G Before your next trip to Britain check out the BBIGI S ING Discounts on: AV • BritRail Passes • The London Eye SSAVINGS• The London Pass • Tower of London • The Original London Sightseeing Bus Tour Go to: ujnews.com [click on the VisitBritain Shop logo] Vol. 28 No. 11 February 2011 WEYBRIDGE in Surrey Government Plans Major was last month named as Britain’s most fertile town according to a study by MMostost FFertileertile Health Care Reform Gurgle.com. Women living there PRIME MINISTER David Cam- NHS. I think we do need to make more take an average of just TTownown IInn BBritainritain eron said last month that his gov- fundamental changes.” three months to con- ernment will make fundamental PUBLISH ceive, compared to the changes to Britain’s state-run The government was about to publish UK average of six months, its Health and Social Care Bill. NNamedamed health care system, but critics Some doctors welcome the changes, but and are more likely to warned the reforms could under- critics claim the scale of the reforms could fall pregnant than in any mine one of the country’s most vital other area reported the cause chaos. website. institutions. In a letter published in The Times The town is part of the The Conservative leader said he would newspaper groups, including doctors’ posh Elmbridge district, save money and cut red tape by giving body the British Medical Association, the named last month as control over management to family prac- Royal College of Nursing and trade unions Britain’s best place to titioners rather than bureaucrats, and allow warned that the scale and pace of reform live, with official statistics private companies to bid for contracts made the changes “extremely risky and showing its birth rate shot within the National Health Service. potentially disastrous.” up by 20 per cent be- He said change is needed because stan- The health service is Britain’s biggest tween 2002 and 2008. dards of care in Britain have fallen behind employer, costs more than £100bn a year Parenting website Gur- those in other European countries. – and is a political football, reformed and gle.com carried out the “I do not think we should put up with criticized by governments since it was study, based on number © Photo: Colin Smith. Licensed under the Creative Commons Licence being second-best,” Cameron told BBC established in 1948. of pregnancies by popula- radio. “We should aim to be the best.” Cameron’s Conservative-led coalition tion and the average time If Britain continued with its current government plans to cut £80bn of public taken to conceive. Winkleigh, Devon. Women in Brighton fall and all are outside the major cities. system, “we would face a really big crunch spending to reduce the country’s huge The second most fertile pregnant the fastest, but they have fewer Gurgle.com editor Nifa McLaughlin said, in two or three years’ time,” he added. budget defi cit. The government has said area is Jersey, followed pregnancies than other top 10 towns. Eight “It seems the less frantic pace of life out- “I don’t think there is an option of just the health budget will be spared the cuts, by the small village of of the 10 most fertile areas are in the South, side big cities helps couples conceive.” quietly standing still, staying where we which will bring about the biggest overhaul are andand puttingpup ttingg a bitbit moremore monmoneyeyy inintoto thethe of public services in decades. NewN UK LawLLawM MeansMeans to give a speech to a right-wing group, Drink Size Regulations England is Ours. Queen’s Secrets To TTHEHE HHEADLINESEADLINES The preacher, the leader of a small Change, But Pint Stays Stay That Way Dutch Man In Court Over Christian congregation in Florida, THE GOVERNMENT announced the halves or the little-known “thirds”, and sparked worldwide headlines last year relaxing of drink measures served in Brit- wine in measures of 250ml, 175ml or WHAT HAPPENS in the palace stays High-Profile Yeates Killing when he threatened to burn a copy of the ain’s pubs last month – but regular drinkers 125ml. in the palace. A DUTCH engineer has appeared in Quran on September 11. needn’t worry, the traditional pint stays. London chain The Draft House is New rules in Britain make Queen court over the slaying of a woman whose His plan drew widespread condem- The government is to allow licensed among the few UK operators to currently Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and Prince frozen body was discovered on the out- nation, and he eventually called off the premises in England, Scotland and Wales offer beer in “thirds”. William exempt from freedom of infor- skirts of the English city of Bristol. move. to sell beer and cider in smaller measures, Fortifi ed wine, meanwhile, is currently mation