Last week, the issue of Sexual Harassment has plagued politics once again after it was revealed that Labour MP, Jared O'Mara, has previously been vocally misogynistic and homophobic. Along with the continued Harvey Weinstein revelations, sexual abuse towards women is prevalent within society despite the progress made in the last 100 years. The last week has also seen more Brexit shambles and an absurd NHS pilot scheme that will put patients at risk.
Meanwhile in the world, Japan's general election saw Shinzo Abe gain more power, Senator Jeff Flake was critical of Donald Trump, Brazilian President, Michel Temer narrowly survived and Venezuela saw opposition members take their oaths before the constitution assembly.
UK news
The Department of Exiting the European Union has said that parliament can expect a vote on the deal, a spokesperson on Wednesday sad the government wants a vote to take place before the end of March 2019. This comes after David Davis stated that the commons may not get a vote until after Brexit has been concluded. Further turmoil within the department also saw Baroness Anelay has resigned as Minister of State for Exiting the European Union because of an injury suffered while climbing out of a Black Hawk helicopter in 2015 when she was a Foreign Office Minister. This is the third minister to resign in 5 months.
The Telegraph reported that a plan by parliamentary authorities to make MPs more directly accountable for alleged harassment was blocked, documents show.
They resisted attempts to protect staff from sexual harassment after reports that young people are being bully or intimidated at work. This comes after the Telegraph investigated allegations over MPs behaviour. This included one woman who said she had been sexually assaulted. Politics has been marred with more sexual harassment allegations since past comments made by Labour's Labour's Jared O'Mara O'Mara came to light.
The government have announced plans to pay people up to £1000 to host patients recovering from surgery in their spare rooms. The plan is described as an AirBnB style scheme for the NHS and it is to be run by the private company CareRooms. The scheme itself could pose a risk to patient safety because it would be putting their care in the hands of untrained people, CareRooms confirmed that the scheme wouldn't require hosts to have any medical training.
There is also potential of abuse of abuse of vulnerable people during the scheme.
World news
The general election in Japan saw the ruling Liberal Democratic Party win 281 of the 465 contested seats in the lower house of parliament. LDP's coalition partner also gained significant seats which has seen Shinzo Abe gain control of two-thirds of the house, this mean he can pass legislation without approval from the upper house. The World Health Organisation swiftly withdrew its appointment of Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador, which had elicited howls of derision. Mugabe is responsible for the collapse of the economy and health service in Zimbabwe.
In Brazil, their congress voted not to send the country's president, Michel Temer, to trial for charges related to a corruption scandal.
Mr Temer has managed to survive a previous move to remove him in August and this means he cannot be investigated again until his term ends in late 2018. He has the worst approval ratings of any Brazilian president. Four of the five opposition candidates who won elections for governor in Venezuela took their oaths before the constituent assembly, a parliament controlled by President Nicolás Maduro's United Socialist Party.
