TOP 100 NEWSPAPER SITES
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| Hours After Obama Oslo Speech, US UN Ambassador Talks of Genocide Prevention Susan Rice says the Obama administration is actively using diplomacy and pressure to prevent future genocides and mass atrocities, especially in Africa www1.voanews.com |
China: Climate talks yielded 'positive' results BEIJING (AP) -- China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, lauded Sunday the outcome of a historic U.N. climate conference that ended with a nonbinding agreement that urges major polluters to make deeper emissions cuts - but does not require it.... hosted.ap.org |
Electing the Conservatives is a risk we must not take | Alistair Darling Tory plans to cut 'further and faster' would wreck recovery and roll back Labour's many successesThe choice we make at the general election in 2010 will define the future of our country for the next 10 to 20 years. It is a choice between two competing visions: David Cameron's vision of a decade of austerity in which the UK would fail to make the most of its potential and inevitably fall behind the performance of other countries; or our vision of building a fair and just society with growth guaranteeing jobs and opportunity for every business and family. It is a contrast between a pessimistic outlook, lacking ambition, and one of confidence and optimism.The last 18 months have been difficult for every country in the world, ours included. But the steps we have taken – and which have been opposed by the Tories at every turn – are working. We must now build on that: to take the tough decisions needed to cut our borrowing over the next four years while supporting growth and doing nothing to damage the economic or social fabric of the country.It is imperative to secure growth and to seize the opportunities of an improving world economy. We are well placed. Many of our industries are world leaders. We have a good record of innovation backed by world-class universities and a tax system that backs research and development. We need to capitalise on them. It is where the jobs of the future will come from and we must not put that at risk.Throughout the last year we took the tough decisions needed to stabilise the banking system and support families and businesses. Most importantly we kept more people in work – unemployment is lower than in France, Spain and the US – and helped more people stay in their homes than many thought possible. We've stabilised the economy, and the economy will return to growth this year.And to demonstrate our determination to live within our means I will present legislation to the Commons next week which will set out how we'll halve the deficit over four years. It will not be easy, but to cut "further and faster" as the Tories have pledged would be reckless and dangerous. Even if they intend to halve the deficit one year earlier, they will have to find additional cuts or tax rises of £26bn. They owe it to every family and business to spell out what their plans are. This approach is foolish in the extreme. It would risk wrecking the recovery and would not be a platform from which this country can succeed.The UK is one of the largest economies in the world. We have a great storehouse of strength in our businesses, our science and engineering and our world-class education system. Public investment and private endeavour working hand-in-hand will help us secure growth in the future. Britain's companies cannot do it on their own. We will need to encourage innovation and enterprise. Over the past decade, we have more than doubled the science budget, doubled the money universities make from knowledge transfer and spin-outs, and introduced a successful R&D tax credit system.We need to exploit this advantage. With four universities in the world's top 10, we should have even more commercial applications of our research and deeper R&D activity at our firms. That's why the pre-budget report announced a new tax incentive for companies profiting in the UK from exploiting their patents. We've invested in the skills of the people of this country. Training programmes have supported millions in improving their skills and apprenticeships have trebled, with over 2 million completed since 1997. But there is still a skills gap with our competitors – and we need to address it.Infrastructure too is a vital element of growth. Following decades of neglect, we have increased capital spending and transformed the way we invest. But we still need to do more – that's why we are looking at new high-speed rail links. And we're looking at our infrastructure needs across energy, waste, water, telecoms and transport over the next 50 years.The threat of climate change to a strong and stable economy in the future cannot be exaggerated. But the low-carbon sector offers an opportunity to secure this growth. By addressing investment barriers we've released billions of pounds for offshore wind, ultra-low carbon vehicles, marine energy, and low-carbon aerospace. Green industries alone could support a further half a million jobs over the next decade. None of this would happen without our support.It is only by growing and investing in our