United Kingdom

Archived version: https://archive.ph/2Y3u6

It was difficult to maintain a poker face when the leader of a big US tech firm I was chatting to said there was a definite tipping point at which the firm would exit the UK.

I could see my own surprise mirrored on the faces of the other people in the room - many of whom worked there.

They hadn't heard this before either, one told me afterwards.

I can't tell you who it was but it's a brand you would probably recognise.

I've been doing this job for long enough to recognise a petulant tech ego when I meet one. From Big Tech, there's often big talk. But this felt different.

It reflected a sentiment I have been hearing quite loudly of late, from this lucrative and powerful US-based sector.

'Tipping point' Many of these companies are increasingly fed up.

Their "tipping point" is UK regulation - and it's coming at them thick and fast.

The Online Safety Bill is due to pass in the autumn. Aimed at protecting children, it lays down strict rules around policing social media content, with high financial penalties and prison time for individual tech execs if the firms fail to comply.

One clause that has proved particularly controversial is a proposal that encrypted messages, which includes those sent on WhatsApp, can be read and handed over to law enforcement by the platforms they are sent on, if there is deemed to be a national security or child protection risk.

The NSPCC children's charity has described encrypted messaging apps as the "front line" of where child abuse images are shared, but it is also seen as an essential security tool for activists, journalists and politicians.

Currently messaging apps like WhatsApp, Proton and Signal, which offer this encryption, cannot see the content of these messages themselves.

WhatsApp and Signal have both threatened to quit the UK market over this demand.

The Digital Markets Bill is also making its way through Parliament. It proposes that the UK's competition watchdog selects large companies like Amazon and Microsoft, gives them rules to comply with and sets punishments if they don't.

Several firms have told me they feel this gives an unprecedented amount of power to a single body.

Microsoft reacted furiously when the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) chose to block its acquisition of the video game giant Activision Blizzard.

"There's a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom," raged chief executive Brad Smith. The CMA has since re-opened negotiations with Microsoft.

This is especially damning because the EU is also introducing strict rules in the same vein - but it is collectively a much larger and therefore more valuable market.

In the UK, proposed amendments to the Investigatory Powers Act, which included tech firms getting Home Office approval for new security features before worldwide release, incensed Apple so much that it threatened to remove Facetime and iMessage from the UK if they go through.

Clearly the UK cannot, and should not, be held to ransom by US tech giants. But the services they provide are widely used by millions of people. And rightly or wrongly, there is no UK-based alternative to those services.

Against this backdrop, we have a self-proclaimed pro-tech prime minister, Rishi Sunak. He is trying to entice the lucrative artificial intelligence sector - also largely US-based - to set up camp in the UK. A handful of them - Palantir, OpenAI and Anthropic - have agreed to open London headquarters.

But in California's Silicon Valley, some say that the goodwill is souring.

"There is growing irritation here about the UK and EU trying to rein in Big Tech... that's seen as less about ethical behaviour and more about jealousy and tying down foreign competition," says tech veteran Michael Malone.

British entrepreneur Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of DeepMind, has chosen to locate his new company InflectionAI in California, rather than the UK.

It's a difficult line to tread. Big Tech hasn't exactly covered itself in glory with past behaviours - and lots of people feel regulation and accountability is long overdue.

Also, we shouldn't confuse "pro-innovation" with "pro-Big Tech" warns Professor Neil Lawrence, a Cambridge University academic who has previously acted as an advisor to the CMA.

"Pro-innovation regulation is about ensuring that there's space for smaller companies and start-ups to participate in emerging digital markets", he said.

Other experts are concerned that those writing the rules do not understand the rapidly-evolving technology they are trying to harness.

"There are some people in government who've got very deep [tech] knowledge, but just not enough of them," said economist Dame Diane Coyle.

"And so [all] this legislation has been going through Parliament in a manner that seems to technical experts, like some of my colleagues, not particularly well-informed, and putting at risk some of the services that people in this country value very highly."

If UK law-makers don't understand the tech, there are experts willing to advise.

But many of those feel ignored.

Professor Alan Woodward is a cyber-security expert at Surrey University whose has worked various posts at GCHQ, the UK's intelligence, security and cyber agency.

