Latest news with #YuanYang
BBC News
an hour ago
- Business
- BBC News
Earley MP Yuan Yang praises school's money-saving solar panels
A school will have more money to spend on education thanks to government-funded solar panels, an MP has government announced in March that it was investing £180m installing solar panels in schools and hospitals across the first 11 schools have now had them put in - including Whiteknights Primary School in Reading, which is expected to save around £4,500 a year as a result."Overall that means less money spent on energy and heating bills [and] more money to for the school to actually spend on students' education," said MP for Earley and Woodley Yuan Yang. The Labour MP visited the school on Monday, alongside climate minister Kerry McCarthy. She said she spoke to schoolchildren about climate change and how it should be tackled. "They wanted to talk about all sorts of things, from saving energy to transport," she said."It's often the children who asked the most incitive questions about climate change and the future."Climate minister Kerry McCarthy said the fact schools could save money on their bills was proof that the transition to green power could directly benefit communitiesGreat British Energy is a new publicly owned company set up by the Labour Yang said the solar panels, which would continue generating electricity throughout the weekends and school holidays to be sold back to the national grid, were "a really key investment"."All of this together is part of a diverse energy mix and the more different sources of renewable generation then the more robust - the more secure - an energy system is," she said. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Relief at 'new era' for Reading FC as club is sold to fresh owner
In this monthly letter, Yuan Yang, the Labour MP for Earley and Woodley, celebrates the news that Reading FC has been sold. The stadium is in her constituency. Ms Yang writes: "We've got our Reading back!' That was the chant at the last match of the season on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend. After two years of fan protests, points deductions, winding-up petitions, unpaid wages, parliamentary lobbying and constant worry about the future of the club, Reading Football Club is finally being sold to a new owner! The sale represents the chance for a new era at Reading. The club's development must now come with a more sustainable business model – the 'Reading Way' of previous decades. The new buyer, Rob Couhig, has a track record of doing this. Wycombe fans agree that he left their club in a better place than he found it. I look forward to working with Mr. Couhig to ensure that fans' voices are heard and that the club becomes community-focused once again. I've been joking with the fans I've worked with at Sell Before We Dai and the Supporters' Trust At Reading that we won't know what to do with our time now we're no longer worrying about ownership 24/7. I can definitely say my parliamentary staff and I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing we won't be having more late-night phone conferences on this particular topic! But I already know there's a lot I want to do to ensure the distress suffered by Reading fans can never be allowed to happen again. No football club should need their MPs to make repeated interventions in Parliament, lobby government ministers, or gather 10,000 signatures on a petition, just to fight for their survival; we need to have stronger rules against absent and neglectful owners. The Football Governance Bill is currently making its way through Parliament, and I am confident that this will start to fix football's governance problem. The 'New Ownership Test' and the new licensing rules within the Bill would have been so helpful when Dai Yongge was buying the club. I look forward to the Bill becoming law, as well as the new Independent Football Regulator starting their work. Football is a huge part of British life and shouldn't be used to manage the debt, or service the assets, of distant billionaires with no presence at the clubs they buy. Clubs must once again serve the communities that they are part of. The future is bright for Reading FC – after an incredible season on the pitch, I can't wait to see how we do under better ownership next year. And while we rightly celebrate the performance of the men's team; we shouldn't forget about the parts of the club that receive less media coverage. The Reading Football Club Community Trust do brilliant work, and I've seen first-hand their impact on young people through community 'kick sessions' and educational provision. It's vital that they have the resources to continue this work. It is also important to ensure that the women's team is properly funded and can start to climb the divisions again after they withdrew from the women's Championship last year.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hundreds turn out to take part in the 40th annual Shinfield 10K
Hundreds turn out to take part in the 40th annual Shinfield 10K Yuan Yang and runner (Image: Office of Yuan Yang) Hundreds of runners took to the streets of Shinfield for the 40th annual 10K. The road race took place in the Berkshire village on Monday, May 5 where over 800 participants crossed the start line. Sponsored by Honeysuckle Day Nursery and Parkers estate agents, the event has raised over £130,000 since its inception in 1985 and continues to support a number of local charities. The MP for Woodley and Earley met runners at the finishing line of the 10K and children's race to hand out the hard-earned medals. James Lyne was first to cross the finish line with an impressive time of 32 minutes and 55 seconds. He was followed by Nicholas Twomey in second place and Jack Boswell in third. The first woman to finish was Lesley Locks in 37 minutes and 37 seconds, ahead of Caroline Hoskins and Jodie Penny. Friends, family, supporters and local residents lined the streets to cheer on all the runners on the day. MP Yuan Yang said: 'I really enjoyed handing out the hard-earned medals and meeting people throughout the event. Some were repping the Reading FC stripes and stopped afterwards to chat to my team and me about the sale completion. 'I also met Emma from Reading Roadrunners, who was one of many behind setting up the day. 'Thank you to all the volunteers and the over 800 runners for making the day so special!'
