Every effort must be made to ensure a vaccine is available later this year to help combat the spread of the deadly Schmallenberg virus (SBV), the NFU said today.
The call comes as many farms with early lambing flocks across the country have experienced higher than normal losses with still births and deformities ranging from fused limbs to twisted necks.
The disease has spread across England and Wales to the Scottish border region and has now been confirmed on more than 1,000 UK farms. Although it is still being recognised by Defra and the European Commission as ‘low impact...
Government plans to build Britain’s biggest prison are a titanic waste of money that will do nothing to cut crime, the Howard League for Penal Reform said today (10 January).
In a move which echoes the ill-fated Titan jail proposal of the last decade, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced that it is to start feasibility work on a new prison that could hold more than 2,000 prisoners.
The project - combined with the planned construction of four new mini-prisons - follows the opening of the G4S-run Oakwood Prison near Wolverhampton, which has been dogged with problems...
More than a million better-off families will lose some or all of their child benefit, under changes which came into force at midnight. Families with one parent earning more than £50,000 lose part of their child benefit and it will be fully withdrawn where one parent earns above £60,000. However, if both parents earn £49,000 each, they will continue to receive child benefit.
David Cameron described the move as "fundamentally fair" but Labour said it was a "huge assault" on families.
It has been a big year for the English health service, but for the wrong reasons, writes Alex Nunns of the NHS Support Federation. Here Alex pulls together the strands to explain what is really going on in the NHS.
All eyes and ears will be on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, today (Wednesday 5th December) as he presents his Autumn Statement 2012 against the backdrop of an economy still struggling to recover from the longest and deepest recession in generations. The Statement provides an update on the Government’s plans for the economy based on the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. These forecasts are published alongside the Autumn Statement on 5th December. Mr Osborne will give his views on the outlook for the UK economy, the state of the public finances and...
£120 million in new funding will speed up the delivery of flood defences that could protect up to 60,000 homes and deliver up to £1 billion of economic benefits, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced on Friday (30th November). In response, Councillor John Hart , Leader of Devon County Council said: “I welcome this positive announcement and hope that some of the funding will come to Devon. It does show that the Government is listening and has responded fast. It is vital that Exeter flood defences are improved, not only for the protection of thousands of homes but also for the local...
The UK online retail sector is bracing itself for a horde of Mega Monday bargain hunters.
Retailers are on the hunt for aggressive discounts and will be using increasingly diverse means to find them, as Mega Monday (predicted to be on 3rd December this year) kicks off the Christmas shopping season.
Mega Monday is so called because it is the biggest day of online shopping frenzy experienced by online retailers in the run-up to Christmas. According to research conducted by Visa Europe and John Lewis, Mega Monday will be the busiest online shopping day in history in the UK,...
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Issue: Europe's leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday to decide on how much the European Union, the political and economic partnership between 27 of the region's countries, will spend in the next seven years.
Compared to the size of the governments of its member states, the EU is very small. Yet it wields broad power, and that's why this week's fight over its spending is important.
The current budget proposal from the European Union's executive arm, the Commission, calls for a €1.03 trillion ($1.31 trillion) spending ceiling for 2014-2020. This...
Two distinctive 10 oz South African Kruger coins have been stolen during a burglary at Sidford. Police are appealing for witnesses after the home in Drakes Avenue was entered between 8.55 and 15.40 on Friday 16th November 2012 when the thieves managed to break in through a PVC door. In addition, they stole several items including electrical items, jewellery and camera equipment. It is likely that this was carried away in a distinctive black Sidmouth Rugby Club kit bag. Among the electrical items, two Asus 11” Shellbooks, an HP laptop and an ACER laptop were also stolen...
One teenager made offensive comments about a murdered child on Twitter. Another young man wrote on Facebook that British soldiers should "go to hell." A third posted a picture of a burning paper poppy, symbol of remembrance of war dead.
All were arrested, two convicted, and one jailed — and they're not the only ones. In Britain, hundreds of people are prosecuted each year for posts, tweets, texts and emails deemed menacing, indecent, offensive or obscene, and the number is growing as our online lives expand.
Lawyers say the mounting tally shows the problems of a legal...
