Chris Finlan retweeted
**EXCLUSIVE**
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak met a senior UK government minister to discuss the UAE’s investments in Britain just days before the club’s guilty verdicts were announced.
Al Mubarak asked to meet Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on 14 September in his capacity as CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, sources tell Bloomberg.
The pair held a private meeting in Downing Street on that date, the people said. Al Mubarak talked about current and future UAE investment in Britain, they said.
The conversation covered the full range of the relationship including defence, security, intelligence and trade, they said.
Eleven days later, on 25 September, the Athletic reported Man City had been found guilty of breaking Premier League rules.
On 29 September, the Premier League confirmed Manchester City had been found guilty of artificially boosting its balance sheet by more than £900 million.
The fact of the meeting so close to the verdict will raise further questions about the UK government’s handling of the case.
Andy Burnham has faced criticism, including from his own ministers and officials, after he publicly suggested Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified from running the club because of the investment they bring to Britain.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Emirati officials have warned the UK government that the severity of the ruling could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Chris Finlan retweeted
Pep Guardiola inherited a team with De Bruyne, David Silva, Kompany, Sterling and Aguero, and still spent €500m in his first two seasons. For context, in his first 18 months, he spent as much as Arsene Wenger did in 21 years. That’s what £900m of artificial revenue allowed.
Chris Finlan retweeted
Hello @LucyMPowell
As MP for Mcr Central which includes Wastelands, is there anything you'd like to share about your little visit to Abu Dhabi & your role cheerleading for @ManCity's corrupt owners in the UAE APPG 👇
Or do we have to wait for it all to come out in the wash?
🤔
UK Education Secretary and #ManCity fan, Lucy Powell:
“Can I just say to all those United fans who have been gloating all week - you're still crap and you know you are!”
Chris Finlan retweeted
Bloomberg warned weeks ago that political pressure would be applied from the UK to the UAE, and it is happening in front of your eyes. This is the very definition of sportswashing and why nation states should not be allowed to own football clubs. Andy Burnham cannot interfere.
Andy Burnham has said he would be “really concerned” to lose Manchester City’s owners as a result of the club being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules | ✍️
@martynziegler, @Lawton_Times, @_pauljoyce thetimes.com/sport/football/…
Chris Finlan retweeted
🚨🎙️ Gary Neville on UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s comments about Manchester City:
“I find those comments absolutely staggering. At a time when Manchester City have just been found guilty of serious financial rule breaches, the Prime Minister is talking about how concerned he would be if their owners left. What message does that send?
Are we now at the stage where money, investment and tax revenue matter more than the integrity of football? Because if that is the message coming from the top, then we have a serious problem.
You cannot have one set of rules for the smaller clubs and another set of rules for the biggest and wealthiest clubs. If the rules have been broken, they must be dealt with properly. It doesn't matter how much money the owners have brought into Manchester.
And let me be very clear — nobody should be influencing the independent process. The courts, regulators and football authorities must be allowed to do their jobs without political pressure.
If Manchester City escape meaningful punishment simply because they are economically important, then forget sporting integrity. Every club in England will ask themselves why they should respect the rules.
The Premier League cannot become a competition where the bigger your bank account, the safer you are from consequences. That would destroy the credibility of English football.
I think the Prime Minister needs to clarify those comments, because right now they sound like he is more worried about losing Manchester City’s owners than protecting the integrity of the Premier League.”
Chris Finlan retweeted
Govt agrees that students in England were misled by how student loan terms were explained, but only proposes changing them for the future bit.ly/4cCau3W no compensation for millions whose were misled at barely 18
Chris Finlan retweeted
The govt response to this report is a disgrace. Admitting that young people were deliberately misled and then doing nothing about it. A shameful betrayal of students who took out loans in good faith and are facing increasing repayments which have little effect on the capital
This is a very disappointing response that does little to help the millions of students already struggling with student loans! My view on the govt's reponse today to the Treasury Committee student loan report...
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This is a very disappointing response that does little to help the millions of students already struggling with student loans, after years of degradation of the terms they signed up to, by successive governments. Most urgently, it doesn’t address the coming immoral freeze of the Plan 2 repayment threshold, announced by Rachel Reeves, due to start next April.
That will mean all those on Plan 2 loans will effectively pay more each year. I say it’s immoral because it is a negative retrospective change of terms to loan contracts students, often aged 18, signed up to. No commercial firm would ever be allowed to do that. The only slim hope is that as the freeze was announced in a Budget, it has to be undone in a Budget and therefore they are just waiting for the coming one to do that.
