Blair: Sorry Over IRA Fugitive Letter Blunder

Sainsbury's Cuts 500 Jobs In Office Shake-Up

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 13 Januari 2015 | 23.17

Sainsbury's has become the latest major supermarket chain to announce cost-saving measures - with its cuts resulting in 500 job losses.

The chain, which had its worst Christmas in a decade amid the bitter price war with rivals, said the streamlining of its central operations would be spread across all divisions and grades in its store support centres in Manchester, London and Coventry.

The steps form part of the £500m in cost savings outlined by the retailer in a strategic review published in November.

It had already announced plans to mothball a number of schemes in its property pipeline and intends to reduce the amount of money spent on new space over the next three years.

In a letter to staff, chief executive Mike Coupe said: "We want to work through this period of uncertainty as quickly as possible, while making sure we consult with colleagues who are affected by these changes.

"We're committed to treating all impacted colleagues with respect, during what we know will be a difficult time.

"I recognise that these changes will be difficult for our colleagues and I can assure you the decision to make them was not taken lightly.

"However, I'm certain that we will be in a stronger position to deliver our new strategy and better equipped to win in these times of change as a result."

The announcement followed confirmation from Morrisons earlier today that it was to close 10 loss-making stores.

Last week, Tesco boss Dave Lewis announced plans for 43 store closures and the cancellation of 49 new stores in its pipeline as the industry comes to terms with the continued squeeze from discounters.

Industry figures released by Kantar Worldpanel showed that Aldi and Lidl at the bottom end - and Waitrose at the top - ate into the market shares of the so-called 'Big Four' chains in the 12 weeks to 4 January.

The major supermarkets have responded to the challenge by cutting prices alongside planned investment.

Sainsbury's has looked to cash in on the discount spree by partnering Netto in its return to the UK market.

Falling supermarket prices have been credited for helping inflation ease - with the price war backed by falling oil costs.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Morrisons Boss Quits After Festive Sales Fall

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The chief executive of Wm Morrison is to step down after a slump in Christmas sales led the grocer's board to conclude that a new leader was required to transform its fortunes.

Confirming an exclusive report on Sky News, Morrisons said that Dalton Philips would leave the company following its full-year results, with a search under way for his successor.

News of the change came as Morrisons reported Christmas trading figures which underlined its status as the also-ran among the big UK supermarket chains, with a like-for-like sales fall for the six weeks to January 4 of 5.2% including fuel.

Mr Philips said he would be leaving "a great company", adding that during his five-year tenure "many improvements (have been made) to the business and given Morrisons strong foundations for the future".

Morrisons also confirmed that Andrew Higginson, a former Tesco executive, would take over as its chairman from Sir Ian Gibson in January.

Mr Higginson said: "In the next chapter of Morrisons development, we need to return the business to growth. The board believes this is best done under new leadership. I would like to thank Dalton for his contribution as CEO.

"He has brought great personal qualities and values to his leadership of the business, having had to manage against a background of considerable industry turmoil and change."

Mr Philips deserved "particular credit for facing into and dealing with the pricing issues that have now become evident, for taking the business into the convenience and online channels, and for the steps he has taken to modernise the company's operating systems," Mr Higginson added.

Morrisons' like-for-like trading performance was worse than the City had forecast, and placed the company firmly in the foothills of the battle for growth, with J Sainsbury and Tesco both reporting superior figures last week.

Mr Philips, a former executive at Loblaw, Canada's biggest food retailer, became Morrisons' boss in March 2010, and also sits on the board of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

During his tenure, Morrisons has struggled to modernise its business in the face of tough competition from supermarket discounters and established rivals.

Last autumn, Morrisons announced thousands of job cuts and the introduction of a new loyalty scheme in a bid to stem the decline in sales.

When asked about Mr Philips' departure on Monday night, Morrisons said it did not comment on management changes.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Medical Records Scheme May Identify Patients

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

Experts have warned that anonymised NHS medical records could still identify patients.

Under the NHS's care.data scheme, stripped down GP records, including NHS numbers, dates of birth, postcodes, and gender will be uploaded to a central database.

The data will be shared with health bodies, research institutions and private companies to assist research.

However, even these sparse details could be enough to identify an individual, according to Joss Wright, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University.

He told Sky News: "Because there are so many individual points of data, it would be very easy to uniquely identify an individual from the sheer volume of data."

Mr Wright showed Sky News how anonymised information could be combined with publicly available data, from social media and other sources, to quickly identify a patient.

