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Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades is up on last year, national figures show, but the inequality in results between independent schools and comprehensives in England has widened.Hundreds of thousands of students received their A-level results on Thursday morning, with more than a quarter (27.8 per cent) of UK entries awarded an A or A* grade. This is an increase of 0.6 percentage points on last year, when 27.2 per cent achieved the top grades.The cohort of students who are receiving their A-level results were in Year 9 when schools closed due to the pandemic (PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSeparating the truth from the lies on social media is harder than ever, with last week’s headlines providing a pointed example of how quickly platforms can be used to spread disinformation.As families mourned the death of three young girls killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, riots broke out stoked by disinformation about the suspect’s identity.On Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer warned social media companies after false information spread online. And Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said social media has put “rocket boosters” under far-right groups when it comes to the “organisation, the attention and the misinformation” surrounding the riots.She said there would be a “reckoning” following unrest across England, pledging that anyone involved in the riots will “pay the price”. Pressed on whether the Government will take action against Tommy Robinson, who has been accused of stoking tensions from afar, Ms Cooper said: “If it’s a crime offline, it’s a crime online.”Elsewhere last week, an Olympic women’s boxing match — and misinformation about one of the athletes involved — was used by conservatives to promote their anti-trans agenda.And in July two images of an injured female police officer were shared widely on social media with false claims that they showed injuries sustained during an incident at Manchester Airport.We want to know if you think social media bosses like Elon Musk should take more responsibility for content posted on their platforms. How should the likes of Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram tackle disinformation? And what powers should the police exercise to punish those who stoke violence and spread false information online?Share your thoughts by adding them in the comments — we’ll highlight the most insightful ones as they come in.All you have to do is sign up and register your details — then you can take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here.Join the conversation with other Independent readers below. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorComedy stars Ricky Gervais and Stephen Fry have called on the government to implement a law banning ticket sales for cruel animal attractions abroad, such as polar bears caged in 35C heat.The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act, which was passed under the Conservative government in September, bans British travel companies from promoting or selling tickets to attractions abroad that fail to meet certain animal welfare standards.But the previous government did not set out those standards, which means the new law is currently ineffective.Comedy actor and writer Ricky Gervais said: “This is the first summer holiday season since the law was passed last year and yet it will achieve nothing to prevent animals suffering at tourist attractions this year. What a waste and what terrible cruelty to animals all over the world.”He called for the new Labour government to implement the law to end ticket sales to “horrendous” attractions.Chimps are dressed up and made to ride bicycles in Asia More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer and his Scottish counterpart John Swinney have led tributes to the “true British great” Andy Murray as the tennis star ends his career with defeat in the quarter-finals of the Olympic men’s doubles.Twenty-one years after his first professional match, Murray’s hopes of a medal-winning swansong evaporated in a 6-2 6-4 loss to American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.Murray and his doubles partner Dan Evans’ delight at two dramatic victories at Roland Garros, saving seven match points along the way, had been one of the stories of the Games, but a third act proved well beyond them despite more late resistance.After Evans’ final return dropped just long, he and Murray embraced before the Scot took centre stage to chants of “Andy, Andy”, waving to all sides of Court Suzanne Lenglen and then leaving the court for the final time.Murray has been battling his body since the hip problems that nearly ended his career five and a half years ago first incapacitated him in 2017.Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “1 Davis Cup, 2 Olympic golds and 3 Grand Slams.“But more than that, thanks @andy_murray for two decades of phenomenal entertainment and sportsmanship.“A true British great.”Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said: “Sir Andy Murray is Scotland’s greatest ever sportsman, and his achievements during one of the toughest eras in tennis history will mark him down as a true sporting legend.“The whole of Scotland is so proud of Sir Andy and while we are disappointed that we will no longer get to see him compete with his trademark fighting spirit, we thank him for the incredible memories he gave us over so many years and wish him the very best for his well-earned retirement.”London mayor Sadiq Khan wrote: “Andy Murray until the end. Thank you for the skill, the courage, the joy, the memories – and the drama.” More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorBritain’s army is not as strong as it should be because of “historic underinvestment”, the head of the military has admitted, with “deficiencies in people, equipment, stockpiles, training and technology”.Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of defence staff, said there was a need for “humility” to recognise the limitations and “near-term financial challenges” faced by our armed forces.But he said Russia, the main adversary of the West, has been hugely damaged by brutal losses in Ukraine and will take a decade or more to rebuild its military strength to the level it had at the time of Vladimir Putin’s invasion and rectify the shortcomings exposed.And he rejected the idea that conscription was needed, as proposed in the Conservative manifesto at the election. Baltic and Nordic nations “are talking about mass resilience and conscription”, he said. “That is understandable. They border Russia. The threat is close. Our geography is different.”Keir Starmer’s new government has committed to raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product but has not said when it will meet that aim.“There are near-term financial challenges to work through,” said Admiral Radakin. “We are addressing historic underinvestment. And beneath the headline capabilities, there are deficiencies in people, equipment, stockpiles, training and technology.”He sought to refute critical comparisons made by some analysts between Russian and British military capabilities, pointing out that UK forces would be fighting alongside Nato partners in any conflict with Putin.