1.
Government of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
2.
Weapon of mass destruction
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The scope and usage of the term has evolved and been disputed, often signifying more politically than technically. Who can think without horror of another widespread war would mean. At the time, nuclear weapons had not been developed, japan conducted research on biological weapons, and chemical weapons had seen wide battlefield use in World War I. They were outlawed by the Geneva Protocol of 1925, Italy used mustard gas against civilians and soldiers in Ethiopia in 1935–36. Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II and during the Cold War, the application of the term to specifically nuclear and radiological weapons is traced by William Safire to the Russian phrase Оружие массового поражения – oruzhiye massovogo porazheniya. That exact phrase, says Safire, was used by Bernard Baruch in 1946. The resolution also created the Atomic Energy Commission, an exact use of this term was given in a lecture Atomic Energy as an Atomic Problem by J. Robert Oppenheimer. The lecture was delivered to the Foreign Service and the State Department, the lecture is reprinted in The Open Mind. The term was used in the introduction to the hugely influential U. S. government document known as NSC-68 written in April 1950. During a speech at Rice University on 12 September 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke of not filling space with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. The following month, during a presentation about the Cuban Missile Crisis on 22 October 1962. An early use of the phrase in an international treaty was in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. During the Cold War, the weapons of mass destruction was primarily a reference to nuclear weapons. This policy of action against real or perceived weapons of mass destruction became known as the Begin Doctrine. Reagans successor, George H. W. Bush, used the term in an 1989 speech to the United Nations, the end of the Cold War reduced U. S. reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrent, causing it to shift its focus to disarmament. With the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and 1991 Gulf War, Iraqs nuclear, biological, following the war, Bill Clinton and other western politicians and media continued to use the term, usually in reference to ongoing attempts to dismantle Iraqs weapons programs. After the 11 September 2001 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, however, American forces found none in Iraq. Iraq, however, declared a chemical weapons stockpile in 2009, the stockpile contained mainly chemical precursors, but some warheads remained usable
3.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
4.
2003 invasion of Iraq
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The 2003 invasion of Iraq lasted from 20 March to 1 May 2003 and signalled the start of the Iraq War, which was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States. 160,000 troops were sent by the Coalition into Iraq, during the invasion phase. About 130,000 were sent from the USA alone, with about 28,000 British soldiers, Australia,36 other countries were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion,100,000 U. S. troops were assembled in Kuwait by 18 February, the coalition forces also received support from Kurdish irregulars in Iraqi Kurdistan. Others place a greater emphasis on the impact of the September 11 attacks, and the role this played in changing U. S. strategic calculations. The invasion of Iraq was strongly opposed by some long-standing U. S. allies, including the governments of France, Germany, and New Zealand. Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of weapons of destruction in Iraq. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April 2003,36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. The invasion was preceded by an airstrike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 20 March 2003, the following day, coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Province from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the army into chaos. The main body of forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq. Most of the Iraqi military was defeated and Baghdad was occupied on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi army, including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May, an end of combat operations was declared, ending the invasion period. Hostilities of the 1991 Gulf War were suspended on 28 February 1991 and it was revealed that a biological weapons program in Iraq had begun in the early 1980s with help from the U. S. and Europe in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972. The investigation concluded there was no evidence the program had continued after the war. The U. S. and its allies then maintained a policy of containment towards Iraq, Iraqi military helicopters and planes regularly contested the no-fly zones. In October 1998, removing the Saddam regime became official U. S. foreign policy with enactment of the Iraq Liberation Act
5.
Chemical weapon
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A chemical weapon is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. Munitions or other devices designed to deliver chemical weapons, whether filled or unfilled, are also considered weapons themselves. Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of destruction, though they are distinct from nuclear weapons, biological weapons. All may be used in warfare and are known by the military acronym NBC, Weapons of mass destruction are distinct from conventional weapons, which are primarily effective due to their explosive, kinetic, or incendiary potential. Chemical weapons can be dispersed in gas, liquid and solid forms. Nerve gas, tear gas and pepper spray are three examples of CW. Lethal, unitary, chemical agents and munitions are extremely volatile, unitary agents are effective on their own and do not require mixing with other agents. The most dangerous of these are agents, GA, GB, GD, and VX as well as vesicant agents, which are formulations of sulfur mustard such as H, HT. They all are liquids at room temperature, but become gaseous when released. Widely used during the First World War, the effects of so-called mustard gas, phosgene gas and others caused lung searing, blindness, death and maiming. As of 2016, CS gas and pepper spray remain in use for policing and riot control, while CS is considered a non-lethal weapon. Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, there is a binding, worldwide ban on the production, stockpiling. Notwithstanding, large stockpiles of CW continue to exist, usually justified as a precaution against putative use by an aggressor. A separate declaration stated that in any war between signatory powers, the parties would abstain from using projectiles the object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases. The Washington Naval Treaty, signed February 6,1922, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, aimed at banning CW, the subsequent failure to include CW has contributed to the resultant increase in stockpiles. It was signed at Geneva June 17,1925, and entered force on February 8,1928. 133 nations are listed as state parties to the treaty, ukraine is the newest signatory, acceding August 7,2003. This treaty states that chemical and biological weapons are justly condemned by the opinion of the civilised world
6.
Biological warfare
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Biological weapons are living organisms or replicating entities that reproduce or replicate within their host victims. Entomological warfare is considered a type of biological weapon. None of these are conventional weapons, which are deployed primarily for their explosive, kinetic, Biological weapons may be employed in various ways to gain a strategic or tactical advantage over the enemy, either by threats or by actual deployments. Like some of the weapons, biological weapons may also be useful as area denial weapons. These agents may be lethal or non-lethal, and may be targeted against a single individual and they may be developed, acquired, stockpiled or deployed by nation states or by non-national groups. In the latter case, or if a nation-state uses it clandestinely, toxins and psychochemical weapons are often referred to as midspectrum agents. Unlike bioweapons, these agents do not reproduce in their host and are typically characterized by shorter incubation periods. Offensive biological warfare, including production, stockpiling and use of biological weapons, was outlawed by the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. Many countries, including signatories of the BWC, currently pursue research into the defense or protection against BW, a nation or group that can pose a credible threat of mass casualty has the ability to alter the terms on which other nations or groups interact with it. Therefore, biological agents may be useful as strategic deterrents in addition to their utility as offensive weapons on the battlefield. As a tactical weapon for use, a significant problem with a BW attack is that it would take days to be effective. Some biological agents have the capability of person-to-person transmission via aerosolized respiratory droplets and this feature can be undesirable, as the agent may be transmitted by this mechanism to unintended populations, including neutral or even friendly forces. While containment of BW is less of a concern for criminal or terrorist organizations, it remains a significant concern for the military. Rudimentary forms of warfare have been practiced since antiquity. During the 6th century BC, the Assyrians poisoned enemy wells with a fungus that would render the enemy delirious, in 1346, the bodies of Mongol warriors of the Golden Horde who had died of plague were thrown over the walls of the besieged Crimean city of Kaffa. Specialists disagree over whether this operation may have been responsible for the spread of the Black Death into Europe, the British Army used smallpox against Native Americans during the Siege of Fort Pitt in 1763. An outbreak that left as many as one hundred Native Americans dead in Ohio Country was reported in 1764, the spread of the disease weakened the natives resistance to the British troops led by Henry Bouquet. It is not clear, however, whether the smallpox was a result of the Fort Pitt incident or the virus was present among the Delaware people
7.
Nuclear weapon
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A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from small amounts of matter. The first test of a bomb released the same amount of energy as approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The first thermonuclear bomb test released the same amount of energy as approximately 10 million tons of TNT, a thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than 2,400 pounds can produce an explosive force comparable to the detonation of more than 1.2 million tons of TNT. A nuclear device no larger than traditional bombs can devastate a city by blast, fire. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of destruction, and their use. Nuclear weapons have been used twice in nuclear warfare, both times by the United States against Japan near the end of World War II, the bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 civilians and military personnel from acute injuries sustained from the explosions. The ethics of the bombings and their role in Japans surrender remain the subject of scholarly, since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have been detonated on over two thousand occasions for the purposes of testing and demonstration. Only a few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them, israel is also believed to possess nuclear weapons, though in a policy of deliberate ambiguity, it does not acknowledge having them. Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands are nuclear weapons sharing states, south Africa is the only country to have independently developed and then renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons. Modernisation of weapons continues to occur, all existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly referred to as bombs or atom bombs. This has long noted as something of a misnomer, as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom. The latter approach is considered more sophisticated than the former and only the approach can be used if the fissile material is plutonium. A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons of TNT, all fission reactions necessarily generate fission products, the radioactive remains of the atomic nuclei split by the fission reactions. Many fission products are highly radioactive or moderately radioactive. Fission products are the radioactive component of nuclear fallout
8.
