2009年1月30日 星期五

British Criminal Justice System in Crisis

British Criminal Justice System in Crisis

Overcrowding in British prisons puts strain on both inmates and staff.

The DW-WORLD Article
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=ew04n4I44va89pI1

2012年所有英國家庭都能接上寬帶通訊網絡

英國政府建議到2012年,所有英國家庭都能接上寬帶通訊網絡。《衛報》發表了積極回應。

該報認為,進行數碼革命是對付經濟衰退和創造職位的其中一個途徑。

《衛報》也希望不會在精英階層與其他人之間出現數碼鴻溝。該報說這是不可接受的。

《泰晤士報》歡迎英國踏進新年代。

該報說,這個建議的核心是每個家庭都能獲得2兆比特速度的寬帶服務。這是在電腦上看電視的最低速度。

2009年1月29日 星期四

British slump 2009 and beyond

January 29, 2009

British slump will be worst in developed world, says IMF

Britain will be hit harder than any other advanced nation in the worst recession for more than 60 years, world economists warned last night.

In the bleakest assessment yet of British prospects, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that the economy would shrink by 2.8 per cent this year, twice as much as it previously thought and far more than the 2 per cent average drop for developed nations in 2009.

The stark figures are a severe blow to Gordon Brown, who has continually insisted that Britain is better placed than most countries to weather the downturn. The IMF outlook suggests that the recession in Britain will be deeper than that in the United States, Italy, France and elsewhere.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, predicted in November that growth in Britain would rebound to at least 1.5 per cent in 2010, the likely election year, but the IMF points to a far more meagre recovery of only 0.2 per cent.


It expects world growth to rise at no more than 0.5 per cent this year as the “scale and scope of the current financial crisis have taken the global economy into uncharted waters”. This would mean the weakest annual growth since the Second World War.

In another downbeat view, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that Britain would be saddled with government debt for more than 20 years. Regardless of which party wins the next election, tax increases and spending cuts totalling £20 billion are inevitable by the end of the next Parliament.

The International Labour Organisation predicts that 50 million jobs will be lost around the world this year, taking unemployment to 7.1 per cent, compared with 6 per cent last year.

A recovery will not be possible until the financial sector begins to function again, the IMF said. “Despite wideranging policy actions, financial strains remain acute, pulling down the real economy.” It now predicts that the US will suffer a 1.6 per cent contraction this year, while Germany and Japan will see output fall by 2.5 per cent and 2.6 per cent. But it forecast a gradual recovery for world output in 2010, with growth rising to 3 per cent.

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, said: “This is the day when the British people were confronted with the true cost of Gordon Brown’s failures. It may be a bad day for him, but it’s an even worse day for the country.”

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat spokesman, said: “This exposes Gordon Brown’s lie that Britain is well placed to deal with the recession.”

Mr Brown’s spokesman said that the Prime Minister remained “absolutely confident” that the Government was taking the right action to get Britain through the global recession.



最大衰退

经济情况欠佳
欧美日国家都受经济衰退严重打击,当中以英国最严重

《泰晤士报》报道,国际货币基金组织指出,英国的经济衰退将会是发达国家中最严重的。

该报说,国际货币基金组织预测,英国今年的经济衰退将会达到2.8%,比过去的预测倍增,也远高于其他发达国家平均2%的衰退。

《每日电讯报》援引国际货币基金组织说,英国的衰退将远大于美国、西欧和日本,因为英国对金融业的高度依赖。

《独立报》的头条标题说:"情况越来越坏……"该报列举例子说:全球经济面临六十多年来最急剧下滑;专家警告全球有五千万个职位流失;预测英国比其他先进国家衰退得更快;每年税收将要增加200亿英镑以填补公共开支。


It’s official. Britain will be the sick man of Europe this year. Indeed it will be the sick man of the world. The International Monetary Fund’s forecast that the economy will shrink by 2.8 per cent puts Britain at the bottom of the league for all large industrialised economies. Only Japan, with a predicted fall of 2.6 per cent, comes close.

On top of the contraction already seen in the last quarter of 2008, the IMF’s forecast would mean the economy shrinking by more than 4 per cent in only 15 months. The figure may not look that dramatic but in economic terms it represents a very sharp and deep recession.

That sort of decline will bring a sharp fall in many companies’ profits and they will cut costs in any way they can, exacerbating the slowdown. It will mean a sharp increase in the number of people losing their jobs, homes and businesses.

What is most shocking for many people about this downturn is how quickly Britain has gone from boom to bust. So recently the Government was boasting that the country had put its disappointing economic record behind it and had become one of the healthiest economies in the world. Now it seems that Britain is again bringing up the rear, raising memories of the miseries of the 1970s.

Gordon Brown is at pains to blame Britain’s woes on the credit crunch, which began in America. But the fact is that Britain — because it was particularly vulnerable to the financial crisis — is expected to suffer more than America, which is predicted to contract by 1.6 per cent next year.

Opposition accusations that Labour’s acts and omissions left the economy particularly exposed are hard to rebut. While carefully adding that he hoped the IMF forecast was wrong, George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, said that Britain was set to endure the worst year for the economy since 1948. “Without a change of direction we will be living with Labour’s debt crisis for generation.”

One of the vulnerabilities is the size of Britain’s financial sector, and especially the size of its banks in relation to the economy. Some commentators have compared Britain with Iceland, which has been financially crippled by the collapse of some of its very aggressive banks.

This is too alarmist. Icelandic banks have relatively much higher liabilities than British banks. And Iceland has the added problem that many ordinary people took out mortgages in euros and have watched their debts balloon because of the sharp fall in the Icelandic currency.

Nonetheless, the liabilities of Britain’s big banks are very large compared with the economy, which makes their problems that much more difficult to deal with. The IMF said yesterday that the global recovery would not be possible until the banking system began functioning again.

Not only has the Government had to fill particularly large holes in some of the banks’ balance sheets but there has also been a sharp contraction of lending because of the importance of international banks, such as the Icelanders, and non-banks which have pulled out of the market.

Some British banks were also unusually dependent on funding from the wholesale markets rather than from retail and corporate deposits, which left them struggling when inter-bank lending dried up.

The importance of the City, as a very big contributor to the economy and to tax revenues, means that the collapse in activity linked to financial markets has had a much bigger impact in Britain than in most other countries.British consumers also have very high levels of borrowing, which makes the impact of an economic slowdown that much more painful.

Mr Brown’s critics argue that the strong growth in the British economy in recent years was largely, if not entirely, driven by debt. Consumers borrowed to buy houses and holidays while the City boomed on the back of abundant credit, growing too big for the size of the economy, while manufacturing continued to decline. Now that the credit bubble has burst, Mr Brown’s claim to have ended the cycle of boom and bust has burst with it.

