Meghan Markle refused the Queen's advice to reconcile with her father but her 'far-fetched' excuse 'avoided the truth', according to royal author
But almost as quickly as the subject was broached, Meghan shut it down according to a royal author.
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BBC News
3 minutes ago
- BBC News
Met Police urged to drop facial scanning at Notting Hill Carnival
Civil liberty and anti-racism groups have called on the Metropolitan Police to drop plans to use live facial recognition (LFR) technology at this year's Notting Hill a letter to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, 11 organisations described LFR as "a mass surveillance tool that treats all Carnival-goers as potential suspects and has no place at one of London's biggest cultural celebrations".They said the decision to reintroduce the technology at Carnival was "deeply disappointing" and argued it could be "less accurate for women and people of colour".The Met Police says LFR is accurate and balanced across ethnicity and gender, and insists it will help keep people safe. The groups - which include Liberty, Big Brother Watch and the Runnymede Trust - highlighted an ongoing judicial review brought by Shaun Thompson, a black Londoner who says he was wrongly identified by the system and letter states: "There is no clear legal basis for your force's use of LFR. No law mentions facial recognition technology and Parliament has never considered or scrutinised its use."Notting Hill Carnival is an event that specifically celebrates the British African Caribbean community, yet the [Metropolitan Police] is choosing to use a technology with a well-documented history of inaccurate outcomes and racial bias." The letter also raised concerns over a 2023 National Physical Laboratory study, which found the NeoFace system used by the Met was less accurate for women and people of colour depending on the algorithm that has been study's authors found the system could show bias at lower thresholds, though at the higher settings the Met says it uses, performance was found to be equitable across ethnicity and thresholds are confidence levels the system uses to decide a match - lower ones flag more people but risk more mistakes and bias, while higher ones are stricter and more said there was no legal obligation for the force to avoid the lower thresholds, and argued policing resources would be better spent on safety measures at the Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward, who is leading this year's policing operation at the carnival, said LFR had led to more than 1,000 arrests since the start of 2024 and that independent testing showed the system was "accurate and balanced with regard to ethnicity and gender" at the thresholds used by the Met. Notting Hill Carnival takes place next weekend and has previously attracted up to two million people. It has come under increased scrutiny after two people were murdered at last year's event. Mr Ward said the force had received the letter and would respond in due course."Carnival's growing popularity and size creates unique challenges. Around 7,000 officers and staff will be deployed each day," he said."Their priority is to keep people safe, including preventing serious violence, such as knife crime and violence against women and girls."It is right that we make the best use of available technology to support officers to do their job more effectively."Mr Ward said the LFR cameras will be used on the approach to and from Carnival and not within the event boundaries. He said they will "help officers identify and intercept those who pose a public safety risk before they get to the crowded streets".BBC News has contacted the carnival's organisers for comment.
The Independent
5 minutes ago
- The Independent
Sally Rooney vows to use royalties to support Palestine Action despite terror ban
Novelist Sally Rooney has vowed to continue supporting Palestine Action 'in whatever way I can' using royalties from BBC adaptations of her books. The Normal People author, 34, publicly reaffirmed her support for the direct-action group, which was designated a proscribed terrorist organisation by the Home Office last month. It means showing support for the group is illegal under the Terrorism Act in the UK, punishable by a maximum of 14 years in prison. In an impassioned piece published in the Irish Times, the writer hit out at the arrest of more than 500 'brave individuals' holding placards declaring 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action' in London's Parliament Square last weekend. 'In this context I feel obliged to state once more that – like the hundreds of protesters arrested last weekend – I too support Palestine Action,' she wrote. 'If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it. My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets. 'In recent years the UK's state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels, and therefore regularly pays me residual fees. 'I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.' She said she would happily publish the same statement in a UK paper, but noted that would now be illegal. Ms Rooney accused the British government stripping its citizens of basic rights and freedoms 'in order to protect its relationship with Israel'. 'The ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the UK – where the eminent poet Alice Oswald has already been arrested, and an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public – are and will be profound,' she added. Ms Oswald, 58, who won the TS Eliot prize in 2002 and was professor of poetry at the University of Oxford, was among those detained in central London last week. Afterwards, she said her motivation for taking part included the very personal experience of giving online poetry classes regularly to young people and children in Gaza. Half of the protesters arrested and now facing potentially life-changing terror convictions were over 60, Metropolitan Police figures show. Home secretary Yvette Cooper this weekend defended the decision to ban Palestine Action, insisting it is more than 'a regular protest group'. Ms Cooper said counterterrorism intelligence showed the organisation passed the tests to be proscribed under the 2000 Terrorism Act with 'disturbing information' about future attacks. 'Protecting public safety and national security are at the very heart of the job I do,' she wrote in The Observer. 'Were there to be further serious attacks or injuries, the government would rightly be condemned for not acting sooner to keep people safe.' Protesters have vowed to continue defying the ban as Huda Ammori, the group's founder, brings a legal challenge to the High Court in November.
Telegraph
5 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Judge who let knife-wielding migrant stay in UK was on asylum seeker charity board
A judge who allowed a migrant convicted for drug dealing and sexual assault to stay in the UK is a former executive of a pro-asylum charity, it has been revealed. Judge Fiona Beach ruled that Christian Quadjovie was not a threat to the British public at a hearing last year. French-born Quadjovie has spent a total of 963 days behind bars in UK prisons since arriving in Britain at the age of 10. Quadjovie, who was set to be deported, was granted a reprieve by Judge Beach, an ex-director at Asylum Aid who represented migrants for free on behalf of the Bail for Immigration Detainees charity. The decision has since been overturned after government lawyers claimed her judgment was 'made against the weight of evidence'. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said Judge Beach's apparent conflict of interest 'undermines confidence' in the courts. 'Judges must be independent' He added: 'This is the latest example of an immigration judge with open borders views. 'The similarity between her decisions and the political views she has broadcast totally undermines confidence in the system. Judges must be independent.' Records show Judge Beach was a director of Asylum Aid between September 2004 and February 2007. She is understood to have stepped back from the group in December 2006 when appointed as a part-time judge. Quadjovie's case was first brought before her in April 2024. He was first convicted as a boy of 12 for sexually assaulting a girl under 13. In 2016, he was given a nine-month referral order for carrying a knife in public. Later that year, he was convicted of drug offences. He was detained for 30 months and caught with more drugs after his release. The Home Office tried to deport him, but he argued that he would not be able to reintegrate in France. Judge Beach's stated in the tribunal decision: 'The appellant had some support in the UK in the form of family support, potential access to education and public funds and access to housing assistance, yet found himself involved with gangs and drug dealing. 'The concern would be whether the appellant would slip back into the same way of earning money which he did in the UK, i.e. drug dealing. 'There is a real risk that this would occur again as a young man in France with few ties, no accommodation, no qualifications other than a GCSE in French and no employment experience on which to rely.' 'Not a serious threat to public security' The decision concluded: 'Taking account of all the evidence, I find that the evidence does not show that the appellant is a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to public policy or public security.' However, in October, Home Office lawyers said Ms Beach's judgment was made 'against the weight of evidence' and has since been overturned. A spokesman for the judiciary said: 'In each case, judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented, and apply the law as it stands.' In a letter, seen by the Sun on Sunday, Mr Jenrick made a formal request to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office to probe whether Judge Beach had declared her previous roles. In an interview with The Telegraph last week, Mr Jenrick said it was time to sack what he called 'activist' judges. He said: 'If judges want to enter the political sphere themselves, then they should stop being judges and go into politics. 'We have to have a situation where judges who act politically and bring their own personal politics into their job as a judge are held to account and frankly, can be removed.'
