UK College of Medicine to launch program at Morehead State

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine will establish a program at Morehead State University in Morehead as a part of a mission to train and retain physicians in rural parts of the state.

Up to 10 students will be recruited for the Rural Physician Leadership Track program in 2008 and 2009.

After spending their first two years of medical school at UK's main campus in Lexington, students opting for the rural program will transfer to Morehead State, which will work in cooperation with St. Claire Regional Medical Center, to provide hands-on training.

The College of Medicine plans to open a second rural program at Murray State University in Murray as early as 2012, UK president Lee T. Todd said Tuesday in a news release.

A report issued in fall 2007 by the Kentucky Institute of Medicine showed that Kentucky has 213.5 doctors per 100,000 residents, compared with the national average of 267.9 per 100,000. The state needs an additional 2,300 doctors to reach the national average.

The most pronounced shortages are in the rural areas, College of Medicine officials say.

"The shortage of doctors, particularly in primary-care roles, is felt especially hard in areas such as Eastern and Western Kentucky," Dr. Jay Perman, dean of the College of Medicine and vice president for clinical affairs, said in the release. "The university has a leading role to play in ameliorating this problem, which is both a health care crisis and an .

NEWS BY:http://www.bizjournals.com

BBC College of Journalism to partner Journalism.co.uk's news:rewired event

The BBC College of Journalism, set to go live online very soon, is to partner Journalism.co.uk's 10th anniversary event, news:rewired on Thursday 14 January 2010.

Taking place at London's City University, the digital journalism event will host some of the industry's leading online practitioners from news organisations both new and old.

Covering everything from video and SEO to crowd-sourcing and data mash-ups, the conference is designed to inspire, showcase and troubleshoot newsroom 2.0.

A speaker from the BBC College of Journalism will address the challenges faced by journalists developing new multimedia and social media skills.

The College, which is part of the BBC Academy, will also be filming on the day, collecting the views and ideas of delegates and speakers.

A key part of the BBC's new Academy which launches today is to "develop partnerships and give wider access to the BBC's training resources and skills to support the wider UK media industry".

"The BBC College of Journalism is hugely excited about being involved in news:rewired, it promises to be a vital event for all journalists learning new skills," said David Hayward, assistant editor of the College.

"We are thrilled to be associated with this excellent initiative by the BBC to open up its considerable educational resources to UK-based journalists," added Journalism.co.uk founder John Thompson.

"We are particularly impressed by the focus on multimedia and social media skills, which can only serve to help the beleaguered publishing industry move forwards in the 21st century."

Some tickets are still available for news:rewired, priced at £80+VAT. Book before Christmas to avoid the VAT rise.

Tweet the news:rewired message and win a Flip HD!

To spread the word even further about our forthcoming digital journalism event news:rewired, we are enlisting the help of the Twitter army and offering you the chance to win a brand new Flip Ultra HD pocket camcorder, just in time for Christmas!

The entry requirement is simple, all you have to do is follow @newsrewired and tweet or re-tweet the following:

NEWS BY:http://www.journalism.co.uk

Has this mother of three changed the face of British education?

Furious at her son’s struggle to  get into a grammar school, Sarah Shilling launched a petition to build the first new one for 50 years. Yesterday, the revolution began!


Decrepit and semi-derelict, The Wildernesse School doesn’t have to try hard to live up to its name. Since it was swallowed up by a local girls’ school in 2010 to form a new academy elsewhere, the days when Strictly Come Dancing’s Anton du Beke — a former pupil known back then as Tony Beke — skipped through its corridors seem a very distant memory.

Hard to imagine, then, that this sprawling site on the outskirts of Sevenoaks, in Kent, could soon provide the spark for a revolution in British education.

Yesterday, a petition raised by thousands of parents in Sevenoaks calling for the building of what is effectively a new grammar school — though technically it will be an ‘annexe’ of an existing one — won overwhelming support in a vote taken by Kent County Council.

