British tourist killed in Thailand

1 January 2013 Last updated at 19:58 ET

A British tourist has been killed in Thailand on New Year's Eve.

Stephen Ashton was reportedly caught by a stray bullet during a fight between two groups at a bar on Koh Phangan.

According to the Bangkok Post, the 22-year-old was shot in the upper body in the early hours and taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Foreign Office said it was aware of the death of a British national in Thailand, and was providing consular assistance to the family.

It later confirmed the dead man's name.

Police investigating the incident later arrested a Thai man, according to the Post.

Mr Ashton's neighbour, Dawn Mason, described him as a "normal, likeable young man".

She said his family had moved to Purley, south London, about three years ago and had always been "very nice neighbours".

Mr Ashton's family said they were too distraught to speak to reporters.

A former colleague, Michael Jarman, described the junior stockbroker as energetic, happy and full of life.

"He was a breath of fresh air," he said.

"It's a massive loss, not only for his friends and his family of course, but any job prospects that he may have taken up with us."

Koh Phangan is a resort island neighbouring Koh Samui and it draws thousands of backpackers to its famous full moon parties.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Digital sales break £1bn barrier

1 January 2013 Last updated at 21:08 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

There has been a sharp growth in film and music downloads

More than £1bn was spent on downloaded films, music and games in 2012, the highest annual total.

Sales increased 11.4% from 2011, meaning that a quarter of the entertainment market is now digital.

But figures released later by entertainment retailers will also show a big drop in physical sales - more bad news for high street shops.

Sales of CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray and video games fell by 17.6% in 2011 although they still make up most of the market.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The entertainment industry has been struggling to adapt to the digital age"

End Quote Rory Cellan-Jones BBC technology correspondent

Kim Bayley, director general of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), which will release the figures, said that breaking the £1bn barrier was an "incredible achievement" for retailers.

"This reflects their huge investment in new and innovative services - which means you can buy music, video and games literally at any time of the day and wherever you are.

"At the same time I suspect that many people will be surprised to learn just how resilient the physical business still is - with three-quarters of entertainment sales still on disc.

"Downloads offer convenience and portability, but people still seem to value the quality and tangibility of a physical product."

More than half of the digital sales went on video games, which grew 8% to £552m.

Continue reading the main story

Digital sales, 2012

• Music £383m (up 15.1% on 2011)
• Films/video £98m (20.3%)
• Video games £552m (7.7%)
• Total: £1,033m (11.4%)

Films and music had a smaller share of the digital market but sharper growth - downloaded films up by 20% and music by 15%.

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said: "The entertainment industry has been struggling to adapt to the digital age.

"And while consumers are now paying for downloads, that's not making up for the rapid fall in high street sales."

Sales of video games in shops were particularly badly hit, with retailers blaming a lack of compelling new titles, he added.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Booze calories 'too often ignored'

1 January 2013 Last updated at 21:11 ET

People watching their weight should pay closer attention to how much alcohol they drink since it is second only to fat in terms of calorie content, say experts.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund, alcohol makes up nearly 10% of total calorie intake among drinkers.

Having a large glass of wine will cost you the same 178 calories as eating two chocolate digestive biscuits.

And it will take you more than a half hour's brisk walk to burn off.

Empty calories

Eating or drinking too many calories on a regular basis can lead to weight gain.

Continue reading the main story

Recent reports have shown that people are unaware of calories in drinks and don't include them when calculating their daily consumption"

End Quote Kate Mendoza World Cancer Research Fund

But unlike food, alcoholic drinks have very little or no nutritional value.

The 'empty calories' in drinks are often forgotten or ignored by dieters, says the WCRF.

Kate Mendoza, head of health information at WCRF, said: "Recent reports have shown that people are unaware of calories in drinks and don't include them when calculating their daily consumption."

Containing 7kcal/g, alcohol is only slightly less calorific than fat, which contains 9kcal/g.

Protein and carbohydrates contain 4kcal/g and fibre 2kcal/g.

