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A group of 40 charities says the government’s planned health bill for England must be changed to give a voice to the most vulnerable patients.
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Health experts are urging parents to get their children vaccinated against measles, after a tenfold rise in cases in England and Wales.
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Scottish house prices are now almost identical to the price levels of four years ago, according to Lloyds TSB Scotland
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A man convicted of murdering his wife is set to appear before judges in Edinburgh after the UK Supreme Court backed his case appeal.
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BAA said several airlines had been affected Thunderstorms and high winds have led to the cancellation of 70 flights in and out of Heathrow.
Airport operator BAA said 50 departures and 20 arrivals were cancelled on Thursday due to bad weather.
The flights were mainly scheduled between 1600 and 1900 BST on Thursday.
A BAA spokesman said delays are continuing, mainly to departures, due to the high winds and a backlog caused by the earlier disruption.
He said: “Due to localised thunderstorms and high winds, unfortunately we had to cancel some flights affecting a number of airlines.
“There are some continuing delays at the moment and we cannot give a timescale on when things will completely be back to normal.”
He advised passengers to continue to check for updates.
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Ring-necked parakeets intimidate garden birds, researchers say
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Four days of gun battles have turned the streets of Buenavista into no go areas At least 2,000 people have fled their homes in Michoacan state, in western Mexico, amid several days of fighting between gangs.
The worst of the violence is centred on the town of Buenavista.
Streets are deserted in some suburbs but in central areas witnesses reported bursts of automatic weapon fire.
It is believed to be factional infighting within the La Familia cartel.
At least three people are confirmed dead but a local newspaper journalist told the BBC by phone the rival gangs had removed their fallen comrades from the streets.
She said it was some of the worst violence to hit Michoacan state.
A shelter has been set up for the displaced families from Buenavista.
The army and marine units have been despatched to the area and have set up roadblocks.
Meanwhile, the authorities in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit say the death toll after a gun battle between rival gangs has now risen to at least 29.
The gunfight took place on Wednesday at a crossroads near Ruiz in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, some 800km (500 miles) north-west of Mexico City.
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Info
It’s the Magazine’s 7 days, 7 questions quiz – an opportunity to prove to yourself and others that you are a news oracle. Failing that, you can always claim to have had better things to do during the past week than swot up on current affairs.
1.) Multiple Choice Question
Lady Gaga headlined Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Carlisle on Sunday, making her entrance in a coffin. Which of these was reportedly part of her contractual requests?
Two hundred teacupsA sewing machineTwo hundred coat hangersHaggis
2.) Multiple Choice Question
Cambridge beat rival Oxford to become the UK’s top university in the newly published University Guide 2012. It came top in many subjects, but which of these did Oxford top the league in?
PsychologyPoliticsLawClassics
3.) Missing Word Question
Facebook couple ‘name baby * ‘
ZuckerbergPokeLikeStatus
4.) Multiple Choice Question
The Queen made a historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland this week. She attended a dinner at Dublin Castle wearing a hand-sewn embroidered dress covered with 2,091 what?
Celtic knotsFour-leaf cloversShamrocksHarps
5.) Multiple Choice Question
People in which country stop describing themselves as “young” at 35, according to research looking at attitudes to age across Europe?
BritainGermanyCyprus
6.) Multiple Choice Question
It’s goodbye to Ming Ming, the world’s oldest panda, who has died aged 34. She came to London Zoo in 1991 to mate with Berlin panda Bao Bao. Why was she sent back to China?
She stopped eatingIt was too cold for herThey failed to produce cubs
7.) Multiple Choice Question
The London 2012 Olympic torch relay route was revealed this week. It will include visits to six islands – which of these isn’t on the route?
AngleseyIsle of ManGuernseyShetland
Answers
It’s 200 coat hangers, according to The Sun. It says a member of staff was sent to the shops to buy a replacement sewing machine after her own broke down. It’s psychology, according to the guide, compiled by The Guardian. It also came top in chemistry, business and management, and art and design. But Cambridge overtook it in philosophy, law, politics, theology, maths, classics, anthropology and modern languages. It’s Like. Lior and Vardit Adler from Israel said they wanted a “modern” name for their daughter, and so looked to Facebook for inspiration. The social networking site allows users to “like” their friends’ photos and comments. It’s shamrocks, which are from the clover family, but only have three leaves. It was Britain. Germans are considered young until they reach 43, and Cypriots until 51. British people on average also believe that old age starts at 59, about nine years earlier than their European counterparts. It was because they failed to produce any cubs. In what became something of a diplomatic incident, the pair ended up fighting a lot and didn’t successfully mate. It’s Anglesey, off the north-west coast of Wales. The route also includes the islands of Jersey, Orkney and the Isle of Lewis.
Your Score
0 – 3 : Dead end
4 – 6 : Bypassed
7 – 7 : En route
For past quizzes including our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, expand the grey drop-down below – also available on the Magazine page (and scroll down). You can also do this quiz on your mobile device.
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The happy couple already have two children together Labour leader Ed Miliband and his long-term partner Justine Thornton get married later. They already have two children, so why get hitched?
For many people having a child is the ultimate commitment to a partner. A life you have created together and are responsible for raising.
It’s a commitment many people make without getting married. But some then go on to tie the knot, like Ed Miliband and his partner of six years, Justine Thornton. Why?
There are the obvious financial and legal advantages to getting married. For older people issues surrounding pensions and inheritance are often the reason they decide to get hitched after years together. But Miliband and Thornton are still young.
And while the pressures on the leader of the Labour party will be slightly different to those of the average person, there is no mistaking that attitudes to marriage and family have changed. Getting married used to be about sex, living together and having children, but research shows this is no longer the case.
I didn’t feel I need a bit of paper to make my relationship secure. Having children is a far bigger sign of commitment to someone. There was no pressure from my partner, in fact we never talked about it. Our families weren’t bothered either.
For me a big part of it was the children. I didn’t want them to be asked at school why their parents weren’t married. I suppose you could say that was me feeling a slight pressure to conform to social norms, but if I hadn’t wanted to do it anyway I wouldn’t have.
I proposed on Christmas Day and put the ring in a cracker. It was a surprise and I wanted it to be romantic.
After that we got married quickly. I don’t understand people who are engaged for years and years. Then I think the ring is like a form of hush money, given to keep people quiet. I find that weirder than getting married after kids.
Chris, 41, from Northampton
According to the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) Survey, which was conducted in 2008, almost two-thirds of people now see little difference between marriage and living together. Fewer than a fifth of people took issue with it.
Just under half thought cohabitation showed just as much commitment as getting married. When it comes to children, where opinion can often be a bit more traditional, only 28% said they believe married couples make better parents.
So why do it? Psychologist Donna Dawson, who has specialised in sex and relationships, says it is often about making a public statement.
“Having the children take part is like a ceremonial creation of a family and a public statement that they are all in it together. It’s very much a 21st Century ritual, which more and more people will be doing.”
She says even when couples say there isn’t a specific reason, there is “always something going on underneath”.
“Sometimes it is about marking a different stage in a relationship, or they might have taken a long time because of the bad example they were set by their own parents. There is usually a reason, even if they are not fully aware of it.”
Chris, 41, and his partner were together for nine years and had two children when they got married. He didn’t feel any direct pressure from his partner or family, but says as his children got older he wanted them to have parent who were married.
“For me a big part of it was the children,” he says. “I didn’t want them to be asked at school why their parents weren’t married. I suppose you could say that was me feeling a slight pressure to conform to social norms, but if I hadn’t wanted to get married in the first place I definitely wouldn’t have done it.”
But people who get married after having children could actually be the traditionalists. Historically, the UK has a long tradition of informal “marriages” that were recognised by the community, says Penny Mansfield, director of the relationship research organisation One Plus One.
‘Golden age’
“If you cohabited or had children together you were as good as married in everyone’s eyes. It’s only after the introduction of the Hardwicke Marriage Act in 1753 that marriage became a legal concept and unmarried couples became stigmatised.”
She says the “golden age” of marriage was as recent as the 1960s and 70s, when more people got married than ever before. Marriage was seen as a passport to adulthood, when you were allowed to have sex and live together.
Source: ONS
“Obviously, people wanted that freedom as soon as they could,” says Mansfield. “The average age of people getting married was 21 for women and 23 for men. Now you can put a decade on those ages and that’s because sex and cohabitation outside of marriage are largely accepted.
“Now I think people get married after the house and kids because it is very much a public celebration of what they have, rather than the passport to adulthood.”
Guardian columnist Zoe Williams has been with her partner for six years and has two children – just like Miliband and Thornton – but says she thinks it is a “weird gesture” to get married at this stage.
“It’s now socially acceptable to have sex, live together and have kids outside of marriage, so why spend £10,000 or more on a wedding?” she says.
“Having kids is a much bigger deal than marriage, a much bigger statement of commitment. Personally, I just don’t think about getting married. I simply have never felt a need to be married.”
In the end it could all be about having a big party for Ed and Justine. According to BSA survey, 53% of people now think a wedding is more about a celebration than a life-long commitment.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The Apache helicopter is prized by troops because of its hardiness and versatility The prime minister has asked for more information before agreeing to deploy Apache attack helicopters in Libya.
David Cameron’s request follows a meeting of the National Security Council in Downing Street on Thursday.
Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards said, if agreed, the Apaches would be part of “ratcheting up” the pressure on Colonel Gaddafi.
The BBC’s Nick Robinson understands the prime minister is considering military assessments of the risks involved.
The military is assessing the risk of deploying helicopters, which make easier targets than high-flying jets, in a country which has thousands of surface-to-air missiles.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said: “The helicopters and their pilots are currently on exercise in the Mediterranean.
“Their military value is that they will allow swifter attacks on smaller targets in urban areas than are currently possible using jets alone.”
The French government has already said that it will be deploying French Tiger attack helicopters.
Mr Cameron made the request for more information while he was en route to the G8 Summit in France.
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Manchester City defender Kolo Toure receives a back-dated ban of six months for failing a drugs test, meaning he will miss the opening weeks of next season.
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The football club that feeds Catalan identity
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On the Ohio River in West Virginia, a company demonstrates how to defend ships against pirate attacks.
Despite the growing plague of Somali piracy, scores of sailors have taken yachts into the dangerous waters off the Horn of Africa this year, and at least three have been attacked. The BBC’s Daniel Nasaw in Washington asks whether it is possible to keep a yacht safe from pirates.
It was high morning in the middle of the Arabian sea, more than 600 miles from land, when the pirates struck the Capricorn.
The Somali marauders opened fire on the 22m (72ft) yacht, then clambered aboard as the Dutch captain and engineer took refuge in the engine room.
Meanwhile, a team of armed Ukrainian guards on a 42m former naval vessel hired as an escort returned fire, then came alongside the Capricorn. A guard jumped aboard and raised his weapon, and the pirates fled aboard their skiff.
The boats suffered only minor damage and the crew were uninjured.
“They were, of course, in a bit of shock,” said Thomas Jakobsson, chief of operations for Naval Guards, the Cardiff-based company that supplied the escort ship.
“If you’re not used to having people shoot at you – and I guess even if you are – it’s always an unpleasant experience.”
The Capricorn was one of at least 133 yachts that have sailed the region this year, according to the Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa, a European Union agency.
Marc Adams took a 1,000-mile detour to avoid pirates, but came within eight miles of an attack While most pirates aim at commercial vessels, at least three yachts have been struck this year and the attack on the Capricorn was the only story with a happy ending.
In February, four Americans were killed after pirates hijacked their yacht, the Quest, off Oman. That same month pirates seized seven Danes, including three teenagers, from their yacht ING.
“My advice is pretty consistent: Don’t come if you don’t have to,” said Capt Michael Lodge of the US Maritime Liaison Office in Bahrain, which advises ships travelling in the region.
“If you decide to come anyway you need to carefully consider the risks associated with the trip. Plan accordingly, be aware of the dangers.”
Mr Jakobsson, a former special forces soldier from Sweden, was more blunt.
“Go bicycle camping in Afghanistan,” he said. “I’m sure it’s the same experience.”
