Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Sunday 16 November 2014
David Cameron warns of "further sanctions" on Russia
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"If he continues to destabilise Ukraine, there will be further sanctions, further measures and there will be a completely different relationship between European countries and America on the one hand and Russia on the other."
He was speaking at the G20 summit in Australia.
BBC NEWS
Saturday 15 November 2014
Rooney scores on 100th appearance to spark England win
The England skipper scored with a thunderous spot-kick after 59 minutes having been fouled by Slovenia captain Bostjan Cesar to move level with Jimmy Greaves as his country's joint-third highest scorer on 44 goals.
He is now just five goals behind Bobby Charlton's all-time record of 49 England goals.
Rooney's equaliser came two minutes after Slovenia took the lead when Milivoje Novakovic whipped in a free kick and Jordan Henderson sent a header flying past Joe Hart for an own goal.
England secured victory with two goals from Danny Welbeck who struck after 66 minutes with a scrappy left-foot shot before making it 3-1 six minutes later after fine build-up play culminated in a superb one-two with Raheem Sterling. He has now scored five times in his last four England appearances.
The victory maintained England's perfect start to the campaign and they head the standings with 12 points from their opening four matches.
Slovenia are second with six points from four games and although they were more adventurous in the second half, they posed virtually no attacking threat in a turgid opening 45 minutes.
The only attempt either team had on goal before halftime was when Jasmin Kurtic forced his goalkeeper Samir Handanovic to make a save to stop what would otherwise have been an own goal.
The evening began when Rooney was presented with a golden cap to mark his 100th match by Charlton before kickoff, but that was about the only memorable thing that happened before Slovenia went ahead.
The hosts, who lacked any attacking threat before the break, suddenly came to life in the 59th minute as Rooney sparked their revival after the visitors scored the first goal England have conceded in this qualifying campaign.
Rooney dribbled through the defence until he was tripped by Cesar, who was making his 81st appearance for his country to become their all-time most-capped player.
Handanovic got his hand to Rooney's penalty but could not stop it going in.
Welbeck, who worked hard alongside Rooney up front, wrapped up the points and the only other England player to emerge from the match with much credit was debutant Nathaniel Clyne, who had a fine game at right back.
reuters
Scottish nationalist 'kingmakers' eye post-2015 election deal with Labour
If Scottish nationalists win a 'kingmaker' position in Britain's May 2015 election, they would consider supporting a minority Labour government but would never get into bed with the Conservatives, their leader in the London parliament said.
Since Scots voted by 55-45 percent to preserve the United Kingdom in a Sept. 18 referendum, support for the Scottish National Party has surged on a perception that Britain's rulers are backsliding on pledges to grant more powers.
A poll by Ipsos-MORI last month showed the SNP, which won just six seats in the House of Commons in 2010, could win 54 of the 59 Scottish seats in 2015, potentially making it Britain's third largest party in terms of Westminster seats.
The once fringe party could find itself a possible 'kingmaker' after the May 7 general election with the fate of the world's sixth largest economy in its hands.
"I would relish the opportunity to be able to ensure that Scotland is not governed by Tories that we didn't elect. The SNP will never support a Tory government," Angus Robertson, the Westminster SNP leader told Reuters in an interview in Perth, 450 miles (725 km) north of London.
"We will not go into an arrangement with the Tories (Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives). That means that other constellations are possible."
He said the SNP would consider a deal with Labour and possibly even the Liberal Democrats.
The SNP's rise adds a further dose of volatility to the most uncertain general election in a generation as Britain's rulers attempt to tinker with their European Union membership and face a surge of voter disaffection with established parties.
Under scenarios currently being discussed, the SNP could enter a 'confidence and supply' deal giving a minority Labour government support on crucial votes in exchange for concessions.
So what is the pound of flesh?
"I have very high opinion of Reuters but you wouldn't expect me to rehearse our position now," Robertson, a 45-year-old former journalist, said with a smile.
After no single party won an overall majority in the 2010 election, Labour ministers dismissed a mooted alliance with Scottish nationalists. Cameron's Conservative Party formed a government with the Liberal Democrats.
At the very minimum, the SNP would hold the Westminster parties to their pre-referendum pledge to grant more powers to Scotland.
Britain's London-based politicians have bickered over the details, though party leaders insist they will grant the promised powers to Scots. Legislation granting the powers is due to be passed after the election.
'BREXIT, SCOXIT'
Scotland may seek another independence vote if Britain's rulers fail to honour their pledge to grant these further powers, outgoing Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond warned on Friday.
"I believe there will be another independence referendum when there is a demand for it," Robertson said. "It is the public that will make these decisions. The people will decide."
One route to Scottish independence may be via a possible 2017 referendum which Cameron has promised as a vote on European Union membership. A so called 'Brexit' referendum is dependent on Cameron forming a government in May.
Salmond's protege, incoming Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has called for Scotland to have a veto over a future referendum on EU membership.
That creates the potential for a constitutional crisis that could crack apart the United Kingdom if Scotland voted to stay inside the EU but the rest of the United Kingdom voted to leave, Robertson said.
"It would force the biggest constitution crisis in living memory," he said. "I am not sure whether the upper echelons of the political parties in Westminster fully understand that yet. But they are treading on very dangerous ground."
