WUFOOB … (Sep – Dec 2012)

Should the ban on fox-hunting be lifted?

The Telegraph, Sunday 23 December 2012
Jail fox hunters for five years, says RSPCA chief. The chief executive of the RSPCA issued a stern warning to Boxing Day hunts as he claimed those who set their hounds on foxes should go to jail for up to five years. District Judge Tim Pattinson, who presided over the recent case at Oxford Magistrates’ Court against the Heythrop Hunt based in David Cameron’s Witney constituency, described the £326,000 spent by the RSPCA in bringing the private prosecution as “staggering” and questioned whether it was what donors intended.

RSPCA spent ‘staggering’ £330,000 on fox hunting case

The Independent, Monday 17 December 2012
The Heythrop Hunt, based in Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty to four charges of intentionally hunting a fox with dogs. The district judge referred to the RSPCA costs of nearly £330,000 as a “quite staggering figure”. “Members of the public may feel that RSPCA funds can be more usefully employed,” he said.

BBC News, Monday 17 December 2012
The legal aid bill for radical cleric Abu Qatada, whose deportation to Jordan was blocked last month, stands at £515,778 and is rising.

Mayan Doomsday Stress

The Independent, Tuesday 11 December 2012
David Cameron’s gay marriage proposal causes ill-feeling on all sides.

Telegraph, Friday 14 December 2012
David Cameron walks into a political storm by failing to take Tories with him on Europe.

Private company offers trips to the Moon ‘by 2020’

Reuters, Friday 7 December 2012
Private firm, Golden Spike, plans “affordable” lunar mission for $1.5 billion.

Financial Times, Saturday 1 December 2012
North Korea’s state news agency has announced the decision to launch another space satellite. A failed rocket launch took place in April to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung.

UK to help Africa go green

Telegraph, Tuesday 4 December 2012
Britain yesterday pledged almost £2 billion in “climate aid” to help finance foreign projects including wind turbines in Africa and greener cattle farming in Colombia. Each household will contribute £70 to schemes to tackle climate change in developing countries before March 2015, under plans championed by Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary.

Mail Online, Thursday 29 November 2012
The head of children’s services in Rotherham has defended the decision to remove three ethnic minority children from foster parents, saying that their affiliation to the UK Independence Party (Ukip) meant they opposed multiculturalism. Joyce Thacker, Rotherham Borough Council’s director of children and young people’s services, said the children’s ‘cultural and ethnic needs’ did not fit with the parent’s ‘strong views’.

Leveson expected to recommend press regulation law

BBC News, Wednesday 28 November 2012
Lord Justice Leveson is widely expected to recommend some form of statutory regulation overseen by an independent body.

‘Get with the programme’ David Cameron tells Church of England

Mail Online, Wednesday 21 November 2012
David Cameron yesterday warned the Church of England to think again about its ‘very sad’ rejection of women bishops, as MPs called for Parliament to intervene directly. In a strongly worded rebuke, the Prime Minister said it was time for the Church to ‘get with the programme’ or risk looking dangerously out of touch with modern society.

Lord McAlpine to sue Twitter users

The Independent, Friday 16 November 2012
Former Conservative politician Lord McAlpine has commenced legal action against a long list of organisations and individuals who wrongly linked him to a paedophile ring. He said: “We will now be continuing to seek settlements from other organisations that have published defamatory remarks and individuals who have used Twitter to defame me.”

CNN International, Friday 16 November 2012
New documentary captures glacial ice retreating at sixteen different locations around the world.

IPSA watchdog to become Bercow’s poodle?

BBC News, Tuesday 13 November 2012
Four members of the watchdog which polices MPs’ expenses are to stand down after a row with Commons speaker John Bercow. Sources suggested the Speaker’s decision not to back their reappointment as a matter of course, as had been expected, would be seen by some as an attempt to curb their independence. IPSA took over responsibility for policing MPs’ expenses in 2010 after it emerged that a number of MPs had made inappropriate claims under the old system overseen by Parliament and a handful had committed fraud.

Justin Welby named as next Archbishop of Canterbury

The Telegraph, Thursday 8 November 2012
Justin Welby: the worldly capitalist looking to spread the Word of the Lord.

