British news from March 25, 2010
Posted by Bram Swinnerton at 10:20 on Mar 25 2010The big news of the week was of course the Budget. The usual suspects were hit, those being alcohol and cigarettes. The surprise attack was on cider, the apple based and relatively cheap alcohol popular with young Brits. That had a 10% tax increase. Cigarettes were up 15p on a pack of 20 youll now pay around 6 for a pack. ($8.89).
If you earn over 150,000 (US$220,000) youll now have to give up 50% to the government. On the other hand, if you are a first-time homebuyer then you wont have to pay Stamp Duty (property purchase tax) on your property.
There was good news in the U.K. as Sahil Saeed, 5 was returned to his father and mother in Oldham. The youngster was kidnapped by Pakistani gunmen 12 days ago in Pakistan. They demanded 100,000 (US$150,000) which has been paid according to Pakistans law minister Rana Sanaullah. The gang, believed to be made up of three Pakistani men and two Eastern Europeans were later arrested. The latest news is that the father has not yet made it back to the UK from Pakistan but is believed to be on his way. Ill keep you posted if that story develops.
More good news for us Brits, as Nissan announced that the Nissan Leaf, the first affordable zero emission car is being produced in Sunderland (North of England), where it will safeguard hundreds of jobs. The car has a 100 mile range which understandably may put some people off although hundreds of institutions are being subsidised to install charging points. Of course until the production of electricity in the UK is zero emission itself and not produced by fossil burning power stations then it hasnt really achieved much - ecologically speaking. If you live in France on the other hand, where only 5% of power comes from burning fossil fuels then Id say an electric car is well worth the price and hassle, but in the UK only 5% of our electricity is NOT produced by burning fossil fuels. Interesting fact of the day.
As the unions tighten their grip on an already struggling industry, we saw 3 days of strikes by BA (British Airways) staff as talks collapsed with the UNITE union. After one day of the strikes they continued to argue but this time about how much the strike had affected BA. There were claims and counter claims over how many planes were grounded. Unite said it had grounded 85 planes, BA said it hadnt. Unite said most of the staff were on strike, whereas Willie Walsh the Chief Executive of British Airways says that staffing levels have been very good. Tony Woodley, Unite Joint General Secretary said, Mr Walsh needs to realise that this is Britain today, not Burma. Didnt he mean the Union of Myanmar? He also reputed the claim that 1100 staff turned up for work.
If you think the UKs problem are all up in the air then think again, rail workers also voted to strike. The reasons they give are planned job cuts, working practices (i.e. having to work weekends) and the safety concerns that these issues may cause. We are set to see plenty more public sector walks outs as the government has to make cuts at some point. The expression spring of discontent has been bandied about although I suspect it will be a summer of discontent as the government will leave any nasty shocks until after the general elections on or before June 3rd. What we do know, is that the government has to start to claw back from our debilitating position of having 796.9 billion national debt which is 55.5 per cent of our national GDP. Now it looks like we are the poor man of Europe!
The Student Loans Company is expected to delay payments to students again this year. They have seriously flawed contingency plans and some students from last year have still not got all their money. In an economic climate that means finding part-time jobs is more difficult than normal, this could mean many students are forced to quit their studies.
In India, two men go on trial for the murder of 15 year-old Devon girl Scarlett Keeling, two years ago. She was found dead on a Goa beach and later examination revealed she had been forcibly held underwater. 29 year-old Placido Carvalho, a local businessman and barman Samson DSouza are charged with her rape, drugging and murder.
On Friday an expedition to the North Pole by wounded service men and women was launched by Prince Harry (25), on which he promised to join them for the last five days of the trip. This is if his military engagements allow it of course. It is thought that he wants to re-engage the Taliban in Afghanistan shortly.
Lastly, Pope Benedict XVI apologised for abuse suffered by countless children at the hands of Catholic priests. Many victims were disappointed however that he did not go further and admit that the church tried to cover up allegations of abuse.
In a letter the Pope said, You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry, and, Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated.
Lets hope that puts an end to the abuse. Thats the news as I see it from here.
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