Demand For Real Butter Is Spreading

By Vicki Hawthorne, Sky News Ireland Correspondent

The demand for real butter is increasing according to the latest sales figures for the product.

In the last five years sales of butter have risen 7% in the UK, while margarine sales have dropped by 6%.

However, the market for margarine is still bigger with 271 million kilograms sold per year, while butter sells 141 million kilograms.

The increase in demand for butter has helped boost the business of many artisan producers, including Abernethy Butter in County Down in Northern Ireland.

Will and Allison Abernethy started making butter on their farm three years ago, and the enterprise has turned from a hobby into a business producing one tonne of butter a month.

Will Abernethy churning butter at his farm

Mrs Abernethy said: "We didn't realise there was such a demand for butter and the public were saying 'we love butter, we don't like margarine and we're going back to butter'."

Their hand-made product has even melted the hearts of Michelin Star chefs including Heston Blumenthal and Marcus Wareing. They supply butter to their London restaurants as well as high-end retailer Fortnum and Mason.

Even the big producers of margarines are starting to realise there has been a shift towards butter.

Last Autumn consumer goods giant Unilever, which produces Flora margarine, introduced butter into one of its spreads for the very first time.

For decades the health benefits of margarine have been promoted over butter.

Abernethy Butter is used by top chefs

But now the experts say butter isn't that bad for us after all.

Belfast based nutritional therapist Jane McClenaghan has been telling people to convert back to butter for years.

She said: "Not only are people looking for a more natural product but also research actually doesn't really back up the evidence that we should cut saturated fats out of our diet totally so our trends are following what the research says, but it has just taken us a while."

:: Watch Sky News live on television on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Moira Anderson Murder: Cold Case Breakthrough

By Jane Chilton, Scotland Correspondent

One of Scotland's longest unsolved child murders has taken a significant step closer to being solved.

The Cold Case Unit within the Scottish Crown Office, which has been investigating the disappearance of 11-year-old Moira Anderson in 1957, has issued a statement claiming main suspect Alexander Gartshore would be indicted for her murder if he were alive today.

The bus driver was a convicted paedophile who was always the key suspect in the disappearance of Moira, but he was never charged. He died in 2006.

Gartshore's daughter, Sandra Brown, who campaigned for the evidence against her father to be reviewed, claims her father abused many children and believes Moira was not the only girl to meet an unpleasant fate at his hands.

Suspected murderer Alexander Gartshore died in 2006

She suspects he was part of a paedophile ring operating in the central belt of Scotland.

Moir disappeared after leaving her grandmother's house in Coatbridge in 1957. Her body has never been found.

It is widely believed she was abducted and murdered.

Scotland's senior law officer, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC, said: "I welcome the statement issued by the Cold Case Unit.

Sandra Brown, Gartshore's daughter, claims her father abused many children

"This will hopefully bring closure to the family of Moira Anderson who have had to wait more than half a century for answers.

"I would like to pay tribute to the campaigners who refused to allow the memory of Moira Anderson to become forgotten.

"I would like to pay tribute to the prosecutors in the Cold Case Unit and the officers of Police Scotland who worked so hard on the case.

"It is important that unsolved homicides are not allowed to become a forgotten file gathering dust on a shelf.

"The work of the Cold Case Unit will ensure that this does not happen."

A grave was exhumed last year in Lanarkshire

He added: "Indicting someone for a crime is not the equivalent of finding someone guilty.

"The trial process is the only place in which guilt or innocence can be determined.

"We are not saying that the suspect is guilty, only that there is sufficient credible and reliable evidence to indict him and there would be a reasonable prospect of conviction had he still been alive."

In January last year, a grave in Old Monkland Cemetery in Lanarkshire was exhumed, following claims that Moira's body had been concealed there. But investigations proved inconclusive.

The whereabouts of Moira's body is still a mystery.

:: Watch Sky News live on television on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reception Children Face Compulsory Tests

Four-year-old children will have to sit tests when they start primary school under new Government plans.

The compulsory tests, designed to measure each child's level of development at the start of their formal schooling, will come into force by 2016 under the new proposals.

It comes after a Department for Education (DfE) consultation last year which proposed a "baseline assessment" in primary schools in order to measure how children have progressed by age 11.

The tests are to be carefully crafted to estimate a child's academic abilities in very basic literacy, reasoning and cognition, rather than testing their knowledge as in a traditional exam.

As a result, it is believed the current key stage one tests that take place at the end of year two, when most pupils are aged seven, will be scrapped.

The Government is soon expected to shortly announce the results of the consultation and reveal the new reception class test, which was first reported in The Times newspaper.

