Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 6 September 2023

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1. Benefits revamp is ‘cynical’
2. Proud Boys chief gets 22 years
3. Keegan lashes out on schools
4. Heat warnings escalated
5. UK to declare Wagner a terrorist organisation
6. Court hears ‘satanic abuse’ claims
7. Saturday mail deliveries in doubt
8. Labour claims Keegan ‘conflict of interest’
9. Diana’s brother denies BBC collusion
10. Swamped Venice to charge entry fee

published 6 September 2023

1. Benefits revamp is ‘cynical’

People with mobility and mental health problems will be told to look for work they can do from home under plans to slash the benefits bill. Ministers argued that a “huge shift” towards working from home will allow those who struggle to leave the house for physical or emotional reasons to “fulfil their potential” by finding work, The Times reported. However, disability charities called the changes “a cynical attempt to reduce benefit payments”.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has been jailed for 22 years for helping plan the 6 January Capitol riots. Along with three other members, Tarrio was convicted of the rare charge of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors said was an attempt to overthrow democracy. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and orange slip-on sneakers, he “leaned against a lectern at the front of the crowded courtroom”, said CNN, and “hung his head” as he was sentenced.

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Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has told school chiefs to “get off their backsides” to help fix the crumbling concrete crisis. For a second day running, Keegan was involved in an “extraordinary row” over the scandal as the government “doubled down” on its handling of the issue, said The Independent. The cost of fixing the school buildings crisis in England is “approaching £150m”, said The Guardian, and could rise further.

Heat-health alerts have been upgraded following warnings that temperatures could reach as high as 32C (89.6F). Amber warnings, which mean people of all ages could be affected, putting the NHS at risk, are now in place in eight of England’s nine regions until Sunday. The North East has a yellow warning, which means that the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions should take extra care. Average temperatures are expected by the middle of next week.

Wagner, the Russian mercenary group, will be declared a terrorist organisation, said the Home Office. A draft proscription order will be laid in parliament today, making it illegal to be a member of, or support, the Russian group in the UK. Home Secretary Suella Braverman described Wagner as “violent and destructive” and a “military tool” of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The BBC said Wagner played a “key role” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as operating in Syria and countries in Africa including Libya and Mali.

A Glasgow court has heard that children were forced to take part in witchcraft and seances, and were sexually assaulted while members of a satanic child abuse ring watched. Eleven people are accused of a series of offences, with a number facing rape and sexual assault charges, while five are accused of attempted murder. One girl was pursued by people wearing devil masks, hung by her clothing from a nail on the wall, and shut in an oven, the court heard. The defendants, who are also accused of abusing dogs, deny all the charges.

Royal Mail wants to scrap Saturday letter deliveries after the regulator promised to review the postal service’s six-day week. Highlighting a 46% drop in the number of letters sent and received over the past decade, Ofcom said the last few years have “demonstrated the importance of postal services”, but the way people use them is “changing” and “we expect these trends to continue”. Meanwhile, Royal Mail said it will raise the price of a first class stamp by 15p to £1.25 from October, meaning a book of eight stamps will cost £10 for the first time.

Labour said that Gillian Keegan must answer questions over a £1 million schools IT contract given to a firm where her husband is a non-executive director. The Mirror reported that the deal with Centerprise was paid for from the same pot of cash set aside to rebuild classrooms at risk of collapse because they contain potentially deadly concrete. “This appears to be a conflict of interest” and “eyebrows will be raised”, said Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. The Department for Education said “ministers had no involvement in the procurement process for these contracts”.

Earl Spencer has denied conspiring with Martin Bashir to persuade his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, to be interviewed on the BBC’s “Panorama” programme. Testifying to an information rights tribunal, which is deciding whether internal BBC documents relating to Bashir’s conduct should be released under the Freedom of Information Act, Spencer was asked whether he had conspired with the journalist. He replied: “No, I did not.” Spencer wants the broadcaster’s internal documents to be released in order to prove that he did not collude with Bashir.

The Italian city of Venice is planning to charge an entry fee for people to visit, The Times reported. Starting next year, the “lagoon city” will make day-trippers cough up €5 to visit on 30 of the busiest days in the year to curb the crowds that are “making life unbearable for residents”, said the paper. The move comes weeks after Unesco recommended Venice be added to its list of world heritage sites in danger, in part due to the impact of mass tourism.

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