2012年12月23日星期日

英國人過聖誕太麻煩 (何越)

這篇有點意思：
英國人過聖誕太麻煩
作者：英國《金融時報》中文網特約撰稿人何越

唉，聖誕節又來了！一想到這，我不由得嘆口氣。
聖誕節，多熱鬧喜慶的一個節日：聖誕樹，聖誕禮物，聖誕老人，閃閃的燈光，還有雪撬。從前在西方電影裡反復出現的聖誕情景不都是這樣的麼？我剛到英國留學時，在英國人家過的第一個聖誕節，不是開心得不得了嗎？怎麼現在嘆起氣來了？
可是我在做了英國太太、在英國生活後，會不由自主地想：唉，多麻煩！過一個聖誕節，有這麼多事情要準備，想想頭皮都大：聖誕卡，聖誕樹，聖誕裝飾，聖誕禮物，聖誕大餐。要是還能像以前做外國學生一樣，只做個看熱鬧的多好。別的英國太太對這一天是滿心歡喜，充滿期待，任勞任怨，因為這種生活方式她們從小就已習慣，不像我半路出家。一個過慣了中國春節的人，突然撥高了節日儀式標準和難度，事事要親力親為，不單要花錢，要花很多錢，還要花很多精力，很多時間。為什麼一定要送禮物，送紅包不可以嗎？為什麼一定要在家裡做聖誕餐，出去吃可以嗎？為什麼聖誕樹要裝飾得那麼漂亮和講究，為什麼門上，窗上，甚至壁爐前，都要有聖誕裝飾？隨便一點可以嗎？就像是要做一場秀，要統籌，要策劃，要採購，還要佈置，要用一個月來準備。我從沒覺得收穫和付出成正比，可是先生說這是英國傳統，所有的人，尤其是家裡的兩個寶貝女兒，會非常享受這一天的。我問：傳統就一定是對的嗎？改改不行嗎？先生說你不是老說你們中國傳統多麼偉大嗎？我們英國傳統也很偉大啊，怎麼能你想改就改？
好吧，臨近聖誕，必須開始準備了。今年應該還會去先生的母家住上一周吧？這樣的話，聖誕大餐這事兒估計他父母包了，自己最多只用打個下手，用不著唱主角；至於聖誕裝飾，能免則免吧，如果先生有任何抱怨，讓他自己動手去，反正只要不請朋友來，自己心裡過得去，這種吃力討他人好的事，省省吧。不過，還是有兩件事，是怎麼也逃不了的——聖誕卡和聖誕禮物。
首先是聖誕卡。有多少人要寄？這個容易，把去年收到的聖誕卡拿出來，如數照發回去就是。可得去買新聖誕卡不是嗎？給一般朋友和同事的好辦，成批成批地買，不用擔心類似或雷同。主要是給親戚還有好朋友的，得一張一張地買。英國人的卡片分工細緻可謂極致，每張聖誕卡上可是清楚註明了不同對象，包括有：

給女兒的，給兒子的，給爹的，給媽的，給爹媽的，給祖母的，給祖父的，給祖父母的，給侄子的，給侄女的，給孫子的，給孫女的，給姨的，給叔的，給好朋友的，給女朋友的，給男朋友的，給未婚妻的，給未婚夫的。