REUTERS
Thursday 6 November 2014
Pellegrini baffled by Manchester City's Champions League form
His side are on the brink of Champions League elimination, needing to beat Roma and Bayern Munich in their final two matches and hope other results go their way.
The Chilean also refuses to blame the performance of Greek referee Tasos Sidiropolous, who turned down a late penalty appeal by Sergio Aguero.
bbc sport
Saturday 1 November 2014
Chelsea 2 - 1 QPR
The Brazil midfielder lashed home a first-time low, angled drive with the outside of his boot from 12 yards after being set up by Cesc Fabregas.
Charlie Austin levelled when back-heeling Leroy Fer's shot into the net.
But Eden Hazard's penalty, after the Belgian was fouled by Eduardo Vargas, won it for Chelsea.
Premier League champions City will reduce the gap to six points if they beat neighbours United in the Manchester derby on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho's side head to Slovenia for Wednesday's Champions League group game against NK Maribor unbeaten in 15 games in all competitions this season.
They also have Diego Costa leading the attack again, the Spain international showing flashes of his best form against QPR on his return from a four-game absence.
Chelsea, though laboured, dominated possession and would have won by a more handsome margin but for several saves from Robert Green.
Friday 24 October 2014
Mourinho is a very Special One, says Van Gaal
The pair have maintained a close relationship since former Barcelona boss Van Gaal gave the self-styled 'Special One' some early coaching opportunities as the Portuguese worked under him for three years at the Nou Camp.
The Dutchman says he is not surprised at Mourinho's emergence as one of the world's best managers and feels privileged to have played a part in his development.
"I knew already he had talent because I let him do Catalunya Cup matches for me instead of my other assistants," Van Gaal told a news conference on Friday ahead of the visit of the Premier League leaders.
"But to see that he's such a wonderful coach and won in different countries, all championships, I think it's fantastic.
"He has said (he learned from me) and it's remarkable because in the football world not many people are talking about that. He says it is not only about Louis van Gaal but also (former Barca manager) Bobby Robson. I appreciate that but you always do it by yourself.
"He is very special for me because I've worked with him and we've continued our relationship which in the football world is not always normal," added the Dutchman. "He is a very modest and emotional human being and I like that."
The pair have only clashed once before in a competitive game when Mourinho's Inter Milan beat Van Gaal's Bayern Munich 2-0 in the 2010 Champions League final.
DEVASTATING FORM
Hosting his former assistant on Sunday will be another difficult task for the United boss with Chelsea in devastating form, dropping only two points from their opening eight games to open up a five-point gap on nearest rivals Manchester City.
In contrast Van Gaal has endured a stuttering league start since taking over in the close season, with his side in sixth place in the table and 10 points adrift of Mourinho's men.
"Jose has worked more than one year already with his team and last year they didn't win any prizes so you have to build up and he has built up Chelsea," said the Dutchman.
"They are playing like a team and I want my team to do that as well but to play for 90 minutes."
United have been handed a boost with British transfer record signing Angel Di Maria deemed fit to face Chelsea.
The Argentina winger limped off when his team snatched a 2-2 draw at West Bromwich Albion on Monday but Van Gaal said he had trained ahead of Sunday's match.
reuters
'We won't pay,' furious Cameron tells EU over surprise budget
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As Eurosceptics at home leapt on news that the EU executive -- branded a "thirsty vampire" -- had demanded a sum worth about one seventh of London's annual payment after a major statistical review of national incomes, Cameron demanded action from fellow leaders at a summit calling the bill "completely unacceptable".
He found some sympathy - a visibly furious Cameron told a news conference that Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had also lambasted "bureaucrats without a heart", who made it harder to persuade citizens of the Union's value.
"It's an appalling way to behave," Cameron said. "I'm not paying that bill on Dec. 1. If people think I am they've got another thing coming. It is not going to happen."
EU ministers will hold an emergency meeting on the issue next month. Cameron said he wanted to understand the technical calculations and was also ready to mount a legal challenge.
EU officials insisted the revision, which also saw Italy and even crisis-hit Greece asked to pay more while France and Germany would get rebates, was part of an annual statistical exercise handled by civil servants, not politicians.
Jose Manuel Barroso, outgoing president of the European Commission, defended his staff, telling a news conference the system was designed by national governments which provided the income data on which payments were calculated.
He said the EU executive would explain the calculation to ministers but there could be no question of changing what countries had determined were their gross national incomes.
Cameron noted that annual revisions to the payments had never been so great - an effect, EU officials said, of a once-in-a-generation review of how national incomes are calculated that found Britain was richer than it had previously declared.
Officials at EU statistics office Eurostat said that was a result mainly of taking more account of money flowing in 2002-09 to non-profit organisations - from churches and universities to trade unions, charities and sports clubs.
Those statistics are provided by national agencies and, a spokesman for the European Commission's budget directorate said, the revised calculations, which then have an impact on working out the annual contribution to the EU budget, had been reviewed by officials from national governments, as happens every autumn.
"This is a purely mathematical, technical process," he said. "So much so that member states agreed that the Commission can implement the adjusted figures by Dec. 1 every year without any need to submit a proposal to the Council (of EU leaders)."
However, governments have little awareness of how other states may be amending their income calculations until the data is put together by Eurostat in the final weeks, leaving the size of any budget adjusmtment open to potential surprises.
