Category: news

The UK needs to prepare itself quickly to deal with the impacts of climate change, government advisers warn.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says climate effects are already being felt in the UK in the form of higher temperatures and changing seasons.

Using land more sensibly, adapting buildings and planning for emergencies are areas where it recommends action.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman describes the CCC’s adaptation report as “a wake-up call”.

“There is no part of our society which is immune from the effects of climate change,” she is due to say in a speech on Thursday.

“Britain’s economy will only be as resilient and prepared as British firms, communities and infrastructure.”

This is the first time the CCC has looked into how homes, businesses and authorities should be changing in order to deal with climate impacts.

Previously it has concerned itself with issues such as the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy supply.

But a degree of adaptation is vital, it concludes, because even the most drastic cuts in emissions cannot prevent some impacts.

The UK’s average temperature has already risen by 1C since the 1970s.

The CCC uses projections from computer models of climate change to forecast a higher incidence of extreme weather events such as floods, heatwaves and droughts.

“The UK must start acting now to prepare for climate change,” said Lord Krebs, chairman of the CCC’s adaptation sub-committee.

“It is not necessarily about spending more, but about spending smart and investing to save. If we get it right, we can save money in the short term and avoid large extra costs in the future.”

Although the government has taken some steps to raise awareness of the issue among businesses and ordinary people, few tangible changes have resulted.

In many places, the CCC says, the concept of adaptation is just “name-checked”.

As examples of the issues involved, the CCC points out that if new nuclear power stations are built around the coast, they must be protected against sea-level rise well beyond their operational lifetime.

Houses must be built where a water supply is assured, and supplied with drainage adequate for future storms.

Hospitals and care homes must be able to keep cool during heatwaves.

Craig Bennett, policy and campaigns director for Friends of the Earth UK, welcomed the report.

“Making our buildings and infrastructure more resilient to a changing climate can help cut emissions too,” he noted.

“For example, super-insulating our homes and buildings will keep them warmer in winter and cooler in summer, and will also cut fuel bills.”

The report is not completely full of danger signs, however, arguing that another aspect of adaptation is making sure people and businesses are prepared for new opportunities that are projected to arise.

Warmer temperatures mean the chance to grow fruits such as apricots, while wine production could spread.

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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) was guilty of “astonishing” failures in its purchase of a £10.5bn fleet of tanker aircraft, a committee of MPs has said.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the MoD had no idea if its deal to buy the 14 Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft was good value for money.

The planes are not due to start entering service until October 2011 – five-and-a-half years behind schedule.

No-one from the Ministry of Defence was available to comment on the report.

The PAC’s report added that the taxpayer would probably also have to pay hundreds of millions of pounds more for the aircraft – a modified Airbus A330-200 that will also be able to carry troops – because they did not have sufficient protection to fly on operations in Afghanistan and other combat zones.

Until this additional modification is carried out, the RAF will have to continue using its ageing fleet of Tristar and VC10 planes.

The MoD signed a 27-year contract to buy the 14 planes in 2008, under the government’s largest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract.

PFI is a way for the public sector to avoid paying up-front costs for major projects, typically such as the building of new hospitals and schools.

Under the initiative, private firms fund the project in question, with the public sector organisation then making repayments over a number of years.

The private company that the MoD signed a deal with to buy the new tanker aircraft was Air Tanker Ltd.

The PAC report questioned why the MoD had rejected advice from within its own project team in 2004 that the planned contract should be called off because of “significant concerns” over the Air Tanker Ltd bid.

Air Tanker Ltd is a consortium comprising Rolls-Royce, EADS, Cobham, Thales and Babcock.

PAC chairwoman Margaret Hodge said using PFI to procure the tanker planes had been “inappropriate”.

“PFI may be suited to projects like building schools or hospitals where there is a clear specification,” said the Labour MP.

“Defence programmes are by their nature different: activities and demands are far less predictable and much more susceptible to change.”

She added that the MoD could not have asked for the planes to have extra protection fitted so they could fly in Afghanistan because of the implications this would have had for the cost of the PFI.

Ms Hodge also said the committee had “great concern” that it took the MoD nine years to negotiate the PFI deal with Air Tanker before it was finally signed in 2008.

She added: “Throughout the project the MoD has lacked the robust financial and performance data needed to make sensible decisions.”

