Hot off the press Headlines – Holly Folkard-Smith
‘Knife crime must be tackled’
This was a key headline in the week then it shocked the UK with facts stating that knife crime and increased by two-thirds and that there has been an 8% increase in the number of patients being admitted for knife related incidents. Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London) has been an advocate in demanding the government to invest more funding into police forces in an attempt to stop the increasing frequency of these crimes; calling this surge of crimes a “national emergency”. Even though the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, replied to these allegations and demands for increases in funding simply with the fact that tax money is distributed respectively depending on the needs of the recipient and that changing it would counteract the sustainability the budget is trying to achieve. The Chancellor’s view continues to be the same irrespective of the fact that many police commissioners highlight that there has been a simultaneous increase in knife crime along side a decrease in police numbers it is left ambiguous at the end of this week what can be and what will be done to tackle it. Another unresolved case for government to ponder. (see more https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003h5n ‘Britain’s Knife Crime Crisis’)
‘May urges EU to agree backstop changes’
With the due date for leaving the EU looming in the near future (March 29th) the UK government, questionably, seems to be in full steed when it comes to trying to finalise a deal, however impossible it may see to you and me. In this headline on Brexit, May outlines her plans to change much of the current agreements with Northern Ireland when it comes to the border. May puts forward her plan to stop the need for any physical checks at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. However, as can be seen in all debates surrounding Brexit and, most significantly, the ‘big deal’ neither the UK or EU is willing to fully compromise with the EU wanting the UK to come up with a deal to break the deadlock; and with neither May’s opposing party or her own party (with 8 leaving to form an independent group in February) this seems nearly impossible. (as explained neatly in this clip https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47487320)
‘Rain melting Greenland ice sheet ‘even in winter’
21st century news could never be complete without a mix of crime, Brexit, borders or climate change with the never-ending controversy over climate change’s veracity, future impacts and the constant ping-pong between who’s responsible and who should lead the way in reducing emissions. In the news this week scientists have found that the increasing frequency of rain in Greenland is causing the rates of melting to increase as usually this precipitation falls as snow in the winter, which would balance out any loss of ice; but this is occurring less and less. Therefore, as the ice in Greenland stores such a vast amount of fresh water and carbon scientists are closely monitoring its changes as with the release of long store carbon and freshwater comes global repercussions.
Food for thought- International Women’s Day
‘Economy ‘needs more women entrepreneurs’
The BBC released an article this week about the significant economic boost that female entrepreneurs could bring the UK. In total the article states that an extra £250 billion could be entering the economy if female entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to develop new business ideas on the same scale as men- which could be seen to be ironic considering the gender inequality within in BBC itself. Within the article Alison Rose (Head of the Royal Bank of Scotland cooperate, commercial and private banking business) stated that there were 1 million missing businesses due to the lack of female entrepreneurs which was “unacceptable and hurting the UK”. As well as this, a number of statistics ranked the UK fairly low in terms of gender equality in the economy and in terms of business ownership with only 6% of women owning their own business in the UK in comparison to 15% in Canada, 11% in the US and 9% in Australia and the Netherlands; with men being 5 times more likely to make a £1 million turnover when running a small business than women. It was also mentioned that men are more likely to be accepted for and receiving funding than women and UK banks should encourage UK-based entrepreneurs to back female entrepreneurs in order for them to become more successful.
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