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Airport cacitity is nearing its limits in SE England, such as here at Heathrow
07:51AM, 23rd March 2012. Tom Prangnell.

In the budget on Wednesday, the Chancellor, George Osborne, achnowledged the severe lack of airport capacity in the southeast of England and promised to try to alleviate the issue. Plans for a thrid runway at Heathrow were scrapped by the coalition government last year, and Transport Minister Justine Greening has said that the issue is closed for good. Short of any government U-turns, it does seem to be that way. Proposals for increasing the size of either Stansted or Gatwick airports have also been given short-shrift.
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NEWS: COALITION PLANS TO SET MINIMUM ALCOHOL PRICE

01:31AM, 23rd March 2012. Leigh Cobb.

The Government is to announce that a minimum price on alcohol is to be set at 40p per unit, with a ban on multi buy deals in supermarkets, in a move which brings serious civil liberty implications. The Coalition Government is treading a fine line between civil freedom and regulation, including the risk of angering the Alcohol industry as well as upsetting the balance of the free market. More details after the jump.
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NEWS: UNITED KINGDOM 2012 BUDGET
08:25PM, 21st March 2012. Tom Prangnell.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne has presented his third budget since becomming Chancellor in 2010 and has set out how the government plans to spend its borrowing and tax revenue over the next year. These are the key points of the budget.
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NEWS: IRAN CUT OFF FROM GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM

7:00PM, 16th March 2012. Tom Prangnell.

Iran is to be cut off from the global financial system as of 16:00GMT on Saturday 17th March 2012. The move is the latest and most powerful sanction to be bought on the Islamic state over its controversial nuclear programme.
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NEWS: PRICE OF PETROL HITS RECORD HIGH

11:20AM, 2nd March 2012. Tom Prangnell.

The price of petrol rose to its highest level ever at around 11 o'clock this morning, surpassing the previous record set in May 2011 during the Arab Spring and the subsequent Libyan Civil War. The price of 143.44pence per litre is only 0.01pence above the previous record, and still around 7pence cheaper than diesel. Even so it is the highest price people in Britain have ever had to pay for petrol since World War II fuel rationing.
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FALKLANDS DISPUTE: CARNIVA CORPORATION CRUISE SHIPS REFUSED ACCESS TO ARGENTINE PORT

 7:40PM, 27th February 2012. Tom Prangnell

Two luxury cruise liners, belonging to British-American owned Carnival Corporation have been refused access to the port of Ushuaia in Argentina; their only charge being that they recently visited the Falkland Islands. The ships are the Star Princess and the MV Adonia, both carrying around 6000 passengers between them.
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NEWS: FALL IN UK INFLATION RATE

10:13AM, 14th February 2012. Tom Prangnell.

With the impact of last year's VAT rise now out of the picture, the British Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate has fallen from over 4% to 3.6%. Retail Prices Index (RPI) fell to 3.9% from nearly five percent. This is good news, however it's still above the Bank of England target rate of 2%. Read more after the jump.
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NEWS: ARGENTINA COMPLAINS TO UN OVER FALKLANDS 'MILITARISATION'

11:13PM, 10th February 2012. Leigh Cobb.

Argentina has lodged a formal complaint with the UN, over the United Kingdom's supposed 'militarisation' of the South Atlantic. Issues include the deployment of a Type-45 Destroyer, HMS Dauntless, to the islands, as well as accusations that a British nuclear submarine is in the region. Read more after the jump.
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EDITORIAL: ARGENTINA HAS NO CLAIM TO THE FALKLANDS

08:08PM, 9th Febuary 2012. Leigh Cobb. Discuss this Editorial in the forums, or comment below.

The current Argentinian Administration seems intent on digging up the territorial issue of the Falkland Islands, or should I say the 'non-existent territorial issue'. You can chart the recent pick up of news relating to Argentina's renewed protest of the Falklands with the same falterings of their own economy. Freakonomics indeed. But not only does Argentina have no right to claim the Falklands as its own, its words and recent whining it needlessly aggressive and a threat to South Atlantic security.
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NEWS: NEW BRITISH ECONOMIC DATA RELEASED

09:45AM, 9th February 2012. Leigh Cobb.

Recent economic data for the UK released today show some slight easing of fears for the economy as a whole. Whilst the news recently of the UK's Gross Domestic Product actually declining in the last quarter of 2011 still hangs over the Government, new figures published today may ease some minds in Westminister.

Manufacturing output rose by 1% in the last month of 2011, and output across the country rose by 0.5%. This does not however make up for the fact that UK industrial production fell by 1.4% during the last three months of 2011. These figures and likely the ones to come show that the country is still faltering economically. The Government's policies should no doubt be brought into question, as if evidence of them working does not arrive soon, then surely they have failed in one of the principle duties of office?
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