Arab News
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Israel's latest foolish act of self-harm
Israel, as a country and as a nation, has always suffered from a good measure of siege mentality. Being distrustful of the outside world is understandable considering the history of the Jewish people, but it has also become a useful political tool for cynics. For those on the right wing, it is ingrained in their ideology and state of mind. But it is equally a ploy to always portray Israel as a victim on whose behalf only they are willing and able to stand up to all those hateful foreigners who they claim wish for the destruction of the country. The bizarre saga of two British MPs who were this month refused entry after flying to Israel is just another example of a self-inflicted PR wound inflicted by a government that is becoming increasingly paranoid and thrives on friction with the international community. The two rather anonymous first-term British Labour parliamentarians, Abtisam Mohammed and Yuan Yang, had been traveling to Israel and the West Bank as part of a parliamentary delegation. But immediately after their arrival, they were detained at the airport and forced to fly back to the UK the next day. What makes this story even more peculiar is that the two lawmakers were given clearance to enter the country before they set off, meaning their arrival was hardly a surprise to the Israeli government. Someone must have whispered in the ear of Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, between their clearance for entry and their detention at the airport, that two 'troublemaker' British MPs were about to land in Israel, resulting in this hasty and reckless decision to prevent their entry. According to The Times of Israel, the Interior Ministry explained that it had refused Mohammed and Yang entry because, when questioned about the purpose of their visit, they had stated that it was 'to document Israeli security forces and spread hateful rhetoric against Israel.' It is hardly believable that they were so naive as to use these exact words to immigration officials. But even if this was what those who questioned them understood, it would have been smarter of the Israeli authorities to weigh carefully the miniscule degree of harm that would result from allowing two relatively unknown lawmakers to conduct their fact-finding mission against the extremely negative publicity that was bound to be caused by refusing them entry. Showing lawmakers a more friendly attitude would have at least saved Israel much of the negative publicity it received Yossi Mekelberg The Israeli Embassy in London, which must have approved their visit or at least known about it, all of a sudden suffered a bout of amnesia and entered the fray, declaring that their country 'will not allow the entry of individuals or entities that act against the state and its citizens (who are) actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers,' or boycotting the country. These positions are certainly uncomfortable to Israel, but would it not have been better for the Israeli Foreign Ministry to invite critics of its policies, such as these two British MPs, to a briefing at the ministry and a meeting with experts and bestow on them the utmost 'hasbara' to explain their actions, whether justified or not? Or is it the case that those in charge of defending Israel's policies on the Occupied Territories do not believe that their position is defensible? Showing lawmakers a more friendly attitude would have at least saved Israel much of the negative publicity it received from most British politicians, with the exception of the Conservative Party and its leader Kemi Badenoch, which is hardly an endorsement that does anyone a favor. Upon their return, Mohammed and Yang, along with Cabinet ministers including Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer and more than 70 other parliamentarians, staged a joint photocall in Westminster Hall in a show of solidarity that was widely reported in the national and international media. To top this, Foreign Secretary David Lammy made a public statement describing Israel's act as 'unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning.' Game, set and match for Israel's self-inflicted damage to its relations with the UK and beyond. However, this incident runs deeper than Israel's inability to tolerate any criticism, let alone acknowledge that there are any faults in its policies toward the Palestinians. Self-evidently, not every criticism of Israel is justified or reflects a genuine understanding of the complexities of this conflict and the wars it generates. There is usually too much of a binary approach and a tendency to unquestionably support either one side or the other, rather than offering constructive ideas and measures on how to bring it to an end. Macron and the UK are not enemies of Israel, but allies with strong reservations about Israel's approach to the Palestinians Yossi Mekelberg Nevertheless, what does Israel expect after 58 years of oppressive occupation that has resulted in the illegal building of hundreds of settlements on occupied land in violation of international law, which has allowed settler terrorism and the general oppression of the Palestinians there, and more recently the mass killings and devastation in Gaza? The more Israel bars politicians, researchers, journalists and activists from visiting these places, the more it becomes obvious that the Israeli authorities have much to hide and that even they no longer believe they can justify their positions to anyone beyond their most ardent and least inquisitive supporters. To make things worse for Israel's relations with its allies, last week it was the turn of a much higher-profile politician, French President Emmanuel Macron, to be on the receiving end of an obscene attack. It came from a certain self-exiled individual in Miami, who lives in luxurious conditions that nobody knows who pays for, while surrounded by Shin Bet bodyguards who we do know are funded by Israel's