Britain also experienced one of the world’s most extreme property bubbles, and the fall in house prices is expected to cause even more damage in Britain than in the US. House prices are forecast to continue falling this year, with economists expecting them to bottom out at an average of 30 per cent off their peak.

The first wave of job losses last year came in construction, because of a slump in housebuilding, and property- related services. Then came the layoffs in financial services and in the car industry, where sales have collapsed.

But an economic contraction of 2.8 per cent this year will mean significant job losses across a broad cross-section of the economy. Unemployment rose by 78,000 in December and economists expect 700,000 more to join the dole queues this year.

The IMF’s gloomy forecasts take into account all the Government’s efforts to rekindle growth, by supporting the banking system, cutting taxes and promising increased spending.

Further measures are expected in the April Budget. But at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday there was wide agreement that whatever the Government does the British economy will remain very sick for the rest of the year and beyond.

Who are they and what do the numbers mean?

The IMF The International Monetary Fund was set up in 1944 as part of the Bretton Woods agreement that also created the World Bank. It is known as the lender of last resort to which countries can turn when they cannot raise money anywhere else. The IMF bailed out Britain in 1976, lending it
£2.3billion

The IFS The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a British think-tank, was set up over dinner at a café in 1969 by four City professionals. The organisation, which is a registered charity, was set up to provide information to MPs and ministers in an effort to promote clear and transparent financial legislation

The ILO The International Labour Organisation is the UN body that shapes international laws on labour and produces regular statistics on jobs. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969. Burma recently threatened to withdraw from the ILO after coming under pressure to stop the army’s practice of forced labour

-2.8% This fall in GDP would mark the deepest slump in Britain’s economy since the Second World War, and a truly vicious recession. The shrinking of the economy would be twice as bad as 1991 — the worst year of the Nineties recession — and be much worse than the decline of 1980 severe as the 1.4 per cent plunge suffered in 1991, the year in which the early Nineties recession took its worst toll. It would also eclipse by far the 2.1 per cent drop in GDP endured in 1980, and the 2.7 per cent decline

£20 billion The amount that the IFS says the Government will have to find each year by 2014 to bring the national debt back to pre-crisis levels of under 40 per cent of national income. This is the equivalent of 5p in the pound on the basic rate of income tax — or an extra £1,000 a year for the average taxpayer. That spells an extra tax bill of £1,000 a year for the average taxpayer. For a higher-rate taxpayer earning £50,000 a year, it would represent a bill of £1,740 a year

50 million jobs The number of people around the world that the UN’s International Labour Organisation ILO expects to lose their jobs as a result of the economic crisis. The UN’s worst-case scenario envisages that global unemployment will reach 230 million, compared with 190 million at the end of last year and 179 million in 2007. It believes that at least 18 million — and probably 30 million — people will lose their jobs this year. If 50 million workers were thrown out of work, 7.1 per cent of the global workforce would be unemployed. In Britain, unemployment is expected to pass 3 million by early next year — or about 9 per cent of the workforce


Queen's peace

The Queen's peace (or, during the reign of a male monarch, King's peace) is the term used in the Commonwealth realms to describe the protection the monarch, in right of each state, provides to his or her subjects. In republics with common law traditions, the same is often referred to as the peace [and dignity] of the State.

Contents

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Duty of the Crown to maintain peace

Maintenance of the Queen's peace is one of the duties of the Crown, carried out via the Royal Prerogative. Though this power remains the Crown's, through convention it is exercised by the Queen-in-Council; that is, the executive, or, the sovereign acting on the advice of her ministers of the Crown.

The Crown can be held responsible should it fail in upholding its duty to maintain peace; this was the justification for the Riot Act and subsequent legislation throughout the British Empire. Where civil authorities had declared the Queen's peace as breached (i.e. there was a state of riot), there was a change in the rules: the authorities (whether police, army, or militia providing military aid to the civil power) could shoot and kill the leaders of the riot, and generally take severe action against anyone who was rioting. The counterbalance was that the Crown was responsible for damage caused by the riot, having failed in its prerogative to preserve the peace. Into the present day, the criminal offence of rioting can only be prosecuted with the consent of the Attorney-General (the Queen's legal officer). If disorder does occur, it is officially labelled as a civil disturbance, as deeming it a riot removes the liability of insurers for any damages or injury occurring from such an event, and places the responsibility on the local police, which, as they are officers of the Crown, leaves the Crown to pay.

Enforcement

Officers of the Queen's peace have the right to detain a person who is creating a breach of the peace. This is not a criminal or civil offence; it exists as a legal oddity created by the Royal Prerogative. Persons so detained must be taken before a magistrate (a Justice of the Peace), who will "bind them over" in order to keep the peace, whereafter the person may not disturb the peace again for the appointed time, under threat of imprisonment. The police will frequently use this power to break up difficult situations or minor fights; often, a perpetrator will be detained only briefly, until the officers are satisfied that the fight is over. Alternatively, if alcohol is present, for instance, the offender can be held until sober enough to face the magistrate. Because a breach of the Queen's peace is not a criminal offence, people found to have broken it will not have the charge marked on their criminal record.

Murder remains a common law, defined as "the unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being under the Queen's peace with malice aforethought," however, the Queen's peace excludes killing of the enemy during a war.

Justice of the Peace

Historically, and in particular before the founding of the police and the modern legal system, the concept of the Queen's peace was much more important. Knights of the Peace were appointed in each shire, and it was their duty to maintain the Queen's peace. These Knights of the Peace later became known as Justices of the Peace, or JPs, and subsequently as magistrates. In the United Kingdom, paid magistrates are now called District Judges (Magistrates' Courts), and are drawn from the ranks of local solicitors and barristers. Unpaid magistrates are volunteers from the community – the requirements are that they must be of good character and local residence.

Influence on other legal systems

In the United States, arrest warrants and charging documents, such as indictments, are often constitutionally required to make reference to an offense having occurred "against the peace and dignity of" the respective state or commonwealth.