“When you talk about armed security guards you have to talk about killing people. It’s just not a solution”
Bill Rouse
This year, dozens of yachters found themselves portside in the Maldives, Sri Lanka or India with a difficult decision ahead of them.
Sailors told the BBC they had been aware of the growing piracy threat, but after arriving in the Indian Ocean after lengthy sails from Asia, they discovered the sheer number of pirate attacks had exceeded their expectations, and changed their plans.
Turning back east can mean a long sail against the prevailing winds or a voyage across the treacherous north Pacific from Japan to Alaska. A trip south around South Africa can add months to the journey and still carries risks.
Marc and Jane Adams, Americans who set out to circle the globe in 2008 with their children, opted to sail north from the Maldives, hugging the Indian and Pakistani coasts, burning fuel and adding 1,000 miles to their journey, until they reached Oman.
Mr Adams and two crew members continued into the Gulf of Aden. On 1 March, a vessel eight miles from them was attacked by pirates – so close they saw the distress flares shoot into the sky.
“We tried to bug out as quick as we could,” Mr Adams said in a telephone interview from Suez, Egypt. “We’re unarmed, we’re sitting ducks, it’s dark out, we’re a sailboat. It’s about as scared as you’d ever want to be.”
Securing a yacht is far more difficult than a cargo ship, because it is slower, lower on the water, and unable to throw up a high wake to toss advancing pirate skiffs.
The Rouses, shown in Tonga with a young friend, paid to transport their yacht rather than risk sailing But a number of US, UK and European companies have come to market with products and services they say can reduce the risks for sailors courageous – or foolhardy – enough to sail pirate-plagued waters.
Firms will supply armed guards who berth on the client boat or aboard a high-powered escort vessel, train yacht owners and crews on how to identify and respond to a pirate threat, and provide a range of kit to keep the pirates at bay once they have neared the yacht.
US-based International Maritime Security Network is developing a system for yachts that will shower approaching pirates with slick, foul-smelling green liquid.
“The last thing they want to do now is shoot anything,” said chief executive officer Tim Nease. “They want to jump in the water, and hopefully sharks are hungry. You just have to get away from it. You can’t breath in, you can’t breath out. It burns, it stinks. It’s nasty.”
Americans Bill and Judy Rouse last month cancelled their plans to sail their 16m yacht across the Indian Ocean – and instead paid about $30,000 (£18,240) to load the boat onto a cargo ship.
The couple left St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands five years ago with plans to sail around the world. But when they reached Cochin, India in February, Mr Rouse plotted the previous three months’ pirate attacks in the region.
“It was definitely a game changer,” he said in a Skype interview from Male in the Maldives. And, “when you talk about armed security guards you have to talk about killing people. It’s just not a solution.”
So the disappointed couple spent weeks finding other yacht owners to join in hiring a transport ship, which departed Male in April with more than a dozen other yachts loaded onboard.
Mr Rouse had a warning for anyone seeking to sail the Indian Ocean.
“There really are not any alternatives for yachts such as ours, there are just not,” he said. “A combination of a yacht and pirates will only end one way, and that is the people on the yacht will either be killed or captured.”
If you must go: Security experts have a range of advice on how to mitigate the risk of attack, and companies are offering or developing products and services they say can help This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Ten years ago this week the Lancashire town of Oldham was engulfed by violent race riots.
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Eighteen bids were received for this round of funding. Homes and businesses in four rural English counties are to get superfast broadband connections.
Devon and Somerset will share £30m of government funding for the roll-out, Norfolk will get £15m and Wiltshire £4m.
Each area will also get cash from their council and private investors.
A further announcement is expected later this year on superfast broadband funding for every local authority in the country.
At the moment, the average speed of broadband in Somerset is 3MB per second, whereas superfast broadband is at least 10 times faster.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Broadband is becoming just as essential to homes and businesses as electricity and telephone lines and it is now only a matter for time before people in these three rural areas have access to the connection speeds more commonly associated with towns and cities.
“This is part of our plan for virtually every community in the UK to have access to superfast broadband.”
The next step is for each local authority to tender for contractors to carry out the work. It is anticipated the necessary infrastructure will be in place within a year.
The government has pledged to make the UK the best place for super-fast broadband in Europe by 2015.
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