10 NATIONAL NEWS NEWS IN BRIEF
Minister’s bid to save Lawrence’s dagger THE dagger and robes that form part of Lawrence of Arabia’s ‘enduring image’ could be exported from the UK unless a buyer is found to save them for the nation. Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has placed separate temporary export bars on the dagger and robes in the hope a buyer will match the asking prices of £125,000 for the dagger and £12,500 for the robes.
British Gas job cuts BRITISH Gas is to axe 500 jobs, hitting its loft and cavity wall insulation business, as part of the company’s efficiencies programme. Unions described the announcement as a ‘sickener’, saying staff affected by the news felt ‘gutted’. The jobs are part of 6,000 cuts announced by owner Centrica last summer, with the group saying it had to be competitive in a ‘fast-changing’ energy market.
UK will be ‘more secure and prosperous’ under EU reform DAVID Cameron has said the package of proposed reforms to Britain’s membership of the EU will allow the UK to be ‘better off, more secure, more prosperous’ as a member of the 28-nation bloc, as he set the scene for an in/out referendum within a matter of months. Mr Cameron said the proposals drafted by European Council president Donald Tusk were were good enough that he ‘sure would’ back Britain joining the EU under these terms, if it was not already a member. He claimed the changes – which offer an ‘emergency brake’
End of line for tickets THE end of the orange paper train ticket could be a step closer as plans are unveiled to allow passengers to travel anywhere in Britain using their smartphones. Barcoded mobile tickets – known as m-Tickets – could be extended within three years to cover journeys involving several train companies.
Tesco staff pay rise TESCO has agreed a pay increase of up to 3.1% for its UK store staff. The deal will affect 230,000 of the supermarket giant’s 320,000 UK employees, taking the hourly rate of its shop workers to £7.62.
Misery of middle age MIDDLE-aged people are the least happy, with many struggling with the ‘double responsibility’ of caring for children and elderly parents, according to a major report. Even pensioners aged over 90 report better life satisfaction and happiness than those aged 40 to 59, the study from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found.
Greenhouse gasses fall GREENHOUSE gas output in the UK fell almost 8% in 2014, although emissions from transport and agriculture rose slightly, official figures show. Emissions of major polluter carbon dioxide were down 8.9% in 2014 on the previous year, while emissions of all the greenhouse gasses were 7.7% below 2013 levels, the data from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) showed.
LONDON is in danger of becoming the ‘money laundering capital of Europe’, a Labour former minister has warned in the Lords. Lord Rooker spoke out after the government confirmed it was looking at options to privatise the Land Registry from 2017.
‘Not spots’ criticised
Wednesday 3rd February 2016
Criticism But advocates of UK withdrawal from the EU were scathing about the deal negotiated by the Prime Minister. Ukip leader Nigel Farage described it as ‘truly pathetic – no treaty change, no repatriation of powers, no ability to control our own laws, our money or our borders’. Critics have pointed out that the ‘emergency brake’ on migrant benefits does not match up to the changes Mr Cameron had promised. He had originally proposed a fouryear ban on in-work benefits for EU migrant workers which would come into force immediately. But under Tusk’s draft proposal this would be graduated, and migrants would receive more money from tax credits the longer they remained in the UK. EU migrants would also be able to send child benefit to their home country. Where sovereignty is concerned, Mr Cameron
IN DISCUSSION David Cameron talking to European Council President Donald Tusk has secured a clause that guarantees the UK is not committed to further political integration, however critics have pointed out that it is not clear when this will be incorporated into EU treaties. Speaking in Chippenham, Wiltshire, within hours of the publication of the Tusk package in Brussels, Mr Cameron said: “I think we will be able to show – if we can secure what’s in this document, finish off the details and improve it still further – that on balance Britain is better off, more secure, more prosperous, has a better chance of success for all of our families and all our people inside this reformed European Union. “I think this is the best of both worlds – out of the single currency, out of the no-borders agreement, out of an ever-closer union, but in the things that work for Britain, that give us jobs, that give us security, that give us the ability to make sure we have a stronger and safer world. I think that’s something worth fighting for.”
The publication of the Tusk proposals kicks off an intensive period of negotiation with the other 27 EU states ahead of the crunch European Council summit on February 18-19, starting with a visit to Poland and Denmark by Mr Cameron on Friday. Failure to win unanimous support from all 28 members would almost certainly prevent a referendum in June and may delay it until after the summer. Mr Cameron said the Tusk document addressed four issues that ‘go to the heart of what we need to fix’. Former cabinet minister Alan Johnson, chairman of the Labour In For Britain campaign, said his party wants to see a referendum in June. “I’m pleased that, in a sense, the starting pistol has been fired. We kind of know now he is going to get the deal and that means a June referendum and I think the quicker the better,” he told Sky News.
Children quiz Major Tim Peake live from space
Laundering warning
POOR mobile signal in some areas has created a ‘new class of haves and have-nots’ and telecoms companies should allow people to break contracts if service is poor, former cabinet minister Alistair Carmichael has said.
on migrant welfare, protections for non-eurozone states and a legallybinding assurance that the UK is not expected to pursue integration through ‘ever-closer union’ – offered Britain ‘the best of both worlds’ by giving it access to the single market and a voice around the table of the European Council while allowing it to remain outside the euro and the Schengen borderfree area.
URBAN SPACEMAN An astronaut talks to schoolchildren
SCHOOLCHILDREN have made contact with outer space during a live questionand-answer link up with British astronaut Tim Peake. Around 300,000 children in the UK saw their usual lessons turned into a ‘cosmic classroom’ as Major Peake played space ping pong whilst travelling at 17,000mph on board the International Space Station (ISS). Major Peake was quizzed by students back on planet Earth during a 20-minute video call home, streamed to three cameras at the World Museum, Liverpool. The event saw 300 students from schools across the country come together to speak directly with Major Peake as their counterparts watched from classrooms across the world. The 43 year old from Chichester, West Sussex – the first British astronaut to carry out a spacewalk – is more than a month into a six-month mission on board the International Space Station,
carrying out experiments and research. In a busy first month aboard the ISS, he became the first Briton to complete an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) or spacewalk, and also backed a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and UK Space Agency project, Rocket Science. More than 10,000 teachers signed up for their class to participate in the Cosmic Classroom showing the pupils how exciting science could be in learning about gravity and free floating. Before making contact, the visitors were told: “This is space, sometimes things can get a little tricky.” During the call, which was possible thanks to a signal being sent down to America and beamed across to Liverpool, Major Peake demonstrated a number of science experiments for pupils to copy from their classrooms. In a zero gravity game of ‘Follow the Leader’, he was asked to crouch down, spin around, touch his toes and drink water.