A DfE spokesperson said: "We have consulted on our proposed primary school assessment and accountability measures and we are considering our response."

Some educational campaigners fear the tests for the younger age group will place children under undue stress.

Deborah Lawson, general secretary of Voice The Union - a union representing education professionals, told Sky News: "I want to know what is the purpose? Why should we be putting children at a younger and younger age through a testing regime.

"I think also we have to remember that developmentally is this the right thing for young children?"

:: Watch Sky News live on television on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

David Bailey: I Want To Entertain People

By Richard Suchet, Arts and Entertainment Correspondent

Photographer David Bailey says a new exhibition of his work is intended to be both entertaining and educational.

David Bailey's Stardust at the National Portrait Gallery is a display of more than 250 images which have been personally selected and reprinted by the photographer himself.

The exhibition features iconic portraits of some of the world's most famous faces including John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Kate Moss, Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Nelson Mandela and Jack Nicholson.

Bailey told Sky News: "I thought I'd kind of make it entertaining and interesting. So I put in pictures which use lots of different techniques.

"I want people to come in, maybe learn something but be entertained as well. I don't want it to be sad and academic."

The exhibition takes up most of the museum's ground floor and is divided thematically into 19 different sections.

As well as fashion icons, models, musicians and actors, the photographs cover a vast range of subjects including his 1974 expedition to Papua New Guinea and the famine in east Africa in the 1980s.

But Bailey is perhaps best known for capturing - and even maybe helping to define - the Swinging Sixties.

Mick Jagger's ex-wife, the model and actress Jerry Hall, was one of those to be immortalised by David Bailey.

She said: "He reminds me of one of those 1930s film directors. You know, 'do this, do that'. It's all a bit of a comic thing.

"But all the time he is looking and looking for the picture and he has a great eye, he is a wonderful artist."

Bailey's Stardust opens at the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday.

David Bailey's Stardust: Exclusive airs February 11 at 9pm on Sky Arts 1.

:: Watch Sky News live on television on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lloyds Sets Target For Women Executives

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Lloyds Banking Group is to break new ground in the debate about gender diversity in British business by pledging that 40% of its top 5,000 jobs will be occupied by women within six years.

Sky News can reveal this weekend that the taxpayer-backed lender will become the first FTSE-100 company to establish a formal gender target for its most senior management positions.

The pledge, to be outlined by Antonio Horta-Osorio, Lloyds' chief executive, in a speech next week, will come at a time of unprecedented scrutiny of boardroom diversity and governance.

Mr Horta-Osorio is expected to set the target as part of a broader set of objectives aimed at demonstrating Lloyds' awareness of its wider societal role as the UK's biggest high street lender.

Sources said that he was also planning to establish formal annual goals for lending to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and to first-time house-buyers.

Targets for the number of female executives and a commitment to the level of funding for Lloyds' charitable causes would be made over a six-year period, they added.

It is the gender diversity target, which will entail the appointment of an additional 600 women to senior jobs at Lloyds by 2020, that is likely to attract the greatest attention.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Fiona Cannon, the bank's director of diversity and inclusion, said the initiative made sound business sense.

Fiona Cannon says the workforce should reflect the diversity of customers

"One of our visions is to be the best bank for customers. As the largest UK bank we are located in communities across the country and our customers are incredibly diverse," she said.

"There is a whole body of research suggesting that where organisations have a diverse senior management team they are much more financially successful than those that do not."

The Lloyds executive said that a 40% target was stretching but achievable. 28% of the bank's top 5000 jobs are currently held by women, a spokesman said.

"Creating an organisation that is meritocratic is good for everyone, not just for women," Ms Cannon said.

Lloyds' pledge comes amid mixed results from a concerted push in recent years to get more women elevated to board positions, with advocates arguing that greater diversity improves the stewardship of major companies.

That argument has acquired more weight in the aftermath of the financial crisis, although empirical evidence backing the superior performance of boards populated by women remains patchy.

The Government has thrown its weight behind a voluntary campaign to ensure that 25% of the directorships of FTSE-100 companies are held by women by the end of next year and has threatened to impose formal quotas if the objective is not met.

Since the initiative was launched by the former Trade Minister, Lord Davies, the proportion of women on boards has grown from 12% to 20%.

However, amid additional pressure from Brussels for the introduction of legally-binding quotas, there are concerns that the pace of change has been insufficiently rapid.

Vince Cable supports voluntary targets for women on boards

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said he supported Lloyds' work and hoped it would become a template for other major businesses.