Iraq Survey Group
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Its final report is commonly referred to as the Duelfer Report. The report acknowledged that only small stockpiles of chemical WMDs were found, the ISG was made up of more than one thousand American, British and Australian citizens, with the United States providing the bulk of the personnel and resources for the operation. These people included civilian and military intelligence and WMD experts, as well as a number of people working to provide armed security. David Kay, who had been a weapons inspector after the first Gulf War, was chosen to head the group. The agency tasked as the head U. S. government agency of the ISG was a joint venture of the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency, a Department of Defense intelligence agency. Chosen as the military officer of the ISG was MG Keith Dayton. The ISG was a combined joint/multi-agency intelligence task force operating in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and it was made up of personnel from all four services, US Government Agencies, the Australian and UK Armed Forces as well as UK and Australian Governmental Agencies. The ISGs mission also included the investigation into the fate of United States Navy Captain Michael Scott Speicher. Initially presumed dead, he was declared missing when evidence emerged after the war that he had survived the crash of his aircraft. On August 2,2009, the Navy reported that Speichers remains were found in Iraq by United States Marines belonging to MNF-Ws Task Force Military Police. His jawbone was used to him after study at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base. According to local civilians, Speicher was buried by Bedouins after his plane was shot down, the evidence proved that Speicher did not survive the crash. The three sectors were North, Baghdad and South, with Sector Control Point-Baghdad being the primary, the bulk of the ISG staff and SCP-B were located on Camp Slayer at the former Al Radwaniyah Presidential Site on Baghdad International Airport in western Baghdad. One of the major supporting elements of the ISG was the Combined Media Processing Center and it consisted of four components, CMPC-Main at Camp Al Sayliyah, Qatar, CMPC-Baghdad located on Camp Slayer, as well as CMPC-North, and CMPC-South. The initial nucleus of the CMPC were drawn from DIA document exploitation personnel, acting as an independent entity outside of the normal chain of command, it surveyed and exploited hundreds of possible WMD sites across the breadth of Iraq with very few problems. There were two incidents which incurred fatalities, the first incident was a paint factory explosion of 26 April 2004, which killed two soldiers, US Army sergeants Lawrence Roukey, and Sherwood Baker, and injured several more. The mission had previously abandoned because of security concerns. These were the ISGs first casualties in over a year of operations, throughout the life of ISG, there were two occasions where chemical weapons were found
9.
Joint Intelligence Committee (United Kingdom)
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The Committee is chaired by a permanent chairman, a member of the Senior Civil Service, and is supported by the Joint Intelligence Organisation which includes an assessments staff. The assessment staff is made up of experienced senior analysts drawn from across government, JIC papers draw input from across the intelligence and security agencies and other related bodies. The JIC is subject to oversight by the Intelligence and Security Committee and it is supported by the Joint Intelligence Organisation. The JIC has three functions, Advising the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers on intelligence collection and analysis priorities in support of national objectives, periodically scrutinises the performance of the Agencies in meeting the collection requirements placed upon them. Assuring the professional standards of intelligence analysis staff across the range of intelligence related activities in Her Majestys Government. The JIC drafts the annual Requirements and Priorities for collection and analysis, the JIC was founded on 7 July 1936 as a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the advisory peacetime defence planning agency. During World War II, it became the intelligence assessment body in the UK. In 1957 the JIC moved to the Cabinet Office, where its assessments staff prepare draft intelligence assessments for the committee to consider, one former US intelligence officer has described this as the highlight of the job for the London CIA chief. Resident intelligence chiefs from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand may attend when certain issues are discussed. The JIC recently played a role in compiling a dossier in which the UK government set out the threat posed by Iraqs Weapons of Mass Destruction in the run up to war. There were allegations that the dossier was sexed up prior to publication in order to bolster the case for military action, dr. Kelly committed suicide shortly after his identity was confirmed to the media by the government. Despite the work of the 1400 strong Iraq Survey Group in post-war Iraq, no evidence of actual WMD capability has so far been uncovered, the US and UK Governments both announced investigations into the assessment of WMD intelligence in the run up to war. The British inquiry, headed by Lord Butler of Brockwell, in its report in July 2004, while critical of the British intelligence community, did not recommend that anyone should resign. Similarly, the US Senate Intelligence Committee, while critical of US intelligence officials, did not recommend any resignations in its report, Joint Intelligence Organisation Joint Intelligence Center - US version Joint Intelligence Committee
10.
Menzies Campbell
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Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem, CH, CBE, PC, QC, often known as Ming Campbell, is a British Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament for North East Fife from 1987 to 2015 and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007. Campbell held the British record for the 100 metres sprint from 1967–74 and he captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965-66. He is currently the Chancellor of the University of St Andrews and he was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours. He has stated that he believes the House of Lords should be mainly elected, Menzies is a Scottish name, originally written Minȝies, the z being a graphic approximation of the yogh, originally found in the name. Born in Glasgow, Campbell was educated at Hillhead High School and the University of Glasgow, graduating with a Scottish Master of Arts in 1962 and he was elected President of the Glasgow University Liberal Club in 1962, and of the Glasgow University Union for 1964–65. He later received a scholarship to study at Stanford University in California, Campbell qualified as an advocate before he became a politician. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1968 and became a Queens Counsel in 1982 and he specialised in planning and licensing law. He ceased to practise as an advocate in 2003, but returned to practice in January 2008, Campbell married Elspeth, Lady Grant-Suttie, daughter of Major General Roy Urquhart, in June 1970. The couple have no children, but Lady Campbell has a son from her previous marriage and he also captained the Great Britain athletics team in 1965 and 1966, and held the British 100 metres record from 1967 to 1974. At one time he was known as the fastest white man on the planet, in his first 10.2 second race he beat O. J. Simpson who was then an aspiring athlete. Campbell became chairman of the Scottish Liberals in 1975, and was a candidate at various general elections between 1974-83. In February and October 1974 he stood in Greenock and Port Glasgow, being defeated by Labours Dickson Mabon, after boundary changes he fought the successor seat of North East Fife in 1983, before finally gaining election there, defeating Henderson at the 1987 general election. He has not lived in his constituency during his tenure as MP and he was made the Liberal Democrat chief spokesman on foreign affairs and defence in 1992. He considered standing as a candidate to replace Paddy Ashdown as party leader in the 1999 leadership election and he later said that he regretted that decision for about 10 minutes a day. He was also one of candidates for the position of Speaker when Betty Boothroyd stood down in 2000. Campbell was diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer, in 2002. Campbell replaced Alan Beith as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in February 2003 and he took over in the general election campaign for three days from 12 April 2005 when Charles Kennedy took paternity leave
11.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
12.
Uranium
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Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons, Uranium is weakly radioactive because all its isotopes are unstable. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 and uranium-235, Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and it occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite. In nature, uranium is found as uranium-238, uranium-235, Uranium decays slowly by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years, many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is the naturally occurring fissile isotope, which makes it widely used in nuclear power plants. However, because of the amounts found in nature, uranium needs to undergo enrichment so that enough uranium-235 is present. Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is fertile, meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor, another fissile isotope, uranium-233, can be produced from natural thorium and is also important in nuclear technology. In sufficient concentration, these maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction. This generates the heat in nuclear reactors, and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons. Depleted uranium is used in kinetic energy penetrators and armor plating, Uranium is used as a colorant in uranium glass, producing lemon yellow to green colors. Uranium glass fluoresces green in ultraviolet light and it was also used for tinting and shading in early photography. The 1789 discovery of uranium in the mineral pitchblende is credited to Martin Heinrich Klaproth, eugène-Melchior Péligot was the first person to isolate the metal and its radioactive properties were discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel. An ensuing arms race during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union produced tens of thousands of weapons that used uranium metal. The security of those weapons and their fissile material following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 is a concern for public health. When refined, uranium is a white, weakly radioactive metal
13.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign
14.
