UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from Breakingviews:
Memo to UK’s new air strategists: let numbers talk
By Robert Cole
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
After years of make-do-and-mend, the UK is once again arguing about the London’s airport capacity, and the possibility of a third runway at Heathrow. Most people seem keen only to rubbish plans they dislike. The right approach is to give airtime to all ideas - and then make a firm decision.
Much depends on the demand which needs to be met. It is certain that London currently caters for 140 million passengers per year. The trend is certainly upwards, if capacity is available. But could it almost triple to 400 million by 2050 as London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, thinks?
At best, any forecast is a guesstimate. The actual number will be determined by many things: the economy, technology, flight patterns, environmental concerns and competition from trains and airports outside of London, and outside the UK. But a prediction is crucial, so the analysis needs to be rigorous and intelligent, independent of any purely political preferences.
from Breakingviews:
UK’s problem: it’s the best in Europe
By Ian Campbell
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
UK GDP stalled in the fourth quarter, contracting by 0.2 percent. That’s bad. But which major west European economy will perform best in 2012? It’s the UK again, the IMF predicted this week.
from FaithWorld:
Ireland attacks confessional secrecy after Catholic sex abuse scandal
(A Roman Catholic Croat confesses to a priest during a pilgrimage in Krasno, some 150km (93 miles) south of Zagreb August 15, 2009/Nikola Solic )
Ireland's prime minister has said Catholic clerics would be prosecuted if they failed to tell the authorities about crimes disclosed during confession, the latest blow to the prestige of the once-dominant Church. A report this week found that the Church concealed from the authorities the sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009, and that clerics appeared to follow Church law rather than Irish guidelines to protect minors.
from The Great Debate UK:
Will Nick Clegg’s government “suggestion box” work?
-Mark Kobayashi-Hillary is the author of several books, including ‘Who Moved my Job?’ and ‘Global Services: Moving to a Level Playing Field’.The opinions expressed are his own.-
If Thomas Paine were around today he would be a blogger, writing virtual pamphlets that shake a fist at the machinery of government.
Budget for votes riskily delays UK debt pain
– The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –
Alistair Darling promised no election “giveaways” and in one sense he delivered. The UK finance minister’s budget is about not giving away the election. It might have been worse — if Darling had acceded to his boss Gordon Brown’s even more populist instincts. But there are vote-seeking swipes at high earners and banks, as well as a crowd-pleasing but misguided tax cut to first-time house-buyers. The UK’s budget-balancing pain is being postponed and concealed. And that’s risky.
from The Great Debate UK:
Send your questions to George Osborne
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne will set out the Conservative Party's strategy for rebuilding the UK economy in an exclusive Thomson Reuters Newsmaker at 11 a.m. on Monday, October 26.
We will bring you full coverage of Osborne's speech, including a live video feed and blog, after which we will conduct a short social media interview with him.
Should BNP be on Question Time?
On Thursday night, BNP leader Nick Griffin will appear on the BBC’s leading current affairs programme “Question Time”, an appearance that has provoked much anger and debate.
Griffin is no stranger to the airwaves or TV screens, regularly appearing this week alone after four leading former generals attacked his party for using military imagery as part of its campaigning
from The Great Debate UK:
Send your questions to Alistair Darling
Do you have a question you would like to ask Chancellor Alistair Darling? Now is your chance.
At 1:30pm British time on Wednesday, October 21, Reuters is hosting an exclusive Web 2.0 interview with Darling and we want you to send us your questions to put to the top man from the Treasury.
Clouds of change: Buzzwords from conference season
Opposition leader David Cameron has delivered his speech to the Conservative party conference in Manchester.******Cameron told delegates there would be “painful” cuts in public spending, promised to send more troops to Afghanistan and stressed the importance of confronting “Labour’s debt crisis.” He also pledged to modernise the pension system, “break the cycle of welfare dependency” and cut back on bureaucracy to make life easier for entrepreneurs.******Cameron’s speech brings conference season to an end. Leaders of the three main parties — Cameron, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg for the Liberal Democrats — have all laid out their plans for Britain ahead of a general election due by June 2010.******The ‘word clouds’ below have been generated using the complete texts from each of the leaders’ keynote conference speeches, in the order they were given. At first glance there are some striking similarities and fascinating overlaps — but we will leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.******How did you think each of the leaders performed? Who did you find the most convincing? Is David Cameron ready to lead the country?******Keywords from Nick Clegg’s speech:******
******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Keywords from Gordon Brown’s speech:******
******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Â ******Keywords from David Cameron’s speech:******
People, Britain and change – Brown’s speech keywords
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised to clean up politics, get tough on crime in his keynote speech to the annual Labour Party conference in Brighton. He also pledged to address the bonus culture that many blame for the financial crisis.
The ‘Word Cloud’ below (click the image for a larger view), produced by Wordle, shows the words he used most frequently.
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The Wall