Men need around 2,500 calories a day, and women around 2,000.

"Cutting down on drinking can have a big effect on weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight," said Ms Mendoza.

It can also reduce your risk of cancer, she said.

Alcohol has been linked with breast, bowel, mouth and liver cancer.

If you don't want to abstain entirely, there are ways that can help you cut down, including opting for smaller glass sizes, diluting alcohol with soda water or a low-calorie soft drink, alternating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and keeping a few nights each week booze-free.

WCRF has produced an Alcohol Calorie Calculator for different drinks that shows approximately how much exercise you would need to do to burn off the alcohol calories you consume.

Government guidelines recommend men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day, and women should limit themselves to 2-3 units a day.

A standard 175ml glass of wine contains about two units and a large 250ml glass contains about three units.

If you have had a heavy drinking session, you should avoid alcohol for at least 48 hours, experts advise.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Teacher morale 'dangerously low'

1 January 2013 Last updated at 22:11 ET By Judith Burns BBC News Education reporter

Morale among teachers in England and Wales is "dangerously low" and "has declined dramatically in recent months" a survey suggests.

More than half (55%) of teachers polled by YouGov for the National Union of Teachers (NUT) described their morale as low or very low.

Some 77% said the government's impact on education in England was "negative".

The government said teaching was an "attractive profession" with "vacancy rates at their lowest since 2005".

Researchers questioned a "weighted spread" of 804 teachers across England and Wales. Some 88% belonged to a trade union or professional body, and 11% taught in private schools, the rest in state funded schools including academies and free schools. Some 74% were female.

The survey was conducted online last month.

'Wrong direction'

The results suggested that teacher morale had collapsed by 13 percentage points since a similar survey in April.

Then the proportion describing their morale as low or very low was 42%. The figure describing it as high or very high dropped from 27% in April to 15% in December.

Some 69% said their morale had declined since the general election in 2010. Almost three-quarters (71%) said they rarely or never felt trusted by the government.

Some 77% said academy and free school programmes were taking education in England in the wrong direction, while only 5% felt the government was having a "positive" effect on schools.

More than three-quarters (76%) said cuts and austerity measures were having a negative impact on some or most children and their families, with 74% agreeing that children's educational attainment was affected by family income.

More than eight out of ten secondary teachers (81%) said they believed the government's new English Baccalaureate qualification for 16-year-olds was being rushed through without enough consultation.

Some expressed fears that the new qualification encompassed too narrow a range of subjects and that many schools would stop teaching music, art, PE, design technology and religious education.

Almost three-quarters (73%) felt students affected by the GCSE English fiasco should have their papers regraded.

Only 22% supported the new phonics screening check for six-year-olds.

Continue reading the main story

This survey paints a very sorry picture and is a damming indictment of coalition government policies"

End Quote Christine Blower NUT General Secretary

On teachers' pay the survey asked about proposals to replace annual pay increments and give heads and governing bodies the power to determine any rises. Some 77% rejected the idea with 15% in favour and 8% undecided, the figure rose to 79% among academy teachers.

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: "This survey paints a very sorry picture and is a damning indictment of coalition government policies."

She said the education secretary Michael Gove had "been allowed to rush through reforms based on little or no evidence".

"We need to see education policy being implemented that works for all children and young people and provides them with an education that is exciting and fulfilling.

"It is time the prime minister reined in his education secretary, who has lost the respect of the profession."

'Greater freedom'

A spokesman for the Department for Education said the changes would raise standards "by giving more power to head teachers, attracting the best graduates and professionals, and helping those teaching now to do their jobs even better".

He added that the government had invested £4m "to help existing teachers develop their skills" and was "cutting bureaucracy to allow them to spend more time in the classroom and less on unnecessary paperwork".

"Our academy and free schools programme gives schools greater freedom so that more schools are run by great heads and teachers. Results show they are already having a positive impact, with performance in sponsored academies improving at almost twice the rate of maintained schools in 2011," he added.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Call for law to mark Delhi victim

2 January 2013 Last updated at 00:03 ET

An Indian minister has called on the authorities to reveal the name of the Delhi gang-rape victim so that a new anti-rape law can be named after her.