Tony Blair
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Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the MP for Sedgefield, under Blairs leadership, the party used the phrase New Labour, to distance it from previous Labour policies and the traditional conception of socialism. Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism, in May 1997, the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, the largest in its history, allowing Blair, at 43 years old, to become the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. In September 1997, Blair attained early personal popularity, receiving a 93% public approval rating, the Labour Party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory, and in 2005, with a reduced majority. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blairs government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act, Blairs government also devolved power, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland, Blair was involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Blair has faced strong criticism for his role in the invasion of Iraq, including calls for having him tried for war crimes and waging a war of aggression. In 2016, the Iraq Inquiry strongly criticised his actions and described the invasion of Iraq as unjustified, Blair also intervened militarily in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Blair was succeeded as the leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown in June 2007. On the day that Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East and he now runs a consultancy business and has set up various foundations in his own name, including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953 and he was the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair. Leo Blair was the son of two entertainers and adopted as a baby by Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher, in 1923 he returned to Ballyshannon, County Donegal. In Ballyshannon Corscaddens wife, Sarah Margaret, gave birth above the grocery shop to Blairs mother. Blair has one brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court judge. Blairs first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh, during this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh. Blairs first relocation was when he was 19 months old, at the end of 1954 Blairs parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide and it was when in Australia that Blairs sister Sarah was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university, the family returned to the UK in summer 1958
15.
The Sun (United Kingdom)
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The Sun is a tabloid published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Since The Sun on Sunday was launched in February 2012, the paper has been a seven-day operation, as a broadsheet, it was founded in 1964 as a successor to the Daily Herald, it became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owners. It is published by the News Group Newspapers division of News UK, the Sun had the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom, but in late 2013 slipped to second largest Saturday newspaper behind the Daily Mail. It had a daily circulation of 2.2 million copies in March 2014. Approximately 41% of readers are women and 59% are men, the Sun has been involved in many controversies in its history, including its coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster. Regional editions of the newspaper for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are published in Glasgow, Belfast, on 26 February 2012, The Sun on Sunday was launched to replace the closed News of the World, employing some of its former journalists. Roy Greenslade issued some caveats over the May 2015 figures, the Sun was first published as a broadsheet on 15 September 1964, with a logo featuring a glowing orange disc. It was launched by owners IPC to replace the failing Daily Herald, the new paper was intended to add a readership of social radicals to the Heralds political radicals. Supposedly there was an immense, sophisticated and superior class, hitherto undetected and yearning for its own newspaper. As delusions go, this was in the El Dorado class, launched with an advertising budget of £400,000, the brash new paper burst forth with tremendous energy, according to The Times. Its initial print run of 3.5 million was attributed to curiosity and the advantage of novelty, by 1969, according to Hugh Cudlipp, The Sun was losing about £2m a year and had a circulation of 800,000. Seizing the opportunity to increase his presence on Fleet Street, he made an agreement with the print unions and he assured IPC that he would publish a straightforward, honest newspaper which would continue to support Labour. IPC, under pressure from the unions, rejected Maxwells offer and he would later remark, I am constantly amazed at the ease with which I entered British newspapers. Murdoch found he had such a rapport with Larry Lamb over lunch that other potential recruits as editor were not interviewed, Lamb wanted Bernard Shrimsley to be his deputy, which Murdoch accepted as Shrimsley had been the second name on his list of preferences. Lamb hastily recruited a staff of about 125 reporters, who were selected for their availability rather than their ability. This was about a quarter of what the Mirror then employed, Murdoch immediately relaunched The Sun as a tabloid, and ran it as a sister paper to the News of the World. The Sun used the printing presses, and the two papers were managed together at senior executive levels. The new tabloid Sun was first published on 17 November 1969, with a front page headlined HORSE DOPE SENSATION, an editorial on page 2 announced, Todays Sun is a new newspaper
16.
Daily Star (United Kingdom)
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The Daily Star is a daily tabloid newspaper published from Monday to Saturday in the United Kingdom since 2 November 1978. On 15 September 2002 a sister Sunday edition, was launched with a separate staff, on 31 October 2009, the Daily Star published its 10, 000th issue. When the paper was launched from Manchester, it was circulated only in the North and it was conceived by the then-owners of Express Newspapers, Trafalgar House, to take on the strength of the Daily Mirror and The Sun in the north. It was also intended to utilise the under-capacity of the Great Ancoats Street presses in Manchester as the Daily Express was losing circulation, the Daily Star sold out its first night print of 1,400,000. Its cover price has decreased over the years in order to compete with its rival The Sun, the Daily Star is published by Express Newspapers, which also publishes the Daily Express and Sunday Express. The group is now owned by Richard Desmonds Northern and Shell company, the paper predominantly focuses on stories largely revolving around celebrities, sport, and news and gossip about popular television programmes, such as soap operas and reality TV shows. She was promoted to the post in December 2003 after the editor, Peter Hill. She had been an executive on the paper in charge of the features department, such models as Cherry Dee and Michelle Marsh have also appeared on their page 3. These women are known in the paper as Star Babes, the papers glamour photographer is Jeany Savage. Opinion columns by Dominik Diamond and Vanessa Feltz were discontinued in 2008, until he died in 2012, the chief football writer was Brian Woolnough, lured from The Sun in 2001 for a £200,000 pay packet. The papers leader column, entitled The Daily Star Says, appears most days on Page 6, beau Peep is the daily strip cartoon. The editor of the Daily Star, Lloyd Turner, was sacked six weeks after the trial, the paper later launched a bid to reclaim £2. 2m – the original payout plus interest and damages. On 18 April 1989, three days after the Hillsborough disaster in which 96 Liverpool F. C, a later inquiry showed all of the claims made were false. Both the Daily Star and its Sunday equivalent, as well as its stablemates the Daily Express and Sunday Express, in 2008, the McCann family sued the Star and Express for libel. The action concerned more than 100 stories across the Daily Express, Daily Star and their Sunday equivalents, the newspapers coverage was regarded by the McCanns as grossly defamatory. They also agreed to pay costs and substantial damages, which the McCanns plan to use to aid their search for their daughter. The image, taken from a documentary, was accompanied by a headline Terror as plane hits ash cloud, without any indication on the front page that the image was computer-generated. The splash, on the first day that flights restarted after a closure of UK airspace due to volcanic ash
17.
The Observer
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The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the worlds oldest Sunday newspaper, the first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W. S. Bourne, was the worlds first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600, though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bournes brother made an offer to the government, as a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley. In 1807, the decided to relinquish editorial control, naming Lewis Doxat as the new editor. Seven years later, the brothers sold The Observer to William Innell Clement, the woodcut pictures published of the stable and hayloft where the conspirators were arrested reflected a new stage of illustrated journalism that the newspaper pioneered during this time. Clement maintained ownership of The Observer until his death in 1852, during that time, the paper supported parliamentary reform, but opposed a broader franchise and the Chartist leadership. After Doxat retired in 1857, Clements heirs sold the paper to Joseph Snowe, under Snowe, the paper adopted a more liberal political stance, supporting the North during the American Civil War and endorsing universal manhood suffrage in 1866. These positions contributed to a decline in circulation during this time, in 1870, wealthy businessman Julius Beer bought the paper and appointed Edward Dicey as editor, whose efforts succeeded in reviving circulation. Though Beers son Frederick became the owner upon Juliuss death in 1880, henry Duff Traill took over the editorship after Diceys departure, only to be replaced in 1891 by Fredericks wife, Rachel Beer, of the Sassoon family. Though circulation declined during her tenure, she remained as editor for thirteen years, combining it in 1893 with the editorship of The Sunday Times, upon Fredericks death in 1901, the paper was purchased by the newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe. After maintaining the editorial leadership for a couple of years. Garvin quickly turned the paper into an organ of political influence, yet the revival in the papers fortunes masked growing political disagreements between Garvin and Northcliffe. These disagreements ultimately led Northcliffe to sell the paper to William Waldorf Astor in 1911, during this period, the Astors were content to leave the control of the paper in Garvins hands. Under his editorship circulation reached 200,000 during the interwar years, politically the paper pursued an independent Tory stance, which eventually brought Garvin into conflict with Waldorfs more liberal son, David. Their conflict contributed to Garvins departure as editor in 1942, after which the paper took the step of declaring itself non-partisan. Ownership passed to Waldorfs sons in 1948, with David taking over as editor and he remained in the position for 27 years, during which time he turned it into a trust-owned newspaper employing, among others, George Orwell, Paul Jennings and C. A. Lejeune. Under Astors editorship The Observer became the first national newspaper to oppose the governments 1956 invasion of Suez, in 1977, the Astors sold the ailing newspaper to US oil giant Atlantic Richfield who sold it to Lonrho plc in 1981
18.
