Latest news with #Birkenhead
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Man, 50, who battered his XL Bully with a baseball bat and threw bricks at her walks free from court - and dog had to be put down
An animal abuser who repeatedly hit his XL Bully with a baseball bat and threw bricks at her has managed to walk free from court with just a suspended prison sentence. James Campbell, a 50-year-old from Birkenhead, just outside Liverpool, was filmed chucking brocks and pans of water at 21-month-old dog Zeus, which he repeatedly abused in the back garden of his home on Harrowby Road. A witness who provided evidence in the case, heard at Liverpool Magistrates Court, said they also saw Campbell grabbing the dog by its neck, headbutting and violently shouting at her. Following an investigation and prosecution by the RSPCA, he was handed an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and a six-year ban on keeping animals, as well as a £200 fine. He admitted to violating the Animal Welfare act at a previous hearing. Liverpool Magistrates Court was told that Zeus was removed from Campbell's care on August 8 2024 following concerns that he was abusing her. He told cops that his wrist was injured after the dog had bitten him, and that he had acted in self defence against the dog's 'frustrating' behaviour. He had owned her for just a few months, and failed to get an exemption certification to keep her, since she was a banned breed. As a result, she was put down by a vet after he signed her over to authorities. A vet who viewed footage of the incident told the court that significant swelling to the dog's head indicated just how hard she was hit. The vet said: 'Swelling of this size indicates the hit was relatively strong. A reasonable owner would have sought veterinary care in the case of any injuries noticed on the dog's body. That help was not provided. 'The owner admitted he threw bricks at the dog's abdominal area. This can lead to internal bleeding, organ injuries and death in extreme cases. Having reviewed the dog's body language, she is trying to avoid and escape the torment. 'This again indicates she is being exposed to a situation she does not want to be in. 'Dogs suffer mentally while beating, these sort of situations are very stressful for them, especially when they have no safe space to escape to or hide. 'Considering the video evidence and witness statements it is clear that Zeus suffered repeated acts of physical violence. 'These acts were forceful and caused significant injuries. Any dogs, especially newly rehomed dogs can behave in frustrating ways - that includes chewing objects and ignoring owners commands. 'That is not an excuse for beating. This sort of behaviour is unacceptable.' Campbell told RSPCA Inspector Anthony Joynes that he had hit the dog 'three or four times' with a baseball bat in self defence. Though he denied headbutting her, he admitted that he may have thrown small bricks at her at least twice. Speaking after the case Inspector Joynes said: 'Zeus was subjected to violent and senseless abuse at the hands of Campbell on a number of occasions. 'The witness said they had never seen her behave aggressively, and the self-defence injuries Campbell claimed to have suffered just didn't add up. 'It's heartbreaking that many dogs like Zeus have been and will be euthanised simply because they are considered to be dangerous because they look a certain way.' Since December 2023, it has been illegal to sell, give away, abandon or breed XL Bullies. It is also illegal to rehome or transfer ownership of the violent breed, and from February 2024 it has been a criminal offence to own one without an exemption certificate.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Moment Prince Harry NEARLY broke Meghan's golden baby name rule as he chatted with well-wishers during her first pregnancy
