News.Scotland.Org

July 24

In order to tackle the illegal file sharing on internet to download music a new annual charge of up to £30 has been proposed yesterday. This new law will be beneficial to overcome the rising online music piracy and will also help the music industry to curb down such illegal operations happening online.

It was reported that in the process of stopping this online piracy letters will be send to those users, suspected of file-sharing by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. It was also said, that the internet companies have agreed to make sure their customers do know that its illegal to share copyright music. The government has taken this decisive step due to the continuous rise in such illegal downloading via internet.

If we look at the figures we can spot that over six million people downloads file illegally in the UK every year. This itself tells how rapidly the illegal downloading is going on without any check. It is expected that this new policy will somehow curb this growing piracy and will also educate people about the illegal business going on.

July 23

Too much of every thing is bad; the same applies with the consumption of salt. Reports suggest that Britain’s are consuming lot of salt in their daily diet making them vulnerable to many fatal diseases. Study has revealed that people of Britain are eating almost 50 per cent more salt content than the recommended levels. The research has revealed that in recent years the average salt consumption has also jumped remarkably among the UK people.

As per the reports of the Food Standard Agency (FSA) Britain’s are consuming about 8.6g of salt on an average which is well above the prescribed level of 6g for both men and women. On the contrary if we look at the actual graph we can spot that men are consuming 9.7g of salt on an average while women consume 7.7g on an average.

In order to cut down this high salt intake by these UK people FSA has decided to introduce some plans keeping a check on the excess salt consumption. In this programme they will be targeting the food industry by cutting down salt level from products like bacon, ham, cakes and snacks. Experts have also said that if the daily salt intake in the UK is reduced to 6g then about 20,200 premature deaths a year from heart attacks and strokes caused by high blood pressure can be avoided.

The Food Standard Agency (FSA) is looking forward to take help of the food industry by encouraging them to cut short the amount of salt they use in different food stuffs. Meanwhile taking into count the importance of this issue the food manufacturers have already taken a positive move in the drive to slash the salt levels in food. They have cut down the salt content to a decent level from breakfast and morning snacks. FSA is also taking the initiative to work on with the catering industry to improve the nutritional content of food eaten out of the home.

Looking at large the catering industries do come in to the picture as most of the people usually have their meals or breakfast out of home. So if these catering industries will reduce the salt level then it will be a great help to cut down the increased salt intake by people. This will also help to control the increasing number of deaths caused by excess intake of salts by people.

July, 21

Government figures have revealed that there has been a substantial rise in the number of knife attacks among prison inmates in recent past. Looking at the figures one can know that there were 208 such incidents involving knife or blade as the main weapon in the assault in the English and Welsh prison last year. This number is far more than that of the previous years.

The sudden rise in these violent incidents among the prison inmates is a matter to be sought out soon. This violent behaviour by these prisoners has jumped almost double the numbers in 2007. The weapons these adult prisoners used include knifes, hot liquid, thrown furniture, and blunt instruments.

With such a violent condition in the prison several questions are raised as to what exactly is the reason for this nuisance. It was also felt that may be the rise in the population of prisoners can be one of the reasons for this growing number of violent incidents.

The prison authorities are planning out some concrete measure to make sure these violent attacks among prisoner shall drop to some extent.

July20

Have you ever wondered that music and drinks do have some connection, well if not then you might be amazed to known that loud music can make you drink more. It sounds a bit strange but research has revealed that ear-splitting music in bars and pubs do make people to drink more heavily and quickly.

In the study it was found that these drinking centres usually have a loud atmosphere with thunderous music which some how affect the patrons drinking habits. In the study done on a group of men it was found the men tended to drink more and in short time when they were exposed to high sound levels.

Another essential factor which has been known during the study was that loud music not only makes one to drink more and quick but it also makes the patron spend more time in these bar. According to Prof. Nicolas Gueguen the research head, higher sound levels may cause higher arousal which in-turn led to drink faster and more. Also this loud music doesn’t give the patrons much chance to talk too much which also adds to the quantity they drink.

It very well known that Scotland is badly affected by binge drinking and in such a situation this study has raised a question as to how much these clubs and bars are contributing to this problem.

July, 18

You might be amazed to know that nearly one if every five UK in the age of 16 to 17 do nothing. A recent study done by the London School of Economic has revealed that about 18% of these youths neither are working nor are studying; in short they are doing nothing.

This hardening fact has raised a serious question on the way these teenagers are just wasting their time doing nothing. The government is trying all measure to make sure that these youths are either stay engaged in working or studying. Another factor is the curriculum which is not giving these teens those additional skills they would be requiring to make a mark in the work industry.

Meanwhile educationists have agreed to the fact that the curriculum lacks at some stage to give these youths an appropriate work. Richard Wainer, education and skills advisor to the CBI expressed that a major crunch of youths are just wasting their potentials. He further added that the education pattern needs an improvement in its variety and also should be made more flexible, even these youths should be provided with more opportunities to prove themselves with internships and apprenticeships.

If we look at the current trend in the work culture the employers are expecting too much from their employees. And to match up with the expectations these youths needs a job oriented curriculum and skilled training.

July, 17

An interesting research has revealed that Britain parents are the most protective parents in the world. The reason behind this lies in the fact that these parents not even let their wards to roam much further than their front gardens. They are so protective, that they keep an eye on their children so that they won’t get far from their home alone.