John Scarlett
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Sir John McLeod Scarlett KCMG OBE is a retired British senior intelligence officer. He was Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 2004 to 2009, prior to this appointment, he had chaired the Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Committee. Fluent in French and Russian, Scarlett was educated at Epsom College and Magdalen College, Oxford, Scarlett was at the anti-Vietnam War Grosvenor Square disorders in 1968 and wrote to the newspapers at the time, criticizing the police action. Shortly afterward, he was recruited by MI6 and served in Moscow, Nairobi, in 1994, after a tit-for-tat row between the UK and Russian authorities, Scarlett was expelled from Moscow where he had been MI6s station chief. He retired from MI6 as Director of Security and Public Affairs in 2001, Scarlett took on the role of head of the JIC one week before the September 11 attacks. The normally secretive intelligence services were thrust into the public gaze in the Summer of 2003 after the death of the eminent government weapons expert, the classic case was the claim that Iraq could launch Weapons of Mass Destruction within 45 minutes of an order to do so—Dr. Kelly had privately dismissed this as risible, Scarlett gave evidence at the Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Kellys death. This influence may have had effects on the quality of the assessments presented in the dossier. The omission of the context and assessment allowed speculation as to its exact meaning and this was unhelpful to an understanding of this issue. Scarlett became the head of SIS on 6 May 2004, before publication of the findings of the Butler Review, on 8 December 2009, Scarlett gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry. The memo has been described as one of the most significant documents on the September dossier yet published as it is considered a proposal to mislead the public. On 28 January 2011, Scarlett was appointed to the board of Times Newspapers Ltd, part of News International and he is also a governor of Epsom College, and Chairman of the Bletchley Park Trust. Scarlett was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael, the award of a KCMG is normally given to all heads of SIS and senior FCO and British diplomats
19.
Freedom of Information Act 2000
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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level, the Act implements a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election, developed by Dr David Clark as a 1997 White Paper. The final version of the Act is believed by Ben Robertson to have been diluted from that proposed while Labour was in opposition, the full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005. The Act is the responsibility of the Lord Chancellors Department, the Act led to the renaming of the Data Protection Commissioner, who is now known as the Information Commissioner. The Office of the Information Commissioner oversees the operation of the Act, a second freedom of information law is in existence in the UK, the Freedom of Information Act 2002. It was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2002, to public bodies over which the Holyrood parliament. For these institutions, it fulfils the same purpose as the 2000 Act, around 120,000 requests are made each year. Private citizens made 60% of them, with businesses and journalists accounting for 20% and 10% respectively, journalists requests took up more of officials time than businesses and individuals requests. The Act cost £35.5 million in 2005, the act implements what was a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election. Before its introduction, there had no right of access to government by the general public. The act was preceded by a 1998 white paper, entitled Your Right to Know by Dr David Clark, the white paper was met with widespread enthusiasm, and was described at the time as being almost too good to be true by one advocate of freedom of information legislation. The final act was more limited in scope than the initial white paper. Public Authorities, publicly owned companies and designated bodies performing public functions, in principle, the freedom of information act applies to all public authorities within the United Kingdom, a full list of public authorities for the purposes of the act is included in Schedule 1. A few government departments are expressly excluded from the scope of the act, as government departments are closed and created, the act must be continually updated. It is important to note that for public authorities listed under Schedule 1 the act has limited effect. For example, the BBC is subject to the act only for information which is not held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, to prevent its journalistic activities from possible compromise. The scope of this provision was considered in the recent High Court decision of BBC v Sugar an internal BBC document examining the BBC coverage of the Middle East for potential bias. The appellants in that case argued that the document had been produced for both operational and journalistic reasons, and so should not be covered by the partial exemption provided in the act
20.
George W. Bush
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George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and he is the second president to assume the nations highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. He is also a brother of Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election, the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bushs first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine, launching a War on Terror, a military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform and his tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Crawford. He wrote a memoir, Decision Points and his presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s. George Walker Bush was born on July 6,1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, as the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U. S and his father, George H. W. Bush, was Ronald Reagans Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U. S. President from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a school in Houston. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a school in Andover, Massachusetts
21.
2003 State of the Union Address
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The 2003 State of the Union Address was a speech delivered by U. S. President George W. Bush, the 43rd United States President, on Tuesday, January 28,2003. It outlined justifications for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the domestic brutality of Hussein and the benefits of liberty and freedom for the Iraqi people were briefly noted near the end of the speech. He began with, In all these days of promise and days of reckoning, in a whirlwind of change and hope and peril, our faith is sure, our resolve is firm, and our union is strong. In the middle of the speech, he said, In Afghanistan, and we will continue helping them secure their country, rebuild their society, and educate all their children — boys and girls. He ended with, Americans are a people, who know that freedom is the right of every person. The liberty we prize is not Americas gift to the world and he spoke to the 108th United States Congress. Just before the President addressed Iraq in the speech, he spent five paragraphs addressing his initiative to fight AIDS in Africa, the Democratic response was given by then Washington Governor Gary Locke, who was appointed to be United States Ambassador to China in 2011
22.
Saddam Hussein
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Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries, the state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraqs economy to grow at a rapid pace, positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population. Saddam formally rose to power in 1979, although he had been the de facto head of Iraq for several years prior. He suppressed several movements, particularly Shia and Kurdish movements, seeking to overthrow the government or gain independence, and maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War. Whereas some in the Arab world lauded Saddam for his opposition to the United States, the total number of Iraqis killed by the security services of Saddams government in various purges and genocides is unknown, but the lowest estimate is 250,000. Saddams Baath party was disbanded and elections were held, following his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. On 5 November 2006, Saddam was convicted of charges of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shiites and his execution was carried out on 30 December 2006. His mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, named her newborn son Saddam and he is always referred to by this personal name, which may be followed by the patronymic and other elements. He never knew his father, Hussein Abd al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born, shortly afterward, Saddams 13-year-old brother died of cancer. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle Khairallah Talfah until he was three and his mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return, at about age 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle Kharaillah Talfah. Later in his relatives from his native Tikrit became some of his closest advisors and supporters. Under the guidance of his uncle he attended a high school in Baghdad. After secondary school Saddam studied at an Iraqi law school for three years, dropping out in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Baath Party, during this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher. Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, in Iraq progressives and socialists assailed traditional political elites. Moreover, the nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt profoundly influenced young Baathists like Saddam. The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, with the collapse of the monarchies of Iraq, Egypt, and Libya
23.
International Atomic Energy Agency
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The IAEA was established as an autonomous organisation on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations through its own treaty, the IAEA Statute. The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna, the IAEA has two Regional Safeguards Offices which are located in Toronto, Canada, and in Tokyo, Japan. The IAEA also has two liaison offices which are located in New York City, United States, and in Geneva, in addition, the IAEA has three laboratories located in Vienna and Seibersdorf, Austria, and in Monaco. The IAEA serves as a forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. The IAEA and its former Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 7 October 2005. The IAEAs current Director General is Yukiya Amano and this agency would establish a kind of nuclear bank. The United States also called for a scientific conference on all of the peaceful aspects of nuclear power. By November 1954, it had become clear that the Soviet Union would reject any international custody of fissile material, from 8 to 20 August 1955, the United Nations held the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, Switzerland. The Statute of the IAEA was approved on 23 October 1956, former US Congressman W. Sterling Cole served as the IAEAs first Director General from 1957 to 1961. Blix was succeeded as Director General by Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt, beginning in 1986, in response to the nuclear reactor explosion and disaster near Chernobyl, Ukraine, the IAEA increased its efforts in the field of nuclear safety. The same happened after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Fukushima, Japan, both the IAEA and its then Director General, ElBaradei, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. On 2 July 2009, Yukiya Amano of Japan was elected as the Director General for the IAEA, defeating Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa and Luis E. Echávarri of Spain. On 3 July 2009, the Board of Governors voted to appoint Yukiya Amano by acclamation and he took office on 1 December 2009. The IAEAs mission is guided by the interests and needs of Member States, strategic plans, unlike most other specialised international agencies, the IAEA does much of its work with the Security Council, and not with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The structure and functions of the IAEA are defined by its founding document, the IAEA has three main bodies, the Board of Governors, the General Conference, and the Secretariat. The IAEA exists to pursue the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear sciences, the IAEA recognises knowledge as the nuclear energy industry’s most valuable asset and resource, without which the industry cannot operate safely and economically. Following the IAEA General Conference since 2002 resolutions the Nuclear Knowledge Management, in 2004, the IAEA developed a Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy
24.