"So many of us have signed letters, given formal evidence to committees, directly offered to advise - either the government doesn't understand or doesn't want to listen," he said.

"Ignorance combined with arrogance is a dangerous mix."

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said that it had "worked hand-in-hand with industry and experts from around the world to develop changes to the tech sector", including during the development of the Online Safety Bill and the Digital Markets Bill.

From the end of August, TikTok users in 30 countries in the European Economic Area will be able to opt out of receiving personalised content recommendations, which are largely generated based on past activity. TikTok said it had no plans to make the same option available to users in the UK.

ARTWORK resembling the work of street artist Banksy has reportedly been spotted near the ruins of The Crooked House pub.

An eagle-eyed member of the public snapped the artwork which he said he discovered this afternoon on an electricity substation cabin in the car park near to where the landmark pub stood.

It appears to depicts the Prodigy’s Keith Flint whose most famous hit was Firestarter.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/vKwZC

The new owners of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire, which was burned down in a fire and subsequently demolished, have angered local people in a series of other redevelopment plans across the Midlands.

Planning documents reveal ATE Farms, which bought the Crooked House from Marston’s brewery in July, and its associated companies have attracted dozens of complaints over plans that include building a solar farm and holiday lodges in the countryside, and redeveloping a village pub.

In one complaint from a local person, Adam Taylor, the husband of Carly Taylor who controls ATE Farms, was accused of having a “wilfully dangerous and chaotic attitude” to managing the countryside.

The resident, who was objecting to ATE Farms’ plans to build a solar farm, office park, farm shop and 33 holiday lodges on a former quarry in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, said the nearby village of Dunton Bassett “was lucky to survive his carelessness”.

Adam Taylor, under another company, AT Contracting and Plant Hire, also received a number of objections when he submitted plans to develop the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in the village of Willey, Warwickshire.

He reportedly bought the pub in 2020 and “gutted” the interior before the council issued a stop notice. The pub was given “asset of community value” status in 2021 but this was overturned on appeal.

Taylor submitted an application to turn the first floor of the pub into accommodation and to build a property in the car park, while maintaining the bar area inside, and plans were eventually approved despite 20 initial objections from neighbours.

The planning agent Lance Wiggins, acting on behalf of Taylor, said the plans would make the pub “viable”, and if rejected the venue would have to go back on the market.

On Friday, the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, reiterated his call for the Crooked House to be rebuilt “brick by brick”, saying he remained “laser-focused on making that happen”.

“Whoever has targeted this beloved landmark in this way has messed with the wrong pub, the wrong community, and the wrong authorities,” he said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Staffordshire police said they were treating the fire at the pub, nine days after it was sold, as arson, and were speaking to the owners as part of their inquiries.

South Staffordshire council also said it was investigating potential planning breaches after the damaged pub was bulldozed two days after the fire without permission from authorities.

It has also emerged that the excavator used to bulldoze the building was brought on site a week before the fire, according to Construction News.

Marco Longhi, the Conservative MP for Dudley North, said on Friday he would be campaigning to “close the potential loophole” that allowed the building to be demolished while the investigation into the cause of the blaze was taking place.

“Staffordshire police have said they did not have the power to stop the owner of the Crooked House from demolishing the ruins following an arson. Agencies should be given the power to take the premises under their control while investigation is being carried out,” he said.

“The site should have been cordoned off for investigation and forensics the moment the police and fire service came to the site.”

ATE Farms and AT Contracting and Plant Hire have been contacted for comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/dOGVA

Ever since it burned down and was then demolished last week, there have been calls for the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire to be rebuilt from scratch.

Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, told the local council he wanted to see it “rebuilt brick by brick (using as much original material as possible)”, and a Facebook group calling for it to be rebuilt has attracted more than 10,000 members.

Historical pub buildings have been successfully rebuilt before – the Carlton Tavern pub in Maida Vale reopened in 2021 and was rebuilt brick by brick after being demolished without permission.

But while doing so is not impossible, it would be a “huge endeavour”, said Andrew Lovett, chief executive of the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM), an open-air museum made up of rebuilt historical buildings about four miles down the road from where the Crooked House once stood.

