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Johnson U-turns on graduate tax

Shadow chancellor Alan Johnson says he has changed his mind about a graduate tax and believes there is now a “strong case” for the policy.

Mr Johnson has previously said the idea – which is backed by the Labour leader Ed Miliband – is unworkable.

But, writing in The Times newspaper, Mr Johnson said the tax “may offer a fairer way of sharing costs between individuals and government”.

MPs are set to vote on plans to increases tuition fees on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the proposals, drawn up by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government, were fairer than the existing system of fees.

He and fellow Lib Dem ministers have said they plan to vote in favour despite the fact they signed a pledge before the election to vote against any tuition fees rise.

Analysis

Alan Johnson’s decision to signal his support for a graduate tax is not just about trying to give Labour a coherent and united position on tuition fees.

It also come amid mounting background chatter over Ed Miliband’s leadership and whether he’s up to the job.

To have the shadow chancellor so openly at odds with his leader merely fuelled the idea that somehow Ed Miliband was unable to assert his authority over his senior colleagues.

It was also an open goal for the coalition to have the two top figures in the Labour Party unable to agree over such a central issue.

So Mr Johnson’s belated conversion – whether he had his arm twisted tightly behind his back or not – is as much about bolstering Ed Miliband’s leadership as it is about ending the party’s confusion over tuition fees.

Q&A: University funding Lib Dem ministers back fees rise The different tribes of Lib Dems

Mr Clegg cites the fact that the new system would raise to £21,000 the level of graduate earnings before repayments start, and other help for students from poorer homes.

Mr Johnson was the Labour minister who took the original tuition fees legislation through the Commons in 2004, and he said six weeks ago he thought it would be “very difficult” to get a “workable” graduate tax.

His difference of view with new Labour leader Ed Miliband has been exploited by opponents who said it showed Mr Miliband’s lack of authority.

In his article Mr Johnson said Labour’s priority “this week is to defeat the government. If we fail, our priority will be to offer the country a fairer alternative for stronger universities and a better deal for our young people”.

He said the situation was now “very different” to when he brought in tuition fees and he accused the government of “abusing the legacy I left them”.

“We are now seeing how casually the variable fees system can be distorted with such damaging effects. It is in these circumstances that there is a strong case for a graduate tax, which may offer a fairer way of sharing costs between individuals and government.”

There is no mention of what form a graduate tax may take, or how different it might be to the proposed new tuition fees system. In both cases students would not have to start repaying fees until they graduate and are earning above a certain level.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

UK gender pay difference narrows

The gender pay gap has narrowed as women have seen bigger pay increases in 2010, official figures show.

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Private space capsule set to fly

A private US capsule that could soon be hauling cargo and even astronauts to the space station is set to make its first demonstration flight on Wednesday.

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NI Tory party chair to resign

The Chairman of the Conservative party in Northern Ireland is to resign from his position following the news that the party will not be fielding any candidates in the Assembly elections.

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EU deal fails to quell food fight

EU ministers agree on new food labelling rules to show nutritional data more clearly – but a top Euro MP attacks them.

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Liberians warned off Ivory Coast

Liberia’s president warns former rebels not to get involved in the Ivory Coast crisis, as African leaders urge Laurent Gbagbo to accept election defeat.

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Mastercard ‘hit by hacktivists’

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested by UK police

Related stories

Internet hacktivists have fired the latest salvo in the Wikileaks infowar.

A group called Anonymous has hit sites that have refused to do business with the controversial whistle-blowing site with a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks.

It mirrors similar attacks aimed at the Wikileaks site.

Targets include the Swiss bank that froze founder Julian Assange’s assets and PayPal which has stopped processing donations to Wikileaks.

Anonymous is a loose-knit group of hacktivists, with links to the notorious message board 4chan.

A member of Anonymous who calls himself Coldblood told the BBC that “multiple things are being done”.

“Websites that are bowing down to government pressure have become targets,” he said.

“As an organisation we have always taken a strong stance on censorship and freedom of expression on the internet and come out against those who seek to destroy it by any means.”

“We feel that Wikileaks has become more than just about leaking of documents, it has become a war ground, the people vs. the government,” he said.

So far the denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which swamp a site with so many requests that it becomes overwhelmed, have failed to take any sites offline although that is not the point of the attack, according to Coldblood.

“The idea is not to wipe them off but to give the companies a wake-up call,” he said. “Companies will notice the increase in traffic and an increase in traffic means increase in costs associated with running a website.”

DDoS attacks are illegal in many countries, including the UK.

Coldblood admitted that such attacks “may hurt people trying to get to these sites” but said it was “the only effective way to tell these companies that us, the people, are displeased”.

Anonymous is also helping to create hundreds of mirror sites for Wikileaks, after its US domain name provider withdrew its services.

“At the last count there were 507 mirrors of Wikileaks,” said Coldblood.

Ending contracts

Wikileaks has been hit by a series of denial-of-service attacks, following the release of a quarter of a million US embassy cables.

