27 August 2015
Week in Brief: UK NEWS
ADULTERY WEBSITE: It is believed that there are 1.2 million Britons among the 37 million users of adultery website Ashley Madison whose details were revealed by hackers last week. These include military personnel, government employees and a Scottish Nationalist MP, as well as two people working at the Porton Down laboratory for chemical and bacteriological warfare. In some cases names may have been registered by third parties as a joke. The release of information has enabled blackmailers to approach subscribers to the website and threatened to expose them to their partners unless they make payments. There are understood to have been a number of suicides. Impact Team, who leaked the data, have described the site’s members as “cheating dirtbags”.
STARTER HOMES: The government has announced a plan for new homes in rural areas to be sold at a 20% discount to first-time buyers who are under forty and have connections with local villages. The plan is designed to keep young people within the local community. The plan has been criticised as giving residents of rural areas an advantage over those brought up in the city.
MATHS TEACHERS: A serious shortage of maths teachers has led to calls to provide them with generous incentives alongside their current pay. Although maths teachers begin at the same starting salary as teachers in other subjects, they are often given highly-paid extra responsibilities which increase their take-home play significantly. There is considerable competition between schools to attract them. The problem has arisen due to the increased popularity of maths as an A-level subject and a greater emphasis on maths and English in the assessment of schools. The shortfall for secondary schools is believed to be about 5,500 teachers and some schools are using teachers trained in other subjects to fill the gap.
OPERATION MIDLAND: Retired Conservative MP Harvey Proctor has made a statement refuting allegations that he was a member of a VIP paedophile ring of which former premier Sir Edward Heath and former home secretary Sir Leon Brittan were also allegedly members. According to the allegations, the ring was involved in the murder, rape and abuse of young boys at Dolphin Square and other addresses. Mr Proctor resigned his seat in 1987 when he was convicted of having homosexual relations with a nineteen-year-old man (which was, at that time, an offence) but denies any interest in children. He points out that he would hardly have been in a ring with Heath, bearing in mind the mutual antipathy they felt for each other, and that the allegations hang on the uncorroborated testimony of one alleged victim. He called for the Metropolitan Police to charge him or to apologise, and suggested that they were involved in a paranoid anti-homosexual witch-hunt. Others alleged to have been part of the “ring” included Field Marshal Lord Bramall (former Chief of the Defence Staff), Sir Morris Oldfield (former head of MI6) and Sir Michael Hanley (a former director-general of MI5).
It will be recalled that recent allegations that Sir Edward Heath had abused children on the yacht Morning Cloud were refuted by his crew who explained that there is no private space on a racing yacht.
MIGRATION: 107,500 migrants arrived in the EU in July, mainly in Greece. 5000 would-be migrants to the UK are currently estimated to be in Calais where British police officers are being sent to assist the French authorities. Britain is to contribute to the costs of flying migrants home from Calais.
CYCLING: According to statistics released by the Department for Transport, 21,287 cyclists were injured in road accidents in Britain last year. 113 were killed. The increase, which contrasts with dropping casualty figures for other road users, seems to result from more people taking to their bikes. According to information published by the EsriUK and “The Times”, 75% of cycling injuries occur within 30m of a junction or roundabout.
EMBASSIES: The Iranian embassy in London and the British embassy in Tehran have now been reopened.
DECLASSIFIED FILES: Files released today from the National Archives provide details of the surveillance by MI5 of the author Doris Lessing and of how attempts were made by the agency to trap Kim Philby in 1952.
NEW THEATRE: A 900 seat theatre is to be built to the south of Tower Bridge. The theatre will be privately funded and run by Sir Nicholas Hytner.
DEMENTIA: According to “The Lancet Neurology”, it is not correct that more people are suffering from dementia at a younger age. Studies show a decrease in the condition in people over sixty-five in the UK and in Spain. Other countries showed no change.
LABOUR LEADERSHIP: With voting papers out, the contest to be leader of the Labour party approaches its denouement. Mr Corbyn now looks unstoppable. 610,753 people are eligible to vote, some three times the party membership at the time of the May election. Efforts are being made to weed out infiltrators but it seems doubtful whether they will have sufficient impact to change the result. Mr Corbyn has indicated that, if elected, he will hand-pick his own shadow cabinet team rather than holding shadow cabinet elections.
TOP GEAR: TV presenter and model Jodie Kidd has turned down the opportunity to co-present Top Gear with Chris Evans. Although Ms Kidd has experience as a racing car driver, she felt that the role would impinge too much on her other commitments.
CHILCOT ENQUIRY: Pressure continues to build for the early release of the report into Britain’s role in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The report was commissioned in 2009 and Sir John Chilcot blames the delay on the time taken by witnesses to reply to criticisms. The Prime Minister has expressed his frustration that matters are taking so long and other public figures, including two former attorney general’s, have also been critical. Lord Owen, previously Labour Foreign Secretary under Harold Wilson, has defended the enquiry team on the basis that it had not had access to evidence which should be provided.
RYAN AIR: The Manchester County Court has ruled that contractual provisions used by Ryan Air to limit the period in which claims for compensation for delay can be launched to 2 years are invalid. Accordingly the normal six-year claims period applies.
FRACKING: Amber Rudd, the Secretary of State for energy, has indicated that her department will call in decisions on fracking where councils have not made a decision within sixteen weeks.
ALLOTMENTS: Charlie Dimmock, the TV presenter, has suggested dividing allotments into smaller plots to shorten waiting lists. They are often 30 to 40 years. Her suggestion has triggered a number of views both for and against.
AIRSHOW DISASTER: A Hawker Hunter, performing a loop at the Shoreham air show, crashed onto the A27 road near Brighton killing about 20 people. The pilot survives but is badly injured. The Civil Aviation Authority has reacted by banning air show stunts in vintage jets.
KIDS COMPANY: Mrs Batmanghelidj, founder of the now collapsed charity Kid’s Company, has refused to hand over its records relating to illegal immigrants and asylum seekers because of her concern that they would be used by the Border Agency to deport them.
MET OFFICE: The Met Office has lost the tender to provide weather services for the BBC although the new provider has not yet been identified. Fees from the BBC represent about 1.4% of revenues.
CRICKET: Australia beat England by an innings and 46 runs to reduce England’s winning margin in the now-completed Ashes series to 3-2.
LONG JUMP: Briton Greg Rutherford won the gold medal in the long jump at the World Athletic Championships in Beijing with a distance of 8.41 metres. He is now the Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion.
