WUFOOB … (Oct – Dec 2015)

Paris climate deal legally binds all to limit warming

Tribune, Sunday 13th December 2015
A landmark climate change deal was tonight clinched with the approval of India, China and the US, after days of tough negotiations here with the legally-binding pact seeking to limit global warming to “well below” 2° Celsius.

Obesity has become ‘a national threat’ to the UK like terrorism

Telegraph, Friday 11th December 2015
Obesity poses such a threat to the country that it should be treated as a “national risk” alongside terrorism, the country’s most senior doctor has warned. Chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, urged women in particular to take steps to slim down – warning that rising levels of obesity in pregnancy are jeopardising the health of future generations. She said that the problem is becoming so deadly that it is now threatening to overwhelm the NHS and cripple society’s productivity.

David Cameron announces rapid response force by 2025

Politics Home, Monday 23rd November 2015
Britain will have 10,000 troops ready for deployment at short notice anywhere in the world by 2025, the Prime Minister will announce today.

NHS financial crisis

Telegraph, Friday 20th November 2015
NHS trusts in England are expected to declare the worst financial performance in the history of the health service, with fears some hospitals will run out of cash to pay staff. New figures from NHS regulators are set to reveal a deficit of £1.5bn, with projections the figure will reach £2bn by the end of the financial year.

MoD forced to make “efficiency savings”

Telegraph, Friday 6th November 2015
Armed Forces personnel are to be denied automatic pay rises as George Osborne looks to make ‘efficiency savings’. Senior military figures are angry at the way in which the Treasury is forcing the Ministry of Defence to make £1.5 billion in “efficiency savings” in the forthcoming Whitehall spending review.

Councils and taxman to be given power to view your internet history

Telegraph, Sunday 1st November 2015
Dozens of public bodies will be able to search people’s internet activity for the purposes of ‘detecting or preventing crime’. A government source said that access will be “limited, targeted and strictly controlled” and overseen by a new Investigatory Powers Commissioner. However David Davis, a senior Conservative MP, warned that the wider access to the information was potentially “dangerous” and could lead to abuse. “It is a serious amount of information,” he said. “I don’t think that the British public want councils to have access to this.”

House of Lords getting ‘too big for its unelected boots’?

The Guardian, Monday 26th October 2015
David Cameron is planning to set limits on the power of the House of Lords after George Osborne suffered a major blow to his authority when peers voted to delay tax credit cuts in order to protect those who would lose out. A furious prime minister made clear that the upper house had ridden roughshod over conventions dating back to the aftermath of Lloyd George’s People’s Budget of 1909 and beyond, according to which peers do not interfere in financial matters.

Cameron set for high-stakes game of bluff with Brussels

Rueters, Tuesday 20th October 2015
When David Cameron writes to fellow European Union leaders in a couple of weeks, asking for new terms of membership, it will be the opening gambit in high-stakes negotiations that could see Britain quit the bloc. Polls showing the migrant chaos in Europe giving the Leave camp an edge might strengthen his hand in getting the EU to take notice of him. But it could also reinforce European indifference to his demands.

UK crime rate soars as cybercrime is included for first time

The Guardian, Thursday 15th October 2015
The crime rate for England and Wales has doubled to more than 11.6m offences, according to the latest figures. The sharp rise in the headline figures is due to the inclusion of an estimated 5.1m online fraud incidents and 2.5m cybercrime offences for the first time.

Up to 50,000 missing horses may have ended up as food sold in Britain

Telegraph, Saturday 17th October 2015
As many as 50,000 horses “disappeared” across Europe during the financial crisis and may have ended up in food sold in Britain, the country’s leading food security expert has claimed. Professor Chris Elliot, who led the Government inquiry into the horse meat scandal, said the animals began to disappear as people’s budgets became tight after the banking meltdown in 2008. He indicated that families on the Continent who owned horses might have given in to criminal gangs, deciding the animal was too expensive to keep. With no trace of the horses on record, it was “possible” that they had been killed and the meat used in cheap burgers and ready meals such as lasagne.

Telegraph, Wednesday 14th October 2015
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, tried to explain why he’d made a sudden U-turn on his economic policy – a mere fortnight after he promised Labour party conference that he would join George Osborne in committing to run a budget surplus. “I suppose I should deal straightforwardly with the issue of the U-turn,” he began. “Yes, two weeks ago I recommended that Labour MPs should vote for [the Government’s] charter – and today I’ll be urging them to vote against!” The Tories were in stitches. Thighs were slapped. Sides were held. The Government benches were a wriggling hullabaloo of cartoonish hilarity. Valiantly Mr McDonnell tried to make himself heard. For Labour’s sake, it might have been better if he hadn’t. “Embarrassing!” he admitted, loudly. “Embarrassing! Embarrassing!” He kept shouting it, anxious to be heard above the din. “Embarrassing! Embarrassing! Yes, of course it is! But…”

In and Out campaigns launched

Yahoo News, Monday 12th October 2015
A cross-party campaign that will lead the fight for Britain to remain in the European Union ahead of a referendum due by 2017 is to launch on Monday. The “Britain Stronger in Europe” campaign will be led by businessman Stuart Rose, a Conservative peer in Britain’s upper house of parliament and the former boss of Marks and Spencer. It follows the debut of two campaigns for the country to leave the EU. “Vote Leave”, including members of both the Conservative party and the main opposition Labour party, launched last week, while the UKIP-led “Leave.EU” launched in September.