The petition was started by a mother of three from Sevenoaks called Sarah Shilling, who despaired at the hoops her son had to jump through to gain a grammar school place.

Now, a formal proposal will be drawn up by the council to identify potential sites for the school — with Wildernesse the favourite — and to establish which existing grammar schools may want to run it.

If such a new school opens, it will be the first of its kind in England for 50 years.

For families in Sevenoaks, this is a big deal indeed. They have long complained that because of the lack of local provision, more than 1,000 children from the town must take buses and trains every day to make journeys of an hour or more to schools  elsewhere in the county.

And yet the opening of a grammar in Sevenoaks will have a significance far beyond the purely local, because it forces the controversial issue of selective education — an idea so hated by the Left — firmly back on the national political agenda.

It puts selective schooling back on the agenda

Even before the decision was taken,  the discussion of the Sevenoaks plans provoked howls of protest from all the usual suspects.

Stephen Twigg, the shadow Education Secretary, has angrily accused Government ministers of attempting to expand  academic selection, and vowed that if Labour got back in to power it would reverse any move in that direction.

‘Instead of focusing on a few grammar schools, the Government should be trying to raise standards in all the 24,000 schools in England,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Fiona Millar, partner of former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and seasoned education activist, was quick to join the fight, furiously peddling the argument that grammar schools limit rather than promote social mobility.

‘The most successful systems in the world are fully comprehensive,’ she claimed. ‘Bringing back selection is the wrong solution to problems that still exist in our school system, most of which can still be addressed in all-ability schools with the right leadership, teaching, curriculum and commitment from central government.’

Their fear is that what is happening in Kent could be just the start of an expansion of the grammar-school system and that Education Secretary Michael Gove is secretly keen to give this the green light.
Government approval: Michael Gove has spoken of his support for the grammar school system - much to the outrage of some education activists who believe they endanger social mobility

Government approval: Michael Gove has spoken of his support for the grammar school system - much to the outrage of some education activists who believe they endanger social mobility

Supporters of grammars argue that these are the schools parents want — and that it is the Government’s duty to deliver them.

‘The areas that have retained selection top the league tables year after year, providing the standards that parents want, and opening opportunities for children from all backgrounds,’ Graham Brady, a Conservative MP and long-time supporter of grammars, told me.

The fact that the latest developments have caught opponents of grammar schools somewhat by surprise is a result of their belief that they had largely won the argument against selection.

Having promised to open new grammars as part of his 2005 leadership campaign, two years later Mr Cameron abruptly changed tack saying that he did not think they were a good idea after all.
This U-turn was interpreted by some as being a carefully-planned ‘Clause Four moment’ — a reference to Tony Blair’s decision to cut ties with Labour’s socialist past when he became leader.


More...

    HYWEL WILLIAMS: A grammar school revolution on the way to Kent

Cameron’s strategists calculated that by ditching an educational policy associated with Tory diehards, it would appeal to voters who had never voted Conservative before. In fact, all it achieved was a backbench rebellion and simmering resentment among supporters of selective education from all political backgrounds.

In an ICM poll in 2010, 76 per cent of respondents said that they would support the creation of new grammar schools.

Instead, Cameron decided to back Michael Gove’s academies programme — the creation of independent state schools, run by head teachers outside of council control.

Opponents have been caught by surprise

But in a separate move, new admissions rules were introduced late last year, meaning that councils can no longer block the expansion of existing schools — be they state comprehensive or grammar.
With school rolls rising across many parts of England as the effects of immigration and a higher birth rate take effect, the rule changes have been jumped on by councils and parents.

Currently, across England there are 164 grammar schools educating some 160,000 pupils. Kent, with 33, has the largest proportion of them, attended by some 28 per cent of the county’s children.
In Year Six, the final year of primary school education, all pupils in Kent have the option of sitting the 11-plus examination. Those who pass the exam can then choose a grammar school to attend.

