United Kingdom

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10594012

Alicia Kearns, chairman of the UK foreign affairs select committee, said that with the US and EU both passing laws to ban solar products made by Uyghur slave labour, many will end up in the UK where an estimated 98pc of solar panels are already Chinese made.

The warning comes at a crucial time for the UK’s burgeoning solar industry. The Government is about to publish its long-awaited Solar Roadmap committing the UK to a massive expansion of solar farms and domestic rooftop installations, from 18 gigawatts now to about 70 gigawatts by 2035.

This started a few weeks ago and it went quiet. This new insight is truly disturbing as it has attracted the attention of the chairman of the David Fuller inquiry. There is no confirmation of a link but there are a lot of questions as to why bodies have been withheld for months on end after alledged funerals taken place.

Every Easter, UK consumers collectively spend more than £1bn on food, drink, gifts, entertainment and about 80m chocolate eggs, racking up an average bill exceeding £50 each. But shoppers this year are paying more than usual: since last Easter, chocolate prices have increased by more than 12.6%, more than double the rise in supermarket food and drink prices.

The cost of cocoa, chocolate’s main ingredient, has been increasing all year, hitting a record high just before Valentine’s Day and again this week, when it was priced at more than $10,000 a tonne – meaning it is currently more valuable than several precious metals, and growing in value more quickly than bitcoin.

Increasing costs stem from a cocoa shortage in west Africa, in particular Ghana and Ivory Coast, where more than half of the world’s cocoa beans are harvested. According to experts, the shortage is explained by interconnected factors including climate-related weather events and exploitation inherent in the cocoa industry. It has come at a time of increased global demand, also contributing to scarcity and subsequent price rises.

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“This has been a nightmare waiting to happen,” said Amarachi Clarke, founder of the London-based chocolate brand Lucocoa. “When we talk about chocolate, how often do you hear the words ‘climate change’ or ‘living income’ or ‘lack of investment’? But all these things are starting to come to a head now, and we’ve got a huge problem.

“These are related issues because the majority of our chocolate comes from a small number of massive cocoa-processing companies which have gotten away with not paying farmers a living income, despite increased demand.

“If you’re not paying a farmer properly, they can’t afford to respond to climate change by investing in land, planting new crops or taking care of their plants, and you also get layers of slave and child labour.”

I've just realised that this was already in /c/environment. Oops, sorry!

Construction of a £30 million ($37.8 million) facility that will house the Lenovo supercomputer began last February.

The Hartree Centre is the UK's only – or, depending which organization is speaking, one of the UK's only – supercomputing center dedicated to industry engagement. The Lenovo supercomputer will become a part of the center's £210 million ($265 million) Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation (HNCDI) program, which supports businesses and public sector orgs that want to upskill and adopt AI.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13639593

A woman who suffered excruciating periods has said she was diagnosed with endometriosis after seeing 20 doctors across 18 years.

Dearbhail Ormond, from Surrey, also grew up experiencing extreme fatigue and pain after sex.

She said she began experiencing painful periods from the age of 16, and after seeking advice from a range of medical professionals, she received no answers.

The 42-year-old has since given birth to a baby girl and founded a company to help other endometriosis sufferers.

Endometriosis is a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.

The United Kingdom has confirmed that it is developing a replacement UK sovereign nuclear warhead for its Trident missiles. The Ministry of Defence says in the ‘Defence Nuclear Enterprise Command Paper’ that “Replacing the UK’s warhead will ensure the UK’s deterrent remains cutting-edge, safe and effective”.

In the paper released today, they state:

“The UK committed to replacing our sovereign warhead in parliament in February 2021. Using modern and innovative developments in science, engineering, manufacturing and production at AWE, we will ensure the UK maintains an effective deterrent for as long as required.

The Replacement Warhead Programme has been designated the A21/Mk7 (also known as Astraea). It is being delivered in parallel with the US W93/Mk7 warhead and each nation is developing a sovereign design. This will be the first UK warhead developed in an era where we no longer test our weapons underground, upholding our voluntary moratorium on nuclear weapon test explosions.

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For those unaware, the Trident II D5 missile is manufactured in the US. It comprises the missiles and supporting systems fitted on the submarine as well as training and shore support equipment.

Under the agreement with the United States, the UK accesses a shared missile pool. Missiles are loaded into our submarines in Kings Bay, Georgia, US. The UK-manufactured warheads are mated to the missiles at HMNB Clyde.

With 11 different sweets to choose from, there’s plenty of variety in a tub of Quality Street, but that won’t stop people from having a favourite. (And if it’s not the Strawberry Delight, then you’re wrong.)

