We will definitely change Britain: Ed Miliband
Newly elected leader of British Labour Party Ed Miliband vowed Tuesday to ditch the baggage of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and revamp the Labour Party to propel it back into power.
In his first major speech since taking over, Ed Miliband said that Labour had only themselves to blame for losing office after 13 years in May’s general election. Let the message go out, a new generation has taken charge of Labour, Miliband said, in a speech aimed at establishing a fresh face with British voters. This country faces some tough choices and so do we. A change is essentially required. Above all, I lead a new generation not bound by fear or the ghosts of the past, he added. He also said that Labour must acknowledge its mistakes under Prime Ministers Blair and Brown, including the highly divisive 2003 invasion of Iraq and the climate of financial deregulation blamed by some for the economic downturn. Miliband said it was no accident that the party had lost five million votes between its landslide victory in 1997 and 2010. A political force founded on its ability to adapt and change lost its ability to do so, he said.
Britain’s Labour elects Ed Miliband as new leader
September 25, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MANCHESTER: Britain’s opposition Labour Party chose former Energy Secretary Ed Miliband as its new leader on Saturday after a cliffhanger vote.
Miliband, 40, defeated his older brother David, a former foreign secretary, by a wafer-thin margin to take over the helm of the centre-left party.
He succeeds former prime minister Gordon Brown who resigned after the party lost the May election, ending 13 years in power.
David Miliband was favoured by centrists in the party whereas Ed has slightly more left-leaning views and won the backing of major trade unions who help finance the party.
Miliband won in the fourth round of the vote count, by a margin of a little over one percent, to steal the prize that had seemed within the grasp of his older brother for much of the leadership campaign.
“David, I love you so much as a brother and I have such
PM Gilani to Convene All Parties Conference on Post-flood Crises
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced convening of an all parties conference to discuss post-flood crises facing the country.
The PM told the National Assembly on Saturday that the floods wrought severe devastation in the country, adding that 4,000 kms roads have been swept away while ripe crops on 140,0000 hectares land got damaged.
Pakistan Peoples Party is not out to gain political mileage, the PM said, adding that the quorum of the House is complete despite the Oppositions anti-government agenda for the requisitioned session.
He ruled out Oppositions allegations that the central government ignored Punjab in aid provision, adding that all the provinces get an equal share of relief fund, the record of which has been given to the Opposition leader and provincial governments. He maintained that 135 planeloads have been sent to Punjab alone.
nevermind
May 7, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
The baby on the cover of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ has secured a job with President Barack Obama’s ‘HOPE’ poster designer Shepard Fairey.
The now 19-year-old Spencer Elden is employed by Fairey’s ‘Obey’ company in Los Angeles and works on a variety of projects including making record covers.
As well as the iconic ‘HOPE’ posters in support of the then Democrat candidate in 2008, Fairey also created the famous ‘OBEY Giant’ images of Andre The Giant in the nineties.
Speaking about his work with Fairey, Elden said: “I’ve always loved art. My Dad’s an artist – he works in the film industry and makes custom props. I used to help him out when I could.
“Having Shepherd as a boss is pretty awesome. He’s very inspiring”.
Elden also spoke about the famous Nirvana cover on the promotional video posted on Vimeo.
“My nickname is Nirvana Baby,” he said. “That’s because I’m the baby on the front of the Nirvana album. It’s kind of a fun fact about me I guess – everyone in the world has seen my penis.”
Explaining how it came about, he added: “My parents were going to art school with a photographer Kirk Weddle so they kind of supported him.
“He kind of got this portfolio together of underwater photography and his first big job was this Nirvana baby shoot.
source:gigwise
hung parliament
May 7, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
A hung Parliament is created if no party wins an outright majority. In this election that would require one party to win 326 seats out of 650 with the Tories predicted to win only 309 at the current count. If the Tories do not form a minority government, two parties must form a coalition to govern in order to create an overall majority of MPs.
The bigger parties can try to persuade smaller parties to support them, either each time there is a vote, or by creating a coalition government with an absolute majority.
The largest party – in this case the Conservatives – does not automatically have the right to try and form an administration. That right falls to Gordon Brown as the incumbent Prime Minister.
The World markets are understandably concerned that a weak government may be unable to reduce the UK’s high deficit quickly.
The Director General of the Institute of Directors, Miles Templeman, echoed the thoughts of many business leaders around the country, commenting:
“It’s vital that this political vacuum is filled as quickly as possible. The country simply can’t afford an extended period of political horse-trading which delays much-needed action to tackle the deficit.
“Politicians have postponed the difficult decisions on public spending cuts for too long already. Further delay will only jeopardise the future of the UK economy.”
Dr Adam Marshall, of the British Chambers of Commerce, has urged, on behalf of the business community, for all the main political parties to “put political horse-trading to one side and put the UK economy at the heart of their thinking. Strong leadership and consensus are required to deal with the serious threats still facing the economy.”
Voting underway in UK general election
May 6, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
LONDON: Voting was underway Thursday for the highly anticipated general election in the United Kingdom.