我暗自想：要在中國，還得加上給老闆和領導的。
寫好了卡片，同事的容易，直接拿到公司里分發就得了；同一個地區的，自己開著車繞一圈，一家一家地送，也容易；最頭疼的是英國以外地區的，還得跑郵局。聖誕節前郵局的那個長隊是嚇死人，英國人不是往外寄卡片就是寄禮物，排著長隊，態度還極從容，大概是想到了家人或是朋友收到禮物那一瞬的欣喜。不像我那樣，只為完成任務，根本沒心思來體會這聖誕節賜於英國人的大好節日良機，臉上常是一幅趕火車的匆忙相。
聖誕禮物最讓人頭痛。且不說包裝禮物是件多麼煩心的事，買什麼？這才是最大的煩惱。女兒們的還容易對付，給家公買什麼？給家婆買什麼？給家公家婆的共同禮物又買什麼？每年這個問題都讓人抓耳撓腮，恨不得他們能給出一張購買清單，可先生說他們什麼都有，什麼都不缺。而且聖誕禮物要的就是拆開那一瞬那的驚喜，如果都事先知道了，有啥情趣？就得買那種好玩的，有喜劇效果的禮物。而且一件還不行，每人得有幾件，這樣才能有接連不斷的驚喜。英國人真是吃飽了撐著沒事幹。唉，聖誕節要來了！這繁忙中的快樂，對我這個半路出家的英國太太來說，可能還要很長時間才能體會到。

劍橋大學建校800周年/首次發行債券/台灣

經抗議後劍橋大學昨正名稱我台灣

英國劍橋大學官網先前對台灣國別的稱呼為「台灣，中國的一省（Taiwan, Province of China）」，昨天恢復成「台灣」。（取自劍橋大學官網）

〔記者湯佳玲、陳慧萍／台北報導〕台灣主權在國際學術圈被矮化又一樁！英國劍橋大學博士班申請資料的「國別」欄中，將台灣矮化為「中國的一省（Taiwan, Province of China）」，中研院學者去函抗議後，劍橋大學一度態度強硬，堅稱我「並非是一個國家，中國才是唯一合法政府」；所幸，經外交部協助交涉後，劍橋大學官網昨已恢復成「Taiwan」。
稱我中國一省校方辯稱官方規定
中研院學者駁牛津等校只寫台灣
中研院生命科學組莊姓副研究員日前為其助理撰寫推薦信，發現劍橋的網路申請表「國別」欄位是「台灣，中國的一省（Taiwan, Province of China）」；中研院基因體中心特聘研究員陳鈴津因此代寫信函，陳述台灣是獨立自主國家，並非中國一省，要求劍橋更正。
劍橋校方卻回信指出：「英國並不認為台灣是個國家…我們必須維持台灣是中國一省的說法，因為這是ＨＥＳＡ（英國中央高教單位）的規定，且目前不可能改變。」
學者們怒吼：「實在很侮辱人，我們要國家尊嚴！」中研院史語所副研究員張谷銘表示，既然是ＨＥＳＡ規定，理應全英適用，但莊姓副研究員出示牛津大學與倫敦國王學院申請表，國別欄明確只寫「台灣」。張谷銘說，顯然劍橋不一定要遵守！
張谷銘並指出，英國對台免簽，但對中國並沒有免簽，「可見台、中在英國眼中是不同的，英政府自相矛盾！」
此一事件輾轉經由外交部交涉後，劍橋大學昨天更正了官網上對台灣的稱呼。
由於類似事件在學界層出不窮，中研院生物多樣性中心研究員陳昭倫質疑馬英九總統在到處宣揚免簽的政績背後，換來的是「中國的一省（Province of China）」的默許。
矮化案例多外交部稱肇因ＩＳＯ
護台灣主權學者籲提供申訴管道
張谷銘表示，台灣在國際標準化組織（ＩＳＯ）被矮化成「中國的一省」，「被當成是這樣，政府也沒抗議，是台灣人的悲哀！」中研院史語所副研究員祝平一也說：「期刊論文老被中國吃豆腐，又做白工，因為會算成中國的點數。」
祝平一等人昨天舉出個人在國際場合遇到台灣主權遭矮化的親身經歷，強調此事令學界很苦惱，主權一旦被矮化，政府沒發聲，別人就以為是默認！他因此呼籲政府，提供學界明確管道，知道受到矮化委屈該向誰申訴。
外交部發言人夏季昌則說，這問題存在已久，大多源於電腦系統採用ＩＳＯ的國家代碼，因而將台灣列為中國一省，多數案例都沒有貶低主權的意圖，只因電腦系統外包給廠商，直接採用ＩＳＯ國家代碼所致，只要民眾積極反映，或透過外交部正式交涉，對方多願意更正。
夏季昌並說，目前網站上至少有千萬筆資料不當稱呼我國，希望民眾和政府通力合作，只要發現任何矮化國家主權案例，都可以向外交部通報，外交部一定會全力交涉，要求對方更正。