The apparent lack of awareness of the political sensitivity of such big adjustments this year overshadowed a day of summitry intended to review efforts to revive economic growth. The leaders also came up with 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of cash commitments to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
After an EU deal to curb climate change overnight, the anger on Friday at Brussels' officials may dampen the final week of the present Commission led by Jose Manuel Barroso. He will make way for incoming President Jean-Claude Juncker on Nov. 1 after 10 years in charge of the European Union's executive branch.
Juncker has pledged a "very political" rather than technocratic approach to try to regain the trust of the half-billion people in the EU, many of whom are turning to anti-EU parties like the UK Independence Party. But, Cameron warned, the latest row made it harder for him to make the case to British voters that they should stay in the 28-nation bloc.
Cameron has demanded reforms and plans a referendum on EU membership if he manages to secure re-election next May.
His Eurosceptic opponents, gaining ground fast on his Conservative Party, accused the premier of misleading voters.
"David Cameron once claimed that he had reduced the EU budget -- but the UK contribution went up and now, quite incredibly, our contribution goes up a second time. It's just outrageous," said UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
"The EU is like a thirsty vampire feasting on UK taxpayers' blood. We need to protect the innocent victims who are us."
Even Cameron's pro-European Liberal Democrat coalition partners, led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, said it was unacceptable to change membership fees "at the drop of a hat".
Several fellow EU leaders urged Britain to respect long-standing EU rules and not blow an accounting exercise out of proportion. Finland's prime minister said Cameron should not make "mountains out of molehills".
"NORMAL"?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande also told Cameron the rules must be respected, while the Italian and Dutch prime ministers voiced support for Britain, according to the official.
According to a table sent by the Commission to governments a week ago and seen by Reuters, Berlin and Paris will receive money back while the Italians and Dutch and even Greece, which has been in recession for six straight years, have to pay more.
Italian Secretary of State for European Affairs Sandro Gozi said Rome wanted to postpone the application of the new measure.
Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said, however: "I think it's very important that we don't start treating the EU as some sort of a simplified accounting exercise." He noted that Britain gets a rebate on its EU bill every year, unlike Finland.
After that rebate, worth 5.9 billion euros this year, Britain was due to pay 14.7 billion euros into the EU's 140 billion-euro annual budget. Germany is by far the biggest net contributor, followed by France and Italy.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Cameron more sympathy: "I too was astonished how some got something back and others had to pay some more, and the scale was quite big," she said. "No one cast doubt on the calculation, but it's not so simple to pay 2 billion euros within a few weeks."
The request for additional funding came at an awkward time for Cameron, who faces a general election in May with UKIP cutting into his Conservatives' share of the vote.
The Eurosceptic party looks likely to win a second seat in parliament on Nov. 20, when a lawmaker who resigned from the Conservatives is standing for UKIP in a by-election in southern England. The budget row is a gift to UKIP for that ballot.
Anti-EU right-wingers in Cameron's own party also sought to exploit the issue ahead of a referendum on EU membership that he has promised for 2017 if the Conservatives win next year's national election.
John Redwood, a leading anti-EU Conservative lawmaker, said: "He should first of all decline to pay. He should make it very clear that the UK doesn’t accept retrospective taxation."
Queen sends her first tweet, signed 'Elizabeth R'
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Elizabeth R
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Queen Elizabeth II
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The 88-year-old monarch tried her hand at Twitter as she opened a new gallery Friday in central London's Science Museum, taking off a glove to press a tablet screen as 600 guests looked on. The message, "I hope people will enjoy visiting" the exhibition, was sent instantly through the official British monarchy account on the social media website.
It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.
— BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) October 24, 2014
"Elizabeth R" is how the queen signs official documents. The "R'' stands for "regina," the Latin for queen.
Officials said the message came "personally" from the queen herself, although some eyebrows were raised about whether that was the case.
The message appeared to be typed ahead of time, and bizarrely appears to have been sent using the Twitter for iPhone app, even though video showed the queen was using an iPad or a similar tablet device. Officials wouldn't say if the queen personally wrote the message or comment on the electronic discrepancy.
"We're not going to go into the details," a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.
The queen does not have a personal Twitter account. Most members of the royal family do not tweet personally — they are represented by official accounts managed by spokespeople.
There are exceptions: Prince Andrew — the queen's second son — and his daughter Princess Beatrice both tweet in a personal capacity.
The Science Museum gallery, called "Information Age," explores the technological breakthroughs that have changed communication.
In 1976, the queen was the first monarch to send an email, doing so when the technology was in its infancy.
Tuesday 21 October 2014
Argentina complains to BBC over 'Top Gear' presenter Clarkson
Alicia Castro visited the BBC's offices in person on Monday to allege that Clarkson had evoked memories of the 1982 Falklands war during filming and then made insulting remarks about the Argentine government and people.
Diplomatic relations between Britain and Argentina have been strained ever since the war over the sovereignty of the remote islands, 300 miles off the Argentine coast, which they respectively refer to as the Falklands and the Malvinas.
A statement from the Argentine embassy said Castro had called for the BBC to apologise for "Clarkson's provocative behaviour and offensive remarks towards the government and the Argentine people."
She presented the BBC's Director of Television Danny Cohen with a dossier of letters from British citizens, lawmakers and celebrities which she said condemned Clarkson's behaviour. She said she was awaiting a response.
The BBC said it had received a complaint and would apply its usual processes.