If they have passed with very high marks, they can apply for a handful of the grammars that are ‘super-selective’ — those which base their intake on performance in the exam rather than a pass and a pupil’s proximity to the school.

In Sevenoaks, a prosperous commuter town half-an-hour’s train journey to the south-east of London, there are two schools.

One is the private Sevenoaks School, whose boarding fees are now a shade shy of £30,000 a year; the other is a mixed-ability state school, Knole Academy, formed just over a year ago from a merger of two struggling comprehensives (one being Wildernesse, whose pupils vacated their old premises). There are no grammar schools in the town.


NEWS BY:http://www.dailymail.co.uk

University drop-out rate soars by 13pc in a year

More than one-in-five undergraduates are failing to compete the first year of their degree at the worst-performing universities, it emerged, prompting fears that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being wasted on unwanted courses.

At some universities, an estimated four-in-10 students will fail to finish the course they started after either dropping out, switching to another institution or graduating with a lesser qualification.

In England, the University of Bolton had the worst drop-out rate with 21.4 per cent of students quitting higher education after just a year. An estimated 45 per cent of undergraduates will fail to complete their full degree course, it emerged.

Drop-out rates were as high as a third at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland and hit almost a quarter at the University of West Scotland.

It was the first time since records began a decade ago that the rate had crept above 30,000, fuelled by an increase in the overall student population.

The rise – in data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency – comes despite the Government spending £1bn on initiatives designed to improve student retention.

The University and College Union warned that the drop-out rate would soar in coming years following a decision to increase the cap on student tuition fees to £9,000.

Sally Hunt, the UCU general secretary, said undergraduates would be tempted to chase places on the cheapest courses, even if they fail to fit their requirements.

“Over the past five years, in England alone, over £1bn has been spent on measures to improve student retention in higher education,” she said.

“Sadly, today’s figures show that too many students, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, are still failing to complete their studies.

“We have real concerns that the new funding regime with hugely increased tuition fees may force some students onto courses that, although cheaper, do not best suit their abilities.

“That scenario is likely to lead to further drop outs, which will not benefit the student, the university or society.”

Figures from HESA show the number of students dropping out of university each year along with the proportion expected to complete the degree they started.

In all, 8.6 per cent of students quit higher education after 12 months last year compared with 7.9 per cent a year earlier. Some 21.6 per cent are expected to fail to complete their degree.

According to data, the worst performer was Highlands and Islands where 32 per cent dropped out last year and just 48.6 per cent of students are expected to finish the degree course they started.

More than one-in-seven students dropped out of higher education altogether at eight other British universities, including West Scotland, Bolton, West London, London Metropolitan, Swansea Metropolitan, Middlesex, University Campus Suffolk and Salford.

By comparison, Cambridge and St Andrews had the lowest drop out rates last year with just 1.4 per cent of students quitting, following by Oxford at 1.4 per cent.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "Although our student completion rates compare well internationally, we want to reduce the number of students who don’t complete their studies.

“We are improving information for prospective students so that they can make more informed choices and we are committee to a better overall student experience."

NEWS BY:http://www.telegraph.co.uk

UK carbon measuring centre 'to improve climate future'

A new UK facility aimed at improving measurement of carbon emissions and boosting development of clean technology is due to open.

The Centre for Carbon Measurement will be based at the National Physical Laboratory in south west London.

It will raise accuracy of climate data, support better emissions monitoring to ensure a fair carbon market, and verify claims made about low-carbon products.

It will be formally launched at the Planet Under Pressure event in London.

The four-day conference will see thousands of delegates discuss various aspects of social and environmental sustainability in the run-up to the Rio+20 summit in June.

One of their key concerns is climate change - and the new Centre for Carbon Measurement (CCM) is aimed partially at improving the computer models that are just about the only tools scientists have to project the future of our warming planet.

"Data from ground based stations and satellites is fed into climate models, and they spit out conclusions on things like sea level rise and other climate impacts," said Jane Burston, the CCM's head.

