Monday, November 26

British report

From the original Ovi magazine (Ovi lehti in Finnish)

Brown hits back on forces funding

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has rejected criticism from five former military chiefs about the treatment of and funding for the armed forces. He said he had "nothing but praise" for the forces, and was putting more money into defense "than ever before".

Former chief of staff Lord Boyce said making Des Browne defense and Scottish secretary had been an "insult". Tory leader David Cameron has written to Mr. Brown asking him to divide the roles between two people. Asked about the criticism, the prime minister, who is in Kampala, Uganda, for a Commonwealth summit, said, "I have got nothing but praise for our armed forces. I have visited them in Iraq and Afghanistan and what they are doing are acts of great courage.”

Gordon Brown did visit them in Iraq and most likely that’s the problem because it is where he has shown bad treatment to them - he should have never gone!!!

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Bird flu restrictions are over

A national ban on bird shows and pigeon races due to bird flu has been lifted, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has said.

The ban had been in place across the country since bird flu was confirmed at a farm in Suffolk on 12 November. But Defra said the restrictions would remain within the restricted surveillance and protection zones in Suffolk and Norfolk.

That was really scary news especially coming before Christmas, the time people definitely eat birds. It seems as though over the last few years we have become so worried with all these epidemics that the smallest incident is enough to scare us all and attract the worst restrictions and all kinds of measures.

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Treasury denies discs 'cover-up'

Chancellor Alistair Darling is standing by his version of events of how discs containing the personal details of 25 million people went missing. The Treasury said there was nothing in e-mails released on Thursday to contradict the chancellor's account. The e-mails suggest a senior manager was involved - something not mentioned in Mr. Darling's statement to MPs.

It comes as opinion polls suggest the data loss crisis has badly dented public confidence in the government. A Populous poll for the Times suggests those backing Labour's ability to handle economic problems has been more than halved to 28%, with just a quarter deeming Prime Minister Gordon Brown's administration "competent and capable".

Who knows how much more we will hear in the next few weeks. The worst part I can imagine for the Labour government is that they definitely lost 2.5 million …votes!!!

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Mourinho says NO for England post

Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho does not want to succeed Steve McClaren as England manager, BBC Sport understands. Mourinho, 44, has been out of football since leaving Stamford Bridge in September but is believed to be waiting for a club rather than a national post.

I’m sure it has something to do with the money; the English Football Association is not exactly a Russian mogul!

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