The PAC report said the MoD did not understand the costs of the deal it was negotiating, as it did not obtain access to detailed industry cost data.

Air Tanker Ltd said in a statement that it believed its tanker programme “offers value for money to the UK MoD and the taxpayer”.

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

Pop stars Pixie Lott and Lady Gaga have made their debuts in the Guinness World Records for their musical achievements, it has been announced.

Lott has been included for her single, Boys And Girls, which made the biggest jump to number one ever, climbing from number 72 in just a week.

Lady Gaga has set the record for most weeks in the UK chart, clocking up 154 weeks in the top 75, beating Oasis.

She has also been named the most searched for female on the internet.

The previous record holder had been former governor of the state of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

Editor-in-chief of this year’s records book, Craig Glenday, said: “Almost two years ago, Lady Gaga and Pixie Lott were not even around so it’s amazing they have broken these records.

“Every year, so many new music records are broken.”

Simultaneous hits

The late singer Michael Jackson was named the most searched for male on the internet, overtaking the previous record held by Heath Ledger.

Madonna has broken several records, including biggest-selling female album act of the 21st Century in UK.

She also clocked up the most number one albums by a female artist and is the UK’s top-selling female recording artist.

In film, James Cameron’s film Avatar appears 12 times in the new record book, and Twilight sequel New Moon earned the title of highest box office gross figures for an opening day, after making $72.7 million (£43.5 million).

The Harry Potter movies were named the highest box office earner for a series.

The BBC’s Doctor Who and Casualty have earned the titles of longest-running science-fiction TV series and longest-running prime time medical drama respectively.

Also making its first appearance in the records book is the US musical comedy series Glee, for most simultaneous hits on the UK singles chart.

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

Mexico is celebrating the bicentennial of its independence with parties across the country.

However, security is high in many regions, with some towns and cities cancelling or cutting back festivities amid fears of drug cartel violence.

The celebrations mark the 1810 uprising that paved the way for the end of Spanish rule in 1821.

Wednesday’s show of concerts, parades and fireworks in Mexico City is said to be the largest of its kind in Mexico.

But correspondents say the run-up to the events has been marred by accusations of overspending, bad planning and security concerns.

Heavily-armed agents carrying metal detectors are being deployed for the capital’s celebrations and helicopters will provide added security.

More than 100,000 people are expected at the Mexico City events, guarded by more than 14,000 police officers, including snipers on rooftops.

After the massive parade, the climax of the celebrations will be the traditional “grito” (shout of independence) by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, which will be broadcast across the country from the capital’s main square.

The shout is an echo of the battle cry of Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo, who began the 1810 uprising.

Local leaders and Mexican citizens will cry “Viva Mexico!” in response.

However, the grito cry by the mayor of Ciudad Juarez will come from behind closed doors.

The city, close to the Texan border, is the centre of the drug-related violence that has left 28,000 people dead in Mexico since 2006.

Guadalupe, east of Ciudad Juarez, has cancelled its celebrations.

Security will also be tight in Morelia, in the president’s home state of Michoacan. Eight people were killed in a grenade attack there on Independence Day in 2008. The central square will be largely closed off.

A number of towns in the northern states of Chihuahua and Tamaulipas, and in Guerrero in the south, have also cancelled festivities.

The BBC’s Julian Miglierini, in Mexico City, says the bill for the celebrations – $230m (£148m) – has caused concern among many Mexicans.

A survey in the Reforma newspaper suggested eight out of 10 Mexico City residents thought too much was being spent.

Given the number of deaths in the drug-related violence, our correspondent says many Mexicans think there is simply not much to celebrate.

On Thursday, foreign heads of state will attend an annual parade on Mexico City’s Reforma avenue and Zocalo square.

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

Patricia Cain has won this year’s £25,000 Threadneedle Prize for pastel piece Building the Riverside Museum.

Selectors praised the “confident lines of colour” in her large-scale industrial drawing of the construction of Glasgow’s new transport museum.

Duo Boyd and Evans won a further £10,000 prize voted for by visitors to the Threadneedle exhibition.

The two pieces and a further 44 entries are on display at London’s Mall Galleries until Saturday.

More than 2,100 entries were submitted in total.

The work of Cain, who trained as a lawyer before becoming a full-time artist and completing a PhD at the Glasgow School of Art, focuses on the regeneration of the city.

