The Guardian - 31.08.2019

Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •

In brief^59

There was a backlash against Boris

Johnson after he obtained the

Queen’s agreement to suspend

parliament, giving MPs less of a

chance to avert a no-deal Brexit.

Parliament will still resume next

Tuesday – but only to sit for little

more than a week before breaking

until 14 October.

Issue of

the week

Boris Johnson prorogues

parliament

Owen Jones, in

the Guardian

Polly Toynbee,

in the Guardian

Iain Martin, in

the Times

“Call the suspension of parliament

what it is: a coup d’état by an

unelected prime minister. Brexit, we

were promised, was about restoring

the sovereignty of the House of

Commons and taking back control

of our laws. That institution is now

to be shut down, its ability to pass

legislation neutered ...

“Let us nail this perverse lie that

forcing through no deal is honouring

the referendum result. The offi cial

leave campaigns made it abundantly

clear that Brexit would mean a deal,

and an easily negotiated one too.”

“This country that self-identifi ed

so smugly as stable, tolerant

and moderate, with a crown

to symbolise traditions honed

down the centuries, is revealed

as fi ssile, fragile and ferociously

divided. A constitution that relied

on gentlemanly governments’

willingness to bow to parliament

has evaporated, blown away now

it’s led by a man who doesn’t give a

damn for parliamentary sovereignty:

taking back control is for him alone.

He is ready to destroy anything that

threatens his ambition.

“MPs will try to stop him

proroguing them. Astonishingly,

this unelected prime minister has

so far only spent one day in the

Commons under their scrutiny, and

now ... he will face them for just one

week before banishing them for an

unprecedented further fi ve weeks.”

“... the prime minister has quite

legitimately stretched the British

constitution on the entirely

reasonable basis that his remainer

opponents have just this week sworn

to do whatever they deem necessary

to stop Brexit. Quite rightly, he’s

fi ghting back to get Brexit done.

“It is a measure of how spoilt

those opposition party leaders and

Tory remain rebels were by the

weakness of the May era ... that they

seemed stunned on Wednesday

when news broke of the prorogation.

Boris is – oh the shock! – prepared

expertly to play politics back.”

Environment

Holiday heat headlines not

focusing on climate crisis

Health

Optimism may hold secret

to longer life, says study

Food and drink

Vegan takeaway orders

rise fi vefold in two years

Football

Bury expelled from league

games after 125 years

Environment

Bolsonaro and Macron in spat as

Amazon fi res continue to rage

Tensions rose between France and Brazil after

President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that

the fi res burning in the Amazon amounted to

an international crisis and should be made a

top priority at the G7 summit. Jair Bolsonaro,

the Brazilian president, reacted by accusing

Macron of having a “colonialist mentality”.

After rejecting a $20m (£16m) G7

contribution to fi ght the fi res Brazil said it was

ready to accept foreign aid, but only if it could

determine how it was spent.

Brazil’s leader said he had been cheered by an

earlier tweet in which the US president, Donald

Trump, said Bolsonaro was “working very hard

on the Amazon fi res and in all respects doing a

great job for the people of Brazil”.

Jaunty stories about record bank

holiday temperatures have glossed

over the reality of the climate crisis,

experts say. The latest record was

the 33.2C (91.8F) at Heathrow this

week – fi ve degrees higher than the

hottest temperature previously

registered in Britain on an August

bank holiday Monday.

The Met Offi ce says the worrying

long-term trend is clear, but not

always easy to balance with the

short-term focus on pleasantly

unusual warmth. Other experts said

the Met Offi ce and the BBC should be

proactive about linking the weather

with the climate.

“At the moment, the Met Offi ce

seems to be afraid to talk about

climate change,” said Bob Ward of

the Grantham Research Institute on

climate change and the environment

at the London School of Economics.

New research suggests that

optimists not only live longer in

general, but also have a better

chance of reaching 85 or older.

It is not the fi rst time optimism

has been linked to health benefi ts.

People of an upbeat disposition

have previously been found to have

a lower risk of heart conditions and

premature death. Researchers now

say it could also play a role in living

a long life.

Analysis of two previous long-

term research projects, one involving

female nurses and the other focused

on a cohort of men show the most

optimistic women had a lifespan

almost 15% longer than the least.

Most of the participants in the

study were white, and few had low

socioeconomic status – meaning

more research is needed to see if the

fi ndings hold in other groups.

Vegan meals are now the UK’s fastest

growing takeaway choice, with orders

rising almost fi vefold in two years.

With 600,000 people believed to

be vegan in the UK in 2018, and an

increase in “fl exitarians” choosing to

reduce their consumption of animal

products, orders of vegan takeaways

grew 388% between 2016 and 2018,

while vegetarian orders rose 137%,

according to research by the British

Takeaway Campaign.

Deliveroo said that in the past

12 months the number of vegan

restaurants on its app had increased

by 168%. Pakistani, Greek, Persian

and Turkish takeaways have grown

in popularity more rapidly than the

nation’s favourites – Chinese and

Indian – over the past two years.

Bury have been expelled from the

English Football League after 125

years of continued membership

after the EFL board fi nally ran out of

patience with its fi nancial collapse

and owner, Steve Dale. He had been

given a deadline of 5pm on Tuesday,

after a series of previous deadlines

were not met, either to provide

proof he ha d suffi cient money to

fi nance the club and its debts or to

conclude a sale.

Bury’s name will be removed from

League One and the Football League

for the fi rst time since the club joined

the old Second Division in 1894.

League One will be played between

23 clubs. Three clubs will be relegated

at the end of the season and four

promoted from League Two.

▲ A fi refi ghter in Mato Grosso state, Brazil PHOTOGRAPH: MAYKE TOSCANO/AFP/GETTY

The average number of people the RNLI went to

help each day last year, with 8,964 launches, up

from 8,436 in 2017. But the charity faces an annual

loss of £6m as donations have dropped

The proportion of 14-year-olds who meet the

recommended guidelines for exercise (one

hour a day), screen time (two hours) and sleep

(at least eight hours)

269.7%

RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws