Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain’s socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver the best care for the cheapest price while costs and demand escalate.
Even as the new coalition government said it would make enormous cuts in the public sector, it initially promised to leave health care alone. But in one of its most surprising moves so far, it has done the opposite, proposing what would be the most radical reorganization of the National Health Service, as the system is called, since its inception in 1948.
Practical details of the plan are still sketchy. But its aim is clear: to shift control of England’s $160 billion annual health budget from a centralized bureaucracy to doctors at the local level. Under the plan, $100 billion to $125 billion a year would be meted out to general practitioners, who would use the money to buy services from hospitals and other health care providers.
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SURPRISE SURPRISE: UK plans to decentralize national health care
UK raids dormant bank accounts to pay for community projects
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to use “hundreds of millions of pounds” from dormant bank accounts to fund community projects, while Business Secretary Vince Cable said lenders “ripped off” customers.
Cameron said he will press ahead with a proposal set out in the coalition government’s program to establish a “Big Society Bank” to finance moves by charitable groups and not-for-profit companies to take over jobs currently done by the government.
“These unclaimed assets, alongside the private-sector investment that we will leverage, will mean that the Big Society Bank will over time make available hundreds of millions of pounds of new finance to some of the most dynamic social organizations in our country,” Cameron said in a speech in Liverpool, northwest England, today.
Protesters clash during military parade in UK
Mail Online, “Into the jaws of hate: Soldiers’ parade marred by Muslim extremists and far-Right”
by Andrew Levy
Screaming hate and brandishing vile placards, Muslim extremists and far-Right groups clashed yesterday in ugly scenes that marred a parade by soldiers.
Around 40 members of a group called Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) arrived with inflammatory banners featuring slogans such as ‘Butchers return’ and ‘What are you dying for? £18k’.
They were soon confronted by 100 people, some wearing English Defence League T-shirts, who shouted ‘scum’ and ‘Muslim bombers off our streets’.
White House turned down Britiain’s offer to help
Times Online, “US turned down Britain’s offer to help clean up BP oil rig spill”
by Robin Pagnamenta
A high-level British offer of help to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was rebuffed by America shortly after the accident, fuelling fresh fears of political tension between the two countries over the disaster.
A few days after the BP-leased rig sank on April 22, the Cabinet Office made a direct offer to the US State Department to airlift half of Britain’s 1,200-tonne stockpile of chemical dispersants, The Times has learnt.
At the time there was an urgent demand for fresh supplies. The offer to provide the chemicals, at the cost price of £3 million, was made through diplomatic channels and via the Civil Contingency Secretariat, the Government’s emergency planning unit.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which was also involved in drafting the plan, said that the US had chosen not to accept the offer. Officials said the US claimed that the chemicals held in Britain did not have the correct paperwork but the spokeswoman said: “We are not aware of any problems with licensing. I cannot say why they have not accepted the offer. That is a question for the US State Department.”
Times Online article continues here.
Cameron becomes Britain’s 53rd Prime Minister, forges historic coalition
Times Online, “Embracing change: Cameron forges historic coalition”
by Roland Watson
David Cameron will begin today to forge the first peacetime coalition for more than 80 years after becoming Britain’s 53rd Prime Minister.
The Conservative leader opened a new political era by cautioning that “hard and difficult work” lay ahead for the new Government that will include five Liberal Democrats in Cabinet and some 15 others in ministerial jobs. Nick Clegg was last night confirmed by the Queen as Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Cameron struck a businesslike tone devoid of triumphalism as he arrived in Downing Street to end five days of post-election uncertainty and become the first Tory for 31 years to depose a Labour prime minister.
He and Mr Clegg would “put political differences aside” as they moved to tackle the deficit, ease deep social problems, rebuild public trust in politics and bring about a more responsible society. The maxim of his Government would be: “Those who can, should, those who cannot, we will always help.” He promised that the elderly, frail and poorest would not be forgotten.
Times Online article continues here.
Bloomberg wants ‘Big Brother Britain’ for NYC
WCBSTV, “Bloomberg Wants ‘Big Brother Britain’ For NYC”
by Charlie D’Agata
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his eye on more security against terror attacks. He went to London Tuesday to check out their surveillance camera system, one of the largest in the world.
Ever since the Times Square car bomb scare on May 1, the mayor’s been looking to build up New York’s camera network.
That means adding to the ring of steel in Times Square, similar to central London’s. The mayor said more NYPD surveillance cameras may prevent another terror scare.
London has 500,000 surveillance cameras, more than any other city in the world.
Bloomberg visited London’s mayor to see how these help Britain fight terror.
WCBSTV article continues here.
Gordon Brown to resign
Sky News, “Gordon Brown To Resign As Labour Leader”
by Ruth Barnett
Gordon Brown has said he will step down as party leader as Nick Clegg asks for talks between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
In a statement outside Downing Street, Mr Brown said he had “no desire to stay in my position longer than needed” and would leave by the party conference in September.
He said he will ask the Labour Party to begin the process for a leadership election but that he will not stand or intervene.
He will have left the role by the September party conference, he added.
Mr Brown said the fact there was a hung parliament suggested no party or leader had the support of the electorate to govern alone.
“The reason that we have a hung parliament is that no single party or single leader was able to win support,” he said.
Sky News article continues here.
U.K. election fails to produce a winner
Fox News (AP), “Parties Mull Possible Pact After U.K. Election Locked in Standoff”
Within days, Britain may have something it hasn’t seen since World War II — a coalition government.
The first-place Conservatives and third-place Liberal Democrats are negotiating in hopes of resolving an election that failed to produce a clear winner. It remains to be seen whether the right-wing and center-left party can share power or even cooperate on keeping a minority Conservative administration in control of Parliament. They are likely to find common ground on the economy and taxes but have divergent views on voting-system reform, nuclear weapons and some key foreign policy issues.
With negotiations between the parties likely to stretch on for at least two more days and the ruling Labour party still lobbying for its own alternative coalition with the Liberal Democrats, the only thing that’s clear “is how confused it is at the moment,” according to Bill Jones, a professor of politics at Liverpool Hope University in northern England.
Fox News (AP) article continues here.
British sniper sets world record for longest-distance kill: 8,120 feet (1.54 miles)
New York Post, “Sniper kills Qaeda-from 1½ mi. away”
by Lukas I. Alpert
It was silent but deadly.
A British sniper set a world sharpshooting record by taking out two Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan from more than a mile and a half away — a distance so great, experts say the terrorists wouldn’t have even heard the shots.
Craig Harrison killed the two insurgents from an astounding distance of 8,120 feet — or 1.54 miles — in Helmand Province last November firing an Accuracy International L11583 long-range rifle.
“The first round hit a machine-gunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said Harrison, a corporal of horse in the British Army’s Household Cavalry, the equivalent of a sergeant in the American military.
“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too,” Harrison told the Sunday Times of London.
New York Post article continues here.
UK’s CCTV finding its way into bathrooms
NetworkWorld, “Video Surveillance deployed inside London Public Bathrooms”
by Jamey Heary
You can imagine my surprise after I paid my 50pence to use the public bathroom, walked in and found myself staring at not just one but three ceiling mounted video surveillance cameras. I had to get real close to their enclosures to convince myself that I wasn’t seeing things. Not only was it really there, but it was a Pan-Tilt-Zoom model with a microphone to top it off. Must get some great noises coming from there. It has also been reported that London officials are now installing cameras with speakers to allow them to talk as well as see and listen. Perhaps its just me, but I had absolutely no idea that this was legal anywhere, let alone in downtown London, UK. Sure I knew that London has more cameras per square mile than any other country on the planet, but in bathrooms?! How are they getting away with that one? It is appalling!
NetworkWorld article continues here.
US, UK closer to losing AAA rating
Bloomberg, “U.S., U.K. Move Closer to Losing Rating, Moody’s Says”
by Matthew Brown
The U.S. and the U.K. have moved “substantially” closer to losing their AAA credit ratings as the cost of servicing their debt rose, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The governments of the two economies must balance bringing down their debt burdens without damaging growth by removing fiscal stimulus too quickly, Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s in London, said in a telephone interview.
Under the ratings company’s so-called baseline scenario, the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K., and will be the biggest spender from 2011 to 2013, Moody’s said today in a report.
Bloomberg article continues here.
Islamic radicals ‘infiltrate’ the Labour Party
Telegraph, “Islamic radicals ‘infiltrate’ the Labour Party”
by Andrew Gilligan
The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) — which believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state — has placed sympathisers in elected office and claims, correctly, to be able to achieve “mass mobilisation” of voters.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister, said the IFE had become, in effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties.
“They are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it’s at local government level or national level,” he said.
Telegraph article continues here.
The sorry state of Britain
Mail Online, “Single mother-of-six finds £2m mansion on the net… and then gets YOU to pay £7,000 a month rent”
by Emily Andrews and Stephen Wright
A single mother-of-six is getting more than £80,000 a year from the taxpayer to live in a £2million mansion in an exclusive London suburb.
Essma Marjam, 34, is given almost £7,000 a month in housing benefits to pay the rent on the five-bedroom villa just yards from Sir Paul McCartney’s house and Lord’s cricket ground.
She also receives an estimated £15,000 a year in other payouts, such as child benefit, to help look after her children, aged from five months to 14.
The four-storey house in Maida Vale has five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a double living room, large fitted kitchen-diner with French doors on to the landscaped garden and a state-of-the art buzzer entry system.
Mail Online article continues here.
‘Unusually high’ number of no-fly listers trying to board US-bound planes
Mirror.co.uk, “Terror alert: Two men on ‘no-fly’ list stopped at Heathrow”
by Vincent Moss
Two men were stopped boarding US-bound planes at Heathrow days before Britain’s terror threat was raised to “severe”.
News of the incidents came hours after Home Secretary Alan Johnson lifted the threat level amid fears that al-Qaeda is planning an attack.
The new level, which means an attack is reckoned “highly likely”, is second only to “critical”.
Security sources say an Egyptian was stopped last Saturday as he tried to board an American Airlines flight to Miami. A man from Saudi Arabia was banned from boarding a United Airlines flight to Chicago the next day and sent back to Saudi.
The incidents and the raised threat level follow the failed Christmas Day bombing on a plane over Detroit.
Anti-terror officials said the past week had seen an “unusually high” number of people on their no-fly list trying to board US-bound planes.
Mirror.co.uk article continues here.
CCTV in the sky: UK police plan to use military-style spy drones
The Guardian, “CCTV in the sky: police plan to use military-style spy drones”
by Paul Lewis
Police in the UK are planning to use unmanned spy drones, controversially deployed in Afghanistan, for the ”routine” monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance.
The arms manufacturer BAE Systems, which produces a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for war zones, is adapting the military-style planes for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent police.
Documents from the South Coast Partnership, a Home Office-backed project in which Kent police and others are developing a national drone plan with BAE, have been obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Guardian article continues here.