"So the better data we have, the better we can make the models," she told BBC News.

Continue reading the main story
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Start Quote

The UK is a world leader in both measurement science and the centre of the global carbon market”

David Willets
Science Minister
This part of the centre's work will involve working with other scientific institutions and commercial providers to improve the accuracy of instruments and calibration between them.

Staff will also look for ways of improving measurement of carbon emissions.

Scientists have previously shown that there can be wide disparities between emission levels reported by companies - which are usually based on calculations involving, for example, how much fuel they burn and the efficiency of their plant - and what is measured in the atmosphere.

Hi-tech low carbon

"We need to make sure that our measurement infrastructure matches our level of ambition," said Ms Burston.

"As the carbon market takes off and carbon becomes more expensive, we're going to want to measure things better."

The third main aim of the project involves low-carbon technologies, in sectors such as energy generation and building insulation.

The centre will help manufacturers develop their products and measure their performance, in order to make sure that companies' claims for "climate-friendliness" are based in reality.

Building materials can already be assessed in the NPL's "Hot Box" facility; but the centre will develop tools for monitoring performance in the real world as well.

David Willets, Minister for Universities and Science, whose government department manages the UK's various national measurement programmes, said the science of measurement was essential in underpinning the transition to a low carbon economy.

"As the UK is a world leader in both measurement science and the centre of the global carbon market it is only right that we develop the right infrastructure to support this transition," he said.

"The CCM is designed to provide reliable measurements with a sound scientific and technical basis that will improve the understanding of the global climate, support policies for mitigating climate change, and accelerate the development of low-carbon technologies."

NEWS BY:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

UK at back of broadband pack, technology leader warns

The UK will be "frozen out of the next industrial revolution" because the government's broadband plans are not well funded or ambitious enough, according to a former BT Group technology chief.

Peter Cochrane, who as chief technology officer at BT until 2000 pioneered broadband in the UK, joined other witnesses in lambasting government plans in evidence to a House of Lords inquiry into the national broadband strategy on Tuesday.

The government has vowed to create the "best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015", with download speeds of 24 megabits per second for 90% of the UK's 25 million households, fast enough to watch several videos over the internet simultaneously. The remaining homes will receive a minimum of 2Mbps.

But Cochrane said: "Even our aspirations are low: 20 megabits isn't superfast. It's super slow. It's a candle, while the rest of the world is using the light bulb. The UK risks being frozen out of the next industrial revolution."

Paris and Moscow are planning to install fibre cables directly into millions of homes, to deliver speeds of 100-1,000Mbps, and experts say UK targets will soon be out of date.

Cochrane, who is now an independent consultant, said the £2.5bn of money earmarked for rural services was not enough. Industry estimates put the cost at bringing fibre to every doorstep in Britain at up to £15bn.

"True, high-speed, unlimited access to the social, economic and democratic benefits the internet brings is a fundamental human right," he told the Lords communication committee, whose members include the broadcaster Lord Bragg. "Yet in terms of broadband, the UK is at the back of the pack. We're beat by almost every other European country and Asia leaves us for dust. The great decline in our relative global position has saddened me over the years and we need to invest at least £15bn to redress this now."

The UK ranks 15th in the global league of countries with the fastest advertised speeds, published by the OECD in September 2011, and has one of Europe's lowest levels of fibre cables to the home. A direct fibre connection, as opposed to fibre to the street cabinet and copper from there to the home, is considered essential for speeds of more than 100Mbps.

Fibre reaches just 250,000 homes and blocks of flats in the UK, out of a population of 62 million, according to data from the FTTH Council Europe. By contrast France has fibre to 6.3m homes, out of a population of 66 million. Russia's fibre network has reached nearly 16m homes out of a population of 143 million. Out of 39 European countries, only Estonia has fibre to fewer homes, with 210,000 having access, but this is out of a population of 1.3 million.