劍橋大學首次發行債券英國《金融時報》邁克爾•斯托撒德, 克里斯•庫金報導
一家中世紀學府昨天踏入現代金融時代——劍橋大學(Cambridge University)在其800年的歷史上首次利用公共債券市場（而非慈善募捐）募資。這所英國最為富有、歷史第二悠久的大學發行了價值3.5億英鎊的40年期債券，利用低收益率來為新成立的干細胞研究實驗室和研究生宿舍提供資金。劍橋大學在最新的上海交通大學排名中名列全球第五，過去它的開發項目一直依賴捐贈人的資助。財務總監安德魯•里德(Andrew Reid)稱，劍橋本可以直接資助這些開發項目，但“鑑於長期利率處於低位，現在似乎是藉款的大好時機”。該債券的定價比英國國債高出60個基點，市場反響良好。上週，劍橋大學由於“卓越的市場地位、擁有高額的流動資產和穩健的治理結構”，獲得了穆迪(Moody's)的AAA評級。發行債券的是劍橋大學的中央機構，而不是組成該大學31所學院中的任何一所。在不計入學院資產的情況下，該中央機構擁有26億英鎊的淨資產。劍橋是英國唯一一所十億英鎊級大學，它在2010-11年度的支出達到12億英鎊。數支養老基金一直流露出支持英國大學的興趣。 2010-11年度，這個備受尊敬的領域擁有230億英鎊的收入，盈餘達10億英鎊，扣除負債後的淨資產價值達240億英鎊。位於萊斯特的德蒙特福德大學(De Montfort University)2010-11年度支出1.5億英鎊，該校於今年7月發行了價值1.1億英鎊的30年期債券。“我確信以後將有更多的大學考慮獲得評級，進入資本市場，”蘇格蘭皇家銀行(RBS)英國及愛爾蘭企業債務資本市場主管拉塞爾•梅伯里(Russell Maybury)說。蘇格蘭皇家銀行、摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和匯豐銀行(HSBC)是此次債券發行的承銷商。譯者/徐天辰

2009劍橋大學慶祝建校800周年

劍橋大學慶祝建校800周年

劍橋大學在新學期開學之際展開慶祝建校800周年的活動，包括燈光表演和教堂鐘聲。
特別製作的燈光表演回顧了劍橋的歷史，並展望未來。
而世界各地多個教堂則在同時奏響為劍橋校慶專門譜寫的教堂鐘聲。
劍橋的校慶活動將持續一年，今年晚些時候劍橋將組織查爾斯﹒達爾文節和科技節，10月份還將舉辦創意節。
雖然學者們對劍橋大學具體建校的日期並不掌握，但劍橋認為以新學期的開始展開校慶慶典最為恰當不過。
劍橋大學在1209年由一批來自牛津的學者創利，當時的劍橋鎮只是一個集市。
800年來，劍橋名人輩出，著名畢業生包括曾推翻英國王室的克倫威爾、發現萬有引力的牛頓、提出進化論的達爾文以及當今物理泰斗霍金等。
劍橋大學所產生的諾貝爾獎得主人數超過世界任何其他高等學府。
目前劍橋大學有1.8萬名學生，年收入接近10億英鎊。

