19/11/2008
PM defiant on automatic organ donation
Gordon Brown said he was still prepared to push ahead with new rules presuming people are happy to donate organs after death, despite the plans being rejected yesterday by an expert task force he appointed. The Prime Minister is backing a change in the law to assume patients have given automatic "presumed consent" for their body parts to be used after their death, unless they decide to opt out.
Cameron predicts £1,500 'tax bombshell'
Gordon Brown raised the spectre of deflation yesterday as David Cameron predicted that soaring government borrowing would result in a £1,500 "tax bombshell" for average earners. In fiery Commons exchanges with the Conservative leader, Mr Brown acknowledged for the first time that the world could face the first period of falling prices since the Great Depression of the 1930s. That would risk a recessionary spiral in which people did not spend because they thought prices would fall further, and interest rates could not be cut to stimulate demand once they fell to zero.
Conservatives plan to reduce cohabiting couples' rights
Unmarried couples who live together would be denied rights married couples receive under a new Conservative plan. Pre-nuptial agreements would be made legally enforceable to encourage people to marry. The proposals, from the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, are set out in a report by his Centre for Social Justice. A rise in cohabitation is linked to family breakdown in the findings.
Pilots threaten to strike over ID cards
The first wave of ID cards to be issued to British citizens has prompted airline pilots to threaten a strike rather than accept the documents.
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News courtesy of Independent.co.uk