Some obsolete laws that are still prevalent
March 28, 2008
Among the 328 obsolete laws, one enacted in 1797, forbids people to wear top hats. Even to- day the law is in force and you could get arrested for donning a top hat in London.
Listed below are some of the obsolete laws:
• You can be booked for an act of treason, if you happen to stick a postage stamp.
• If you are a motorist and want to urinate in public, you are required to aim at rear wheel and keep the right hand on his vehicle.
• If you’re asked by a constable to stop on the seashore in Lancashire you not permitted to incite a dog to bark.
• You can get away with murder of a Scotsman within the city’s wall of York provided he is carrying a bow and arrow.
• In 1307, according to a decree, the head of any dead whale found on the British coast became the property of the King, while the tail belonged to the Queen.
• Oliver Cromwell, in the 17th century, banned eating of mince pies on Christmas Day.
• If you wish to be in the vicinity of the reigning monarch, within one hundred yards make sure you are wearing socks.
• A law enacted by George 1 states “The severest penalties will be suffered by any commoner who doth permit his animal to have carnal knowledge of a pet of the Royal house.”
• You are to be a lady working in a tropical fish shop, in Liverpool; you will be exempted from prosecution even if you bare your breasts in public.
Guess how many of present generation are even aware of such laws. You may be able to count them on your finger tips.
Ever wondered why birds sing in spring?
March 27, 2008
A team of international researchers succeeded in tracing the changes in the bird’s brain. They believe it is “because of hormonal changes”, during the longer days, birds know to sing during spring.
Prof. Peter Sharp, lead researcher, of the Roslin Institute in the United Kingdom said, “While we knew what area of the brain was affected by seasonal change, until now we did not know the exact mechanism involved. Now we have identified a key element in the process of brain’s activity when spring arrives.”
But for advances in technology this break through would have remained a far cry, as the new technology enabled researchers to scan thousands of genes so to work out, which ones are affected by seasonal changes.
J K Rowling’s Confession
March 27, 2008
One of the world’s wealthiest and most successful authors, Rowling stunned the world when she revealed that things were so bad after her separation from her her first husband that she was actually contemplating suicide, to end it all.
“Mid twenties life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted,” said the famous author, JK Rowling.
Rowling had earlier said she went through a bout of depression, but this is the first time she has admitted to contemplating sucide. Yet fighting all odds bravely, she gave us Harry Potter, darling of millions of children and adults alike- all over the world.
So when you are depressed with life and wish to end it all, think about Rowling, for success in the battle of death over life.
UK Government plans to levy an annual charge on rich foreigners
March 27, 2008
UK Government plans to levy an annual charge on rich foreigners who have so far avoided paying tax in Britain, but ‘non-domiciled residents are not covered to pay tax on offshore income or capital gains not brought into the country. However, the idea of annual tax does not cut ice with some rich foreigner groups, who in their criticism of the said move, argued it could entice those individual- and the business they conduct- to move elsewhere, which in turn will harm the country’s reputation as a financial power centre.
Even before the levy of $30,000 (proposed annual tax) is imposed) on foreigners not domiciled in Britain, a research by accountants Grant Thorton said an exodus of talent is on the cards, as almost 42% of South Asian higher earners were set to leave Britain. Alistair Darling, the finance Minister, said the measures outlined were backed by the promise that no further changes in this Parliament or next would be made. This, according to the business groups, should help reassure ‘non-domiciles’.
Michael Snyder, the city of the London’s policy head, said, “The chancellor has clearly listened to the city’s overall concerns, but we need to ensure that the detailed rules do not, even inadvertently, do any further damage.” Incidentally, when presenting his first budget, Darling mentioned and praised the contribution made by the people born outside UK working in the UK.
Gordon Brown achieves breakthrough in Tibet crises
March 26, 2008
The British Premier clinched a major break through in Tibet crises by way of clinching talks between strained leaders, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and China’s premier. The Chinese have faced worldwide condemnation for their move to repress independence campaigns in the region using force. China’s conditions, revolve around mainly two factors, namely, the spiritual leader abandons the proposition of independence of Tibet and ceases his separatist activities.
Brown spoke to Wen Jiabao, on Wednesday morning, and revealed that Wen Jiabao has agreed to hold talks with Dalai Lama. Brown would meet the exiled Buddhist leader in Britain this year.
Brown told MP’s about the tough stand he took while talking to premier Wen. He said, “I made it clear there had to be an end to violence in Tibet.” Tibetan campaigners praised Brown agreeing to meet their leader Dalai Lama.
Leader of Opposition David Cameron’s, effort to put Brown on the spot in the Commons by raising query whether Brown would meet the Dalai Lama, was defeated by the announcement.
Former Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, “During the telephonic conversation with Brown, it was cleared that the Dalai Lama must abandon ‘the proposition of independence of Tibet and cease his separatist activities Then and then only a dialogue will be a possible”
More TV viewers in the UK could be driven to the Internet owing to new Ofcom proposals, think media analysts
March 26, 2008
More television viewers could be driven to the Internet if latest Ofcom proposals, which would allow longer, more frequent commercial breaks, are implemented. Ofcom is the UK’s independent regulator & competition authority for the country’s communications industries – with responsibilities across TV, radio, telecommunications as well as wireless communications services.