The outspoken Clarkson made headlines in the British press earlier this month with vivid accounts of an incident in which he said an angry mob objected to the registration number of a car he was driving through Argentina during filming.
The number plate "H982 FKL" was seen as a reference to the year and location of the war in which over 900 people died. Clarkson and the BBC said the vehicle number was a coincidence.
Clarkson was quoted as saying hundreds of protesters had thrown rocks and bricks at his car. He called it "the most terrifying thing I've ever been involved in", and complained that officials had thrown him out of the country for political reasons.
Top Gear has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the most-watched factual television show of all, with episodes broadcast in more than 200 countries and territories.
Clarkson, 54, has been censured in the past by the BBC for using racist language and has courted controversy on several occasions during his time on the light-hearted magazine-style show.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has revived nationalist sentiment over the Falklands in recent years, mounting a vocal campaign to renegotiate sovereignty and prevent London-listed oil and gas firms from drilling near the islands.
Reuters
Kate steps out for the first time since announcing her pregnancy
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge takes her seat in a State Carriage for the carriage procession to Buckingham Palace, as part of the ceremonial welcome ceremony for Singapore's President Tony Tan at the start of a state visit at Horse Guards Parade in London October 21, 2014.
Monday 20 October 2014
Prince William, Kate expecting second baby in April
Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate are expecting their second child in April next year, an official statement said Monday.
"Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to confirm they are expecting a baby in April 2015," a spokesman for Kensington Palace said in the statement.
"The Duchess of Cambridge continues to be affected by Hyperemesis Gravidarum, but her condition is steadily improving," the spokesman added.
The news about Kate's second pregnancy was announced in early September, and a string of public events have been canceled since then.
But on Tuesday, the 32-year-old duchess will join Prince William in an official event to welcome Singaporean President Tony Tan and his wife for a state visit, according to local media.
Also on the same day, she is expected to attend a ceremony of the Wildlife Photographer of The Year 2014 Awards at the Natural History Museum.
The second royal baby will be the fourth in line to the British throne right behind Prince George, the older brother who was born in July 2013.
(Xinhua)
Friday 17 October 2014
Maggie Smith gets honor from Queen Elizabeth II
(AP) — British royalty has met acting aristocracy, as Britain's Queen Elizabeth II bestowed an honor on Maggie Smith during a ceremony at Windsor Castle.
Smith, who plays the imperious Dowager Countess of Grantham on "Downton Abbey," was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honor on Friday in recognition of her six decades in theater, cinema and television.
The award is limited to 65 living people "of distinction." Other members include physicist Stephen Hawking, actor Ian McKellen and artist David Hockney.
The 79-year-old actress has won two Academy Awards, for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "California Suite."
She is currently filming "The Lady in the Van," reprising her stage role as a homeless eccentric who parked for years on the driveway of playwright Alan Bennett.
Tuesday 14 October 2014
Wigan's Flower banned six months for grand final punch
(Reuters) - Ben Flower, the Wigan prop whose punching of a prone, stricken opponent in Saturday's Super League Grand Final had caused huge dismay within rugby league, has been given a six-month ban from the sport.
Under pressure to severely punish the Welshman, who twice punched St Helens' Lance Hohaia in the face -- the second time as the New Zealander lay dazed on the ground -- in the showpiece event, the Rugby Football League (RFL) ruled on Monday that Flower cannot play until April 14 next year.
Flower, who admitted the offence at an RFL disciplinary tribunal in Leeds, will miss 13 matches at the start of next season, including Wigan's World Club Challenge meeting with Brisbane Broncos in February and the first 10 Super League fixtures.
Flower was charged with the most serious Grade F offence for "violent and aggressive punching" and "punching an off-guard opponent", which carries a minimum of an eight-game ban.
Instead, the RFL's disciplinary committee decided eight games was an insufficient sanction and Wigan announced that they would not be appealing against the punishment, one of the most severe for any player in the Super League era.
The nearest precedent was the case of another Wigan player, Terry Newton, suspended for 10 matches for two assaults in a match also against St Helens in 2005. He then had his ban extended to seven months on appeal.
Hohaia had already accepted a one-game suspension for a forearm strike on Flower that precipitated the incident, which happened in only the second minute of the match.
The 26-year-old, incensed by the blow from Hohaia, punched the New Zealander to the ground with a wild right hook before landing a second, more calculated blow flush to his face while kneeling over his dazed, prone opponent.
Flower was sent off and the injured Hohaia was unable to play any further part in the game as St Helens went on to win 14-6.
The furore created by Flower's actions even led to suggestions in some quarters that it was so serious that police should be involved.
Wigan rugby general manager Kris Radlinski, standing alongside the contrite Flower after the hearing at the RFL headquarters, said the club fully supported the RFL verdict.
"Wigan Warriors would like to go on record in saying that the RFL disciplinary committee handled a very difficult situation with professionalism and integrity," he said.
"We fully support their assessment of Saturday night's incident involving our player, Ben Flower. We will be making no appeal.
"We would like to apologise to Lance Hohaia and his family and to the St Helens club and fans. St Helens' win on Saturday has been overshadowed by the incident and that is wrong.
"Ben has issued an apology and is very regretful and full of remorse for his actions.
"We will work hard to try to repair any damage caused to the reputation of rugby league."
