WUFOOB … (Jan – Apr 2012)

Heavy rain across Britain despite the hosepipe ban

Daily Telegraph, Friday 27 April 2012
Flood alerts could be introduced in parts of Britain over the coming days despite the country facing its most severe water shortage for a generation, experts have warned.

Footballers tweeting too much?

Daily Telegraph, Monday 16 April 2012
How Twitter has transformed football…From Ashley Young’s unpopular testing of Newton’s theory of gravity at Old Trafford to some Chelsea fans’ ugly chants and Juan Mata’s ‘ghost goal’ at Wembley, Sunday demonstrated graphically how much the match-going experience has been transformed by the social-networking revolution.

The Guardian, Sunday 15 April 2012
Joey Barton, known for his violence both on and off the pitch, met suspicion when he began to tweet about everything from the FA to Nietzsche.

North Korea rocket launch fails

BBC News, Friday 13 April 2012
North Korea’s keenly watched rocket launch has failed, Pyongyang has confirmed. South Korea said the rocket exploded into some 20 pieces and fell into the sea. North Korea has been surprisingly open about the failure of its satellite. A broadcaster appeared on state television within hours of the launch and admitted that the satellite had not reached orbit, and that North Korean scientists were trying to ascertain why. It marks a sharp change from previous launches, which Pyongyang had always declared successful, despite doubts from the international community. North Korea conducted a similar rocket launch in 2009. On that occasion US and South Korea analysts said the rocket failed to reach orbit – but North Korea said it was a success.

Water restrictions introduced in London area

The Press Association, Friday 7 April 2012
Seven water companies are introducing restrictions on water use following one of the driest two-year periods on record, with domestic customers facing a £1,000 fine if they use their hosepipe in defiance of the ban. Customers will no longer be able to use their hosepipes for watering their gardens, washing cars or boats, hosing down patios and paths, and filling swimming pools, ponds, fountains and paddling pools.

Colder weather on way for Easter

The Guardian, Monday 2 April 2012
The Met Office said: “It is likely to continue to feel cool, if not fairly chilly, particularly compared with the recent very warm spell, with temperatures quite widely around or just below the seasonal average. Sunshine amounts are likely to be highly variable in this unsettled regime.”

The Independent, Tuesday 3 April 2012
The Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is to be sidelined as the Government’s face of the fuel haulier dispute following his off-the-cuff remarks advising the public to fill jerry cans with fuel led to days of panic buying.

petrolgate, pastygate, …

Daily Record, Thursday 29 March 2012
Queues grew at forecourts around the country yesterday as news spread of the Tories’ warnings over a threatened tanker drivers’ strike. No strike has been called and talks are planned, but there were fears that [David] Cameron and [Francis] Maude had started a wave of panic-buying that would be hard to control.

Daily Record, Thursday 29 March 2012
David Cameron claimed he loved to scoff a humble Cornish pasty yesterday as he tried to justify the Tories’ move to slap VAT on hot pies. But within hours, aides had to admit that the shop where he claimed to have bought his last pasty closed five years ago…Labour leader Ed Miliband seized on Cameron’s discomfort by visiting a branch of Greggs with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves. They left with a £4.70 bag of sausage rolls.

James Cameron’s deep sea dive

BBC News, Monday 26 March 2012
Hollywood director James Cameron has returned to the surface after plunging nearly 11km (seven miles) down to the deepest place in the ocean, the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.

Cameron in cash-for-access turmoil

Financial Times, Monday 26 March 2012
David Cameron was on Sunday night under pressure to disclose fully which Conservative party donors he had wined and dined in private engagements at Downing Street after the prime minister was plunged into a “cash-for-access” crisis. Labour said revelations that Peter Cruddas, the party treasurer, had offered access to Mr Cameron and George Osborne, the chancellor, in return for donations to the Tory party of £250,000, could not be “swept under the carpet”.

Reuters, Friday 16 March 2012
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announced unexpectedly on Friday that he would step down at the end of the year. He said it was time to move on after a decade as archbishop. “I would hope that my successor has the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros,” he said.

The Telegraph, Monday 12 March 2012
Inappropriate use of the word “literally” has become so commonplace it is now “epidemic”, a leading author said yesterday.

BBC News, Friday 2 March 2012
David Cameron has confirmed he did ride a horse which police lent to former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks. He apologised for allowing a “confusing picture” over the issue to emerge after days of speculation. News that London’s police force lent Mrs Brooks a horse emerged as inquiries continue into the relationship between News International and the Met.

Sun executives accused of paying huge illegal payments to corrupt public officials.

Scottish Daily Record, Tuesday 28 February 2012
The Leveson inquiry team have been investigating the conduct of the printed press. The Sun paid a fortune in bribes for years to a “network” of corrupt police and public officials, a police chief claimed yesterday. Top bosses at Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid knowingly let journalists hand wads of cash to police, military officials and Government and NHS staff.

Abu Qatada is to have round-the-clock police protection

Daily Mail, Saturday 13 February 2012
At a cost to taxpayers of £10,000 a week, a team of up to 60 police officers and MI5 agents will provide round-the-clock protection for a man described as Osama Bin Laden’s ambassador in Europe when he returns to his London home… Security costs are estimated to be around £500,000 a year on top of the £1million in benefits, prison costs and legal fees the terror sympathiser has drained from the public purse.

BBC tells journalists to stop calling Abu Qatada an ‘extremist’ as it implies a value judgement.

Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 7 February 2012
A British court has called Qatada a “truly dangerous individual” and even his defence team has suggested he poses a “grave risk” to national security. Despite that background, BBC journalists were told they should not describe Qatada as an extremist. The guidance was issued at the BBC newsroom’s 9.00am editorial meeting yesterday, chaired by a senior manager, Andrew Roy. According to notes of the meeting, seen by The Daily Telegraph, journalists were told: “Do not call him an extremist – we must call him a radical. Extremist implies a value judgment.”

So which would be his greater folly – promoting wind farms or covering up a speeding offence?

The Guardian, Saturday 4 February 2012
Menzies Campbell said the Lib Dem grassroots would tolerate no rowing back from the green agenda that is central to their purpose in government following the resignation of Chris Huhne. Huhne, one of the Lib Dems’ toughest operators, resigned as energy secretary to mount a “robust defence” of claims that he persuaded his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce, to take his penalty points for a speeding offence in 2003.

The university’s new centre for the study of integrity (honestly!) published its findings today in The Independent. The report shows higher tolerance levels for a wide range of rule breaking activities compared to a similar report carried out in 2000.

But how could the researchers be sure the respondees weren’t lying?