Cyber Attack Threat: UK Armed Forces Warned

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

The UK's armed forces are now so dependent on information and communication technology that they could be "fatally compromised" by sustained cyber attacks.

The Defence Select Committee has produced a report that questions the military's contingency plans and urges the Government to do more to address the threat.

"It is our view that cyber security is a sufficiently urgent, significant and complex activity to warrant increased ministerial attention," said committee chairman James Arbuthnot MP.

"The Government needs to put in place - as it has not yet done - mechanisms, people, education, skills, thinking and policies which take into account both the opportunities and the vulnerabilities which cyberspace presents."

Cabinet Secretary Francis Maude is the minister responsible for cyber security, but the report recommends that more ministers should engage and take on responsibility.

"Unless we have a really vigorous approach to defending against the sort of cyber attacks that are developing at a rather quick rate day by day, minute by minute, second by second, unless we have a really vigorous approach we are at risk of our armed forces as well as the whole of the rest of the government infrastructure being compromised," Mr Arbuthnot told Sky News.

GCHQ is considered a world leader

Dr Andrew Murrison, the Minister for International Security Strategy, has defended the Government's efforts.

He said: "There's no complacency and we will continue in a very rapidly evolving field to make sure we do absolutely everything to reduce the chance of there being a significant attack here."

GCHQ, the Government's communications headquarters, is considered a world leader.

Under the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010, £650m was allocated to a new cyber security programme.

It showed significant recognition of the threat, but in truth no budget can ever be big enough. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the UK is the best prepared country to face a cyber attack.

But countries like Israel, China and the United States are well advanced, and are bettering their systems at a quicker pace.

Major General Jonathan Shaw, the former head of the Defence Cyber Security Programme, told Sky News that the UK competes favourably.

He said: "The way that British government is organised and the security side is actually extremely effective at coping with threats.

"It's a very collegiate atmosphere and the ability of GCHQ to spread their knowledge across government actually gives us a real advantage over someone like the United States which has a much more stovepipe government system."

What is not known is how offensive the UK's strategy is. The Government is clear about the threat it faces, but declines to speak about any aggressive action it takes against states regarded as hostile.

The Defence Select Committee's report should be seen as an attempt to reinvigorate the military and Government's efforts - not as an outright criticism of what has been done.

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Sainsbury's Reveals Record-Breaking Xmas

Supermarket chain Sainsbury's has revealed a record-breaking Christmas trading period, with total sales (excluding fuel) up 3.3% in the third quarter.

The retailer, which sits in third position behind Tesco and Asda, said Christmas was the 32nd consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth.

It said stores open over a year saw sales rise 0.9% (excluding fuel), in the 14 weeks to January 5.

Sainsbury's said it served a record number of customers over the festive period, with the week before December 25 its busiest ever.

£16m of sales were achieved in one hour alone, between 12pm and 1pm on Sunday, December 23.

In total it said rang up more than £100m in sales on Christmas Eve.

However sales growth slowed on the 1.9% reported the previous quarter and against last year's 2.1% rise over the Christmas period.

But the performance confirms the pressure on smaller rival Morrisons, which disclosed a 2.5% slide in Christmas sales earlier this week.

Sainsbury's was the only one of the so-called big four players to increase its market share in the run up to Christmas, to 17.1% from 17% a year earlier, while Morrisons saw its share slip to 12%, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury's, said the group delivered good sales growth in "challenging" conditions.

"We expect the challenging economic backdrop to persist, with customers looking to re-balance their household budget after the festivities and so spending cautiously in the first few months of 2013," he said.

But the group said plans to continue its money-off coupon Brand Match scheme would help ensure it was "positioned to perform well over the next quarter".

Meanwhile, it saw its online business grow by over 15% in the three months and small electricals grew by 25%.

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Pensions 'Plunge Over £3,000 In Five Years'

People planning to retire this year expect to be living off the lowest average incomes recorded in six years, it is claimed.

This year's retirees expect to have a typical annual income of £15,300, making them around £3,400 a year worse off than workers who retired in 2008, according to the Prudential.

The gap becomes much worse when taking into account the effects of inflation's erosion of people's household budgets.

Someone who retired last year would have needed an annual income of £21,400 to have the same spending power as an average person who entered retirement in 2008 on a typical income of £18,700, the Prudential said.

