LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that people should focus less on symbols and more on the substance of racism, adding that he saw no reason for any ban on the rugby song “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
The Rugby Football Union is reviewing the use of the song as it was believed to have been written in the 19th Century by a black slave.
“Frankly I think what people need to do is focus less on the symbols of discrimination ... all these issues that people are now raising to do with statues and songs and so on — I can see why they’re very emotive, I understand that,” Johnson told Sky.
“But what I want to focus on is the substance of the issue.”
Asked about the Swing Low, Sweet Chariot song, he said: “I certainly don’t think there should be any sort of prohibition on singing that.”
He added that he was curious about why so few people knew all of the words of the song.
UK PM Johnson says on racism: Focus on substance rather than symbols
https://arab.news/rtqtp
UK PM Johnson says on racism: Focus on substance rather than symbols
UK defense minister suggests Putin’s ‘hidden hand’ behind Iran tactics
LONDON: UK Defense Minister John Healey suggested on Thursday that Russia was influencing Iran’s use of drone attacks in its war with the United States and Israel.
Healey said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” may be behind some of the tactics deployed by Tehran in the Middle East conflict, which started when the United States and Israel struck Iran on February 28.
He told reporters that officials were analyzing an Iranian-made drone that hit the UK’s Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus on March 1 “for any evidence of Russian or any other foreign components and parts.”
“We will update you and appropriately publish any findings from that when we’ve got them,” he said during a visit to Britain’s military headquarters in Northwood, near London.
“But I think no one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics, potentially some of their capabilities as well, not least because one world leader that is benefiting from the sky high oil prices at the moment is Putin,” he added.
Russia is a close ally of Iran, with the two agreeing last year to help each other counter “common threats.”
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he had no indication Russia was supporting Iran in the war, but that if they were, it was not “helping much.”
Nick Perry, the British military’s chief of joint operations, told Healey there were “definitively” signs of a link between Russia and Iran, including Iran’s use of drones “as learned from the Russians.”
No one was injured when the drone hit a hangar at Akrotiri. British warplanes shot down a further two drones heading for the base the same day.
Guy Foden, a brigadier in the British army, briefed Healey that UK troops based at a military base housing international coalition troops in Irbil, Iraq, had helped shoot down two Iranian drones on Wednesday.
