It is expected that Rupert Murdoch is going to arrive in the country to deal with the investigations into the bribes. The police are expecting to find that bribes have been being paid by the . . . → Read More: Rupert Murdoch heads for the UK amidst allegations of bribery]]> Recently, senior staff members at the Sun newspaper have been arrested after there were allegations of corrupt payments being made by them.

It is expected that Rupert Murdoch is going to arrive in the country to deal with the investigations into the bribes. The police are expecting to find that bribes have been being paid by the newspaper for a significant amount of time and that they involve tens of thousands of pounds.

Earlier in the month nine journalists from the paper were arrested and the newspaper set up a special body to cooperate with the police. The police are particularly looking at police corruption and telephone hacking that is said to have occurred. The independent committee that has been set up has angered many other journalists who work at the paper and have described the actions as a witchhunt.

Mr Murdoch earlier made comments that he will not be shutting down the newspaper and has assured staff that there are jobs will remain safe. Scotland Yard is currently holding five reporters who are accused of making corrupt payments to public officials and the police. Before this, four people were arrested but none of them have been charged as of yet.

The Sun is the top-selling newspaper in the UK and since the arrests is has voiced concerns about the way the police are handling the matter. The associate editor of the paper, Trevor Kavanagh has commented, “Some of the best journalists in London have been arrested and there is certainly a great deal of unease about the whole situation.”

The independent body was initially established after accusations of corrupt practices at the News of the World, which was subsequently shut down.

The body was supposed to show that the newspaper was co-operating fully with the police but now the staff fear that it has only been set up to conduct a witchhunt within the media organisation. News International, which owns the paper, have not yet confirmed when Mr Murdoch will be coming to London but it is expected that it will be before the week is out.

He is going to be addressing members of staff at the paper and is also expected to deal with journalists who have started a legal campaign against the parent company. The legal action is based around accusations that information about confidential sources was passed to the police by the parent company.

An unnamed source who is close to the investigation has commented, “This investigation is not about sources, it’s about criminal activities occurring at the paper over a long period of time. It’s about corrupt payments totalling tens of thousands of pounds to the police and other officials.”

A leading human rights lawyer however, has said the journalistic sources should be heavily protected as they are one of the key principles of a free press. The lawyer, Mr Robertson has stated, “The revealing of sources is a step too far and it is a terrible infringement on the freedom of the press.”

The union for journalists has said that over 10 reporters for The Sun newspaper have come forward with concerns about their sources been disclosed. A spokesman for the union as stated, “This is a serious concern as it seems that people are just forgetting that this is something protected by the Human Rights Act which is one of our most important pieces of law.”

The recent operations that took place in Libya have also raised concerns about the location . . . → Read More: British forces will stop jumping into conflicts]]> The Parliamentary Defence Committee in the UK has recently warned that is unlikely to be able to continue with intervention operations, such as that that took place in Libya, if the nearly £40 billion defence budget is going to be cut further.

The recent operations that took place in Libya have also raised concerns about the location of many surface to air missiles that were being held in Libya’s armouries. The British government is being called on to track them down but this sort of thing would be impossible if the defence budget is going to be cut significantly.

A member of parliament has commented, “Sources are coming in to tell us that there are many surface to air missiles that seemed to have gone missing in the country. We are acknowledging that this is a significant problem as are NATO and the United Nations.

This could ultimately bring a great security threat to both the region as well as the world at large. We are putting pressure on the new regime in Libya to make sure that these weapons are returned and secured safely.”

Since the Gaddafi regime fell, weapons have been leaving the country en masse into lawless areas south of the country. Many people are fearing that these weapons have fallen into the hands of terrorists linked to groups such as Al Qaeda. The surface-to-air missiles are of particular concern because they are capable of destroying an airliner during take off or landing.

There are additional concerns about the disappearance of the plastic explosive Semtex and various machine guns. A reporter for the news channel Sky has commented that around half a ton of the plastic explosive has been removed from the country since its liberation.

The reporter commented, “The UK government is going to be faced with the increasing challenge of dealing with these weapons that have fallen into the wrong hands. It is expected that there will be many minor operations to recover them.”

During the campaign against Libya, the head of the RAF, as well as the Royal Navy, commented that they were suffering from a lack of resources during the military intervention. Sir Mark Stanhope, the head of the Royal Navy commented, “We are formally requesting that the government adjust its priorities so that we have more resources.

The comments which came during the offensive in Libya caused Sir Mark to receive a caution by the government because his comments publicly released information to the enemy.Despite the calls for increased funding for the Ministry of Defence the government have said that it is planning to get rid of over 30,000 personnel involved in the service.

There is a continuing debate within the government about how effective the British Armed Forces are, which is the fourth-largest military body in the world. Many are calling for the government to review the amount that it has to rely on the United States during military situations, and there should be further examination into the position of the United Kingdom within NATO.

Alex Salmond, in a speech in the Great Hall of Edinburgh . . . → Read More: Burns’ Night breakaway Scotland announcement]]> Scotland’s First Minister chose the culturally significant date of Burns’ Night as the perfect moment to announce his party’s plan for Scotland to be an independent country by 2016, as well as details of the all-important questions that will feature in a referendum on the decision.

Alex Salmond, in a speech in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle on the 253^rd anniversary of the Sottish Bard’s birthday, revealed the big question that will be put to the Scottish population on the subject of independence, as well as reaffirming his aim that the Scots will have removed themselves from the United Kingdom before the next Scottish Parliament election in May, 2016.

The consultation document revealed that the much-debated referendum question will consist of just ten words: “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?”. Salmond also announced autumn 2014 as the SNP’s preference for the date of the referendum, despite pressure from the Westminster government for an earlier vote.

