extinction News

 

 

 

 

Stories of the week 18 November

 

Austerity

Poverty is politics in the UK as a UN Report this week has left the world astounded and a nation hanging its head in shame. The Report condemns Conservatives for austerity and universal credit as social re-engineering, cruel and malicious.  The fifth richest country in the world has levels of poverty not seen in developed countries.

 

 

Environment

After a recent UN Report talked about the need to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 or face disaster, a new group, Extinction Rebellion took climate action to the streets. Claiming the social contract has been broken by the Government, it’s everyone’s moral duty to stand up to climate change or face extinction.

 

 

Brexit

A big Brexit week in the news as the truth about the warring factions is revealed and open warfare starts to rip the Conservatives apartThe Press were as divided as the Tories and the country.  The only discussion of any hope of reconciliation came from Europe.

As Brexit gets closer to take-off or a crash landing, British Airways were accused of planning to move operations to Spain in the event of  No-Deal Brexit.

 

 

Society

In a move that will be sure to upset the work-life balance and privacy, a suggestion has been made that employees could be micro-chipped, much like cats or dogs, to improve security at work.  Needless to say, this has not been well-received.

 

 

Middle East

More troubling stories this week.

There was more fighting in Gazza as Israel took out Hamas’ TV station and rockets were launched in retaliation with yet more fatalities.

The grim Khashoggi murder continues in the news.  The CIA has openly accused the Crown Price of orchestrating the crime.

 

 

NHS

Another outcome of the Government’s continuing NHS under funding and privatisation this week, as private company, CAPITA, failed in another tragic cancer screening blunder.

 

 

World

Against the backdrop of the Centenary of the First World War and the call for a European Army, Donald Trump mocked France, Macron and Merkel with references to the US saving France from speaking German in World War Two.

 

 

Technology

The Government is considering giving teenagers digital passports in the fight against access to online pornography.

 

 

Science

In more surprising news, although perhaps the surprise is that it took so long to prove, men and women really do think differently to each other.  Scientists have compared autism to an extreme version of the male brain.

 

 

 

Stories of the Week ending 30 September: 

 

 

Brexit

Brexit this week took its usual twist and turns. The EU almost seemed irrelevant as we began party conference season and the battle lines are drawn not only between political parties but also between Leave and Remain.

On the one hand, Jacob Rees-Mogg wanted the whole country to enjoy a magical Disney happy-ever-after Brexit.

Elsewhere, Brexit took a potentially unexpected turn. Just as The Soros Foundation takes Hungary to court over human rights violations, Conservative MEPs get a personal thank you from far right Hungarian PM Viktor Orban for their support in standing against proposed EU sanctionsMichael Gove also refused to condemn Orban although later Conservative MEPs were ordered to ‘distance themselves’ from the Hungarian leader.

 

 

Politics

The Labour Party started the conference season in spectacular fashion.  Keir Starmer firmly launched Labour’s stance on a final say on the Brexit deal and a possible 2nd Referendum.  But that wasn’t all. A range of social and economic policies either made Labour a government in waiting for some of the Press whilst others simply saw ‘an insane Marxist’ programme.

Labour also claimed Theresa May’s government ‘the most divided ever’ as various leadership candidates lined up in what was called ‘a Tory beauty parade’ to take over from the PM.

Also much was made of the government’s Northern Powerhouse Minister and how little he had actually been up north.

 

 

Austerity

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, clashed with Theresa May over Conservative Austerity.  After the Archbishop criticised the Government for failing the poor and deserting a section of society, May responded with ‘work is the best way out of poverty’.

As an example of austerity and the failure of Universal Credit, a very alarming story highlighted how a couple violently induced a miscarriage because of Government benefit cuts.

 

 

Environment

Two of the most icon and important species – whales and bees – featured heavily this week in disappointing news.

Benny the beluga whale was spotted lost and in the Thames estuary.  This rare event was greeted with curiosity and wonder by some of the Press whilst others saw Benny as an omen representing a global catastrophe no-one is talking about.

It was bad news too for killer whales. In yet another potential man-made extinction, half the killer whale population will die from a man-made chemical banned more than 40 years ago.

The news wasn’t good for bees either.  The world’s most popular weed killer harms them and other studies show they become addicted to harmful and deadly pesticides.

 

 

Science

This week saw a truly amazing scientific breakthrough when paralysed patients were able to walk again using an implant that responds to their thoughts.

And yes, in other amazing news, it seems our star signs really do control our destiny.

 

 

NHS

Life expectancy is shortening in the UK. For the first time children’s life expectancy is shorter than their parents.

 

 

World

Whilst Donald Trump and Theresa May talked up a post Brexit deal, he also managed to bring laughter to the world at the UN.

 

 

 

 

Stories of the week 9 September

 

 

Austerity

‘Father battling cancer whose benefits were cut because he was ‘well enough to make a cup of tea’ died aged 56 with just £8 to his name, his family says’. The headline says it all.  There are many kinds of austerity wrapped up in this from universal credit to NHS cuts in finding.  Again, the headline says so much more than we could ever say.

 

 

Brexit

‘Brexit’ became associated with unexpected and exciting situations this week.  None of them were what Theresa May or arch-Brexiters might have wanted or expected.

EU Chief Negotiator, Michael Barnier, rejected May’s Chequers plan and suggested a counter-proposal himself. He was not the only one to reject May’s Brexit plan.  Apart from Labour, DUP leader Arlene Foster, David Davis and other hard-line Brexiters rejected it too.

All this against the backdrop of millions of Leave Voters switching to Remain since the referendum in more compelling evidence for another vote.

To make matters even worse for optimistic Brexiters, China called the UK ‘Washington’s sharksucker’ and accused it of provocation by sending the Royal Navy into the South China Sea.  The UK’s support of the US put any post Brexit trade deal at risk, Chinese state authorities confirmed.

 

 

 

Politics

With continuing calls for a Scottish Independence vote and a second referendum, the Scottish National Party (SNP) have more paying members than the Conservatives for the first time. Labour still have the largest paying membership.

Membership of the Conservative party wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t growing. After the summer heatwave, farmers became increasingly unhappy with Michael Gove and the government’s inaction with any support.

 

 

 

NHS

Just at a time when the NHS faces a severe shortage of nurses, figures show a large percentage of student nurses are dropping out before graduating their courses. This at a time when there are increasing job vacancies and increasing reliance on agency nursing support.

 

 

 

Environment

Two environmental stories this week focussed on the letter ‘H’ – humans and hedgehogs.

Humans. We may become extinct. Since every major rise or fall in temperature in the earth’s history has resulted in mass extinction, climate change could be the time for human beings to be no more according to biologists.

Hedgehogs are disappearing fast.  In fact most of the countryside is devoid of any at all according to scientists.

 

 

 

Technology

If you can’t beat them, join them.  Addicted to smartphones?  Can’t stop swiping. Road signs could be put on the ground so people looking at their phones can see them and reduce the smart phone accident syndrome.

 

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