2012年12月15日星期六

Jeanette Winterson: We must protect and reinvent our local libraries

中英對照讀新聞／Novelist Jeanette Winterson calls for library expansion 小說家溫特森呼籲增設圖書館

◎俞智敏
Speaking at the inaugural Reading Agency Lecture at the British Library, award-winning author Jeanette Winterson suggested the cost could be met by Google, Amazon and Starbucks.
作品曾經獲獎的作家溫特森在大英圖書館舉行的「閱讀協會講座」開幕演講中建議，增設圖書館的經費可以由Google、亞馬遜和星巴克等公司來支付。
The three companies were recently grilled about tax avoidance before a committee of MPs. The firms have paid little UK corporation tax although they argue that they operate within tax rules.
這三家公司最近因為避稅而在英國國會小組委員會中遭到議員圍剿。這些公司在英國繳交的企業稅極少，卻辯稱它們都是依照稅務法規定行事。
Winterson said："Either we stop arguing and agree that libraries are doing their best to reinvent themselves, and that with a bit of help, financial and ideological - they belong to the future, or we let them run down until they disappear."
溫特森指出，「除非我們現在就停止爭執，同意各圖書館正盡全力重新打造新面目，只要多一點協助，不論是財務或意識形態上的協助，它們就能屬於未來，否則我們就眼睜睜地看著它們繼續破敗下去直到消失為止。」
"Libraries cost about ￡1bn to run right now. Make it ￡2bn and charge Google, Amazon and Starbucks all that back tax on their profits here."
「圖書館目前的營運經費約為10億英鎊。把經費提高到20億英鎊，並要求Google、亞馬遜和星巴克補繳它們在英國營業獲利理應繳交的稅金。」
Winterson also offered the companies in question another option - "do an Andrew Carnegie and build us new kinds of libraries".
溫特森還提供這些公司另一項選擇—「仿效（慈善家）卡內基，替我們興建新形態的圖書館。」
About 600 libraries across England have reportedly closed as local councils face cuts in income. However a recent report by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee denied that figure, quoting Culture Minister Ed Vaizey as saying the estimate was "very wide of the mark" and that a "truer picture would be about a 10th of that".
據傳全英大約已有600間圖書館因地方議會面臨收入短缺窘境而關閉。然而文化、媒體暨運動小組委員會在最近的一份報告中否認上述數據，並引述文化部長維澤的話說，這項估計「錯得離譜」，「真正的數字大約只有10分之1。」
Other libraries affected by the cuts have reduced opening hours, cut staff or transferred the running of libraries to volunteers.
其他受預算裁減影響的圖書館則採取縮短營運時間、裁撤員工或把圖書館營運轉移給志工等方式來因應。

We must protect and reinvent our local libraries

Growing up in Accrington, Jeanette Winterson found refuge and inspiration in her local library. In an age of austerity, the need to protect and reinvent libraries for the future is more urgent than ever

- Jeanette Winterson
- The Guardian, Friday 23 November 2012 08.28 GMT
- Jump to comments (126)

'For kids in particular, ebooks aren't the answer' … a public library in north London, January 1946. Photograph: Fred Morley/Fox Photos/Getty Images

I was born in Manchester. Brought up in Accrington, 20 miles north-east. I was adopted by Pentecostal parents who wanted me to be a missionary. I've been doing my best ever since.
The Accrington Public Library was a stone-built, fully stocked library, built on the values of an age of self-help and betterment. It was built in 1907 with money from the Carnegie Foundation. Outside were the carved heads of Shakespeare and Milton, Chaucer and Dante. Inside were art nouveau tiles and a gigantic stained glass window that said useful things such as "INDUSTRY AND PRUDENCE CONQUER".

The library held all the Eng lit classics, and quite a few surprises such as Gertrude Stein. I had no idea of what to read or in what order, so, staring at the shelves that said "English Literature in Prose, A-Z", I just started alphabetically. Thank God her last name was Austen …

The Accrington Public Library ran on the Dewey Decimal System, which meant that books were meticulously catalogued, except for pulp fiction which everybody despised. So romance was just given a pink strip and all romance was simply chucked unalphabetically on to the romance shelves. Sea stories were treated the same way, but with a green strip. Horror had a black strip. Mystery stories shlock-style had a white strip, but the librarian would never file Chandler or Highsmith under mystery – they were literature, just as Moby-Dick was not a sea story and Jane Eyre was not romance.