After Scottish independence vote, separatists say Britain reneging on pledges
(Reuters) - Less than a month after Scots spurned independence, separatists said on Tuesday that British Prime Minister David Cameron was betraying Scotland by reneging on pledges to grant more spending powers to the Scottish parliament.
In a last-ditch attempt to shore up support for the union days before the Sept. 18 referendum that threatened to break apart the United Kingdom, Britain's three main political parties promised to give more powers to Scotland.
Since then, Britain's London-based politicians have bickered over what amounts to a full-scale overhaul of the way the United Kingdom is ruled, though party leaders insist they will grant the promised powers to Scots.
"People have no confidence in Tory guarantees and they are absolutely fizzing about what looks like a preparation for a betrayal of solemn commitment made," Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond said, refering to Cameron's Conservative party.
Salmond, who is due to step down as nationalist leader next month, said Scots angered at what he termed an attempt to trick them would exact revenge on the main parties in the 2015 parliamentary election.
After the 55-45 percent vote for staying in the union, Cameron said the issue of Scottish independence had been settled for a generation and promised more powers for Scotland as part of a rebalancing of powers across the rest of the United Kingdom.
Nationalists say they feel the question is far from settled, especially if they fail to get the autonomy Scotland has been promised or if British voters choose to leave the European Union in a 2017 referendum on membership that Cameron has said he will call if re-elected in 2015.
THE VOW
During the campaign, Cameron, Labour party leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg promised to guarantee Scotland high levels of state funding and grant Scots greater control over health care spending.
"It is an unconditional vow," William Hague, a former Conservative leader, told parliament during a debate on devolution following the referendum.
"So I think the Scottish nationalists should stop trying to pretend that people are reneging when they are not."
The British government insists that the process to pass power to Scots is running ahead of schedule.
A 46-page government analysis of party pledges relating to devolution has been published and legislation is due to be drafted by the time Scots celebrate the birthday of their most revered poet, Robert Burns, on Jan. 25.
The legislation would only be passed after the 2015 election. If Scots had voted to break away, a declaration of independence would have taken place on March 24, 2016.
Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a Scot who is credited with saving the union by imploring voters to stay in the United Kingdom, has proposed giving the Scottish parliament powers to raise 54 percent of its own revenue, rising to 18 billion pounds ($28.67 billion) in 2016 from 4 billion pounds today.
RECASTING THE UK
The Conservative party proposes to devolve setting income tax rates and bands to the Scottish parliament. Scotland will be given the power to issue its own bonds from April 2015, according to plans announced in February.
Behind the minutiae of the debate on autonomy, Britain's leaders are grappling with the task of recasting the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state fashioned over centuries by warriors, kings and traders.
Though the Scottish vote preserved the United Kingdom, the last-minute pledges to Scots angered some English lawmakers who say England, Wales and Northern Ireland need a fair settlement too.
Those lawmakers say it is unfair for Scottish lawmakers in the national parliament in London to have a say over decisions that affect voters in England while members of parliament, including Scottish ones, have no say over certain decisions made by the increasingly powerful Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Opponents said Cameron's pledge to forge a constitutional settlement for Scotland in tandem with one for the other parts of the United Kingdom was an attempt to counter growing support for the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP).
Labour's shadow Lord Chancellor said Cameron's pledge was "a short-term partisan fix that had more to do with fighting the United Kingdom Independence Party than what was in the best interests of the United Kingdom."
The opposition Labour party has signalled it will not take part in cross-party talks on the English votes for English laws question, a step that could complicate the process of granting further powers to Scotland.
At a debate on devolution, Scottish nationalists questioned why Cameron had not led such an important debate about the future of the country. "Where is the prime minister?" Scottish National Party lawmaker Angus Robertson asked.
Saturday 11 October 2014
Anti-EU party up-ends UK politics by targeting left and right
(Reuters) - After years of promising a political earthquake, the UK Independence Party is causing tremors. It poached one of Prime Minister David Cameron's parliamentary seats and almost took another from the Labour party.
The anti-EU party's success, four months after it won European elections in Britain and seven months before a national election, threatens to up-end a generations-old political settlement which has seen the two main parties take turns to govern.
Britain already has a coalition government, its first since World War Two, and UKIP's rise, if sustained, promises to make such arrangements more common in the world's sixth largest economy.
"People want change," said Nigel Farage, UKIP's leader. "They've had enough of career politicians of three parties who don't even understand the problems they face in everyday life."
By luring right-leaning Conservative voters in southern England, UKIP won its first seat in the Westminster parliament, but it also came within a whisker of beating the opposition Labour party in its northern heartland on the same day.
While its first seat in parliament symbolises UKIP's new clout, coming just 618 votes short of winning the safe Labour seat of Heywood and Middleton sent tremors through Ed Miliband's left-leaning Labour.
"What happened up in Heywood was extraordinary, beyond our widest dreams," said Farage, who has long claimed but never before so conclusively shown he could pose a threat to Labour.
The Heywood result reflected just as badly on Cameron. Most of UKIP's surge there was due to a collapse in support for the ruling Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
For the Conservatives, UKIP has long been a problem, forcing Cameron to toughen his Eurosceptic rhetoric to appease voters and the right of his own party while peeling off Conservative support in their traditional southern England heartlands.
The Conservatives haven't won an overall majority in a general election since 1992, a year before UKIP was founded to campaign for a British withdrawal from the EU. If Cameron fails to win in 2015 his leadership is likely to be challenged.