"The Hollywood nightmare scenario is the hacker who gets the whole database and can use this to blackmail people," he said.

"But also there are the corporations who want to access the data, in order to perform long term studies.

"Sometimes that can be a good thing - pharmaceutical companies conducting studies on drugs.

"But also things like credit rating agencies or health insurers who can use it to identify you individually and determine that you have a higher likelihood of certain conditions, so your premiums should be higher."

Care.data was delayed after concerns over patients' privacy. The scheme is due to roll out at 500 GP surgeries as part of a trial stage.

No patient information can be extracted until Dame Fiona Caldicott, the national data guardian, is satisfied that 27 key questions have been answered, following a report from the the Independent Information Governance Oversight Panel, commissioned in May and published in December.

Sky News understands that these questions have not yet been answered by NHS England.

Dr Mike Smith, chairman of The Patients Association, said: "Sky's investigation has shown that in its present state, if (data) were to get out of healthcare and care responsible bodies, it could still be identified by somebody who knew what they were doing.

"(The NHS) needs to show they're able to code it in a way that can't be uncoded. At the moment, it's not quite there but people are working hard on it.

"But care data is shared among responsible groups of people - that is to say, GPs, hospitals and social services who will keep it confidential."

NHS England declined repeated requests from Sky News for an interview or statement.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Inflation At Joint Lowest Level On Record

The annual rate of inflation has hit a 15-year low as oil costs continue to fall and supermarkets engage in a price war.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) measured consumer price inflation (CPI) at 0.5% in December - its joint lowest level on record - slowing from a rate of 1% in the previous month.

The figure represents a further easing in the cost of living as wage growth is boosting consumer spending power and easily outpacing rises in costs.

The ONS said falling petrol prices and lower gas and electricity bills compared with a year earlier were the biggest factors pushing inflation down last month.

The cost of Brent crude is currently at six-year lows - trading on Tuesday at $45-per-barrel.

It represents a fall of more than half since last summer on a supply glut and fears for world economic health.

Flat household gas and electricity tariffs over the month - compared to a period last year when they were raised sharply - also made a major contribution to the drop in CPI.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages were 1.7% cheaper in December than the same month a year ago - driven by the intense price war between the major supermarkets under pressure from discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Core vegetable costs were over 7% lower.

Motor fuels fell 10.5% year on year with the price of a litre of petrol tumbling 13.6p between December 2013 and last month, with diesel 15p lower.

The plunge in CPI to below 1% triggers a letter of explanation from Bank of England governor Mark Carney to George Osborne because it is more than 1% off the Bank's 2% inflation target.

But the Chancellor is unlikely to be worried that, ahead of May's election, prices are falling following a tough six years for voters in the wake of the financial crisis.

Price growth could ease further this month as energy firms begin to cut standard tariffs - with no sign of a rebound in oil and gas costs.

The Bank had previously said it expected CPI to fall below 1% and remain there for months to come.

But the sharpness of the decline brings the UK uncomfortably close to the scenario in the eurozone, where there are fears of a damaging deflationary spiral after inflation fell to -0.2%.

Deflation, which dogged Japan for more than 25 years, is seen as dangerous economically because consumers and businesses hold off on purchases on hopes goods and services will be cheaper in future.

Mr Osborne said: "Inflation is at its lowest level in modern times.

"We have family budgets going further and the economic recovery starting to be widely felt.

"We will always remain vigilant that we have lower inflation for the right reasons and today is yet further proof our long term plan is working."

Shadow Treasury minister Shabana Mahmood said: "Plummeting global oil prices are the reason why the rate of inflation is falling here in Britain.

"But wages continue to be sluggish and the squeeze on living standards since 2010 means working people are £1,600 a year worse off under this government."

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Letters Of Comfort: 8 Things You Need To Know

Who are the "on the runs"?

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement (1998), people convicted of paramilitary offences were released early from prison. The scheme did not apply to those who had not been charged or who had been convicted but escaped. Given that they could not return to the UK, they became known as "on the runs".

What are "letters of comfort"?

Sinn Fein thought fugitives should be allowed to return without fear of arrest but the British government's attempt to devise a formal scheme was opposed by Unionists and, ironically, by Sinn Fein because the arrangement would have included British soldiers. The solution was a letter informing "on the runs" they were no longer wanted.

How did the letters come about?

