Armed forces chief Sir Jock Stirrup to quit early

This autunm 2010, Britain's Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, has said that Britain's most senior military chief will quit before the end of his term in April 2011. Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup has been chief of the defence staff since 2006 and was asked to extend his term by the previous government. The BBC's Caroline Wyatt said the move will be seen as the new government's bid to draw a line under past failings. Critics, on the other hand, say Sir Jock, a former jet pilot, has not done enough to support Britain's frontline troops.

Dr Fox told the Sunday Times he wanted the "best people to be in the appropriate posts" this autumn once the current strategic defence and security review was over. "We have to be able to maintain full stability and the full confidence of the people who work for us, not least because we're in a very dangerous armed conflict," he said.

My Opinion is...

As we do not know the exact reason for Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup's early quit, we should carefully follow the steps the government will take in the near future. While critics say 'Sir Jock has not done enough to support Britain's frontline troops', Dr Fox' explanation seems to be quite suspicious. Let's wait for the outcome...



Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/politics/10303009.stm

What would the BP oil spill look like over your home?

It kills seabirds, devastates livelihoods and is having a go at doing both to BP's share price. But how big, you may ask, is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? Website 'If it was my home' takes an image of the oil spill and overlays it on a Google map. It will either detect where you are (newer browsers, such as Firefox, will know this) or you can add a postcode or town name in a search box when you click through to it.

Above is the spill pictured as though it surrounded the Guardian offices, in central London. As you can see, this would take it south to Brighton, west to Bristol and as far north as the upper reaches of the Wash, in Lincolnshire. East takes it right out into the North Sea.

Of course the spill is not static. An oil spill tracker from the New York Times shows it growing and changing shape since the Deepwater Horizon rig sank on 22 April.

Opinion

This is really useful to know, mainly because many people around the world are still curious about how big the split is and towards where it is heading. The website name 'if it is my home' is very catchy and I thing people would just click on it because they are curious about it. I will try it out, so should you...

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jun/10/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill

JG Ballard archive acquired for British Library

Manuscripts, letters, notebooks and even the school reports of one of the most spectacularly imaginative literary minds of the 20th century, JG Ballard, have been saved for the British public.

Ballard died last year, aged 78, and is probably best known for his 1984 novel Empire of the Sun, inspired by his own childhood in a Japanese-controlled internment camp and made into a movie by Steven Spielberg.
One of the items in the archive is a school report for the 16-year-old Ballard, and extremely prescient it was too. His English tutor wrote: "He has remarkable ability and general knowledge. With greater concentration his work could be even better."

Ballard was a man of routine and, in the first instance, wrote all his work by hand, once saying he could always tell if a novel had been written on a typewriter (and later computer). One of the highlights of the archive is the far from neatly handwritten first 840-page draft of Empire of the Sun, which is a collage of crossings out, revisions, corrections and additions.

Jonathan Scott said, chairman of the AIL scheme, 'writing was not always the most financially rewarding occupation and most serious writers had decided to sell their archives – mainly to deep-pocketed US universities – as their pension.'

The culture minister, Ed Vaizey, said the government would examine whether the scheme could be extended to people who could use it while they were still alive.



Opinion

Ballard was a very famous writer and that is why this news makes it even more important. His 12 meter archive will be accessable in summer 2010, according to Jamie Andrews, the library's head of modern literary manuscripts. This discovery must be very essential for the British literacy lovers.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/10/jg-ballard-archive-british-library

Parent's view on genetic link to autism: 'I don't want it to be eradicated'

Picture: Charlotte Moore and her three sons, George, Jake and Sam(Sam and George are autistic)


As the mother of two sons with autism and a third son without it, do I welcome this news? Yes, if it helps kill the idea that autism is somebody's "fault". Autism isn't caused by neglectful parenting; not only that, but parents passing on autistic genes is less significant than had been thought. Although some of these gene variations are inherited, others are found only in children. This helps explain why in some cases autism "runs in the family", but in others it comes out of nowhere. If you have an autistic child, strip away those shreds of guilt. Your child is what he or she is. End of story.


The findings will enable some families to get more precise genetic counselling, and that's good. When I debated whether to have Jake, my third child, doctors could only give me vague advice. I'm delighted I took the risk, but it's better to make such decisions armed with as much information as possible. I'm concerned, though, that the information will bolster the idea that autism is a disease that should be cured. Caring for autistic people is hard. Self-harm, destructive outbursts, intense anxiety, sleeplessness ... who wouldn't wish those away? But autism can also mean originality, creativity, an innocence ... Do I hope that early interventions can be devised to wipe the human race clean of autism? No, I do not.