United States Secretary of State
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Secretary of State is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule and thus earns the salary prescribed for that level. The current Secretary of State is former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and those that remain include storage and use of the Great Seal of the United States, performance of protocol functions for the White House, and the drafting of certain proclamations. The Secretary also negotiates with the individual States over the extradition of fugitives to foreign countries, under Federal Law, the resignation of a President or of a Vice President is only valid if declared in writing, in an instrument delivered to the office of the Secretary of State. Accordingly, the resignations of President Nixon and of Vice-President Spiro Agnew, domestic issues, were formalized in instruments delivered to the Secretary of State, six Secretaries of State have gone on to be elected President. Former Secretaries of State retain the right to add the title Secretary to their surnames, as the head of the United States Foreign Service, the Secretary of State is responsible for management of the diplomatic service of the United States. The foreign service employs about 12,000 people domestically and internationally, the U. S. Secretary of State has the power to remove any foreign diplomat from U. S. soil for any reason. The nature of the means that Secretaries of State engage in travel around the world. The record for most countries visited in a secretarys tenure is 112, second is Madeleine Albright with 96. The record for most air miles traveled in a secretarys tenure is 1.380 million miles, second is Condoleezza Rices 1.059 million miles and third is Clintons 956,733 miles. S
25.
Colin Powell
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Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. Powell was born in Harlem as the son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was the first, and so far the only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under U. S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, Powell was born in New York City and was raised in the South Bronx. His parents, Luther and Maud Powell, immigrated to the United States from Jamaica, Powell was educated in the New York City public schools, graduating from the City College of New York, where he earned a bachelors degree in geology. He also participated in ROTC at CCNY and received a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation in June 1958 and his further academic achievements include a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University. Powell was a soldier for 35 years, during which time he held myriad command and staff positions. His last assignment, from October 1,1989 to September 30,1993, was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He also formulated the Powell Doctrine, following his military retirement, Powell wrote his best-selling autobiography, My American Journey. In addition, he pursued a career as a speaker, addressing audiences across the country. He was nominated by President Bush on December 16,2000 as Secretary of State, after being unanimously confirmed by the U. S. Senate, he was sworn in as the 65th Secretary of State on January 20,2001. Powell is the recipient of numerous U. S. and foreign military awards, several schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country. Powell is married to the former Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham, the Powell family includes son Michael, daughters Linda and Anne, daughter-in-law Jane, and grandsons Jeffrey and Bryan. In 2016, while not a candidate, Powell received three votes for the office of President of the United States. Powell was born on April 5,1937, in Harlem and his parents were both of mixed African and Scots ancestry. Luther worked as a clerk and Maud as a seamstress. Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, while at school, Powell worked at a local baby furniture store, where he picked up Yiddish from the eastern European Jewish shopkeepers and some of the customers. He also served as a Shabbos goy, helping Orthodox families with needed tasks on the Sabbath and he received his BS degree in geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and has said he was a C average student. He later earned an MBA degree from the George Washington University in 1971, despite his parents pronunciation of his name as /ˈkɒlᵻn/, Powell has pronounced his name /ˈkoʊlᵻn/ since childhood, after the heroic World War II flyer Colin P. Kelly Jr
26.
United Nations Security Council
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The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946. Like the UN as a whole, the Security Council was created following World War II to address the failings of an international organization. The Security Council consists of fifteen members, the great powers that were the victors of World War II—the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, Republic of China, and the United States—serve as the bodys five permanent members. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General, the Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The bodys presidency rotates monthly among its members, Security Council resolutions are typically enforced by UN peacekeepers, military forces voluntarily provided by member states and funded independently of the main UN budget. As of 2016,103,510 peacekeeping soldiers and 16,471 civilians are deployed on 16 peacekeeping operations and 1 special political mission. Following the catastrophic loss of life in World War I, the Paris Peace Conference established the League of Nations to maintain harmony between the nations, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. The term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. The most contentious issue at Dumbarton and in successive talks proved to be the rights of permanent members. At the conference, H. V. Evatt of the Australian delegation pushed to further restrict the power of Security Council permanent members. Due to the fear that rejecting the strong veto would cause the conferences failure, the UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five then-permanent members of the Security Council and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. On 17 January 1946, the Security Council met for the first time at Church House, Westminster, in London, United Kingdom. The Security Council was largely paralysed in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and USSR and their allies, and the Council generally was only able to intervene in unrelated conflicts. Cold War divisions also paralysed the Security Councils Military Staff Committee, the committee continued to exist on paper but largely abandoned its work in the mid-1950s. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its budget for peacekeeping. After the Cold War, the UN saw an expansion in its peacekeeping duties. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, undersecretary-General Brian Urquhart later described the hopes raised by these successes as a false renaissance for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. In 1994, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan Genocide in the face of Security Council indecision, in the late 1990s, UN-authorised international interventions took a wider variety of forms
27.
Niger
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Niger, officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest country in West Africa. The countrys predominantly Islamic population of about 19 million is mostly clustered in the far south, the capital city is Niamey, located in the far-southwest corner of Niger. Niger is a country, and is consistently one of the lowest-ranked in the United Nations Human Development Index. Much of the portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the fertile south. Nigerien society reflects a diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its ethnic groups and regions. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule, following a military coup in 2010, Niger has become a democratic, multi-party state. A majority live in areas, and have little access to advanced education. Early human settlement in Niger is evidenced by archaeological remains. In prehistoric times, the climate of the Sahara was wet and provided favorable conditions for agriculture, in 2005–06, a graveyard in the Tenere desert was discovered by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the University of Chicago. His team discovered 5, 000-year-old remains of a woman and two children in the Tenere Desert, the evidence along with remains of animals that do not typically live in desert are among the strongest evidence of the green Sahara in Niger. It is believed that progressive desertification around 5000 BCE pushed sedentary populations to the south and south-east. By at least the 5th century BCE, Niger became an area of trade, led by the Berber tribes from the north. This trade has made Agadez a pivotal place of the trans-Saharan trade and this mobility, which would continue in waves for several centuries, was accompanied with further migration to the south and interbreeding between southern black and northern white populations. It was also aided by the introduction of Islam to the region at the end of the 7th century, several empires and kingdoms also flourished during this era up to the beginning of colonization in Africa
28.
Central Intelligence Agency
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As one of the principal members of the U. S. Intelligence Community, the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is focused on providing intelligence for the President. Though it is not the only U. S. government agency specializing in HUMINT and it exerts foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Special Activities Division. Despite transferring some of its powers to the DNI, the CIA has grown in size as a result of the September 11 attacks. In 2013, The Washington Post reported that in fiscal year 2010, the CIA has increasingly expanded its roles, including covert paramilitary operations. One of its largest divisions, the Information Operations Center, has shifted focus from counter-terrorism to offensive cyber-operations, when the CIA was created, its purpose was to create a clearinghouse for foreign policy intelligence and analysis. Today its primary purpose is to collect, analyze, evaluate, and disseminate foreign intelligence, warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, with Pakistan described as an intractable target. Counterintelligence, with China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, the Executive Office also supports the U. S. military by providing it with information it gathers, receiving information from military intelligence organizations, and cooperates on field activities. The Executive Director is in charge of the day to day operation of the CIA, each branch of the military service has its own Director. The Directorate has four regional groups, six groups for transnational issues. There is a dedicated to Iraq, regional analytical offices covering the Near East and South Asia, Russia and Europe, and the Asian Pacific, Latin American. The Directorate of Operations is responsible for collecting intelligence. The name reflects its role as the coordinator of intelligence activities between other elements of the wider U. S. intelligence community with their own HUMINT operations. This Directorate was created in an attempt to end years of rivalry over influence, philosophy, in spite of this, the Department of Defense recently organized its own global clandestine intelligence service, the Defense Clandestine Service, under the Defense Intelligence Agency. This Directorate is known to be organized by regions and issues. The Directorate of Science & Technology was established to research, create, many of its innovations were transferred to other intelligence organizations, or, as they became more overt, to the military services. For example, the development of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was done in cooperation with the United States Air Force, the U-2s original mission was clandestine imagery intelligence over denied areas such as the Soviet Union. It was subsequently provided with signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence capabilities, subsequently, NPIC was transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
29.