At the same time, the Government has sadly rejected the Committee’s recommendation that the ‘fairness’ protections that holders of commercial loans get should apply to student loans too - perhaps as it knows some of the ways it behaves would fall foul of those conditions.
Most frustrating is that back in 2015, I campaigned for this change, and even worked with current Cabinet Minister, Wes Streeting, then a backbencher, to put an amendment in Parliament (it failed). So, it is incredibly frustrating to see a government he is now a part of reject it.
The Government has also rejected shifting the inflation link from RPI to CPI - continuing the unfair pattern that means when the Government raises our costs by inflation it’s often via the higher RPI, but on things where it pays out it’s often linked to the lower CPI measure.
Of course, I welcome the small crumbs it has given that at least future students will be told in plain English, before they sign up, that the amount they repay can be altered after the event. But let’s be clear: better information for future students will not fix the existing Plan 2 student loan crisis. The repayment threshold needs to rise, interest needs to fall, maintenance support needs uprating, and the whole system requires a fundamental reset.
ALT The three images are just textual images of the post text. So if you are on a screen reader it is best to just read the post text.
Chris Finlan retweeted
This is a very disappointing response that does little to help the millions of students already struggling with student loans! My view on the govt's reponse today to the Treasury Committee student loan report...
---------------
This is a very disappointing response that does little to help the millions of students already struggling with student loans, after years of degradation of the terms they signed up to, by successive governments. Most urgently, it doesn’t address the coming immoral freeze of the Plan 2 repayment threshold, announced by Rachel Reeves, due to start next April.
That will mean all those on Plan 2 loans will effectively pay more each year. I say it’s immoral because it is a negative retrospective change of terms to loan contracts students, often aged 18, signed up to. No commercial firm would ever be allowed to do that. The only slim hope is that as the freeze was announced in a Budget, it has to be undone in a Budget and therefore they are just waiting for the coming one to do that.
At the same time, the Government has sadly rejected the Committee’s recommendation that the ‘fairness’ protections that holders of commercial loans get should apply to student loans too - perhaps as it knows some of the ways it behaves would fall foul of those conditions.
Most frustrating is that back in 2015, I campaigned for this change, and even worked with current Cabinet Minister, Wes Streeting, then a backbencher, to put an amendment in Parliament (it failed). So, it is incredibly frustrating to see a government he is now a part of reject it.
The Government has also rejected shifting the inflation link from RPI to CPI - continuing the unfair pattern that means when the Government raises our costs by inflation it’s often via the higher RPI, but on things where it pays out it’s often linked to the lower CPI measure.
Of course, I welcome the small crumbs it has given that at least future students will be told in plain English, before they sign up, that the amount they repay can be altered after the event. But let’s be clear: better information for future students will not fix the existing Plan 2 student loan crisis. The repayment threshold needs to rise, interest needs to fall, maintenance support needs uprating, and the whole system requires a fundamental reset.
ALT The three images are just textual images of the post text. So if you are on a screen reader it is best to just read the post text.
Chris Finlan retweeted
Ah Pharmacy First, headache assessments now ??? No details of clinical pathways yet .
30 + years doing this job, assessing headaches is a minefield….but what would i know, “I’m just a GP”
Follow the money … always
Chris Finlan retweeted
For gods sake just fund general practice properly
We've all been there. You wake up feeling unwell, try to get an appointment, and before you know it half the day has disappeared.
When you're sick, the last thing you should be worrying about is how you're going to get the help you need.
That's why we're expanding Pharmacy First. The idea is simple:
Qualified pharmacists can assess patients, dispense medicines and prescribe treatment for a range of common conditions, helping people get care quickly and close to home. So you don’t have to go to hospital, and you don’t need to book a GP appointment. Just walk into your local pharmacy and get the treatment you need right there, right then.
These services make a huge difference, especially for older people and those who are vulnerable.
That's why we invested a further £340 million in community pharmacies, including to deliver Pharmacy First.
Six million consultations have been delivered since the launch of the scheme.
GPs and NHS 111 have referred three million people to their local pharmacy.
And pharmacists have provided more than three million urgent medicine supplies.
We’re making it possible for qualified prescribing pharmacists to treat five more common health conditions this autumn, like migraines and ear infections, so access to treatment is easier than ever. And what we’re announcing today will make it easier to see a GP for those who need it.
