Passengers on London’s Underground network this week had to endure disruption to their journeys due to a strike – and those in outlying areas dealt with snow during the big freeze. Union members including those of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) stopped work on Sunday evening to begin their fourth 24-hour strike.
Oxford City Council has assured residents that their council tax will not rise next year, but it expects 100 jobs to go as part of spending cuts. The Labour-run authority set out its draft budget, and under proposals around 50 jobs will disappear through redundancies and the rest will be achieved through staff movement or "natural wastage", the council said.
More than 100 health service jobs will go at NHS East Sussex following a consultation into how to make savings. Due to budget constraints, primary care trusts in Sussex are attempting to cut their costs by nearly half. About one fifth of posts will be lost at NHS East Sussex. NHS Brighton and Hove has confirmed it will lose jobs in the New Year after its own consultation.
In the past month Londoners have put up with delays on the Underground network because of over-running repairs, cracks on the lines, signal failures and faulty trains. A 24-hour Tube strike was held on the network from the evening of November 1, which was the third walk-out this year in a row over threatened job losses.
This autumn Westminster has been wrestling with the job of clearing some of the huge national debt, but MPs in the capital have expressed "grave concerns" about the effectiveness of mandarins in doing this without cutting front line services. Members of Parliament on all sides have publicly wondered whether Whitehall is up to the challenge, considering its below-average recent record in dealing with cuts.
A Bonfire Night strike by London firefighters looks ever more likely as talks have broken down over working conditions. A union spokesman complained that fire authority chairman Brian Coleman and chief fire officer Ron Dobson did not attend the talks.
One school has taken the plunge and revamped its calendar – Greensward College in Hockley, Essex. Seven years ago its then chairman of governors, Ian Foster, led the move, which is aimed at cancelling out unpredictability caused by a floating Easter.
The victim of a burglary at a sports club managed to free himself and alert his colleagues to the crime. The man suffered bruising during the night-time incident at the Drift Golf Club, in Forest Road, Effingham, in Surrey. He had been bound by a gang, who then took cash from the safe. The group of three robbers fled in the victim’s car, which was later found abandoned in nearby Cobham.
The Westminster Parliament is due to announce later today the results of the first strategic defence and security review in 12 years.
A major fire has destroyed most of Hastings Pier, a day after redevelopment plans were invited. A passing police patrol and local people had raised the alarm after seeing a small fire, but the pier was rapidly engulfed in flames. Fire service spokesman Simon Rose said 95 per cent of the upper structure had been destroyed.