Junior Education Minister Shashi Tharoor said unless the parents of the the 23-year-old medical student objected, she should be honoured.

The victim died over the weekend in a Singapore hospital where she was being treated for severe injuries.

The 16 December attack in a bus has caused a national outcry.

The woman and a male friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area of Delhi, intending to travel to Dwarka in the south-west of the city.

Continue reading the main story

Clearly, many Indian women face threats to life at every stage - violence, inadequate healthcare, inequality, neglect, bad diet, lack of attention to personal health and well-being"

End Quote

Police said she was raped for nearly an hour, and both she and her companion were beaten with iron bars, then thrown out of the moving bus into the street.

On Tuesday, police sources said the driver of the bus had tried to run her over after throwing her out, but she was saved by her friend, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Police are expected to formally charge five of six suspects with murder on Thursday. If convicted, they could face the death penalty, which is rarely carried out in India.

The sixth suspect is reported to be under 18 and a juvenile. Police have ordered a bone test for him to confirm his age.

'Name and honour her'

"Wondering what interest is served by continuing anonymity of the Delhi gang rape victim. Why not name and honour her as a real person with own identity?" Mr Tharoor wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter late on Tuesday.

"Unless her parents object, she should be honoured and the revised anti-rape law named after her. She was a human being with a name, not just a symbol," he wrote.

Social activist and former police officer Kiran Bedi supported Mr Tharoor's idea.

"What Mr Tharoor has said is maybe unique to India, but is not unique in the world," Reuters quoted her as saying.

"Many of the American laws... which have been made to perpetuate the memory or the suffering of the victim, only to remember that this is what happened and this is the spirit behind the law... I think it's a good idea," she said.

But some critics called Mr Tharoor's suggestion "deplorable" and India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party vowed to "oppose any such move".

On Tuesday, the victim's ashes were scatted by her family in the river Ganges.

The brutal assault of the woman has sparked massive public outrage in the country.

It led to huge demonstrations with protesters expressing anger over attitudes to women in India and calling for changes to the laws on violence against women.

The Indian government was also heavily criticised for its response to the attack, which many called "slow" and inadequate.

Safety helpline

According to official figures, a woman is raped in Delhi every 14 hours, while women across the country say they are frequently subjected to sexual intimidation and violence.

Officials have since announced a series of measures intended to make the city safer for women.

These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.

The government has also set up a committee under a retired Supreme Court judge to recommend changes to the anti-rape law.

Late on Monday, the authorities in Delhi launched a new telephone helpline for women in distress. The 24-hour helpline number 181 will operate out of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's office and will be connected with all the 185 police stations across the city.

But many of the protesters say that women are viewed as second-class citizens, and that a fundamental change in culture and attitudes, backed up by law, is needed to protect them.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Obama praises 'fiscal cliff' deal

2 January 2013 Last updated at 04:23 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Barack Obama: "The deficit is still too high"

US President Barack Obama has hailed a deal reached to avert a "fiscal cliff" of huge tax rises and spending cuts.

After the House of Representatives passed the bill by 257 votes to 167, Mr Obama said the measures were "just one step in the broader effort to strengthen the economy".

It raises taxes for the wealthy and delays spending cuts for two months.

There had been intense pressure for the vote to be passed before financial markets reopened on Wednesday.

Financial markets have responded positively to the move.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index opened up 2.1% on Wednesday morning, while South Korea's Kospi added 1.7% and Australia's ASX 200 rose 1.2%.

UK shares jumped 1.5% on opening, German stocks gained by 1.6%, while France's Cac 40 rose 1.4% and Italy's stocks gained 2%.

Economists' warnings

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The president's tone after the vote was not conciliatory. He was almost cocky. This man has had it with 'Kum ba yah'"

End Quote

In Tuesday night's house vote, 172 Democrats and 85 Republicans voted in favour of the bill.

