05 May 2016
Week in Brief: UK
EU Referendum
VOTE LEAVE RESIGNATION: Labour donor John Mills has left the Vote Leave campaign to set up a separate group for Labour supporters favouring Brexit. He was dissatisfied by the attitude of Vote Leave to members of the Party.
CLINTON AND BLAIR: If the exigencies of his wife’s campaign to become the Democratic candidate for the presidency permit, Mr Clinton is expected to come over to the UK to join Tony Blair in campaigning for Remain.
UNION REFORM “LINK”: Bernard Jenkin, the member for Harwich and North Essex, has alleged that the Government has watered down proposals for trade union reform in order to secure union support for the Remain Campaign. The allegation is denied by David Cameron.
VOTES FOR NON RESIDENTS: A challenge by expatriates seeking to vote in the referendum despite living abroad has failed in the High Court. Leave has been given for an appeal.
FISHERIES: George Eustice, the fisheries minister, has said that he supports Brexit because the reform of the system under which Britain’s fishing quotas are dwarfed by those of France is impracticable while the UK remains in the EU
EUROPEAN ARMY: According to Brexit supporters, the German defence ministry has deferred publication of a paper proposing the pooling of European armed forces, because of the risk that it influences the Referendum result.
POLLS: A UK poll taken last week showed support for Leave at 42% against 41% for Remain. 13% are undecided and the remainder do not propose to vote.
See also The Gold Aureus of Carausius.
Health
DEMENTIA: A study by the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam has linked symptoms of worsening depression with subsequent dementia. That could be because similar factors, such as damaged blood vessels, lead to both, or because the early stages of dementia manifest themselves as depression.
OBESITY: A report by the Health and Social Care Information Centre reveals that in 2014/15 there were 440,288 hospital admissions linked to obesity. That is ten times the figure for 2004/5.
VAPING: A report by the Royal College of Physicians has concluded that fears about e-cigarettes are exaggerated, that they help smokers to quit and that there is no evidence that they encourage children or non-smokers to take up smoking or vaping. See Chin Chin.
NEW DRUG: A new antibiotic, teixobactin, developed at the University of Lincoln and based on molecules found in German soil, appears to be capable of tackling superbugs. The antibiotic will not be ready for use for some time.
DEATH: A report by the Royal College Of Physicians indicates that, in 20% of cases, patients and their families are not told about “do not resuscitate” notices. The Royal College of Nursing said that looking after dying people was a matter of common decency and that nurses had been scared away from using their instincts.
MIDLIFE TESTS: A study by Imperial College London reveals that only one in five of those eligible makes use of the five-yearly checks on blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and kidneys offered by the NHS and that the public health benefits of the checks are minimal. Public Health England is to review the programme which currently costs £165m per annum.
Education
KEY STAGE I: A petition with more than 45,000 signatures has been organised against the Key Stage I exams for six and seven year olds, which have been made tougher this year. These exams, formerly SATS, are designed to test teachers and schools rather than pupils; however, it is said that the pressure of the exams is transmitted to pupils as teachers try to ensure satisfactory results. The exams were to include papers in maths, reading, spelling and grammar but the grammar and spelling papers were withdrawn after they were accidentally published. Many parents took their children out of school for the day on Tuesday so that they would not have to participate in the tests.
See Worldwide Educational Rankings.
Other News
BRITISH HOME STORES: Sir Philip Green is to face questioning by two select committees into his role in the collapse of BHS with a £571 million pension deficit. Questions are likely to focus on the financial state of the company when dividends were paid to its shareholders and the circumstances surrounding its sale to Retail Acquisitions, a company led by Dominic Chappell, a former racing driver and bankrupt.
LABOUR PARTY: Jeremy Corbyn has announced an enquiry into anti-Semitism and racism in the Labour party together with a new code of conduct. The issue has mushroomed out of control with Ken Livingstone being suspended from the party on the basis of claims that Hitler had once supported Zionism, the suspension of Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West who had backed calls to move Israel to the US, and calls from donors and MPs for Mr Corbyn to resign. Traditionally Labour has drawn considerable support from the Jewish community.
Allies of Mr Corbyn, including Mr McCluskey, of the union Unite, and Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary, denied that there is a problem with anti-Semitism at all and say that the allegations have been made to smear Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
Mr Blair has intervened in the debate about the Labour leadership by saying that if Mr Corbyn was unseated it would be impossible to keep his name off the ballot for a replacement leader. As he remains popular with party activists, it is likely that he would be re-elected.
NOT A DRONE: Following investigations, it seems that reports of a collision between an aircraft and a drone on 17thApril were mistaken and that the object which hit the aircraft was probably a plastic bag. Other incidents involving drones are, however, still under investigation with both civilian airliners and RAF Tornados involved.
CHILD REFUGEES: The House of Lords has amended the Immigration Bill to allow unaccompanied child refugees, who have arrived elsewhere in Europe, to settle in the UK. The government had previously refused to offer them sanctuary on the basis that taking refugees from Europe would simply increase the flow. It has, however, already agreed to take 3000 child refugees from Africa and the Middle East. The matter will now return to the House of Commons where a combination of Tory rebels and the Democratic Unionist Party, both of whom will vote against the government, should be sufficient to secure the amendment.
RSPCA: The RSPCA has failed in its attempt to prosecute a group who had used dogs to hunt by night in woodlands, under the Animal Welfare Act. The charges were brought under rules prohibiting “animal fighting” rather than under the Hunting Act, where lower penalties would have applied. The judge found that the activity was not one of “fighting”. The RSPCA is to appeal.
HALAL CRUELTY: The Food Standards Agency has closed Simply Halal, a Norfolk abattoir, following video footage from hidden cameras which showed appalling animal cruelty. The incident follows a previous undercover investigation in 2014 where similar issues emerged and which resulted in the supermarket chain, Morrisons, ceasing to buy food from the abattoir.
ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA: The troubled ENO has appointed Daniel Kramer as its new artistic director. Previous productions by Mr Kramer (who has described himself as drawn to darkness, blood, eroticism, sexuality and pain) have been criticised as pornographic.
POLICE CONCEALMENT: Derbyshire police have confirmed that they sought to hide the identity of Marcin Javorski, a Polish rapist, out of concern not to drive him underground. Their application for a court order banning the reporting of an application to add his name to the sexual offences register because of tensions between the Polish and British communities, was rejected by the courts.
LEICESTER: In a double triumph for Leicester, Mark Selby was crowned World Professional Snooker Champion for the second time, beating Ding Junhui by 18 frames to 14 at the Sheffield Crucible, and Leicester City Football club became the winners of the Premier League.
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