In 2000, Tony Blair asked Gerry Adams to provide names to be considered by the attorney general, police and director of public prosecution. In 2002, the attorney general warned the scheme could not become an amnesty. In 2006, Mr Blair wrote secretly to Mr Adams, outlining mechanisms to resolve the issue, "expediting the existing administrative procedures".

How did the scheme work?

In 2007, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) began reviewing the cases of those wanted in connection with terrorist offences to establish if there were grounds for arrest. Peter Hain MP, then Northern Ireland secretary, wanted the scheme kept secret but the PSNI prepared a media statement for use in the event of it leaking.

How did it become public?

In February 2014, John Downey went on trial, charged with killing four soldiers in the 1982 Hyde Park bombing. When he produced a letter, stating that he was not wanted by the PSNI or any other police force, the judge ruled that the Donegal man could not be prosecuted. It had been issued in error.

How many letters were issued?

Of the 288 names submitted for consideration, 156 people received a "letter of comfort" and 31 were informed in some other way that they were not wanted for questioning. Drew Harris, now Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI, told the Northern Ireland Select Committee that 100 of the recipients are suspects in 300 murder cases.

What did the first inquiry find?

When Northern Ireland's First Minister, Peter Robinson, threatened to resign over the issue, David Cameron announced an inquiry. Lady Justice Hallet concluded that the letters were not an amnesty and the scheme had been lawful. But she found "significant systemic failures" in how it operated and branded Mr Downey's letter a "catastrophic mistake" by the PSNI.

What is the Northern Ireland Select Committee considering?

What is the background to, and origins of, the scheme, and what was its purpose and intended effect? Who constitutes an "on the run", and what are the legal implications of the scheme? What are the political implications of the scheme and were errors made? What impact has it had on victims and relatives?

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Clegg Condemns PM's Internet Spying Plans

Nick Clegg is to accuse the Prime Minister of eroding the "freedom of British citizens" with plans to allow intelligence agencies to track people's emails and web activities.

His comments come the day after David Cameron vowed to introduce "comprehensive" legislation to give agencies "robust powers" to protect people from Paris-style attacks.

The Prime Minister said the Conservatives would revive the measures in the so-called "snoopers' charter", which was abandoned after objection from the Liberal Democrats, if they won the General Election.

In a speech later today at the Irish Embassy, Mr Clegg will say: "The irony appears to be lost on some politicians who say in one breath that they will defend freedom of expression and then in the next advocate a huge encroachment on the freedom of all British citizens.

"Let me be really clear, we have every right to invade the privacy of terrorists and those we think want to do us harm - but we should not equate that with invading the privacy of every single person in the UK. They are not the same thing.

"The snoopers' charter is not targeted. It's not proportionate. It's not harmless."

Mr Clegg said he agreed it was right for the agencies to have power to access the internet communications of terror suspects and that Britain retained the right to "steam open letters" of those considered a threat.

However, he objected to the part of the now dropped data communications act that meant details of every social media interaction and every website visit of everyone in the country should be stored.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme he said that would include the digital footprint of children and grandmothers, who did nothing more than visit gardening websites.

It comes after the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, warned there was a danger of "dark places" developing online that spies were unable to monitor.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said Mr Cameron's proposals for new powers were necessary because there was "a small but significant number of people we have to monitor the whole time".

He agreed he was "spooked" by the idea of everyone's internet communications being monitored and said he had sympathy with Mr Clegg's concerns over civil liberties.

He told the same programme: "That's why it's important the process should be transparent, it should be accountable and everybody should be able to review what has taken place and decide, in retrospect, whether decisions were rightly made.

"What I think would be wrong would be to refuse the police access to a huge variety and number of communications now being made using the internet."

He said it should be down to the courts to decide whether intelligence agencies should be allowed to access to internet communications.

Speaking at an event in Nottingham on Monday, Mr Cameron said: "The attacks in Paris once again demonstrated the scale of the terrorist threat that we face and the need to have robust powers through our intelligence and security agencies and policing in order to keep our people safe."

He added: "That is the key principle: do we allow safe spaces for them to talk to each other? I say no, we don't, and we should legislate accordingly."

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sellafield Clean-Up Contract To Be Torn Up

A consortium is to be stripped of its contract to clean up western Europe's largest nuclear waste site at Sellafield following criticism of its performance.

Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), made up of US engineering group URS, British firm AMEC and French energy firm AREVA, was awarded an extension to its deal in 2013 despite accusations of delays and cost over-runs.

