Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 15 December 2022

1. Public backs striking nurses

Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are to go on strike today. Staff will continue to provide “life-preserving” and some urgent care but routine surgery and other planned treatment is likely to be disrupted. “Fed-up staff who were applauded and hailed as heroes by the government during the pandemic” will now be “heading to picket lines in protest at No10’s refusal to even discuss their paltry pay rise offer”, said The Mirror. The government said the union’s 19% pay rise demand was unaffordable but an Ipsos poll found 52% support the strikes with only 27% against.

Why nurses are taking historic strike action

2. Bank set to raise rates again

Interest rates are expected to be increased again today following the latest meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. The benchmark rate stands at 3% and is widely forecast to go up to 3.5%. The rate of inflation eased to 10.7% from 11.1% last month, according to official figures. Across the pond, the US Federal Reserve has slowed its previously aggressive interest rate rises but signalled more increases are on the cards for next year.

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What is inflation and why is it so high?

3. DeSantis leads Trump

Ron DeSantis is in the lead among Republican primary voters in the race for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, according to new surveys. A USA Today-Suffolk University poll of Republican voters showed DeSantis leading by 23 points, while a Wall Street Journal poll found DeSantis ahead of Trump by 14 points among Republicans. The Telegraph said Trump’s support “appeared to have fallen” after several candidates he backed for the Senate and state governorships were defeated in last month’s midterm elections.

The top five potential Republican candidates for 2024

4. Johnson now earns millions

Boris Johnson has earned more than £1m since leaving No 10, new figures have revealed. The parliamentary register of financial interests revealed the former prime minister made the sum with just four speaking engagements. Johnson earned almost £31,000 an hour from speaking jobs. He also accepted more than £40,000 in free accommodation from Tory donor Lord Bamford and his wife after moving out of Downing Street and Chequers in September.

What could Boris Johnson do now?

5. Army chief warns of ‘dangerous time’

The world is going through an “extraordinarily dangerous time”, the head of Britain’s armed forces has warned. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has seen “naked aggression and territorial expansion” along with “extraordinary vilification and hatred, ethnic scourges, sub-human labelling and war crimes including summary executions”. Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute, he also warned that “nuclear North Korea” is “pouring bile and anger on its neighbour and mixing rhetoric with over 60 ballistic missile launches this year”.

Are we on the brink of World War Three?

6. Hanks on Pelosi attacker’s hitlist

The actor Tom Hanks was on the hitlist of the man accused of a hammer attack on the husband of House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a court has heard. According to a police officer who interviewed David DePape, Joe Biden’s son Hunter and California Governor Gavin Newsom were also in the suspect’s sights. DePape is facing six charges, including attempted murder, for the October incident. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Is violence against politicians getting worse?

7. Report finds police rape failures

A long-awaited report into how police forces handle rape has uncovered a failure to track repeat suspects, “explicit victim-blaming” and failed investigations. The independent report also “paints a picture of a over-worked, traumatised and inexperienced” police workforce in England and Wales, which is “struggling to cope with an increase in rape reports after years of austerity”, said The Guardian. Labour’s shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said that after 12 years under the Conservatives rape has “effectively been decriminalised”.

8. El Salvador jails thousands

El Salvador has put an estimated 2% of the country’s adult population – roughly 100,000 people – behind bars as part of its war on gangs. President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown has put the nation in a prolonged state of emergency with important constitutional rights, like due process and freedom of association, relaxed. This mano dura, or “iron fist”, anti-gang policy “appears to be working”, said CNN, with homicide rates falling in the country.

9. Man executed for 2000 attack

A man has been executed in the US for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl more than two decades ago. Thomas Edwin Loden Jr, who received a lethal injection, had been on death row since 2001 after he pleaded guilty to murder, rape and four counts of sexual battery against Leesa Marie Gray, who he attacked when she was stranded with a flat tyre. He spent four hours sexually assaulting her before strangling and suffocating her. He then carved “I’m sorry” into her chest.

10. Cambridge returns Benin artefacts

The University of Cambridge will return looted Benin bronzes to Nigeria. The artefacts were taken by British armed forces during the sacking of Benin City in 1897. A spokesman said some artefacts would remain in Cambridge “on extended loan” to ensure “this west African civilisation continues to be represented in the museum’s displays, and in teaching for school groups”. The university said the 1897 attack was “mounted by Britain in response to a violent trade dispute”.