21 January 2016
Week in Brief: UK
PENSIONERS’ HEATING: There are concerns that high energy prices are affecting pensioners who are turning down their heating to save money. It is said that the 6 big energy companies have not reduced their rates, despite a fall in wholesale energy costs over the last 2 years.
DOCTORS’ STRIKE: Junior doctors threatened to continue their strike for the foreseeable future. The NHS said that 3,400 operations have been cancelled as a result of the strike. There may be serious problems in A&E sections if staff carry out their threat to extend the strike to those departments in hospitals.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, joined the strikers on picket lines, as did members of Momentum, the left-wing section of the Labour party which supports Jeremy Corbyn.
POLICE BAIL: The Government is considering tightening the conditions of police bail. One of the reasons is that a suspected terrorist who was on police bail was asked to surrender his passport within 7 days, but left the UK & is now thought to be in Syria. The Metropolitan police have proposed that a breach of police bail conditions should be made a criminal offence.
EDUCATION: The scramble for places in good state schools is becoming more intense. Some primary schools are refusing to take children if the families live more than 82 yards away (300 meters). There are some schools whose catchment area is even smaller. The demand for places in primary schools is being driven by the increasing birth rate and by immigration.
BEER: Figures just released show that lager consumption in the UK has fallen, whereas the old British pint is gaining in popularity. It is thought the change in tastes may be linked to the increase in the number of craft beers, which are usually bitter or ale style beers.
LORD BRAMALL: Lord Bramall, the former head of the British Army, has been cleared of sex abuse charges. The allegations against him were made by one man called “Nick”. Lord Bramall has said that he doesn’t see why “Nick” should not be prosecuted for wasting police time.
JIHAD: It has been reported that 600 Britons have been prevented from travelling to Syria by the UK and Turkish authorities since 2012. The Turkish authorities are co-operating fully with the UK to identify and stop people from entering Turkey to join Islamic State.
AFGHANISTAN: A report prepared by the Army into operations in Afghanistan has been released by the Ministry of Defence after a year long campaign by the Sunday Times under the Freedom of Information Act. The findings suggest that bomb disposal officers died unnecessarily because they did not have enough specialist equipment. Other failings listed included a mistake made when maps were given to aircrew which were different from those given to ground forces. The result was that co-ordinates given for bombing raids were inaccurate. It is thought that this error led to planes killing 4 British soldiers.
LORD COE: There has been more controversy over the financial interests of Lord Coe, the President of the IAAF. The Presidency is an unpaid situation. Coe is executive chairman of the partnership CSM Sport and Entertainment. The consultancy branch, CSM Strategic, has been chosen by Saudi Arabia to help its athletes to train and compete in the Olympics. CSM Strategic is apparently going to help Rome in its bid for the 2024 Olympics.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE: David Cameron has pledged £20 million to be spent in improving the language skills of immigrants whose knowledge of English is non-existent or perfunctory. The move constitutes an attempt to improve the assimilation of migrant communities into mainstream British life.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH: There is concern that freedom of speech is being suppressed at more and more British universities. On some campuses newspapers have been banned (the Sun, the Daily Star, the Daily Express and Charlie Hebdo). The LSE has the highest number of bans in place (which include bans on the rugby club which has been accused of being sexist and homophobic).
