Tuesday, February 18

Day: January 18, 2018

Change in MOT rules for new cars scrapped
Featured, United Kingdom

Change in MOT rules for new cars scrapped

    A new car's first MOT will remain at the three-year point, after a Government proposal suggesting a car's first MOT should be after four years was scrapped with concerns over safety. Following a public consultation, the decision, which was set to take effect later this year, has been overturned. Fewer than half of the public consulted were in favour, with the main concern being the safety risk involved in delaying the first MOT of a car until its fourth year. The current three-year period needed before a car's first MOT was introduced in 1967, when it was reduced from 10 years. In the proposal, the Government said safer technology and improved manufacturing have resulted in new vehicles that stay roadworthy for longer. The government originally suggested the propos...
Residents to pay £2m over London Grenfell style cladding
Featured, London

Residents to pay £2m over London Grenfell style cladding

    People living in a privately-owned tower block with the same cladding used on Grenfell Tower could be forced to pay millions for replacement panels to be fitted. Residents at Citiscape in Croydon, south London, are facing the prospect of having to fork out up to £2m to remove and replace the aluminium composite material (ACM) panels. Such cladding is believed to have fuelled the spread of the Grenfell blaze in June, which left 71 people dead. The Citiscape building was one of 228 across the country which failed safety tests brought in by the Government in the aftermath of the fire. First Port Property Services, which manages the high-rise building, was advised in August that action should be taken. It has written to residents twice, informing them that the cost w...
The Bank of England is embarrassing itself with its anti Brexit bias
Featured, United Kingdom

The Bank of England is embarrassing itself with its anti Brexit bias

    When Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane suggested that the bank may have had a Michael Fish moment over Brexit, he was being unfair to weather forecasters. Mr Fish failed to predict the Great Storm in 1987. But he did not have a bias against thunder or lightning. As a weatherman he probably quite liked storms. He just failed to predict a tail event and we’ve all been there. The trap that the Bank of England is in danger of falling into is far more serious that of systematic cognitive bias. All of us have these types of biases and good economic forecasters are careful to be aware of their own prejudices. Not so the Bank of England. It has now come to embody anti-Brexit cognitive bias to such a degree that it endangers its credibility as an institution. In...
UK to pay extra £44.5m for Calais security in Anglo French deal
Europe, Featured

UK to pay extra £44.5m for Calais security in Anglo French deal

    Britain will pay £44.5m for extra security measures in France to prevent another refugee camp forming in Calais or any other Channel port, Theresa May is to announce. The extra cash will go towards fencing, CCTV and other detection technology in Calais and other ports, possibly including Dunkirk. It will also be used to help relocate migrants from the port towns to other parts of France. To be announced as part of the Anglo-French summit at Sandhurst military academy on Thursday, the money brings total British funding for security and policing in Calais since the “Jungle” camp was bulldozed in 2016 to more than £150m. The measures have included building a 1km-long concrete wall designed to prevent migrants and refugees getting close to the roads used by trucks app...
Facebook Selfie Helps Solve Mysterious Murder Case
Featured, Technology

Facebook Selfie Helps Solve Mysterious Murder Case

    The mysterious murder case of a Canadian girl was solved after police found clue in the Facebook selfie posted by her friend. Brittney Gargol, 18, was found dead near a landfill in March 2015 and an autopsy later revealed that she died of strangulation. On Monday, Gargol's friend Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Saskatoon Provincial Court in connection with the death. Police arrested Antoine after they found a Facebook selfie that showed her wearing the belt used to strangle her friend. The wide blue woven belt with a large buckle was found on a roadside next to Gargol’s body, and Antoine was seen wearing the same belt in a photo posted to her Facebook account just hours before the killing, according to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. Where ...