By taking on Labour in the north, UKIP has proved it poses a greater challenge than previously thought to the two-party system which has dominated British politics for so long.
Though there is little prospect of UKIP winning more than a handful of the 650 seats in parliament next May, its ability to take votes across the country increases the likelihood of a hung parliament, another coalition government and potential political instability.
Sterling fell against both the dollar and the euro on Friday, hurt in part by worries over the impact of surging UKIP support before the 2015 election.
LABOUR SHOCK
Some Labour lawmakers appeared stunned by how close they had come to losing a seat to UKIP.
Though a few points ahead of the Conservatives in most opinion polls, worries about the electability of leader Ed Miliband have existed for some time.
Perceived even by his supporters to have an image problem, Miliband made matters worse at the party's annual conference last month by forgetting chunks of his own speech, omitting to mention the budget deficit or immigration.
Some of his lawmakers in northern England, where the party has traditionally drawn much of its support, have long warned he has done too little to address concerns of voters outside London and its environs.
"If Ed Miliband does not broaden the Labour coalition to better include working class opinion then we cannot win a majority government," said John Mann, a Labour parliamentarian. "Ed Miliband does a lot of listening. Now he needs to do a bit more hearing."
Frank Field, another Labour lawmaker, said UKIP's potential to hurt the party's election chances shouldn't be underplayed.
"If last night's vote heralds the start of UKIP's serious assault into Labour's neglected core vote, all bets are off for safer, let alone marginal seats at the next election." he said.
While Labour's vote held up in Heywood and Middleton, it would have expected to win over Conservative and LibDem supporters in such a poll. Instead, UKIP cleaned up.
Richard Carr, a member of the Labour History Research Unit at Anglia Ruskin University, said UKIP's national breakthrough was the biggest of its kind in over three decades.
"For Labour it is particularly sobering," he said. "The party just isn’t cutting through, even amongst their historic base."
"VOTE UKIP, GET LABOUR"
Cameron, who once derided UKIP as a bunch of "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists", said the 2015 election would be the most important in a generation, adding that a vote for UKIP would give Miliband the keys to power.
"We have seven months to demonstrate that only a Conservative government can give people the security and stability they we all want to see," he said.
UKIP's success will further raise pressure on Cameron to become more Eurosceptic, three years before a referendum on EU membership he has promised to hold if re-elected.
Douglas Carswell defected to UKIP from Cameron's Conservatives in August, triggering Thursday's Clacton vote. He switched allegiance partly because he doubted the prime minister's determination to reform the EU.
Cameron has promised to try to renegotiate Britain's EU relationship before offering voters an in/out referendum in 2017. But some of his own lawmakers are sceptical about his resolve to push for real change, viewing his promise as a tactical move to try to hold his divided party together.
Cameron has countered that his is the only party able to deliver a referendum on EU membership.
UKIP says it now has its sights set firmly on winning another seat at Cameron's expense at a by-election, also triggered by a defection, in Rochester, southern England, which is expected next month.
That is seen as a much safer Conservative seat. Lose that, and party jitters will escalate and further defections could follow.
"I'm very confident that we'll win that by-election too," said UKIP's Farage. "Something big is happening here: People want change."
London mayor says UK spies monitoring thousands of terrorism suspects
(Reuters) - Britain's security services are monitoring thousands of terrorism suspects in London and are involved in operations on a daily basis, the capital's mayor Boris Johnson said in an interview published on Saturday.
"In London we're very, very vigilant and very, very concerned," mayor Johnson told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
In August, Britain raised its international threat level to the second-highest classification of "severe", meaning an attack was considered highly likely, with Prime Minister David Cameron warning that Islamic State (IS) militants fighting in Syria and Iraq posed the country's greatest ever security risk.
About 500 Britons are believed to have joined the fighting in the region and the authorities have long argued that radicalised, battle-hardened veterans would pose a grave threat on their return.
However, Johnson suggested the danger was more widespread.
"Every day - as you saw recently, we had to raise the threat level - every day the security services are involved in thousands of operations," Johnson told the paper.
"There are probably in the low thousands of people that we are monitoring in London."
The risk posed by homegrown radicals was most vividly illustrated by the deadly London suicide bombings in July 2005 by four young British Islamists.
Last year two British Muslim converts hacked to death a soldier in broad daylight on a London street, and on Tuesday five young men were arrested by police as part of what was described as an operation against Islamist-related terrorism.
Johnson's comments come the day after Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley warned police around the country to be alert to possible risks to their safety.
"Measures are being put in place to increase the vigilance of officers and staff," Rowley said.
Wednesday 8 October 2014
A Minute With: Hugh Grant on Hollywood, hacking and celebrity
(Reuters) - Actor Hugh Grant, who became the poster boy for the charming British fop in romantic comedies such as "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill," is delighted not to be part of Hollywood anymore.
Grant channels his feelings in his latest film, "The Rewrite," as Keith, a washed up screenwriter who moves to a small New York town to give a college course on the sometimes cynical and occasionally realistic perils of Hollywood. The film is out in UK theaters on Wednesday.
Grant, 54, has also been active since 2011 in the Hacked Off campaign, which is dedicated to raising awareness about the victims of press abuse. He gave evidence at the Leveson inquiry into the culture and ethics of the British media and accused several British tabloid newspapers of intruding into his personal life and hacking his telephone.
