1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
The National Archives (United Kingdom)
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The National Archives is a non-ministerial government department. Its parent department is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom and it is the official archive of the UK government and for England and Wales, and guardian of some of the nations most iconic documents, dating back more than 1,000 years. There are separate national archives for Scotland and Northern Ireland, TNA was formerly four separate organisations, the Public Record Office, the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Office of Public Sector Information and Her Majestys Stationery Office. It is institutional policy to include the article, with an initial capital letter, in its name. The National Archives is based in Kew in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London, the building was opened in 1977 as an additional home for the public records, which were held in a building on Chancery Lane. The site was originally a World War I hospital, which was used by several government departments. It is near to Kew Gardens Underground station, until its closure in March 2008, the Family Records Centre in Islington was run jointly by The National Archives and the General Register Office. The National Archives has an office in Norwich, which is primarily for former OPSI staff. There is also a record storage facility in the worked-out parts of Winsford Rock Salt Mine, Winsford. For earlier history, see Public Record Office, the name remained The National Archives. This work helps inform todays decisions and ensure that they become tomorrows permanent record, the National Archives has long had a role of oversight and leadership for the entire archives sector and archives profession in the UK, including local government and non-governmental archives. Under the Public Records Act 1958 it is responsible for overseeing the appropriate custody of certain non-governmental public records in England, under the 2003 Historical Manuscripts Commission Warrant it has responsibility for investigating and reporting on non-governmental records and archives of all kinds throughout the United Kingdom. The National Archives now sees part of its role as being to enhance the archival health of the nation. The collections held by the National Archives can be searched using their online catalogue, entrance to The National Archives is free. Anybody aged 16 or over can access the documents at the Kew site. The reading room has terminals from which documents can be ordered up from secure storage areas by their reference number, Documents can also be ordered in advance. Once a document has been ordered, The National Archives aims to get it to the reader within 45 minutes, special arrangements are in place for readers wishing to retrieve large groups of files. A readers ticket is not needed to access records on microform or online, frequently accessed documents such as the Abdication Papers have been put on microfilm, as have records for two million First World War soldiers
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Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
4.
United Kingdom general election, 2005
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The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday,5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party led by Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, as of 2017, it remains the last Labour general election victory in the UK. The Labour campaign emphasised a strong economy, however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity even before the decision to send British troops to invade Iraq in 2003. The Liberal Democrats, led by Charles Kennedy, were opposed to the Iraq War given that there had no second UN resolution. Tony Blair was returned as Prime Minister, with Labour having 355 MPs but with a vote of 35. 2%. In terms of votes they were only ahead of the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats saw their vote increase by 3. 7% and won the most seats for any third party since 1923. The more hardline Democratic Unionist Party became the largest Northern Irish party, the election results were broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by Peter Snow, David Dimbleby, Jeremy Paxman and Andrew Marr. The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, was looking to secure a consecutive term in office. The Conservative Party was seeking to regain seats lost to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats since the 1992 general election, and move from being the Official Opposition into government. The Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both parties, but especially the Conservative Party, with a decapitation strategy targeting members of the Shadow Cabinet. The pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru stood candidates in every constituency in Scotland, many seats were contested by other parties, including several parties without incumbents in the House of Commons. The Health Concern party also stood again, a full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on the list of parties contesting the 2005 general election. All parties campaigned using such tools as party manifestos, party political broadcasts, local elections in parts of England and in Northern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for fifteen hours, from 07,00 to 22,00 BST, the election came just over three weeks after the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April by Queen Elizabeth II, at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April, thanks to eight years of sustained economic growth Labour could point to a strong economy, with greater investment in public services such as education and health. This was overshadowed, however, by the issue of the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq, which met widespread public criticism at the time, and would dog Blair throughout the campaign. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, played a prominent role in the campaign, frequently appearing with Tony Blair
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Energy in the United Kingdom