One that’s always been particularly popular is The Purple One, which features a milk chocolate shell with caramel and a hazelnut in the middle.

If this particular chocolate is your go-to then you might want to prepare yourself, as Nestlé has just revealed that they’re making some major changes to it, along with another iconic Quality Street pick.

The brand announced a ‘new era’ for the Purple One and the Orange Crunch, which will both be undergoing a transformation for 2024.

According to Nestlé, the sweets are still the same ones you have always known and loved in terms of taste, however they’ve had a bit of a makeover, with both varieties taking on a brand new shape to look more like the Caramel Swirl.

The population of the UK grew to an estimated 67.6 million people in mid-2022, up by over 4 million people in around a decade, new figures show.

The country’s population rose by 4.3 million since mid-2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed.

The data comes after the ONS projected that the UK would be home to 70 million people in the next two years.

Projections in January revealed the population of the UK is on course to leap by 10 per cent by 2036 to nearly 74 million.

England saw the biggest increase between 2011 and 2022, with the population jumping by 7.5 per cent - the equivalent of 4 million people.

In the same period Northern Ireland saw the next highest increase at 5.3 per cent, or an additional 96,225 people, followed by Scotland (2.8 per cent or 147,800 people) and Wales (2.2 per cent or 67,882 people).

The figures published by the ONS are the first UK-wide estimates for mid-2022, making them the most up-to-date snapshot of the country’s population.

They show the median average age of people in the UK in the year to June 2022 was 40.7 years, up from 39.6 years in the year to June 2011.

The minimum wage has driven up the pay of millions of Britain’s lowest earners by £6,000 a year, making it the single most successful economic policy in a generation, according to a leading thinktank.

Since its introduction in 1999 by Tony Blair’s first Labour administration the policy has secured cross-party agreement, and should be seen as the basis for further improvements in the welfare of low wage workers, the Resolution Foundation said.

The minimum wage will increase on Monday 1 April as it rises from £10.42 to £11.44, in the third-highest annual change in its history – a rise of 9.8% in cash terms and 7.8% above inflation.

In a study released to mark 25 years since the policy’s introduction, the foundation said workers would have been £6,000 a year worse off since 1999 if their pay had only risen in line with average wages rather than the increases recommended by the independent Low Pay Commission.

Chief executive John Pettigrew said the grid was becoming "constrained" and "bold action" was needed to create a network able to cope with "dramatically" growing demand.

"Future growth in foundational technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing will mean larger scale, energy-intensive computing infrastructure," Mr Pettigrew said.

The guidelines apply to all autocratic countries, but China is likely to be the principal concern.

Scholarships funded by foreign governments and partnerships that mean academic staff have to pass ideological tests may breach rules, according to the Office for Students (OfS).

It has launched a consultation on its guidance, which will come into effect in August.

Universities say they take their commitments to freedom of speech and academic freedom "extremely seriously".

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Tim Loughton and Stewart McDonald said it's time for a "new era" in UK-China relations at a press conference in London, with Sir Iain adding they cannot be "bullied" by Beijing.

The former Tory party leader said: "We have been subjected to harassment, impersonation and attempted hacking from China for some time."

While that was "extremely unwelcome", Sir Iain said "our discomfort pales in comparison to Chinese dissidents who risk their lives to oppose the Chinese Communist Party".

Sanctions against Chinese officials are expected to be announced later.

China is increasingly targeting people outside its borders in a tactic known as transnational repression, which aims to stifle debate or criticism.

Steve Tsang, the director of the Soas China Institute, says Chinese student protesters in the UK have long been photographed and monitored, but the practice “may well” have increased with newer surveillance technology.

Students say their families in China have also been threatened by local authorities, warning them to stop engaging in political activities overseas.

The personal details of millions of voters are believed to have been accessed in an attack by China on Britain’s democratic process.

With the UK under pressure to respond, multiple reports suggested that sanctions against individuals thought to be connected with the alleged activity are under strong consideration.

A small group of politicians who are hawkish on China are said to have been called to a briefing by parliament’s director of security, Alison Giles, in relation to the activity.

They include former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former minister Tim Loughton, the crossbench peer Lord Alton and the SNP MP Stewart McDonald, the Times reported.

The four are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) pressure group, which focuses on issues involving the increasingly assertive Asian power.

At an Ipac meeting on Friday, Luke de Pulford, its executive director, said: “About a year ago the Belgian and French foreign ministries publicly confirmed [Chinese state] sponsored cyber-attacks against our members.