A majority of Republicans, 151 in total, voted no, along with 16 Democrats.

The bill had been passed in the Senate less than 24 hours earlier by 89 votes to eight after lengthy talks between Vice-President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans.

Continue reading the main story

US media reaction

Jonathan Weisman in the New York Times says the deal revealed a new breed of Republicans, who seemed "determined to put themselves in a position to be blamed for sending the nation's economy into a potential tailspin under the weight of automatic tax increases and spending cuts".

In the Washington Post, Zachary A Goldfarb says the deal averted "a dangerous dose of austerity but still leaves the economy vulnerable to both immediate and more distant threats", warning that it is "too modest", does nothing to address unemployment and "fails to defuse the prospect of a catastrophic national default two months from now".

Writing for Forbes magazine, John Zogby says more was at stake in the negotiations that the economy, "namely, the question of whether or not Congress could still be a viable, problem-solving body or whether it was doomed to irrelevance". Both parties had to show they could work together, he says. "And at the last minute, they did just that. And their ultimate reward: they saved their own butts."

Speaking before returning to Hawaii for his interrupted Christmas holiday, Mr Obama said that in signing the law he was fulfilling a campaign pledge.

"I will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans... while preventing a middle-class tax hike," he told a White House press conference.

The US deficit was still too high, he said: While open to compromise on budgetary issues, he would not offer Congress spending cuts in return for lifting the government's borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling.

"There is a path forward, if we focus not on politics, but on what's right for the country," added Mr Obama.

The "fiscal cliff" measures - cutting spending and increasing taxes dramatically - came into effect automatically at midnight on Monday when George W Bush-era tax cuts expired.

The 1 January deadline triggered tax increases of about $536bn and spending cuts of $109bn from domestic and military programmes.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Adam Blenford BBC News, Capitol Hill

---

In the end, it was settled after a tense meeting of House Republicans in a basement conference room.

When a stony-faced Speaker John Boehner left the room an hour later, one Congressman was overheard on the phone - it was "looking like a long night", he said, apologetically. Out of the basement, the smell of pizza wafted through the ornate House corridors. If the fiscal cliff was going to hurt ordinary Americans, the threat of it did no harm to one pizza parlour just a short hop down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Before the final vote, dissenters and supporters lined up to make their point. "Common sense has prevailed," one Democrat declared; a prominent Republican said he simply did not believe spending cuts would eventually be delivered. But as the votes rolled in, House members stood on the floor and watched as the scoreboard lit up, and applauded - briefly - when the crucial 217th vote was cast.

Economists had warned that if the full effects of the fiscal cliff were allowed to take hold, the resulting reduction in consumer spending could have sparked a new recession.

The compromise deal extends the tax cuts for Americans earning under $400,000 (£246,000) - up from the $250,000 level Democrats had originally sought.

In addition to the income tax rates and spending cuts, the package includes:

• Rises in inheritance taxes from 35% to 40% after the first $5m for an individual and $10m for a couple
• Rises in capital taxes - affecting some investment income - of up to 20%, but less than the 39.6% that would prevail without a deal
• One-year extension for unemployment benefits, affecting two million people
• Five-year extension for tax credits that help poorer and middle-class families

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rail travellers hit by fare rises

2 January 2013 Last updated at 04:39 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus, says the rail industry must keep costs down

Rail fares for season ticket holders have increased by an average of 4.2% as the annual price hike, announced in August, comes into effect.

Overall, ticket prices have gone up by 3.9% in England, Wales and Scotland, but rises vary between train operators.

The TUC has claimed average train fares have risen nearly three times faster than average incomes since 2008.

Transport minister Norman Baker said the government had intervened to ensure fare rises were capped at about 4%.

"Regulated" rail fare increases - which include season tickets for most commuter journeys and off-peak fares on most intercity routes - are calculated by using the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation plus an additional percentage.