The Independent, Wednesday 7 November 2012
‘Fiscal cliff’ looms for Obama, with the House of Representatives and the Senate remaining as divided as before. Congress is required to act before the end of the year in order to stave off automatic cuts of $600bn in tax rises and spending cuts which could pitch America back into recession.

Government bans import of ash trees

BBC News, Saturday 27 October 2012
A ban on the import of ash trees will come into force on Monday in an attempt to halt the spread of a deadly disease, the environment secretary has said. The Chalara fraxinea fungus, which causes Chalara dieback, has already killed 90% of ash trees in Denmark and has been found in East Anglia.

Government postpones badger cull

BBC News, Tuesday 23 October 2012
Controversial government plans to cull thousands of badgers have been delayed amid questions over the cost and effectiveness of the scheme. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson’s Commons statement confirmed speculation that a pilot cull in the south-west of England is to be put back until next year. The aim of the pilot trials was to assess whether culling of badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset would be able to deliver a significant reduction in the cattle TB rate.

Badgers are human too, you know!

“It’s not about the bike” (Lance Armstrong)

BBC News, Sunday 14 October 2012
Sir Jimmy Savile abused dozens of victims over six decades.

Wikipedia
Jimmy Savile … became a semi-professional sportsman, competing in the 1951 Tour of Britain cycle race.

Daily Telegraph, Monday 15 October 2012
Lance Armstrong ‘sold his soul’ to doping.

Boris Johnson reaches new heights of popularity

Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 9 October 2012
Boris Johnson’s reception this week at Birmingham New Street Station was near-ecstatic – hundreds of activists cheering, “Bo-ris! Bo-ris!” as he got off the train. It’s hard to think of any other politician, alive or dead, who would get that sort of treatment.

ITV News, Wednesday 21 September 2012
Andrew Mitchell, who was promoted in Mr Cameron’s reshuffle two weeks ago, lost his temper after police refused to open the gates of Downing Street – asking him instead to use a small pedestrian gate to the side. Mr Mitchell launched a verbal assault on one police constable and stepped up his tirade when a second asked him to calm down.

Department of Transport gets sums wrong

The Spectator, Wednesday 3 October 2012
New Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced the West Coast Mainline franchise competition will have to be re-run. Civil servants checking their sums before a court case questioning the decision realise that they had in fact got their sums wrong. They had made mistakes in calculating the effect of inflation and passenger numbers.

Biofuel made from whisky by-products could be available on petrol forecourts

BBC News, Tuesday 25 September 2012
Edinburgh Napier University has developed a new biofuel made from whisky by-products. It is the result of two years work by the universities biofuel research centre.

Liberal Democrats will “do things differently”

The Independent, Thursday 20 September 2012
Nick Clegg has made an abject apology to the nation for his broken promise on university tuition fees in a final attempt to stop his U-turn haunting his leadership. In a party political broadcast, Mr Clegg says: “There is no easy way to say this: we made a pledge. We didn’t stick to it – and for that I am sorry. When you’ve made a mistake you should apologise. But more importantly – most important of all – you’ve got to learn from your mistakes. And that’s what we will do. I will never again make a pledge unless as a party we are absolutely clear about how we can keep it.”

Scientists cure deafness in gerbils

For many gerbils, deafness has a particularly disabling and debilitating impact on work, cage and social interaction. It’s a major breakthrough as it offers a treatment option for thousands of gerbils around the world.

The Telegraph, Thursday 13 September 2012
Dr Marcelo Rivolta explains how scientists at the University of Sheffield used human stem cells to cure deafness in gerbils.

Jeremy Hunt promoted to Health Secretary

Mirror News, Wednesday 5 September 2012
Cabinet reshuffle… So a man whose job was to oversee the shambolic security preparations for the Olympics doesn’t get sacked. He gets promoted to a more important job looking after an organisation which saves lives.

The Telegraph, Sunday 15 July 2012
The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who is in charge of the Olympics said: “It is completely normal that you are going to find some contractors on a project of this size who are not going to be able to deliver.” Just a fortnight from the start of the Games, the Ministry of Defence was forced to draft in extra 3,500 military personnel to cover for the missing security officials.