However, the average amount private employees retired on last year was £15,500, leaving them £5,900 worse off in real terms than workers who retired in 2008.

Across Britain there is also a £5,700-a-year difference between the regions with the highest and the lowest anticipated incomes for people retiring this year.

Londoners expect to retire on an annual income of around £18,200 this year, while retirees in the West Midlands have the lowest anticipated incomes, at £12,500.

Post-financial crash, annuity rates have dropped 33% and wiped thousands of pounds off retirees' incomes in recent years, while pensioners have faced a perfect storm of high living costs and low returns on their savings.

Pensioners face high living costs and low returns on their savings

Experts also warned that possible changes to the way that Retail Price Index (RPI) is worked out could lead to more people being forced to put their retirement on hold due to the squeeze on their incomes.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "For people approaching retirement, that is a huge blow to their expectations at a time when it is probably too late for them to do anything about it."

Hargreaves Lansdown said that a 65-year-old man with a £100,000 pension pot could have secured an annual income of £7,855 by buying an annuity in the summer of 2008 but if he was doing so in December 2012, that figure would have fallen to £5,338.

Quantitative easing (QE) has been blamed for pushing down annuity rates which set the size of someone's retirement income for life.

QE makes it cheaper for companies to borrow by pushing down the yield on government bonds, but annuity incomes are also based on these yields, meaning that new pensioners see their incomes reduced.

The Office for National Statistics has also been consulting on changes to the RPI and the recommendations from this will be announced on Thursday.

This trend downward is set to continue as baby boomers pass the age of 65, with 55% of 55 to 64-year-olds drawing a salary, compared with 41% in February 2010, Aviva has said.

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Belfast City Hall Raises Union Flag

By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

The Union Flag has been raised on Belfast City Hall to mark the birthday of the Duchess of Cambridge, but it is unclear whether it will it help or hinder efforts to resolve the crisis over the emblem in Northern Ireland.

Five weeks have passed since the city's council voted to restrict the flying of the Union Flag to 19 designated days, such as royal birthdays, but tension surrounding the issue has continued unabated.

The east of the city witnessed disturbances for a sixth consecutive night - albeit on a reduced scale - but there is no such thing as an acceptable level of violence as far as the First Minister is concerned.

Peter Robinson told Sky News: "Many people have already distanced themselves from the protests because of the violence.

"When I hear those who purport to lead the protest talk about the Police Service of Northern Ireland as 'terrorists' or 'Nazis', they are not using the language of unionism, they are using the language of republicanism."

Tensions over the flag have sparked a series of disturbances in Belfast

Loyalists will welcome the fact that the Duchess's birthday is being marked in the traditional fashion, but they recognise that the return of the flag is only temporary - so far short of what they demand.

On one hand, it is about the flag - a potent symbol of their Britishness - but it is also about demographics. Protestants no longer hold sway in Belfast and some working class unionists have lost faith in politics.

Peter Robinson and Mike Nesbitt, the leaders of the two largest unionist parties, invited disaffected Protestants to raise their concerns through a forum, but protesters have already dismissed the effort.

The First Minister added: "Here is a mechanism whereby you can channel your frustration, where you can indicate the kind of things you want in your area, and political leaders will be listening.

"Now, if you offer a political alternative and people don't take it, then very clearly those are people who are against the process and against democracy."

The crisis has caused enormous damage to the image of Northern Ireland, scheduled to host the G8 Summit of world leaders in June, and a temporary hoisting of the flag is not going to resolve it anytime soon.

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McCririck Sues Channel 4 For £3m Over 'Ageism'

Former Channel 4 racing pundit John McCririck is seeking £3m in damages - claiming he was axed by the broadcaster due to his age.

The 72-year-old presenter was among a number of faces axed by the channel after it awarded the production contract to IMG Sports Media, ending its previous agreement with Highflyer.

McCririck spoke out last October at the time of the decision, which he blamed on ageism.

He has now issued a statement setting out his case: "Channel 4 and production company IMG Sports Media were yesterday each served a letter before action for age discrimination.

"After 29 years with Channel 4 Racing, on a rolling annual contract, I have been sacked without any consultation or cogent explanation. I am 72.

"For loss of future earnings, unfair career damaging, public humiliation, stress and mental anguish, I will be seeking £500,000.

"Ageism is illegal. For tens of thousands of employees it has become the feared scourge of our society.

