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Armed Forces and police to face further spending cuts, Danny Alexander warns

The Armed Forces and the police will face further spending cuts because the Coalition will not sanction any more reductions to welfare payments, senior Treasury minister Danny Alexander has warned.

Asked whether the Home Office and Ministry of Defence would be protected from further cuts, he said only that the NHS, schools and international development would be ring-fenced, adding: “We will work through the details, but every department, including the ones you mention, will have to make savings.”

One independent analysis this week suggested that the MoD could lose more than £1.6 billion from its £32 billion budget for 2015-16, a reduction that would almost certainly force a fresh round of defence job cuts.

Mr Alexander also warned Tory ministers that he would not reopen negotiations over the welfare budget in the Spending Review, due to be unveiled in June. “As a member of the union of deficit-reducing ministers, I have been very clear and this is the collective view of the Government, that we took decisions on welfare in the autumn statement, and that the spending round is coming from departmental expenditure,” he said.

“Every department around the table with the exception of those areas that are protected will have to make a contribution to that process. And, I’ll spend most of my time working out with colleagues the best way to do that.”

He said he was not angered by ministers making public demands over the spending negotiations but added: “It has no effect on the decisions I will make, or the view that I will take on the right balance. The idea that having a great public campaign will influence the outcome, that’s just wrong.”

The Budget this week confirmed that austerity would continue until at least 2018, and Mr Alexander warned that universal benefits paid to pensioners should be considered as part of any future round of welfare cuts.

David Cameron has pledged not to target pensioner benefits during this parliament, but Mr Alexander said that position may not be sustainable after the next election.

“I think there is a case for looking at whether benefits like winter fuel allowance go to multi-millionaire pensioners,” he said. “I think as we look to how we deal with the continuing financial problems over a number of years that is a question that is perfectly reasonable to discuss.”

The senior Liberal Democrat also strongly defended the Government’s new plans to help pay the costs of child care, indicating that it was beneficial for the economy for mothers to return to the workplace. He said that the current system was preventing this — and rejected suggestions that some women were forced to work because of the lack of support for those wishing to stay at home.

“I want people who have had children, who want to go back into the labour market, to be able to do so. I do not want high child care costs to be the thing that prevents people contributing to the economy,” he said

Snow and flooding sweeps across the country as body is found in Cornwall landslide

"The lady that has gone missing has complained that she is not happy and has told them that this was going to happen. She has predicted this,” she said

Retired police officer Pete Temlett, said that after the dawn collapse, in which other residents managed to climb out, the property was “like an open dolls house”.

He could not check on his neighbour as “the windows were popping out and you could see the house was moving”, he said.

Forecasters warned another drop in temperatures expected next week could make this the coldest March for 50 years.

Wintry conditions which caused chaos yesterday, closing more than 400 schools, will continue throughout today.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for the Midlands and the North, with up to six inches of snow likely even at lower levels.

On higher grounds there will be up to a foot, and as far south as Oxford will see two and a half inches throughout tomorrow.

The Met Office stated: “The public should be aware of the potential for severe disruption to transport and to power supplies.”

London and the South East will see snow showers overnight and into Saturday, but with little chance of any accumulations.

A severe weather warning was also issued for the South West, where two and a half inches of rain in 24 hours brought widespread flooding.

For most of the country the mercury will hover around zero, but because of the wind chill it will feel much colder, around -4C. The bitter easterly winds will bring blizzards in some places.

The snow will peter out tomorrow, but the winds will continue to batter Britain throughout Sunday and into next week, meaning that the low temperatures for this time of year will feel sub zero.

Met Office forecaster Andrew Sibley said: “There is no end in sight to the cold weather.”

Today roads across the country were forced to close, with areas in the North being worst hit. Penzance, Newlyn, Porthleven, Stithians, Bridge, Mevagissey, Colebrook and Holbeam all experienced flooding.

After Ferry services to the Isle of Mann were cancelled because of bad weather, the Co-operative chartered a plane to airlift emergency food supplies to its stores there.

The Met Office, working alongside the Department of Health, has also warned that severe weather action is needed to protect the vulnerable and elderly across the North, the East and the Midlands into Sunday.

UK faces Fitch downgrade over debt levels

Britain's credit rating faces another downgrade in the next month after Fitch warned it is reviewing the country's "AAA" status in the wake of the Budget.

The feeble recovery is undermining the Government’s efforts to shrink Britain’s debt pile, which, according to Budget projections, is now expected to keep rising until 2017 rather than 2016 as first forecast.

The prospect of a downgrade by Fitch comes a month after Moody’s became the first of the three major credit rating agencies to strip the UK of the coveted AAA status.

Moody’s warned that the econ-omy’s sluggish performance was hampering efforts to reduce debt that is now expected to peak at 85.6pc of the economy.

On Friday, Fitch voiced the same concern, claiming that the “persistently weak performance of UK growth, in part due to European growth, has increased uncertainty around the UK’s potential output gap.”

The Treasury said that the move by Fitch underlines that there are “no easy answers to problems built up over many years”.

However, coming just days after Mr Osborne’s biggest economic statement of the year, Fitch’s move will only intensify pressure on the Chancellor to find new ways to reignite growth without borrowing more.

