Key Quotes for 2004

Showing page 31 of 52

1... 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 ...52

Last update: Wednesday 25th March




An atheist is seeking legal action to have the US Supreme Court remove the term under God from the Pledge of Allegiance recited daily by millions of US schoolchildren. The challenge was made by Michael Newdow, a Californian, who argued that the use of the term God is an unconstitutional violation of the US separation of church and state. The government is supposed to stay out of religion, he told the court, arguing that the final phrase of the pledge - one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all - amounts to religious indoctrination. A ruling is expected within two months. The pledge dates from 1892 when the US was undergoing major social changes and large waves of immigration. It did not then contain the words under God. That was inserted in 1954 during the Cold War.
Politics	Reform - May 2004



A Which? survey of almost 2,000 households in England and Wales, revealed that about 70 per cent of people felt estate agents regularly misled them. Only one in 10 people thought they could be trusted. Almost 70 per cent of people in the Which? study thought there was an ombudsman who would deal with complaints about any estate agent, while 59 per cent though agents were compelled to sign up to a code of ethics. More than 40 per cent of consumers believe agents must be professionally trained and qualified, none of which is the case.
Housing	The Guardian - 29th April 2004



Chlamydia is diagnosed in 35,500 men and 45,500 women in England and Wales each year, doubling the figures from 1997. Among infertile couples who tested positive for antibodies, 6.8 per cent of women and 7.1 per cent of men carried chlamydia DNA in their urine.
Health	The Guardian - 29th April 2004



The steady growth in the number of pupils attending private schools slowed last year. The average fee increase of 9.6 per cent also led to a decline in the number of borders as the impact of JK Rowlings Harry Potter novels, which had led to a major revival in boarding, began to wane. The figures published in the 2004 census by the Independent Schools Council (ISC), provide a national snapshot of trends and parental choices within the private sector. They show a net rise of just 416 pupils - 0.1 per cent - compared with the previous year, On the census day in January there were 508,027 pupils in ISC schools, representing more than 80 per cent of all children in the independent sector. But youngsters attending independent schools still make up only 7.1 per cent of all pupils, with the lions share still educated in the maintained or state sector. Independent school fees rose 9.6 per cent on average last year, but were well into double digits in London and the south east. Average fees are now £3,074 a term. Boarding fees were up 9.1 per cent to £5,909, while rates at day schools rose by 10.1 per cent to £2,429. The number of day pupils held up, with an increase of 0.3 per cent, but the number of boarders fell slightly after two years of recovery following a long decline. The number of pupils from overseas rose by 3.3 per cent - due largely to an increased number of British expatriate children. Numbers from mainland China were up 13.1 per cent to 1,102. Figures for continental Europe - which contributes 28 per cent of foreign pupils - showed Germany remains the largest single source. Applications for UK university admission this autumn are 3.1 per cent higher than at the same time last year, according to figures publised today by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). There was a marked rise in applications from Cyprus, one of the countries joining the EU next month, with 1,458 applications received to date, an increase of 104.8 per cent.
Education	The Guardian - 29th April 2004



A study of the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth games shows that visitor numbers to Greater Manchester increased by 9.5 per cent from 77.1 million in 1999 to 84.4 million in 2002, with most visitors coming from the US. As a result, £2bn was generated in tourism in 2002, a 19 per cent rise on the previous year and a 27 per cent increase since 1999. Employment in the tourist sector rose by more than 10 per cent from 33,500 full time posts in 2001 to 36,900 equivalent full time posts in 2002.
Travel/Tourism	The Guardian - 29th April 2004



Only 7 per cent of caesarean births are chosen without specific medical justification - that amounts to a few thousand women. The rising rate of caesarean births is an international phenomenon. America and Britain have high rate of more than 20 per cent of all births, but there are other countries which are much higher, such as Brazil (35 per cent) and Puerto Rico (31.4 per cent). At the same time, some northern European countries such as Norway and Sweden have brought their caesarean rates down to below 10 per cent, apparently without any damaging consequences for child or mother. The World Health Organisation has suggested that the target rate for a country should be about 15 per cent and even lower for industrialised, developed countries. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has finally noticed that British women are having too many caesareans. They are having way too many hysterectomies too, but so far Nice hasn't objected.
Health	The Guardian Thursday G2 - 29th April 2004



The nation is up in arms about our young lasses penchant for boozing. Apparently, 22 per cent of girls aged 14 to 17 binge-drink, compard to 19 per cent of boys. Of those teenage girls quizzed, 60 per cent admitted that their first alcoholic drink was a premixed alcopop style beverage.
Drugs/Alcohol/Addictions	The Guardian Thursday G2 - 29th April 2004