"This litigation should prove to be a watershed. There's no upper limit to the amount of damages employment tribunals can award under the Equality Act 2010.

"I am seeking a further exemplary, punitive £2.5m, part of which will be donated to charitable organisations helping to prevent negative prejudice in the workplace."

McCririck said he was being represented on a no-win no-fee basis by employment and sports law specialist solicitor Stephen Beverley, of the London West End Cavendish Legal Group.

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Eddie Kidd: Estranged Wife Denies Assault

The estranged wife of paralysed former motorbike stunt rider Eddie Kidd has pleaded not guilty to assaulting him.

Samantha Kidd, 44, is accused of beating Mr Kidd, 53, six times in four months.

Kidd, wearing a black coat, black boots and spotted tights, spoke only to enter six pleas of not guilty and to confirm her name.

Brighton Magistrates' Court heard that the beatings were alleged to have taken place between July and October last year.

Kidd in 1978, jumping over 10 Radio One DJs

Kidd was given bail on the condition that she is not to contact Mr Kidd and she is not to visit a property in Peacehaven except on one occasion with a police officer to collect belongings.

District Judge Stephen Nicholls said the trial will take place at the same court on July 9 and 10.

Mr Kidd was left paralysed and brain damaged in a motorbike accident 16-years-ago, but in 2011 he completed the London Marathon in 50 days.

In a statement after Kidd was charged, Sussex Police said: "After a prompt and thorough investigation into allegations of domestic abuse made on December 11, a woman has been charged with six offences.

"44-year-old Samantha Kidd, unemployed, of High Street, Seaford, was charged with six counts of assault by beating between July and October this year.

"She has been bailed with stringent conditions not to contact the male victim, who was known to her, or to visit the area where he lives."

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Hungary: Missing Student's Family Join Search

The family of a British student missing since leaving a New Year celebration in Hungary has flown out to help the search for him.

Daniel Gliksten, 23, who is studying medicine in Budapest, was last seen with friends in the city.

"His family is very concerned for his safety and currently is in Budapest working with the Hungarian authorities, British and Swedish embassies to try and ascertain his whereabouts and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance," a statement from the family said.

Hungarian police confirmed officers in the city's fifth district had launched an investigation into his disappearance.

A spokesman added: "The Budapest police headquarters is asking members of the public to report any information they might have about Mr Gliksten."

Mr Gliksten, who holds dual British and Swedish nationality, left the Otkert bar in Zrfnyi Street, an area popular with tourists, in the early hours of New Year's Day. 

He is described as 6ft 2ins tall, of slim build and with short brown hair.

He was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, grey jumper, brown checked jacket, dark-red trousers and brown leather boots.

He also wore metal-framed spectacles.

Mr Gliksten's family lives on the Denham Estate in Suffolk, which has one of the largest herds of fallow deer in Europe and rare breed sheep.

:: Anyone with information about Mr Gliksten's whereabouts is asked to contact Suffolk Police on 01473 613500.

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Stephen Lawrence's Brother: The Met Is Racist

Stephen Lawrence's brother claims to have been stopped by police up to 25 times because of his skin colour, as he launches a legal battle against Britain's biggest force.

Stuart Lawrence, 35, alleges officers from Scotland Yard have repeatedly targeted him as part of a sustained campaign of harassment.

The teacher, whose teenage brother was murdered in a racist attack, has now consulted lawyers over the "ludicrous" police action.

He said he was moved to act after he was pulled over by two officers in November while he sat in his VW Scirocco near his home in Peckham, South London.

Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993

When he asked why he was stopped, one officer told him the pair were "naturally suspicious" of him, he claimed.

He told the Daily Mail: "I am being targeted because of the colour of my skin, I don't think it's because I am Stephen's brother.

"I have never, ever, done anything wrong. I have never been in trouble with the law. I have paid my road tax and my insurance, and always tried to keep my cars in a roadworthy state."

He said he has been stopped around 25 times but was pulled over at police checkpoints - where officers were apparently checking drivers' tax and insurance - on only two of these occasions.

This was down to "no other reason, apart from racism", he said.

A letter of complaint was sent to Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe on Tuesday, naming the officers allegedly involved in the latest incident.

Mr Lawrence, who is engaged to be married and has a two-year-old son, said he felt "angry and frustrated" and believed there had been little progress in the way police deal with black people.