After dozens of calls for the BCLM museum to intervene and save the pub, Lovett issued a statement this week saying that unfortunately the organisation was not in a position to “save, let alone relocate, the building”.

“It’s a very complicated and costly endeavour and that’s one of the reasons we’re not in a position to just suddenly drop everything and go and get the Crooked House,” he said.

This week marked the start of the rebuild of Dudley’s Woodside Library on the BCLM site. The library has been painstakingly moved, brick by brick, from its original home.

“We have to number pretty much everything, from the rafter to the bricks, and take everything down one by one,” Lovett said. “The bricks get loaded in reverse order on to a pallet to help with the rebuild process at the other end. We don’t call it demolition, we call it dismantling, and the whole process took about six months.

“But Woodside was built in 1894 so you will get bricks and stonework that have deteriorated and are structurally no good. Sometimes, you can substitute a brick from an inner part of the building, or we have to get stonemasons to replicate things. Particularly if it’s sandstone, which is quite porous, it is susceptible to rain and frost and cracking, and inevitably you end up having to replace it, it’s unavoidable.”

Last year the BCLM opened the Elephant and Castle pub, a recreation of an Edwardian pub which was unexpectedly demolished in Wolverhampton in 2001 before it could be listed. They used photographs and archive material to recreate it as faithfully as possible, and asked local people to donate any old pub memorabilia, furniture or alcohol bottles they had.

“It was only possible really because we had architectural plans and photographs,” Lovett said. “We were also able to talk to the last landlords and families that lived there and say, ‘where was the bar, what did it look like?’ It takes a lot of effort but if you get it right, it can really trigger memories for people.”

He said one of the main challenges of recreating old buildings was making sure they complied with current building regulations.

“There’s quite a big staircase in the Elephant and Castle, a beautiful wood one, but it didn’t meet fire regulations so there has to be a metal one underneath,” he said. “And, ironically given the Crooked House, we have to spend a lot of money making the ground safe to build on since we’re in a former mining area.”

The BCLM has taken on such a challenge before, however, when it recreated Jerushah Cottage, also known as The Tilted Cottage, by building it on a foundation at a 10-degree angle. “It can be done, we just had to lay a foundation deliberately at that angle so that when the building was put up, it was 10 degrees off,” said Lovett.

“Some people think we’re bonkers the effort we go to get the tiniest details right when we rebuild. But it’s those things that trigger memories and we get very emotional responses from people when they see it. If you’re slapdash about it, using the wrong screws or brass fittings, then it just undermines the whole process.”

Archived version: https://archive.ph/tid79

Vital heritage will be be lost unless planning laws change to protect historic pubs, campaigners say.

An open letter to the government from the Campaign for Pubs has highlighted the "appalling" case of The Crooked House pub in the Black Country, gutted in a fire then demolished.

Anger over the incident must act as a "catalyst for change", said campaigners.

Mayor Andy Street said whoever did this messed with the wrong community.

He strengthened his call for the pub in Himley, near Dudley, to be rebuilt "brick by brick".

"Whoever has targeted this beloved landmark in this way has messed with the wrong pub, the wrong community, and the wrong authorities," the West Midlands Metro Mayor said.

Saturday night's fire is being treated as arson by Staffordshire Police.

The 18th Century building, famed for its sloping floors and walls, was bulldozed less than two days after the fire, prompting anger from residents and former customers.

"Many historic pubs up and down the country are being lost as owners seek to cash in on the development value of a pub, even despite the pub being profitable and even when there is a potential owner who wants to buy the pub, as a pub," said the campaign group, which aims to promote, protect and support pubs across the country.

"The government must act to prevent pubs being lost when there is a buyer as a pub as well as introducing far more serious penalties for unauthorised conversions and demolitions."

Marco Longhi, MP for Dudley North, said he would campaign to close a "potential loophole" which could prevent the destruction of property during a potential criminal investigation.

Police should have been able to take the premises under their control during the arson investigation, he said.

"The site should have been cordoned off for investigation and forensics the moment the police and fire service came to the site," he said.

"I will support any initiative to close this potential loophole which the police is relying on for The Crooked House case."

James Stevens of The Chapel House pub at nearby Gornal echoed the call for new legislation to protect public institutions.