Game of cat-and-mouse28 Nov: First cables released29 Nov: US brands cable leaks an “attack on the international community” and says criminal investigation ongoing29 Nov: Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin calls for Mr Assange to be “pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders”3 Dec: Wikileaks forced to change web address after coming under cyber attack3 Dec: Sweden issues new European arrest warrant for Mr Assange over sex crime allegations but wording is wrong6 Dec: Sweden issues new warrant and passes it to police in UK7 Dec: Mr Assange is arrested in London after voluntarily walking into a police stationSpotlight on ‘sensitive’ sites

It is unclear who is behind the attacks but it seems that Wikileaks is getting too hot to handle as many of the businesses that work with the site, distance themselves from it.

On 3 December, domain name provider EveryDNS cut off service, citing the denial-of-service attacks as the reason.

Amazon also ended an agreement to host the site, saying Wikileaks failed to adhere to its terms of service.

It said that Wikileaks was unable to ensure that it “wasn’t putting innocent people in jeopardy” by leaking classified documents.

Online payment company, PayPal, has permanently restricted Wikileaks’ account, making it harder for supporters to make donations.

MasterCard Worldwide is also choking payments to the site.

The Swiss bank, PostFinance has closed the account of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

In all cases, the companies have insisted their decisions are not politically motivated.

PayPal said Wikileaks’ account had violated its terms of services.

PostFinance, meanwhile, claimed Assange had provided false information when opening his account.

BitTorrent file

But some have taken a different view.

French internet service provider OVH said it had no plans to end the service it provides to Wikileaks.

“The information is already out there”

Joss Wright Oxford Internet Institute

“OVH is neither for nor against this site. We neither asked to host this site nor not to host it. Now it’s with us, we will fulfil the contract,” said OVH managing director Octave Klaba.

“It’s neither for the political world nor for OVH to call for or to decide on a site’s closure,” he added.

French industry minister Eric Besson had called for the site to be shut down, saying France could not host internet sites that “violate the confidentiality of diplomatic relations and put in danger people protected by diplomatic secrecy”.

But on 6 December, a French judge declined to force OVH to shut Wikileaks down, saying the case needed further argument.

Wikileaks has amassed some high-profile enemies including Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the US Homeland Security Committee.

He has urged the US government to “use all legal means necessary to shut down Wikileaks before it can do more damage by releasing additional cables”.

Dr Joss Wright, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute thinks it could be too late to legislate Wikileaks offline.

“Wikileaks has released an encrypted file containing all of the embassy cables,” says Dr Wright. “The information is already out there.”

Dozens of copies of that encrypted file have been shared using peer-to-peer networks, such as BitTorrent. “Once the information is there, it’s virtually impossible to stop people sharing it,” said Dr Wright.

Founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange has been arrested and is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court later.

He is accused by the Swedish authorities of sexual assault.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Failed bank bosses may lose pay

The bosses of failed banks could face having two years’ pay clawed back, says the head of the Financial Services Authority.

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A third of universities ‘at risk’

Students are preparing for a fourth day of protests

A third of England’s universities have been labelled “at risk” from government cuts, with the worst hit facing mergers or even closures.

A study for the lecturers’ union, the UCU, claims plans to cut budgets and raise tuition fees could leave institutions fighting for survival.

It said 49 faced a “serious impact”, with four at “very high risk”.

The government said it was aiming to secure the future of university funding.

The report is being published on the eve of the Commons vote on tuition fees and as students, school pupils and lecturers prepare for a fourth national day of protests.

The UCU report looks at the financial risk to England’s 130 universities, assessing how dependent they are on public funding.

It also considers how many students they take from poor backgrounds and how well they do in recruiting overseas students who boost university coffers with higher fees.

“We are not alone in raising concerns about the future of our universities”

Sally Hunt UCU general secretary

It says four universities are at “very high risk”. These are named as Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln, Edge Hill University, Newman University College and Norwich University College of the Arts.

All four have rejected the claims, saying they are popular with students.

The report goes on to name and label 23 as “high risk” and a further 22 as “high-medium risk”.

On the “high risk” list are many well-respected universities such as Buckinghamshire New University, the University of Worcester and Roehampton University.

Some of these have been vocal in opposing government plans for cuts and higher student fees.

The “medium-high risk” list features universities such as Manchester Metropolitan, Leeds Metropolitan and Nottingham Trent University as well as the Open University.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt says many of the 49 universities deemed at “high financial risk from government plans” are the newer universities, along with a number of specialist institutions.

“We are not alone in raising concerns about the future of our universities.

“A recent survey of university leaders revealed that nine out of 10 expect an institution to close due to financial pressures and last month the business secretary, Vince Cable, warned that many universities are essentially bankrupt.”

She added: “Universities going bust would have a devastating impact on their local communities – as would the withdrawal of government funding.”

The report also claims millions of pounds would be lost to local economies in the event of universities closing.

The report pulls out Sheffield Hallam University as an example, which it says “is by common consent a well-run university”.

“On a turnover of £215m in 2009, Sheffield Hallam made a surplus of just £1.9m. The report estimates that the withdrawal of state funding for non-priority subjects will cost the institution around £47m a year.”

“Students will make decisions about which course and university is right for them and funding will follow those choices”

David Willetts Universities Minister

It adds: “If it fails to recover at least 96% of this lost income, presumably through higher fees, it will be forced into deficit and will need to consider reducing provision.”