Humour had a section too … with a wavy orange giggle strip. On the humour shelves, I will never know why or how, was Gertrude Stein, presumably because she wrote what looked like nonsense …

I used to help out at the library. I was a rough, tough kid, not much good at school, except for words. We had six books in our house but I had the library. I loved that building – built for the working classes – built for me. I loved the sense of energetic quiet. When I left home at 16 and was living in a Mini, I went to the library all evening until it closed.

My own Carnegie library in Accrington is still open. I visited recently. There are far fewer books. The lovely separate children's library has been closed. There are no longer classical music concerts or lectures – Pitman Painters' style. There are computers of course and plenty of people coming in and out. The library is doing its best according to its remit of being a community centre with books. What the library isn't any more is the place of unassailable knowledge I encountered as a kid.

Andrew Carnegie was a crofter's lad who emigrated from Scotland to America and became a billionaire. But he believed in books and the chances they offered, and he wanted libraries to be the universities anyone could attend and no one would ever have to leave. He paid for 660 libraries in the UK and Ireland – and 1,500 or so in America.

"Man does not live by bread alone. I have known millionaires starving for lack of the nutriment which alone can sustain all that is human in man, and I know workmen, and many so-called poor men, who revel in luxuries beyond the power of those millionaires to reach. It is the mind that makes the body rich. There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else."

He was wrong about that – the underclass that possesses no money and nothing else either is the most destitute on earth. That underclass is growing – here in Britain. In fact, Accrington is second on the list of the poverty map, according to Experian Public Research, analysing data for the Guardian in June this year. So it would seem straightforward then, to plough what money there is into alleviating poverty and providing essential services.

Here's Tony Durcan "director of culture, libraries and lifelong learning, Newcastle City Council", in the news just now, over £7m-worth of lethal cuts to Newcastle Library Services: "Faced with agonising decisions about child protection, care for the elderly and emptying bins, where do libraries, leisure centres and culture rank? I think we all know the answer."

Do we? Poor Durcan – it's not his fault – but I think we should look more closely at this answer, and therefore at the question itself. Let's go to Manchester in 1852 – where the first public lending library in England opened. The 1850 Library Act allowed local authorities to spend a penny in the pound on libraries. Dickens took the train up there for the opening.

Twenty-two thousand working people helped raised the money to buy books for the library.
A hundred years after Engels was standing in the sewage of the Manchester slums, imagining a world where men and women would be more than useful objects, the second world war was nearing its end in Britain. John Maynard Keynes was overseeing the beginnings of the Arts Council in 1944 – which sounds like a crazy priority at the end of a world war, when the county was literally in ruins and Britain had no money at all – and there was food rationing. But the Labour party had a vision for postwar Britain, and education, art and culture for everyone were at the heart of that vision. A national theatre, free entry to museums, the expansion of the BBC. The Arts Council's first slogan in 1946 was "The Best for the Most".

So we should ask ourselves questions about austerity budgets and what Britain can or can't afford.

As our Government tells us that this wrecked economy can't afford to pay a living wage to the poorest people in society, what can we offer them? They can take their kids to the park, perhaps. They might be able to go swimming or play sport at their leisure centre, find a football pitch. Yes, these things are important. But it is just as important that there should be a library as the centre of a web of cultural services, for kids with nowhere to go, kids who don't have books or a room of their own, for stressed-out parents, for students needing a place to study and find more than Google can offer, for older people who want a safe place outside of the house, for community groups and reading groups, for lectures, for discussions, and of course for computers and IT.

