Key Quotes for 2012

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Last update: Wednesday 25th March




Kenneth Clarke yesterday admitted that Government plans for secret courts may be defeated as one of the country's leading legal bodies said they were more suited to 'repressive regimes and undemocratic societies'. As the House of Lords began to debate the Justice and Security Bill - which would allow civil cases involving national security to be conducted behind closed doors - Mr Clarke made a last-ditch attempt to rally support for the legislation. But he played down the significance of Parliamentary defeats, suggesting the Government may have to water down its plans still further to get them into law. In a significant blow to the Bill, the Law Society yesterday warned it would badly damage Britain's reputation for open and fair justice.
The Law	Daily Mail November 20 2012



At the end of September, Ed Miliband said that churches and religious institutions should be free to hold same-sex weddings. The Labour leader is calling for equality legislation to include a clause allowing same-sex partners to marry in religious premises, with the backing of the institution concerned.
The Law	Evangelicals Now, November 2012



Prince William has become the most popular royal in recent history, according to a poll. The 30-year-old is streets ahead of the Queen, rated second most popular, his wife Kate and even his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Prince Harry is rated third most popular, demonstrating how important younger members of the family have become in the monarchy. It also suggests a desire, particularly among younger people, for the House of Windsor to skip a generation, with the Queen being followed by her grandson rather than her son and heir, Prince Charles.
Media	Daily Mail November 20 2012



The Government’s 3p-a-litre rise in fuel duty planned for January could lead to 35,000 job losses, campaigners said today. The rise could also see a 0.1 per cent cut in economic growth, the report prepared for the FairFuelUK group said. As a result of the losses and damage to growth, the tax increase will only bring in just over half the expected extra tax revenue - £800 million not £1.5 billion. The report said cutting fuel duty by 3p instead would create 70,000 new jobs.
Money	The Sentinel, October 29, 2012



Britons are increasingly relying on junk food as a result of the financial crisis, according to research. Sales of tinned pies, pizzas and instant noodles are rising while the numbers eating fruit and vegetables have fallen steadily. Experts say families are more inclined to buy cheap, high-carbohydrate food in the hope that it will fill them up quickly. Many may also be working longer hours, giving them less time to cook with fresh Ingredients when they get home.
Food and Drink	Daily Mail November 20 2012



Strong Olympic Games ticket sales helped the UK exit the longest double-dip recession since the Second World War. The Office for National Statistics confirmed a return to growth of one per cent following a 0.4 per cent contraction in GDP in the previous period. That was higher than analysts had expected and the strongest quarter of GDP growth for five years meaning the economy has grown 0.3 per cent so far this year but is still 3.1 per cent below its peak in the first quarter of 2008.
Money	The Sentinel, October 26, 2012



For most cash-strapped families, splashing out £109 on a bottle of Dom Perignon would be an unthinkable extravagance. Printer ink? A necessary expenditure. But, drop for drop, the champagne is actually far cheaper. The black ink in a standard cartridge for a home printer costs 51p per millilitre - around 240 per cent more than the 15p per millilitre price of a bottle of Dom Perignon. The startling figures have been revealed by consumer organisation Which?
Odd Facts	Daily Mail November 20 2012



Women who earned less than men on the same pay grade when they worked for a local authority have won a battle for equal pay compensation at the UK’s highest court. The Supreme Court said more than 170 former Birmingham City Council employees could launch compensation claims in the High Court. Lawyers say the judgement could have ‘huge implications’. Judges heard the women were denied bonuses similar to those handed out to employees in traditionally male-dominated jobs.
Work/Employment	The Sentinel, October 25, 2012



A, a study warns today. The Independent Commission on Aid Impact says UK-funded education programmes are struggling to make any difference to Nigeria's chaotic education system. Britain has poured £102million into education in ten of Nigeria's 36 states during the last seven years, and is due to spend a further £126million by 2019. But the report raises serious questions about whether the Department for International Development is achieving value for money from the project. It found that around a third of the eligible children - an estimated 3.7million - were still not in school, while those that were received little by way of education. The study also found many rural schools were affected by a chronic lack of teachers, with staff frequently not turning up for work. A researcher visited one Dfid-funded school in rural Nigeria to find almost all the teachers were absent, leaving the pupils to play football outside.
World Issues	Daily Mail November 20 2012



Around 500,000 disabled people are ‘expected to lose out’ when disability living allowance is scrapped, a new report has claimed. The Tipping Point, authored by a coalition of disability organisations and charities called The Hardest Hit, was highly critical of the Government’s attitude to disabled people, claiming there has been a £500 million drop in disability support since George Osborne’s 2010 Emergency Budget. The report’s research indicates many people will have to quit work when the support is axed.
Money	The Sentinel, October 22, 2012



Equalities minister Maria Miller said yesterday that the abortion limit should be set according to 'people's views' - rather than according to science. Mrs Miller, who voted in 2008 for a cut in the upper limit from 24 weeks to 20, said she believed a reduction would encourage doctors to do more to save the lives of premature babies. Her comments put her at odds with health minister Anna Soubry, who recently said there was no scientific evidence at all for the limit to be reduced…Many pro-life campaigners call for a reduction in the upper limit because they say medical advances mean some babies born before 24 weeks can be saved….Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to see the abortion limit halved to only 12 weeks.
Health	Daily Mail November 20 2012



A prominent scientist who had dismissed the possibility of the afterlife says he has reconsidered after an out-of-body experience that has convinced him Heaven exists. Dr Eben Alexander, a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon, fell into a coma for seven days after contracting meningitis. Dr Alexander said he had heard patients’ stories of outer-body experiences and disregarded them as ‘wishful thinking’, but has reconsidered his opinion. ‘That belief [that we live in a universe devoid of any kind of emotion] now lies broken at our feet. What happened to me destroyed it.’
Health	Salvationist, 20 October 2012



Ex-burglars, muggers and gang members will be recruited to be 'wise friends' to newly freed prisoners, Chris Grayling will announce today. They will wait for inmates at the prison gate to 'mentor' them on how to go straight. Freed prisoners will also be helped to find a house and a place on a drug or alcohol rehabilitation course. In a speech in London, the Justice Secretary will pledge to make 'good use of the old lags in stopping the new ones'. The scheme is a key part of the Government's plan for a 'rehabilitation revolution' to slash re-offending rates. Ministry of Justice figures show 59 per cent of adult ex-offenders go on to commit further crimes within nine years of their release.
Crime	Daily Mail November 20 2012



The number of people being trafficked into the UK is rising, latest government estimates suggest. Last year the authorities learned of 946 victims, compared with 710 in 2010, the inter-departmental ministerial group on human trafficking said. Trafficking groups in China, Vietnam, Nigeria and eastern Europe now pose the biggest threat to the UK. The Government said better coordination between its departments and with authorities abroad was key. But anti-slavery groups warned Government ‘failures’ had led to ‘significant steps back’ in the fight.
Social Issues	The Sentinel, October 19, 2012



Under plans to be unveiled today, energy firms will be forced to move customers on to their best deals automatically. Each supplier is also expected to be restricted to only four tariffs for electricity and four for gas. As many as seven in ten households pay over the odds for power - some by as much as £300 a year.
Money	Daily Mail November 20 2012

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