Ministers have earmarked £530m in this parliament and a further £300m after 2015 for local councils to take broadband to rural areas and a further £100m for high-speed fixed and mobile internet in 10 cities, including London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff.

BT has committed to match the £830m government funding, and councils will be asked to do the same, which could bring total UK investment in rural broadband to £2.5bn.

In its evidence to the Lords inquiry, the Country Land & Business Association (CLA), which represents 34,000 rural businesses, said the money was not enough to get basic broadband to every household and that access should be a legal right.

"Even with match-funding from local authorities, it is likely that the government's commitment of £530m will be insufficient to build a future-proofed superfast broadband network, fit for purpose."

The CLA said it believed broadband access should be classified as a universal service obligation, and not, as it is now, a universal service commitment, which it says "provides government with a get-out clause in the event that the 2Mbps benchmark cannot be achieved by the stated deadline of 2015".

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for the Cumbrian seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale, echoed the call to make broadband a legal right.

"Some homes and businesses are struggling to access even the basic speed of broadband internet. This is completely unacceptable in this modern age and it puts us at a serious risk of being left behind," he said in comments on his website. "For Cumbrian businesses, providing a decent internet connection is not a luxury, it's the difference between surviving and folding."

NEWS BY:http://www.guardian.co.uk

Entertainment news: Revel Horwood to star in Swan panto

THE High Wycombe Choral Society heard their music played across the airwaves on Classic FM as part of a drive to celebrate some of the best amateur choirs across the UK. One of the tracks, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, by Felix Mendelssohn from their Christmas CD was played on December 9. The station is joining forces with the charity, Making Music, and encouraging choirs to send in carol recordings. Ten choirs were chosen by John Brunning.

IF you fancy a wintry walk between Christmas and New Year to walk off all the turkey and mince pies, head over to Waddesdon Manor. The grounds, shops, restaurants and plant centre will be open daily from Tuesday, December 27 until Monday, January 2. And for those who just can’t get enough of Christmas the trees and displays inside the Manor will be still be open too. For more information, opening times and prices please see

CRAIG Revel Horwood will be playing The Wicked Queen in the Wycombe Swan's panto next year. The Swan have announced their panto next year as Snow White and The Seven Dwarves with the Strictly Come Dancing judge. The panto will run from December 7 until January 5. To book call 01494512000 or go to www.wycombeswan.co.uk. Lesley Joseph is currently playing the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella until January 8.

FOLLOWING the successful production of A Midsummer's Night Dream in Beaconsfield in 2011, which raised more than £9,000 for The Gardens Players nominated charity, they will be staging a new production of Twelfth Night in Beaconsfield from June 27-30, in aid of The Child Bereavement Charity. Read-throughs will take place at The United Reform Church hall in Beaconsfield Old Town on Wednesday, January 4 and at the Performing Arts Hall, Tennant Building, Davenies School, Beaconsfield on Tuesday, January 19 both commencing at 7.45pm. All are welcome. For further information, please contact Steve McAdam .

NEWS BY:http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk

Dakota Fanning's perfume ad banned in the UK for being 'sexually provocative' - Poll

A perfume ad featuring "Twilight" actress Dakota Fanning clutching a bottle of perfume has been banned in the United Kingdom after the country's Advertising Standards Authority found it to be inappropriate and "sexually provocative" because of the 17-year-old actress' age and appearance, according to the BBC.

The board said in a statement that the ad "could be seen to sexualize a child."

"We noted that the model [Fanning] was holding up the perfume bottle which rested in her lap between her legs and we considered that its position was sexually provocative," the statement said. "We understood the model was 17-years-old but we considered she looked under the age of 16. We considered that the length of her dress, her leg and position of the perfume bottle drew attention to her sexuality."

"Because of that, along with her appearance, we considered the ad could be seen to sexualize a child," the statement continued. "We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offence."

