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Russian firm refits 9 Downing Street for the press room

Downing Street denies security risks after Russian-owned firm chosen to work on new briefing roomThe £2.6 million refit of 9 Downing Street will play host to daily press conferencesDowning Street has insisted there is no security threat at the heart of Government after it emerged a Russian-owned company helped with the £2.6 million refit of a new White House-style media briefing room.Boris Johnson’s press secretary, Allegra Stratton, said officials had taken “the necessary measures to ensure the highest standards of security” after it was reported that Megahertz, a Russian-owned company, had supplied equipment for the studio.Megahertz was brought in by the Government’s own facilities management contractor, Interserve, late last year for work that lasted around four months, the website HuffPost said.The company is part-owned by two Russian shareholders, who are also the CEO and commercial director of OKNO-TV, a Russian company that has previously carried out technical work for Channel One and Russia Today, two Kremlin-affiliated broadcasters.............The refit of a room in Number 9 Downing Street – reportedly the idea of Dominic Cummings – will allow Ms Stratton to answer reporters’ questions on live television, in a similar model to the White House’s briefing sessions.On Monday leaked pictures of the studio Megahertz worked on showed a raised stage, blue panelling and a lectern, alongside broadcasting equipment.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/03/15/downing-street-denies-security-risks-russian-owned-firm-chosen/Hmmmmmmm.....

Ivonne Holliday ● 2063d3 Comments ● 2063d

DISHONEST TRADING.

Misleading information provided by energy switching company Look After My Bills to the public has been addressed by the Advertising Standards Authority. Below is a post shared by Nick Blagg, a member of:                                                                                                                                                                        "Look After My Bills Problem Reporting Page."                                                                                                                                                     Nick Blagg shared a link.The complaint made to the advertising standards agency against LAMB has been upheld !! It feels like a partial victory to me based on what the ruling is (see below) but it’s still a win and the more of us that continue to complain the more pressure is applied.  Keep it up guys. 👍🏻Dear Mr Blagg,Thank you for your continued patience.  Further to the below, we received another complaint which raised issues similar to those highlighted in your complaint.  Based on the information you and the other complainant provided, we considered that advertising content from Look After My Bills was likely to break the advertising rules we apply.  Therefore, we contacted the advertiser to ask for their assurance that future ads do not misleadingly imply that users of the service will have access to every single energy company and every single energy deal on the market.  They have provided this assurance.This now resolves your complaint, and the case will be closed.  Basic information including the advertiser’s name and where the ad appeared will be published on www.asa.org.ukThank you for bringing this matter to our attention.Kind regards,JamesJames JonesComplaints ExecutiveDirect Line 020 7492 2214Please note, I do not work on FridaysAdvertising Standards AuthorityCastle House, 37-45 Paul StreetLondon EC2A 4LSTelephone 020 7492 2222

Neil Milkins ● 2064d2 Comments ● 2064d

Our rotten government

I thought I'd become inured to the incompetence, corruption and sheer stupidity of Johnson's chumocracy, but two things today show I shouldn't have been.1. The Public Accounts Committee has published a report on that is genuinely shocking:  "In May last year NHS Test and Trace (NHST&T) was set up with a budget of £22 billion. Since then it has been allocated £15 billion more: totalling £37 billion over two years." And the benefit we've derived from this massive expenditure, which would have given nurses and other care workers a handy boost? The “unimaginable” cost of Test & Trace failed to deliver central promise of averting another lockdown," the committee says.Meg Hillier, chair of the Committee, said: "The £22 billion for test and trace is about the annual budget of the Department for Transport. Test and Trace still continues to pay for consultants at £1000 a day. Yet despite the unimaginable resources thrown at this project Test and Trace cannot point to a measurable difference to the progress of the pandemic, and the promise on which this huge expense was justified - avoiding another lockdown – has been broken, twice."Details at https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/150988/unimaginable-cost-of-test-trace-failed-to-deliver-central-promise-of-averting-another-lockdown/2. Boris Johnson has set out what that same Department of Transport describes as his vision to build back better from coronavirus by boosting transport connectivity across and between the whole of the UK, as part of ambitions to level up across the country. So far, so good - but he went on to say that "the government will also consult on cutting Air Passenger Duty (APD) on internal UK flights." This is utter madness when we are facing a climate emergency caused by burning fossil fuels. What's more, it comes after the week in which the sainted Sunak refused to raise fuel duty generally and in which rail fares were raised at over the rate of inflation.     This will not impress at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) later this year, which the government is hosting. Global Britain? I don't think so.Details at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/move-to-boost-transport-connections-across-the-whole-of-the-uk

Richard Carter ● 2070d34 Comments ● 2066d