Nazanin and Anoosheh: pray for healing
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori are now united with their families in the UK after years of detention in the notorious Evin Prison, which has a reputation for torture and abusing human rights. Over the years, Iranian converts to Christianity have been detained there as well as Iran’s political dissidents and critics of the government. In 2021 a medical assessment by a human rights charity found Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from her treatment in Evin. The foreign secretary said, ‘Nazanin is held unlawfully, and it amounts to torture the way she's being treated.’ While in Evin Nazanin has suffered deep depression, hair loss, and sickness. Torture is internationally prohibited. Anoosheh Ashoori said, ‘Like Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, I was locked in Evin jail. My struggle was trying to stay sane. We are continuously fighting against cockroaches, rats and bed bugs that attack all night. Extraction fans pump stinking air from bathrooms, toilets and three sewage manholes. The food is foul - only the needy eat it.’
Covid infections rising again across UK
Covid infections are increasing across the UK with about one in 25 people infected, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In Scotland, 300,000 people - one in 18 - have coronavirus, the highest level recorded during the pandemic. A sub-variant of Omicron, called BA2, is now thought to be the most common strain in most of the UK. Recent easing of restrictions and waning immunity from the vaccines could all be factors in the increase. Health secretary Sajid Javid said Omicron had been the last variant to be a concern, and the country had ‘successfully navigated’ it, but the Government continued to monitor the situation ‘very carefully’. The ONS infection survey tests thousands of people randomly in households across the UK and estimated 2.6 million people tested positive in the week ending 5 March. It was 2.4 million the week before.
Northern Ireland poverty
A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report published on 16 March tells us that as Northern Ireland entered the pandemic, nearly one in five people lived in poverty, including over 100,000 children. 1 in 14 households are in food insecurity, and the recent spike in energy prices, and wider inflation. People in workless families, disabled people, carers, and people in ethnic minority households have much higher poverty rates. So people across Northern Ireland need the new Executive to focus on whether to reverse or partly mitigate the impact of the £20 per week cut to the basic rates of Universal Credit. It could also match benefit up-rating more effectively to the cost of living. A targeted payment, such as the Scottish child payment, would reduce child poverty. The Executive could also consider the role that DLA/PIP can have in helping disabled people into the labour market, including considering how the administration of payments could be redesigned with dignity and poverty reduction at their heart.
Concerns over Scotland’s £5bn Covid funds
A detailed analysis of where almost £5bn of Covid business funding went is not possible due to gaps in data, a spending watchdog has found. The Scottish government provided £4.4bn in grants and business rates relief between the start of the pandemic and October 2021. A further £375m was announced following the emergence of Omicron last winter. Although the speed and scale of the rollout helped to safeguard thousands of jobs and businesses, Audit Scotland was unable to determine where all the money ended up. It also identified gaps in information about how quickly applicants received funding. Auditor general Stephen Boyle said, ‘Knowing where the money went matters’. Information to enable wider analysis of how funding supported groups, such as female-owned businesses, is not available from centrally held data. The Accounts Commission said that councils' fraud arrangements are generally robust, but during the pandemic they were severely relied upon.