"I can't think of a more fitting legacy for our place than to use its name to stop another community from being robbed of their Crooked House."

The Crooked House was sold by Marston's in July to ATE Farms, based in Bedworth, Warwickshire.

ATE Farms is run by a Carly Taylor, with George Adam Taylor, 44, a previous director. Mr Taylor was also previously a director of Himley Environmental Ltd, which owns the 15-hectare Oak Farm Quarry and Landfill site adjacent to the Crooked House and is registered to the same address as ATE Farms.

They have been approached for comment by the BBC.

Mr Taylor owns the Sarah Mansfield pub in Willey, Warwickshire, which is empty and up for sale after being internally gutted in 2021.

Through another of his companies, AT Contracting Ltd, Mr Taylor has had two planning applications approved to renovate the pub's first floor into letting bedrooms and to build either one or two dwellings in the car park.

One source, who did not want to be named, said the pub had previously been a thriving hub in the village, but had since become a "depressing eyesore".

"One day during lockdown, a load of guys turned up with skips and machines and literally gutted the pub," they said.

"When we mean gutted, we mean no wiring, no plumbing, it's just an empty shell.

"It's sad looking at it. It's a loss, every time we walk past it it saddens us more."

A planning application made by ATE Farms to convert former quarry land near Lutterworth, Leicestershire, into a solar farm and residential lodges attracted some objections from locals.

One complainant called the plans "a blot on the landscape" with another accusing the applicant of "considerable removal of existing hedgerow on the site".

On Thursday, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street met with the leader of South Staffordshire Council to discuss the incident.

The council is considering whether the demolition of the building was unlawful.

Mr Street said resolve had been hardened to recreate the pub after the meeting with the local authority, and encouraged members of the public to stay away from the site.

"We feel the sadness, anger, and frustration as much as anyone over what has happened to The Crooked House, but the last thing we want is for well-intentioned community action to inadvertently damage any positive future for the site," he added.

"The Crooked House will not be consigned to history on our watch."

The one year out of med school doc:

The speciality registrar:

This story could have been a lot clearer.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/2cTcF

An urgent meeting is to be held over the future of the site where the landmark "wonkiest pub" was gutted in a fire then demolished, says the mayor of the West Midlands.

The blaze - treated as suspicious by police - ripped through The Crooked House, near Dudley, on Saturday.

By Monday, the building renowned for its slanting appearance was rubble.

Andy Street said he would liaise with South Staffordshire Council over what would become of the site.

On social media he said it "makes your blood boil" to see the fire at the beloved 18th Century building treated as suspected arson.

While flames ravaged the property at the weekend, the familiar exterior was left largely standing until bulldozers brought down what remained, prompting anger from local residents and former customers.

South Staffordshire Council confirmed on Wednesday it had permitted only part of the building to be knocked down for safety reasons and was investigating whether total demolition was unlawful.

The pub was sold by brewery Marston's last month.

The BBC has attempted to contact new owners ATE Farms, based in Bedworth, Warwickshire - run by a Carly Taylor - for comment over the loss of its asset.

Additional records show an Adam Taylor listed as a shareholder of the landfill site next door.

The celebrated Black Country venue, a pub since the 1940s, was once known as the "wonkiest" in Britain, and drew its name from the effects of mining subsidence in the 19th Century.

The pub became lodged in the national consciousness when in 1974 the BBC programme Nationwide showcased the illusion of items "rolling uphill" inside the property.

Staffordshire Police said on Wednesday investigations were continuing. It added a specially trained dog, which could sniff out up to 10 different accelerants, was being used to inspect the rubble.

In a statement, the force said: "This fire has shocked and upset so many given the, albeit not listed, cultural importance and heritage of the building.

"This is not lost on us and a robust investigation using all available information and forensic opportunities is being carried out."

Historic England said it received a request to list the building, which would have given it greater legal protection, just days before the fire.

Up to 30 firefighters were called to the Himley area on Saturday evening after the building was spotted alight, however crews reported being hampered by mounds of soil preventing access to a lane leading to the site.

Mr Street has previously called for the pub to be rebuilt "brick by brick". The leader of Dudley Council said that would be "nigh on impossible".