George Tenet
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He played a key role in overseeing the intelligence behind the Iraq War. In February 2008, he became a director at investment bank Allen & Company. George John Tenet was born on January 5,1953, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, the son of Greek immigrants Evangelia and John Tenet. His father, a Greek born in southern Albania, worked in a mine in France before arriving in the United States via Ellis Island just before the Great Depression. His mother was a Greek from Epirus, Greece, who had fled from the communists by stowing away on a British submarine. Tenet was raised in Little Neck, Queens, where as a teenager, he and his older brother Bill worked as busboys in their familys diner, because of his tendency to talk constantly he was known as the mouthpiece. Sol Winder, a friend and later owner of their diner. He was also interested in the news, the host of a current affairs host sent him an autograph in response to Tenets letters. He played basketball and softball for his Greek Orthodox church, where he was also an altar server and he attended Public School 94, where he was president of his sixth grade class, Junior High School 67, and Benjamin N. Cardozo High School. In high school he played soccer and edited the school newspaper, Tenet is married to A. Stephanie Glakas-Tenet. They have one son, John Michael and he then began working for the Senate, first as a legislative assistant and later as legislative director to former Pennsylvania Senator H. John Heinz III from 1982 to 1985. He was a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1985 to 1988. Later, Tenet joined President-elect Bill Clintons national security team in November 1992. Clinton appointed Tenet Senior Director for Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council, Tenet was appointed Deputy Director of Central Intelligence in July 1995. After John Deutchs abrupt resignation in December 1996, Tenet served as acting director and this was followed by the reluctant withdrawal of Anthony Lake, after it became apparent to Lake that his nomination had been successfully blocked by Republicans in Congress. Tenet was then officially appointed Director on July 11,1997, in 1999 the Director declined to reveal the overall budget for intelligence operations which was a departure from his release the previous two years. This led to criticism from government transparency advocates, Tenet embarked on a mission to regenerate the CIA, which had fallen on hard times since the end of the Cold War. The number of agents recruited each year had fallen to an all-time low, Tenet appealed to the original mission of the agency, which had been to prevent another Pearl Harbor
30.
National Security Advisor (United States)
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The APNSA also participates in the meetings of the National Security Council and usually chairs the Principals Committee meetings with the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs is appointed by the President without confirmation by the Senate. Ideally, the APNSA serves as an honest broker of policy options for the President in the field of national security, in 1949, the NSC became part of the presidents executive office. The National Security Act of 1947 did not create the position of the National Security Advisor per se, robert Cutler became the first National Security Advisor in 1953. The system has remained unchanged since then, particularly since Kennedys time, with powerful National Security Advisors and strong staff. This continuity persists despite the tendency of new president to replace the advisor and senior NSC staff. Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixons National Security Advisor, enhanced the importance of the role, controlling the flow of information to the President and meeting him multiple times per day. Henry Kissinger also holds the distinction of serving as National Security Advisor and United States Secretary of State at the time from September 22,1973. Robert Cutler also held the job twice, both times under Dwight D. Eisenhower, henry Kissinger holds the record for longest term of service. Michael Flynn holds the record for shortest term of service, three and Four-Star Generals require Senate confirmation due to the statutory nature requiring Congress to appoint their military rank. United States National Security Council Executive Office of the President Homeland Security Council Homeland Security Advisor 2009-02, The National Security Advisor and Staff
31.
Condoleezza Rice
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Condoleezza Condi Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, the person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush. Rice was the first female African-American Secretary of State, as well as the second African-American Secretary of State, Rice was President Bushs National Security Advisor during his first term, making her the first woman to serve in that position. Before joining the Bush administration, she was a professor of science at Stanford University. Rice also served on the National Security Council as the Soviet and Eastern Europe Affairs Advisor to President George H. W. Bush during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and she has logged more miles traveling than any other Secretary of State. While in the position, she chaired the Millennium Challenge Corporations board of directors, in March 2009, Rice returned to Stanford University as a political science professor and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution. In September 2010, she became a faculty member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a director of its Global Center for Business and her name, Condoleezza, derives from the music-related term con dolcezza, which in Italian means, with sweetness. Rice has roots in the American South going back to the pre-Civil War era, Rice grew up in the Titusville neighborhood of Birmingham, and then Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at a time when the South was racially segregated. Rice began to learn French, music, figure skating and ballet at the age of three, at the age of fifteen, she began piano classes with the goal of becoming a concert pianist. While Rice ultimately did not become a professional pianist, she still practices often and she accompanied cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata in D Minor at Constitution Hall in April 2002 for the National Medal of Arts Awards. In 1967, the moved to Denver, Colorado. She attended St. Marys Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, Rice enrolled at the University of Denver, where her father was then serving as an assistant dean. Rice initially majored in Music, and after her sophomore year, she went to the Aspen Music Festival, There, she later said, she met students of greater talent than herself, and she doubted her career prospects as a pianist. She began to consider an alternative major and she attended an International Politics course taught by Josef Korbel, which sparked her interest in the Soviet Union and international relations. Rice later described Korbel, as a figure in her life. In 1974, at age 19, Rice was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society, while at the University of Denver she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega, Gamma Delta chapter. She obtained a degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame in 1975. She first worked in the State Department in 1977, during the Carter administration and she would also study Russian at Moscow State University in the summer of 1979, and intern with the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California
32.
Jack Straw
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John Whitaker Straw is an English politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Blackburn from 1979 to 2015. Straw served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the governments of Tony Blair and he held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001 and Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 under Blair. From 2007 to 2010 he served as Lord Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Justice throughout Browns Premiership, Straw is one of only three individuals to have served in Cabinet continuously under the Labour government from 1997 to 2010, the others being Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. In February 2015 Channel 4 Dispatches and The Daily Telegraph accused Straw of impropriety following a meeting set up with a fictitious Chinese company. Straw strongly denied the allegations and referred himself to Parliament’s Commissioner for Standards, in September 2015 the Commissioner for Standards dismissed all allegations that he had brought the House of Commons into disrepute and criticised Channel 4 and the Daily Telegraph’s conduct. Jack Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill in Essex, the son of Walter Arthur Whitaker Straw, an insurance salesman, after his father left the family, Straw was brought up by his mother on a council estate in Loughton. Known to his family as John, he started calling himself Jack while in school, in reference to Jack Straw, Straw is of 1/8th Jewish descent. Jack Straw was educated at Brentwood School and the University of Leeds and he graduated with a 2,2 degree in Law. He was alleged by the Foreign Office to have disrupted a student trip to Chile to build a youth centre and they branded him a troublemaker acting with malice aforethought. Led by Straw, Labour Society disaffiliated itself from the Labour Party, Straw was then elected president of the Leeds University Union. At the 1967 National Union of Students Conference, he ran for office in the NUS. In April 1968, he stood unsuccessfully for election as NUS President, however, he was elected as NUS President in 1969, holding this post until 1971. In 1971, he was elected as a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Islington, in 2007 the Union Council reinstated his life membership and place on the Presidents Board. Straw subsequently qualified as a barrister at Inns of Court School of Law and he is a member of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple and remains active in lecturing to fellow members and students. Between 1971 and 1974, Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority, and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974. He served as an adviser to Barbara Castle at the Department of Social Security from 1974 to 1976. From 1977 to 1979, Straw worked as a researcher for the Granada TV series, Straw stood unsuccessfully as the Labour parliamentary candidate for the safe Conservative Tonbridge and Malling constituency in the February 1974 election. He was later selected to stand for Labour in its safe Blackburn seat at the 1979 General Election, Straw was selected to stand for Parliament for the Lancashire constituency of Blackburn in 1977, after Barbara Castle decided not to seek re-election there
33.
