We gave Roman Abramovich his last chance to do the right thing. Once again, he has failed to make the donation he committed to. We will now take further steps to ensure that the promise he made at the time of the Chelsea sale is kept.
Despite its public criticism of both Palantir and Mandelson, the UK government has entered into extensive contracts with the US tech giant, signing a defence contract worth 240 million pounds ($323m) in January. The contract was awarded to Palantir directly, while another, worth 330 million pounds ($444m) and involving the UK's Ministry of Health, was awarded in November 2023 following a bidding process.
A consultation last July found that 60% of the 44,000 responses backed the idea of taking nature as the theme, just in front of architecture and landmarks on 56%, and way ahead of historic figures at a measly 38%. Whether the public would have been quite so keen if they'd known upfront that household pets would be explicitly excluded from possible designs, I'm not so sure.
Britain's failure to meet its legal obligations has contributed to the mass killing of Palestinian civilians and the wholesale destruction of civilian objects, the desecration of international law and the further erosion of Britain's status as a nation committed to the rule of law in the international arena.
I don't want to get involved in UK politics, but I can say that it has been disappointing. It has been very disappointing... we would have expected the UK to do much more.
