UK Column News - 16th December 2024

Brian Gerrish, Ben Rubin and Prof. Diane Rasmussen McAdie with today's UK Column News.

 

With an Actual New Business, You Can Choose Whether or Not to Invest: Pat McFadden’s “Start-Up State”—Camden and the Blueprint to Overhaul Britain

00:48 GOV.UK: Pat McFadden vows to make the state "more like a start-up" as he deploys reform teams across country

LinkedIn: Nick Kimber: (He/Him) Director of Public Service Reform (Place, Design and Innovation) within Cabinet Office

Nick Kimber (LinkedIn): Nick Kimber’s post

Great to be at UCL East to hear Pat McFadden announce the initial wave of ‘test and learn’ pioneers (focusing on family support and temporary accommodation)

 

The Great Public Service Betrayal: 25% Council Tax Hike—Paying More for Less

07:56 E-mail to UK Column from Windsor and Maidenhead resident: Windsor and Maidenhead residents could be hit by a 25% council tax rise later this year.

BBC: 'Everything's collapsing but they want more money'—Windsor and Maidenhead residents could be hit by a 25% council tax rise later this year

BBC: Councils to be merged in major local government shake-up

 

eVisa Shambles—Teleperformance’s Government Data Contracts: Underperforming, Yet Still Awarded Public Funds

13:46 UK Column News archive: UK Column News—27th September 2021 (Timestamp 56:25—Censorship And Surveillance Increases)

Home Office (YouTube): What is an eVisa?

Teleperformance: Shareholder Information and Governance—Chairman: Moulay Hafid Elalamy

Teleperformance Group (YouTube): TP Microservices

Seamlessly integrate advanced AI capabilities into your existing ecosystem without the need for overhauls or replacements. TP Microservices, our new, extensive suite of plug-in cloud-based services, embody our vision for the future of AI-enabled Customer Experience Management (CEM)

Forbes: Moulay Hafid Elalamy

LinkedIn: Daniel Julien—Teleperformance CEO

Teleperformance Group (YouTube): TP Cloud Campus

Burness Paull: The perils of being a third party in public procurement

GOV.UK: 25 October 2024: Future Supplier Services Programme Accounting Officer Assessment

WhatDoTheyKnow: Keyword Search: Teleperformance

UK Parliament (2018): Question for Home Office—Visas: Africa

The contract for providing Visa Application Centres in Africa was awarded to Teleperformance UK Ltd in 2014 initially for a five year period and extended recently for a further two years until 31 March 2021.

 

UK Column Is Member-Funded—Your Support Matters

25:55 Support Independent Journalism from the UK Column with only £5 a month

Access UKC News Extra Today—UK Column Community

UK Column shop: Category: UK Column Membership Gift Voucher

New UK Column series collection: Syria

Forthcoming UK Column symposium: Second Annual David Ray Griffin Lecture: Dr. Madhava Setty (1:00 pm EST / 6 pm GMT on Sunday, December 15, 2024)

Welsh Parliament petition: Ensure diagnosis and treatment for people suffering from adverse Covid–19 vaccine side effects 

Common Knowledge Edinburgh (Substack): A Sonia Poulton Christmas (14th December)

 

Terrorists or Moderate Rebels? How State-Aligned Media Rebrands Extremists to Justify Destabilisation and Regime Change

33:28 UK Column News archive: UK Column News—9th December 2024 (Timestamp 15:15—UK Column’s 2013 Warmongering Warnings on Brooks Newmark, Cameron, and MI6)

BBC: UK in 'diplomatic contact' with Syrian rebels, says Lammy

Sky News: Former Head of MI6 'surprised at how fast Syrian regime collapsed'

UK Column resource: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Spending (FCDO)

(Filter by supplier: BBC MEDIA ACTION—Total Spend: £44,974,379.81)

 

From Startups to Unicorns—UK's Tech Future: Billionaire Backers, AI, and the Fight for Public Data

39:08 HM Treasury (LinkedIn): HM Treasury's Post

The UK is a global leader in innovation, with more unicorn companies than Germany and Sweden combined, and home to the world’s third trillion-dollar tech sector.

The World Economic Forum: Brent Hoberman

The State of Israel, The Judicial Authority: Supreme Court: The painting in the lobby

The United Synagogue: The 22nd Isaiah Berlin Lecture

The Times: Elon Musk should also help Britain to slash public spending (Archived)

Brent Hoberman (LinkedIn): Brent Hoberman’s post

Exciting recent news out of Oxford—the Ellison-Oxford tie up could be game-changing in the UK’s quest to commercialise scientific discoveries …

Daily Mail: Tony Blair's policy institute is bankrolled by American tech billionaire Larry Ellison, whose firm supplied software to the government when the ex-PM was in No. 10

Daily Mail: TONY BLAIR: Taxes are high. The NHS is coming apart at the seams. We need a once-in-a-generation disruption. Here's what could change everything (Archived)

BBC: William Hague elected Oxford University chancellor

William Hague (on X): WilliamJHague’s post

It is the greatest honour of my life to have been chosen by my fellow Oxonians to serve as Chancellor of our university.

Independent: UK should set up ‘national lab’ to become world leader in AI—Blair and Hague (Image)

Daily Mail: Sell off NHS data to put Britain at the heart of AI revolution, say Tony Blair and William Hague

 

Victory for Safety: UK Bans Puberty Blockers

52:45 British Medical Journal: Puberty blockers: UK bans drugs indefinitely after safety advice

Channel 4 News (on X): Channel 4’s post

I know it won't feel like it based on the decisions I'm taking today, but I really do care about this", Health Secretary Wes Streeting says, as his department announces that puberty blockers will be banned indefinitely.

Sasha Baker (on X): Sashabaker98’s post

Trans kids hang a banner outside Wes Streeting’s constituency office to protest his decision to indefinitely extend the ban on trans youth accessing puberty blockers

 

Boris, Dorries, and the Dark Arts of Westminster: The Truth About Who’s Pulling the Strings

57:09 HarperCollins Publishers UK: The Plot: The Shocking Inside Story of Who Really Runs Britain by Nadine Dorries

Nadine Dorries (Facebook): Almost an eventful afternoon… (Archived)