Downing Street
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Downing Street is a street in London, in the United Kingdom, known for housing the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Downing Street is used as a metonym for the Government of the United Kingdom, Downing Street is off Whitehall in central London, a few minutes walk from the Houses of Parliament and a little further from Buckingham Palace. The street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing, the houses on the south side of the street were demolished in the 19th century to make way for government offices now occupied by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Prime Ministers official residence is 10 Downing Street, the Chancellors official residence is next door at Number 11, the governments Chief Whip has an official residence at Number 12, although the current Chief Whips residence is at Number 9. The street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, on the site of a mansion, what was on the site before the mansion is vague, but there is evidence towards a brewhouse called The Axe, owned by the Abbey of Abingdon. Downing was a soldier and diplomat who served under Oliver Cromwell and King Charles II, in 1654, he purchased the lease on land east of Saint Jamess Park, adjacent to the House at the Back, and within walking distance of parliament. Downing planned to build a row of townhouses for persons of quality to inhabit. However, the Hampden family had a lease which prevented their construction for 30 years, when the Hampden lease expired, Downing received permission to build further west to take advantage of recent developments. The new warrant issued in 1682 reads, Sir George Downing. to build new, between 1682 and 1684, Downing built the cul-de-sac of two-storey townhouses with coach-houses, stables and views of St Jamess Park. How many he built is not clear, most historians say 15, the addresses changed several times, Number 10 was numbered 5 for a while, and was renumbered in 1787. Downing employed Sir Christopher Wren to design the houses, although large, they were put up quickly and cheaply on soft soil with shallow foundations. The fronts had facades with lines painted on the surface imitating brick mortar, winston Churchill wrote that Number 10 was shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name they bear. The upper end of the Downing Street cul-de-sac closed access to St Jamess Park, making the street quiet, the houses had several distinguished residents. The Countess of Yarmouth lived at Number 10 between 1688 and 1689, Lord Lansdowne from 1692 to 1696 and the Earl of Grantham from 1699 to 1703. The diarist James Boswell took rooms in Downing Street during his stay in London during 1762–63 at a rent of £22 per annum and he records having dealings with prostitutes in the adjacent park. Downing probably never lived in his townhouses, in 1675 he retired to Cambridge, where he died a few months after the houses were completed. His portrait hangs in the foyer of the modern Number 10. The houses between Number 10 and Whitehall were acquired by the government and demolished in 1824 to allow the construction of the Privy Council Office, Board of Trade and Treasury offices
34.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
35.
Andrew Gilligan
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Andrew Paul Gilligan is a British journalist, currently senior correspondent of The Sunday Times and head of the Capital City Foundation at Policy Exchange. Between 2013 and 2016 he also worked as cycling commissioner for London and he is best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4s The Today Programme in which he described a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction as sexed up. He has also been a nominee for the Paul Foot Award, the Orwell Prize and he was also a member of Cambridge Universities Labour Club. In 1994, he joined the Cambridge Evening News, then in 1995 he moved to The Sunday Telegraph where he became a specialist reporter on defence. In 1999, he was recruited by the editor of BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Rod Liddle, as Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent. In May 2003, Gilligan made a broadcast in which he claimed that the British Government had sexed up a report in order to exaggerate the WMD capabilities of Saddam Hussein. Gilligan resigned from the BBC in 2004, in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry, Gilligan described the BBC collectively as the victim of a grave injustice. After resigning from the BBC in early 2004, Gilligan was offered a job at The Spectator by its editor, Boris Johnson, later that year Gilligan joined the London Evening Standard. He was named Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards in 2008 for his work on the London Mayoral elections, in 2009 Gilligan became London editor of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. He has also been a presenter for LBC radio. On 22 November 2011, Gilligan criticised the Leveson Inquiry in an appearance before the House of Lords communications committee, in January 2013, Gilligan was appointed as the Cycling Commissioner for London by the Mayor, Boris Johnson. Accusations of cronyism were made following the appointment as Gilligan was considered instrumental in toppling the Mayors main rival Ken Livingstone and he helped deliver Londons first segregated cycle superhighways and was subsequently given an award by the London Cycling Campaign for his outstanding contribution to cycling. In May 2016, the Telegraph had to apologise and pay damages for defamation due to false claims made by Gilligan in a series of articles. Gilligans career with the Telegraph ended soon after and he joined the Sunday Times in August 2016. Between 2007 and 2009 Gilligan presented a programme for Press TV. Rod Liddle challenged Gilligan in July 2009 about working for an international channel run by the Iranian government. Gilligan stopped his show in December 2009, though he appeared twice more on the network just before the UKs May 2010 general election. Gilligan attributed his decision to leave to the politics of Iran that was inconsistent with my opposition to Islamism, I have not worked for Press TV since
36.
BBC Radio 4
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BBC Radio 4 is a radio station owned and operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967, the station controller is Gwyneth Williams, and the station is part of BBC Radio and the BBC Radio department. The station is broadcast from the BBCs headquarters at Broadcasting House and it is also available through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and on the Internet. It is notable for its news bulletins and programmes such as Today and The World at One, BBC Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station by total hours, after Radio 2 – and the most popular in London and the South of England. It recorded its highest audience, of 11 million listeners, in May 2011 and was UK Radio Station of the Year at the 2003,2004 and 2008 Sony Radio Academy Awards and it also won a Peabody Award in 2002 for File On 4, Export Controls. Costing £71.4 million, it is the BBCs most expensive national radio network and is considered by many to be its flagship. There is no comparable British commercial network, Channel 4 abandoned plans to launch its own speech-based digital radio station in October 2008 as part of a £100m cost cutting review, in 2010 Gwyneth Williams replaced Mark Damazer as Radio 4 controller. Damazer became Master of St Peters College, Oxford, music and sport are the only fields that largely fall outside the stations remit. It broadcasts occasional concerts, and documentaries related to forms of both popular and classical music, and the long-running music-based Desert Island Discs. As a result, for around 70 days a year listeners have to rely on FM broadcasts or increasingly DAB for mainstream Radio 4 broadcasts – the number relying solely on long wave is now a small minority. The cricket broadcasts take precedence over on-the-hour news bulletins, but not the Shipping Forecast, as well as news and drama, the station has a strong reputation for comedy, including experimental and alternative comedy, many successful comedians and comedy shows first appearing on the station. The BBC Home Service was the predecessor of Radio 4 and broadcast between 1939 and 1967 and it had regional variations and was broadcast on medium wave with a network of VHF FM transmitters being added from 1955. Radio 4 replaced it on 30 September 1967, when the BBC renamed many of its radio stations. For a time during the 1970s Radio 4 carried regional news bulletins Monday to Saturday and these were broadcast twice at breakfast, at lunchtime and an evening bulletin was aired at 5. 55pm. There were also programme variations for the parts of England not served by BBC Local Radio stations and these included Roundabout East Anglia, a VHF opt-out of the Today programme broadcast from BBC Easts studios in Norwich each weekday from 6.45 am to 8.45 am. Roundabout East Anglia came to an end in 1980, when local services were introduced to East Anglia with the launch of BBC Radio Norfolk. All regional news bulletins broadcast from BBC regional news bases around England ended in August 1980 apart from in the south west, in September 1991 it was decided that the main Radio 4 service would be on FM as coverage had extended to cover almost all of the UK. Opt-outs were transferred to long wave, currently Test Match Special, extra shipping forecasts, The Daily Service, long wave very occasionally opts out at other times, such as to broadcast special services, the most recent being when Pope Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010
37.