The communications watchdog has just released a consultation, responding to last year’s EU Audiovisual Directive that aims at harmonising TV regulation across the bloc. At present rules mean Channel 4 and Five, ITV1 – the commercial channels that carry a public service obligation – can show an avg. of seven minutes of advertising every hour. The distribution of advertising is also limited to one per half-hr programme and two per hr-long programme – with a minimum of 20 minutes between.
The UK restrictions on the timing of commercials would no longer exist under Ofcom’s proposed changes. It would mean two breaks in a half-hour programme instead of one. It’s believed that some broadcasters would also adopt an American model, where adverts are shown instantly after the opening credits.
In a statement, the watchdog mentioned: “Ofcom recognises the possible concerns of viewers about the amount & intrusiveness of TV advertising and particularly welcomes their views. On the other hand, Ofcom must also take account of the contribution made by ad revenue to paying for the choice of TV services that viewers enjoy.”
London Magazine plans Indian venture in Kolkata
March 24, 2008
Kolkata, The City of Joy, is chosen by a 300 year old publication firm The London Magazine, to open an Indian chapter based on arts and literature publications, which happens to be, the magazines first outing out side UK.
The Indian edition, likely to be based in Kolkata, and will be headed by Papia Ghosal, an artist from the city and guest editor of the magazine in London.
The owner, Cristopher Arkell said ” India has more English-speaking people than the entire reading population of UK. The London Magazine has always been interested in literature written around the world, so an edition anchored in India and reaching all English speaking people of the region is a sensible progression.”
The London Magazine was founded as early as 1732 as a wing to counter balance the Tory Gentleman’s Magazine. However the magazine was closed in 1785, and reborn in 1820. The magazine boasts of works by literary luminaries like William Wordsworth, P B Shelly, John Keats and Thomas Hood.
The magazine has faced many a closers several times, and was re-launched sixth time by Arkell.
Easter weekend disrupted for train travelers in the UK
March 23, 2008
Major repair and development work will be carried out over the Easter weekend on the Network Rail on most of the routes
Majority of the work will be on the East Coast mainline and the West Coast mainline, however Network Rail promises ready availability of information about revised train timings and also committed completion of work on time.
A similar promise was made by them while work was being done during New Year however, it got delayed on a stretch of track near Rugby. The Office of Rail Regulation had levied a heavy fine on the Network Rail due to inconvenience caused to the passengers at that time. After being charged a heavy fine, Network Rail intends to keep up to their promise this time and has put heavy workforce with around 6000 people working in order to complete the work on time
Network Rail recommends travelers to check on the timings before making their travel plans and set out accordingly. They say that the main reason for choosing this weekend is to cause minimum inconvenience to the public since less people than usual will be traveling during this time as compared to working days due to Easter Holiday
In order to make the other forms of transport easier at this time, the roadwork has been suspended for easing out traffic. Amidst these travel problems, the weather condition might be an additional hindrance for the travelers with some snow fall forecasted for Scotland and some parts of North East and East England.
4 year old girl, Paige’s death declared as accidental death in the Court.
March 21, 2008
In a tragic accident on new years day, a 4 year old girl, while playing in her bedroom, got entangled in a rubber band and died. During the recent hearing in the court, the inconsolable father recounted the incident.
4 year old Paige was playing in her bedroom when she came and complained that her hair band had been tied up into a knot with the hammock that was used to store stuffed toys and she couldn’t open the same. Both the parent’s went with her and tried opening the knot but couldn’t. They consoled her by saying that they will try again after lunch and took her down for lunch.
However, when they were getting ready for lunch, they realized that Paige was not around. When she didn’t answer in spite of calling out several times, they went looking for her in the bedroom. This is when they found that she had hanged herself in the hair band. Her legs were slightly away from the floor and her neck was stuck in the hair band. The circumstances lead to believe that, in her attempt to disentangle the knot from the hammock, she must have tried using the stool and slipped from it and got accidentally hanged.
They immediately took her down and tried resuscitating her. They also rushed her to the hospital where she was declared dead.
As per the doctors report, the marks on the back of Paige’s hand suggest that she must have struggled but would have got unconscious and died.
Post seeing all evidences and reports, the Coroner, Rachel Redman passed a judgment of accidental death.
Return of the ‘White Death’ threat in UK
March 21, 2008
Tuberculosis, earlier known as the ‘White Death’, was a huge threat in the UK a few years ago till antibiotics were discovered which helped kill the threat.
However, recently, UK’s first case of incurable Tuberculosis has been reported in the Gartnavel general hospital, Glasgow, UK.
A 31 year old man, has been reported with XDR – TB, extreme drug resistant Tuberculosis and is under treatment in the hospital. While a variety and combination of antibiotics are being used and experimented in an attempt to treat him, the hospital is also trying to trace all the people who might have come in contact with him. He is currently kept in isolation to avoid further spreading of this contagious disease.
The patient was screened at the Heathrow airport on his arrival to check on infectious diseases. They found some scars of TB in his X-Ray, however, it was not active. He told in his interview at the airport that he had been treated for it over the last few months and passed the immigration check and was allowed to move on to Scotland.
However, in January, his TB got reactivated and he was admitted in the Gartnavel general hospital for treatment. On further medical tests and investigations they found traces of XDR – TB and health officials were intimated so as to check on the history of close contacts with the patient