The actor talked to Reuters about shedding the rom-com tag, leaving Hollywood and his involvement in Hacked Off.
Q: How do you feel about "The Rewrite" marketed as a romantic comedy? Do you think that's acceptable in your eyes?
A: I did have that fight with Lionsgate, who are brilliant and marvelous distributors, and in the end they convinced me that the marketplace is so crowded with stuff now that you have to give a simple message to the public. You can't say, "Oh it's a little bit of a romantic comedy with other genres mixed in." It becomes too confusing. So they wore me down, except I did manage to get "romantic" taken off the comedy (points to film poster).
Q: How do you empathize with Keith's views on Hollywood, and how has your perception changed as you've gone through it?
A: This character still actually loves Hollywood and wants to be part of it, and he's just sad that he's not and that he can't get a job. I'm not quite like that in that I'm delighted not to be a part of it anymore, apart from occasional dippings of my toe. That doesn't make me a better person. That's just my taste.
Q: Why do you not want to be part of it?
A: I never really was crazy to be out there acting, performing, promoting, all that kind of stuff. It's fun once in a while, but for some people it's their lifeblood ... I've never felt like that. I've felt that there were other things in life that were equally or more interesting.
Q: You've taken on the hacking trial. There are certain celebrities that sell themselves to the press and there are also celebrity bloggers who are untrained journalists. What's your take on that, because people's personal lives are still invaded?
A: I think there's a very common misconception in the campaign that I've been part of in that it's to do with protecting celebrities from intrusion and yet it's actually nothing to do with that. That's the way the Daily Mail (newspaper) will portray it, to belittle it and make it look ludicrous. But it's completely a non-priority for me and the campaign.
It's about who really runs that country, the fact that prime ministers have to call newspaper owners before they go to war to make sure it's OK with the newspaper owner. And it's about that incredible abuse of power (by) a few newspaper owners ... They live above the law and above any code of ethics because politicians are too afraid to take them on and that's what we have changed.
Q: You've had difficulty with the press in the past. How would you cope if you were a new celebrity in today's world?
A: I don't know. I don't really know how it works anymore except that I can see that, whereas in 1994 you didn't really have a voice except from some rather grand PR statements through some PR person. People now with giant Twitter followers, millions more than people that read newspapers, at least they have a voice.
But as I keep saying, what I campaign about is nothing to do with celebrities. I think there's always going to be a tension between the amount of intrusion that a person in show business wants and the amount that they get and that's never been different throughout this time shift.
Sunday 5 October 2014
Mourinho torments Wenger again, on and off the pitch
The long-running feud between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho shows no sign of healing after another high-profile falling out on Sunday, this time the result of a dispute over territory.
Midway through the first half of Chelsea's ultimately comfortable 2-0 victory over Arsenal which stretched their Premier league lead to five points, it became clear that Stamford Bridge was not big enough for two of the game's strongest personalities.
Especially when a seething Wenger encroached into Mourinho's technical area raging about a robust tackle by Gary Cahill on his Chile forward Alexis Sanchez.
What happened next was both comical and unedifying in equal measure with Mourinho facing off Wenger and then getting a hearty two-handed shove in the chest for his troubles.
With the crowd in uproar, all that was missing was a theatrical tumble to the ground by Mourinho, who continues to have the Indian sign over the Frenchman he has at various times labelled a "voyeur" and "a specialist in failure".
While Cahill's tackle on Sanchez was barely legal, Wenger's reaction could land him a touchline ban, especially considering that if it had happened on the pitch it would likely have resulted in a red card for a player.
Calmer after the heat of battle, Wenger played down the incident with a dash of humour.
"I wanted to go for A to B and some one confronted me without any sign of welcome," Wenger, told reporters, the faintest of smiles on his lips. "It was a little push.
"B was Sanchez to see how badly he was injured."
Asked what Mourinho, who he is yet to get one over in 12 previous clashes, had said to him, Wenger added: "I don't listen to what he says."
Mourinho saw things slightly differently, despite saying the incident was "no problem" and that there were "no outstanding issues" between the pair.
"It became heated because of the game, a big game, big rivals, an important match for both teams. These conditions make a game of emotions... but there are two technical areas, one for me and one for him and he was coming to my technical area and not coming for the right reasons, and I didn't like that."
For all the pantomime antics of the two managers, the game itself was disappointing as a spectacle.
Arsenal looked the more fluid side on occasions without really menacing the Chelsea goal and it was telling that Wenger pointed at a possible handball by former skipper Cesc Fabregas from Jack Wilshere's shot as his side's best chance.
Ruthless Chelsea were simply too solid and in Eden Hazard they had the best player on the pitch by a long way.
The home side had barely threatened the Arsenal goal in the opening 27 minutes but the Belgian whizzkid came to life.
His bamboozling run through Arsenal's defence invited Laurent Koscielny to hack him down in the area and he obliged, conceding the penalty which Hazard tucked away with aplomb.
Hazard teased Arsenal after the break before Diego Costa sealed victory from a superb Fabregas through ball.
"In these matches you need one of your top players to take some magic cards out of his pocket and (Hazard) did it when the game was 0-0 and tight," Mourinho said.
"He did an action that could have ended the game if it was a penalty and a red card and not a penalty and a yellow. That would have been game over.
"In the second half he kept the ball very well when we needed it, it was a complete performance by him today."