Continue reading the main story

Examples of rail fare increases

Since 2003, London commuters have seen:

• Average season ticket costs increase by £1,300
• Fares increasing 20% faster than wages
• Average costs in real terms increasing by £360

Outside of London, rail users have faced:

• Annual fares from Ashford International in Kent to London have risen by more than £2,000
• Fares from Sevenoaks in Kent to London have increased by nearly 90%, from £1,660 to £3,112
• Commuters travelling between Worcester and Birmingham Moor Street will pay £1,240 for a season ticket compared with £816 in 2003, an increase of 52%

SOURCE: Campaign for Better Transport

Initially the rail fare increase was set at RPI plus 3% - a total of 6.2% - but this was reduced to RPI plus 1% by the government in October to a total of about 4.2%.

Train companies are allowed to vary regulated fares by up to 5% above, or by any amount below, the average change in regulated fares, so that they can respond to changes in demand in particular areas.

Fares that go up by more than the average must be balanced by others that rise by less than the average, or that fall.

In developments across the UK:

• In London, passengers on the Tube, buses, trams, DLR and commuter trains face on average a 4.2% increase, while some rail season tickets have gone up by much more
• An off-peak day return between Bristol and St Austell in Cornwall has risen in price from £53.10 to £75.60 - a rise of 40%
• The cost of an annual ticket from Banbury to London has risen by 5.98%, an increase of £284, according to Chiltern Railways
• An unregulated return between Birmingham and London went up by 10%, although it only adds £2.50 to the fare
• Some tickets will rise by as little as 2.3% while one ticket, from Shenfield, Essex, to London will be £16 cheaper, at £2,704, a 0.6% drop.

Labour has said it would impose a "strict" cap on future rail fare rises, and has accused the government of misleading commuters over promises to limit them.

'Truly shocking'

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Edward Welsh, ATOC: "Passenger satisfaction has steadily improved .... but there is more we need to do"

The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) and independent campaign group Railfuture have both calculated that some rail fares have increased by 50% or more in the past 10 years.

CBT chief executive Stephen Joseph branded the rail fare increase "truly shocking".

He said: "The impact of successive governments' policies on rail fares is appalling.

"We have deliberately made getting the train to work an extravagance that many struggle to afford. The time has come not just to stop the rises but to reduce fares."

The group have launched a petition calling on government to end the above-inflation formula used for determining the annual rise and commit to reducing fares relative to inflation.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Labour would strictly enforce the fare cap on every route and restore the ban on train companies imposing higher increases"

End Quote Maria Eagle MP Shadow transport minister

The TUC's Action for Rail campaign said rail passengers will be paying more for a lesser service, as rail operators begin to implement job cuts as part of plans to save £3.5bn across the rail industry by 2019.

'Running costs'

Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC and chairwoman of Action for Rail, said: "At a time when real wages are falling and household budgets are being squeezed, rail travellers are being forced to endure yet another year of inflation-busting fare increases.

"As well as having to shell out record amounts of money for their tickets, passengers also face the prospect of travelling on trains with fewer staff and having less access to ticket offices. They are being asked to pay much more for less."

The chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc), Michael Roberts, said it is the government that decides how much the annual average season ticket rise will be.

"Successive governments have required train companies to increase the average price of season tickets every January since 2004 by more than inflation.

"Ministers want passengers to pay a larger share of railway running costs to reduce the contribution from taxpayers while sustaining investment in better stations, new trains and faster services," he insisted.

Mr Baker said Whitehall had already acted to limit the impact fare increases would have on family budgets.

"We are engaged in the biggest rail investment programme since the 19th Century and it is only right that the passenger, as well as the taxpayer, contributes towards that.

"In the longer term we are determined to reduce the cost of running the railways so that we can end the era of above-inflation fare rises," he added.

'Passenger misery'

Labour shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said rail fare hikes had come as a "nasty new year shock" for many commuters.

She said: "The government should come clean with commuters that this is a direct result of their decision to cave in to pressure from the private train companies to let them hike ticket prices beyond the so-called cap.