Libraries across the UK are trying to offer as much as they can to the communities they serve, and particularly to people on low pay and with few resources, but there is confusion around the role of libraries: what are they? How should they change and develop? What place do they have in a modern internet-based world where the book itself might be disappearing?

When we look back at the latest cuts in Newcastle, we can see where this confusion starts – "Libraries, leisure and culture". But culture is not leisure – though you need leisure to pursue culture – and libraries are not leisure in the way that a sports centre is leisure. Libraries began with the highest purpose in mind – to educate through the agency of a book. The first public libraries were aspirational and proud. Libraries were not community centres with books in the way.

If we want libraries to flourish and take their place – I think their proper place in a modern society – we can't make them compete with sports centres for resources, or survive by becoming culturally obsolete and socially relevant, replacing all their books with computer terminals.

Libraries have never been more inventive than they are right now. The Reading Agency partners with libraries across the UK to set up book groups – supported by publishers – to bring in kids, many of whom have never read any books outside school. Libraries are doing more educational work than ever. Libraries and literacy cannot be separated. I don't see how this can be classed as "leisure", nor do I see why we have to choose between getting our bins emptied and putting cash into libraries.

There is no excuse. Either we stop arguing and agree that libraries are doing their best to reinvent themselves and that with a bit of help – financial and ideological – they belong with the future, or we let them run down until they disappear because they become irrelevant to people's lives.

As books themselves change, so the argument goes, does it not follow that libraries will change too? If books are not necessarily objects then perhaps libraries need not be either? Virtual libraries and online libraries can house ebooks and downloads and none of this takes up physical space and none of it is as costly as a building that houses books. The disappearing book and the disappearing library are about technology, aren't they? Printing put books on the shelves, took them out of the private collections – usually church libraries – and into the hands of the world.

The wealthy will have books and access to books. The best universities will keep their magnificent libraries to be visited by those who can afford the fees. Is it downloads for everyone else? I want books to be visible. Hold a book in your hands and it is more than its content. Books as objects matter.

Ebooks are not an improvement; they are an addition. They can't be used as an excuse to take books away from the everyday world and into the virtual world. We all know that browsing an index is nothing like being in a bookshop or a library. Libraries and publishers will come to an arrangement about ebook lending and that could work very well as a satellite service for library users – providing we keep Planet Library. For kids in particular, ebooks aren't the answer. Put six picture books of front of a child and she'll soon find her own way. Give her a library shelf of books and she can pull them out all over the floor. Early reading is physicality – the taste, smell, weight of books.

Who is going to pay for this new expanding network of libraries? These people's palaces of books where everyone can go from early in the morning until late at night? Libraries cost about a billion a year to run right now. Make it two billion and charge Google, Amazon and Starbucks all that back tax on their profits here. Or if they want to go on paying fancy lawyers to avoid their moral duties, then perhaps those companies could do an Andrew Carnegie and build us new kinds of libraries for a new kind of future in a fairer and better world?

• This is an edited extract from the inaugural Reading Agency lecture, delivered by Jeanette Winterson. www.readingagency.org.uk

2012年12月11日星期二

Census shows

Boston: Census shows most non-British EU passport holders outside London

Boston employs a large number of migrant workers on surrounding farms to harvest fruits and vegetables

A Lincolnshire district has the largest number of non-British EU passport holders outside of London.

The second round of data released from the 2011 Census showed 12.1% of Boston residents held such passports. The Lincolnshire average was 3.5%.

Figures also showed 83.9% of the market town described itself as white British.

Last month the Boston Protest Group held a demonstration aimed at highlighting the pressure it said migrants put on local services.

The district employs a large number of seasonal workers on surrounding farms to harvest fruits and vegetables.

Figures show around 10,000 people born abroad live in Boston - 3,000 of them were from Poland - more than in any local authority outside the South East.

Lincolnshire was shown to be home to about 50,000 foreign-born residents, a rise of about 30,000 since the 2001 Census.

