Today’s news that Westminster Council is to cut health benefits for obese people who do not exercise regularly has irked quite a large amount of people. Many believe that the decision has a fat chance of making any change and that it would be fairer and more practical for the council to attack the local fast food industry rather than the fast food eating population. Supporters say that the measures will give people a greater incentive to lose weight and to take up a healthier lifestyle.
Under the proposed move, GPs would be allowed to prescribe leisure activities like swimming and fitness classes and overweight benefit claimants who don’t fulfil the programs prescribed by doctors, will be docked money. Smart cards would be used to monitor the use of leisure centres. The plans were set up by the Westminster Council in partnership with Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) in the report ‘A Dose of Localism: The Role of Council in Public Health’. The plan will apparently save £5bn from the NHS budget and also includes rewarding those who take greater responsibility with their health.
With a triple dip most likely to come, and having spent years of the recession era counting costs and losing jobs, the British people could hardly be blamed for hoping the government would help them in their struggles wherever possible. 4.2% is this year’s annual price hike for season ticket holders agreed in August and now in effect, while ticket prices all round have gone up 3.9%. The TUC has claimed that average train fares have risen nearly three times faster than average since 2008. All at a time of continued petrol rises, this is hardly the news that the country’s travellers – the majority of working people – needed.
London Mayor Boris Johnson urges EU vote before next election
Today the London Mayor Boris Johnson is picking on the Prime Minister David Cameron to hasten his decision on Britain’s place in Europe before the next general election, thus creating a intensifying pressure and stress for the Prime Minister.
The mayor feels that the five year timescale period will not be enough for the prime minister to be able to decide and work on the issue, thus, adding more pressure for the prime minister to be able to treat the issue with more urgency.
More efforts and expectations are expected from Cameron as to how a unity call can be made or done with his party on European policy in an upcoming major speech next month. It also includes a referendum on the UK’s place in the EU in the Tories’ 2015 election manifesto.
Boris Johnson once again failed to scotch speculation that he harbours ambitions to succeed David Cameron as Conservative party leader as he refused to say that the incumbent leader was a better prime minister than he could be
He BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show he would like to see the public given the chance to vote before 2015, although he did not expect it to happen. “We have never had a popular vote since 1975 on a European question. I would like to be able to campaign for a single market and the withdrawal from a lot of the nonsensical policies,” he said.
“I think it would be a good idea if they did it before 2015.”
It is undeniably known to all the famous Starbucks café not only in the UK but worldwide too, is now in trouble for tax evasion. Tax avoidance campaigners have held protests at Starbucks cafes across the UK, despite the firm's pledge to pay millions of pounds of extra corporation tax for the next two years. UK Uncut says Starbucks did not make any payment for the past three years.
In 2013 Allied Newspapers will be beginning a series of campaigns. We believe that through the raising of awareness and the application of media pressure upon decision makers, we can change the world for the better. Both small and large changes are needed to improve the world. Whether it is something as widespread and significant as the battle against tolerance or something as small and local like the improvement of local recycling in a small hamlet in France, we believe that all positive changes are important and we do our utmost to bring about such change.
UK: Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP once hailed as David Cameron’s environmental adviser, accused the Prime Minister of “deception” and who acquiesced to big business over genetically modified agricultural products.
Britain will be expected to plan national defense with the rest of the European Union after David Cameron agreed to accelerate joint military operations.
When the “pleb-gate” saga initially broke out, I wrote on this very paper how Mitchell’s becoming irate at the end of a long frustrating day was not a particularly interesting news story. The alleged use of the word “pleb” was the cause of public ire, and such an utterance would of course have been a severe PR gaffe on Mitchell’s part, but the story seemed, on the whole, blown way out of proportion.
Now all of a sudden, with accusations that the use of the word “pleb” had been fabricated, the story is interesting. Channel 4 News has alleged that a police officer sent an email, under the guise of a member of the public who witnessed the row, with the “pleb” allegation. CCTV coverage suggests no-one, other than the officers, would have been within earshot of Mitchell’s irate dealings with the officers. The email had been sent to Deputy Chief Whip John Randall who passed it on to No 10. There are now rumours that Randall, who allegedly doesn’t get on particularly well with Mitchell, may have been implicated in the fabrication process – Randall has refused to comment further.
The Queen has had a busy day. For the last event to commemorate her diamond jubilee, she attended the cabinet meeting – the first monarch to do this since King George III in 1781 during the US war of independence. Since then much has changed – the Queen’s role in the state has become merely a ceremonial one while the USA has unfortunately gained independence. She met ministers who gave her 60 place mats to mark the event. The Queen sat in the PM’s usual seat with Cameron and Hague either side. Her father also attended cabinet, but King George VI attended a war cabinet during the Second World War rather than a peace-time cabinet.
Michael Harby, who served his country as a Royal Marine, found himself deserted by the same country he served for 17 years when he was sentenced to an 8-week imprisonment after being denied the right to trial by jury.
When he returned home from a military deployment, Mr. Harby found out that his wife committed adultery while he was away. He tried to resolve the issue to keep his family together, but his wife filed for a divorce. After the divorce was finalized, Mr. Harby's children were taken by his now ex-wife.