In the county palatine areas of the United Kingdom – the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and the County Palatine of Durham – offences such as murder were deemed to be against the respective bishop's or duke's peace (the Duke of Lancaster being merged with the Crown, but nevertheless a separate office, and the Duke of Cornwall being the Heir to the Throne). This, however, was altered in 1536.[1]

See also

References

2009年1月27日 星期二

LYC Foundation:

Li Yuan-chia: Space = Time = Life

Li Yuan-chia: Space = Time = Life

LYC Foundation: Future Plans

The LYC Foundation is a charitable organisation devoted to the care and conservation of the work of Li Yuan-chia, and to the dissemination of information about Li’s life and work. Our long-term project is to create a museum of Li’s work in the house at Banks, Cumbria, next to Hadrian’s Wall, where he lived and worked. During his lifetime Li converted his house and garden into a museum and art gallery, open to the public, which became a major attraction in the area. We plan over the next few years to restore the building and re-open it as a permanent exhibition of Li’s life and work. The project will include a space for temporary exhibitions, literary and musical events, living quarters for the Museum’s curator, a studio and living accommodation for an artist/poet in residence, and a garden/ car park.

If you would like more information the LYC Foundation, our activities and plans, please contact us.

2008 表演的觀眾1380萬人次

金融風暴橫掃全球,但倫敦地區劇院票房罕見逆勢成長,根據今天公布的最新報告,2008年票房收入增加3%,總計超過4億8000萬英鎊。

倫敦劇院協會The Society of London Theatre (SOLT)指出,去年觀賞音樂劇、舞台劇、舞蹈等表演的觀眾人數較2007年增加1%,達1380萬人次。

倫敦劇院協會指出,去年下半年受到金融風暴重創,票房的確一度走跌,但到了耶誕節,觀眾人數又反彈增加,票房逆勢成長,令業者驚訝。

倫敦劇院協會會長勃恩斯(Nica Burns)指出,去年劇院票房成績出色,主要是有業者推出受歡迎的節目,包括Zorro、Hairspray及High School等音樂劇。

她說,倫敦劇院和紐約百老匯不同的是,倫敦提供各種不同票價的座位,而且經常有優惠,雖然經濟景氣欠佳,但只要觀眾願意努力找,仍能買到「物美價廉」的門票。

倫敦劇院協會會員包括52家劇院,主要位在倫敦市中心的劇院區。

【2009/01/27 中央社】

2009年1月25日 星期日

Why divorce makes women the poorer sex

據英國《星期日獨立報》網站25日報導,一項結合1991年至2004年英國家庭人群調查數據和歐洲相關數據的調查結果顯示,一對夫妻在離婚後,丈夫的收入會成長25%;而妻子的收入則會大幅下降,只有少部分人能夠恢復到原本的水準。 27%的女性在離婚後會陷入貧窮,是男性的三倍;只有31%的女性在離婚後能夠拿到前夫給的子女撫養費。


Why divorce makes women the poorer sex

A new study shows men's income rising 25% after a split, but many ex-wives are plunged into poverty

By Sadie Gray
Sunday, 25 January 2009


The common perception surrounding divorce is that wives generally take their husbands to the cleaners. But the first study to track the changing wealth of British divorcees claims the opposite to be true, especially when the separating couple have children.

The effects of divorce upon income are so marked that they are enough to haul men out of poverty while plunging women into it. The incomes of ex-husbands rose by 25 per cent immediately after the split, but women saw a sharp fall in their finances, which rarely regained pre-divorce levels.

Some 27 per cent of women ended up living in poverty as a result – three times the rate of men – and only 31 per cent received maintenance payments from ex-husbands for their children.

"The difference between the sexes is stark. But this is not so much a gender thing as a parent thing. The key differences are not between men and women but between fathers and mothers," said Professor Stephen Jenkins, a director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, who carried out the survey. He combined data from 14 British Household Panel Surveys from 1991 to 2004 with information from five European surveys, then came up with new per capita incomes by recalculating the figures using the same formula employed by the Government to measure poverty.

"The percentage change in income is less if [women] have worked beforehand and continue working after the relationship breakdown. There is also a potential positive impact if she remarries," he told The Observer.

The situation was only reversed in cases where the ex-husband remarried and had children with his new partner while paying child maintenance to his former wife, Professor Jenkins said, adding that the only way to even out the inequalities was to tackle differences between the roles of men and women in the labour market and within the family.

Ruth Smallacombe, of divorce specialists Family Lawyers in Partnership, said: "The general belief that men get fleeced by their divorces while women get richer and live off the proceeds has long been due for exposure as a pernicious myth. In reality, women often suffer economic hardship when they divorce. In addition, the resentment caused by unfair financial settlements has many knock-on effects."


Gaza 宣傳短片 BBC Assailed for Refusing to Carry Gaza Appeal

加沙問題使BBC新聞編輯方針受到考驗
加沙一名老人望著被炸成廢墟的樓房(24/1/2009)
加沙一名老人望著被以色列炸成廢墟的樓房

英國廣播公司BBC拒絕播放慈善組織呼吁為加沙募捐的宣傳短片,引起越來越多人的批評,英國聖公會(Church of England)也抨擊了BBC。

由數家大型慈善組織聯合組成的英國慈善機構 - 災難緊急委員會 (Disaster Emergency Committee)最近在全英國發起為加沙募捐活動,請求BBC播放他們制作的一個宣傳募捐短片,但是遭BBC拒絕。

BBC行政總裁湯普森說,播放這段宣傳片將影響公眾對BBC客觀和公正報道加沙衝突的信心。

英國聖公會約克大主教森塔穆對此作出反駁。他說現在的問題不是新聞報道的客觀公正,而是事關人道。

他說:“這不是哈馬斯要求人們捐助武器,而是災難緊急委員會提出募捐請求。BBC拒絕了他們,就等于選擇了(對加沙沖突的)立場,背棄了客觀公正。”

與BBC一同拒絕播放宣傳片的英國獨立電視(ITV)已經改變初衷,決定星期一(1月26日)與第四頻道(Channel Four)和第五頻道(Channel Five)兩家電視台一同播放宣傳片。

天空電視(Sky) 則表示,他們仍在考慮是否播出。

星期六,BBC位於倫敦市中心的廣播大樓門外發生了抗議BBC的示威。

警方說有至少2000人參與了示威,有7人被警方逮捕。


BBC Assailed for Refusing to Carry Gaza Appeal

Frantzesco Kangaris/Agence France-Presse

Protestors of the BBC's decision took to the streets of London on Saturday.


Published: January 26, 2009

LONDON — In more than 80 years as a publicly financed broadcaster with an audience of millions at home and around the world, the BBC has rarely been buffeted as severely as it has in recent days over its decision not to broadcast a television appeal by aid agencies for victims of Israel’s recent military actions in Gaza.

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Andy Rain/European Pressphoto Agency

A demonstration in central London on Saturday.

Anthony Devlin/Press Association, via Associated Press

Demonstrators conducted a sit-in at BBC headquarters on Monday to protest the broadcaster’s refusal to carry a video appeal for relief aid for Gazans.

