Day: April 18, 2016

    Quitting the European Union would leave households £4,300 a year worse off, George Osborne warned as he prepared to release in-depth Treasury analysis on the cost of Brexit. Britain's economy would shrink by 6% by 2030 if the country replicated Canada's trading agreements as advocated by Boris Johnson, according to the Chancellor. The 200-page Government report assessing the long-term costs and benefits of EU membership as well as life outside shows the country would be left "permanently poorer". In an article for The Times, Mr Osborne said: "The conclusion is clear: for Britain's economy and for families, leaving the EU would be the most extraordinary self-inflicted wound." The study will say none of the alternative options to full EU membership would leave Britain with a...

    Next month Luton will become the sole European airport to serve St Helena - the British possession in the South Atlantic. The island’s new airport is due to be officially opened by Prince Edward on 21 May, and within 48 hours the first charter from Luton is scheduled to touch down. A new start-up carrier called Atlantic Star Airlines will fly the route, which includes a refuelling stop at Banjul in Gambia. The airline’s co-founder, Richard Brown, told The Independent: “We chose Luton because the team there were keen to support the service and add St Helena to their route portfolio.” The Bedfordshire airport, owned by Luton Borough Council, has had a chequered history. The former RAF fighter base grew rapidly in the 1960s and early 70s as package-holiday charter flights exp...

    For thousands of years the kings and queens of almost every civilization have relied on ‘volunteer’ food tasters to protect them from culinary harm. Vladimir Putin is thought to employ one – though it did little for Emperor Claudius in 54AD (whether it really was poison or the bad breath of his food taster, Halotus, which did for the Roman ruler, history does not record). All the more remarkable, then, to learn that Queen Elizabeth, who in her 63 years on the throne has probably eaten more royal meals than most of us have had…well…hot dinners, should not only have revived the ancient practice but to have enjoyed turning the tables. Speaking ahead of this week's 90th birthday celebrations, warrant officer John Ross has revealed that the monarch was in the habit of checking ...