laws, meaning many private de- Vincent Tabak, 32, is charged with including schooners – an Australian two- sold in 175ml or 125ml measures, but will tails won’t be made public for decades. the murder of his next-door neighbor, Ex-Lawmaker Jailed Over third pint measure. be available in 70ml and 50ml sizes under Previously, such information could be 25-year-old landscape architect Joanna Wine will also be sold in 75ml sizes, the new regulations. released if it was in the public interest. Yeates. The photogenic young woman’s Expense Check Scandal much smaller than the standard 175ml. The British Beer and Pub Association The government says the exemption disappearance, and the discovery of her A JUDGE has sentenced a former law- The Department for Business, Inno- (BBPA) welcomed the new measures. which took force last month will protect body on Christmas Day, helped turn the maker to 18 months in prison in Britain’s vation and Skills aims to introduce the Chief executive Brigid Simmonds the monarch’s private conversations with case into a British media sensation. lawmakers’ expense check scandal. changes over the next three months. said: “Choice is good for customers, and politicians and offi cials. But activists say Tabak spoke only to confirm his David Chaytor last month became the Science minister David Willetts said he more choice over drinks sizes in pubs it will make it even harder to hold to ac- name, age and address at a brief hear- fi rst person to be jailed in the scandal wanted to remove “unnecessary” red tape is something we have lobbied for over count a royal family that costs taxpayers ing at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on after he previously pleaded guilty to surrounding the current system. many years. millions a year. Monday. three charges of false accounting. “No pub or restaurant should break “While the pint remains a great British Freedom of information fi lings have He may be back in court as soon as The 61-year-old Chaytor had submit- the law by selling a customer a sample of icon, the two-thirds pint will give greater previously extracted information includ- February 1 for a bail hearing. ted false bills for rent and IT services wine,” he said. fl exibility over how beer is served. ing the Queen’s request for money from a totaling £18,350. “We have listened to consumers and “This is particularly important when it fund intended for low-income households Lawmakers Told Off For The disclosure of previously secret businesses. They have called for fixed comes to getting more women to choose to help pay palace heating bills. expense documents in 2009 exposed quantities to be kept but with greater beer, as many avoid the traditional pint Tweeting In Commons politicians billing the public for items fl exibility. That is what this change will glass.” at £1 = $1.58 press NO TWEETING in the House, please. including swank second homes, horse deliver.” The pint measure has been served since uro = $1.36 time The deputy speaker of Britain’s House manure and pornographic movies. Current regulations mean draught beer its introduction by an Act of Parliament of Commons has asked lawmakers not to A total of 392 current and former law- must be sold in pints (20 fl uid ounces), in 1698. use Twitter while sitting in the chamber. makers were ordered to repay £1.12m. GGreatreat GGiftift IIdeas!deas! Lindsay Hoyle intervened after Kevin Five other current or former lawmak- North Sea Deepwater Drilling To Continue Brennan, a Labour lawmaker, noted mid- ers face trials in the coming months. UNION JACK way through a debate on education that A MAJOR oil spill at a deepwater well in Yeo, a Conservative Party lawmaker, said SUBSCRIPTION two other lawmakers there were tweeting the North Sea would be more diffi cult to his panel had concluded that a moratorium about the debate on Twitter. London 2012 Olympic handle than the Gulf of Mexico disaster, “would undermine the UK’s energy secu- 12 issues all Brennan complained the lawmakers but a moratorium on drilling isn’t neces- rity and isn’t necessary.” year long! should have voiced their arguments in Tickets On Sale In March sary because Britain already has tough Britain tightened regulation in the North Parliament so other lawmakers could OLYMPIC organizers have announced safety standards, lawmakers said last Sea after the country’s worst offshore ac- have a chance to rebut them, instead of that London 2012 tickets will go on sale month. cident, a 1988 explosion on the Occidental £sd making comments online. on March 15. Saying any ban on deepwater drilling Oil-owned North Sea Piper Alpha rig that COIN SETS Hoyle warned that lawmakers should There will be six weeks until April would leave the UK too reliant on imported killed 167 workers.