You gotta have faith

The latest British census shows the country's increasingly secular tilt
BRITAIN continues its descent into godlessness, according to the latest 2011 Census data. Just over a quarter of people in England and Wales (figures for Northern Ireland and Scotland are collected separately) say they have no religion, up from 14.8% a decade earlier. The proportion of Christians has fallen from 71.8% to 59.3%. All other main faiths have edged up, and Muslims now account for 4.8% of the population, compared with 3% in 2001. What of less common creeds? About a quarter of a million people ticked the “Other religion” write-in box. Among them, 56,620 wrote Pagan, while Agnostics and Atheists claimed around 30,000 adherents apiece. Rastafarianism, Zoroastrianism and Shamanism made the list, while the most common was Jedi Knight, by 176,632 Star Wars fans. Back in Britain, London brakes the trend a bit. Among the handful of places in the country where the actual number of Christians increased over the decade, four were London boroughs.
Read more on the Census here.

2012年12月8日星期六

hoax call nurse found dead/ change to royal succession rules

Duchess of Cambridge hoax call nurse found dead

The hospital paid tribute to "a first-class nurse"

A nurse at a London hospital who took a hoax call about the Duchess of Cambridge has been found dead.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said in a statement they were "deeply saddened" by the death of the nurse, named as Jacintha Saldanha.
King Edward VII hospital paid tribute to "a first class nurse who cared diligently for hundreds of patients".
Details of the pregnant duchess's medical condition were unwittingly revealed to two Australian DJs.
Mel Greig and Michael Christian, from Sydney radio station 2Day FM posed as the Queen and Prince Charles in a call early on Tuesday morning.
Rhys Holleran, chief executive of SCA, the company which owns the station, said in a statement the pair will not return to their show until further notice out of respect for Mrs Saldanha.
The duchess had been admitted on Monday for acute morning sickness, and was discharged on Thursday.
'Excellent nurse' BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said he understood Mrs Saldanha - who was staying in hospital accommodation close to King Edward VII hospital - was the person who answered the call from the Australian DJs and was not the nurse who discussed the duchess's medical condition.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian had said they were "very sorry if we've caused any issues"

Mrs Saldanha, a duty nurse who was married with two children, answered the telephone because it was 05:30 GMT and there was no receptionist on duty.
The BBC understands Mrs Saldanha had not been suspended or disciplined by the hospital.
The BBC's Nicholas Witchell said it had been suggested to him that she had felt "very lonely and confused" as a result of what had happened.
The St James's Palace statement said the duke and duchess "were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha's family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time".
A palace spokesman later added that "at no point did the palace complain to the hospital about the incident".
"On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times."

The duchess left the hospital on Thursday

In a statement outside the hospital, King Edward VII chief executive John Lofthouse said: "We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital.
"The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time."
He said Mrs Saldanha, who had worked at the hospital for more than four years, "was an excellent nurse and well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues".
"Everyone is shocked by the loss of a much loved and valued colleague," he added.
Royal College of Nursing chief executive Dr Peter Carter, meanwhile, said it was "deeply saddening that a simple human error due to a cruel hoax could lead to the death of a dedicated and caring member of the nursing profession".
Scotland Yard said officers were called at 09:35 GMT on Friday after reports of a woman found unconscious at an address in Weymouth Street, central London. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious.
In a statement, Mrs Saldanha's family said they were "deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha". They have requested privacy from the media.
'Very sorry' The prank call was pre-recorded before it was assessed by lawyers and broadcast on 2Day FM.
Speaking on their show, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, called it the "easiest prank call ever made" and described their mock British accents as "terrible".
In the call, another nurse was tricked into revealing specific confidential information about the duchess's medical condition.

“Start Quote

We're going to have a long and careful think about what, if anything, we do”

King Edward VII chief executive John Lofthouse, speaking on Tuesday

The DJs later apologised saying they were "very surprised that our call was put through".

