavoury incidents.”
The (dead) lady vanishes
An undertaker transporting the corpse of a woman from Italy to her native Poland misplaced the body after stopping for lunch in Munich, the
Mirror reported.
The undertaker told police that he had parked his hearse “somewhere near the main railway station, but he couldn’t remember where. Unsurprisingly, officers said alcohol may have been a factor.
After nearly 24 hours off the radar, the hearse was spotted by a passerby. It was parked near Munich’s Isar River – nowhere near the train station, the
Mirror reported. Fortunately, the body was still on board.
