Ondanks een staakt-het-vuren van zestig dagen kwam het dit weekend tot aanvallen over en weer tussen Iran en de Verenigde Staten. Controle over de Straat van Hormuz lijkt de belangrijkste inzet.
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The court martial system for personnel on overseas airbases serves US interests – but what about those of their host nations?
A British victim of crime, on British soil, might reasonably expect their assailant to be tried in the British justice system. That was not Sarah Steele’s experience. US military police quickly took charge of investigating her assault by Jacob Wulfson in late 2023, and the airman was prosecuted in a US court martial – for a crime that took place off duty and off base, in an English city. Downing Street said on Friday that it was “very concerning” that the case never reached the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Ministry of Justice has said it will look into it.
Dr Steele waived her anonymity to speak to the Guardian about the “distressing and degrading” experience, casting light upon the little-known US military justice system and its use within the UK. Wulfson was convicted of strangling an intimate partner but acquitted of sexual assault and “aggravated sexual contact” by an all-male panel of air force officers stationed at the same base, RAF Lakenheath. Legal experts said the latter offence would probably have been categorised as rape in a British court. Dr Steele faced invasive, aggressive and lengthy questioning; her attacker chose not to testify.
Continue reading...Saracens 52-14 Trailfinders
Eight tries for winners in front of 8,000 fans
Saracens just needed three ingredients to play Trailfinders off the pitch and win their first Premiership Women’s Rugby title in four years: clinical attack, brick-wall defence and an immense kicking game. Not only did they execute their game plan but the experience of being in their sixth final in nine seasons was devastatingly clear, despite having to play with 14 players for 20 minutes.
The first-time finalists Trailfinders had hopes of causing a huge upset after knocking out the three-time defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury in their semi-final. But wasted chances meant that even Meg Jones’ solid performance was not enough to inspire another shock. Instead Marlie Packer, who scored two tries and was sent to the sin bin, won her fourth PWR title to toast nine years at Saracens. In a poetic twist, she lifted the trophy as Sarries co-captain alongside Zoe Harrison at the venue she will be playing at next season, as she is making the switch to Harlequins.
Continue reading...Unfair changes to student loans and concerns about job prospects must be weighed against the life-changing potential of education
Is going to university financially worthwhile? New research on graduate incomes is unlikely to help the beleaguered sector’s reputation. Even though most benefit from an earnings premium, worth around £100,000 on average over a lifetime (after tax and student loan repayments), the finding that one in four people end up worse off proves that there are no guarantees. The premium has shrunk by around 30% compared with forecasts from six years ago.
The study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) could be viewed as a vindication of the latest British Social Attitudes survey. It found that the proportion of people who think a degree is not worth the time and money has risen from 14% to 34% in 20 years. While the research predated Rachel Reeves’s most recent, unfair worsening of the terms on which graduates repay loans, it arguably reflected reduced confidence in the government’s commitment to protect the graduate earnings premium, as well as anxiety about salary prospects and the economy more broadly.
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In de Bedevaartkerk in Brielle werd onlangs het bedevaartseizoen geopend met een speciale mis. Deze kerk staat op de plek waar ooit negentien Rooms-Katholieken werden opgehangen en wordt nog steeds door pelgrims bezocht: “Ik ben hier in mijn zoektocht.”