She's urged parents-to-be to keep their baby name options 'so close to your heart' - and yet, Meghan Markle's own husband nearly broke her important rule. The Duchess of Sussex, 43, who shares son Archie Harrison, six, and daughter Lilibet Diana, three, with Prince Harry, gave her thoughts on the matter during the season finale of her Lemonada Media podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder. She said: 'I will say this to every woman in the world or every person in the world who's going to have a child, if you have an idea about what you are going to name that baby, you keep it so close to your heart, until that baby is born and it's named.' Revealing her top guidance when it comes to baby names, Meghan insisted: 'Don't ask anyone's opinion.' Yet it appears her husband isn't as fond of that golden rule, since he once hinted to a well-wisher that he was a fan of the name 'Lili'. During a walkabout on a joint engagement with Meghan when she was six months pregnant with Archie, in January 2019, Harry seemingly discussed name choices for their firstborn. Mother-of-three Rebecca Blundell, who lives in Birkenhead and brought her daughter Lily, then six, and Lottie, aged two at the time, to the event in The Wirral, was one of the well-wishers who got to speak to the Duke and Duchess. She revealed how Harry - who didn't know whether he was having a boy or a girl with Meghan, as they wanted it to be a surprise ahead of Archie's birth - asked how to spell Lily's name. Ms Blundell told MailOnline: 'Prince Harry came over first and chatted to my two-year-old then spoke to my six-year-old Lily. 'Then as he was walking off, he turned back, he asked Lily if she spelt her name with an I or Y. I straight away thought that must be a name choice.' In this week's episode of her podcast, Meghan spoke to Spanx founder Sara Blakely about being a business owner and balancing motherhood at the same time. During the finale, the topic of naming a company came up, as Meghan lamented that the beginning of a business was like starting a 'SurveyMonkey,' in trying to get everyone's thoughts on the venture - including about the name. Meghan said that the process of naming a baby is 'not dissimilar to naming your company.' In their biography of the Sussexes, Finding Freedom, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote that when naming Archie, the pair wanted something which was 'something traditional, a name that was powerful even without a title in front of it.' 'Archie, meaning strength and bravery, fit the bill,' they added. Meanwhile a friend of the couple revealed 'with a laugh': 'They thought about Archibald for all of one second. He was always going to be little Archie.' Unlike many senior royals, Archie only has one middle name, Harrison, a fitting tribute to the baby's father as it means 'son of Henry' or 'son of Harry.' As for Lilibet, her middle name is a tribute to Prince William and Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, who tragically passed away in 1997. However, it has been reported that the late Queen Elizabeth II was upset over the couple's decision to name their daughter Lilibet. Lilibet was the affectionate childhood nickname of the late Queen, said to have come about because as a child Princess Elizabeth could never pronounce her name properly. It was a name that was only used by her parents, King George VI, the Queen Mother, and her sister, Princess Margaret, or those closest to her like her husband, Prince Philip. At the time, the BBC reported it had been told by a palace source that the Queen was not asked by the Duke and Duchess as to whether they could use it. Other sources told media, including the Mail, that while the Queen was called by her grandson and his wife, she felt she wasn't in a position to say no. One member of her staff says the monarch was 'as angry as I'd ever seen her' after the Duke and Duchess publicly stated they would not have used her private family nickname if she had not been 'supportive'. The illuminating revelation was published in the biography Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story, by the Mail's writer Robert Hardman. During the season one finale of her podcast, Meghan also spoke about the hardships of pregnancy. She revealed that she had gained 65 pounds during each of her pregnancies, and was still wearing high heels on royal engagements.