Voters will determine the fate of Gordon Brown”s Labour government, which has been in power for the past 13 years.
The casting of ballots across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland caps a month-long election campaign marked by Britain”s first-ever televised debates among the leaders of the three main parties: Brown, David Cameron of the Conservative Party and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats.
After the election there will be 650 seats in the Commons, four more than in the previous Parliament. Voters are only choosing representatives for 649 seats. However, because of the death of a UKIP candidate in the Thirsk and Malton constituency in North Yorkshire, the election there has now been moved to May 27, local officials said.
The candidate who gets the most votes in a constituency wins; it”s not necessary to win an absolute majority of votes in a constituency to win the seat. The leader of the party with the most seats in the Commons traditionally gets the first chance to form a government.
Due to the structure of the British voting system, one party normally wins a majority of seats, even though there are three national parties.
The last time no one party captured more than half of the seats in the Commons was in 1974. That government proved unstable, and voters were back at the polls within months.
UK”s Cameron hit by egg on election trail
April 21, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
LONDON: British Conservative party leader David Cameron was hit by an egg thrown by a young man on the campaign trail Wednesday.
He laughed the incident off, saying he now knew which came first, the chicken or the egg. Cameron was followed by a man in a chicken suit a day before, sent by the Daily Mirror newspaper.
“I don”t think he got upset about it,” said William Littlejohn, a local Conservative party spokesman who was present, but did not see the incident at Cornwall College in Saltash, in southwest England.
“There was quite a lot of sympathy among the students, saying they hope he will come back to Cornwall,” Littlejohn said.
A 16-year-old was briefly detained and then was released to his parents, a Devon and Cornwall police spokesman told media.
“Most of the egg landed on one of David Cameron”s protection officers. The protection officer didn”t want to press any charges,” said the spokesman, who declined to be named in line with police policy.
The young man “was taken home to his mother. I understand that she wasn”t very happy,” the spokesman said.
He did not know if the egg-thrower was a student at the college.
British voters go to the polls on May 6. The race between Cameron”s Conservatives and Prime Minister Gordon Brown”s Labour party appears too close to call, partly due to a recent surge in support for the Liberal Democrats, a smaller third party.
Flying eggs, custard, paint and ink have long been an occupational hazard of a political career in Britain.
royal navy
April 19, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Three Royal Navy warships, including the flagship of the fleet, have been ordered by the government to help bring stranded travellers back to the UK. But what exactly can these ships do?
Ensigns stand before Royal Navy flag as news that HMS Albion, Ark Royal and Ocean are dispatched to save British travellers.
The three ships certainly have an illustrious record between them.
The aircraft carrier Ark Royal is the current flagship of the fleet, while the assault helicopter carrier HMS Ocean is the biggest ship in the Royal Navy – and also one of the newest.
The third vessel mentioned by Gordon Brown this morning in his rescue plan, HMS Albion, is primarily designed to “embark, transport, deploy and recover troops with their equipment and vehicles which form part of an amphibious assault force”.
However the business of recovering an estimated 150,000 Britons returning homeevery day is far different from launch a rapid naval assault.
Unlike the mass evacuation of Dunkirk’s beaches in which some half a million solders were plucked from France’s beaches in 1940, the Royal Navy will have to work out how to properly ensure all customs requirements and registration processes are dealt with.
Each warship is able to carry troops on long – term deployment, so will have accomodation and catering facilities.
For the expected short ferry across the Channel, it is conceivable that many more passengers could be fitted into the ship – at the cost of the passenger’s comfort, of course.
Tim Fish, maritime reporter for Jane’s Defence, said: “All three ships have roughly 20,000 tonnage so they’re big vessels, certainly, with lots of space to put people in.
“They’re designed to accommodate troops for long term deployments so should be able to take passengers for a short trip across the channel, no problem.
“Civilians won’t be able to roam across the ship like aboard a normal ferry. They will probably be bedded down in canteens and storage areas.
“They’ll be able to dock in the ports. They won’t be able to load and unload as fast as modern ferries and will have to manoeuvre into position.”
UK to send warships to get stranded Britons
April 19, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
LONDON: Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Britain is sending Royal Navy warships to rescue Britons stranded by the volcanic ash cloud.
Brown says the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean will be sent across the English Channel. A third ship may also be deployed. He says Britain is speaking with Spanish authorities to see whether Britons stranded overseas could be flown there and then taken home by boat or bus.
Air space in countries including Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands _ home to Europe”s largest airports have been closed for days, stranding millions of people.
Gordon Brown Says Iraq War Was “Right”
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was greeted with shouts from protesters accusing him of being a war criminal when he arrived at the public inquiry into Britain’s role in the Iraq war.
Brown insisted that he was provided with all details by his predecessor Tony Blair on the effects and consequences of the Iraq war.
Brown added that his own intelligence briefings had convinced him that Iraq was a threat that “had to be dealt with”.
Brown reminded that if the international community could not act together over Iraq, Mr Brown said, he feared the “new world order we were trying to create would be put at risk”.