The other side of this protective tendency is the fear of making children dependent and keeping them aside of the carefree upbringing. The study also found that the UK mother has shown more interest to keep a close eye on their children’s activities. The parents may be following this tendency for the sake of their wards but to some extent this over-protective nature is depriving kids of their childhood.

If we compare this protective approach of parents with other countries we can easily find that other than UK, all other places have a quite relaxed approach towards the children. In Argentina about 18 percent of mothers have expressed that they wanted to watch over what their children were doing, in US 15 per cent, South Africa 14 per cent, France 10 per cent, China 8 per cent, Brazil 7 per cent and India 4 per cent. These figures clearly show how other countries are having a low rate of over protectiveness towards their children in comparison to the UK.

Experts have expressed fear that if the parents in UK would continue this same approach towards their children, then in long run it could harm their children’s freedom. It will further affect their creativity and will harm their ability to form social relationships. Even it is said that children should be motivated to behave like children and most essentially they need time to explore and play in order to have formative experiences. This over protective trend shown by parents needs a change and children should have some freedom for sure.

July, 17

You all might have heard about the most expensive place to live, but have you ever heard about the most expensive place to die. If not then it’s the buzzing capital of Scotland, ‘Edinburgh’ the historical city was yesterday named as the most expensive place to die in Britain.

Study has showed that the cost of funeral has jumped twice the rates in comparison with the rates of other cities. Looking at the study done by DWP we can find that the cost of a standard funeral, which includes director fees, a coffin, transfer of the deceased and cost of burial has jumped two times in recent time.

Earlier the average cost of funeral in Edinburgh was around £1,600 which has now jumped to £3,200. This unusual rise has taken everyone for surprise. With the inflation over burdening people with more expenses, this increasing funeral cost has made the situation more adverse for them.

The aid which UK government is providing to people to help in their funeral cost has also been not revised since 2003. All this has somehow made people feel more worried to overcome this increasing cost trend which is haunting them after their death too.    

July, 16 

The buzzing capital city of Edinburgh is gearing up to host the two-day rugby league which is said to earn £4.2 million for the city. Thousands of rugby enthusiast and travellers are expected to turn out for this sporting extravaganza. 

This two-day rugby league will feature seven matches which is said to attract a massive crowd. This sporting spectacle will be a great time for the city hotels, restaurants and bars to make some good money. It was told that Edinburgh has been successful in its bid for the Magic Weekend, which next year will be held at Murrayfield rather than Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. This rugby fest is said to be a wonderful event with lots of excitements, thrill and celebration for all.

The two-day of rugby mania will be nothing less than any carnival or festivity with over 67000 spectators catching the active live. Nigel Wood, chief executive of the Rugby Football League said, “We have always had terrific relations between all the clubs. I am not sure how many other mainstream sports could envisage bringing their biggest clubs together at one venue to play a set of games in one weekend. 

The Magic Weekend has come up as great news for all; people are looking forward for this two-day festivity with immense pleasure.   

July, 15

Rise in the inflation rates are rightly expected with the upward trend in the prices of food items and fuel. It was noticed that the rapid rise in the prices of these commodities has affected the inflation rates. It is known that the consumer price inflation is already at 3.3 percent which is 10-year high and even the bank of England has said that it is expecting a further rise in the prices of inflation later this year.

The figures have also shown that the number of people moving house is also at its lowest since 1978. All these figures have highlighted the fact that with such a market trend the spending of consumers is gradually slowing down.

Inflation has forced the consumers to restrict their spending with the rising prices of variety of commodities. This has put a pressure on the back of these consumers who are feeling a bit uncomfortable with the increase in prices of food and fuel.

Even the shopkeepers are facing a tough time with this price rise, as shoppers are not showing keen interest to splurge on commodities with this inflationary rise. The retail sale fell by 0.4 percent in comparison with June 2007, while total sale including stores rose by 2.1 percent. Food and drink was the only sector which showed some signs of growth, whilst clothing and footwear sales were at its low.

July, 14

A fresh campaign is all set to be launched to crackdown the increasing alcohol-fuelled violence in Scotland. It was quite evident how underage-drinking and binge drinking has been on a rise in Scotland and has taken shape of a major issue these days. This campaign will help to reduce the anti-social behaviour among youths and will also try to curb the under-age drinking.

It is been found that drinking mainly surges during school holidays and that brings in more tensions in the form of alcohol-fuelled violence. The campaign will focus on to reduce the increasing street drinking culture and will deal with this serious issue using byelaws. Apart from this a two-week drink/drug driving campaign will also be started which will focus on men aged from 17-29. Police patrols will also be tightened and more frequent to combat any such drinking driving incidents.

The check on the drinking driving will help to curb the growing numbers of accidents in which many innocent lives are lost daily. The campaign will convince such drivers that the conviction in these cases can ruin their lives by affecting their future prospects and professional life.

To make sure that the under-age drinking problem is dealt properly, it is necessary that the parents take some interest to known what’s happening in their wards life. The parents should keep an eye on their children’s and should prevent them from falling into the trap of this drinking culture. Now time will tell how this campaign gets on and helps to crackdown this rising incidents of alcohol-fuelled violence and under-age drinking.