Targeting the use of nitrous oxide is part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
Nitrous oxide: Possession of laughing gas to be criminal offence
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Labour Backs Laughing Gas Ban To Tackle Anti-Social Behaviour
Labour has backed the government’s proposed ban on the sale of laughing gas, saying it is a “blight” on communities.
Nitrous oxide will be banned under plans to tackle anti-social behaviour, Michael Gove announced on Sunday.
Senior Labour MP Lucy Powell agreed with the proposal and called for enforcement.
The shadow culture secretary told Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “I think we want to see it banned as well because I think it does cause a huge amount of littering, of disruption and of antisocial behaviour challenges as well.
“We do need to tackle at source these kind of crimes – well sometimes they’re not crimes – these kind of behaviours that are blights on our communities.
“It’s something when I go door knocking in my constituency in Manchester Central and I go out meeting residents – anti-social behaviour is probably the number one issue that they raise with me.”
Gove told the BBC nitrous oxide can have a “damaging effect on young brains” and its public use can lead to “greater lawlessness”.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recently advised against new laws to ban nitrous oxide.
Nitrous oxide, sold in metal canisters, is known as NOS and is the second most-used drug by UK 16 to 24-year-olds.
Confirming the ban on laughing gas, Gove told Sky: “I think anyone who has the opportunity to walk through our parks in our major cities will have seen these little silver canisters, which are examples of people not only spoiling public spaces but taking a drug which can have a psychological and neurological effect and one that contributes to antisocial behaviour overall.”
Boris Johnson Is A ‘Man Of Integrity’, Cabinet Minister Insists
Boris Johnson is a “man of integrity” and “puts the country first”, a Cabinet minister has insisted.
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove said he believes everything Johnson said when he was hauled in front of MPs last week.
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The former prime minister was interrogated by seven MPs over statements he made to parliament about the partygate scandal.
Johnson swore “hand on heart” that he did not lie to the House of Commons during the high stakes hearing with the privileges committee.
Their inquiry into whether he led misled parliament has the potential to end his political career.
However, Gove told Sky News Johnson is a “man of integrity” and is someone who “puts the country first”.
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He went on to tell the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme he believed the former prime minister’s evidence.
Asked if Johnson had always told the truth, Gove said: “I think that all of us will at some point have told a white lie or an untruth.
“But I think the fundamental thing here —and again the privileges committee will make up its own mind, it has looked at all the evidence — but what was Boris’ argument? He was working incredibly hard, every hour that the lord sent in order to try and do the right thing.
“He believed that saying thank you to people who were leaving in the cramped and confined circumstances of 10 Downing Street was part of that job. Did he attend those events in a spirit of self-indulgence? No, he did so in order to show his gratitude to those who were working with him.”
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Gove said he was inclined to give Johnson “not just the benefit of the doubt” but to believe him when he “places his hand on his heart”.
Johnson swore on the King James Bible to tell the truth before accepting that he misled MPs but insisted his partygate denials were made “in good faith” based on what he “honestly” knew at the time.
Johnson said if it was so “obvious” that rule-breaking was going on in No.10, then it would also have been “obvious” to others, including Rishi Sunak.
He also argued the process had been “manifestly unfair” and said if the inquiry is accusing him of lying, then it is also levelling the same charge at civil servants, advisers and MPs.
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If the committee decides Johnson did mislead MPs – and the Commons backs suspending him for 10 days or more – he could face a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
However, there is a long process to get through before the saga potentially reaches that stage.
Michael Gove Says He Made A ‘Mistake’ By Seeing Drug Use As Acceptable
Michael Gove said he made a “mistake” by thinking drug taking was “somehow acceptable”.
The senior Conservative MP was grilled over his own previous drug use after he revealed plans to ban laughing gas in Britain.
Nitrous oxide is set to be banned under government plans to clamp down on anti-social behaviour.
However, during the 2019 Tory leadership race Gove himself admitted to taking Class A drug cocaine.
“I took drugs on several occasions at social events more than 20 years ago,” he told the Daily Mail. “At the time I was a young journalist. It was a mistake. I look back and I think, I wish I hadn’t done that.”
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The levelling up secretary said he had learned it was a “mistake” and it was “absolutely vital” to deal with the “scourge” of laughing gas.
Asked if the public might view his stance on laughing gas as “hypocritical”, he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “No, I think it is because I have learned.”