Today (BBC Radio 4)
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Today is BBC Radio 4s long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6,00 am to 9,00 am Monday to Friday, and 7,00 am to 9,00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBCs most popular programmes across its radio networks and it consists of regular news bulletins, serious and often confrontational political interviews, in-depth reports and Thought for the Day. Today has been voted the most influential programme in Britain in setting the political agenda. The programme has around 7 million listeners per week and it was voted the Best Breakfast Show of the Year at the 2010 Sony Radio Academy Awards. Today was launched on the BBCs Home Service on 28 October 1957 as a programme of talks to give listeners a morning alternative to light music. It was named by Isa Benzie who together with Janet Quigley were the programmes founders, Benzie volunteered to lead the programme and she served as its first de facto editor. It was initially broadcast as two 20-minute editions slotted in around the news bulletins and religious and musical items. In 1963 it became part of the BBCs Current Affairs department, Radio 4 controller Ian McIntyre cut it back to two parts in 1976–78, but it was swiftly returned to its former position. Jack de Manio became its principal presenter in 1958 and he was held in affection by listeners, but became notorious for on-air gaffes. In 1970 the programme format was changed so there were two presenters each day. De Manio left in 1971, and in the late 1970s the team of John Timpson, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, under editors Ken Goudie and Julian Holland, Today made moves to broaden its appeal away from broadcasting a lot of national politics with London-centric bias. Presentation was split for a time between London, usually by John Timpson, and from Manchester, usually by Brian Redhead, the objective was to make it more of a balanced, national programme. The on-air humour of the two presenters and the split of locations made the very popular and influential. Brian Redhead was quoted, If you want to drop a word in the ear of the nation and this pairing lasted until Timpsons retirement in 1986. Other presenters during this period included Libby Purves in the late 1970s, John Humphrys and Sue MacGregor joined the rotating list of presenters in 1986. By this time the programme was benefiting from publicity gained after it became known that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a regular listener, ministers thus became keen to go on the programme, but the tough, confrontational interviewing they encountered led to accusations that the BBC was biased. Criticism was particularly directed against Redhead, who was seen as being on the left. Chancellor Nigel Lawson accused him of having been a Labour voter all his life during a live interview, the style of the male interviewers was analysed and contrasted with the approach of MacGregor, who was alleged to be giving subjects an easier time
38.
The Mail on Sunday
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The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere and its sister paper, the Daily Mail, was first published in 1896. Like the Daily Mail it is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and it had an average daily circulation of 1,284,121 in December 2016. The Mail on Sunday was launched on 2 May 1982, to complement the Daily Mail, the first story on the front page was the Royal Air Forces bombing of Port Stanley airport in the Falkland Islands. Its sports coverage was seen to be among its weaknesses at the time of its launch, the Mail on Sundays first back-page splash was a report from the Netherlands on the rollerskating world championships, which led to the paper being ridiculed in the industry. Lord Rothermere, then the proprietor, brought in the Daily Mails editor David English who, with a force of new journalists. Over a period of three-and-a-half months English managed to halt the papers decline, three new sections were introduced, firstly a sponsored partwork, the initial one forming a cookery book, then a colour comic supplement, and lastly, a magazine – You magazine. The newspapers reputation was built on the work of its next editor, the newspapers circulation grew from around 1 million to just under 2 million during his time in charge. Although its sister paper the Daily Mail has invariably supported the Conservative Party, the subsequent editors were Jonathan Holborow, Peter Wright and, currently, Geordie Greig. At the 2015 general election The Mail on Sunday urged its readers to vote Conservative to prevent the country veering left under a Labour-SNP pact and it urged UKIP voters to please come home to the Conservatives as their protest has been registered. In the EU membership referendum, the paper came out unequivocally in favour of the Remain campaign, arguing that it would provide a safer, freer and more prosperous UK. The facts did not emerge until several years later, when they were revealed in evidence at the News of the World phone hacking trial, Wright became a member of the PCC from May 2008. He took over the previously held by the Daily Mails editor-in-chief Paul Dacre. The PCC issued two reports, in 2007 and 2009, which were compiled in ignorance of the significant information from the Mail group about the hacking of its journalists’ phones. The PCCs 2009 report, which had rejected Davies claims of widespread hacking at the News of the World, was retracted when it became clear that they were true. Wright and Dacre both also failed to mention the hacking of the four Mail on Sunday staff in the evidence they gave to the Leveson inquiry in 2012 and you – You magazine is a womens magazine featured in The Mail on Sunday. Its mix of features plus fashion, beauty advice, practical insights on health and relationships, food recipes. The Mail on Sunday is read by over six million a week, event – this magazine includes articles on the arts, books and culture and carries reviews of all media and entertainment forms and interviews with sector personalities
39.
Alastair Campbell
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He resigned in August 2003 during the Hutton Inquiry into the death of David Kelly. Campbell was born on 25 May 1957 in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, son of a Scottish veterinary surgeon, Donald Campbell, Campbells parents had moved to Keighley when his father became a partner in a local veterinary practice. Donald was a Gaelic-speaker from the island of Tiree, his wife was from Ayrshire, Campbell has two elder brothers, Donald and Graeme, and a younger sister, Elizabeth. Alastair would go over the county border to Lancashire to watch Burnley F. C. with his father and he is a lifelong supporter of Burnley Football Club and writes about their exploits in a column called Turf Moor Diaries for the FanHouse UK football blog. He is regularly involved in events with the club and he later claimed he wrote essays based solely on works of literary criticism, often rather than having read the works themselves. He spent a year in the south of France as part of his degree course. His first published work was Inter-City Ditties, his entry to a readers competition in Penthouse Forum. Campbell became a reporter on the Tavistock Times. His first significant contribution to the news pages was coverage of the Penlee lifeboat disaster in December 1981. As a trainee on the Plymouth-based Sunday Independent, then owned by Mirror Group Newspapers, he met his partner Fiona Millar, in 1982 Campbell moved to the London office of the Daily Mirror, Fleet Streets sole remaining big-circulation supporter of the Labour Party. His rapid rise and its accompanying stress led to alcohol abuse, Campbell was admitted to hospital in 1986 when he travelled to Scotland to cover Neil Kinnocks visit to Glasgow. He was detained by the police for his own safety after being observed behaving oddly, over the next five days as an in-patient he was given medication to calm him, and he realised that he had an alcohol problem after seeing a psychiatrist. Campbell said that from that day onwards he counted each day that he did not drink alcohol, Campbell returned to England, preferring to stay with friends near Cheltenham, rather than return to London where he did not feel safe. His condition continued with a phase of depression, and he was reluctant to seek medical help. He eventually cooperated with treatment from his family doctor and he has been a prominent supporter and advocate for the mental health anti-stigma campaign, Time to Change. Campbells first son was born in 1987 and he returned to the Daily Mirror, where he had to restart at a low grade and work night shifts, but he rebuilt his career and became political editor. He was an adviser of Neil Kinnock, going on holiday with the Kinnocks. Campbell later put this down to stress over uncertainty as to whether he, after leaving the Mirror in 1993, Campbell became political editor of Today
40.
Channel 4 News
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Channel 4 News is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4s launch in November 1982, Channel 4 News is the name of UK Channel 4s award-winning flagship evening news programme. The editor is Ben de Pear, appointed in July 2012, the programme is presented by Jon Snow, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Cathy Newman and Matt Frei and is on the air Monday to Friday from 7. 00pm–7. 55pm on Channel 4 and at variable times on weekends. Alex Thomson is the chief correspondent, Channel 4 News is among the highest-rated television programmes in the United Kingdom, winning a record five Royal Television Society Television Awards in February 2006. These included TV Journalist of the Year for Jon Snow, Home News Award for the Attorney General leak, and it won the News Coverage British Academy Television Award in 2004 and the 2004 International Emmy for the best news programme produced and aired outside the United States. Jon Snow won the Richard Dimbleby British Academy Television Award in 2005 for outstanding contribution to the world of news, in November 2011, Liam Dutton became Channel 4s first ever weather presenter, joining from BBC Weather. A replacement to the Channel 4 News at Noon in the 12. 00pm slot, it first aired on 21 December 2009, giving a five-minute summary of the news. News at Noon was first introduced in 2003 for the duration of the Iraq war and it was presented by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Prior to this bulletin, the programme in the slot was Powerhouse, aired Monday to Friday on sister channel More4, More4 News was anchored by Kylie Morris, it ran for 30 minutes, aiming to go in-depth into a certain issue. As a consequence of the slowdown during the 2009 recession, the programme was cancelled, along with the News at Noon. Channel 4 News also produces a variety of non-broadcast media, including a range of journalist authored blogs to deliver insight and analysis of the news from the news team. Channel 4 News also produces Snowmail, a daily email from the news reporter team, giving their personal take on the days news agenda. In 2003, Channel 4 News broke the story of the Dodgy Dossier which led to a crisis in Britain. On the evening of the Westminster attack of 22nd March 2017, Channel 4 News claimed they were able to name the attacker as Abu Izzadeen. The claim was repeated by The Independent and the Daily Mirror, however, Channel 4 News was forced to issue an on-air retraction during the same bulletin after Izzadeens solicitor stated that he was alive and serving time in prison. The music in the Channel 4 News titles is an orchestration of Best Endeavours by Alan Hawkshaw and it was introduced a few months after the channels launch, and has remained in use since. Official website Watch Channel 4 News online ITN. co. uk Channel 4 News at the BFIs Screenonline