"The misery for passengers is set to continue in 2013 as the government's plans to let train companies close ticket offices and introduce a new super peak ticket become a reality.

"Labour would strictly enforce the fare cap on every route and restore the ban on train companies imposing higher increases," she added.

Sustainable transport charity Sustrans has warned that train travel is becoming "increasingly unaffordable" for families.

Chief executive Malcolm Shepherd said: "Many are facing a stark choice, fork out for expensive train travel, own a car and cut back on essentials, or stay put and miss out on jobs and opportunities.

"With oil prices only going up in the long run, we need a major overhaul to our transport system so that we can all afford to get about, now and in the future," he added.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Men held over policeman car bomb

31 December 2012 Last updated at 18:18 ET

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The BBC's Julian O'Neill said the officer found the bomb as he was about to take his wife and children out for lunch

Two men have been arrested by police investigating the attempted murder of a police officer after a bomb was placed under his car in Belfast.

The men, aged 25 and 34, were held in Belfast on Monday.

The unexploded device was discovered on the Upper Newtownards Road at about 14:00 GMT on Sunday.

Army bomb disposal officers carried out a controlled explosion. A group calling itself the "new IRA" has claimed responsibility of the attack.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the bomb was "clearly intended to kill the police officer".

Threat level

In a statement, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton said: "It is very fortunate that this device was detected before it exploded and that no-one was killed or seriously injured."

Continue reading the main story

A few seconds on his knees to look under his car saved a police officer and his family from carnage on their way to have Sunday lunch.

As his wife and two young children watched, he carried out his routine search of his vehicle and spotted a device intended to kill him.

"We are very grateful that this officer acted in the way he did and checked his car, otherwise the consequences would have been absolutely devastating for him and his family," says Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton.

Hours after it was discovered, the bomb was defused in a controlled explosion by the army.

However the device was recovered partially intact and police hope forensic tests could identify those who made and planted it.

ACC Hamilton added that the officer's family and neighbours "were also put at risk of serious harm".

He said there was a severe threat level across Northern Ireland and appealed to officers to be vigilant and check under their cars.

He hoped the device would be useful as evidence because it was discovered and did not engage.

"This murderous type of attack is not the way forward for our society," he added.

"No-one is entitled to take the life of another human being in circumstances such as this. Our appeal is for the vast majority of people to stand up against this rump of anti-peace dissident republicanism."

A number of houses in the area had to be evacuated while Army bomb officers made the device safe.

Booby-trap

The chairman of Northern Ireland's Police Federation, Terry Spence, said he would be seeking a meeting with Chief Constable Matt Baggott to discuss officers' personal security.

In recent years, dissident republican paramilitary groups have carried out a number of attacks on PSNI officers.

In April 2011, Constable Ronan Kerr was killed when a booby-trap car bomb exploded under his car in Omagh, County Tyrone.

The previous year, Constable Peadar Heffron lost a leg in a similar attack as he drove to work in Randalstown, County Antrim.

In November, prison officer David Black, 52, was shot dead in a motorway ambush in County Armagh as he drove to work.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

Archbishop hails UK's volunteers

31 December 2012 Last updated at 20:10 ET

The Archbishop of Canterbury has paid tribute to unsung volunteers in his final new year message.

The Most Reverend Rowan Williams said the success of the Olympics volunteers should serve as a reminder of those who "often invisibly" make things happen.

He said there was a "steady current of generosity that underlies so much of our life together", in his BBC message.

People should ask "what can I do to join this silent conspiracy of generous dedication?" the archbishop said.

The Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Justin Welby, is to take over the Church of England's top role in March.

'Olympic vision'

In his recorded message, the 11th since he took office in 2002, Dr Williams said: "The extraordinary events of the Olympics and Paralympics last summer provided an unforgettable spectacle.

"But everyone who visited the Olympic site or watched the broadcasts will have been made aware of the army of volunteers who cheerfully gave up their free time and worked away, without complaint, all hours of the day and night to make these great events happen.

"They were the key people who translated the Olympic vision into reality for the rest of us.