Pressed on what he had learned, Gove said: “That it is a mistake — worse than a mistake — to regard drug taking as somehow acceptable.”
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Mike Kemp via Getty Images
Confirming the ban on laughing gas, Gove said: “I think anyone who has the opportunity to walk through our parks in our major cities will have seen these little silver canisters, which are examples of people not only spoiling public spaces but taking a drug which can have a psychological and neurological effect and one that contributes to antisocial behaviour overall.”
Laughing gas is the second most commonly used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds in England after cannabis.
The decision goes further than the recommendations of a review commissioned by the Home Office, which stopped short of recommending a ban after examining the dangers of the substance.
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Gove accepted that ministers had been advised not to ban laughing gas but said the government had taken a different view.
“Of course it is absolutely right that we uphold the law in this case,” he added.
“Yes, the advisory committee offered their advice but ultimately it is ministers who are responsible.
“And we believe collectively that it is absolutely vital that we deal with this scourge and in the same way.”
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Is It Finally All Over For Boris Johnson?
As political barometers go, it was pretty stark.
Asked if they believed Boris Johnson told the truth when he appeared before MPs this week, not a single member of the Question Time audience put their hand up.
Even more worryingly for the former prime minister, the programme was being broadcast from Newcastle-under-Lyme, part of the famous Red Wall of seats where he is still said to be popular with voters.
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It was a fitting denouement to a miserable week for a man who was still in Downing Street less than a year ago.
Johnson suffered two major blows to his hopes of a political comeback within a few hours on Wednesday afternoon.
His irascible performance in front of parliament’s privileges committee, which is investigating claims he misled the Commons over partygate, left few in any doubt that he will be found guilty.
Should the committee decide to impose a suspension of more than 10 days, and parliament votes for it, he could face a by-election in his Uxbridge seat.
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On the same day, Johnson’s hopes of leading a wide-scale Tory revolt against his arch-nemesis Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal ended in failure when only 21 of his colleagues followed him into the No lobby.
Meanwhile, while all this was going on, Rishi Sunak enjoyed a game of cricket in the Downing Street garden with England’s T20 world cup-winning team.
Simon Walker/10 Downing Street
As he surveys the political scene this weekend, Johnson will surely be contemplating the very real possibility that his ambition of a triumphant return to No.10 will be unfulfilled.
Many experienced observers of Westminster believe that the game is up for the former PM.
One senior Tory told HuffPost UK: “He’s just like that drunk uncle at the wedding who is there at the reception but you don’t really know why.”
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Others believe that even Johnson’s media cheerleaders have decided to move on and throw their weight behind Sunak as the next election draws nearer.
“I thought it was very telling there was a front page of the Telegraph was very negative about him after his committee appearance,” said one former cabinet member. “I think that’s a weathervane.
“I think it’s a cocktail of the partygate stuff and the Brexit vote. It could have gone the other way – he could have had a major triumph in the committee and there could have been a big rebellion, but in the end it was just the usual suspects who voted with him.
“A line has been drawn and people just want to move on.”
One Tory MP told HuffPost UK: “His defence at the committee was basically ‘I’m an idiot’. Some people might accept that, but I think it just reaffirmed that him coming back is just not a realistic possibility.
“Even if Rishi falls under a bus, literally or politically, it’s not going to Boris who steps in to the breach. A significant enough number of MPs just wouldn’t wear it. Most of them realise he’s not an asset to them any more.”
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Tory peer and election guru Lord Hayward told Sky News: “His support is diminishing and his impact on the party is diminishing the longer Rishi Sunak is prime minister.”
Former minister Caroline Nokes was even more forthright, declaring that Johnson is “finished”.
“I think there was a very clear message from his own ministers back in the summer that they didn’t want him to carry on,” she told ITV’s Peston show.
“He didn’t choose to stand against Rishi Sunak back in the autumn when we had the second leadership challenge.
“As far as I’m concerned, Boris Johnson is not coming back as prime minister.”
Johnson still does have his hardcore supporters who will defend him to the bitter end.
Jacob Rees-Mogg told Channel 4 News “he’s winning in the court of public opinion”, while Nadine Dorries said the privileges committee is “a kangaroo court” determined to find him guilty regardless of the evidence.
