Latest news with #WilliamHague
The Independent
7 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Starmer urged to intervene in ‘never-ending nightmare' of Aung San Suu Kyi and people of Myanmar
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to personally intervene in the 'unspeakable tragedy' developing in Myanmar and to meet the British son of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been imprisoned by the country's military junta. The call comes in a new report which highlights the plight of Ms Suu Kyi and 22,000 other political prisoners, after a coup which overthrew her democratically elected government four years ago. It also shines a spotlight on the army's airstrikes and ground attacks against civilians and details atrocities including massacres, beheadings, executions, rapes and tortures. Nobel Peace Prize winner Ms Suu Kyi, who is facing 27 years in jail, became a deeply divisive and controversial figure after refusing to speak out on her country's extreme violence against its Rohingya Muslim minority. In an Independent TV documentary about her fall from grace, entitled Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi, William Hague, who welcomed her to London in 2012 said it was possible to be critical of the country's former leader, 'but also say we should be campaigning for her release'. Earlier this year David Lammy issued a historic and impassioned plea for her freedom in this newspaper. In a major intervention, the foreign secretary for the first time made a direct appeal to the military to let her go and give the country's people 'the peace and democracy they deserve'. Tim Loughton, a former Tory minister and the chair of the Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission, which compiled the report, said its findings were an 'urgent wake-up call for action to address the egregious human rights crisis in Myanmar, which has been compounded over the past two months by the devastating earthquake which hit the country on 28 March. He said: 'The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has described the situation as 'an unspeakable tragedy', hence the title of the report. 'He has also called it 'a never-ending nightmare' which has seen 'inhumanity in its vilest form' leading to 'unbearable levels of suffering and cruelty'. It is high time the international community, led by the United Kingdom, steps up its efforts to bring this nightmare to an end and hold the perpetrators of such inhumanity, cruelty, barbarity and criminality to account.' Among those who testified to the commission were Ms Suu Kyi's son, Kim Aris, her former economic policy adviser, Professor Sean Turnell, who spent 650 days in jail in Myanmar and the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews. The report calls on the government to 'stand more vociferously and proactively by the people of Myanmar at a time where the country experiences an unspeakable tragedy'. It also calls for international action to enforce a global arms embargo and cut financial support to the military dictatorship. The commission called on the UK to urgently convene a UN Security Council session on Myanmar. Mr Lammy joined three former British foreign secretaries in calling for Ms Suu Kyi's release, including Lord Hague, who also described her as a 'political prisoner on trumped-up charges' imprisoned because she was a 'force for democracy'. Ms Suu Kyi raised two children, Kim and his brother Alexander, in the UK after studying at Oxford and marrying a British academic, Michael Aris. She returned to Myanmar in 1988, initially to nurse her sick mother before becoming swept up in the pro-democracy movement in the country. Between 1989 to 2010 she became famous around the world as she spent nearly 15 years under house arrest. But after elections in 2015, the junta allowed her to become the country's de facto leader, although only if they kept control of key ministries, including home affairs, defence and border control, as well as the military budget.
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Massive earthquake' in politics could lead to Tory extinction, says Hunt
Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the Conservatives cannot rule out becoming extinct because of a 'massive earthquake' in politics that is seeing the fracturing of the old two-party system. Senior Conservatives are increasingly alarmed about polls that show support for the party plummeting, while Reform UK is soaring. Those supportive of the leadership have urged colleagues not to panic and to give Kemi Badenoch more time to turn things around. Former Tory leader William Hague said this week that Badenoch should not give in to those urging a pact with Nigel Farage's Reform, joining former cabinet ministers Andrew Mitchell and John Glen in urging colleagues to keep cool about the party's predicament. However, others believe there might not be much of a party left to save if Reform continues on its current trajectory. Some Conservative party sources said there appeared to be 'very little dynamism' within Conservative Campaign Headquarters about trying to turn the party's electoral fortunes around, while many local activists and some agents have already made the leap to supporting Reform. On Wednesday morning, a YouGov Westminster voting intention poll put Reform on 29%, Labour on 22%, the Conservatives on 17%, the Liberal Democrats 16%, and the Greens 10% – suggesting the Tories are now flirting with fourth place in popularity. The Conservatives were last at 17% in June 2019, in the aftermath of the European parliament elections shortly before Theresa May was ousted, while the result is Labour's lowest since October 2019, under Jeremy Corbyn. Asked on Times Radio whether the Conservatives could become extinct, Hunt said: 'We can't rule it out. Look at the massive earthquake in western democratic politics in other countries and we are seeing wild swings. I don't think the Conservative party will ever be extinct, but what may be extinct is the old two-party system'. In the past, he added, voters swung between the two main parties, while at the moment they 'seem to be split between five parties and that's a very, very big change'. Hunt emphasised that there was a way back into power for the Conservatives, saying the party's woes should not be exaggerated. 'We're less than a year after the heaviest defeat in our history. It's very unlikely, having kicked us out, voters are going to come running back to the Conservatives within just a matter of months and we do need to have a period of reflection, and it is going to take a few years before people will give us another look,' he said. The Conservatives attempted to get on the front foot against Reform on Tuesday by publishing a proposed law setting out a plan to deport all people who enter the country by illegal routes, and accused Labour and Reform of being 'complicit in the trade of empty slogans'. It would involve disapplying the Human Rights Act from all immigration-related matters, which the party says is necessary to stop foreign nationals 'exploiting' the courts. A Labour source said the Tories had 14 years in office to enact any of the 'rehashed and half-baked' policies in their bill, and instead had left the asylum system in a 'chaotic mess'.
Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Times letters: Ten-step plan to rescue the Conservative Party
Write to letters@ Sir, William Hague suggests a sensible plan to revive the Conservative Party ('Kemi, here's my 10-step plan to save the Tories', May 6). He is right to give the economy centre stage in step five. Governments that back the right industries with financial support, invest in retraining their employees, see IT as a bedrock of the economy, allow for immigration to support said industries and collaborate with the 'right minds' are in fact driving many of the other steps listed by Hague. As he says, backing stronger defence and better healthcare cannot be achieved without economic growth. Hence, why do politicians disregard evidence showing that UK productivity from the public sector grew by 0 per cent from 1997 to 2022
Forbes
06-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why AI's Biggest Impact In Health Could Be Reducing Doctors' Paperwork
The excitement about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise medicine and healthcare is palpable. In the UK, for example, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Leader of the Opposition William Hague have demanded a 20-fold increase in AI capacity to power initiatives such as cancer scans. In the European Union, EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi says: 'This is the way the whole technology is evolving - it is impossible nowadays not to use AI in the healthcare sector.' In the US, the Food and Drug Administration has in recent months published a series of updates aimed at supporting AI implementations in the healthcare sector with appropriate regulation. Start-up and scale-up businesses have an important role to play here. British start-up BenevolentAI has raised more than $335 million of funding since its launch in 2013; it uses AI to accelerate drug discovery. Germany's Ada Health has raised $187 million for a digital health platform that exploits AI technologies and machine learning to assess people's symptoms. However, another group of AI-enabled health-focused start-ups are flying below the radar. These are the companies battling to solve one of the biggest problems of all for healthcare providers – the manual processes and mountains of paperwork that slow many countries' health systems to a crawl. Healthcare operations sucks up huge resources but innovation in this area doesn't get so much attention. Some enterprises are focused on the appointments process. In the UK, for example, SPRYT is working in a North London National Health Service partnership, using AI and WhatsApp to automate cancer screening appointment booking and rescheduling. Others are looking at reducing workloads for medical practitioners. US business Augmedix uses audio technology to capture conversations between doctors and patients, and to turn these into structured medical notes. Suki, also US-based, is another voice specialist, with a range of voice tools that support clinicians' administrative work. Another start-up beginning to make waves is ReportAId, a Milan-based company which is today announcing its first funding round. Founded last year, the company has already signed up a number of Italian hospitals and healthcare providers for its software, and hopes to expand across Europe with a boost from $2.2 million of new seed funding. 'I had worked in a series of operational roles in health and always felt it would be game-changing if there was a way for technology to extract value from free text,' explains Giuseppe Faraci CEO and co-founder of ReportAId with Claudio Caletti and Luca Foresti. The written medical reports produced by doctors following each patient consultation represent a huge volume of unstructured data, Faraci points out, making it difficult to automate processes such as referrals and prescriptions. ReportAId's tools are aimed at solving that problem. They can interrogate a medical professional's written report in order to identify recommendations for next steps – and launch automated workflows to take those actions. That might mean automatically booking the patient's next check-up, say, or beginning the referral process for more significant treatment. ReportAId claims to be able to slash delays in healthcare processes, ensuring patients get treated more quickly; it also promises to save providers money by increasing efficiency – and to boost the revenues of private healthcare providers, who can use its tools to retain their patients and work with larger numbers. Today's fundraising is led by the Italian Founders Fund (IFF) with participation from Heartfelt, Exceptional Ventures, 2100 Ventures, Vento, Ithaca, B Heroes, Vesper Holding and a number of business angels. The company plans to use the funding to recruit up to 10 staff and to expand across Europe, with Germany, France and Spain key target markets. At IFF, principal Irene Mingozzi points to the need to tackle healthcare's 'critical inefficiencies, from fragmented clinical data and gaps in patient management to structural waiting-list issues'. Paolo Pio, co-founder and general partner of Exceptional Ventures, adds: 'Healthcare is the perfect field for AI, and the founders are attacking one of the sector's biggest inefficiencies.' Indeed, the potential of such technologies is huge. One recent report suggests the roll-out of automated systems could save between $200 and $360 billion over the next five years – the equivalent of 5% to 10% of global healthcare spending. In areas of healthcare operations ranging from patient scheduling to supply chain management, there is increasing optimism that technology can drive efficiency and free up resources for spending on patient care.
