Life moves pretty fast - if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. - Ferris Bueller
Here's what happened in the world this week.
Headlines across the world have been dominated by a massive explosion at a port warehouse in Beirut this week. As the video above shows, an initial fire thought to be caused as a result of repair work set off fireworks, before the blaze reached some 2,750 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, seized from a ship six years ago. Protesters have since gathered at Government buildings demanding regime change, and many experts have questioned how such a large quantity of explosive material was allowed to be kept in a largely residential area, despite the issue being raised by workers on numerous occasions.
The Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, who have significant influence in Lebanese politics, have been at the centre of protests - people have been seen carrying images of leader Hasan Nasrallah with a noose around his neck. Many feel the group is at least partly responsible for the explosion, as it is widely believed that they use the port to smuggle arms and other illegal items into and out of Lebanon. Needless to say, there is plenty more to be uncovered about the ammonium nitrate which caused such a devastating explosion.
Back at home in the UK, as temperatures soared above 30°C, Boris Johnson will be feeling particularly hot and bothered as spikes in coronavirus cases continue across the UK. New lockdowns have been introduced in Aberdeen and Preston just this week, and it seems inevitable that more will follow soon, particularly if the hot weather continues.
The global situation does not look much better, with the US and Brazil being hit particularly hard due to inaction from their leaders, and many other countries are seeing increases in cases, including in Europe.
Johnson will also be sweating this week after another Tory MP was arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. Former MP Charlie Elphicke was convicted of sexual assault only last week, after he had the whip suspended two years ago following his arrest. Chief Whip Mark Spencer has, however, refused to suspend or even name the newly accused MP, sparking outrage at the decision. Word on the street is that the MP, who is a former minister in his fifties, is Mark Francois, though this is as yet unconfirmed.
Even more worryingly, it has been alleged that the Chief Whip and the Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg 'sat on' the rape allegation for a month before involving the police. It is evident that a thorough investigation of sexual misconduct in the Conservative Party is badly needed, though this is unlikely to ever occur given their behaviour in this case.
Even more bad news for the Government this week as a corruption scandal broke involving Andrew Mills, an adviser to Secretary of International Trade Liz Truss.
It went something like this - Mills, significantly, is also a senior board adviser to a company called Ayanda Capital, who specialise in currency exchange and private equity (NOT PPE production). In 2019, Mills and his wife set up a shell company called Prospermill Limited, which has, according to Companies House, no accounts and no employees. Somehow, according to the Government, this company had "secured exclusive rights to the full production capacity of a large factory in China", so, and were thus awarded a £252 million contract to produce masks for NHS England.The payment for these, however, was requested to be paid to Ayanda, not Prospermill, by Mills, due to Prospermills lack of accounting infrastructure. And what's more, 50 million of the masks purchased in this deal are unusable to the NHS. So, to summarise, the Government gave money to a company with no industry experience or expertise, which just happens to employ one of their own, to produce masks which don't even work - or, as it's better known, corruption.
The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor are suing the Government for this case of corrupt practice, as well as for many other illegal contracts involving PPE (https://goodlawproject.org/case/ppe-urgent-inquiry/).
In better news, following talks between Donald Trump and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the tech giant is now in discussions to buy TikTok from Chinese giant ByteDance. If the deal goes through, Trump won't ban the app in the US, and we can all go on scrolling through hours of endlessly mind-numbing American content. #BritishTikTokIsSuperior
In EVEN better news, the BBC announced this week that legendary CBBC drama Tracy Beaker will return to our screens featuring original actor Dani Harmer herself. The show, entitled "My Mum Tracy Beaker", will show Tracy as a single mum to 12-year-old Jess. It is sure to be filled with nostalgic moments, particularly timeless insult "Bog off!" - though I personally am praying for a cameo from Dumping Ground hero Mike.
Finally, then, as A level results are revealed next week, statistics were published this week suggesting that almost 40% of grades in England have been downgraded from those given by teachers in May. The downgrading will affect mainly those bordering between B, C and D grades, as well as those who attended comprehensive schools, as these schools tend to have more varied outcomes. After the shitshow of Scottish Highers results, many fear that the fallout in England will be even worse. Don't be surprised when 'Fuck Ofqual' and 'This is bullshit' are trending on Twitter at 9am on Thursday.
👏👏 but now bricking it about results thanks :)