"There is very little left of the original bricks that they could use, after what's happened in the last couple of days," said Patrick Harley.

Alex Claridge, the West Midlands night time economy adviser, said the loss of the pub was being felt by many.

"It's astonishing really just to feel the breadth of comment made, and from how far away," he said.

"We've got well-wishers coming from Australia, the other side of the world, sharing memories. It's bitter-sweet really seeing the level of affection it's roused."

Local politicians Sir Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, and Jane Stevenson, MP for Wolverhampton North East, have called for a full inquiry.

Dudley MP Marco Longhi said on Wednesday he had written to police to seek clarity over the demolition process, adding that a lack of information from authorities had "raised animosity" among the community.

Wilko, the High Street homeware retailer, has collapsed into administration, putting 12,000 jobs at risk.

The chain has been unable to find emergency investment to save its 400 shops across the UK.

Wilko had been working to find a rescuer for the business which has been trading since 1930.

The firm's boss, Mark Jackson, said management had "left no stone unturned" in its attempts to save the company.

"But we must concede that with regret, we've no choice but to take the difficult decision to enter into administration," he said.

If a firm fails to buy any of the shops or parts of the business out of administration, Wilko risks becoming the biggest High Street casualty this year.

Administrators are expected to be appointed later on Thursday. It is understood that the business will continue to trade as normal for now.

The GMB union said the collapse was "entirely avoidable".

National officer Nadine Houghton said: "GMB has been told time and time again how warnings were made that Wilko was in a prime position to capitalise on the growing bargain retailer market, but simply failed to grasp this opportunity."

Although the business has been struggling for some time, the depths of its problems emerged last week when it announced its intention to appoint administrators.

This gave Wilko 10 days to secure a rescue. However, it was unable to strike a deal within that timeframe.

Mr Jackson said Wilko had received a "significant level of interest" which he said included "indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business".

But he said: "Without the surety of being able to complete the deal within the necessary time frame and given the cash position, we've been left with no choice but to take this unfortunate action."

Wilko has been struggling with sharp losses and a cash shortage.

The company already borrowed £40m from Hilco, the restructuring specialist. It has previously cut jobs, changed its leadership team and sold off a distribution centre.

Many of Wilko's stores are in High Street locations in traditional town centres, which became an expensive liability as customers shifted to bigger retail parks and out-of-town locations.

The company has also faced strong competition from rivals such as B&M and The Range as the high cost of living has pushed shoppers to seek out bargains.

Retail analyst Catherine Shuttleworth said the collapse was "sadly inevitable", adding: "It's a sad day for the High Street as some of the stores have been a key part of local communities for over 50 years."

She said that Wilko had failed to adapt the retailer for the future.

"A lack of investment in systems lacking the sophistication to support a business with shops both on High Streets and out of town retail parks combined with a large estate of over 400 stores has meant that significant investments have been needed over the last 10 years and these have simply not been made," said Ms Shuttleworth.

Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics, a consultancy, said a combination of rising costs, lower customer demand and fierce competition ultimately pushed Wilko to "breaking point".

"Against the backdrop of seismic shifts in consumer behaviour and the intense pressure on margins, the business was too slow to react to these mounting challenges and paid the ultimate price," he said.

The company, founded in Leicester, is still owned by the Wilkinson family.

After the collapse of Woolworths in 2008, Wilko stepped up to fill the gaps left on High Streets.

Wilko began home deliveries in the 1940s, and stayed open throughout World War Two, helping residents keep their air raid shelters stocked.

On Wednesday, it announced that it had suspended home deliveries.

Airbnb owner claims holiday makers running cables out the window is theft if electricity.

Police have arrested nine people and issued dozens of dispersal orders after shoppers were locked inside stores on London’s Oxford Street following warnings of a robbery campaign organised on social media.

Hundreds of teenagers gathered outside JD Sports on the capital’s busiest shopping street in an apparent response to widely shared posts on Snapchat and TikTok urging users to take part in an “Oxford Circus JD robbery” at 3pm.

Just after 3pm, two young men were seized by police who were guarding the area in anticipation of trouble. Both men were detained outside a McDonald’s, three doors east of JD Sports. One of the young men, wearing a green hoodie, was detained by four officers. The other in a grey tracksuit was held by three officers.