The ad was for the Oh Lola! perfume by Marc Jacobs and it can be seen above. Coty UK, the company behind the perfume and the ad, said they had not received any complaints about it, despite the fact that it had appeared in several fashion magazines in the country.

The ad first began appearing in print on August 5, 2011. According to the ASA report, Coty UK "did not believe the styling in the ad suggested the model was underage or that the ad was inappropriately sexualized because it did not show any private body parts or sexual activity. They believed the giant perfume bottle was provoking but not indecent."

In August it was reported that Fanning had graduated from high school and was set to attend New York University in the fall.

She is enrolled at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, a college spokesperson told OnTheRedCarpet.com on Thursday, August 25.

The Georgia native rose to fame as a child actress when she appeared alongside Sean Penn in the 2001 movie "I Am Sam."

In 2002, she starred in the romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama," which featured Reese Witherspoon in the main role, and played Allie Keys in the mini-series "Taken" in 2002. Fanning starred in the 2005 reboot of "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise and in the 2006 film "Charlotte's Web." In 2009, Fanning starred in the movie "Push" and played the vampire Jane in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," the second film in the hit series starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.

In 2010, Fanning co-starred with Stewart in the music biopic "The Runaways" and reprised her role in the third "Twilight" movie, "Eclipse." Fanning plays the same part in the fourth and final installment, the two-part "Breaking Dawn." Part 1 is set for release on November 18.

Fanning recently filmed the independent film "Now Is Good" and has several more movies in the works - "Effie" with Emma Thompson, "Mississippi Wild" with Mickey Rourke and "Very Good Girls" with Dustin Hoffman." All films are due out in 2012.

NEWS BY:http://www.ontheredcarpet.com

Ceres, UK University complete genetic map of miscanthus

The number of overseas students in UK universities will rise by a further 10% this decade, says a study for the British Council.

Only Australia is set to have a bigger increase in overseas students.

It forecasts that India rather than China will send the most students in this lucrative global market.

Jo Beall, the British Council director of education, says the "next 10 years will be critical" if the UK is to take advantage.

Speaking ahead of the British Council's Going Global conference, Dr Beall says there is a "decade of opportunity" for the UK to benefit from an increasingly-mobile international student population.

Shifting power
"In an increasingly connected and inter-dependent world, a willingness and ability to collaborate internationally and to respond to changing trends are vital," said Dr Beall.

By the end of the last decade there were 3.5m students studying overseas - and even though the rate of increase will slow, the overall number is expected to continue to rise.

Setting out global trends in higher education until 2020, the British Council study forecasts an increasing importance for Asian countries, challenging the longstanding domination of the United States.

By 2020, China will have almost twice as many students as the United States.

But the British Council predicts that it will be India rather than China that will be key player for sending students overseas.

Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that currently China is by the far the biggest provider of overseas students to the UK -with 67,000 students in the UK, compared with 39,000 from India.

The figures from 2011 show that about 12% of students at UK universities are from overseas - which is categorised as being outside the European Union.

In terms of the potential market for higher education, the British Council highlights that by 2020, just four countries will account for more than half of the world's 18 to 22 year olds - India, China, the United States and Indonesia.

The British Council says that the biggest single expansion in overseas students is likely to be Australia, which it predicts will be teaching an extra 50,000 by 2020.

But it says that the UK could be the second-biggest in terms of increasing overseas student numbers, predicting a rise of 30,000.

The British Council also highlights how university research has become internationalised - with more than a third of research now involving international collaborations.

The forecasts are issued in advance of this week's Going Global conference in London, examining university globalisation, which will bring together 1,300 higher education leaders from around the world.

NEWS BY:http://www.biomassmagazine.com

U.K. Mobile Operators Vie for Apple iPad

Mobile phone operators in the UK are preparing to open talks with Apple (AAPL) in the coming days about providing 3G internet services to the new iPad device when it arrives.

