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London Diaries

The end of the Labour Party?



THOUSANDS of Labour voters will desert Gordon Brown at the next general election if he refuses to hold a referendum on the EU constitution a poll reveales. Almost a quarter of the party's life-long supporters --24 per cent- say they will kick the PM in the ballot box unless they get a vote. A Sun survey has revealed that four out of five of all voters want a say on wheather Britain signs a treaty giving more power to Brussels. And Half say they will switch to the Tories if Mr. Cameron pledges a referendum if he wins.

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TROUBLE AT THE AIRPORTS

NEARLY 200.000 British travellers a month lost luggage at air ports in the last two years. About 25% more bags go missing in August than in any other month, according to a survey by an insurance firm. January is the best month, with a relatively low 156.000 affected passengers. Figures are set to rise this year because of the baggage chaos at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The number of passports reported missing this year is expected to reach a new high of 268.000 up from212.000 in 2004.

PANGLISH . A NEW WORLD LANGUAGE?

ENGLISH as we speak it will disappear and be replaced by a global language called PANGLISH, experts predict. New words are being created as old ones die out,US linguists said. The biggest changes are driven by people learning English as a second language That will create a language ideal for global use by 2300.

SAVE THE PLANET

NEARLY a third of Brits are ignoring calls to save the planet, a new poll has revealed. A massive 11.5 million can't be bothered to recycle, save energy or drive less. The Government findings came as Ministers are poised to take tougher action to make people adopt greener lifesstyles. An American philanthropist Jeremy Grantham has donated a total of £24 million to two London universities to create an institute for climate change research. It is the largest private donation for such studies in the UK. He gave half to the LSE and half to Imperial College.

SCALE OF CENTURY

THE fastes growing age group is now among people over 100 years old. There were 9.000 in England and Wales last year seven out of eight being women. The figure is expected to reach 40.000 by 2031 official statistics show. The number of centenarians has surged rapidly since the 1950s. Survival rates are increasing thanks to better hygiene, diet , housing and living standard.

BRITS DINING OUT

BRITS will spend more than £ 43.000 on eating in restaurants during their lifetime. We pay around £59 a month fro two meals out, research Halifax bank has revealed. Spokesman Andrew Norton said.."That figure gets even worse when you include takeaways.."

THE WHITE MOVE

THE number of people having their teeth whitened has risen by 40% since the smoking ban was introduced in England last year.

WATCHING FOOTBALL

ONE in five football fans don't take their children to matches due to the cost, says a survey by Virgin Money. The average British fan across all divisions spent a total £1.080 following their team in 2007.

EDUCATION PAYS'

BRITISH education is a more lucrative export than the declining car industry, according to figures. Foreign students learning in Britain helped to boost the value of the education sector to £28 billion in 2003-04 . That figure beats exports of food and drink (£9.4 billion) and the automobile industry (£20billiion). SOARING numbers of students from Eastern Europe are coming here to go to university -as the number of UK undergraduates fails. New figures snow the number of Polish students studying in British colleges rose by 56 per cent to 6.770 between 2006 and 2007. There are more Polish students in Britain than those from Spain or Italy, the Higher Education Statistics Agency said. There were also big rises in Lithuanian and Latvian students. Meanwhile a report said population changes would se 70.000 fewer full-time British students over the next decade.

MOSQUES BEAT CHURCHES

MUSLIMS are becoming the UK's biggest religious group. Figures show that Islam will have the most active followers if current trends continue. The number of Roman Catholic worshippers at Sunday Mass will fall to 679.000 by 2020 while 683.000 Muslims will be praying in mosques on Fridays. The statistics from Christian Research also suggested that over the same period the total of practising Muslims would overtake Church of England members going to Sunday services..

MUSLIM BAR A HIT

ALCOHOL -free Islamic pubs are set to spring up across Britain after the success of the first branch. The bosses behind the Halal Inn in Oldham have received offers to open branches of their venue -which offers snooker, darts and food --in Biurminham and London. Co-owner Muzahid Khan said.."We're shell shocked with the media attention. "We 're all exhausted and have had non-stop phone calls.."

TESTING YOUR EYES

A MACHINE that can predict if you will go blind in your 60s by testing your eyes in your 20s is to be launched. The Macuscope screens the macular pigment- the area at the centre of the retina that lets us see fine detail and colour -- to pick up early warning signs of age-related mascular degeneration (AMD). Tom Bremridge of The Macular Disease Society said.."We welcome investment by opticians in this equipment.." AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. More than 500.000 people in the UK suffer from it and numbers are expected to soar in the next 25 years..