“The Government has been talking about reforms to help growth,” said Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight. “But there’s one thing to talk about it, doing it is another.”

The Government used the Budget to introduce a £130bn Help to Buy scheme, which will see the taxpayer guarantee mortgages for some borrowers in an effort to stir activity in the housing market and push up prices.

It is also trying to entice pension funds to invest in infrastructure projects and also used the Budget to unveil tax relief that it hopes will encourage companies to drill for shale gas.

Fitch said that Britain’s recovery has been hampered by headwinds from Europe and, with the

Cypriot crisis erupting this week, it is not clear that Britain’s respite from the crisis in recent months will last.

Although the pound lurched lower against the dollar in the final hour of trading, the move by Fitch did not cause any panic in financial markets that were firmly focused on Cyprus last night.

“The markets have long been expecting Fitch, and for that matter Standard & Poor’s, to eventually follow Moody’s in taking away the AAA rating,” said Mr Archer.

Britain’s borrowing costs remain close to record low levels and the yield on the benchmark 10-year goverment bond closed at 1.85pc on Friday.

Although Moody’s cut the rating last month, seeing the UK stripped of the highest rating for a second time will still be politically humbling for Mr Osborne.

When he became Chancellor after the last general election, he insisted that preserving the AAA rating would be a mark of the success of the Government’s austerity effort.

Fitch added that the longer than average maturity of UK government bonds is a factor running in the country’s favour.

The agency also pointed to the brighter picture in the jobs market.

San Marino 0 England 8: match report

Read a full match report of the Group H World Cup qualifier between San Marino and England at Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle on Friday 22 March 2013.

Pleasingly for Hodgson, all talk of Rio Ferdinand was largely forgotten, barring the fans’ toxic words, some particularly vile, for the absent centre-half. Hope Al Jazeera had the sound down.

Over in the Gulf, Ferdinand told the station that the England shirt traditionally hung too heavily on the players, inhibiting them, and that they were not fluid enough in their movement. He did go on to praise his club-mate Chris Smalling as a “fantastic prospect”.

Smalling was totally untroubled for 90 minutes and will partner Joleon Lescott, who ended up as captain having been drafted in late, in Montenegro next Tuesday.

As one door closed on Ferdinand, it has really opened for Smalling and Lescott. Although Montenegro eventually beat Moldova last night, England will still travel across the Adriatic in good heart.

After this undemanding, very successful workout, England now undergo two days of light training in Rimini before flying out to Podgorica.

Hodgson had clearly selected this starting XI with the more daunting challenge of Montenegro in mind: his two centurions, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole, stayed on the bench while Glen Johnson was not even among the reserves, protecting a sore toe.

The only frustration of the trip has been the groin injury Theo Walcott picked up in training which will see him out for seven to 10 days.

Last night was all rather surreal. This was an away game with 90 per cent England fans filling the Adriatic equivalent of the Withdean. Another 300 supporters took up free perches on the slopes outside the ground. “Bank side, bank side, give us a song,’’ chanted those inside.

Before kick-off, two men in medieval dress holding crossbows presented the referee with the ball which was soon presented by San Marino to England.

It was like a practice match, white-shirted attack against blue-shirted defence. Joe Hart received huge ironic cheers on the rare occasions he touched the ball.

England’s keeper really only raised his hands in response to chants of “Joe Hart, Joe Hart give us a wave”. Miranda Hart could have played.

England were in total command, taking the lead after 12 minutes when Baines drilled in a low cross that Alessandro Della Valle, a bank clerk, turned past Aldo Simoncini.

They doubled their lead after 29 minutes. Kyle Walker made a breakdown the right and found Oxlade-Chamberlain, who cut in towards the box. Having exchanged passes with Rooney, the winger showed composure and balance in expertly placing the ball past Simoncini.

Hodgson promised that England would not be complacent. Reading a few paragraphs of the programme would have ensured that.

It celebrated San Marino’s shock goal in 1993, with Stuart “Pearce falling asleep, Davide Gualtieri scoring that incredible goal in the general disbelief … of English supporters stabbed in their soul by the smallest team in Europe”.

Twenty years on, this speck on the Italian landscape was being crushed.

England added three in the final 10 minutes of the half. Rooney suddenly bustled forward and crossed from the left. Oxlade-Chamberlain worked the ball back to the unmarked Defoe, who had a simple finish.

Even when a few England fans sighed after Young lost the ball, the Manchester United winger responded a few moments later with a splendid strike from 25 yards, the ball flying past Simoncini.

England still had one more in store, again with Baines to the fore, setting up Lampard for a side-footed finish. His 28th international goal took him alongside Steve Bloomer and Vivian Woodward in the England scoring charts.

The scoring soon resumed in the second half. When Tom Cleverley was scythed down by Davide Simoncini, Rooney curled the free-kick over the wall and past the diving Aldo Simoncini. Hodgson began looking towards Tuesday, removing Rooney for Sturridge and Cleverley for Leon Osman.

England fans were going through all their songs, singing some more abuse about Ferdinand but also showing their support for the troubled Paul Gascoigne.