"It ought to make us think a bit harder about all the other folk who quietly, often invisibly, turn vision into reality and just make things happen - especially volunteers."

Dr Williams referred to the "Robes" project, where more than 20 local churches combined to offer food and shelter to homeless people in London.

"Religion here isn't a social problem or an old-fashioned embarrassment, it's a wellspring of energy and a source of life-giving vision for how people should be regarded and treated," he said.

"So let's recognise this steady current of generosity that underlies so much of our life together in this country and indeed worldwide.

"It's all based on one vision - to make our society, our whole world, work for everyone, not just the comfortable and well off.

"And it's a vision that sometimes seems to need Olympic levels of patient hard work and dedication."

'Silent groundswell'

He said volunteers from churches and other faith groups made up a huge percentage of the "army of cheerful people making the wheels go round".

"How very good that people like that are there for us, we can say - but as soon as we've said that, we should be prompted to ask the tougher question: what can I do to join this silent conspiracy of generous dedication?" he added.

"There'll be those who have time and skill and strength to offer; there'll be those who have less of these, but can support in prayer and goodwill."

He said that thinking about this "silent groundswell" should open up minds to the "deepest secret of all - the trust that the entire universe is held together by the quiet, unfailing generosity of God".

Dr Williams is to take up a new post as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and will also serve as chairman of the board of trustees at Christian Aid, the international development agency.

In his Christmas message, Dr Williams, 62, acknowledged that a recent vote not to allow women bishops in the Church had damaged its credibility.

However, he said that according to recent census results, 59% of people still identified themselves as Christian, and believers should not lose heart.

The archbishop's message will be broadcast at 12:15 GMT on BBC One and at 17:25 on BBC Two.

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More

NHS approach to obesity 'patchy'

31 December 2012 Last updated at 21:14 ET By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

Obesity services across the UK are "extremely patchy" and valuable opportunities to help obese patients are often lost, doctors say.

The Royal College of Physicians said hospitals in particular had "poorly developed" systems in place.

Its report said the problems meant services were often just dealing with the symptoms, such as heart disease or diabetes, rather than the cause.

There needed to be a rethink over how to approach the problem, it added.

The UK is now among the most obese nations in the world.

One in four adults are obese - a figure which is predicted to more than double by 2050.

Wide variations

The report recognised that attempts were being made to stem the tide of obesity through health promotion campaigns.

But it said that should not detract from the fact the NHS had to do more to deal with those patients who were already obese.

Continue reading the main story

The only way we will ever tackle the problems caused by obesity is by everyone working together"

End Quote Professor Lindsey Davies Faculty of Public Health

The report pointed out there were wide variations in the way obesity was treated across the UK - particularly in the frequency with which obesity surgery is performed.

It said there needed to be a much more "joined up" approach between hospitals and community services.

To help hospitals should also appoint a doctor to lead on obesity, it added.

Prof John Wass, from the RCP, said: "'Britain is getting bigger and whilst we try to prevent the increase in obesity, we must also prepare the NHS for the influx of patients presenting with severe complex obesity.

"A patient may arrive at my hospital with coronary heart disease, but if the root cause of their condition is obesity, we must be equipped to deal with that root cause."

Working together

Prof Lindsey Davies, president of the Faculty of Public Health, welcomed the recommendations and said she agreed greater coordination was needed.

"The only way we will ever tackle the problems caused by obesity is by everyone working together," she added.

But she also urged the government to be more proactive by addressing some of the wider determinants of obesity.

"Obesity is not only caused by how much we each eat or drink: if tackling it were as simple as telling people to eat less and move more, we would have solved it by now.

"Our chances of being obese are also affected by factors like whether we have easy access to affordable fruit, veg and other healthy foods, and if it safe to let our kids play outside."

A Department of Health spokesman acknowledged the medical profession had a "key role to play".

He added: "We are committed to tackling obesity and are taking action to help people keep a healthy weight and prevent them needing hospital care for obesity related conditions."

16.50 | 0 komentar | Read More