G7 leaders have bowed to Donald Trump's demands, agreeing to release up to 100 million barrels of their diesel and crude oil reserves within four months.
U.K - News, Updates & Discussions.
- Thread starter _Anonymous_
- Start date
G7 leaders have bowed to Donald Trump's demands, agreeing to release up to 100 million barrels of their diesel and crude oil reserves within four months.
James O’Brien joins Simon Marks to discuss right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson’s discussion with Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Britain is reopening the Brexit debate. Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants closer ties with the European Union, arguing that a new deal could boost economic growth and help manage immigration. With trade barriers, sluggish growth and migration still major concerns, has Brexit delivered on its promises? Burnham has also alleged Russian interference in the 2016 referendum, bringing fresh attention to the role of foreign influence in European democracies. Could Britain move closer to the EU again, and what would it take to rebuild a relationship it chose to leave?
Students are being taught that Britain must forge closer links with China in a textbook accused of peddling “propaganda”.
The A-level book, widely used in schools by British teenagers studying Mandarin, says the UK should “deepen cooperation” with Beijing in the wake of Brexit.
Using language associated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), it also promotes:
Pearson, the UK’s largest education and assessment company, which endorses the textbook for students taking its Edexcel A-level Chinese qualification, launched a review on Monday night after it was contacted by The Telegraph.
Luke de Pulford, co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international group of legislators working to reform the approach of democratic countries to China, likened parts of the textbook to “approved CCP propaganda”.
He said: “This is not an education, but an indoctrination. It would be an understatement to call these passages one-sided.”
The book titled “Chinese for A-Level” is published by Cypress Books, which describes itself as the largest distributor for Chinese publications in the UK. A spokesman denied the book was propaganda.
The London-based company is under the overall control of the China International Communications Group (CICG) – the public relations and publishing arm of the Communist Party of China (CCP).
CICG promotes the government’s message internationally through books, magazines, and journals.
The textbook was written by Frank Fan, a Mandarin teacher at Melbourne Village College in Cambridgeshire at the time of publication in 2025, but who has since left the school.
In one section of the textbook, students are asked to translate into Mandarin a 124-word passage written in English that describes how Brexit has weakened the UK’s financial standing.
The passage states that the growth of trade between the UK and China has “stalled” in recent years as “the market uncertainty created by the UK’s exit from the EU has weakened its influence in the global financial system, causing China to be more cautious about investing in the UK”.
It says that “in light of these circumstances”, the two countries “must enhance communication, seek win-win cooperation opportunities, and find mutually beneficial solutions”.
The phrase “win-win cooperation” is a favourite of the CCP. It was first used by Xi Jinping, the CCP’s general secretary, during a state visit to Russia in 2013, where he reportedly proposed a “new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation”. Chinese officials use it frequently in official statements about foreign policy and international relations.
The phrase is used again in another passage – this one written in Mandarin that students are asked to translate into English – which states that the UK and China should “deepen their cooperation”.
The textbook also repeatedly states that the UK and China should seek cooperation and trade outcomes that are “mutually beneficial”, which is another commonly used phrase by the CCP.