They Are Pretty Brave When Up Against 'Racists' And 'Gender Criticals'...

 ...but when a superpower speaks, they can't kowtow fast enough.

Sheffield Hallam University staff in China were threatened by individuals described by them as being from China's National Security Service who demanded the research being done in Sheffield be halted. And access to the university's websites from China was blocked, impeding its ability to recruit Chinese students, in a campaign of threats and intimidation lasting more than two years.

In an internal email from July 2024, university officials said "attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows".

What's the Mandarin for 'We surrender, please don't hurt our future funding'? 

When the UK government learned of the case, the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy issued a warning to his Chinese counterpart that it would not tolerate attempts to suppress academic freedoms at UK universities, the BBC understands.

Arguing, perhaps, that this was the purview of the UK government, and China should wait its turn?  

China was seeking to halt research by Laura Murphy, professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam, into allegations Uyghur Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang were subject to forced labour.

Ah, Laura, you should have been researching grounds for reparations for slavery in the US instead, the university would have stood up for you then. 

In late 2024, following pressure from the Chinese state and a separate defamation law suit against the university, Sheffield Hallam decided not to publish a final piece of research by Prof Murphy and her team into forced labour. And in early 2025, university administrators told her that she could "not continue with her research into supply chains and forced labour in China".

Cowards. So much for intellectual rigour, but then, modern universities are no longer about that anymore, as a perusal of David Thomson’s blog will show. 

The documents she obtained showed the university "had negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market," she told the BBC. She added: "I'd never seen anything quite so patently explicit about the extent to which a university would go to ensure that they have Chinese student income."

She seems surprised by that. 

Sheffield Hallam has now apologised to Prof Murphy and said she can resume her work. A spokesperson said "the university's decision to not continue with Professor Laura Murphy's research was taken based on our understanding of a complex set of circumstances at the time, including being unable to secure the necessary professional indemnity insurance".

Yes, of course it was.... 

Enough Is Enough - Knock The Bloody Thing Down!

Angela Rayner has been accused of ignoring the concerns of bereaved Grenfell families over plans to demolish the tower block where 72 people died.

It's still standing? Good grief, the fire was in 2017! Knock the eyesore down and be done with it! 

What should happen to the site of the catastrophic fire has always split opinion, with some bereaved and survivors feeling the tower should remain in place until there are criminal prosecutions over the failings which led to the fire.

You should all know by now that's almost certainly never going to happen.... 

Grenfell United claimed Ms Rayner 'refused to confirm how many bereaved and survivors' had been spoken to about demolishing the tower, saying she was ignoring their voices 'on the future of our loved ones' gravesite.

She does that to everyone, you're not a special case. 

The Government has previously said structural engineering advice remained unchanged 'in that the building (or that part of it that was significantly damaged) should be carefully taken down'. It is expected more details will be set out by the end of the week.

The final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, published in September, concluded the disaster was the result of 'decades of failure' by government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.

And like every other failure of government and regulation, no-one will lose their job over it.  

Are We To Believe He Married Well, Then?

The video shows an attractive middle-aged woman wearing a plunging green vest top and designer sunglasses, opening the double-height doors to a white stucco mansion. She smiles and guides the camera into a vast hall: it's clear that whoever owns the £4 million, six-bedroom property must be rich.

A WAG? Some oligarch's arm candy? No, Reader, you'll never guess who...! 

...the third wife of Scotland Yard's most notorious corrupt ­commander, Ali Dizaei.

Well, you could knock me down with a feather!  

Less than a decade ago, after finishing a ­second term behind bars, Dizaei was said to be on his uppers — pleading with a judge to allow him to have more of his police pension (some of which had been confiscated) because he was penniless following his incarceration.

Did he win the Euromillions, then? 

According to Land Registry records, he jointly owns the Surrey pile with his wife. The Dizaeis have given it an extensive make-over, conservatively estimated to have cost several hundred thousand pounds.

For whatever reason, Dizaei and his wife are keen to flaunt their wealth to the world. Maybe the disgraced police officer has a point to prove to his former colleagues at the Met?

If so, I suspect it's one they already know full well; crime pays after all.  

I Thought This Would Be Bigger News...

The former Labour MP Jim Devine has become the third parliamentarian to be jailed over the expenses scandal after being sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment.

The 56-year-old former trade union convenor made false claims totalling £8,385, "knowing full well just how wrong it was and the effect that false claims were having on the public's belief and confidence in parliament", Mr Justice Saunders, passing sentence at the Old Bailey, said.

I guess he's lucky there's a war on, eh?

Devine's offences were "less serious" than those committed by the former Labour MP David Chaytor, who received 18 months in January, and were committed over a shorter period of time, Sanders said.

His defence tried his best:

The offences were "entirely out of character" as he was a "man of integrity and honesty", though Millar accepted that might sound like a paradox.

Well, no, 'paradox' wasn't the first word that came to mind, actually...