I know how hard our NHS works, how much pressure staff are under and how tough it can be for people to access the care they need from my time as Health Secretary. And I know things have only got tougher in the last 15 years.
As Mayor of Greater Manchester, I saw firsthand how important it is to put more firepower in the frontlines and give people more control over their own lives.
Every place and every person matters. So we’ll make sure people can get the care they need, where they need it. That’s what this is all about.
Faster treatment. More services. Better care for patients. And less pressure on hospitals and GPs.
One less headache for people to worry about.
Can’t stand Burnham. Can’t stand Badenoch. . Can’t stand the clown Polanski. Can’t stand Ed Davey.
What am I supposed to do? Hope a new Party is formed?
Chris Finlan retweeted
I guess a church that compromises a sense of itself as a sacred space does indeed risk diminishing itself to the status of a landmark. xitter.cf/MayorofLondon/status/2…
Fabric. St Paul’s Cathedral. Name a more iconic duo.
Bringing together these two institutions will create a one-of-a-kind experience, pairing world-class music with one of our most special landmarks.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8z…
Chris Finlan retweeted
Anyone vote for this?
Nah, me neither. Never forget this guy staged a coup and he and his cabinet have zero mandate for anything they do. Our political system is so broken.
I didn’t become Prime Minister to just make a few tweaks around the edges. I want to change the way this country works.
For too long, politics became comfortable with the idea that some things just can't be fixed. People sleeping on our streets. Huge inequalities between different parts of the country. Young people unable to afford a home. Communities watching decisions about their future being taken somewhere else, by someone else.
Governments have talked about those things. They've even promised to fix them. But too often, they've reached the same conclusion: it just can't be done.
I don't accept that, and I never have.
That’s why we’ve invested to offer everyone who needs it a route off the streets by Christmas.
It's why we've announced the biggest council housebuilding programme since the Second World War.
It's why we're opening 159 new mental health centres.
It's why we've finally put technical education on par with the academic route.
It's why we're delivering the biggest transfer of power out of Westminster and into local communities in a generation.
And it's why we opened No10 North too.
Not as another government office. But because I believe one thing very strongly: Britain won't be rebuilt from the top down.
You have to put power back in the hands of the people and places that know their communities best - and then put the full weight of government behind them.
I also want to give people a bit of breathing space too.
That's why we've cut tax on electricity bills, capped bus fares at £2, and made subscriptions easier to cancel.
It’s why we've cracked down on fake discounts and cut business rates for pubs, social clubs and music venues.
And it's why we've extended the 16-17 Saver Railcard and introduced free 24/7 bus travel for disabled people.
That is the change we have started. More power for our communities, more support on the cost of living and a long-term plan to rebuild the country.
Each one of those changes is part of the same thing.
Good growth in every postcode.
Reindustrialising Britain.
And making sure wherever you live - and whatever your background - you feel this country has a future for you.
Because, in the end, that's what this is about: bringing back hope.
Chris Finlan retweeted
The student loan system is a shambles. I left university with a debt of £42,139.
I have worked continuously for a decade and when I last checked I had paid back £21,045.
My balance was however £44,727 - higher than when I left.
The interest payments on plan 2 student loans do not behave like an ordinary debt. The interest on it is variable; pegged to inflation - not CPI, the measure the govt routinely uses, but RPI which most economists say overstates inflation.
The interest also goes UP as you earn more - making it harder to pay off the debt.
There are not many alternatives available to 17/18 year olds whose parents can't afford to pay the fees and the Treasury Select Committee, having taken evidence from hundreds of graduates, said the loans had been mis-sold.
The system is regressive - I've written about it here for @zeteouk zeteo.uk/p/the-student-loan-…
Chris Finlan retweeted
Si il touche à la Perfide Albion, on lui défoncera sa sale gueule de rat malade ensemble puis on pourra continuer à se détester cordialement. pour les siècles à venir.
Chris Finlan retweeted
Once again for the wilfully ignorant, these are officers who have had their shifts extended & had leave cancelled, including those who come from out of area. There is no “extra”, just exhausted officers who have no time to rest or recover.
More than 200 extra police officers have been sent into Middlesbrough after a series of violent incidents in recent days.
Cars were set on fire last night as youths gathered at a vigil for one of the young men killed in the fatal A66 crash which left seven people dead including 2 police officers.
The local council leader said detectives and armed response officers would help keep "innocent residents" safe.
