Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n
Security guards in shops should carry pepper spray and truncheons to tackle rising retail crime, a supermarket boss has said.<\/p>\n
Lord Walker of Broxton, executive chairman of Iceland<\/a>, said that \u201cjust one incident of violence against my staff is too many\u201d as he pointed to the example of armed Spanish security guards, saying they \u201cdon\u2019t mess about\u201d.<\/p>\n It comes after Marks<\/a> and Spencer\u2019s retail director, Thinus Keeve, claimed its customer-facing staff were being subjected to violence and abuse every day, and called for the Government<\/a> and the Mayor of London<\/a> to crack down on crime.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Times, Lord Walker, who is also the government\u2019s cost-of-living tsar, said he agreed with his fellow high street giant boss and said: \u201cWe call it shoplifting, which sounds like a cheeky bit of pilfering, but actually we should just call it out for what it is, which is violent crime.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all saw the footage of marauding gangs and security guards being beaten up. The violent nature of it in Clapham is horrific.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always argued for more powers for security guards. You go to Spain and all the security guards have pepper spray and a truncheon, they don\u2019t mess about.\u201d<\/p>\n The M&S executive spoke out after unrest earlier this week involving one of the retail giant\u2019s stores in Clapham, south London, which saw hundreds of youths swarm high street shops as part of an online trend.<\/p>\n