BBC executives made the decision late last week and defiantly reaffirmed it on Monday, citing their concern with protecting the corporation’s impartiality in the Arab-Israeli dispute.

The dispute stirs high passions here, and the BBC, like other news organizations, has struggled uneasily for years to strike a balance, even as some critics claim it has tilted heavily toward Israel and others claim it has favored the Palestinians.

The three-week Israeli campaign in Gaza that ended nine days ago had already elicited a fresh barrage of complaints about BBC bias, for and against Israel. But the decision to block the aid appeal had the effect of magnifying the protests, and their virulence.

The decision has met with angry criticism from Church of England archbishops, editorial writers and senior British government ministers, as well as sit-ins at the BBC’s London headquarters and its broadcast center in Glasgow.

News planning sessions at the BBC have featured heated exchanges among editors and reporters, and BBC officials said Monday that they had received more than 11,000 complaints in the past three days.

A strong undercurrent in many of the protests has been that the BBC gave in to pressure from Israel or Jewish groups, which the BBC has vehemently denied.

A more common view has been that BBC executives, already wary because of a recent series of embarrassments unrelated to Middle East coverage, became so averse to controversy that they made an awkward extension of the concept of impartiality to a purely humanitarian issue.

But the BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson, denied Monday to reporters that he had been subjected to “arm-twisting” by pro-Israeli groups and said that the corporation had a duty to cover the Gaza dispute in a “balanced, objective way.”

“Of course, everyone is struck by the human consequence of what has happened,” he said. “And we will, I promise you, continue to report that as fully and compassionately as we can. But we are going to do that in a way where we can hold it up to scrutiny. It’s our job as journalists.”

The three-minute video, which was shown on several other channels in Britain on Monday night, was prepared by the Disasters Emergency Committee, an organization representing 11 relief agencies. Among them are many of Britain’s best-known charities, including the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children, Help the Aged, Christian Aid and World Vision.

The committee has said the money it raises will buy food, medical supplies, tents, blankets and other necessities for those suffering in Gaza in the wake of the Israeli offensive and the military actions of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that governs Gaza.

It asked broadcasters to show the appeal as a public service.

The BBC does not accept advertising but has shown humanitarian appeals on other issues, including the conflicts in Rwanda, Congo and Darfur. But to broadcast the appeal for aid to Gaza, BBC executives said, might compromise the impartiality of its Middle East coverage.

“We worry about being seen to endorse something which could give people the impression that we were backing one side,” Mr. Thompson said on the BBC’s Web site.

Some of the sharpest criticism of the BBC’s decision on the Gaza appeal came from within its own ranks, from unions representing its newsroom staff and from retired editors and reporters.

Sir John Tusa, a former head of the BBC World Service, said the scenes of distressed children and families in Gaza captured in the video appeal were a matter of “common humanity.”

“Nobody, surely, in their right mind, can say that is being partial towards the victims, as if somehow they deserved the fate they got,” he said in a BBC radio interview.

“The thing that worries me,” he added, “is that there is now an overcomplication of regulation and compliance and policy, and that in the course of that, common sense, and, I regret to say, humanity, seem to have been left behind.”

The BBC was joined in its refusal to carry the appeal by Sky News, an independent broadcaster with a widely watched news channel. But three other broadcasters — the publicly owned Channel 4 and two private broadcasters, ITV and Channel 5 — accepted the appeal. As shown on Monday night, the video focused heavily on the plight of Palestinian children — small boys and girls wounded and sobbing, being rushed into hospital emergency wards and, at one point, a parent clutching a tiny white shroud. Other scenes were of apartment blocks collapsed into piles of twisted steel and rubble.

“The children of Gaza are suffering,” the narrator said. “Many are struggling to survive, homeless or in need of food and water.”

Then, as if answering the view that the video amounted to anti-Israeli propaganda, he said: “Today, this is not about the rights and wrongs of the conflict. These people simply need your help.”

“不雅”街名No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else

禁止“不雅”街名的争议
刘易斯
刘易斯地方政府要求新起的街名要避免不雅、粗俗的含义
老北京的胡同、老上海的里弄,曾有不少可说是不雅甚至粗俗的名字。后来,这些名字多半被改掉了,以显得更“积极向上”。

英国上下,不雅、难听甚至让人引发各种低俗联想的街名,随处可见。

比如,Grope Lane(“摸摸巷”)、Weeford(“尿尿窝”)、Scratchy Bottom(“挠屁股”)等等。这些特别的街名往往有一定的历史渊源。

现在,英国东萨塞克斯郡(East Sussex)的刘易斯(Lewes)地方政府要向“不雅”街名宣战。

虽然强调不会更改现有街名,但今后新起的街名中,将禁止不雅的名字,比如Gaswork Road(煤气厂路)、Coalpit Lane(煤坑巷)等。

刘易斯地方政府市政规划部门新出台的指导原则还要求新起的街名要避免有冒犯或不雅的含义,避免鼓励人们有意歪曲篡改。

仁者见仁

但是,批评者说,不雅的街名往往有其历史渊源,对街名进行限制筛选,只会导致毫无意义的街名泛滥。

考证一些特殊街名、地名由来的《粗俗英国》(Rude UK)一书的作者之一,贝利(Rob Bailey)认为,如果去掉了一些名字中的“不雅”成分,就割断了与之相联系的独特的工业或地貌背景。

刘易斯地区的街名之一,Juggs Close的意思,据信来自于鱼筐--wrong

他举例说,在Merseyside 有一个Slag Lane(煤渣巷),就是因为当年那里的煤渣堆而得名。

“屁眼儿”路的居民表示理解

但一些住在有特别名字的街道上的居民的确发现被调侃的实在难以忍受。

阿洛特(Paul and Lisa Allott)一家住在南约克郡一个叫Butt Hole Road(可以被联想成“屁眼儿路”)的街上。

他们家前院的墙边,就是街名标牌。经常有孩子使坏,把光屁股照片钉在路标牌上。

阿洛特夫妇说,有时候叫出租车或是让人送货,司机拒绝出车,因为不相信真有这样的街名,以为是恶作剧。


No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else

Russell Bates/Ross Parry Agency

The “Butt” in this road, in South Yorkshire, probably refers to a container for collecting water.


Published: January 22, 2009

CRAPSTONE, England — When ordering things by telephone, Stewart Pearce tends to take a proactive approach to the inevitable question “What is your address?”

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Hazel Thompson for The New York Times

Pratts Bottom, a village in Kent, is doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.

John Nguyen/Ross Parry Agency

If you’re smirking at this sign, you’re mispronouncing the town’s name. It’s PENNIS-tun.