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Energy use in the United Kingdom stood at 2,249 TWh in 2014. This equates to energy consumption per capita of 34.82 MWh compared to a 2010 world average of 21.54 MWh, demand for electricity in 2014 was 34. 42GW on average coming from a total electricity generation of 335. 0TWh. Successive UK governments have outlined numerous commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, notably, the UK is one of the best sites in Europe for wind energy, and wind power production is its fastest growing supply, in 2014 it generated 9. 3% of the UKs total electricity. Government commitments to reduce emissions are occurring against a backdrop of economic crisis across Europe, during the European financial crisis, Europe’s consumption of electricity shrank by 5%, with primary production also facing a noticeable decline. Britains trade deficit was reduced by 8% due to cuts in energy imports. Between 2007 and 2015, the UKs peak electrical demand fell from 61.5 GW to 52.7. GW, UK government energy policy aims to play a key role in limiting greenhouse gas emissions, whilst meeting energy demand. Shifting availabilities of resources and development of technologies also change the energy mix through changes in costs. In 2016, the United Kingdom was ranked 12th in the World on the Environmental Performance Index, as recently as 2004, the UK was a net exporter of energy, however by 2010, more than 25% of UK energy was imported. Scotland cut climate emissions by around 46% between 1990 and 2014, Scotland aims to have a carbon-free electricity sector based on renewable energy sources by 2032. Scotland also aims to repair 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands, during 2008, the total energy consumed in the United Kingdom was 234.4 million tonnes of oil equivalent. Concerns over peak oil have been raised by high-profile voices in the United Kingdom such as Sir David King, the latters 2010 report states that The next five years will see us face another crunch - the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare, the challenge is to use that time well. United Kingdom produced 60% of its natural gas in 2010. In five years the United Kingdom moved from almost gas self-sufficient to 40% gas import in 2010, Gas was almost 40% of total primary energy supply and electricity more than 45% in 2010. Underground storage was about 5% of annual demand and more than 10% of net imports, there is an alternative fuel obligation in the United Kingdom. Gasfields include Amethyst gasfield, Armada gasfield, Easington Catchment Area, East Knapton, Everest gasfield, a gas leak occurred in March 2012 at the Elgin-Franklin fields, where about 200,000 cubic metres of gas was escaping every day. Total missed out on about £83m of potential income, during the 1960s growth slowed as the market became saturated. The United Kingdom is planning to reform its electricity market and it plans to introduce a capacity mechanism and contracts for difference to encourage the building of new generation
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BBC News
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BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the worlds largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, the service maintains 50 foreign news bureaux with more than 250 correspondents around the world. James Harding has been Director of News and Current Affairs since April 2013, the departments annual budget is in excess of £350 million, it has 3,500 staff,2,000 of whom are journalists. BBC News domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in Millbank in London. Through the BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England, as well as national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland, all nations and English regions produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes. As with all media outlets, though, it has been accused of political bias from across the political spectrum. The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin from radio station 2LO on 14 November 1922, on Easter weekend in 1930, this reliance on newspaper wire services left the radio news service with no information to report. The BBC gradually gained the right to edit the copy and, in 1934, however, it could not broadcast news before 6 PM until World War II. Gaumont British and Movietone cinema newsreels had been broadcast on the TV service since 1936, a weekly Childrens Newsreel was inaugurated on 23 April 1950, to around 350,000 receivers. The network began simulcasting its radio news on television in 1946, televised bulletins began on 5 July 1954, broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. The publics interest in television and live events was stimulated by Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953 and it is estimated that up to 27 million people viewed the programme in the UK, overtaking radios audience of 12 million for the first time. Those live pictures were fed from 21 cameras in central London to Alexandra Palace for transmission and that year, there were around two million TV Licences held in the UK, rising to over three million the following year, and four and a half million by 1955. This was then followed by the customary Television Newsreel with a commentary by John Snagge. It was revealed that this had been due to producers fearing a newsreader with visible facial movements would distract the viewer from the story. On-screen newsreaders were finally introduced a year later in 1955 – Kenneth Kendall, Robert Dougall, mainstream television production had started to move out of Alexandra Palace in 1950 to larger premises – mainly at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherds Bush, west London – taking Current Affairs with it. It was from here that the first Panorama, a new programme, was transmitted on 11 November 1953. On 28 October 1957, the Today programme, a radio programme, was launched in central London on the Home Service. In 1958, Hugh Carleton Greene became head of News and Current Affairs and he set up a BBC study group whose findings, published in 1959, were critical of what the television news operation had become under his predecessor, Tahu Hole