Industry sources said that O2 (TEF), 3, Vodafone (VOD), Orange (FTE) and T-Mobile (DT) have had board-level discussions and are preparing to meet Apple "in the next week" with one denying talks had already begun. "All of the players will be speaking to Apple," another said.

Apple is expected to ship the Wi-Fi only versions of the iPad to the UK in March, while the 3G versions will go on sale in the US "and selected countries" in April.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said on Wednesday that the priority was to secure agreements with international operators for 3G, with deals expected by the end of July at the latest.

Apple declined to comment further than the announcement made in San Francisco, when it revealed that AT&T (T) will be the first to offer 3G services to iPad users in the US. None of the UK operators would comment on talks with Apple yesterday.

One industry insider said the device may well be SIM-only "and unlikely to be exclusive." This would mark a departure from the strategy Apple used when it brought the iPhone to the UK in 2007. It took two years for Orange to break O2's exclusive hold over the device. The following day, Vodafone announced it too would offer customers connection to the device.

The iPad, which can surf the internet, show videos, play music and display ebooks, will cost from $499 to $699 to US consumers depending on the storage size. The 3G-enabled iPads will cost between $629 to $829.

Mr Jobs said it was the company's "most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device," adding: "iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before."

David Bailey, an analyst at Goldman Sachs (GS) predicted about six million iPads will be sold this year. Deloitte, the accountancy and advisory group, labelled the growing number of tablets as the "Goldilocks of devices – not too big, not too small".

Richard Holway, a founding partner of TechMarketView, said tablet computers will be "game-changing". He said it will take a while for adoption but by 2015 "nobody will have any doubts...Today was the end of the beginning. Let the future begin." 

NEWS BY:http://www.businessweek.com

UK banks in firing line if Greece debt crisis spreads, says Moody's

n a report on the potential consequences for lenders, Moody's Investor Service said that firms in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and the UK could face "very real, common threats" if the difficulties spread to these other debt-laden nations.

As Britain made its way to the polls to elect a new government, the agency warned of a balancing act between over-hasty public cuts and market jitters if a programme of fiscal tightening was not brought in quickly enough.

The first could lead to a double-dip recession, Moody's warned, while the second could push up funding costs both for the UK's sovereign debt and the banks, making it harder for both to service their borrowings.

Moody's, which has maintained the UK's triple-A credit rating, also said the UK was "working its way through a series of challenges towards recovery".

"The UK is in a difficult position: if it were to tighten fiscal conditions too quickly, then this could lead to further asset quality challenges in the banking system, potentially choking off economic recovery," the report said.

"Alternatively, if the UK did not tighten fiscal conditions soon and credibly enough, then the financial flexibility of the sovereign may diminish as market opinion may move against the UK."

The report comes amid recent market turmoil as fears that the Greek crisis could spread hammered confidence in the eurozone.

"A key factor determining whether contagion risk continues in this case will be the market's view of the likely success or otherwise of the recently agreed International Monetary Fund and European Union support package for Greece," the agency said.

The bailout offers the debt-ridden country €110bn (£93bn) in loans over three years from the IMF and the other 15 countries that use the euro.

Greece has convulsed with violent protest over the austerity measures, leading to the deaths of three bank workers yesterday.

Fears that the country will either reject or be unable to implement the swingeing cuts needed have battered the euro, sending it plummeting to its lowest level against the dollar in more than a year.

Banks were among the big losers on the FTSE 100 Index today amid the economic worries.

But while there have been concerns about banks' exposure to weak economies, most UK firms are thought to have only small liabilities in the other vulnerable European economies.

Moody's report instead focuses mainly on UK government moves to tackle the deficit - likely to be through tax hikes and spending cuts after the election.

It comes a day after the ratings agency put Portugal on watch for a possible downgrade of its sovereign debt and a week after rival Standard & Poor's slashed Greece's government bonds to junk status.

The report follows a European Commission prediction yesterday that the UK government would borrow the equivalent of 12pc of output - higher than any other country, including Greece.