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Prince William wants to move away from 'ribbon-cutting' and focus on 'projects not patronages', royal insiders claim - as heir champions several campaigns on homelessness and environmentalism
The Prince of Wales wants to move away from 'ribbon-cutting' and focus on work with tangible impact, royal insiders have claimed. Speaking to The Times, sources have alleged that William, 42, wants to reframe his role as being one for 'projects not patronages' - which is why his efforts to champion the Earthshot Prize, and similar initiatives, have been so ardent. William Hague, a former cabinet minister who has worked with the royal for more than ten years, recounted the heir's 'passion and persuasion' when they were both setting up United for Wildlife, which aims to protect endangered species from illegal trade. 'He phoned me up when I left government. He's got this idea, which is that governments are doing this slow work on the illegal wildlife trade. Why don't we get the private sector to see what it can do to stop it?' Mr Hague revealed. 'He had noticed when I was foreign secretary that I took up wildlife issues and the illegal wildlife trade and he came to a conference that I had organised at Lancaster House.' 'In private as well as in speeches and interviews, he really leaves you in no doubt that this is what he wants you to do and that you're really crucial to it,' the former politician continued. 'He's not one for long meetings or going around the same thing again... I've often heard him say, "There's been too much talk about that. We need to see some action." He is friendly to deal with and personable. [But] you really wouldn't want to go and tell him, "We've got absolutely nowhere in stopping elephant ivory being sold." He wants to know that you're getting results.' The Prince launched the Earthshot Prize in 2020, with the aim of making huge strides towards fixing environmental problems within a decade. A nod to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy's 'moonshot' project which led to the 1969 lunar landing, its goal is to find innovations to combat climate and other green issues, and awards five winners £1million each to drive their projects. This year's awards ceremony will be held shortly before the UN climate summit COP30 which also takes place in Brazil in November. 'I'm pleased to announce we're going to be in Brazil in 2025,' William said in a video to accompany the announcement. 'We need urgent optimism now more than ever, and I think Brazil epitomises that, and I can't believe we are at the half way point of 10 years.' Previous awards ceremonies have been held in London, Boston, Singapore, and Cape Town, backed by global organisations and philanthropists. Among the famous faces who also featured in the Earthshot video were actress Cate Blanchett, model Heidi Klum, Brazil's most capped football and World Cup winner Cafu, and former England football captain David Beckham. 'I'm so, so excited ... (Brazil) - where nature and culture go hand in hand,' David said during the clip. Global ambassador Robert Irwin, son of conservationist and TV personality Steve Irwin, and Hannah Waddingham also featured in the footage. The prince's attendance at the Earthshot Prize is expected to be confirmed nearer the time but if the visit coincides with the gathering of world leaders for the UN event the future king could be among them. To mark the announcement, William said: '2025 marks the midway point of the Earthshot decade and each year we've witnessed the remarkable power of human ingenuity in addressing our planet's most pressing challenges. 'As we bring the Earthshot Prize to Brazil, a nation rich in biodiversity and environmental innovation, we are seeing fresh momentum for new ideas to create healthier and safer ways to live our lives. 'It is an honour to profile the people making our world a better place for us and for our children.' William is the driving force behind the annual environmental competition and has attended all the presentation events since launching the initiative. Cape Town staged the most recent awards ceremony last November after prize-giving events were held in Singapore in 2023, Boston in 2022 and London's Alexandra Palace in 2021. The Princess of Wales joined her husband at two of the events, the one in the British capital and the ceremony held in the States. Prince William founded the prize to recognise and scale-up ideas to help 'repair' the planet, with the five winning finalists each awarded £1 million to further develop their ideas. Awards are presented in five categories, or Earthshots – Protect and restore nature; Clean our air, Revive our oceans; Build a waste-free world; and Fix our climate. Recent months have also seen William make his focus on other initiatives clear. In October, he revealed he took 'inspiration' and 'guidance' from his mother Princess Diana in his work to end homelessness, where he was also seen giving out hugs while visiting a charity. Speaking in an ITV documentary titled Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, the Prince of Wales showed the behind the scenes journey of his campaign Homewards, which charted the first year of the project. The future king has set his sights on making rough sleeping, sofa surfing and temporary accommodation a thing of the past in his ambitious five-year initiative programme. 'I've slowly tried to work out what I can bring to the role and platform that I have,' he explained. 'I have taken some inspiration and guidance from what my mother did, particularly with homelessness. 'I don't believe we should be living with homelessness in the 21st century.' William also described it as a 'unique opportunity' to create lasting change, as he builds on the legacy of his late mother Princess Diana. He has long been passionate about the issue of homelessness and is royal patron of charity The Passage, after visiting one of their shelters with his mother when he was 11. In 2009 he spent a night sleeping rough to understand the plight of the homeless at Christmas and has joined a Big Issue seller at his pitch for the last two years in a row. Homewards brings together a range of organisations to develop solutions in Newport, South Wales, three neighbouring Dorset towns, Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch, the south London Borough of Lambeth, Belfast, Aberdeen and Sheffield.
