Cambridge chancellor hopeful wants to stop cash from oil firms
The broadcaster Sandi Toksvig and Lord Browne of Madingley, the former BP boss, are among well-known names vying to become the new chancellor of Cambridge University.
Tony Booth, the newest contender, is a relative unknown, who bills himself as a 'chancellor of conscience' and has taken part in Gaza protests at the university. Booth, 80, was a visiting research fellow at Cambridge University's department of education. He was also a professor of education at Canterbury University. He wants the university to be an ethical force in the world.
The role is unpaid and brings no executive responsibilities, but the successful candidate will play a part in fundraising and in providing advice to senior members, the university says.
It will allow voters, who include most Cambridge
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
35 minutes ago
- Daily Record
John Swinney to host THIRD summit on youth violence epidemic in Scotland
The move comes amid the Record's applauded youth violence campaign, Our Kids ... Our Future - launched two years ago after we highlighted a worrying trend. John Swinney is to host a third summit on an epidemic of youth violence in Scotland. The First Minister has announced that the latest event will take place on Thursday, June 12. It will include the Justice and Education secretaries, Ministers for Children and for Victims and Community Safety, cross-party MSPs, youth workers and community programmes. The move comes amid the Record's applauded youth violence campaign, Our Kids ... Our Future, which was launched two years ago after we highlighted a worrying trend of violence among teens. As part of the campaign, we have demanded the Scottish Government to invest in young people and in initiatives to prevent violence. Since its launch, we have reported on the untimely deaths of Kayden Moy, 16, Amen Teklay, 15, and Kayden Moy, 16. Three teenage boys, aged 14, 15, and 16 years old have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of Amen, an Eritrean refugee, in Glasgow on March 5. In recent weeks, three teenage boys – a pair aged 17, and a 14-year-old – have appeared in court charged with the murder of Kayden, who was allegedly attacked on Irvine Beach, North Ayrshire, on May 17 and died in hospital. And just last month, a 14-year-old boy was sentenced to five years detention after admitting culpable homicide following the death of Kory at Glasgow's Greenfield Park on May 31 last year. Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: 'Scotland remains a safe place to live. 'But more needs to be done to change the attitudes and behaviours of some who are at risk of violence, or young people considering carrying a weapon. 'There is no place for violence in Scotland and anyone who commits a crime will face the consequences. 'Our work remains focused on ensuring our prevention and punishment measures respond to the changing behaviours of young people. This includes ensuring good school and community engagement with young people, appropriate police powers and tackling the root causes of violence. 'At this meeting we want to hear the views of the youth work and third sector representatives on what more, or different, can be done, within the current financial climate, to help address this issue. 'The role of youth work and grassroots community intervention is key. 'We all must work together to help young people feel safe and realise that carrying a knife is never the answer.' Two previous summits have been held on the topic in recent months, however, the events were later slammed as "nothing but talking shops" by campaigners. A monumental sit-down was secured with Swinney after 15-year-old Kaylynn Donald and her mum, Vicky, from Ladybank in Fife, wrote a letter to him following Kory's death last year. Kaylynn, who was battered on a bus on her way home from school in October 2022, demanded the First Minister to act urgently to prevent further tragedies. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. In the letter, Vicky, 38, wrote: "How many more children have to die? "Kayden Moy's death is not a tragedy - it's a failure."
Times
44 minutes ago
- Times
Reeves considers energy bill subsidy for manufacturers
Rachel Reeves is scrutinising proposals to provide a £1 billion annual subsidy to manufacturers after being warned that Britain faces rapid deindustrialisation if she fails to reduce energy costs. The chancellor is considering lowering energy costs for industry amid fears that they are holding back investment and the country's competitiveness. The plans include a scheme by which taxpayers would compensate manufacturers when the price of electricity rises above a fixed level and the companies would pay the government when the price falls below the agreed level. Several European countries have adopted a similar model, including France, Denmark, Greece and Hungary. The proposal has been seen by Sir Keir Starmer, Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, and Reeves. A source close to Reynolds said industrial energy prices were a 'live issue', while a No 10 source confirmed that measures to lower costs were under 'serious consideration'. Reeves is preparing for Wednesday's spending review and the subsequent publication of the industrial strategy for eight key areas of the economy that the government has promised to promote to bolster economic growth. Industry argues that the price it pays for energy is double that paid by European competitors and four times that of America, which is leaving Britain at a disadvantage. It affects not just the country's existing steelmakers, ceramic industry and chemical businesses but also attempts by the government to attract new technologies, such as energy-hungry data centres. In a document seen by The Sunday Times, the industry lobby group Make UK warned the government: 'If we do not address the issue of high industrial energy costs in the UK as a priority we risk the security of our country. We will fail to attract investment in the manufacturing sector and will rapidly enter a phase of deindustrialisation.' Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), warned the chancellor last week that high energy prices were an 'anchor on our ambition, a crack in our economic security and must be fixed'. The plan being drawn up by Make UK, which it calls a contract for difference, would cost £1.1 billion a year for five years from 2027 to provide a guaranteed energy price. But the organisation argues this 'upfront cost' should be considered in the context of its estimates that it would generate a medium-term boost for the economy of about £3 billion a year — or 0.1 per cent of gross domestic product — and also provide more tax revenue. It claims the policy is politically expedient for the government as it would help the red wall constituencies in the Midlands and northern England where Labour is vulnerable to the threat posed by Reform. The biggest energy-intensive companies already receive a subsidy through the British Industry Supercharger scheme, which was set up by the Conservatives in 2024 and which the Financial Times reported last week could become more generous under plans being considered by ministers. But this does not benefit many industrial companies, which still say they are struggling with high energy prices. When she appeared at an event hosted by the CBI last week, Reeves told the audience of business leaders: 'We know that one of the questions that we need to answer is how we're going to make energy more affordable, particularly for some of our most intensive energy-using businesses where the price differential with other countries is just too acute for many to be competitive. That's a question we know we need to answer and we will answer in the industrial strategy in a few weeks.' Other ideas being presented to the government include stepping up drilling in the North Sea, which is likely to create tensions with Miliband. Solving the energy situation is regarded as a crucial plank of the industrial strategy, which the business secretary put out for consultation six months ago to look at eight sectors: advanced manufacturing; clean energy; the creative industries; defence; digital; financial services; life sciences and professional and business services. The result of the consultation had widely been expected to be published alongside Reeves's spending review but it is not now expected for another two weeks. It is understood that the delay has been caused by a desire to resolve the issue of industry energy costs. Stephen Phipson, chief executive of Make UK, said: 'If we don't want to lose the big corporates we have to get competitive and the government is going to have to make tough choices.' Jakob Sigurdsson, chief executive of the FTSE 250 Lancashire chemical business Victrex, said the industry was not 'asking for handouts' but needed a government policy to ensure it was viable. His energy bill is £12 million — double what it was before Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed up oil prices — while profits are £60 million. 'When you look at it from a global perspective, for the price of power we're paying four to five times the price for electricity that a Chinese company would be paying,' he said, with a similar situation compared to the US. 'It's a cost disadvantage for us so a sound energy policy and how we deal with pricing mechanisms is paramount,' he said. 'This is not going to be solved through incremental changes. There needs to be a bold energy shift.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Ministers commit to £86bn for ‘breakthrough' UK science and tech R&D
New drug treatments, longer-lasting batteries and developing artificial intelligence are among research projects that will receive funding as part of an £86bn government investment into science and technology. Ministers have announced a £22.5bn a year commitment in research and development (R&D) over the next four years, including up to £500m for regional authorities to target the investment locally. The announcement comes before the spending review on Wednesday where Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will set out day-to-day expenditure for three years and investment spending for four years. Reeves said: 'Britain is the home of science and technology. Through the plan for change', we are investing in Britain's renewal to create jobs, protect our security against foreign threats and make working families better off.' Peter Kyle, the science and technology secretary, said: 'R&D is the very foundation of the breakthroughs that make our lives easier and healthier – from new medicines enabling us to live longer, more fulfilled lives to developments in AI giving us time back, from easing our train journeys through to creating the technology we need to protect our planet from climate change.' Ministers said the investment would boost the life sciences industry in Liverpool, the defence sector in Northern Ireland and semiconductors in south Wales. It matches a commitment made by the previous Conservative government to spend £22bn a year on R&D. The seven mayoral strategic authorities in England – Greater Manchester, West Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, North East and Greater London – will each receive awards of at least £30m each. The fund will also include a competition open to all other parts of the UK. The announcement was welcomed by Richard Parker, the mayor of the West Midlands, and Kim McGuinness, the north-east mayor. McGuinness said the funds would support the car and green energy industries in her region. The package also includes £4.8m for a partnership between Manchester and Cambridge to attract business investment. Alongside the spending review on Wednesday, Reeves is planning to announce an overhaul of the Treasury's 'green book' – the rules that govern how public investment plans are judged. Critics say the existing rules are biased in favour of London and the south-east. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Changing the rules will allow ministers to divert more money to areas of the north and Midlands, including the so-called red wall where Labour MPs face an electoral challenge from Reform UK. The chancellor will put £113bn of new capital investment in homes, transport and energy at the forefront of the spending review, money which was unlocked by changes she made to the government's debt rules in October. Ministers hope that billions in capital investment and a funding boost for the NHS will stave off disquiet over harsh cuts to day-to-day spending expected across many departments.