NO LOGGING OFF

THE average Briton will spend an astonishing 24 years and eight months of their life sitting in fron of a computer. A survey also reveals we spend two hours and 47 minutes on the Internet every day. A spokesman for the poll company said.."The results of this are quite incredible but serve to demonstrate the importance of the PC in a normal person's life."

TALKING ABOUT HEALTH...TEST FOR HIDDEN HEART DISEASE

A URINE test developed by British scientists could detect hidden heart disease. The test now undergoing trials at Glasgow University ,looks for a specific combination of proteins. Their prescence suggests that blood vessels are already in the early stages of decay due to heart disease. Every year, around 270.000 people in Britain suffer a heart attack, and heart disease remains Britain's biggest killer. Cholesterol and blood pressure checks can provide clues on who is at risk,but there is no simple way to highlight who already has diseased arteries. The new urine test could change that.

LIVE LONG BIG C PILL

A NEW one-a-day pill for blood cancer could help victims live longer. doctors said last week. More than 20.000 Brits suffer from bone marrow cancer, myeloma, which kills almost 2.500 a year. Durg Revlimid can boost life expectancy by at least three years, a Glasgow seminar heard. Dr, Steve Schey, of King's College Hospital, London said.."It's a major step forward in turning myeloma into a chronic disease rather than a death sentence.."

LAB CELLS ADVANCE

SCIENTISTS have created the first part-human part-animal embryos in the UK, it was revealed last month. The embryos which survived for up to three days were made by injecting DNA from human skin cells into eggs from cows. Newcastle University's experiments were disclosed a month before MP.s debate the future of so-called "Frankenstein" research. The Catholic Church has called such lab work "monstrous" but researchers believe it could lead to cures for conditions including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

FIGHTING PROSTITUTION

PROSTITUTION could be banned under Government plans to tackle the misery of sex slavery and human trafficking. The move would end the world's oldest profession for an estimated 80.000 hookers working in Britain. Ministers believe action is urgently needed because of the influx of foreign women who are forced into a life of suffering as sex slaves. Women's Minister Harriet Harman said the Government is looking at laws in Sweden where paying for sex has already been made illegal. Home Office figures show the number of trafficed women has increased since Labour came to power. In 1998 between 141 and 1.420 trafficked women were working as hookers whereas in 2003 -- the latest figures available- officials put the number at 4.000. Police believe the true figure could be far higher.

SAY "NO" TO MARRIAGE

MARRIAGE rates have fallen to their lowest level since records began in 1862. Figures show there were 236.980 marriages in 2006 a fall of 4% on the previous year according to the Office for National Statistics. The average age for a first marriage in 2006 was 31,8 for men and 29,7 for women Since 1992 there have been more civil ceremonies in the UK than religions ones, Religions ceremonies are down 7% since 2005 while divorce rates also fell by 8% compared to 2004. And the number of children living with one parent has almost doubled in 20 years. One in four youngsters lived with a lone parent in 2006 compared with 14% in 2004. But Britain is better off than 20 years ago - despite a widening gap between rich and poor - figures released last week. Average disposable income rose from £231 a week to £ 362 in real terms- while net wealth including assets such as property doubles. But the top ten per cent now get Four times as much as the bottom ten per cent says a report published by the Office for National Statistics.

A WARNING TO INTERNET ADDICTS

INTERNET addicts can become mentally ill, a psychiatrist claims. Dr. Jerald Block believes too many hours spent on-line triggers a disorder, with symptoms, including anger, tension, depression and losing track of time, He warned the American Journal of Psychiatry: Internet addiction is resistant to treatment.." British psychiatrists have claimed up to 10 per cent of users are addicts.

THE FAILURE OF IMMIGRATION POLICY

FOREIGNERS commit one in five murders in Britain. Migrants were to blame for 96 out of 461 homicides in the year ending last April. They were from 28 different countries. And critics are fuming that the Government has failed to protect Brits. Immigration will trigger an explosion of violence in UK towns in 2008 , according to most Brits. Two-thirds of people quizzed for a new poll reckon tensions are likekly to spark major riots before the year is out. The survey of 1.000 people- commissioned by the BBC to mark the 4oth anniversary of Tory MP Enoch Power's infamous Rivers of Blood speech revealed that 60% said the UK had too many immigrants Half wanted foreigners to be encouraged to leave. Six out of 10 said immigration had made parts of Britain feel like a foreign country. Gerd is a freelance writer living in England. Gerd is the author of “GOODBYE YESTERDAY”


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Guest Column Gerd Treuhaft -- Bio and Archives

Items of notes and interest from the web.


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