“It’s frustrating when I hear commentators contrasting Britain’s capabilities with those of Russia without acknowledging the context that we will only ever fight a war with Russia or any other peer aggressor alongside our allies and partners,” he told the Land Warfare conference at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. “The Nato overmatch against Russia is enormous.”Putin may threaten the nuclear option if a major conflict broke out with the West, he said, and one way to ensure he does not go down that path is to demonstrate that Nato is united and strong“There is the conundrum of deterrence: that it is because of the disparity in conventional forces that Putin might be tempted to raise the nuclear spectre,” said Admiral Radakin. “Paradoxically, this is precisely why we must continue to strengthen and extend our conventional overmatch so that we are never confronted with that scenario.”Nato, he pointed out, is growing from 30 to 32 nations; 23 member states now spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence, compared to just three members a decade ago. And the combined 3.2 million uniformed personnel “already outmatch Russia’s 1.2 million.” New member Sweden brings an additional 25,000 active personnel and 40,000 reserves, while Finland adds another 23,000 regulars and 280,000 reserves. On any measure of conventional strength – troops, tanks, armoured vehicles, fast jets, submarines – the alliance is battle-ready, he said.He warned, however, that Russia could offer a clandestine threat rather than a conventional attack under which a Nato state would invoke the Article 5 clause on mutual aid.“Putin may not directly attack a Nato member in such an overt manner as to trigger Article 5, we have seen that he’s able to threaten us in other ways, in cyber and space and underwater where our energy infrastructure and digital networks are most vulnerable,” Admiral Radakin said.“Our role as military leaders is to reassure the nation and stiffen its resolve. And our advice to ministers needs to be grounded in a thorough and honest assessment of the threats we face.“Yes, the threats can change and evolve, which is why we keep them under review and test them against the intelligence we receive from our allies.” More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe latest figure reported to be lining up a bid to take over The Telegraph newspaper group is former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi. Mr Zahawi stepped down from his Stratford-on-Avon seat ahead of the general election, and is now reported to have approached several billionaire backers to help finance a £600 million deal for the newspaper.Telegraph Media Group is seeking a buyer after its proposed takeover by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund was blocked by Rishi Sunak’s Tory government earlier this year.Who is Nadhim Zahawi?Mr Zahawi is a multimillionaire former businessman who had a meteoric rise to political power.Born in Iraq to a Kurdish family, Mr Zahawi arrived in England aged nine, unable to speak English, when his parents fled the regime of Saddam Hussein.He grew up in Sussex and studied chemical engineering at University College London.In 2000, Mr Zahawi co-founded the YouGov polling company, staying involved in its running for a decade and amassing significant wealth.His financial affairs came under the spotlight in 2023 amid claims he avoided tax using an offshore company registered in Gibraltar to hold shares in YouGov.It followed an investigation into his financial affairs that was first revealed by The Independent in 2022.He first denied the allegations before admitting more than a year later he paid nearly £5m to HMRC to settle his tax affairs.The former chancellor told the BBC he had paid the sum after making what he called a “careless mistake” with the tax he paid on the sales of shares in YouGov.Rishi Sunak sacked him as Tory chairman in January 2023 after he was found to have breached the ministerial code by failing to declare the HMRC investigation.Parliamentary and government careerMr Zahawi is believed to have been one of the richest politicians in the House of Commons.He first entered Parliament in 2010 as the Tory MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.He spent nearly eight years on the backbenches, gaining media attention in 2013 for claiming expenses for heating stables for his horses.Getting his first junior minister role in the Department for Education under Theresa May in 2018, he rose up the ranks to become education secretary.But it was when he was promoted to help lead the government’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in 2020 that he rose to prominence.Mr Zahawi was appointed chancellor by Boris Johnson, hours after Mr Sunak’s resignation from the role, and the day before the scandal-plagued then-prime minister was forced to quit.He made a doomed attempt to replace Mr Johnson in the Tory leadership race.When Liz Truss emerged victorious, she appointed Mr Zahawi as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.After her premiership imploded, Mr Zahawi initially announced he would be backing Mr Johnson to return as PM, before switching allegiance to Mr Sunak on the same day, after the former leader said he would not be entering the contest.He stepped down from his Stratford-on-Avon seat in May, saying he wanted “a new, energetic Conservative” to take over. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorLabour should remove the two-child benefit cap “immediately” to lift thousands of children out of poverty, MPs have said.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has come under pressure from her party’s backbenchers to lift the cap, which prevents almost all parents from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third child. The policy, which was brought in by David Cameron’s Conservative government, impacted 450,000 households and 1.6 million children last year according to official figures.Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside Kim Johnson has tabled an amendment to the King’s Speech that would scrap the cap, with the proposal currently backed by 29 MPs. She told The Independent that the level of child poverty in her constituency was “unacceptable” and these children “can’t wait two years for a decision to be made”. She added: “Removing the two-child cap needs to be done and it needs to be done immediately”.Her comments come as education secretary Bridget Phillipson said on Monday morning that she would consider scrapping the cap as part of the newly established Child Poverty Taskforce. The review was set up by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer last week in an apparent attempt to appease backbench MPs who want bolder action on child poverty. A boy plays in the street near the Heron Cross pottery kiln in Stoke on Trent, England. 1.6 million children were affected by the two-child benefit cap last year, government figures show. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorGordon Brown’s multibank will be officially launched in London this week amid concerns over rising child poverty across the capital.The opening of Felix’s Multibank, the first in London, is being backed by the former prime minister and mayor Sadiq Khan. The scheme works like a food bank but also provides non-perishable goods such as cleaning products, toys and clothing and they have been established in areas such as Swansea, Greater Manchester and Fife. The West London-based multibank, due to open this week, is expected to help thousands of families with supplies sourced from the food industry which would otherwise go to waste. Earlier this week, The Independent revealed shocking reports of multiple families, who were being housed in awful conditions in hotels, being labelled “intentionally homeless” by councils in London. Mr Brown told The Guardian, “The London Felix Multibank is the fourth of six that will be opened by the end of this year across Britain. It is opening at a time of transition from a Britain where child poverty has risen dramatically to one where we wish to see child poverty falling.” “As a new anti-poverty plan is being prepared, the multibanks still need to secure more supplies and more funds from generous donors so that, working with food banks, we can provide poverty relief.”Multibank opens in Swansea, Wales More