Police are failing to solve crimes committed against elderly people and letting perpetrators walk free, watchdogs have warned. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate found that care for older victims was not good enough in more than half of cases examined. In one case, a man pushed off his mobility scooter by masked youths was not visited for a day by police officers, despite being left “shaking, fearful and scared to go out at night”. In another, a woman with Parkinson’s disease alleged that she had been attacked by nursing home staff but the defendant was acquitted at trial after police failed to film her victim statement or give her an intermediary to help giving evidence. Officers also failed to take a statement from a 70-year-old woman with learning difficulties who had money stolen after asking an acquaintance for help with her finances and giving them her bank details. No-one was arrested. Another case was closed because an 83-year-old man ...

The UK is forecast to lose £22bn in spending as international tourism plummets, putting almost 3m jobs at risk, according to a report. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said the continuing uncertainty around travel restrictions designed to halt a resurgence in coronavirus cases is causing millions of people to opt for staycations in their home countries instead. An impact assessment on the UK economy by the organisation estimates the fall in international tourist numbers could result in the amount spent dropping by 78%, or £420m a week. In a “worst-case” scenario mapped out by the WTTC, almost 3m jobs in the UK that rely on, or are supported by, the travel and tourism industry could be lost. “The lack of international travel caused by the pandemic could wipe out more than £22bn from the UK economy alone, a loss of £60m a day, from which it could take years to recover,” said Gloria Guevara, the president and chief executive of the WTTC. “It could also threaten London’s positio...

For asylum seekers, trying to find work in another country is very difficult. Not only is there often a language barrier and reams of paperwork, but there is also the fact that government systems can encourage exploitation. Asylum seekers in the UK receive £37.75 a week to live on, and most are prohibited from working. But this small amount of money often fails to allow people to meet their basic needs. This leads some to search for work to supplement their income. But herein lies the problem, as the only people willing to employ them are those happy to do so illegally. This leaves asylum seekers with no bargaining power to negotiate reasonable pay or working conditions. Yet the risk of exploitation does not end with a positive asylum decision. Refugees are often dispersed out of London and the south-east to other areas in the UK. The areas of dispersal are determined by the availability of temporary housing. In many cases, this is concentrated around areas of economic deprivation. Thi...

An important document in the case against fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya has gone missing from the files of the Supreme Court. Due to missing of the document, the Supreme Court on Thursday fixed August 20 as the next date for hearing on the petition filed by Vijay Mallya. Vijay Mallya has sought review of the Supreme Court’s 2017 order holding him guilty of contempt of court for not paying Rs 9,000 crore dues to banks despite repeated directions while he transferred US$40 million to his children. The case came up for hearing through video-conferencing before a bench comprising Justices U U Lalit and Ashok Bhushan, say media reports. However, the bench of the court adjourned the hearing as one of the documents in the cases was not available on record. The Supreme Court, on June 19, sought an explanation from its registry regarding Mallya’s appeal against the May 2017 order. Mallya lost his appeal in the UK top court on May 14 against his extradition to India. Howev...

A survey we conducted in London found that 20 percent of people have been personally affected, so it's strange the government is still dragging its feet. In 2012, Permila Tirkey – a member of India's lowest caste – was awarded £266,000 at an employment tribunal after being treated like a slave by a higher-caste couple. She had been paid 11p per hour and worked 18-hour days, seven days a week, performing menial household tasks. She was made to sleep on a mattress on the floor and wasn't allowed to contact her family. All of this took place not in Delhi or Mumbai, where India's caste structure ranks sections of society by the social class they were born into, but at a house in Milton Keynes. Tirkey's was the first case of caste discrimination to reach a courtroom in the UK, but according to British charity Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance  (ACDA) her situation is representative of a much larger pro...

India's caste system is thought to be among the world's oldest surviving forms of social stratification. However, some British Asians say they still experience discrimination due to their caste. So, why are so many Hindu bodies in the UK opposed to this being made illegal? Sudesh Rani was shopping in the Home Counties two years ago when she experienced such discrimination first hand. The 42-year-old from Bedford identifies herself as Ravidassia - a group regarded by some as at the lower end of the caste system. She says she was in a supermarket when two women began verbally abusing her. "They started calling me a low caste chamar (a derogatory term used to describe an individual belonging to a low caste), a dirty bitch. "At that time, I got a bit frightened, I thought 'no, no this can't be happening.'" She said the women, who had seen her at a wedding previously, followed her and her nine-year-old son to her car. "There were two of them and one o...

It’s starkly evident that major ethnic and racial inequalities persist in employment, housing and the justice system. Black and Muslim minorities have twice the unemployment rate of their white British peers and are twice as likely to live in overcrowded housing. They are also much more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. We could also add to the list the alarming ethnic differences in deaths from COVID-19. The government’s pioneering ethnicity facts and figures website brings together in a single accessible format the hard evidence on ethnic disparities collected by government departments. It is a world-first, established in 2016 by former prime minister Theresa May, who pledged to tackle “burning injustices”. Critics could plausibly argue that disparities of the kind demonstrated by the website do not, in themselves, prove that racism and discrimination are the driving forces behind the inequalities. But, when combined with other direct evidence, it’s hard ...

UNITED KINGDOM  Counter-terrorism laws continued to restrict rights. Full accountability for torture allegations against UK intelligence agencies and armed forces remained unrealized. Northern Ireland made significant progress on abortion and same sex marriage. Legal, constitutional or institutional developments The second draft Political Declaration on the future relationship between the UK and EU, published in October 2019, included less robust assurances around membership of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) than the first version. The Government confirmed that it intends to derogate from the ECHR before significant future military operations where deemed appropriate. The Scottish government built on its commitment to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, promising to bring forward legislation to incorporate UN treaties into Scots Law. Counter-terrorism and security The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 created new criminal offences ...

Exploring the mixed legacy of colonialism within the British Indian community, Ashna Ahmad discusses colourism, social mobility and the myth of a ‘model minority’ My mother and grandmother arrived in the UK having fled persecution in newly independent Kenya, where our family had been sent along with millions of other Indians under the British Empire. They had nothing. My mum tells me stories of her childhood: the fear she felt watching National Front marches pass her house, the tears and uncertainty when my grandmother had run out of money, the hurt from being called “Wog” or “Paki” in the street or at school. A generation later, I sit in my North London suburban house writing this article, having just finished my first year at Cambridge. As the story goes, the upward social mobility of British Indians such as my family is a perfect example of ‘bootstrapping.’ This is the idea that marginalised groups can become more prosperous on the basis of individual merit and hard work, subsequen...