Archive for the ‘UK News’ Category
Conkers
According to the Campaign for Real Conkers, there is a shortage caused by the dismal August weather, when many fell early from the trees and rotted on the ground. Most of those still on the trees will not be ripe and robust enough for the sport when the gales topple them.
A spokesman for the group, explained: "The conkers are nowhere near ripe enough yet and people won’t be able to get their practice in. When you whack a conker before it is ripe it will crumble to bits."
Make hay
Motorists who are caught on speed cameras can only be convicted of their offence if they receive notification within two weeks.
The Royal Mail strikes from last week resulted in about 20,000 notices of intended prosecution a day have become stuck in the backlog and will not be delivered on time. And thousands more are expected to become tangled up in the system should further strikes take place this week.
A road traffic lawyer told The Sun: "If a notice arrives more than 14 days after the alleged offence the driver cannot be prosecuted because it would be ‘out of time’ in a court."
Gordon Brown has said he is sorry…
for the "appalling" way World War II code breaker Alan Turing was treated for being gay.
A petition on the No 10 website (see previous posts) had called for a posthumous government apology to the computer pioneer.
Well done to all signatories
Here is Gordon’s apology and I have to admit that it pulls no punches, is warm and obviously heartfelt.
Thank you for signing this petition. The Prime Minister has written a response. Please read below.
Why has Megrahi been released?
He is terminally ill with prostate cancer. Doctors have advised the Scottish Government he may have less than three months to live, which normally qualifies a prisoner for release on compassionate grounds. The right decision was made imho!
Lumley To Get State Welcome In Nepal
Sky news 11:23pm UK, Friday July 24, 2009
Thousands of Gurkhas are travelling to Kathmandu to welcome "daughter of Nepal" Joanna Lumley to their home country.
Great story
The British actress makes her first visit to the Himalayan nation on Sunday and is set to receive a state welcome.
"We are proud and honoured to have her in our country. She is truly a daughter of Nepal," said Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organisation’s (GAESO) Krishna Kumar Rai.
Lumley is expected to be greeted by around 3,000 Gurkhas at the airport.
She will be given a traditional Gurkha welcome, with five girls dressed in garlands performing the reception.
Leader of the welcome committee Anuradha Koirala, a campaigner for human rights, chose five orphans and homeless girls to welcome Lumley.
The actress will then make her way to City Hall for a public reception, where thousands more are expected to greet her.
Britain’s first Gurkha councillor Dhan Gurung, who is going with her, said: "Her father is from Nepal and she is one of our sisters now. So she is going to meet her family, Nepal."
During her six-day trip Lumley will meet the President and Prime Minister at the king’s palace. She will also visit three Gurkha communities.
Organisers say they expect thousands of veterans to travel to meet her, many of them coming on foot from remote areas of the country.
"She is like a goddess to the Gurkhas," said Falklands war veteran Gyanendra Rai.
Mr Rai was one of several Gurkhas who was refused the right to settle in Britain, despite fighting for the British in 1982 and being seriously injured.
"I don’t have the words to describe how happy I am that Joanna Lumley is coming to Nepal," he said.
Lumley masterminded the campaign to get residency for the Gurkhas and was the rallying voice for the men she called the "bravest of the brave".
The Indian-born actress’s pressure on the Government prompted Gordon Brown to offer residency to Gurkha veterans who had served at least four years in the army.
The Gurkhas have been part of the British army for almost 200 years and more than 45,000 have died in British uniform.
Around 3,500 currently serve in the British army, including in Afghanistan.
"If Joanna Lumley was not there, the disparity and discrimination would not have ended for us," GAESO’s Krishna Kumar Rai added.
Ashcroft to be banned from giving to Tories
Jack Straw, Justice Minister, has bowed to pressure from Labour MPs who have been pushing for a change in the law to ban political donations from tax exiles.
On Monday, he will ask the Commons to agree an amendment to the Political Parties and Elections Bill which will ban parties from accepting a donation of more than £7,500 from an individual unless they pay UK tax. The ban will also apply to Lord Laidlaw, a Monaco-based multimillionaire.
Lord Ashcroft, a 63-year-old billionaire, spent part of his boyhood in Belize and holds joint UK and Belizian citizenship. He has donated huge sums to the Conservatives through a UK-based company called Bearwood Securities, but it is alleged that much of it actually comes from the Central American country. Labour MPs claim that it is a test of David Cameron’s commitment to open government that Lord Ashcroft’s tax status and the source of his donations should be made known.
Star 23/06/09
DK’s response – EDM a waste of public money and misquotes me – not unexpected from thsi MP I suppose!
Lib Dems complain over elections
Shropshire Star
Shropshire Liberal Democrats are making a formal complaint to the Electoral Commission about the standard of service given to voters during the unitary council election.
They allege that many new electors, and existing ones, applied to to have their names put on the electoral roll but these did not appear.
It is claimed many people who applied for postal votes never received them while others received them after the published date of issue and after they had gone on holiday. Voters applying late for a postal vote were not advised they had the option of having a proxy vote.
The Lib Dems also claim questions have been raised about the behaviour of some officers removing ballot papers from the view of scrutineers. Colin Taylor, said “We are not talking about isolated incidents of poor administration but of significant numbers of electors being denied the right to vote across the county.”
Claire Porter, Shropshire Council assistant chief executive, said: “We are satisfied the elections were administered accurately.”
She added: “If an official complaint has been made to the Electoral Commission we will of course fully co-operate with them.”