Monday, 18 May 2015

News

Prime Minister David Cameron is to renew his vow to boost NHS funding and create a "seven-day" health service in his first major post-election speech.He will commit to a pre election pledge to increase budgets by at least £8bn a year by 2020, during his speech at a GP surgery in the West Midlands.The government is also promising to recruit 5,000 new GPs.Although doctors' representatives said without detail the announcement was "empty headline-grabbing".The British Medical Association said the government was yet to explain how it would deliver additional care at a time of "chronic" doctor shortages.Before the election, the Conservatives gave their backing to a plan by NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens to fill a funding gap estimated at £30bn a year by 2020.This aims to make £22bn in efficiency savings, with the rest coming from taxpayers.This will go along way to proving doubters that the Tory party will protect the NHS as they have moved once step closer to following Simon Stevens proposal to improve the NHS which Labour failed to do and many forget that Tony Blair was the one who introduced the Private investors into the NHS so uncharacteristically are the Conservatives the party of the NHS which contradicts the common rhetoric that the Conservative party is the party of the rich and the right David Cameron goes against that with his emphasis on child care . As Ed Miliband repeated over and over the NHS will suffer in the Tory cuts to reduce the deficit. However, the NHS seems to be protected by the Conservatives as this was the main concern of the mass amounts of electorates ; it leavers the thought lingering where these cuts to public services will come because raising taxes will anger the right wing faction of the party which Cameron can't afford to do.


Monday, 11 May 2015

news

European Union referendum
 
David Cameron has already begun negotiations with his European counterparts over Britain's membership of the EU, it emerged last night as sources indicated that an in-out referendum could take place as early as next year.
Despite only being re-elected on Friday morning, Mr Cameron said that he has “already made calls” to other European leaders as he attempts to claw back powers from Brussels.
It is understood that officials are now considering bringing the EU referendum forward - holding it next year - following a quick renegotiation spearheaded by Mr Cameron, George Osborne and Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary.
 
In my opinion, although in the Conservatives manifesto they have stated they will hold an In/Out referendum concerning the EU it is well known that David Cameron is passionate about the EU and wishes to retain Britain's membership. However, he can't afford to lose the support of his more right wing backbenchers who have criticized Cameron for moving the Tory party back to the center ground because of such a small majority it could make Cameron's job a lot harder as he wont have the support of the House of Commons . In addition, in 2014 Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell both defected to UKIP as the tory party doesn't have right wing philosophies about such issues as Immigration and EU membership. Furthermore I feel that the referendum is a way in which Cameron is keeping the backbench MPs onside as he can't afford to lose them as in the next Parliament SNP will campaign for further devolution which could cause a divide within Britain . Although the Conservatives have won the election they face an uphill struggle in the next parliament. 


Tuesday, 5 May 2015

News



'Dozens die' as migrant boat deflates in Mediterranean

 

Media captionFootage shows dozens of migrants on a deflating dingy desperately trying to reach safety

Dozens of migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean after a boat carrying an estimated 137 people deflates south of Sicily, Save the Children says.

The aid group says survivors reported up to 40 people fell into the sea as a rescue vessel was approaching.

Those rescued arrived in the Sicilian port city of Catania on Tuesday.

At least 1,829 people have died so far this year trying to cross the Mediterranean, a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.

Giovanna di Benedetto, Save the Children's representative in Catania, said the latest incident was thought to have happened on Sunday, but the exact toll was not known.

"They [survivors] said there were 137 people aboard an inflatable boat that deflated or exploded - it wasn't clear - and that some of them fell overboard," Ms di Benedetto told AFP news agency.

Survivors say dozens of people fell into the sea and drowned because they could not swim

"Some said 'very many' died, others said 'around 40'," she added. The survivors were picked up by a Maltese merchant ship and five bodies were also recovered.

Dramatic footage of the rescue, obtained by The Associated Press (AP), shows migrants desperately jumping off a deflating dinghy, and trying to climb up ropes and a rope ladder to the merchant ship.

One of the migrants, Astoy Fall Dia from Senegal, told AP she managed to survive because she knew how to swim and stayed close to the dinghy.

She described hearing the "boom" of an explosion, before the merchant ship came to the rescue.

"There was the big ship there and they threw down ropes, someone grabbed on to the rope, all the other people started pushing to try to save themselves but then people started falling in the water."

About 100 people were found on a second boat, with no deaths reported, the aid agency added.

The number of migrants attempting to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean has risen in recent weeks as smugglers take advantage of fair weather.

In the past three days about 7,000 people have been rescued and 10 bodies recovered off the Libyan coast, according to the Italian coastguard.

Media captionThe majority of the migrants rescued by the Greek coastguard come from African countries and Syria.

Italian and French ships picked up survivors from wooden and rubber boats on at least 17 separate operations.

Meanwhile Turkey's coastguard on Tuesday said it had rescued more than 600 people trying to cross the Aegean Sea in the past week, Reuters reports.

More than 400 were men, women and children fleeing Syria, while the rest came from Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar (also known as Burma) and various African countries, the office of the Izmir provincial governor is quoted as saying.

The latest deaths come as naval chiefs from 26 European countries are due to discuss the migrant crisis at talks in Naples, southern Italy.

EU nations agreed last month to triple funding for rescue operations run by European border agency Frontex, contribute more boats and patrol aircraft for rescue efforts, and look at ways to target smugglers' boats with military strikes.

I think that the headline stating dozens die is not very accurate to the thousands of migrants who have died and that the migrants are fully responsible for their catastrophic fate and it doesn't consider the factors why they fled their countries and that the article forgets these people are human and suggests it is a mistake and the EU having to triple the relief as it is a hot topic of EU membership because we have to help these people shoulder we only be responsible for our own country?