He lays it out straight, so there is no room for unpleasant confusion. “I say, ‘It’s spelled “crap,” as in crap,’ ” said Mr. Pearce, 61, who has lived in Crapstone, a one-shop country village in Devon, for decades.

Disappointingly, Mr. Pearce has so far been unable to parlay such delicate encounters into material gain, as a neighbor once did.

“Crapstone,” the neighbor said forthrightly, Mr. Pearce related, whereupon the person on the other end of the telephone repeated it to his co-workers and burst out laughing. “They said, ‘Oh, we thought it didn’t really exist,’ ” Mr. Pearce said, “and then they gave him a free something.”

In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.

Others evoke images that may conflict with residents’ efforts to appear dignified when, for example, applying for jobs.

These include Crotch Crescent, Oxford; Titty Ho, Northamptonshire; Wetwang, East Yorkshire; Slutshole Lane, Norfolk; and Thong, Kent. And, in a country that delights in lavatory humor, particularly if the word “bottom” is involved, there is Pratts Bottom, in Kent, doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.

As for Penistone, a thriving South Yorkshire town, just stop that sophomoric snickering.

“It’s pronounced ‘PENNIS-tun,’ ” Fiona Moran, manager of the Old Vicarage Hotel in Penistone, said over the telephone, rather sharply. When forced to spell her address for outsiders, she uses misdirection, separating the tricky section into two blameless parts: “p-e-n” — pause — “i-s-t-o-n-e.”

Several months ago, Lewes District Council in East Sussex tried to address the problem of inadvertent place-name titillation by saying that “street names which could give offense” would no longer be allowed on new roads.

“Avoid aesthetically unsuitable names,” like Gaswork Road, the council decreed. Also, avoid “names capable of deliberate misinterpretation,” like Hoare Road, Typple Avenue, Quare Street and Corfe Close.

(What is wrong with Corfe Close, you might ask? The guidelines mention the hypothetical residents of No. 4, with their unfortunate hypothetical address, “4 Corfe Close.” To find the naughty meaning, you have to repeat the first two words rapidly many times, preferably in the presence of your fifth-grade classmates.)

The council explained that it was only following national guidelines and that it did not intend to change any existing lewd names.

Still, news of the revised policy raised an outcry.

“Sniggering at double entendres is a loved and time-honored tradition in this country,” Carol Midgley wrote in The Times of London. Ed Hurst, a co-author, with Rob Bailey, of “Rude Britain” and “Rude UK,” which list arguably offensive place names — some so arguably offensive that, unfortunately, they cannot be printed here — said that many such communities were established hundreds of years ago and that their names were not rude at the time.

“Place names and street names are full of history and culture, and it’s only because language has evolved over the centuries that they’ve wound up sounding rude,” Mr. Hurst said in an interview.

Mr. Bailey, who grew up on Tumbledown Dick Road in Oxfordshire, and Mr. Hurst got the idea for the books when they read about a couple who bought a house on Butt Hole Road, in South Yorkshire.

The name most likely has to do with the spot’s historic function as a source of water, a water butt being a container for collecting water. But it proved to be prohibitively hilarious.

“If they ordered a pizza, the pizza company wouldn’t deliver it, because they thought it was a made-up name,” Mr. Hurst said. “People would stand in front of the sign, pull down their trousers and take pictures of each other’s naked buttocks.”

The couple moved away.

The people in Crapstone have not had similar problems, although their sign is periodically stolen by word-loving merrymakers. And their village became a stock joke a few years ago, when a television ad featuring a prone-to-swearing soccer player named Vinnie Jones showed Mr. Jones’s car breaking down just under the Crapstone sign.

In the commercial, Mr. Jones tries to alert the towing company to his location while covering the sign and trying not to say “crap” in front of his young daughter.

The consensus in the village is that there is a perfectly innocent reason for the name “Crapstone,” though it is unclear what that is. Theories put forth by various residents the other day included “place of the rocks,” “a kind of twisting of the original word,” “something to do with the soil” and “something to do with Sir Francis Drake,” who lived nearby.

Jacqui Anderson, a doctor in Crapstone who used to live in a village called Horrabridge, which has its own issues, said that she no longer thought about the “crap” in “Crapstone.”

Still, when strangers ask where she’s from, she admitted, “I just say I live near Plymouth.”

Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper

Last Chance

When the News Was New


Published: January 23, 2009

WASHINGTON — The good lady Opinion sits perched in a tree, wearing the weighty towers of the town as her hat, which blinds her eyes. On one of her hands a chameleon sits, doubtless changing its spots to accommodate the surroundings. Held in her other hand is a wand used to shake the tree’s branches, from which leaves fall: leaves of books and papers, which offer not knowledge but libel and foolishness, which “in everie streete, on everie stall you find.”

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Folger Shakespeare Library

“The World Is Ruled and Governed by Opinion” (1641), Henry Peacham’s cynical vision of the journalism business. More Photos »

Such is the cynical vision of the news business put forward by Henry Peacham in 1641 London, as journalism, in its earliest forms, was becoming a major force during some of the most tumultuous decades in England’s history: no wisdom, he finds, just much posturing and gossip.

More than 360 years later, as advance obituaries are being prepared for the very forms of printed journalism born during Peacham’s era, Lady Opinion is on display, alongwith far more reverential examples of news and opinion, at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill in the exhibition “Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper.”

The show, housed in the library’s stunning exhibition hall, will be taken down after Jan. 31, which means that to sample these offerings we are all of us on deadline. The curators — Chris R. Kyle (Syracuse University), Jason Peacey (University College, London) and the library’s own Elizabeth Walsh — have put together a chronicle of chronicles, an account of how information about the wider world in 16th- and 17th-century England, including reports of wonders and horrors, wars and troop movements, murders and merchandise, gradually made its way from private journals or letters reporting on events witnessed, to publicly sold broadsheets and pamphlets.

The show’s effect is understated and must be pieced together slowly, since these documents should be read as well as seen. But the story of how journalism became a public enterprise in Renaissance England is actually the history of how a public itself took shape; how out of a monarchical society in which great poverty and great wealth cohabited, another kind of identity evolved. It was based on slowly increasing literacy and impassioned written argument; it included curiosity about gossip and a taste for exotic tales; and it developed alongside a new commercial world in which written advertising, like the news it accompanied, helped shape taste and expectations.

Look carefully, and it is really the birth of the modern West that we see taking place here: snippets of news and sensation helped define a shared experience of the past and present, as political debates laid the foundations of democratic culture. If the Reformation is often credited with having turned the West toward the Enlightenment, another such force must be the growing taste for news and its multiple retellings. While other cultures were arguing over the interpretations of sacred texts, England’s was arguing over the nature of government in print. We are the beneficiaries.