His brother was stabbed to death by a gang of five or six attackers in Eltham, South East London, in 1993, at the age of 18.

The original investigation into his death failed to solve the case and was dogged by allegations of corruption and racism.

The Macpherson Inquiry later concluded the Metropolitan Police was "institutionally racist".

Only two of the killers have been convicted.

Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey last year, after a cold case review team discovered tiny traces of forensic evidence linking them to the murder.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Officers are accountable for their actions and it is therefore essential complaints such as these are fully investigated."

Mr Lawrence's solicitor Imran Khan said the complaint related specifically to the occasion when he was stopped at 5.20pm on November 16.

"That was the straw that broke the camel's back," he said.

Scotland Yard is expected to refer the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Lawyers hope the complaint can be resolved out of court.

James Welch, legal director for human rights group Liberty, said: "The police maintain that stop and search is an important tool in their armoury. But they seem incapable of exercising the power in a non-discriminatory way."

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Climate Change: Met Office Defends Predictions

The Met Office has been forced to hit back after its five-year weather forecast was seen to imply that global warming had "stalled".

The weather forecaster originally explained global temperatures were still at record levels - and predicted to be above average - but that the rate of rise had slowed.

"Global average temperature is expected to remain between 0.28°C and 0.59°C above the long-term average during the period 2013-2017, with values most likely to be about 0.43°C higher than average," a statement issued on Christmas Eve said.

Some newspapers and broadcasters took that to mean that global warming had stopped - effectively proving that the sceptics on climate change were right.

This, the Met Office has insisted, was not the case.

A second statement attempted to clarify the position: "The latest decadal prediction suggests that global temperatures over the next five years are likely to be a little lower than predicted from the previous prediction issued in December 2011.

"However, both versions are consistent in predicting that we will continue to see near-record levels of global temperatures in the next few years.

"This means temperatures will remain well above the long-term average and we will continue to see temperatures like those which resulted in 2000-2009 being the warmest decade in the instrumental record dating back to 1850."

The Met Office statement went on to explain it had done its data measuring using a new tool.

"The updated decadal forecast is the first to make use of our latest climate model, HadGEM3. The fact that the new model predicts less warming, globally, for the coming five years does not necessarily tell us anything about long-term predictions of climate change for the coming century."

Forecasts of continued global warming are driven largely by increasing levels of greenhouse gases.

Experts warn that, without efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, the world is on course for temperature rises of 3C to 5C this century alone.

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Jessops Slashes Jobs And Ignores Gift Vouchers

Professional services firm PwC confirms its appointment as administrator for troubled high street photography retailer Jessops.

Sky sources earlier revealed that an application for administration was filed on Wednesday morning at the High Court, leaving some 2,000 jobs at risk.

PwC administrator Rob Hunt said: "Over the last few days the directors, funders and key suppliers have been in discussions as regards additional consensual financial support for the business.

"However these discussions have not been successful. In light of these irreconcilable differences the directors decided to appoint administrators and we were appointed earlier today.

"Our most pressing task is to review the company's financial position and hold discussions with its principal stakeholders to see if the business can be preserved.

"Trading in the stores is hoped to continue today but is critically dependent on these ongoing discussions. However, in the current economic climate it is inevitable that there will be store closures."

The company's website was still operational on Wednesday afternoon

The administrators  added: "At present Jessops is not in a position to honour customer vouchers or to accept returned goods."

The demise of the decades-old chain would be the first high street casualty of 2013, and comes soon after consumer electricals chain Comet hit the wall, sparking more than 6,000 job losses.

Jessops has struggled amid the digital photo revolution and the retail shift to online trading and camera phones.

It underwent a major overhaul in 2007 and a swathe of store closures, but came close to collapse two years later before being rescued by its main lender HSBC in a controversial debt-for-equity swap that saw it taken off the stock market.

The bank took a 50% stake in the business in return for writing off £34m of loans.

There was speculation last year that suppliers such as Canon were considering injecting cash into Jessops to help prop the business up, but no deal materialised.

Last year it also lost two key executives, chairman David Adams and chief executive Trevor Moore - who joined HMV.

Martyn Everett was then appointed as chairman and Neil Old was promoted to lead the business as chief operating officer.

The firm began life in 1935 when Frank Jessop opened his first shop in Leicester.

The company's website was still active on Wednesday afternoon and its helplines were still in operation.

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