Brits face bigger energy bills to subsidise French

British customers of the French energy company EDF face higher bills to subsidise EDF’s French customers. Only two weeks ago, the company increased its gas prices for British customers by 22% but it will not be allowed to increase its prices in France by more than 5%.

The law in France restricts energy price rises to the inflation rate.

EDF has blamed the price rises on the increasing wholesale gas price, though its electricity bills have also increased sharply.

The British energy industry was privatised in 1989, and in recent times both gas and electricity prices have increased markedly. Instead of energy companies making fat profits for their executives whilst many pensioners are forced to choose between feeding themselves or heating their homes, they should be re-nationalised and there should also be an end to foreign companies having such huge stakes in the British energy market.

Unmanned planes to spy on Britons

The Government is planning to introduce unmanned planes to spy on the British public. The MoD is working alongside BAE Systems to make the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (or “UAVs”) to make an aircraft safe enough to operate on police service in the UK.

The aircraft are able to take clear photos of the ground from as high as 50,000 feet. They are widely used by British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan but so far have not been used for civilian work in the UK.

If the UAV gets approval, it could be used for crowd control, anti-terror surveillance, maritime searching and in a support role for emergency services and intelligence services.

In another BAE project, technology is being developed that will take control away from air traffic controllers and effectively allow the spy planes to make their own decisions.

And what happens if this all goes wrong? Unmanned planes crashing onto urban areas because the plane was able to make its own decisions, then developed a fault and no one was able to prevent a crash?

As well as this being another example of Big Brother Britain, the potential for disaster is enormous.

Vermin problem in NHS

A study has shown that the NHS is having serious problems with vermin in hospitals – including in operating theatres which are supposed to be sterile.

One urology unit had a problem with cockroaches, an oral surgery unit reported a problem with crickets and drain flies were found in operating theatres. Wards and a renal unit in Leeds were found to have wasps nests.

Pest control experts have warned that insects could end up passing on infections to vulnerable patients as the vermin are attracted to food waste, drains and clinical waste which could contain dangerous germs.

As well as insects, rats and mice have also been found in hospitals. Some NHS Trusts had such severe problems that pest controllers were visiting once a week to remove vermin. The biggest problem was ants, followed by mice, rats and cockroaches.

The NHS was once the envy of the world, and superbugs and wards full of vermin were unknown. The rot started with the Tories and their obsession with private contractors and going for the cheapest (and not the best) each time. The NHS has continued to decline under Labour, with superbugs such as MRSA and C.difficile regularly making news. Whilst taxpayers’ money is spent on over-inflated salaries for health trust bosses, and even more money siphoned off for foreign aid, our once-great NHS is unable to provide even basic care for patients if they cannot even keep the wards clean and vermin-free