"We are not tapping into the talents of half the population. If we are going to get proper balanced representation in companies, it has got to start with senior executives, working up to chief executive level," he said.

Mr Cable has been a supporter of voluntary rather than mandatory targets for women on boards, saying there was little evidence that more female leadership of financial institutions would have averted the 2008 banking crisis.

"I don't buy into that stereotype one way or the other," he said.

"All the evidence we have suggests that companies which do make use of the female labour force do very well at the top end. We need to make sure that becomes standard practice in the UK."

Lloyds' plan to announce the gender target is understood to have been signed off by the bank's board on Friday, less than two weeks before it reports full-year results for 2013.

The company, which provoked a row with Mr Cable by axing more than 1000 jobs this week, is preparing for a return to full private sector ownership in the coming months.

Ms Cannon dismissed the idea that Lloyds' proposals could be labelled as a publicity stunt, although critics of gender targets have argued that they are tokenistic and risk promoting mediocrity at the expense of genuine talent.

The 'gene pool' of available women to fill senior positions is questioned

Only four FTSE-100 companies - Burberry, easyJet, Imperial Tobacco and Royal Mail - have female bosses. Severn Trent, the water company, has also named a woman as its next chief executive, although Angela Ahrendts, the boss of Burberry, has resigned to take up a role with Apple.

Even fewer companies have a female chairman, with reform-minded businesspeople urging the pipeline of executives to be bolstered in order to facilitate future boardroom appointments.

Speaking to Sky News, Ruth Lea, an economist and director of Arbuthnot Banking Group, said doubts remained about the "gene pool" of available women to fill senior positions.

"I don't think positive discrimination is the best way forward for women. It breathes tokenism and suggests that somehow women cannot make it on their own merits," she said.

"It isn't a matter of discrimination. There simply isn't the gene pool of qualified and experienced women in comparison with the number of men. Men and women make different choices about their lifestyles and careers."

:: Watch Sky News live on television on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Miliband Outlines 'One Member, One Vote' Plan

Ed Miliband wants to scrap the system which gave him a thin victory over brother David in the race for the Labour leadership and replace it with a 'one member, one vote' election.

The proposals will "let people back into our politics" and complete 20 years of unfinished business, Mr Miliband said.

He told The Guardian: "These are the biggest changes to who can become involved in the Labour Party since probably its formation."

Under the current electoral college system for leadership elections, a third of votes go to trade unions, with the same proportion for party members, MPs and MEPs.

The unions will keep their collective voice at party conferences, with 50% of the vote, and their quota of seats on the national executive, although Mr Miliband has pledged to look at this in the future.

Under changes announced by Mr Miliband last year, individual trade union members will no longer be automatically affiliated with the party through the payment of a political levy.

They will be able to take part in elections if they chose to become an affiliated member for a fee of £3, Mr Miliband revealed in the interview.

The electoral college system gave Ed a close victory over David in 2010

The party hopes this will encourage them to become more involved in campaigning and provide a new source of activists.

The reforms were sparked by the controversy surrounding the selection of Labour's candidate in Falkirk.

The Unite union was accused of signing up members in the constituency to try and influence the outcome. An internal inquiry found no evidence of wrongdoing, but some have said it did not have all of the facts.

While he hailed the reforms as a "great advance", Mr Miliband admitted the changes are a risk. There are warnings altering the automatic levy will see the party suffer a significant drop in funding.

To ease these concerns the changes will be implemented over five years.

A decision on whether to adopt the reforms will be made at a special conference in London on March 1.

Some MPs have voiced their unease with the plans. There are warnings the proposals will increase the power of unions, who could try and persuade affiliated members to back their preferred candidate.

"This would be disastrous," one former minister told the Daily Mirror.

"It could be the death of the Labour Party."

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Baby Boy's Death: Mother Arrested In Oldham

By Becky Johnson, North of England Correspondent

Police are questioning a mother on suspicion of murdering her seven-week-old baby in Oldham.

The 23-year-old mother's partner, a man aged 35, and the couple's lodger, a 26-year-old man, have also been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The baby, named locally as Thomas Gacek, was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital with serious head injuries last Saturday.

Hospital staff contacted police and the child's mother and her partner were originally arrested on suspicion of assault.

Following the baby's death and the results of a postmortem examination they were re-arrested on suspicion of murder.

The baby was taken to Royal Oldham Hospital

Along with their lodger they are also being questioned on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

All three remain in police custody.

Police say one line of inquiry they are examining is whether he was shaken to death.

Detectives are searching the house where the child lived in the Clarksfield area of Oldham.