The government has pledged that the UK will cut CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. Thats a hugely ambitious target achievable only if each of us limits the CO2 emitted in our name.
Environment	The Guardian Thursday G2 - 29th April 2004



Over 10,000 surgical and biopsy specimens were audited. Only 40 per cent of them had consent forms attached and of those only 23 per cent indicated a preference. If the human tissue bill which is legislation drawn up by the government after the organ retention scandals at Bristol Royal Infirmary and Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool, was law, that would mean that 67 per cent of the samples taken in Southampton could not be used for teaching and research. One study in the British Medical Journal found that 99 per cent of their 3,000 patients gave consent for their tissue to be used for research.
Health	The Guardian Thursday G2 - 29th April 2004



Only 47 per cent of a poll published by the New York Times and CBS News thought the US had done the right thing to invade, down from 58 per cent last month and 63 per cent in December. Among Iraqis there is barely any nostalgia for Saddam's rule and significant enthusiasm (61 per cent) for his eventual execution, after a trial. The Iraqis reserved their disdain for outsiders. Only a third thought well of the United Nations, 27 per cent looked favourably on the coalition provisional authority, 26 per cent for France and 23 per cent backing for the US. 19 per cent of Iraqis asked looked at the British government favourably, 56 per cent had an unfavourable opinion and 19 per cent were indifferent.
Disasters/War	The Guardian - 30th April 2004



Adults who are physically active reduce their risk of developing major chronic disease, such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, by up to half, and the risk of early death by about 20 - 30 per cent.
Health	The Guardian - 30th April 2004



There were calls yesterday for the closure of pubs that advertise pay £10 and drink as much as you can, as national figures showed an 11 per cent rise in violent crime and a 21 per cent surge in low level thuggery. Home Office research is showing that alcohol is the root cause of nearly half of all violent crime, and of 70 per cent of hospital emergency and accident admissions at peak times. The police recorded figures for the final quarter of 2003 and the latest British Crime Survey - show that crime overall remains stable in England and Wales, with significant falls in burglary, robbery and car crime. The police figures showed that domestic burglaries fell by a further 11 per cent, and the chance of your home being broken into is now the lowest for twenty years. Car thefts were also down by 10 per cent. The police recorded about 235,000 incidents of violence against the person in the last three months of 2003, of which 116,000 involved some kind of injury and 10,000 were classed as serious. The crime survey is based on interviews with 40,000 people. It reports that the fear of violent crime has fallen slightly in the past year, with 18 per cent of the public expressing a high level of worry, compared with 21 per cent before. The survey reports stable levels of confidence in criminal justice, with 76 per cent of those polled sayng that it treats defendants fairly, but only 34 per cent say the system is effective in reducing crime.
Crime	The Guardian - 30th April 2004



A study of a range of children's juice products found that some contained so little real juice that a child would have to down 100 cartons to consume one litre. Ribena blackcurrent juice in a 288ml carton was found to be just 6 per cent pure. The Twist -n- Squeeze orange drink was 5 per cent real juice and Robinsons Fruit Shoot Apple 11 per cent. Sunny Delight no-added-sugar Florida Style was 15 per cent pure; Tesco Kids It's very refreshing! Orange and Peach drink was 20.5 per cent; and Disney Winnie the Pooh Roo Juice Winterberry was 55 per cent. The survey, published in Food Magazine, concluded that if parents bought pure juice at the same price per ml, they would pay anywhere between £3.53 and £34.67 for a litre.
Health	The Guardian - 30th April 2004



Last month we paid 78.6p for a litre of unleaded, with three quarters going to the taxman, compared with 72.5p in Germany and 69.1p in France. The cheapest in the EU was 53.8p, in Greece. Motorists in the US paid only 26.7p. An RAC survey in March which showed the average annual cost of running a car rose by three per cent last year to £5,335 or 25 per cent of average income. The total contributed to the Treasury is about £42 billion, although only £3.7 billion is re-invested in roads and £3.7 billion in railways.
Money	The Daily Mail - 4th May 2004



The results, published in the European Journal of Neurology, showed smokers are 2.7 times more at risk of the brain disorder alzheimer's than non-smokers. Heavy smokers run a three times higher risk than light smokers.
Health	The Daily Mail - 4th May 2004

Showing page 31 of 52

1... 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 ...52