Latest news with #LucyBlake
Telegraph
08-08-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Building a colour-blind society: Trump has a lesson for Starmer
While our intelligence services have been hitting the headlines this week for reopening a summer internship scheme which is only offered to young people from a 'Black, Asian, mixed heritage or ethnic minority background and from a socially or economically disadvantaged background', our cousins across the pond have also been re-evaluating their DEI policies. The tone, however, has been rather different there. In a memorandum issued by United States Attorney General Pam Bondi, federal agencies were reminded that 'all Americans must be treated equally'. It is worth quoting the guidance in some detail. 'Entities receiving federal funds, like all other entities subject to federal antidiscrimination laws, must ensure that their programs and activities comply with federal law and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics-no matter the program's labels, objectives, or intentions.' Race-based programmes and scholarships; preferential hiring or promotion practices for 'underrepresented groups'; and restricting access to facilities or resources based on race or ethnicity by designating 'safe spaces' all feature on 'a non-exhaustive list of unlawful practices that could result in revocation of grant funding'. According to Lucy Blake, a Partner at law firm Jenner & Block, the ever-increasing divergence between diversity policies in the UK and in the US poses a headache for global companies 'with government contracts, whose failure to comply with one set of obligations or the other may risk exclusion from public tender processes, and a subsequent loss of business. 'This divergence between obligations in different jurisdictions gives rise to difficult legal, commercial, reputational, and political predicaments.' Ever the optimist, I can see this catalogue of predicaments providing Sir Kier Starmer — who has proven to be a terminal follower in his premiership — with the cover to do the right thing. He could follow Donald Trump's lead and finally ease the burden of ever rising DEI costs, both financial and social, across our private and the public sectors. Businesses and taxpayers — who are forced to pick up the bill of the Government's expensive virtue signalling — would heave a sigh of relief. Who knows, Sir Keir might even find himself becoming as popular as Donald Trump currently is in Britain.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New car park charge to be introduced - with cameras ready to catch motorists
Automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPR) will be used to fine motorists that haven't paid a soon-to-be-introduced charge at a car park. Liberal Democrat-led Didcot Town Council has voted in favour of introducing charges to Civic Hall car park in Britwell Road. Three companies put forward their proposals to operate the ANPR cameras in the car park. National Parking Control (NPC) offered to have parking wardens patrol the car park five times per week. READ MORE: It also said all parking fares will go to the town council's pockets while all fines collected would go towards the company. There will also be the option to pay by cash or on a RingGo app with NPC being the ones offered the 12-month contract with Didcot Town Council. Support would also be available to those struggling to pay on a 24/7 basis. The pricing of the car park's fares is to be determined at a later date once a report has been written for councillors to decide. Minutes published by deputy town clerk Lucy Blake said: 'The committee would like a policy and procedure to be prepared for the car park to help with a conflict regarding car parking and charges.' Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get: Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website Advert-light access Reader rewards Full access to our app Meanwhile the other two unnamed companies that came with proposals to operate the cameras would have made less financial sense for the council. They both asked for 20 per cent of each parking ticket goes to them while collecting the income from the parking fines. One company didn't even have any wardens available, but said it would train some while the other would have patrols at 'regular intervals'.