It was also a complete performance by Mourinho who got the better of Wenger tactically once again, then claimed the moral high ground to boot.
"To be fair I do so many wrong things in football and sometimes you are emotional but not this time," he said. "I was in my technical area and it wasn't my problem."
'All about that Bass' bounces to top of British music chart
(Reuters) - American singer Meghan Trainor was propelled to the number one spot in the British singles chart on Sunday by a surge in sales and online demand for her upbeat pop track "All about that Bass", the Official Charts Company said.
Trainor's song was listened to more than 1 million times online, helping it dethrone "Bang Bang" by pop trio Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, which charted in second place.
Taylor Swift's "Shake it off" held firm in third place, with Sigma's "Changing" and "Blame" by Calvin Harris coming in at numbers four and five respectively.
British artist George Ezra reached number one in the album chart with "Wanted on Voyage", giving him his first chart-topper 14 weeks after its initial release. Another long-running cart success, Sam Smith's "In the Lonely Hour", rose one place to second.
Ed Sheeran moved up to third place with "X" and new entry "Carry on the Grudge" by Jamie T came in fourth spot. U.S. singer-songwriter Barbra Streisand completed the top five with "Partners".
Saturday 4 October 2014
Medical first: Baby born to woman who got new womb
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(AP) — In a medical first, a woman in Sweden has given birth after receiving a womb transplant, the doctor who performed the pioneering procedure said Friday.
The 36-year-old mother received a uterus from a close family friend last year. Her baby boy was born prematurely but healthy last month, and mother and child are now at home and doing well. The identities of the woman and her husband were not disclosed.
"The baby is fantastic," said Dr. Mats Brannstrom, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm IVF who led the research and delivered the baby with the help of his wife, a midwife. "But it is even better to see the joy in the parents and how happy he made them."
Brannstrom said it was "still sinking in that we have actually done it."
The feat opens up a new but still experimental alternative for some of the thousands of women each year who are unable to have children because they lost a uterus to cancer or were born without one. Before this case proved the concept can work, some experts had questioned whether a transplanted womb would be able to nourish a fetus.
Others have questioned whether such an extreme step — expensive and fraught with medical risks — would even be a realistic option for many women.
Dr. Glenn Schattman, past president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies and a Cornell University fertility specialist, said womb transplants are likely to remain very uncommon.
"This would not be done unless there were no other options," he said. "It requires a very long surgery and not without risk and complications."
For the proud parents, the years of research and experimentation were well worth the wait.
"It was a pretty tough journey over the years, but we now have the most amazing baby," the father said in a telephone interview. "He is very, very cute, and he doesn't even scream, he just murmurs."
He said he and his wife, both competitive athletes, were convinced the procedure would work, despite its experimental nature.
Brannstrom and colleagues transplanted wombs into nine women over the last two years as part of a study, but complications forced removal of two of the organs. Earlier this year, Brannstrom began transferring embryos into the seven other women. He said there are two other pregnancies at least 25 weeks along.
Before these cases, there had been two attempts to transplant a womb — in Saudi Arabia and Turkey — but no live births resulted. Doctors in Britain, France, Japan, Turkey and elsewhere are planning to try similar operations, but using wombs from women who have just died instead of from live donors.
The Swedish woman had healthy ovaries, but she was born without a uterus — a syndrome seen in one girl in 4,500. She received a uterus from a 61-year-old family friend who had gone through menopause after giving birth to two children.
Brannstrom said that he was surprised such an old uterus was so successful, but that the most important factor seemed to be that the womb was healthy.
The recipient has had to take three medicines to prevent her body from rejecting the new organ. About six weeks after the transplant, she got her menstrual period — a sign the womb was healthy.
After one year, when doctors were confident the womb was working well, they transferred a single embryo created in a lab dish using the woman's eggs and her husband's sperm.
The woman, who has only one kidney, had three mild rejection episodes, including one during pregnancy, but all were successfully treated with medicines. The research was paid for by the Jane and Dan Olsson Foundation for Science, a Swedish charity.
The baby's growth and blood flow to the womb and umbilical cord were normal until the 31st week of pregnancy, when the mother developed a dangerous high-blood-pressure condition called preeclampsia.
After an abnormal fetal heart rate was detected, the baby was delivered by cesarean section. He weighed 3.9 pounds — normal for that stage of pregnancy. Full gestation is about 40 weeks. The baby was released from the neonatal unit 10 days after birth.
"He's no different from any other child, but he will have a good story to tell," the father said. "One day he can look at the newspaper articles about how he was born and know that he was the first in the world" to be born this way.
Details of the case are to be published soon in the journal Lancet.
Some critics have said that taking a womb from a live person is unethical and too big a risk to the donor for an operation that isn't life-saving. But Brannstrom said there were too few deceased donors to consider that option in Sweden.
"Most couples will do just about anything to have a baby. We need to see this happen a little bit more and see how safe it is," said Dr. Nanette Santoro, obstetrics chief at the University of Colorado in Denver. "It's not clear to me how many women would choose this, because it seems pretty arduous."
Brannstrom said he was concerned he might have hurt the womb during the C-section and said they would have to wait a couple of months before knowing if the mother would be able to keep the uterus for a second pregnancy.
For the new parents, the thought of a second baby right now is a little premature.
"We will definitely think about that," the father said. "But right now, we're very happy with just one baby."
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