10 March 2016
Week in Brief: UK
CANCER VACCINE: Scientists at King’s College London and the Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St. Thomas’s NHS Trust have developed a vaccine that may eradicate cancer. The vaccine works by introducing the immune system to a small piece of a biological threat so that it could recognise a cancer cell in the future. At the moment, the body’s safety mechanism limits the response and restricts the immune system from working. It is hoped that the new vaccine will turn off the safety mechanism and allow the immune system to attack the cancer cells.
SEXUAL OFFENCES: The footballer Adam Johnson, who played for Sunderland and England, has been found guilty of sexually touching a 15 year old girl. The judge has warned him that he may be sentenced to 5 years in jail. He will be sentenced next month.
A man who used Match.com, a dating website, to meet women, has been convicted of attacking 5 women and for attempted rape and sexual assault of 2 other women.
BORDERS: A Commons Select Committee is expected to criticise the Home Office for not implementing a system which is intended to safeguard British borders. A new electronic border programme which was to stop terrorists and criminals from entering the UK will cost £1billion and will be 8 years behind schedule.
NHS: The NHS has been criticised for not recovering enough money from EU countries after their citizens have received treatment in NHS hospitals. A Department of Health spokesman dismissed the complaints although Jeremy Hunt accepted that his department was not doing enough to recover the money due from EU countries.
BREXIT: The British Chamber of Commerce has suspended its Director-General, John Longworth, after he expressed his personal view that the UK should leave the EU. He has since resigned. This is now a suspicion that his suspension was orchestrated by 10 Downing Street as part of David Cameron’s policy to stay in the EU. This allegation has been strenuously denied by No.10.
NORTHERN IRELAND: There are concerns in Northern Ireland that dissident republicans will use the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin to carry out terrorist attacks. A bomb was placed under the car of a prison officer who was seriously injured when it exploded.
ICONOCLASM: Some students at Oxford recently campaigned for the statue of Cecil Rhodes to be removed from Oriel College. Students are now campaigning for the removal of statues of and memorials to Queen Victoria, Jan Smuts of South Africa and Christopher Codrington, who owned slaves.
UNIONS: Ian Lavery, the shadow spokesman on trade union matters, has been accused of accepting about £1.6 million from sick and injured miners in order to fund the union branch he ran. Lavery said he did not recognise the figure, which represented donations given between 1996 and 2010. A fellow Labour MP, John Mann, criticised Lavery’s decision to accept the money.
BEGGARS: Police have warned commuters to watch out for “tissue beggars” because it is suspected that they have links to organised crime. The beggars come from Eastern Europe and hand out small packets of tissues in return for money. The beggars give the impression that they are poor with children to support, but many are in fact in organised gangs. The Sunday Times discovered that the beggars were operating every day across London and the South East. London Underground have started broadcasting messages warning the public not to give money because of the likely link between the beggars and organised crime.
MIGRANTS: David Cameron has announced that British patrol boats, including a vessel from the Royal Navy, are to be sent to Greek waters in an attempt to stop more immigrants crossing to Greece from Turkey and Syria.
HINKLEY POINT: There is controversy over the decision of the Government to continue with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. The company which is due to build the plant, EDF, has lost its finance director who resigned because he considered that if the construction went ahead, it would bankrupt EDF. Critics have pointed out that the price agreed with EDF is about three times the present cost of wholesale electricity. It has been said, too, that £17 billion could be saved if the plan is torn up and replaced with cheaper, more reliable alternatives.
TERRORIST THREAT: The national head of counter-terrorism has warned that the UK faces the threat of a spectacular terrorist attack by Islamic State militants. He said that the terrorists were trying to smuggle jihadists into Europe who had received terrorist training in Syria.
EU FUNDS TO TURKEY: The UK has been asked to increase its contribution to EU funds which are to be paid to Turkey to persuade it to help to stop the flow of immigrants into Europe. The UK’s contribution was €327 million, but has now increased to €654 million. In addition, the UK may have to pay into an EU/Turkey fund which will be used to repatriate to Turkey, immigrants who have been refused asylum.
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