Chopping as fast as I can, dear readers.
"Britain discards plan to sell off forests" by Associated Press / February 18, 2011
LONDON — In one of the biggest U-turns since Britain’s coalition government took power, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman announced yesterday that a plan to sell off 600,000 acres of England’s forests was being scrapped after an outcry from nature-lovers and environmentalists.
It is an unexpected defeat for Prime Minister David Cameron’s budget-cutting administration....
The plan proposed raising $400 million by leasing tracts of forest to timber companies.
Despite government assurances that conservation and public access would be safeguarded, the proposal was fought by environmentalists, opposition politicians, and celebrities, including actress Judi Dench and singer Annie Lennox.
More than a half-million people signed an online petition against the plan, which drew fire from across the political spectrum....
Environmental groups said the plans could see forests razed for golf courses or holiday homes. They evoked images of Robin Hood, the archetype of forests as a symbol of freedom and the Englishman’s birthright.
Religious leaders including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams also criticized the proposal, while thousands of people rallied in local forests and inundated lawmakers with letters and e-mails.
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Related:
"Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of the British coalition government that took power in May, said he discussed the issue with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday in Munich and that they had “strongly agreed’’ the prisoner release was a mistake....
Yeah, but it was what BP wanted. so....
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"UK votes to keep disenfranchisement" by Associated Press / February 11, 2011
LONDON — British lawmakers voted yesterday to continue barring prisoners from voting in national elections, defying a European human rights court’s ruling that inmates must be allowed to cast ballots.
The nonbinding vote doesn’t change Britain’s obligation to honor the European court’s judgments, but it is not clear how the government will be able to satisfy both the court and the parliamentarians, who must approve any change in the law.
The issue has enraged victims’ groups and stirred up old grievances about the power of European courts to overrule Britain’s elected lawmakers. Many British lawmakers are deeply opposed to changing a centuries-old law, and Prime Minister David Cameron has said it makes him “physically ill to contemplate giving the vote to prisoners.’’
I notice the feeling creeping in when I begin to read a Globe.
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"UK used e-mail to lay off 38 soldiers" by Associated Press / February 16, 2011
LONDON — Britain’s military apologized yesterday for using e-mails to tell several dozen long-serving soldiers, including one fighting in Afghanistan, that they were being laid off.
I think I would be happy at that.
The army said an administrative error meant the servicemen were not told in person that their contracts would be ended because of cutbacks.
As government opponents leapt on the episode as an example of the government’s heartless attitude to spending cuts, ministers rushed to condemn the blunder....
How about condemning the damn war?
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What do you have for papers over there anyway?
"Hacking case in UK appears to widen" by Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press / February 10, 2011
LONDON — British police revealed yesterday that it would contact thousands of people whose cellphones may have been targeted by the News of The World tabloid, an indication of the scale of the scandal at the heart of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
Oh, same as here.
Police have long insisted only a small number of people were believed to have been spied upon by the tabloid, which employed a private detective to break into the voice mail boxes of the paper’s targets and eavesdrop on their private messages.
But that contention has been challenged by lawmakers, fellow journalists, and former employees of the News of The World, who have claimed that the practice was widespread.
Yeah, THEY DON'T LIKE IT when WHAT IS DONE to YOU by THEM is DONE to THEM, do they?
There have also been allegations that police were hiding the full scale of the phone hacking operation for fear of jeopardizing its relationship with the politically powerful tabloid — fueling allegations of a coverup....
Sure smells like one to me, although I could not care any less about star s***.
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Related: Slow Saturday Special: “Your Lies Killed My Son’’
Yeah, that's the kind of cover-up I want to see hacked open.
Also see: UK sex offenders may be taken off register
Seeking ‘fair contribution,’ Britain increasing tax on banks
