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Panel urges tighter,
more focused govt
LONDON: The government should launch
a cull of its ministers and stop constantly
worrying about media reaction, a parlia-
mentary committee said yesterday.
There should be less emphasis on
responding to short-term political pres-
sures and a stronger focus on ensuring
the country is run well, the Public Admin-
istration Select Committee said.
“There are too many ministers and a
political culture too focused on respond-
ing to media demands,” it said.
“This has resulted in an excessive
number of initiatives being launched and
laws being introduced, which in turn re-
duces government’s ability to decide and
follow a clear and consistent direction.”
It said ministers were often appointed
to reward political loyalty rather than to
fulfil a specific administrative need.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has
more than 120 MPs and Lords in his gov-
ernment, including 23 cabinet ministers
and at least 70 junior ministers.
“The more junior ministers you have
– and we have more junior ministers than
ever – the more work you have to find
them,” Jonathan Baume, head of the FDA
senior civil servants union, told the com-
mittee during an evidence session.
The committee called for greater decen-
tralisation of power and greater clarity about
the roles of ministers and civil servants.
“Now more than ever, there needs
to be a wholesale change in the political
culture to arrest the decline of public trust
in government,” said the committee’s
chairman Tony Wright.
Last week, Brown pledged to create an
independent body to supervise parliament
as part of a series of constitutional and
political reforms following the scandal
over lawmakers’ expenses.
The scandal, which has already forced a
slew of resignations, claimed a fresh victim
after details of MPs’ expenses were officially
published online for the first time yesterday.
Junior treasury minister Kitty Ussher quit
after it was reported she had avoided paying
tax on the sale of her house by “flipping”.
Now more than ever, there
needs to be a wholesale
change in the political culture to
arrest the decline of public trust
in government.”
– Tony Wright
This is the practice of redesignating
which home lawmakers classify as their
second residence and affects how much
allowances and expenses they can claim.
Meanwhile, Brown’s office paved the
way for a possible U-turn on holding an
inquiry into the Iraq war in private.
A Downing Street spokesman said
it would be up to inquiry chairman John
Chilcot to decide the matter. – Agencies
briefs
‘Climate disaster getting closer’
PARIS: The world faces a growing risk of “abrupt
and irreversible climatic shifts” as fallout from
global warming hits faster than expected, accord-
ing to research by international scientists released
yesterday. Global surface and ocean temperatures,
sea levels, extreme climate events, and the retreat
of Arctic sea ice have all significantly picked up
more pace than experts predicted only a couple
of years ago, they said. The 36-page document
summarised more than 1,400 studies presented
at a climate conference in March in Copenhagen,
where a UN meeting will be held in December to
hammer out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol,
which expires in 2012. – AFP
Pilot dies on transatlantic flight
NEW YORK: A Continental plane from Brussels
to New York made an emergency landing at
Newark airport yesterday after the pilot died
during the flight. The Boeing 777 flight, car-
rying 247 passengers, landed safely guided
by two co-pilots around midday (midnight in
Malaysia) at the New Jersey airport, which is
one of the three main airports serving New
York City. “The captain of the flight Continen-
tal 61 from Brussels to Newark died during
the flight. Two pilots are in control,” an official
from the Federal Aviation Authority said.
Spokesman Jim Peters said he did not know
how the 61-year-old pilot had died. – AFP
Court jails banker’s lover
GENEVA: A Swiss court yesterday sentenced the
lover of a prominent French banker to eight years
and six months in jail for killing her partner during
a latex clad sado-masochistic sex session in 2005.
The defendant, Cecile Brossard, had faced a jail
term of up to 20 years after she was found guilty
on Wednesday of murdering Edouard Stern, 50.
But defence lawyers said after the high court in
theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 19 2009
Geneva announced the sentence that Brossard
should be able to leave prison by the end of 2010.
The jury said in sentencing her that it had taken
account of the “profound regret” expressed by
Brossard during the high-profile trial. – AFP
Formal apology for slavery
WASHINGTON: The US Senate approved
a fiercely worded resolution yesterday
formally apologising for the “fundamental
injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhuman-
ity of slavery” of African-Americans. The
non-binding resolution now heads to the
House of Representatives, where a similar
resolution passed by voice vote in July 2008,
only to wither in the upper chamber. House
approval, which could come as early as next
week, would make it the first time the en-
tire US Congress has formally apologised on
behalf of the American people for one of the
grimmest wrongs in US history. – AFP
Mom saves girl from cougar
OTTAWA: Using nothing but her quick wit and
bare hands, a mother fought off a cougar that
had pinned down her three-year-old daughter in
a forest near Brackendale, north of Vancouver,
police said. Maya and her mother, Maureen Lee,
were walking on a wooded trail with their dog
when the cougar pounced. “All of a sudden it
just flew on her, rolled her a couple of times and
grabbed her,” Lee said. “I just jumped in there
and wedged myself between the cougar and
her on the ground,” she said. – AFP
Hillary Clinton breaks elbow
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hil-
lary Clinton fell and broke her elbow on
Wednesday but will resume her full duties
soon as the Obama administration’s top
diplomat, a spokeswoman said. Clinton will
have surgery to repair her elbow in the next
week, her chief of staff Cheryl Mills said.
“On the way to the White House late this
afternoon, Secretary Clinton fell and suf-
fered a right elbow fracture.“ – Reuters