The couple's next door neighbour, who did not want to be named, told Sky News she was "shocked" to hear the news.

She said she understood the couple had only moved into the house in November and said they had put up balloons and banners when the baby was born.

The infant died at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital

Inquiries are ongoing to trace the child's father.

Detective Inspector Andy Cunliffe from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: "This is a tragic case in which a very young baby has lost his life.

"We are determined to find out exactly what the circumstances were that led to him suffering such injuries.

"News of the death of such a little boy will no doubt come as a great shock to people.

"And I would like to try to reassure the community as much as I can that we have a team of detectives dedicated to working on this investigation, and they will today be interviewing the three people in our custody.

"If anyone has any information at all that they believe may assist us with our enquiries, then please get in touch and tell us what you know."

Anyone with information is asked to contact GMP's Major Incident Team on 0161 856 1722 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

:: Watch Sky News live on television on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Prince George On First Overseas Holiday

Prince George is on his first overseas holiday after flying to the Caribbean with his mother.

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her six-month-old son left on a Boeing 747 jumbo jet for the island of Mustique on Friday. 

But Prince William could not join the fun, remaining behind to focus on his studies.

Earlier this month, the Duke of Cambridge began a bespoke 10-week course in agricultural management at Cambridge University.

The family is holidaying on the island of Mustique. Pic: Alex Watson

But Kate will have some adult company while abroad - her mother Carole Middleton, who was 59 on Friday, father Michael, brother James and sister Pippa reportedly joined her and George for the trip.

This Caribbean break will also be good practice for the baby prince's lengthy overseas trip in a few months.

George will being heading on a royal tour with his parents to Australia and New Zealand in April.

The entourage is likely to include a nanny to look after Prince George while Kate and William conduct public engagements in countries where the reception is expected to be warm.

Prince George's parent show him off to the world a day after his birth

It will also echo a trip William made with his parents in 1983 when he was just nine months old.

Prince William last visited New Zealand in March 2011, shortly after the Christchurch earthquake, before travelling on to witness flood-damaged areas of Queensland and Victoria in Australia.

It will be the Duchess of Cambridge's first visit to both Australia and New Zealand.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Flights Cancelled Amid 75mph Winds And Floods

Heavy rains, large waves and strong winds wreaked havoc in Britain and Ireland today, cancelling flights and sparking a "significant risk to life" warning.

The worst of the weather was battering the Republic of Ireland but gusts were expected to pick up across Wales and southern parts of England during the day.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is to chair a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee by conference call at 3pm.

The Environment Agency warned "extraordinary measures" may be taken in Gloucestershire today to keep back tidal and river floods.

Flooding in central Limerick, Ireland (pic: Sean Keogh/@Fame_For_Sale)

It issued severe flood warnings - meaning there is an imminent danger to life - for several parts of the county and the coasts of Cornwall and north Devon.

Further warnings are in place along the length of the River Severn amid fears it could burst its banks. It also warned the risk of flooding could continue into next week.

Keep Calm and Carry On! The Anchor Bleu in Bosham (pic Stephen Sumner)

Flood barriers have already been installed in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and Bewdley, Worcestershire, as the water level rises.

A statement issued by the agency said: "Gales, large waves and high tides present a danger to life and are expected to result in overtopping of sea walls and defences causing flooding to properties along with disruption to travel.

"The risk of flooding will continue into next week, with the Met Office forecasting further heavy rainfall across southern England and Wales.

"This rain will fall in areas where ground water and river levels are already high, bringing an ongoing risk of flooding."

Residents in Limerick paddle down the road in a boat. Pic: Anne Sheridan

Lesser warnings remain in place for many parts of Britain, including the already blighted Somerset Levels and west Wales, where 49 flood warnings and 15 alerts have been issued this morning.

Tests for Sky News have found floodwater in Somerset, where the floods have persisted for weeks, contains 60 times the amount of safe bacteria for agricultural water.

In the Republic of Ireland, there were reports of severe flooding in Limerick City with the river Shannon bursting its banks.

With gusts of almost 80mph in coastal areas of the country, several parts were hit by flooding and at one stage 5,500 homes and properties were left without power, 4,000 of them in Ennis, Co Clare.

Flights out of Dublin airport were affected because of the gales force winds. Flights to Manchester, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Cardiff, Paris and Madrid had to be cancelled.

Isabel Webster, reporting from the River Parrett in Burrowbridge, Somerset, tweeted at 8.30am: "High tide in Burrowbridge this morning. It's just touching the sand bags."