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Benefit cuts key to fighting Reform in Red Wall, claims Kendall
Labour's benefits overhaul is the right strategy to fight off Reform UK in the Red Wall, Liz Kendall has said. The Work and Pensions Secretary said that 'a future dependent on benefits alone is not good enough for people in Blackpool, Birkenhead or Blaenau Gwent' in defence of her controversial plans for reform. She declared that, in pushing through the benefits cuts and overhauling the system, Labour would win over voters who think 'politics doesn't matter and that politicians are all the same'. Her words come amid a growing rebellion within Labour against Ms Kendall's plans, with more than 100 MPs demanding that the Government should change course or risk a defeat in the Commons. The proposals will mean the most disabled adults could claim personal independence payments (PIP) and under-22s would become ineligible for Universal Credit. The Disability Poverty Campaign Group has circulated analysis among Labour MPs that showed that for over 200 of them, their majorities are smaller than the number of PIP claimants in their constituency. Sir Keir Starmer has been forced to U-turn on the winter fuel payment, saying at Prime Minister's Questions that more pensioners would become eligible for the payment. The move will be seen as a concession to backbench critics who opposed the widely unpopular policy and blamed it for the poor results at this month's local elections. In a speech in central London on Wednesday, Ms Kendall said: 'The villages, towns and cities, especially in parts of the Midlands and the North whose economies have still not recovered from the 1980s and 1990s are where economic demand remains weakest. 'Places that are full of talent and ambition, but which need the investment – in jobs, infrastructure, skills, and public services – to build a better life for themselves and their communities. 'People in this country rightly demand change. But populist politics, the politics of division and easy but empty solutions, won't deliver the change people are crying out for, because a future dependent on benefits alone is not good enough for people in Blackpool, Birkenhead or Blaenau Gwent. I am confident we will deliver.' PIP recipients accounted for 10 per cent of adults in Red Wall seats at the beginning of this year, compared to 7 per cent across the country as a whole. All MPs in Blackpool, Birkenhead and Blaenau Gwent are from Labour, but signs have emerged that Reform is gaining in those areas. Lancashire county council, which covers Blackpool, is now controlled by Reform, and Labour lost 187 councillors at the local elections. Reform also came second in the general election in Blackpool South, whose MP Chris Webb declared that Ms Kendall's reforms were 'devastating' and 'not what any of us stood on in the manifesto'. In Blackpool South, almost a third of the population is on Universal Credit, and over 14 per cent receive PIP. In Birkenhead, Merseyside, 27 per cent of working age adults are on Universal Credit and almost 15 per cent on PIP. An even greater proportion of adults in Blaenau Gwent receive PIP, at 16 per cent. Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, has made an effort to target voters in Wales ahead of the Senedd elections next year. Labour won all but one of 32 Red Wall seats, which broadly overlapped with those lost in the 2019 election, according to categorisation from Redfield and Wilton. But its vote share was not convincing, gaining just 42 per cent of the vote as a whole, whilst Reform gained 23 per cent. Ms Kendall said: 'They need real hope built on real solutions. That is what this Labour Government is doing – tackling problems that have been ducked or ignored for too long, because the failure to do so is precisely why people think politics doesn't matter and that politicians are all the same.' Mr Farage pledged at the general election to lift the threshold at which income tax is charged to £20,000 a year from the current £12,571. His broader proposals for welfare are unclear, but he drew criticism earlier this month after he said that there was an overdiagnosis of 'mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities'. But Unison, Britain's biggest union, came out against Ms Kendall and said that the benefit cuts were 'unpalatable'. Christina McAnea, the general secretary, said: 'Ministers now need to look again at their unpalatable welfare cuts. The wrongs of previous Conservative administrations won't be righted by going after the most vulnerable in society. 'Employment support might get some people back into jobs, but it's not enough to justify the severity of cuts faced by the many disabled people who need that support to work.'
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Peter Taaffe obituary