key sectors that we will be able to deal with the many global challenges of the coming decades. That's why I reject the idea of a decade of austerity and swingeing cuts of public spending. The choice the government makes in 2010 will be crucial to Britain's future: do we lock in the recovery and set a path for future growth by continuing to enable businesses and people to make the most of their opportunities, or do we risk it all by rolling back the progress of the past decade in supporting enterprise and innovation and gamble with the recovery by cutting deeply into public services?George Osborne's approach is a serious risk, not just to our recovery but to our future. It is a risk we should not take. We've made the right choices over the last year and will continue to make the right choices over the coming year.David CameronGeorge OsborneFinancial crisisLabourConservativesTax and spendingGeneral electionPublic financeEconomic policyAlistair Darlingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Slushy indecision | Peter Preston Why did schools take wildly different decisions about the snow? Because Ed Balls passed the buckIt's Friday lunchtime in my local burger joint. Winter sun shines bright from a chill blue sky. Outside the pavements are clear of snow. Buses chug up and down the high street. But wait a Âmoment! Something's wrong. The restaurant is chock full of mums and kids, big kids not toddlers. Why aren't they at school? A question that answers itself: I'm only here feeding chips to my grandson because his school saw another nerve-jangling weather alert coming.You probably read the headline figures: 9,000 UK state schools closed on Wednesday, with maybe 8,500 closed two days later. Equally probably, you watched TV pictures of drifts piled high along impassable country roads. So chambers of commerce and local businesses grew hot and bothered: so what? Surely – in a world where parents have to beg to take children out of school for a day – everyone was trying their best to keep the textbook pages turning?Except the figures turn a touch contradictory when you dig more deeply. Southwark, where I live, had 40 schools (out of nearly 100) shut on Friday. But Lambeth, just over the road, had only 11 gates chained shut. And Islington reported a mere six closures. My nearest junior school was out of action all week. It stands beside a well gritted, utterly clear, main thoroughfare. The junior school 500 yards away was open.Why the disparities? "The main reason schools told us they closed [on Friday] is because their staff were unable to get in," said Southwark defensively. On buses, trains, all running? By car, bike, on foot? The man next door, who cycles to work come white hell or drenching water, did his 20 miles to Shepherd's Bush every day. What so blighted 40 staff rooms around the borough?The point about those 8,500 shut schools is that really nobody's in charge. Not Ed Balls's grand department of state, which staunchly believes that "essential travel includes pupils going to school" – but turns slushy at the thought of "unnecessary" safety risks. It "wants headteachers, who are very good at managing risk, to continue making sensible decisions. It wants parents to feel reassured that schools will stay open where risks of less supervision, late journeys home or minor bumps are less than the disruption to pupil learning".Even Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon could contrive a more meaningful plot than Ed's damp scenario. It says what's hugely important, then passes the buck. It leaves tough calls to heads in their studies, but gives them no specific advice when they need it (or fear a no-win no-fee injury lawyer slithering round the playground corner).Individual heads taking "sensible" but wildly different decisions is the name of the buck-passing game, then. It's a condition that says a lot about the state of British education – about a central government that wrings its hands in crisis, about local government too local to get its act together, and about schools left alone when they most need help.Education, education? The current chat is all about pushing power down to Cameron community level, of "letting local people decide". But the real problem is that nobody decides, that Southwark shuts while Lambeth stays open (and so on, from council to council). If you're a doctor who can't attend surgery because her kids' school is closed, you want something better than mush. If you're a shopkeeper devoid of assistants, you want certainty, too. If you – ultimate irony – are a teacher who misses work because your children's school is closed, then the circle of potty indecision comes complete. And, if you're a class warrior picking up points, you can't miss the fact that private schools on the same road as shuttered state ones were open throughout.Can we do it better? Yes, surely we can. And no, you can't have any more ketchup on your chips.SchoolsEd BallsWeatherPeter Prestonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Scientists solve the mystery of why asteroids change colour The Earth "changes the colour" of asteroids by shaking them up as they pass, according to scientists. news.bbc.co.uk |