The exhibition itself could have been much more clear in its chronological and thematic organization, particularly because the knotty politics of 17th-century England — centering on its civil wars — are treated as if they were far more familiar than is the case, but these documents repay the patience of careful reading.

When Sir Walter Raleigh was convicted of treason and executed in 1618, his eloquent speech on the scaffold was reported not by newspapers — which had not yet evolved — but in private written accounts. The real revolution came in the 1620s under the influence of “corantos” imported from Amsterdam, which provided the main news of the week. The corantos (which are still recalled in the names of newspapers, like The Hartford Courant) also inspired opposition from the government over their reports of troop movements during the Thirty Years’ War, leading to censorship and even imprisonment.

But the demand for news — and opinion — increased. Press censorship collapsed with the beginning of the civil wars of the 1640s, but the debates of this era were so intense and so much a part of public consciousness that news publications became instruments in the political battles between monarchists and parliamentarians. Newspapers were counterfeited, imitated, mocked and attacked. Parliament tried to reimpose censorship in 1643, and the poet John Milton wrote his famous speech demanding “Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing.” But newspapers, complained Sir Roger L’Estrange, an ardent monarchist, make “the multitude too familiar with the actions and counsels of their superiors.” He created The Observator, shown at the Folger — the “pre-eminent Tory journal of its day.”

Coffeehouses also proliferated in which newspapers were read and where, as one 1683 critic put it, “false and seditious news is invented and spread.” The Folger has a modern working reproduction of a Renaissance printing press, which in a kind of mirage, out of the corner of the eye (at least an eye surrounded by these contentious publications), seems a distant relative of the guillotine.

The ultimate impact of all this, though, did not depend on a particular political position. The journalistic enterprise itself led to an expanded sense of the importance of individual opinion and even provided glimpses of something like public opinion. The result was a revolution in the ways citizens thought about themselves and their government.

Mixed in with political argument were other morality tales. There were reports of the skies raining blood in Rome, or, in London, “A True Relation of a most desperate Murder” from 1617. There were accounts of beheadings, bizarre births and conjoined twins (“a Prodigious Monster”).

Advertising evolved alongside such narrative spectacles and urgent political arguments. A 1660 notice heralds “Sir Kenelm Digbies sympatheticall Powder, prepared by Promethian fire, curing all green wounds.”

By the beginning of the 18th century the modern press was emerging. The first issue of the first newspaper published in the New World is here: Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick (Sept. 25, 1690). This was also the last issue; it was closed down by the Governor and Council of Massachusetts for its scandalous tales. The first issue of The Boston News-letter from 1704 is here too, but it must have been more sober: it became the first continuously published newspaper in America.

It is strange to think that the genetic code of modern journalistic culture was laid down four centuries ago in England, mixing hype and high seriousness, incorporating battles over press freedoms, suffused with a spirit of competition and a need for marketing. The newspaper, we also see, evolved as the creator and mirror of its public. Political modernity is almost unimaginable without that relationship.

In our own era this deeply inscribed code can lead to a slightly exaggerated pride and self-importance. That is the approach of the nearby Newseum, devoted to celebrating the press and its importance to democracy. But at this exhibition we see something else.

One aspect of the historic importance of the newspaper arises not from its idea of liberty, or from its presumption to tell truth to power, or from publishing without fear or favor. Its importance derives not out of itself alone, but out of its relationship to an evolving public. Whether published in pixels or ink, it acts at once as that public’s guide and its follower, its critic and its servant, its creator and its voice. That, at any rate, is what it says on the latest leaf that Lady Opinion has knocked out of the tree into this scrivener’s hands.

“Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper” continues through Jan. 31 at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington; (202) 544-7077, folger.edu.

2009年1月24日 星期六

Makeover for the East End of London

Surfacing

Makeover for the East End of London

Jonathan Player for The New York Times

Duncan’s Pie, Mash and Eels is a holdover in the East End of London, and is now surrounded by Asian stores.


Published: January 25, 2009

“END the occupation of Tibet,” the graffiti would have said, if some wit hadn’t crossed out the word “Tibet” and scribbled “East London” instead.

There’s graffiti all over this part of London, but these particular words, tinged with nostalgia and rebellion, tell a story. This gray and unfashionable immigrant-heavy neighborhood is going through a major makeover, and not everyone is happy about it.

The neighborhood of Stratford is taking the torch from Beijing as the site of the next Summer Olympics in 2012, turning the dingy area into a giant construction zone as world-class sports venues, complexes and shops are built. Some locals grumble about what all this development is going to do to the character of this gritty district, one of the city’s most deprived.

For others, it’s finally Stratford’s turn. The area exudes an energy it hasn’t had in years. New cutting-edge bars and restaurants are serving the cardigan-wearing trendsetters and young families trickling into stylish apartments.

Among the shiny new spots is the Bow Arts Trust (183 Bow Road; 44-20-7538-1719; www.bowarts.org), an arts center ensconced in a dark-blue building that stands out among the street’s dilapidated row houses. Its Nunnery Gallery, a spare, chapel-shaped space, shows innovative artworks by local students and international artists.

The gastropub has also arrived. The Morgan Arms (43 Morgan Street; 44-20-8980-6389; www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/themorgan) is the place to grab a pint or tuck into some excellent food. The menu changes daily, save for favorites like its trademark fishcakes served with spinach and poached eggs (£13.50, or $21.06 at $1.56 to the pound).

And on Saturdays, Roman Road comes to life with a street market, one of Britain’s oldest, with vendors who sell fashionable clothing, jewelry and local artworks. There’s also a new farmers market once a month.

But the old East End still holds on. Duncan’s Pie, Mash and Eels (365 Green Street; 44-20-8552-1288) is one of the few places left in London where you get a traditional “pie and mash” of minced beef and potatoes (around £3.80), as well as the infamous jellied eels. Old men with Cockney accents will tell tales, the taller the better.

And the neighborhood is still a first stop for many new immigrants, and the rhythms of Bangladeshi, Hindi and Gujarati can be heard in the side streets just southeast of Stratford.

Nowhere is this mix more obvious than at Queen’s Market (www.newqueensmarket.co.uk), on Green Street near the soccer stadium of West Ham United. Housed in a large concrete hall, the market has everything from Afro-Caribbean vendors to Indian silk suppliers to halal meat shops.

“The Olympics ruin East London? Nah,” said Gary Childs, who works in his family’s produce stall, where his father barks out to potential customers in Urdu. “If you’re not happy about the Olympics, you’re either lazy or stupid.”