The EC also said that the UK's debts were expected to rise to 79.1pc of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010, compared with 124.9pc in Greece, 64.9pc for Spain, 118.2pc in Italy and 85.8pc for Portugal.

Moody's said UK banks, whose multi-billion pound bailouts have acted to weaken sovereign credit, would see a "relatively strong impact" if the UK's creditworthiness took a hit, with increases in funding costs likely to hit profits.

Other challenges included risks in their domestic retail and property exposures, while any increases in interest rates or employment could also hit loan books by provoking higher bad debts.

Dealing with the other countries separately, it said Spain and Ireland were both destabilised by rapid growth in property loans.

Meanwhile Greece, Portugal and to a lesser extent Italy, faced concerns that sovereign woes would spill over to the banking system.

NEWS BY:http://www.telegraph.co.uk  

Tough new regime for UK drilling rigs

THE inspection regime for North Sea drilling rigs is to be toughened up in the wake of the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the UK government has announced.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said an urgent review of the safety and environmental protection measures governing the UK's oil and gas industry had deemed them to be "fit for purpose", but steps were now being taken to strengthen them further.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said the number of environmental inspections on drilling rigs was to be doubled and a new industry group would be asked to report on the UK's ability to prevent and respond to a potential spill.

Mr Huhne said the events unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 workers and left millions of gallons of oil spewing into the ocean, were "devastating".

And he maintained it was his responsibility to make sure the oil and gas industry maintained the highest practices in this country.

"It's clear our safety and environmental regulatory regime is fit for purpose," Mr Huhne said. "It is already among the most robust in the world and the industry's record in the North Sea is strong.

"But the Deepwater Horizon gives us pause for thought and, given the beginning of exploration in deeper waters west of Shetland, there is every reason to increase our vigilance.

He added: "Initial steps are already under way, including plans to double the number of annual environmental inspections to drilling rigs and the launch of a new industry group to look at the UK's ability to prevent and respond to oil spills.

"In addition, I will review our new and existing procedures as soon as the detailed analysis of the factors which caused the incident in the Gulf of Mexico are available."

NEWS BY:http://www.scotsman.com

U.K. University in Climate Dispute Plans New Assessment of Work

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The University of East Anglia said it will appoint external assessors to reappraise some of its key scientific work in the wake of the “Climategate” flap surrounding e-mails hacked from the U.K. school’s server.

Skeptics of climate change had pointed to the e-mails, which appeared in blogs in November, as evidence that the university’s academics had manipulated evidence of global warming and conspired to suppress studies questioning the link between climate change and human activity. The university denied those charges.

The university’s work fed into some of the key findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose biggest report on global warming in 2007 blamed rising temperatures on human activity and is used by governments worldwide to guide climate and energy policy.

“The findings of our researchers have been the subject of significant debate in recent months,” Professor Trevor Davies, the university’s pro-vice-chancellor for research, said today in a statement on the UEA Web site. “We believe it is in the interests of all concerned that there should be an additional assessment considering the science.”

The university said it asked the Royal Society, the U.K.’s national science academy, to name possible assessors with the required expertise. They’ll examine the “key” publications at the earliest date they can manage, the school said.

“It is important that people have the utmost confidence in the science of climate change,” Royal Society President Martin Rees said in an e-mailed statement. “Where legitimate doubts are raised about any piece of science they must be fully investigated - that is how science works.”

Academics Questioned

Phil Jones, director of the school’s Climatic Research Unit and author of many of the e-mails, stepped aside from his post in December, pending completion of an investigation. In one e- mail, he spoke of deleting files rather than handing over data to skeptics requesting them.

Another researcher who featured in the e-mails, Michael Mann, was cleared by Pennsylvania State University on Feb. 3 of manipulating data and destroying records, though he remains under investigation on a charge that he “deviated from accepted practices within the academic community,” which he denies.

NEWS BY:http://www.bloomberg.com