Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Ofgem has said that the UK is facing ‘a significant risk’ of gas shortages this winter due to Russia's war with Ukraine. It could possibly enter a ‘gas supply emergency’, leading to supplies being cut to the power stations using gas to generate electricity. This would place firms at risk of running out of money because of huge charges they must pay if they cannot deliver electricity. SSE,which operates four gas-fired power stations in the UK, is concerned that gas-fired power stations face millions of pounds worth of penalties ‘caused by events outside their control’.

When asked if he would allow fracking in the back garden of his home in Somerset, business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said, ‘Yes, of course I would, particularly if I get royalties’. Fracking has been a controversial subject within local communities and amongst MPs due to its association with minor earthquakes. In 2019, at oil and gas exploration company Cuadrilla's Lancashire fracking site, over 120 tremors were recorded. Most were too small to be felt. The government recently published a new review from the British Geological Survey, considering any changes to the science around the practice. The report concluded, ‘Forecasting the occurrence of large earthquakes remains a scientific challenge for the geoscience community.’ Mr Rees-Mogg also said that the UK would build a prototype nuclear fusion power plant - ‘the first of its kind’ - in Nottinghamshire by 2040.

On 2 October health leaders advised vaccination and began calling for a return to mask-wearing, as hospitalisations for Covid rose by 37% in a week to 7,024. They said ministers needed to address staffing shortages urgently, even though the Office for National Statistics said it was too early to say if an autumn wave had begun. The Nuffield Trust revealed that record numbers of nurses were quitting the NHS, with one in nine leaving their jobs. The Royal College of Nursing has called for nurses to have access to the highest-quality PPE. Covid is killing over 300 people a week, and a new variant has been detected. A rise in cases is expected as winter approaches. Acting now to prevent further hospitalisations and deaths is crucial as new variants are causing a slight increase in infections. We can only detect Covid variants by PCR testing, and with no free tests plus economic pressures, people have become quite relaxed about coronavirus. See also

The NHS needs more black blood donors to help people with sickle cell disease. The daily demand for donations to treat the blood disorder in England is 250, but only half of all hospital requests are being met with matched blood. Sickle cell mostly affects people of black heritage, and ethnically-matched blood gives the best treatment. The disease causes red blood cells to become sticky, blocking vessels and restricting oxygen supply, triggering excruciating pain. Sadeh needs all her blood replaced every four weeks. She says, ‘Some days I struggle getting out of bed due to pain in my limbs, some days I wake up feeling great, some days I wake up in hospital, connected to machines and told that days have passed. Transfusions have saved my life many times over’. The NHS has launched a Black History Month campaign, highlighting to black communities that they have the power to treat sickle cell with life-changing blood donations.

Striking rail maintenance workers are already paid almost a fifth more than those doing comparative roles, the industry regulator has said. Independent consultants looked at total rewards, including pay, pension costs and other measurable benefits, of 64,000 railway workers. The analysis shed fresh light on the bitter industrial dispute which has led to rail strikes across the country. Workers demanding double-digit pay rises already receive salaries 18% higher than ‘market comparators’. Station staff salaries are 12% higher, and train drivers average £66,043 a year (the average UK salary is £31,876). Liz Truss is under growing pressure to follow through on her pledge to crack down on unions, amid fears that the rail network could shut down completely over Christmas. She had promised to bring in ‘tough and decisive action to limit trade unions’ ability to paralyse our economy’.

NHS bosses have told political parties not to impose any new targets on the beleaguered health service in their bid to win the next general election. They said the Conservatives and opposition parties should resist foisting new performance metrics on the NHS when it cannot deliver the hundreds it already operates under. The plea was made by hospitals, ambulance providers, mental health, community care and GP services in England, who said, ‘Given the NHS’s staff shortages, huge backlog of care and financial problems, the answer will not be found in politicians imposing oversimplified and unfunded targets that make convenient soundbites but have little bearing on reality and demoralise frontline workers.’

44 European leaders gathered in Prague on 6 October for the first meeting of a new political community. Most of the countries already belong to other organisations including the EU, NATO, the Council of Europe (upholding human rights), and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (arms control, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections). But the latter two are ineffective at reining in Russia. EU’s foreign policy chief spoke of building ‘a European political community without Putin’. Liz Truss will join EU and non-EU leaders plus Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky by video. She said the ‘club’ is not an alternative to the EU, but added that after Brexit the UK should be involved in discussions that affect the entire continent.

Nigel and Sally Rowe took legal action against the Department for Education after they and their six-year-old son were labelled ‘transphobic’ by a CofE primary school for refusing to ‘believe’ in transgender-affirming policies. The Rowes had raised concerns after two boys aged six were allowed to come to school identifying as girls. The school said it did not ‘require formal medical / psychological assessment and reporting when a pupil seeks to be treated as transgendered’ and was working with Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust (TPHT). TPHT has now been shut down over safety concerns for thousands of children who have been referred there. The Government has settled the case after the Rowes won High Court permission for a judicial review of government transgender policies. They believe that ‘a child of primary school age does not have the mental ability to work out what it is to be transgender.’

A Gloucestershire town is preparing to host the UK’s first-ever free Christian book festival. It will include special guest Sophie Neville, who starred in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ as a young girl before finding her Christian faith. Stroud will welcome 15 different Christian authors to its new event Book Blest. The authors hail from all corners of the UK, but it was a local man who thought of the idea: Brendan Conboy, author of ‘One God, Many Names’. The event, to be held at Stroud Baptist Church on 4 and 5 November, will include sessions for children, teens and young adults, and more mature readers. Mr Conboy said, ‘We hear so much nowadays that the Church is dead and irrelevant. This festival is an example of how the Church is alive and forward-thinking.’

The Chancellor’s biggest tax package in fifty years has sparked fears within businesses and banking. Also, in an unusually outspoken statement, the IMF (which works to stabilise the global economy, and also funds countries in need of economic rescue) has openly criticised the tax cuts plans, warning that they will likely fuel the cost-of-living crisis by increasing inequality and pushing up prices. While the Government said the measures will kickstart economic growth, markets are raising alarms, plunging the pound to a record low of $1.03 on 26 September. Christians Against Poverty (CAP) says the government's 'short term' economic policy will tip millions more into poverty, and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney accused the Government of ‘undercutting’ key economic institutions. The bank will now buy £65bn government bonds to try to protect pensions.