Not that Queen’s Market itself is immune to change. There are proposals to demolish and replace it with a modern market. “Nothing stays the same,” Mr. Childs said. “You’ve got to move with the times.”

2009年1月23日 星期五

經濟衰退 中產階級飲酒過度


2009年01月23日 格林尼治標準時間10:12北京時間 18:12發表
英國15年來首次陷入經濟衰退
英國經濟正式陷入衰退 英國公布的官方數字証實,英國經濟15年來首次陷入衰退。 新數字顯示,去年最后一個季度,英國經濟萎縮了1.5%,這是自1980年以來單季最大跌幅。去年的第三季度經濟萎縮只有0.5%。 英國首相布朗呼吁國際社會加強合作,共同對付全球經濟危機。他強調了美國和歐洲國家即將出台的刺激經濟措施的重要性。 布朗拒絕為英國經濟陷入衰退承擔責任,他說這是全球金融系統出現問題而引起的。


中產階級飲酒過度

《每日電訊報》在頭版上的一篇報道說有大約700多萬的英國中產階級飲酒過度。

根據英國政府昨天(22日)公布的數據,英國三分之一的成年人晚上有喝酒的習慣,而這可能給他們的健康帶來危險。

文章說那些中年的專業人士要比工人階級更容易飲酒過量。

文章說,部分原因是現在生產的酒精飲料度數更高,而且酒杯也越來越大。

文章還說,在人們把精力集中在年輕人縱酒問題之際,卻忽略了中產階級專業人士飲酒超量的問題。

已婚者將成少數

另外,該報頭版的另一篇文章說,英國在未來的一年內,結婚的夫婦將成為少數。

報道說,最新的數據顯示,現在更多的人選擇同居而不是婚姻。

文章繼續說在2007年大約有51%的成年人是用婚姻伴侶註冊的,1998年這一比例是59%。

文章還說在經濟不好的時候,結婚的人數也會下降,部分原因是由於財政上的原因人們推遲婚禮,因為英國平均婚禮的開銷是21,000英鎊。

2009年1月22日 星期四

Act of Settlement

7 references to settlement in this book

1. on Page 8:
" ... failed to do. Many contemporaries hoped fora radical revision of the Church settlement of the 166os"
2. on Page 9:
"important to maintain the substance of the Restoration Settlement. The Prayer Book of 1662 was to remain the liturgical basis of Anglican worship until the twentieth century"
3. on Page 14:
" ... than they need have been, and generally threatened to reshape the Revolution settlement"
4. on Page 43:
"laws of settlement provided for compulsory residence in the parish of birth for those not occupying a house worth at least E1o per annum, a not insubstantial sum"
5. on Page 82:
"reinforced by settlement in Canada and the Floridas, would form a vast, loyal market for British manufactures, a continuing source of essential raw materials"
6. on Page 97:
"given a settlement which was to endure, albeit uneasily, until 1867. In many ways, Pitt's supremacy had a very traditional appearance"
7. from Back Matter:
"Act of Settlement settles the royal succession on the descendants of Sophia of Hanover 1702 Death of William III"

Dialogue | 23.01.2009 | 05:30

Some ancient laws in Britain concerning inter-religious relations are up for change

In Britain, it is not always easy to change ancient traditions

In Britain a new attempt is being made to change ancient laws which bans the monarch from marrying a Catholic. The Act of Settlement, introduced by King William III in 1701 states anyone who marries a Catholic cannot become king or queen. It also gives legal precedence to male heirs in the line of succession, and it is these two aspects that a British lawmaker wants to change. Dr Evan Harris, from the country's third political party the Liberal Democrats says this blatant religious and sex discrimination is outdated and must go.

(Report: Catherine Drews)

set・tle・ment

━━ n. 身を落ち着かせる[固める]こと, 定住, 定着; 植民[居留](地); 解決, 決定; 【法】(紛争・裁判での)和解, 示談; 返済, 決算; 贈与(財産); 【法】遺産の配分確定; 【法】(英国での)継承的財産設定(証書), 継承的不動産処分(証書); セツルメント, 社会福祉事業(団); (建物などの)沈下; 澄むこと, 沈殿(物).
Act of Settlement 【英史】王位継承法.
settlement day 【株】決算日, 決済日.
settle1

2009年1月21日 星期三

Ex-KGB Russian oligarch buysLondon's Evening Standard

Ex-KGB Russian oligarch buys British newspaper
A Russian billionaire businessman has bought a controlling share in London's Evening Standard newspaper. The former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev will acquire more than 75 percent in one of Britain's oldest newspapers for a nominal sum. The Evening Standard has suffered sliding sales due to increased competition from free newspapers. Lord Jonathan Rothermere, chairman of parent company Daily Mail and General Trust, said he was conviced that Lebedev would continue to invest in the Evening Standard.

onward and upward

"In the spirit of onward and upward," wrote Google's VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra, on the official Google Code Blog at the end of last week, "we have decided to shut down the Mashup Editor, currently in limited private beta, in favor of the more powerful App Engine infrastructure." Google is also "discontinuing" Dodgeball.com, Gundotra revealed - a mobile social networking service that lets users share their location with friends via text message.


Definition

<– Back to results

onward and upward
becoming more and more successful:
Her publishing career started as an editorial assistant on a women's magazine and it was onward and upward from there.

2009年1月20日 星期二

皇家蘇格蘭銀行; The Bloodbath of British Banks


The Bloodbath of British Banks

Following a huge loss by RBS on Jan. 19, investors turned against other City of London bastions, including Lloyds, Barclays, and even HSBC


《每日電訊報》在頭版以"藍色星期一" (錯譯) 為標題,并以大字列出一些數字,那就是皇家蘇格蘭銀行損失280億英鎊,創歷史最高損失紀錄﹔股票價格降低了67%﹔納稅人需要再出資3500億英鎊拯救銀行。

文章說,一些專家指出,皇家蘇格蘭銀行將不可避免地被國有化。該銀行已經獲得了200億英鎊的國家資助,但該銀行目前價值僅有50億英鎊。

HM Treasury
很多人擔心英國拯救銀行措施不會奏效
《泰晤士報》指出,雖然政府在努力用納稅人的錢來幫助皇家蘇格蘭銀行保持生存,但該銀行在股市上的價值仍然被一掃而光。該銀行在兩年前價值為750億英鎊,而目前卻只有45億英鎊。

該報還說,很多議員希望政府能夠接手該銀行的每日管理工作。這一低迷局面說明政府的第二輪拯救銀行措施沒有能夠恢復人們對金融體系的信心。

《金融時報》稱,英國財政大臣達林在盡最大努力避免皇家蘇格蘭銀行國有化。他說,"我們都清楚,英國的銀行最好是商業化的而不是由國家來運營的。"