But the Government confirmed NMP, which employs 10,000 workers, will have its contract terminated.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will instead assume responsibility for the work to allow a "simplifying" of its relationship with the Sellafield project.

The cost of making the site, on the Cumbrian coast, safe has been put at almost £80bn over 120 years.

Sellafield was used in the 1950s to make plutonium for nuclear weapons before the country's first nuclear power station was built there.

NMP was handed a 17-year contract worth £9bn in 2008.

Energy secretary Ed Davey said: "Sellafield is the biggest and most complex nuclear site in Europe, so it's right that we keep the way it's being managed under constant review.

"We have seen great examples of how this approach can work with Crossrail and the Olympics - and I'm confident we'll see
similar results at Sellafield."

Amec said the NMP contract would be terminated at the end of 2016, adding that the NDA had confirmed it was not performance-related.

Its statement said: "It is vital that the lessons learned and the progress made since NMP were awarded the contract in 2008 should not be wasted.

"NMP has to date generated £650m of efficiency savings and met 96% of its targets last year while Sellafield's safety performance is now the best ever."

Gary Smith, national officer of the GMB, questioned the Government's role in the contract process.

He said: "We believe NDA wanted to terminate the contract in 2013 following a report it commissioned, but was overruled by ministers.

"Over £2bn has been spent with NMP since they extended the contract.

"Who is going to be held to account for extending the contract? GMB members, the community and taxpayers need to know."

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Parents Warned Of School Places Crisis

Parents are facing a school places crisis, town hall chiefs have warned.

Schools are reaching a "tipping point" and will struggle to find space for almost a million more pupils over the next decade, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

It cautions that in some areas there will be neither the money nor the space to expand, and said its analysis had shown it will cost £12bn to create enough places for the extra 900,000 pupils.

However, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan accused the association, which represents local councils, of "worrying" parents as they apply for primary school places.

The deadline for school applications is 15 January and already thousands of parents will be unable to get their child into the school they want.

The most recent figures from the Department for Education show that one in eight children will fail to get a place in the primary school of their choice.

Mrs Morgan said intensifying pressure on school places was due to an increase in birth rate but said £5bn had been invested in extra spaces in this parliament and £7bn was being invested between now and 2021.

She told Sky News there would never come a time where schools could not accommodate children because "local authorities have a statutory duty to provide school places for every child."

Mrs Morgan said: "I think it's unfortunate that the Local Government Association is choosing to worry parents at this stage."

Overcrowded schools across the country have been forced to build playgrounds on roofs after outside space was used to accommodate temporary classrooms. Some are teaching in church halls and even double-decker buses.

However, the head of the LGA said the problem could not be solved at a local level.

David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA's children and young people board, said: "Mums and dads rightly expect their children to be able to get a school place and councils and schools are doing everything they can to provide this, in some cases going to extraordinary lengths to create places.

"But we fear a tipping point could soon emerge when councils and schools can no longer afford the massive costs for the creation of places, nor find the space necessary for new classes, if this crisis is not properly dealt with."

The LGA has warned that in some areas this year there will be two pupils fighting for every school place.

Conservative Education Minister Nick Gibb blamed the last Labour government for failing to plan for the future.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Snow And Gales Threaten Chaos Across UK

The next 48 hours could see treacherous driving conditions for most of the UK and Ireland with the risk of ice and snow and then severe gales.

Through Tuesday night and into Wednesday, it'll be cold with showers falling as hail, sleet and snow quite widely, settling across the hills and mountains of the north, but also accumulating at lower levels here.

So by Wednesday morning, untreated roads of Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic, northern England and the north of Wales could see ice and snow, which could cause disruption to travel.

Around four inches (10cm) or more is likely to accumulate on the highest ground.

Further south, the snow is likely to be mostly over the high ground, but a slight covering is possible at lower levels, especially across the moors of south-west England close to the Bristol Channel and through the Thames Valley area.

Icy stretches will also be a widespread problem.

The wintry showers will tend to ease through Wednesday morning, leaving most places dry and sunny for a while, before it turns increasingly wet and very windy from the west.

A deepening area of low pressure will spread heavy rain eastwards across most parts through the day, with snow across Scotland.

The rain will clear through quite quickly, but the main concern will be the strengthening winds.

During the second half of Wednesday and overnight into Thursday, gusts in excess of 70mph are likely in the north, especially across Northern Ireland and Scotland.

To the south of the system, gales or severe gales are expected, with gusts quite widely up to 65mph.

