May backs review to save Press
THERESA May yesterday announced a review aimed at preserving Britain’s newspapers.
The review will look into funding models to ensure the survival of high-quality journalism at national, regional and local level.
In a speech in Manchester, the PM said the free Press was vital to democracy but had experienced a “profound impact” from technological change.
She said: “In recent years, especially in local journalism, we’ve seen falling circulations, a hollowing out of local newsrooms and fears for the future sustainability of high-quality journalism.
“This is dangerous for our democracy. When trusted and credible news sources decline, we can become vulnerable to news which is untrustworthy.” A TORY immigration minister has snubbed a direct appeal from John Swinney to get a visa for a teacher in a remote island community.
Caroline Nokes told Scotland’s Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary she “will not reply” to him about Canadian Sine Halfpenny.
Sine, from Nova Scotia, speaks Gaelic, has studied in Scotland and is qualified to teach here.
Children, parents and the local council all wanted her at the school in Bunessan, Mull, but the Home Office turned her down last year.
Local MSP Michael Russell – also a former education secretary – got involved in the matter on behalf of outraged families on the island.
But when he was fobbed off, Swinney tried to raise the matter to ministerial level, writing to Home Secretary Amber Rudd on headed Scottish Parliament stationery clearly setting out his Government positions.
And he was left furious by the curt and ill-informed reply Nokes sent on behalf of Rudd.
The letter he received appears to be based on a template and mistakenly suggests Sine is a constituent – even though she still lives in Canada.
Nokes writes that she gets too many requests to deal with them all.
And she told Swinney: “I will not reply in my capacity as immigration minister to any immigration matters about individuals you might raise”.
A spokesman for Swinney said yesterday: “This ill-informed letter shows how little the Home Office cares about the school pupils of Mull.
“It looks like they haven’t bothered to even consider this teacher’s case – let alone the