該報還指出,英國財政部目前已經給英格蘭銀行開了綠燈,允許他們印刷更多的錢幣,并直接從銀行和公司購買他們的資產。影子財政大臣把此舉稱為是"英國政府在沒有其它選擇的情況下的最后一步棋。"

2009年1月19日 星期一

UK banking plan faces criticism


英國政府推出第二輪拯救銀行計劃是今天英國報紙普遍關注的一個消息。

《金融時報》的報道說英國政府第二輪的銀行拯救方案目的是要刺激銀行的借貸。

根據此計劃,政府將為銀行的壞債提供保險,而政府得到的是銀行的現金以及股份。

願意加入這個計劃的銀行要保證增加對英國消費者以及商家的貸款。

HM Treasury
英國政府推出的第二輪計划,目的就是要刺激銀行的借貸

《泰晤士報》的報道說,這套拯救計劃意味著英國政府從納稅人手中借取數十億英鎊去做賭博。

與此同時,該報的另一篇文章說英國的地方政府稅可能會在今年的四月份再次上漲,平均會升高3.5%, 據信會高出英國通貨膨脹率的三倍。

文章說自從工黨執政以來,英國的地方政府稅幾乎翻了一番。它說英國家庭平均所支付的地方政府稅,再加上煤氣以及電費一年大約要3,000多鎊。



UK banking plan faces criticism

Gordon Brown says the government will do 'everything it takes' to support the economy

The government's latest plan to counter the economic downturn by encouraging lending has been criticised, and sent banks' shares tumbling.

Opposition MPs argued that the government's measures were inadequate and too many details remained unknown.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the move, which centres on state insurance for banks, was essential to help protect jobs.

Business leaders have raised concerns over how much the plan will cost.

The latest government package is the second major set of measures to encourage banks to lend to individuals and businesses, as credit remains scarce or expensive to obtain.

The news sent banking shares down sharply, with Royal Bank of Scotland closing down 67%.

The bank's warning that it could see record losses for 2008 compounded worries about the state of the finance sector.

Four key points

Here are the key points of the government's latest announcement:

• Banks will be able to take up government insurance against their expected bad debts

• The Bank of England will be able to buy up to £50bn worth of assets in companies in all sectors of the economy

• Northern Rock has been given extra time to repay its loans from the government

• The government is increasing its stake in RBS to nearly 70% from 58%. RBS also said it was set to report a huge loss for 2008, with asset write-downs of up to £20bn.

'Turbulent times'

The prime minister said that without the new schemes, jobs may have been "needlessly" lost at healthy firms struggling to gain access to necessary funding.

"Good businesses must have access to credit," said the prime minister.

"It is because of this that we are taking the action to expand lending."

Shadow chancellor George Osborne said the details of Monday's package remained a "mystery".


Unless we are prepared to use the power of Government to get lending going again then the problems will simply be compounded as more and more firms get into difficulties

Chancellor Alistair Darling



Mr Osborne added that the prime minister "hasn't saved this economy and he hasn't even saved the British banks yet".

Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable said the government's latest plans were inadequate, urging instead for the whole banking sector to be nationalised.

"The government must bite the bullet on the public ownership and control of the banks to ensure that lending is maintained to sound companies who can keep the economy ticking over in these turbulent times," he said.

The long list of policies includes a scheme to offer insurance against banks losing more money from the bad debts that started the credit crunch.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England is to be able to buy assets direct from firms.

The government would not reveal how much the latest plan would cost the taxpayer.

Insurance plans

Under the insurance scheme, banks will agree with the government the amount they expect to lose from particular debt.

The Treasury will then sell insurance against about 90% of the institutions' additional losses from the debt.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said: "Unless we are prepared to use the power of government to get lending going again then the problems will simply be compounded as more and more firms get into difficulties."

He told the BBC that banks taking out the insurance would have to make "very specific legally binding agreements to lend more money".

Under the Bank of England's new role, it will be able to buy up to £50bn of high quality assets, such as bonds and loans, directly from companies.

Vince Cable believes the government is not addressing the situation correctly.

Northern Rock extension

There have also been changes to the terms of previous bank rescues.

The government has given Northern Rock longer to repay its loans from the government.

HAVE YOUR SAY
I thought the tax payer had already coughed up once. Is it Ground Hog Day?
Adrian Mugridge, Chester

There was concern that the timetable for repaying the loans was forcing Northern Rock to reduce its mortgage lending too quickly.

Separately, RBS said it had agreed with the Treasury to swap the £5bn of preference shares the government holds for new ordinary shares, increasing the government's stake from 58% to nearly 70%.

The swap will reduce RBS's annual payments to the government as preference shares have a higher guaranteed rate of return than ordinary shares.

“中國假藥進英國” 藥監局調查

2009年01月07日 格林尼治標準時間18:26北京時間 02:26發表
“中國假藥進英國” 藥監局調查

藥片
《觀察家報》的報道在英國引起關注

中國國家食品藥品監管局新聞發言人顏江瑛周三(7日)表示,中國對有關中國假藥進入英國市場的報道高度重視,一旦發現具體線索,將嚴厲查處。

英國《觀察家報》4日在其網站上報道說,去年有800萬片中國境內造假團伙製造的假藥進入英國,並到了英國公費醫療病人的手中。

報道說,被假冒的"金普薩" (Zyprexa, 又譯"再普樂")是一種治療精神疾病的藥物,而這批假藥可能給病人帶來生命危險。

報道說,假藥先在中國生產,貼上法文標簽,經新加坡來到英國並進入全民醫療保健系統(NHS)。

這篇在英國引起了一定恐慌的報道還說,中國警方已經派人來英國調查此事。

“國際標準”

中國國家食品藥品監管局新聞發言人顏江瑛在接受新華社採訪時說,中國對於進出口藥品的管理,"採取了與國際上各國對進出口藥品管理相同的原則和做法"。

按照世界衛生組織的要求,中國規定出口藥品需依法提供《藥品銷售證明書》。

顏江瑛同時表示,"作為一個負責任的監管機構,中國國家食品藥品監督管理局將認真履行打擊假劣藥品的責任,嚴厲查處各種違法違規行為,並對其進行依法處理。"

她還提醒國外貿易商在與中國進行藥品貿易時,應該與"具有藥品生產和經營資格的貿易機構"從事進出口貿易,以保障藥品質量和安全。

但《觀察家報》的報道說,進入英國的假藥可能經過數十次轉手和更換包裝,確定其質量和來源已經十分困難。