WUFOOB … (Jan – Mar 2013)

Help to Buy scheme: homebuyer boost or house price bubble?

The Guardian, Friday 22 March 2013
Government claims the new Help to Buy scheme will open up homeownership to the masses, but critics warn it will create another housing bubble.

What do we need to do to speed up global warming?

The Telegraph, Saturday 16 March 2013
Sir David Attenborough was wrong to join the chorus on global warming. Between 1966 and 2006 polar-bear populations increased.

Metro, Monday 18 March 2013
Spring is on hold – until the end of the month at least, after forecasters warned more cold weather is on its way, with snow and freezing temperatures expected in some parts of the country. Up to eight inches of snow are predicted for Scotland and northern England from tonight to Wednesday and temperatures could drop as low as minus 15C (5F) overnight.

Euronews, Tuesday 12 March 2013
The black smoke that rose from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel on Monday evening signalled the first day of conclave ending with no decision on who will be the next pope.

BBC News, Monday 11 March 2013
Former cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce have each been jailed for eight months for perverting the course of justice. Huhne had admitted asking Pryce to take his speeding points to avoid losing his licence in 2003, and Pryce was convicted of having agreed to do so.

Daily Mail, Tuesday 19 February 2013
Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem, has raised the spectre of 1970s-style blackouts because 10 per cent of coal and oil-fired power production is being shut down next month.

EU damages Britain’s competitiveness

The Times, Friday 1 March 2013
Brussels is to curb bankers’ bonuses from next year in a major blow to the City and the UK Government.

Jury fails to grasp the basics

The Guardian, Wednesday 20 February 2013
Vicky Pryce faces retrial after jury ‘fails to grasp basics’. Judge dismisses jury in case of Chris Huhne’s ex-wife, saying panel suffered ‘fundamental deficits in understanding’. Mr Justice Sweeney discharged the panel of eight women and four men following more than 15 hours of deliberations, and a day after they submitted 10 questions that indicated they had not grasped the basics of their task.

Mansion tax plans

BBC News, Sunday 17 February 2013
The Liberal Democrats are considering whether to extend their policy of levying a mansion tax on homes worth more than £2m to cover other properties. It comes after Labour backed the idea of a £2m mansion tax on Thursday.

Cameron apologises for historical injustice

The Times, Wednesday 20 February 2013
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, offered condolences for the British massacre of Indians at Amritsar. He laid a wreath at Jallianwala Bagh, where at least 379 unarmed protesters were killed by troops under British command in 1919.

National Geographic, November 2011
Neanderthals may have been victims of interspecies breeding with modern humans, according to a new study. The two species mated till the Neanderthal lineage melted into ours. They also may have been exposed to some type of disease that modern humans brought from Africa and for which they had no immunity.

BBC News, Saturday 9 February 2013
The environment secretary is to meet representatives from the Food Standards Agency and meat retailers and suppliers to discuss the horsemeat scandal. Tesco, Aldi and Findus have all had to withdraw food products.

Chris Huhne – Gone with the wind?

Telegraph, Monday 4 February 2013
Chris Huhne, the millionaire windfarm advocate, resigned as a minister after being charged over an allegation that he persuaded his ex-wife Vicky Pryce to take his penalty points for a speeding offence almost a decade ago. He was a passionate advocate of windfarms, calling opponents to wind power “short-termists, arm-chair engineers, curmudgeons and faultfinders”.

The high-speed revolution will boost economy

Herald Sun, Tuesday 29 January 2013
The British government has unveiled plans to extend a controversial high-speed rail network (HS2) to the north of England in a move that Prime Minister David Cameron said would boost the stagnant economy. “It is vital that we get on board the high-speed revolution,” said Cameron.

The special friendship encounters hymn sheet trouble

Telegraph, Thursday 31 January 2013
In his inauguration speech last week, Barack Obama assured America that “a decade of war is now ending”. Just three hours earlier, the Prime Minister had told the Commons that a “generational struggle” against the jihadis was only just beginning.

Supercostlyunrealisticreformsareatrocious

Evening Standard, Tuesday 29 January 2013
Children’s minister Elizabeth Truss today announced reforms aimed at improving the quality of childcare staff. New nursery staff will be expected to have at least C-grade GCSE in English and maths. Only nurseries employing better-qualified staff will be able to relax the ratio of children to adults, and Miss Truss insisted childcare professionals need to be better qualified.

Telegraph, Monday 21 January 2013
Snow causes school closures and travel disruption. Economists are warning the widespread heavy snow could increase the chance of Britain entering a triple-dip recession, the FT reports this morning.

Tesco burgers win by a nose!

London Evening Standard, Thursday 17 January 2013
Horse meat could have been in Tesco beef burgers for years but remained undetected because of insufficient food regulation, it was claimed.

When all else fails there’s always delusion. (Conan O’Brien)

Sky News, Sunday 6 January 2013
On Monday, Mr Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will publish a mid-term review of progress the coalition government has made since 2010 and set out its top priorities for the rest of their term. Mr Cameron said: “What you are going to see tomorrow is a coalition Government with a full tank of gas, it’s full steam ahead. We have travelled a long way down the road we need to travel but there is a lot more we need to do.”