One Johnson ally said that if the partygate inquiry had been properly dealt with a year ago, he would probably still be PM.
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“It would have helped restore perspective and pedestrianise what was portrayed as sinister and dramatic at the time,” they told HuffPost UK.
“The world now knows that police looked at the legality and found the PM and Rishi at fault for one event that the public would totally understand.
“People were working hard in No.10 and were there for long and endless hours – they weren’t heading in for a party. And the bad stuff unveiled by the Sue Gray report was a shock to Boris as much as anyone.
“We all lost the plot getting obsessed with partygate when we should have been looking at things like the anaemic economic growth, high inflation, the delays to HS2 and the fact that corporation tax is too high.”
However, the ally did agree with Johnson’s detractors that there is no chance of him returning to Downing Street.
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They said: “There is no vacancy. Period.”
Gordon Ramsay Says Alan Sugar Is Talking ‘Absolute B******s’ In Row About Their BBC Shows
Gordon Ramsay has urged Alan Sugar to stop talking “absolute bollocks” amid an ongoing row about their respective BBC shows.
Last year, the TV chef launched Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars, a new TV venture on BBC One, which the Amstrad founder claimed was a “virtual rip-off” of The Apprentice.
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“Last year, Gordon Ramsay had some cockamamie idea… I like Gordon and I think he’s very good and should stick to what he should do, cooking and all that stuff,” he told the Daily Mail.
“He had something, which was like, I don’t know how the lawyers allowed it because it was a virtual rip-off of The Apprentice. No disrespect to Gordon but stick to your day job mate that’s all I would say.”
BBC / Fremantlemedia Limited
In a new interview with The Sun, insisting the entrepreneur should stop “bitching” and talking “absolute bollocks”.
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“He has no right to start throwing his toys out the pram,” the Kitchen Nightmares star claimed. “Do you think Simon Cowell started complaining about The Voice when he was running The X Factor? Of course he didn’t.
“There is more than enough room for both shows on the BBC. Come on Alan! Share the f–ing love!”
Gordon added: “One of his contestants who ran a cupcake firm got in touch. What is a cupcake firm going to Alan Sugar for money for? They should be coming to me.
“Anyway, she said to me, ‘I love the show, I am a huge supporter, how can I apply to come on?’. I wanted to send it and say, ‘See, you are bitching about me but your contestants are dying to come on the show!’.”
BBC/Fremantle Media/Ray Burmiston
The 17th series of The Apprentice aired on BBC One earlier this week, with Alan Sugar giving a £250,000 investment to the aspiring business owner of his choosing.
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Speaking to The Sun last week, Alan claimed he didn’t think Gordon’s food show would still be talked about in 17 years,
“Not even in 17 weeks’ time,” he added, but insisted: “I don’t want to start a war.”
Gwyneth Paltrow Insists Taylor Swift Didn’t Inspire One-Dollar Countersuit In Ski Accident Trial
Gwyneth Paltrow was questioned about her friendship with Taylor Swift during her ongoing trial about a skiing accident she was involved in seven years ago.
Back in 2016, the Oscar winner and a now-retired optometrist, Terry Sanderson, were involved in an incident at a ski resort in Park City, Utah.
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Sanderson is suing Paltrow over the accident, claiming her “negligence” caused him to suffer “four broken ribs and permanent brain damage”. He is seeking up to $3,276,000 (around £2,688,000) in damages.
Paltrow has also filed her own counterclaim, accusing Sanderson of being responsible for the incident, and is seeking just one dollar in damages.
On Friday, the Shakespeare In Love star took to the stand for the first time, where Sanderson’s legal team asked whether her one-dollar countersuit was inspired by Taylor Swift, who was awarded the same amount in damages in a sexual assault trial in 2017.
Jeff Kravitz via Getty Images
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“It’s an actual dollar that I’m asking for,” Paltrow told the jury. “It’s symbolic because the damages would actually be more.”
Asked whether Swift inspired the suit, the Goop founder insisted: “I think I said that I had not been familiar with [the Taylor Swift case] but I since am.”
When Sanderson’s team questioned whether she was friends with Swift, Paltrow responded: “No… I would not say we are good friends, we are friendly; I’ve taken my kids to one of her concerts before but we don’t talk very often.”
Pool via Getty Images
The eight-day trial is expected to continue next week, after which a jury will make a decision.
Read more about the case here.