"We thought we'd be hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents.
"We're very sorry if we've caused any issues and we're glad to hear that Kate is doing well."
The Twitter accounts of both presenters have been deleted and all references to the prank call recording removed from the 2Day FM website.
SCA said on its Facebook page the company was "deeply saddened by the tragic news" and had extended "our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected."
On Tuesday, hospital chief executive John Lofthouse said he had "received advice that what the Australian broadcasters did may well have broken the law".
But he added: "On the other hand they've apologised for it so we're going to have a long and careful think about what, if anything, we do."
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) has said it had received complaints about the call.
Radio station 2Day FM has previously been in trouble with Acma for incidents including one when a 14-year-old girl revealed on air that she had been raped.

英國劍橋公爵夫人凱特三日因害喜住院治療時，澳洲電台一名主持人冒充女王致電醫院套出凱特病情。據媒體報導，當時接電話的女護士七日被發現陳屍醫院附近的住家中，疑似自殺身亡。警方表示，接獲報案趕到現場時，此名護士已無意識，送醫後宣告不治，目前死因「無法解釋」。院方七日發表聲明，證實死亡的女子就是當日被騙的護士，她把電話轉接到病房，導致病房護士被套出凱特病情。

Consent given for change to royal succession rules

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on 27 June 2012

The first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, whether a boy or a girl, will succeed the throne after Prince William

All Commonwealth realms have agreed to press ahead with a bill ending discrimination against women in the succession to the British throne.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the government would now introduce the Succession to the Crown Bill in the House of Commons as soon as possible.
It means the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will become monarch, whether a boy or a girl.
The pregnant duchess is in hospital but is feeling better, royal officials say.
Catherine, whose pregnancy was announced on Monday, is spending her second day being treated for acute morning sickness - or hyperemesis gravidarum - in the private King Edward VII Hospital in central London.
A St James's Palace spokesman said: "The Duchess of Cambridge is continuing to feel better. She and the Duke are immensely grateful for the good wishes they have received. She will remain in hospital at present."
Her husband Prince William, who spent several hours visiting her on Monday, spent the day with her again on Tuesday. He headed straight into the hospital without speaking to the assembled media when he arrived.
The duchess was also visited by her main doctor Marcus Setchell and the royal gynaecologist Alan Farthing.
She is less than 12 weeks pregnant, and no due date has yet been announced for the baby.
'Old-fashioned rules' The new legislation will end the principle of male primogeniture, meaning male heirs will no longer take precedence over women in line to the throne.
It will also end the ban on anyone in the line of succession marrying a Roman Catholic.
The legislation was agreed in principle at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Perth, Australia in October 2011.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the change in rules of succession is something ''that many people would welcome''

Since then, the government of New Zealand has been gathering formal letters of consent from the 15 realms of the Commonwealth, that have the Queen as their head of state.
They have confirmed they will be able to take the necessary measures in their own countries before the UK legislation comes into effect.
In a statement, Mr Clegg described the agreement as an "historic moment for our country and our monarchy".
He added: "People across the realms of the Commonwealth will be celebrating the news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first child.
"We can also all celebrate that whether the baby is a boy or a girl, they will have an equal claim to the throne."

The 16 realms of the Commonwealth

United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu.

He said the bill would write down in law "what we agreed back in 2011 - that if the Duke and Duchess Cambridge have a baby girl, she can one day be our Queen even if she later has younger brothers".

The succession bill will require amendments to some of Britain's key constitutional documents, including the Bill of Rights and Coronation Oath Act of 1688, the 1701 Act of Settlement and the 1706 Act of Union with Scotland.
In a statement on Monday, St James's Palace announced the duchess's pregnancy and said members of both the Royal Family and the Middleton family were "delighted with the news".
But, the palace would not reveal when the royal couple had become aware of the pregnancy, only saying "recently". It is understood the announcement was prompted by the duchess's medical condition.

2012年12月6日星期四