River Parrett in Burrowbridge in the 1960s when it was regularly dredged In Spring 2013, without dregdging. Pic: Flooding on the Levels Action Group The same river today

Minutes later she tweeted: "Water is seeping through giant sandbags onto road beyond at high tide here in Burrowbridge."

Amid fears the bags would not hold back the water an emergency team from the Environment Agency, rushed to the scene to bolster the defences.

There are fears that flooding in the area will worsen as river levels rise over the coming hours and tomorrow.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has admitted a "long-term" action plan is needed to reduce the devastating impact of flooding on communities.

He insisted the Government was doing "everything we can to help people recover as quickly as possible".

England and Wales are covered by flood warnings and alerts

However, he admitted there was work to do, especially in Somerset, where some residents remain cut off after the wettest January on record.

In a letter to the Western Daily Press, Mr Cameron said: "Like everybody across the country I feel enormous sympathy for the people who live on the Somerset Levels and are suffering from the devastating impact of the flooding."

He added: "We need long-term action to reduce the risk of this happening again. That is why (Environment Secretary) Owen Paterson is working with the Environment Agency (EA) and local agencies in Somerset to deliver a robust plan for the next 20 years."

The Severn laps over a road in Arley, Worcestershire. Pic: Neill Woodward

The Prime Minister said plans to dredge rivers will begin "as soon it is safe to do so" and the EA will spend "the coming months improving river flows" across the south west, dredging and weed clearance.

Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has claimed a lack of river dredging for the past 40 years has worsened the impact of the flooding in Somerset.

"The EA decided to abandon the dredging for the sake of the river bank and they sold the wonderful dredging machines for scrap," said the dairy farmer.

"Can you believe it? That was 40 years ago. This (flooding) is the result of that decision."

In the Republic of Ireland, Munster, Leinster, Connacht, Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan were told to prepare for possible flooding, while communities in west Wales and along the south coast from Dorset to Kent were also put on alert.

As heavy rain fell in the South, snow swept across parts of the North

Hundreds of university students in Aberystwyth were told to leave accommodation on the town's seafront amid fears high tides could hit the town for the second time in a month.

Meanwhile, at the Anchor Bleu pub in Bosham, West Sussex, defiant customers were pictured eating their lunches and supping their beers as water swashed about their feet. 

Wintry weather swept across northern areas on Friday, closing the Lake District's exposed Kirkstone Pass and causing hazardous driving conditions elsewhere.

The latest forecasts will be met with trepidation in flood-stricken communities in Somerset, where the military is on standby to help with the relief effort.

On Tuesday, Prince Charles will meet people who remain cut off by water after the wettest January on record.

Some residents have criticised the Government and the Environment Agency for what they say is a lack of action to prevent the floods.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Somerset Floodwater Has High Bacteria Levels

Floodwater in Somerset contains 60 times the amount of safe bacteria for agricultural water, tests for Sky News have found.

Microbiologist Nathaniel Storey, from the University of Reading, took samples from Moorland on Thursday and tested it to see how much bacteria was in the water.

The tests revealed the water contained 60,000 to 70,000 bacteria per 100 millilitres.

The World Health Organisation says agricultural water should have no more than 1,000 bacteria per 100 millilitres.

Bathing water should have no more than 500 bacteria per 100 millilitres.

Mr Storey has told Sky News the amount of bacteria in the floodwater is high.

"It's perhaps unsurprising considering there's septic tanks in these people's gardens that are overflowing and animals within close proximity," he said.

"Therefore all this excrement that's in these areas is being dredged up by the floodwater and taken into houses and into gardens."

He says people who have been near the floodwater should be careful preparing food straight after.

"It's possible they could get some quite nasty gastrointestinal diseases or diarrhoea etc from coming into contact with this floodwater," he said.

The flooded Somerset Levels, near Langport

"People should make sure they wash their hands after coming into contact with the floodwater, especially if they're going to preparing food."

He also warns that it could take about two to three months for the bacteria levels to drop in the region, so people must take precautions during the clean-up operation.

In response to the testing, a Public Health England spokesperson said: "It is unsurprising that samples of flood water have demonstrated the presence of bacteria normally found in the outdoor environment."

About 25 square miles (65 sq km) of the Somerset Levels has been swamped by the worst flooding in the area for 20 years.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he has "enormous sympathy" for the people who live on the flooded Somerset Levels.

But many residents in the area blame the Environment Agency for exacerbating flooding they have experienced over the past month by not dredging the rivers.

There are still severe floods warnings in place across southwest England and the Midlands, after heavy overnight rain, high winds and a high spring tide.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

23.17 | 0 komentar | Read More