The strong and gusty winds are likely to cause disruption to travel on Thursday morning, with potential damage to power lines and structural damage.

Very large waves could also cause dangerous conditions around coastal areas.

But this low pressure system looks likely to clear eventually to the North East through Thursday night - which should bring a welcome easing of the high winds.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blair: Sorry Over IRA Fugitive Letter Blunder

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Tony Blair has said the Northern Ireland peace process would have collapsed if he had not agreed to send "letters of comfort" to IRA terror suspects.

The former prime minister has told the Northern Ireland Select Committee the controversial distribution of the letters to so-called "on the runs", stating they were no longer wanted for past crimes, were not an "amnesty" and were "not secret".

He "defended completely" agreeing to the controversial letters and said an agreement on how to treat those wanted for terrorist crimes during the troubles "was critical to the peace process" and "became fundamental".

Mr Blair told MPs that had he not agreed to send the letters then Sinn Fein would have walked away from the Good Friday Agreement.

He said: "Without having done that we would not have a Northern Ireland peace process."

1/12

Gallery: Hyde Park Bombing: July 1982

A police forensic officer examines the remains of the IRA car which contained the Hyde Park bomb

Images of dead horses and wrecked cars added to the shock for people reeling from the human cost of the atrocity

]]>

Wrecked cars are removed from the scene

]]>

The flag-draped coffin carrying Lt Anthony Daly, the Blues and Royals officer killed in the bombing along with three other soldiers

]]>

A memorial stone marks the location of the 1982 bombing

]]>

The letters from the Police Service of Northern Ireland sparked uproar last year when it resulted in the collapse of the Hyde Park bomb trial at the Old Bailey.

John Downey, who denied murdering four soldiers in the 1982 bombing, had received a letter in error informing him he was no longer being pursued in Northern Ireland or elsewhere.

During his trial, it emerged that 187 people had received similar assurances - the majority of them republicans who had never been charged or who had been convicted but then escaped.

Mr Blair said the Downey letter had been a mistake and should not have been sent "if the scheme had been properly applied".

He accepted responsibility for not putting in place a proper procedure, which led to some fugitives being sent letters in error, and apologised to the people who had been affected.

However, he said he would not apologise for the letters sent to those wanted terrorist suspects who it was concluded by the authorities at the time should have received them.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, those convicted of terrorist offences were released from prison early but those who had gone "on the run" were not considered eligible.

1/9

Gallery: IRA Suspect Amnesties: Key Players

Following the Good Friday Agreement and the release of 400 loyalist and republican paramilitary prisoners, the question about what to do with on-the-run IRA suspects, wanted for crimes before April 10, 1998, continued to needle the Tony Blair Government

In 2006, Mr Blair wrote to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams telling him the Government was working on a solution for dealing with the suspects in question

]]>

In 2006, after an attempt to establish a formal scheme for "on the runs" failed, Mr Blair wrote to Gerry Adams outlining plans to resolve the issue, "expediting the existing administrative procedures".

The scheme had been reported publicly but victims' families said they felt "devastatingly let down" by the collapse of the Downey case - and Northern Ireland's First Minister threatened to resign.

MPs questioned Mr Blair's claim that had he not made the agreement "over on the runs" the peace process would have collapsed saying that Lord Mandelson, a former Northern Ireland Secretary, had told the committee the Good Friday Agreement was not at stake.

Mr Blair said that he agreed with the inquiry carried out by Lady Justice Hallet, which concluded that the letters were not an amnesty and that the scheme was lawful but called Mr Downey's letter a "catastrophic mistake".

And he urged the Government to tread with care in Northern Ireland because the situation was still difficult.

He told the committee: "I am saying to the people in Government now: 'You have inherited a peace process that worked so be careful with it because it's fragile still.'"

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Belom Tidur

Mengenai Saya

Popular Posts Today

Sainsbury's Cuts 500 Jobs In Office Shake-Up

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 13 Januari 2015 | 23.17

Morrisons Boss Quits After Festive Sales Fall

Medical Records Scheme May Identify Patients

Inflation At Joint Lowest Level On Record

Letters Of Comfort: 8 Things You Need To Know

Clegg Condemns PM's Internet Spying Plans

Sellafield Clean-Up Contract To Be Torn Up

Parents Warned Of School Places Crisis

Snow And Gales Threaten Chaos Across UK

Blair: Sorry Over IRA Fugitive Letter Blunder

Top Stories

Top Stories

Links

Arsip Blog