The incident prompted twitchy security guards at a number of nearby stores, who were on alert for a possible shoplifting spree, to lock their customers inside their stores for several minutes. They included Muji, an opticians, and Boots, which lowered its storefront metal shutters.

Four police officers on horseback briefly struggled to maintain order as onlookers crowded the scene to video the incident on their phones. Traffic on Oxford Street was temporarily held up, as private security personnel urged the crowds to move on.

Minutes later police chased another group of young men suspected of shoplifting, prompting another surge in young people keen to capture the scene on their phones. One man was searched by three officers as he lay on the pavement.

Puzzled older shoppers asked police officers what was going on. They were told it was a police operation to stop shoplifters. An officer was overheard saying the young men were released without charge after being searched.

Just after 8pm, the Metropolitan police said it issued 34 dispersal orders and arrested nine people. A statement read: “Four people were arrested on suspicion of breaching the dispersal order, one person was arrested on suspicion of going equipped to steal, one person arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, and one person was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.

“Earlier in the afternoon, officers arrested two people in Essex for conspiracy to commit robbery following online social media posts.”

Earlier, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, urged people not to take part. He said: “I am worried about this nonsense we have seen on TikTok encouraging people to go to Oxford Street.”

I’d encourage anybody who’s seen it not to go to Oxford Street. Do not allow yourself to be sucked into an area that could be a high-crime area.”

Police in Westminster had warned there would be heavy police presence in the area. In a Twitter post they said: “We are aware of online speculation about opportunities to commit crime around Oxford Street. There will be a significant number of our officers in the area over the next 24 hours.”

Some of those who had gathered said they were there out of curiosity. Harry, 14, from Islington, said: “I’m not here to steal anything, I’ve been raised better than that.”

Pointing to his phone he added: “I just want to record it.” He said he had heard about the event on Snapchat.

CJ, 16, from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, said: “We’re not here to steal stuff – there’s loads of famous people making videos. We just saw loads of police and want to see what it’s about.”

Before 3pm some of the boys who gathered outside JD Sports were questioned by the police about why they were there. They gave vague answers.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/opd7m

A senior UK cabinet minister has signalled the government may be prepared to leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) if it will help the UK tackle the problem of migrants arriving on small boats crossing the Channel.

Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said the government would do “whatever is required”, even if that meant pulling out of the ECHR, the 70-year-old pan-European treaty that protects human rights and political freedoms in the continent.

His comments are an escalation of the government’s previous statements that leaving the ECHR was not an immediate step it was going to take. It has insisted it can deliver on Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” within the convention.

However, ahead of an election, the Conservatives could dial up their rhetoric against the ECHR in order to create a dividing line with Labour.

The government’s plan to send some migrants to Rwanda for processing of their asylum claims is still facing a supreme court battle. The first flight was stopped at the 11th hour in June last year after an appeal to the European court of human rights, which ensures the rights enshrined in the convention are upheld by its 47 signatory countries. It is separate to the EU, which the UK voted to leave in 2016.

Ahead of that, there are already calls from some within the Conservatives to withdraw from the ECHR. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, who is also a lawyer, has previously expressed a view that the UK should leave.

On Times Radio, Jenrick would not rule out withdrawal from the convention, saying the government would do “whatever is necessary”.

“You can see from the prime minister, the home secretary and myself, our total commitment to this challenge,” he said.

“That’s why we’re working on every possible front. That’s why we have produced the most comprehensive plan, I believe, of any European country to tackle this issue.

“And we’ll do whatever is necessary, ultimately, to defend our borders and to bring order to our asylum system.”

Pressed directly on whether that could include leaving the ECHR, he said: “We will do whatever is required, take whatever necessary action is needed.”

Jenrick gave his assessment as he announced the government had struck a deal with Turkey to focus on coordinated actions to “disrupt and dismantle” people-smuggling gangs.

On Tuesday night, the government announced the establishment of an operational “centre of excellence” by the Turkish national police and supported by the UK. The centre would aim to strengthen collaboration between the National Crime Agency and Home Office intelligence staff based in Turkey and their Turkish counterparts, the British government said.