Home
The engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton was announced. The Prince proposed last month in Kenya and gave his fiancée the engagement ring belonging to his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. The wedding is to take place next year. Britain must ‘sort out’ its economy if it wants to ‘carry weight in the world’, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said in his speech at the Lord Mayor’s banquet. Mr Cameron decided after all against employing a personal photographer at public expense. Legal aid will no longer be available in divorce, welfare benefit and school exclusion appeals, Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary, announced, in plans to save £350 million. The Early Learning Centre toy shop reinstated the pig it had banished from the Happy Land Goosefeather Farm set lest it upset Muslims or Jews.
The government paid out-of-court compensation to 16 men, British citizens and residents in Britain, detained by US forces at Guantanamo Bay, 12 of whom had sued government departments and MI5 and MI6, claiming complicity in their mistreatment. General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said that a clear-cut victory over Islamist militancy was ‘unnecessary and would never be achieved’. In Kensington, west London, an Islamic group called Muslims Against Crusades burnt poppies during the two-minute silence on Armistice Day and chanted: ‘British soldiers burn in hell.’ The British Legion reported distributing a record 46 million poppies in return for donations.
Demonstrators surged into the Conservative party headquarters in Millbank, London, during a demonstration against university tuition fees. Windows were smashed, fires lit and missiles hurled at police; 56 were arrested, including 10 children. Greater Manchester Police plans to cut a quarter of its officers, although none may by law be declared redundant. British banks conferred on ways to cut bonuses for staff this year, perhaps from £7 billion to £4 billion. In October the inflation rate hardly changed and unemployment remained almost static. Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, is to step down as MP for West Belfast and as a member of the Stormont assembly in order to stand for Louth when the Republic of Ireland holds a general election. St Blazey and Lostwithiel in Cornwall were flooded.
Abroad
Ireland was offered billions of pounds worth of support from the European Union, to counter pressure from its uncreditworthy banks on the nation’s ability to pay its debts. The Irish government proved reluctant to countenance an EU deal: ‘It’s been a very hard-won sovereignty for this country,’ said Batt O’Keeffe, its trade and business minister. Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister, told parliament that the country was well funded until 2011. But EU and IMF officials arranged a visit to Dublin. Herman Van Rompuy, the permanent President of the European Council, said: ‘We all have to work together in order to survive with the eurozone, because if we don’t survive with the eurozone we will not survive with the European Union.’ Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, denounced ‘a small number of member states’ for blocking a deal on the budget for running the EU; it had wanted a 6 per cent rise, and Britain had supported a 2.9 per cent compromise.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy activist who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, was released from house arrest in Rangoon. The National League for Democracy, the party that she led, was disbanded by the military authorities after it boycotted this month’s elections. In a cabinet reshuffle, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France replaced Bernard Kouchner with Michele Alliot-Marie as foreign minister, and Hervé Morin with Alain Juppé as defence minister, while François Fillon remained prime minister. A pink diamond sold at auction in Geneva for £29 million, the highest price ever for a jewel.
Paul Chandler, aged 60, and his wife Rachel, 57, from Tunbridge Wells, taken hostage from their yacht off the Seychelles by Somali pirates on 23 October 2009, were released after the payment of a ransom. In Haiti, deaths from cholera passed 1,000; people blamed aid workers for bringing the disease into the country. Fire engulfed a 28-storey block of flats in Shanghai, killing 53. A five-storey building in Delhi collapsed, killing at least 66. President Obama of the United States published a book for children, Of Thee I Sing, about 13 famous Americans, including Billie Holliday, Helen Keller and Sitting Bull. CSH
Comments