November 29 is looking the most likely date, the day before St Andrews Day and long enough after the Commonwealth Games, which are being held in Glasgow during July, that campaigning will not interfere with such a high-profile international event on Scottish soil.

Salmond even quoted the Bard, Ayrshire poet Robbie Burns, in his speech, in reference to the current interference in the referendum question from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In a direct attack on Lord Forsyth, the former Conservative Scottish Secretary, Salmond reminded those in the Lords that it is up to the people of Scotland to decide their future, not lawmakers in London.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who is keen for the SNP to hold a referendum sooner while opinion polls show that most Scots are against independence, also quoted Burns, calling Salmond a “cowerin, tim’rous beastie” for refusing to consider calling the historic vote sooner than 2014.

The question is the only one that will appear on the referendum, unless current talks with Westminster over making the decision of the Scottish people legal break down. In that case, legal experts have warned that the SNP will need to come up with a more comprehensive and complicated question to avoid a court challenge to the results of the referendum.

Although the SNP are firmly behind full independence for Scotland and believe they can win the vote in two years’ time, Salmond has not completely rejected the idea of using the referendum to allow people to vote on the possibility of “devo max”, allowing Scotland to have more power, particularly when it comes to raising and collecting taxes and deciding budgets.

One problem is that the inclusion of this extra question could make the results of a “yes” vote on independence open to challenges in the UK courts. Other stumbling blocks that are to be discussed by representatives from Holyrood and Westminster include Salmond’s insistence that 16 and 17-year-olds be allowed to vote in the referendum, as it is their future that is being affected.

As the pro-independence spirit tends to be stronger in young Scots, the Conservatives are determined that this should not be allowed. Unfortunately, the important talks have had to be postponed as Scottish Secretary Michael Moore is ill with chickenpox.

If payments were made at this rate . . . → Read More: Wind farm operators make millions by switching off turbines]]> Simply by turning off turbines, wind farm operators are likely to earn as much as £10m this year according to official figures that claim that there were 17 operators that were paid for shutting their farms down on forty different occasions during the time that spans between January and September.

If payments were made at this rate then householders would end up paying around £10m over the course of this year to take the turbines off of the National Grid.

The large amount of these payments has prompted a review of rules that are focused on the constant payments which are made when there is too much electricity on the grid, making it impossible for the network to absorb the extra power that is created. This money is then added on to the monthly bills paid by consumers making them shoulder the costs.

Over the course of 2010 only about £177,000 in payments was made, but due to many changes that have been made to the National Grid the balance is not the same as it was before and the use is much more widespread. The new rules also meant that renewable energy companies had to be paid more frequently to turn off their turbines than they normally would have been if operations had remained the same as usual.

This past September, a Norwegian company that has about sixty turbines in Scotland was paid £1.2m for turning off their turbines as there was a large amount of high wind during the spring months. Now due to the rising costs of such payments to other turbine companies the way the balancing system is employed on the National Grid may need to be overhauled to cut costs.

Many Conservative MPs are starting to oppose plans by the Coalition to increase how many wind turbines are in use stating that there is a need for more renewable energy but there is a negative connotation about renewable power because of how unpopular wind farms are becoming. As the wind turbines are poorly sold many people are becoming turned off by the idea of looking for renewable sources of energy, which is the opposite view  to the one Ministers are hoping people will adopt.

Conservative MP Chris Heaton Harris stated that he knows from the mail he receives that many people do not like wind turbines because of the way they are marked, noting that wind generation requires some type of back up since it is not always a guarantee that the wind will blow.

He added that they also create a lot of noise and flicker and therefore are not the best choice when it comes to finding a permanent source of renewable energy and that more exploration is needed into the matter. At the moment, the National Grid has started a consultation to look at the new issues that have emerged.

There has been widespread speculation that these cosy relationships, including excessive hospitality between News of the World . . . → Read More: Police and papers are too close says report]]> An independent report in the wake of the phone hacking revelations has concluded that a too close relationship between sections of the media and senior officers in the Metropolitan Police seriously compromises both their abilities to investigate each other properly.

There has been widespread speculation that these cosy relationships, including excessive hospitality between News of the World journalists and several senior police officers had greatly undermined the investigation into the phone hacking, and had damaged the trust that the public had regarding the police’s impartiality, so says the report, which was conducted by the former Parliamentary commissioner Elizabeth Filkin.

Ms Filkin was appointed when the phone hacking revelations involving Millie Dowler became public knowledge in 2011, and her report also calls for tighter control over how the Metropolitan Police service deals in the future with journalists, to prevent not only the erosion of trust amongst the public, but also within the police ranks.

Ms Filkin goes on to say that the most serious problem is that the close relationship between certain sectors of the press and senior officers in the Met was compromising their capacity in scrutinising the activities of each other objectively. She added that a lack of transparency about the exact nature of the relationship between the media and the police was leading to perceptions and speculation that were causing harm, whatever the facts.

The report contains quotes from Adrian Lee, who is both the Northamptonshire chief constable and the Association of Police Officers lead on professional ethics. He says that you must ask yourself not only the question ‘are we right?’ but also ‘are we seen to be right?’, and this is where the police failed the test as far as the News International scenario was concerned.

He added that as far as the police being close to New International was concerned, they were investigating them. The perception was, however, that the investigation was linked to their good relationship, and the police hadn’t done enough to convince the public that there wasn’t a link between the two.

The report also highlighted that there was a lack of consistency in how some members of the MPS’ senior team viewed hospitality and gifts. Mark Simmons, the MPS deputy asst. commissioner told Ms Filkin that the general perception amongst the lower ranks was that their bosses were filling their boots.

Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met commissioner, said that he welcomed the report and pledged that, in the future, the Met would have an open and transparent relationship with all sectors of the media.