taxpayers. This individual is Yair Netanyahu — yes, the son of the much-discredited Israeli prime minister. Macron's apparently unforgivable sin was to say that France could recognize a Palestinian state in a matter of months. The instant reply to the French president on X by the younger Netanyahu, a response which reflects the depth of his intellectual prowess and good manners, was: 'Screw You.' He also suggested that France has no moral right to criticize Israel because it deprives lands such as New Caledonia, Polynesia and Corsica of independence. In one tweet, he exposed both his rudeness and his ignorance of the fact that the residents of these territories are French citizens. Corsica enjoys autonomy and the people of New Caledonia voted several years ago against independence — a far cry from anything that the Palestinians are being offered by Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu also took to social media to express his love for his son, mildly criticizing his manners but nevertheless supporting his boy's distorted content. Macron and the UK and its Parliament are not enemies of Israel, but allies with strong reservations about Israel's approach to the Palestinians. To alienate them with this kind of behavior is yet another act of self-harming folly that is characteristic of the senior Netanyahu and his government.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MPs should stop obsessing over foreign issues and try fixing the problems here
Pity the poor lambs. Labour MPs Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang set out from Luton Airport to Israel's Ben Gurion, only to be detained by officials on arrival, and then deported. Hopefully they at least managed to get the local experience with a frothy café hafuch and a nice flaky rugelach at Terminal 3's Ilan's Coffee House during their short trip. Their plan was to visit some West Bank charity projects, or, as Israel officials put it, 'to document Israeli security forces and spread hateful rhetoric against Israel'. Both MPs had previously called for a boycott of Israel and the state thus concluded that it was their duty to deny entry to people who intended to cause it harm. Mohamed and Yang were frightfully cross about this and back home rallied colleagues for a photo call in Westminster Hall on Monday. How dare Israel stymie their weekend jaunt, was the message. 'There is no direct route into the West Bank. We have to go through Israel,' said Ms Mohamed. 'This act was not just a diplomatic affront. This wasn't about security. It was about control and censorship.' In fact it was a salient reminder that these members of Parliament were elected to serve their constituents. The House of Commons was not in recess until April 8 of this week and one might assume that MPs had more appropriate things to do for their voters than gathering for photo calls about Israeli diplomacy or attempting entry to the occupied West Bank. Mohamed was elected to represent Sheffield Central in July 2024. Yuan Yang is MP for Earley and Woodley, in Berkshire. Sheffield's challenges are numerous. There is in-work poverty, the city has some of the lowest levels of pay in the UK, it's a de-industrialised metropolis with higher-than-average unemployment, there's a housing shortage, it's a city with high levels of pollution, high levels of crime and drug-taking and high levels of chronic ill-health. Earley and Woodley also has its fair share of problems. Although generally more prosperous than central Sheffield, GP and dental appointments are hard to come by, one in five children are recorded as living in poverty and many school children are malnourished. As Yuan Yang said herself during the 2024 General Election campaign: 'We [need to] make sure that every child gets a proper breakfast before they start school.' Quite how visiting the Palestinian territories helps these issues is anyone's guess. But it's sure as hell more fun than spending a Saturday shaking hands with the arts and crafts stallholders of Nether Edge or looking at potholes around Wokingham. Grandstanding on international issues and joining an overseas parliamentary delegation is rather more wholesome. And it's an irresistible habit. Indeed just as rats as big as cats began to mooch about the streets of Birmingham, as mounds of rubbish piled up due to a bin strike after hundreds of Unite members walked out in a row with the Labour-run council, Liam Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, flew to Tokyo. He joined a House of Commons business committee jaunt, meeting opposite numbers in the Japanese parliament and then – as he was already out there – reportedly extended his stay for a holiday. Thus while rodents nibbled their way through the rotting leftovers of Indian takeaways, Mr Byrne could avail himself of a tasting menu of omakase nigirizushi. Similarly, at the end of March, Tahir Ali, MP for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley, joined 20 parliamentarians in writing a letter to the prime minister of Pakistan urging him to build an airport in Mirpur. Granted they just wrote, signed and dispatched a letter and didn't fly to Islamabad (bunch of amateurs: all that 30-degree heat and sunshine, chicken karahi and chana chaat) but it left thousands of their constituents scratching their heads. Sadly the reality is that unless you're in the Cabinet, and especially if you're in Opposition, being an MP is dull; all those tedious problems, moaning constituents who think you're the Citizen's Advice Bureau and the horror show that is the weekend surgery where you must listen to people whinging about their mouldy flats. Far better a trip to a war zone or posturing on irrelevant infrastructure. Except that, sorry Mmes Mohamed and Yang, that's the job, that's the honour, to do the dirge, to clean up the mess on your own doorsteps. And if that's not sexy enough for you, quit your roles so we can have some nice fruity by-elections and get MPs elected who want to do the actual job. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
