25 May 2017
Week in Brief: UK
Terrorism
EXPLOSION IN MANCHESTER: 22 people were killed and 59 others injured in a terrorist attack on a pop concert at the Manchester Arena. The blast occurred just after a performance by the American singer Ariana Grande and many of the victims were teenage fans. It is understood that a suitcase containing nails and shrapnel was detonated by Salman Abedi, a resident of Manchester who is thought to have recently received training in Libya. He was known to the security services and died in the attack. It is not yet clear whether he acted alone but security sources doubt whether he could have made such a sophisticated device unaided. While counter terrorism officers pursue their enquiries, troops are being deployed at high risk locations to reduce the likelihood of further atrocities.
Following the attack, local people gave free accommodation and lifts to those affected. Islamic State claimed responsibility. Flags flew at half-mast outside the EU Commission where ministers observed a one minute silence. Messages of condolence have been received from leaders across the world including a message to The Queen from President Xi and a message to Mrs May from Mr Putin.
Mrs May and Mr Corbyn have both visited Manchester and all campaigning in the general election campaign has been suspended.
Election
CONSERVATIVE MANIFESTO: The Conservative manifesto was published on Thursday. In it Mrs May said that she would eschew ideology and focus on those who were “just about managing”. Putting herself forward as the right person to secure the Brexit deal she promised: to increase the NHS budget each year so that in five years time it would be 8 billion a year more than it is now; to spend an additional £350 million on education over the next five years which, with the savings realised by replacing free lunches with free breakfasts, would make 1 billion a year available for spending on schools; and to increase the national living wage to 60% of the median wage by 2020. To help pay for this the Government has left itself free to increase income tax and National Insurance, will increase the amount levied on firms employing migrant workers from outside the EU, will means test winter fuel allowance, will remove the third lock on the state pension so that it no longer has to rise by minimum of 2.5% per annum, and will make people pay an increased proportion of social care costs out of their estates (as to which see below). There are also commitments to increase the defence budget, to modernise the prison estate, to increase spending on research and development and to cut net immigration to below 100,000 people per year. However, the commitment by the Government to keep the strength of the army at 82,000 men has disappeared. Personal allowances and the income tax threshold will rise.
The manifesto also commits the Government to repealing section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 under which newspapers which did not sign up with an approved regulator would have paid the costs of libel actions, even if they won. Less relevantly Mrs May will introduce a free vote on foxhunting.
Following widespread protest, Mrs May subsequently changed her policy on social care by undertaking to introduce an upper limit to the cost which would be met out of the patient’s estate. There will be consultation over the amount of that but it is expected to be higher than the £72,000 promised by David Cameron.
Health
AIR-POLLUTION: The UK ranks 37th on a table of air cleanliness compiled by the World Health Organisation. Its level of 25.7 deaths per 100,000 of population is worse than Spain (14.7), France (17.2) and the Netherlands (24). Both the British Heart Foundation and the British Lung Foundation have called for a new Clean Air Act. Meanwhile a dispute has broken out among academics as to the beneficial effect of street trees, with research by Bangor University suggesting that they could prevent pollutants escaping.
INFLATING: A capsule containing a balloon has been found to be an effective cheap alternative to weight loss surgery. Apparently the balloon inflates inside the host who becomes less hungry. After four months it deflates, leaving the body in the obvious way. Each balloon costs £3000, considerably less than weight loss surgery. It is available in the UK although not yet on the National Health. There is concern that some patients may return to heavy eating once the balloon has “exited”.
QUACK REMEDIES: The Good Thinking Society has forced the Charity Commission to rethink the charitable status of organisations promoting alternative therapies. There is concern that many of these are either useless or potentially harmful, although the British Homoeopathic Association considers that there is no evidence of harm and often very much good. The Commission says that although it would not register a charity which does harm, it does not wish to have to rule which therapies are good or bad.
BABY DEATHS: The deaths of 15 babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016 are being investigated. The hospital has asked for the police to consider the cases in order to rule out the possibility of foul play.
ANOREXIA: The National Institution for Clinical Excellence has upgraded its guidance to doctors regarding eating disorders. The new guidelines emphasise the importance of referring sufferers to specialist units and the need to treat them close to home.
Environment
SALMON: A report published in Aquaculture Environment Interactions identifies sea lice as the major cause of the decline in the numbers of wild salmon. The lice breed among farmed fish, often held in pens at river estuaries, and then spread to the wild stock. They are deadly to the fish, which they eat alive, and have cut the production of farmed salmon in both Scotland and Norway. Possible solutions to the problem include the early harvesting of farmed fish, treating the fish with fresh warm water to kill the parasite, use of lump fish which eat the lice, and pesticides. The latter, however, affect the population of crustaceans.
Law and crime
SHOPLIFTING: According to figures released by the Office of National Statistics, recorded shoplifting offences in England and Wales rose by 8%. Over the same period the number of prosecutions dropped from just under 84,002 to 61,500.
ASSANGE: Swedish prosecutors have dropped the seven-year rape investigation into Julian Assange, while preserving the option of revising it if he returns to Sweden before the charges become statute barred. Accordingly the international arrest warrant against him has now lapsed. However, the Metropolitan Police have said that if he leaves the Ecuadorian Embassy he would be arrested for his failure to surrender to bail. Presumably Mr Assange remains concerned that he will then be shipped off to America to face WikiLeaks charges.
Football
TERRY’S FAREWELL: Retiring Chelsea captain John Terry, who wears a number 26 shirt, was substituted 26 minutes into his final match at Stamford Bridge and applauded off the field by his colleagues. The timing of the substitution was intended as a tribute to Mr Terry’s long and distinguished career both for Chelsea and England, and was facilitated by the opposition, Sunderland, deliberately kicking the ball into touch. Football pundits are outraged and the authorities, rather than regarding this as a graceful courtesy, are talking darkly about match fixing. Apparently the enormous sum of £3,500 changed hands at the bookies which must worry everyone. Oddly enough, a similar incident occurred during the Third Crusade when Saladin was besieging a Christian castle. There was a wedding going on inside and the castellan sent a tray of sweetmeats to the enemy commander. Always courteous, Saladin enquired as to the tower in which the newly-weds would be spending the night and directed his officers that that tower must not be attacked. As far as is known, no jack-in-office complained about match fixing.
Miscellaneous
SOUTHERN RAIL: The RMT union is planning a walkout, and Aslef an overtime ban, as the latest steps in the dispute with Southern Rail over whether drivers should be able to operate train doors. The union say that the issue is safety but in fact it seems more likely that their concern is an increase in the number of one man operated trains and redundancy among their membership.
NEW BANK: Marcus Goldman, a new UK retail bank, is expected to be opened by Goldman Sachs next year. The bank, which would probably operate online without a high street presence, would provide Goldman’s with low cost funds. Considerable work with the Regulators still needs to be done, particularly difficult following the concerns about retail funds backing investment bank operations.
NORFOLK WINES: Winbirri Vineyard’s Bacchus 2015, costing £13.95 a bottle, won the top prize for a wine made from a single white grape at the Decanter World Wine Awards.
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