What can I say?

As Charlotte Moore points out, parent should feel guilty for their autistic child, they rather have to feel happy for them. Her opinion about the link that is made with autism and genes is very normal because she has autistic children. I think other people would have another opinion, maybe a similar one but still different.


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/10/autism-parents-view-genetics

Susan Boyle 'to sing for the Pope'

In April church leaders said they wanted Ms Boyle, who would be a ''great asset'' to the events planned for the Pontiff's visit in September, to sing in Glasgow. Today a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: ''Negotiations are still under way but we expect Susan Boyle to perform as part of the Papal Mass at Bellahouston Park.'' It will be the first Papal visit to Britain since 1982 when Pope John Paul II's six-day tour drew It will also be the first official Papal visit to Britain.


Yesterday it was confirmed an open mass would be held at Bellahouston Park. More than half of the 185,000 Catholics who attend Sunday services across Scotland will be able to attend the mass on September 16. The 450 parishes in Scotland will receive a pro-rata allocation of places based on their mass attendance figures. Thousands more are expected to line the route of the Pope's motorcade through Edinburgh earlier in the day. A St Ninian's Day Pageant in Edinburgh is also planned, with school children and pipe bands taking part.

Boyle, a former church worker, became an international star when her performance of I Dreamed A Dream from the musical Les Miserables stunned the audience and judges on Britain's Got Talent last year. She eventually finished runner-up in the TV talent show.



What can I say?

I really think Boyle can sing very well and lot of other people around the world thinks the same. Boyle will be honoured to sing for the pope and people in Britain. She hadn't been seen in public for moths. I'am curious.




Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/susan-boyle/7817039/Susan-Boyle-to-sing-for-the-Pope.html

BP oil spill: David Cameron backs Barack Obama's hardline stance

The oil firm has seen almost £50 billion wiped off its value since oil began leaking from one of its pipelines following an explosion on a gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Investors say the hardline approach taken by Mr Obama – who has promised to "kick ass" over the incident – has contributed to the share price declines.

The pension funds of millions of Britons have been hard hit – as exposure to BP, Britain's biggest company, is high. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, this morning became the most senior UK politician to defend BP, saying "anti-British rhetoric" levelled at the company was a matter of "national concern" and that the oil giant was paying "a very, very heavy price" for what had been an accident. "I would like to see a bit of cool heads rather than endlessly buck-passing and name-calling," he said. "When you consider the huge exposure of British pension funds to BP it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the airwaves."

Speaking to reporters in Afghanistan, Mr Cameron refused to follow suit, instead offering his backing to Washington. He said: "I completely understand the US government's frustration because it's catastrophic for the environment. "The most important thing is to mitigate the effects and get to the root of the problem.
"Of course it's something I'll discuss with the American president when we next speak." BP says the cost of the clean-up and containment efforts had now hit US$1.43 billion (£979 million). The firm's dividend payments, which amount to more than £7 billion a year, account for £1 in every £6 paid out in dividends to British pension pots.


Opinion

Now the pension funds of the Britons is hard hit and the cost o the clean-up containment efforts is about 979 million pounds, both sides should take action to solve the problem. Besides no one is speaking about the damage of the oil caused to nature. Will this problem be ever solved, it has passed 50 days already.


Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7817582/BP-oil-spill-David-Cameron-backs-Barack-Obamas-hardline-stance.html

Two UK students killed in road crash in South Africa

In north-eastern South Africa two British female students have been killed in a road accident, according to emergency services. In the crash east of Johannesburg, near Nespruit, at least 18 other people were injured. They do not know if they are football fans but it is thought that all the injured are British and Canadian tourists. The truck swerved and overturned on a road near Nelspruit and some of the injured were trapped under the truck for a period of time, said the local reporters. It is still not all clear whether they were actually football fans.



Opinion

I feel very sorry for the parents of the two British women who were killed in the accident and hope the people who are injured recover soon. It is very heart-braking when you read that some were trapped under the truck but they are hopefully still alive. I sincerely hope police find outs who they are and what they were doing there but I think they were foot- ball fans because the World Cup is being held in South Africa, near the place of the accident.


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/10284966.stm