The game still occupied their attention. San Marino did finally do something of note after 64 minutes, Andy Selva winning a corner to much merriment from the English hordes. They even applauded loudly when Enrico Cibelli was taken off; he was not the first local barman they had seen that day.

England made it seven when Young crossed and Sturridge, who had just headed against the post, was more accurate this time at the far post.

The eighth arrived via an intricate, high-speed build-up down the right. Sturridge stabbed the ball to Oxlade-Chamberlain, who instantly played in Walker. The Tottenham connection paid off as the full-back crossed for Defoe to score. England declared.

Montenegro will be more of a crucible, more of a challenge, but England will travel hopefully in pursuit of more World Cup qualifying points. They are thinking of a different Rio now.

Pacific Northwest May Finally Have Evidence

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Not since Roger Patterson’s 1967 encounter has there been so much hype over the possible discovery of Sasquatch, better known as Bigfoot. In the deep woods of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest there could be a very real Bigfootlurking in the night, belting out its blood-curdling serenades to all those who wish to lend a listening ear. And one local resident has garnered audio-proof that something unknown is calling out from the brushy swamp area east of Pendleton, Oregon. The sounds emanating from the woods have been occurring since at least November and range in tone from high-pitched cries to deep-bodied roars. Sylvia Minthorn told The Oregonian newspaper that the late-night shrieks are so piercing that even the hair on grown men will stand at attention. Several local sources have already attributed the noises to those of foxes or coyotes. But some local residents are not so sure, and believe what they are hearing are the cries of the Bigfoot. “It’s causing an uproar around here,” said Minthorn, who lives in a tribal housing unit near the swamp, where she used to play as a child. The shrilly-night cries have been captured by Colleen Chance, a tribal housing authority employee, who recorded them on her iPhone. “It’s kind of spooky,” she said. “Some say it’s foxes, some say it’s a female coyote and some say it’s Sasquatch. I don’t know what it is.” While everyone has their own opinions, so far no one has pinpointed the source. The Reservation covers some 178,000 acres and extends into northeastern Oregon’s Blue Mountains. About 1,500 people call the area home. The night shrieks have been of concern to a number of residents, said Chance, who has taken several calls from locals who are fearful of what may be lurking in their backyards. John Franken, the housing authority’s interim director, told The Oregonian that residents are struck with fear, and one man has even said his dog was too terrified to venture out for a walk because of the night noises. Some rumors have spread quickly that the creature shrieking in the night is a young Bigfoot that had gotten separated from its family. Bigfoot is the name given to a cryptid ape-like beast that purportedly stalks the forests of North America, with sightings reported in all 48 contiguous US states, Canada, and Alaska. Sightings of Bigfoot have also been reported in Mexico and in other countries around the world. In Asia, the Yeti is considered to be a close relative of America’s Sasquatch. Most scientists discount the existence of Bigfoot and typically call it a combinative representation of folklore, misidentification and hoax, mainly due to the lack of physical evidence. While mainstream science concludes Bigfoot is a fantastical myth, some scientists have expressed interest in research of the creature’s supposed existence. In most reports, Bigfoot is described as a large, hairy, ape-like, binary hominid, ranging from 6 to 10 feet tall and weighing in excess of 500 pounds. Most accounts report the animal covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair, but has been purportedly observed in black, gray and white hair as well. Bigfoot gets its common name from the enormous size of its footprint, which has been found measuring up to 24 inches long and 8 inches wide. While most casts taken of the footprint have five toes—like all known apes—some casts have allegedly had digits ranging from two to six.



While there is no solid proof of the creature’s existence, many have taken it upon themselves to make detailed descriptions of the creature’s behavior; with most claiming it is omnivorous and mainly nocturnal. While the scientific community largely debunks Bigfoot reports as hoaxes or misidentification, some Native American tribes, especially those of the Pacific Northwest, say that the creature is all too real. Stories of the hominids have been passed down from generation to generation in tribal cultures, so when the shrilly night cries first started emanating from the Reservation forests, it didn’t take locals long to formulate an opinion on the source of those calls. Carl Sheeler, wildlife program manager for the tribes, said that the calls could also be attributed to cougars, which are known to let out hair-raising noises, and so too are foxes.



 “And the first time a person hears a fox calling in the night, kind of echoing around the canyons, it raises the hair on the back of your neck,” Sheeler said. “That wetland is a perfect place to have an echoing call sound eerie,” Sheeler added. Sylvia Minthorn’s uncle, Armand Minthorn, a tribal spiritual leader, said that he found a huge man-like footprint several years ago measuring about 18 inches long while hunting in the Blue Mountains. Those mountains, and the surrounding woods, have long been rife with tales of Sasquatch ever since a cyclist from Walla Walla tribe found a 19-inch bare footprint in 1966 along Tiger Canyon Road. And not even controversial hoaxing has been able to disrupt the Bigfoot believers in the region. In 2002, Ray Wallace, of Centralia, Washington, claimed that he had been using strap-on wooden feet to leave large footprints around the West since 1958. According to his relatives, who made the information public at his funeral, Wallace was the source of most Bigfoot stories in the region for nearly 40 years.