“Cain uses pastel, often considered a difficult medium, to create large-scale industrial drawings where broad and confident lines of colour build a structure into the work that replicates its subject matter,” organisers said.

Cain has said of her piece: “My role was to capture the experience of the moment of building work in progress.

“The focus is not the finished building but an investigation of the beauty of construction.”

The Glasgow Riverside Museum of Transport was designed by architect Zaha Hadid.

Milton Keynes-based husband and wife team Fionnuala Boyd and Les Evans won the Visitors’ Choice award for Clee Hill 2009, “depicting a barren landscape in Shropshire after heavy rain”.

Boyd and Evans create paintings from photographs “where perspective and scale are heavily altered to produce surreal effects and to investigate ideas about representation”.

The couple, who have worked together since 1968, have artwork in public collections at galleries including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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

Charging a deposit for plastic and glass drinks bottles would drastically reduce litter, campaigners have said.

Consumers would be charged a small fee when they buy a bottle, which would be refunded when it is returned.

Research for the Campaign to Protect Rural England suggests a 15p deposit for bottles up to half a litre and 30p for others would mean 90% coming back.

The CPRE said according to its own study such a scheme would reduce costs to the public sector by £160m per year.

A deposit was routinely charged for drinks bottles decades ago.

BBC rural affairs correspondent Jeremy Cooke says the CPRE now believes it is time to revisit the idea.

The deposit would be repayable when the container is dropped off at an authorised site.

The CPRE believes such a scheme would help protect the landscape by reducing litter and aid the government in meeting its target of moving towards a “zero waste” economy by increasing recycling rates.

Campaigners said the saving to the public purse would be equivalent to £7 per household.

CPRE president Bill Bryson said: “These findings throw rational and informed light on an issue that is nonsensically contentious in the UK.

“What sensible nation would not want to capture and recycle its precious and finite resources? What discerning people would not want to enjoy a litter-free environment?

“We have published this research to reignite the debate, so that an effective mechanism which delivers environmental and social benefits in many other countries can be given its proper consideration in the UK.”

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

A cow whose tiny stature saved her from the abattoir has entered the record books as the world’s smallest.

Swallow, a Dexter cow from Cheshire, stands 33.5in (0.8m) tall from hind to foot – shorter than most sheep.

The 11-year-old, who is currently pregnant, has produced nine calves and is described by owner Caroline Ryder as the “nanny of the herd”.

Swallow secured a slot with the tallest dog, longest snake and oldest gorilla in the 2011 Guinness World Records.

The tiny cow was born in Newbury, Berkshire in 1999 and bought by the Ryder family at a rare breed auction in 2006.

Brought up in Rishton, West Yorkshire, her small size means she is used for breeding, explained Mrs Ryder, who recently moved to Crossley Hall Farm, near Congleton.

“She was quite small when she was born and she has grown proportionately,” she told the BBC.

“She is really sweet – an asset to the herd. For a small cow with short legs she can’t half move fast.”

The family approached Guinness after noticing a posting on a Dexter cattle forum from someone looking for the smallest cow.

After putting her name forward last year, Guinness confirmed the record a few months ago.

Mrs Ryder’s husband, Martyn, said: “I think she is just a genetic anomaly.”

Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records editor-in-chief, said the tiny cow was one of his personal favourites among the 3,000 new records.

“It’s been a fantastic year for record breaking,” he said.

“The animal records are always among the most popular we have in the book.”

The updated edition of the book, published on Thursday, also records a host of new British record breakers.

Stephen Parkes, 44, from Nottingham, gains an entry for owning the largest collection of Smurf memorabilia – a total of 1,061 items.

West Midlands resident Stephen Buttler broke the record for the most push-ups with claps in one minute. He completed 73 – or 1.2 push-ups each second.

And the record for the Largest Commercially Available English Breakfast went to Mario’s Cafe Bar in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

For £10.95 customers can tuck into six rashers of bacon, six sausages, four eggs, six slices of bread, five black puddings, mushrooms, a can of beans and tomatoes.

But if they manage the meal in under 20 minutes – it is free.

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

The government is being urged by lecturers’ union UCU not to encourage the expansion of private universities in England’s higher education system.

Universities Minister David Willetts has indicated support for introducing new types of provider.

But UCU head Sally Hunt has warned against moving towards more US-style universities run for profit.

The private BPP University College said “a high-quality, self-funded higher education sector is vital”.