02 July 2015
Week in Brief: UK NEWS
SCOTTISH FUNDING FOR QUEEN: Following a period of misunderstanding by palace officials, the SNP has confirmed that it has no intention of cutting Scotland’s contribution to the costs of funding the monarchy. The contribution to the sovereign grant is paid out of the revenues of the Scottish part of the Crown Estates and totals just over £2 million.
TUNISIAN ATROCITY: A one-minute silence has been called for Friday at midday to remember the British holidaymakers killed in Tunisia. Britain has sent medical, forensic, and security teams to assist the authorities and is also helping to identify the dead. In the UK, liaison officers will support the families of those killed and police will meet the thousands of returning holiday makers to obtain information from them. Guidance has been sent to all primary and secondary school heads telling them that radicalisation should be approached in the same way as grooming.
In supporting a tightening of security legislation, Peter Hain, the shadow Foreign Secretary, has stressed the need for data which would reveal the co-conspirators or contacts of anyone involved in terrorism.
DEPORTATIONS: The Court of Appeal has given two foreign criminals leave to challenge the Government’s right to remove them from the UK before their appeals against deportation are heard. Under a new regime, which came into effect last summer but which is now suspended pending the outcome of the litigation, convicted criminals can be deported immediately and must conduct any appeals against deportation from outside the UK.
EU REFERENDUM: 26 UK business leaders including Sir Richard Branson, Sir Martin Sorrell and the chairmen of British Telecom and BAE Systems, have published a letter in “The Times” stating their belief that it is overwhelmingly in the interests of Britain to stay in the EU. The letter goes on to say that, although reform is needed, it is better to secure it from within the EU than outside it. That approach, which has also been adopted by the CBI, contrasts with the Government’s view that the best time to press for reform is when the UK might walk away.
Members of the RMT transport union have voted to campaign for Britain’s exit from the EU.
THE UNSEND BUTTON: Google is introducing an unsend button which will give users up to 30 seconds to recall e-mails.
WHEELCHAIR PROTEST: Twenty campaigners from Disabled People Against Cuts tried to storm the House of Commons in protest at the abolition of the Independent Living Fund which tops up the benefits of 18000 seriously disabled people to help them live at home. Although the intention is that money from the Fund should be replaced by benefits channelled through local authorities, recipients are concerned that the £262 million to be provided for this purpose will be less than the £300 million previously distributed by the Fund. Also the money is not ring fenced by the local authorities and may be reduced in the course of expenditure cuts.
SEX ABUSE: The National Crime Agency has revealed that it is now investigating 300 suspects from Rotherham, mostly of Asian appearance. It supports the estimate of 1400 children groomed for abuse from 1997 to 2013 which was made in an independent enquiry led by Professor Jay.
It has emerged, following an application by the “Birmingham Mail” under the Freedom of Information Act, that the West Midlands Police took no action on warnings that 139 girls from Birmingham, Dudley and Walsall were at risk from gangs of Asian males.
The Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, is to be the chairwoman of a new child protection task force.
The decision by Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, not to prosecute Lord Janner on charges of abusing young boys, because his dementia meant that the prosecution would not be in the public interest, is to be reversed. Lord Janner denies the charges. Despite heavy criticism, Mrs Saunders retains her position.
ROYAL VISIT: The Queen has paid a royal visit to Germany where she received an enthusiastic welcome. The last Kaiser of Germany was Queen Victoria’s eldest grandson and so the second cousin twice removed of the Queen.
ACONITE POISONING: An open verdict was recorded on the death of Nathan Greenway, a gardener on an estate in Hampshire, who died of multiple organ failure apparently caused by contact with aconites. Although aconites, also known as monkshood and wolf’s bane, are known to be poisonous and were present near where he was working, it is unclear how Mr Greenway came into contact with them. The plant is common in English gardens and poisoning cases involving it are rare.
UNDERAGE SEX: Anne Lakey, formerly Headmistress at Fynedoune Community College, Sacriston, Co Durham, has been sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for having sexual relations with two under-age boys in the 1980s.
LABORATORY BLOOD: The National Health Service has indicated that by 2017 it will have the technology to create red blood cells artificially. This will be particularly helpful where supplies of rare blood are needed.
CALAIS: Successive strikes by French ferry workers are being exploited by migrants determined to get into the UK. Although the French police have arrested large numbers of migrants, they are not generally deported from France and return to make further attempts. 39,000 attempts to cross the Channel were blocked last year.
TRAMPLED BY COWS: Alistair Porter, a recently retired lecturer, collapsed and died after being trampled by cows. Mr Porter and his brother, accompanied by two dogs, were encircled by cows as they crossed a field and repeatedly stamped on.
NETWORK RAIL: Patrick McLoughlin, the Secretary of State for Transport, has ordered a review after it emerged that improvements to the railway system worth £2 billion would have to be put on hold following cost overruns in Network Rail’s £38.5 billion investment programme. Sir Peter Hendy has been brought in to replace Richard Parry-Jones as chairman of Network Rail. It is understood that concerns about the programme were raised by the Office of Rail Regulation as long ago as November.
THE AVENGERS: Patrick Mcnee, who starred with Diana Rigg and then with Linda Thorsen in the 1960s television series “The Avengers” has died at the age of 93.
IMMIGRATION: The UK’s population is now more than 64.5 million, an increase of almost half a million over the last year. The increase is made up of 260,000 net migration and an excess of births over deaths of a further 226,000. The median age of the population is now forty, higher than it would be without immigration. Of the 21-35 age group, 11% are migrants.
RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN: The BBC has published a list of news stories being removed from the Google search lists following last year’s decision of the European Court of Justice.
FRACKING: Lancashire County Council has rejected the advice of its own officials in refusing an application by Cuadrilla for permission to drill four exploratory fracking wells near Blackpool. The decision is likely to be appealed.
POTASH MINE: Approval has been given for the world’s largest potash mine which will be constructed under the North York Moors. The potash will be transferred to the docks at Teeside through a 23 mile tunnel.
SPOOKS: Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the Prime Minister’s special envoy on intelligence and data-sharing, has said that the cooperation received from social media companies has improved but is by no means complete. He called for a new international framework to allow countries with “similar values” to access intelligence.
LEAP SECOND: Clocks moved back by one second at midnight on Tuesday 30 June to adjust for the difference between time measured by the Earth’s rotation and time measured by atomic oscillation. In November scientists will vote on whether to abolish leap seconds for the future.
SEXISM: University College London has refused to reinstate Sir Tim Hunt as an Honorary Professor despite changes in the accounts given of what Sir Tim actually said in his address to female scientists in South Korea. Jonathan Dimbleby has resigned his honorary fellowship in solidarity with Sir Tim.
Baroness Amos, the new director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, has expressed concern at the level of sexual abuse and harassment at British universities.
DRONES: It appears that a drone has passed within 50 feet of an aircraft coming in to land at Heathrow. The British Airline Pilots Association has called for prison sentences for those flying drones near airports.
GLASTONBURY: The contents of 1300 special toilets in use at the Glastonbury Festival will be composted into manure and used to fertilise local land.
HEAT: The temperature reached 106°F on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