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Private Eye
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Private Eye is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986 and it is also known for its in-depth investigative journalism into under-reported scandals and cover-ups. Private Eye is Britains best-selling current affairs magazine, and such is its long-term popularity, the magazine bucks the trend of declining circulation for print media, having recorded its highest ever circulation in the second half of 2016. The forerunner of Private Eye was a magazine, The Salopian, published at Shrewsbury School in the mid-1950s and edited by Richard Ingrams, Willie Rushton, Christopher Booker. After National Service, Ingrams and Foot went as undergraduates to Oxford University, the magazine proper began when Usborne learned of a new printing process, photo-litho offset, which meant that anybody with a typewriter and Letraset could produce a magazine. The publication was funded by Osmond and launched in 1961. It was named when Osmond looked for ideas in the recruiting poster of Lord Kitchener and, in particular. After the name Finger was rejected, Osmond suggested Private Eye, the magazine was initially edited by Booker and designed by Rushton, who drew cartoons for it. Its subsequent editor, Ingrams, who was pursuing a career as an actor, shared the editorship with Booker, from around issue number 10. At first, Private Eye was a vehicle for jokes, an extension of the original school magazine. However, according to Booker, it got caught up in the rage for satire, others essential to the development of the magazine were Auberon Waugh, Claud Cockburn, Barry Fantoni, Gerald Scarfe, Tony Rushton, Patrick Marnham and Candida Betjeman. Christopher Logue was another contributor, providing the column True Stories. The gossip columnist Nigel Dempster wrote extensively for the magazine before he fell out with Ian Hislop and other writers, while Foot wrote on politics, local government, Ingrams continued as editor until 1986, when he was succeeded by Hislop. Ingrams remains chairman of the holding company, Private Eye often reports on the misdeeds of powerful and important individuals and, consequently, has received numerous libel writs throughout its history. Its defenders point out that it often carries news that the press will not print for fear of legal reprisals or because the material is of minority interest. As well as covering a range of current affairs, Private Eye is also known for highlighting the errors. It reports on parliamentary and national issues, with regional and local politics covered in equal depth under the Rotten Boroughs column. Extensive investigative journalism is published under the In the Back section, often tackling cover-ups, Stories sometimes originate from writers for more mainstream publications who cannot get their stories published by their main employers
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United Kingdom general election, February 1974
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The United Kingdoms general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th day of that month. Instead there was a parliament, even though many people had expected a Conservative victory for Edward Heath. Labour won the most seats with the Conservatives on 297 seats, in contrast the Scottish National Party achieved significant success in this election. They increased their share of the vote in Scotland from 11% to 22%. There were also the first Plaid Cymru MPs to be elected in an election in Wales. But even with over six million votes, only 14 Liberal MPs were elected, there had been some media expectation that the Liberals could take twice as many seats. Heath did not resign immediately as Prime Minister, Thorpe, never enthusiastic about supporting the Conservatives, demanded major electoral reforms in exchange for such an agreement. Unwilling to accept terms, Heath resigned and Wilson returned for his second spell as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Liberals did not have enough seats to combine with another party to achieve an overall majority and this made the formation of a stable government in this parliament a practical impossibility. Wilson was widely expected from the outset to call another election before long. The election night was covered live on the BBC, and presented by Alastair Burnet, David Butler, Robert McKenzie, the severe economic circumstances in which the election was held promoted both The Sun and the Daily Mirror to characterise it as a ‘crisis election’. Jim Prior later wrote that the miners had been as quiet, the three-day week continued throughout the election, however, Heath did allow the late-night television curfew to be lifted to allow more coverage of the campaign. The low profile of the miners strike allowed worries over inflation to dominate the election, on 15 February it was announced that the Retail Price Index showed a 20% increase in prices over the previous year. This came as a blow to the Conservative position. In a speech in Birmingham on 23 February, Powell claimed the issue in the campaign was whether Britain was to remain a democratic nation. This speech promoted The Sun to run the headline Enoch puts the boot in, a few days later he said he hoped for victory by the party which is committed to a fundamental renegotiation of the Treaty of Brussels and to submitting to the British People. These were the explicit manifesto promises of the Labour party, Heath addressed the country on television on the evening of 7 February, and asked, Do you want a strong Government which has clear authority for the future to take decisions which will be needed. Do you want Parliament and the elected Government to continue to fight strenuously against inflation, or do you want them to abandon the struggle against rising prices under pressure from one particularly powerful group of workers
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Department for Work and Pensions