A spokesman for the university said it had taken steps to contain costs.

But the spokesman added: “The UCU report is right to identify as at risk those institutions which are dependent on Hefce grants and Department of Health and Teacher Development Agency funding and who recruit a significant number of widening participation students.

“This type of institution educates around 50% of students in higher education.”

Professor John Cater, vice-chancellor of Edge Hill University, one of those deemed most at risk, said: “There are universities that clearly are at risk – if demand is low and the institution isn’t in a good financial health there’s a vulnerability – but that is not us.

“However, it is going to be hard to sustain our upward direction.”

Universities Minister David Willetts insisted his planned reforms would ensure universities were properly funded in the future.

“Students will make decisions about which course and university is right for them and funding will follow those choices,” he said.

“The new arrangements are fairer than the present system and affordable for the nation.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Blanchett joins The Hobbit cast

Oscar-winning-actress Cate Blanchett will reprise her Lord Of The Rings role for the film’s prequel, The Hobbit.

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Deadly blast in Pakistan market

A bomb has gone off in a market in north-western Pakistan, killing at least 10 people, police say.

The explosion took place at a bus terminal in the main bazaar in the garrison town of Kohat.

The district chief of police has said that a suicide bomber was responsible.

On Sunday at least 55 people were killed and nearly 100 injured in a suicide bomb attack on a mosque in the nearby area of Darra Adam Khel.

Officials say the bus terminal was packed with commuters and the number of casualties could rise.

Local journalists say many shops in the market were also damaged.

Kohat is close to Pakistan’s border regions with Afghanistan, where Islamist militants are strong.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Public ‘should help clear roads’

Edinburgh Council has asked the Army to help clear the streets

The public should clear icy side roads and pavements not treated by councils, the transport secretary has suggested.

After another freezing night prompted Met Office warnings of icy roads across much of Britain, Philip Hammond said people should help neighbours.

The Army may clear Edinburgh’s streets as Scotland remains gripped by sub-zero conditions. Many cars remain stranded.

Overnight temperatures hit -18C (0F) in Perthshire and more than 1,000 UK schools remain closed.

There has been no let-up for some areas, with severe weather warnings for heavy snow affecting Northern Ireland, north-east Scotland, Yorkshire and the Humber.

And BBC weather forecaster Nick Miller said temperatures would again struggle to get above freezing in many places. Met Office severe weather warnings for icy roads are in place for all of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and most eastern areas of England

Problems persist on the roads, particularly in Scotland’s central belt where Transport Scotland is again advising against all but “absolutely essential” travel

The westbound M8 remains closed between Edinburgh and HarthillThe A171 near Whitby, North Yorks, is “passable with care” after more than 100 vehicles had to be rescued by police and snow ploughsOn the railways, there is widespread disruption – including many cancellations – throughout ScotlandEast Coast is operating reduced services, while some local services in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and north-east England have been cancelledTravellers at airports including Glasgow and Edinburgh and Belfast International are advised to check flight times with airlines

Mr Hammond said councils had to make choices about which roads to grit but could provide salt to allow the public to clear residential streets.

AROUND THE UK

Scotland: Road chaos latest Northern Ireland: Continued school closures England: Trapped drivers released In pictures: Winter weather

“In many cases people would like to have the opportunity to have access to grit and salt supplies so that on roads that are not on the council’s gritting route they can… make the pavements a bit easier, make it a bit easier for them to get out of their driveways,” he told BBC Breakfast.

“People have always dug their way out of their own driveways… and I would encourage people who are able to do that kind of thing to continue doing it for themselves and for neighbours who are perhaps less able to.”

He said the government had recently put together a “common sense” code of practice which, if followed, should protect the public from legal action as a result of attempting to clear snow.

However, he said there was no need in England for the Army to be called in because councils were still able to call contractors if they needed help clearing roads.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond had earlier told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the Army had helped emergency services on Monday and that Edinburgh Council had requested personnel help clear roads.

WEATHER AND TRAVEL INFO

Get the latest on travel problems via your local website Check if snow is forecast in your area at BBC Weather Details of motorway and local road closures and public transport disruption are available at BBC Travel News For advice on handling difficult driving conditions, see the Highways Agency website For information about severe weather warnings, see the Met Office website For information about staying healthy in the cold weather, see the NHS Winter Health website

Voluntary groups and offenders serving community sentences were already helping out, he said.

“You would expect us in extraordinary circumstances… to use every facility to help people,” he added.

Scotland’s Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson has apologised for the situation on the M8, where hundreds of drivers became stranded overnight on Monday, and is expected to make a statement to MSPs later.

Police have said people who had abandoned vehicles should not return to them unless advised to do so.

Some vehicles have been removed already and officers are contacting owners to tell them how to get them back.

The AA said it had responded to 13,500 call-outs by 1500 GMT on Tuesday and had dealt with more than 230,000 incidents since the first widespread snow on 24 November – a 93% increase on the same period last year.

The RAC said breakdowns were there were 50% more call-outs than normal.

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UK forecast for 08/12/2010

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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.