In the 1980s, Peter Taaffe, who has died aged 83, was famous in political circles, and Labour party grandees shivered at the sound of his name. As leader since 1964 of the Militant tendency, which, unlike other Trotskyist groups, wanted to work within the Labour party, Taaffe had spent two decades shaping and implementing a policy of 'entryism', in which Militant members were to take over the party from the ground up. In 1983 Militant gained control of Liverpool city council. The new intake of Labour MPs after the June 1983 general election included two Militants, Terry Fields, representing Liverpool Broadgreen, and Dave Nellist, for Coventry South East. A third, Pat Wall in Bradford, was elected in 1997. Militant and the 1984-85 miners' strike dominated the politics of the labour movement – the Labour party and the trade unions – for most of the 1980s. The journalist Michael Crick, who wrote two books about Militant, estimated in 1985 that it had about 7,000 members, 150 full-time workers, a turnover of around a million pounds a year and offices in most major cities. It was a party within a party. Under the Labour leader Michael Foot, Taaffe and his four leading lieutenants were expelled in 1983, after three years of bitter debate in the party and in the courts. After Foot's defeat to Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 general election, Foot's successor, Neil Kinnock, began a purge in which dozens of Militant activists all over Britain were expelled. Taaffe was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, the son of a sheet metal worker, and he and his five siblings grew up in poverty. He was a keen footballer and a lifelong Everton supporter. He was recruited to Militant in 1960 by Ted Grant, a veteran Trotskyist, who had been politically active since arriving in Britain from South Africa in 1934, and had worked with, and fallen out with, most of the major figures in British Trotskyism. They had learned sectarianism and doctrinal rigidity from the Communist party, which they loathed. Taaffe became the general secretary of Militant in 1964 and launched the Militant newspaper. By the 80s he had made it easily the most significant Trotskyist group, and he remained general secretary of Militant and its successors until 2020. In the 90s, Militant was prominent in the movement to refuse to pay the poll tax, and in the demonstrations against it, which helped to undermine Thatcher. He was a talented political organiser. His life was politics, and his commitment was total. At one point he was sleeping under the desk in the office, and he only took wages if enough money had been raised. In 1966 he married Linda Driscoll. A primary school teacher and a leftwing activist in the National Union of Teachers (now the National Education Union), she shared his politics. Some former associates say Taaffe was ruthless and intolerant of dissent; that those who crossed him found themselves frozen out. But they add that he taught them rigorous socialist study and a disciplined approach, and his successor, Hannah Sell, said: 'He was not sectarian. We would discuss all issues and he would listen to everyone.' These qualities enabled Taaffe to build Militant into a force that could seriously trouble Foot and Kinnock. By 1980, he was a serious player in Labour party politics, which gave him a platform he used skilfully. 'The idea that just a few Marxists could just parachute into constituency Labour parties and take them over is absurd,' he wrote in the Guardian that year, just as he was making this absurdity happen. In the 90s, Labour was moving not to the left, as Taaffe had hoped, but to the right, with the election of Tony Blair as leader in 1994. Taaffe decided the time had come to abandon entryism. Grant disagreed, and when Taaffe got his way at a special national conference in 1992, Grant left Militant (he claimed to have been expelled, which Taaffe denied) and started a new group called Socialist Appeal. From 1997 to 2020 Taaffe was general secretary of Militant's successor, the Socialist party, and he was to hit the headlines one more time. In 2016, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, and some members of the Socialist party argued that this was the time for the left to make peace with the Labour party and to quietly influence its direction. Taaffe rejected this softly softly approach, instead saying publicly that his old chum Corbyn (they had known each other in Islington before Corbyn was an MP) would lift the ban on Militant. This made it impossible for Corbyn to do any such thing, and Corbyn's deputy Tom Watson moved swiftly to kill the idea. Taaffe called Watson 'Stalinist' – and he knew no worse insult. For many on the left, Taaffe is the bitter sectarian who helped ensure that the last half century has been dominated by Conservative governments. In the Socialist party, they believe he showed the way forward after the collapse of the Soviet Union, correctly predicting that it would lead in the short term to a move to the right. He inspired love and loyalty. Sell said: 'He left us the Socialist party with 2,000 members and members on several trade union executives. That will enable us to advance socialism in the future.' He is survived by Linda, their two daughters, Katie and Nancy, four grandchildren, and a great-grandson. Peter Taaffe, political activist, born 7 April 1942; died 23 April 2025
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Daily Mail
DOMINIC LAWSON: Just as innocent men are coerced by police into confessions, so I fear the vulnerable will be pushed into assisted dying under this seriously flawed Bill
There seemed something horribly familiar about the case of Peter Sullivan. The man hitherto known as 'the Beast of Birkenhead' was released last week after serving 38 years in prison for the savage sexual attack and murder of a barmaid called Diane Sindall – after DNA evidence very belatedly confirmed that another (unknown) man must have been the killer. At the time – this happened in 1986 – Sullivan had been described as 'not the full shilling' and a 'village idiot'. Nowadays, we would say he had learning disabilities. Anyway, he had had convictions for petty theft, and was seen loitering in the area of the murder, carrying a crowbar.