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The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for welfare and pension policy. The Department was initially tasked with creating Jobcentre Plus and the Pensions Service from the remains of the Employment Service, the Department is therefore responsible for welfare and pension policy. It aims to help its customers become financially independent and to reduce child poverty. The departments ministers are, The Permanent Secretary is Robert Devereux, with the creation of the department in June 2001, the Pension Service was created, bringing together many different departments and divisions. The Pension Service is a service for current and future pensioners. The Pension Service consists of local Pension Centres and centrally-based centres, at Tyneview Park the following centres are found, Future Pension Centre provides state pension forecasts for people approaching retirement age. Newcastle Pension Centre originally dealt with the London area and Home counties, now the service is virutal so all pension centres deal with all areas of the country. Pension Tracing Service helps track old pensions and pension schemes, international Pension Centre deals with all enquiries regarding the payment of state pension, bereavement benefits, incapacity benefits and other such benefits for those living abroad. Local Pension Centres deal with localised claims for state pension and retirement related benefits, Pension Centres are found all over the country. Both former agencies kept their corporate branding and provided services under their separate identities, the decision was made due to the two agencies sharing roughly fifty percent of the same customers and as a single agency, the rationalisation of services would provide a better service for customers. Prior to July 2012 the Child Support Agency was the arm of the Child Maintenance. All are now operated wholly from within the department, with the names continuing as brand identifiers, Jobcentre Plus, The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service operate through a network of around 1,000 Jobcentres, contact centres and benefit processing centres across the UK. After the departure of John Suffolk as Government Chief Information Officer in November 2010, the total annual budget of the department in 2011-12 is £151.6 billion, representing approximately 28% of total UK Government spending. The department spends a far greater share of wealth than any other department in Britain. The department spends an average of £348.9 million with suppliers a month, a report of February 2012 stated that a sum amounting to billions of pounds of money payable through possible benefit claims had not been claimed. The department is a commissioner of external social science research, with the objective of providing the evidence base needed to inform departmental strategy, policy-making. The department has developed and uses various microsimulation and other models, including the Policy Simulation Model, Pensim2, datasets held include the LLMDB and the Family Resources Survey. Employment, health and safety, and social security policy are reserved matters in Scotland, Employment and health and safety policy are fully devolved
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Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
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The department was also responsible for the delivery of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and the building of a Digital Economy. The DCMS originates from the Department of National Heritage, which itself was created on 11 April 1992 out of other departments. The former Ministers for the Arts and for Sport had previously located in other departments. The DNH was renamed as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 14 July 1997, the June 2007 Cabinet reshuffle led to Tessa Jowell MP taking on the role of Paymaster General and then Minister for the Cabinet Office while remaining Minister for the Olympics. Ministerial responsibility for the Olympics was shared with Ms Jowell in the Cabinet Office, following the 2010 general election, ministerial responsibility for the Olympics returned to the Secretary of State. Although Jeremy Hunts full title was Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, on 4 September 2012, Hunt was appointed Health Secretary in a cabinet reshuffle and replaced by Maria Miller. Maria Miller later resigned due to controversy over her expenses and her replacement was announced later that day as Sajid Javid. After the 2015 general election, John Whittingdale was appointed as Secretary of State, DCMS received full responsibility for the digital economy policy, formerly jointly held with BIS, and sponsorship of the Information Commissioners Office from the Ministry of Justice. The department also gained two additional ministers, Baroness Shields and Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Whittingdale was replaced by Karen Bradley after the referendum on the UKs membership of the EU in July 2016. The Secretary of State has responsibility for the maintenance of the land, DCMS continues to make a separate small grant to the Royal Household for the maintenance of Marlborough House The Department also has responsibility for state ceremonial occasions and royal funerals. However, responsibility for the Civil List element of Head of State expenditure, DCMS organises the annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Cenotaph and has responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance in the event of a disaster. In the Governments response to the 7 July 2005 London bombings the department coordinated humanitarian support to the relatives of victims, the main offices are at 100 Parliament Street, occupying part of the building known as Government Offices Great George Street. The DCMS Ministers are as follows, The Permanent Secretary is Sue Owen CB, the DCMS has policy responsibility for three statutory corporations and two public broadcasting authorities. These bodies and their operation are largely independent of Government policy influence, the Museum of London transferred to the Greater London Authority from 1 April 2008. DCMS formerly sponsored eight Regional Cultural Consortiums with NDPB status, media-related policy is generally reserved to Westminster i. e. not devolved. United Kingdom budget Digital Economy Act 2010 Culture, Media and Sport Committee Official website DCMS YouTube channel
