Police anger over job cuts... and Pink Floyd’s album art hailed
TENS OF thousands of police officers believed crime levels would soar if Government plans to slash police budgets by 20 per cent went ahead, a national survey revealed during this week of 2011.
More than 42,000 members of the Police Federation, representing rank and file officers, responded to the survey about the cuts, which also revealed that morale had plummeted in forces across the country.
In Yorkshire 99 per cent of officers who took part said morale was down since the Government spelled out its proposals.
The results in the region showed 88 per cent believed cutting police numbers would have a detrimental effect on crime levels, and 84 per cent believed their workload had already increased.
Yorkshire’s four forces were preparing to shed thousands of posts as they attempted to tackle a £200m black hole in their budgets by 2015.
South Yorkshire Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes had broken ranks a few weeks previously, becoming the first police chief to question the scope of the cuts and to ask whether the public could be kept safe as finances came under pressure.
Federation chairman in England and Wales Paul McKeever, said: “Let’s improve policing, not destroy it. The Government must listen to these views from the front line and give the public and the police the opportunity to shape a police service that is appropriate for the future and able to deliver what is expected of it.”
It was feared that prospective young farmers could find it increasingly difficult to get into the profession after a swathe of the country’s top agricultural colleges announced huge increases in tuition fees.
Most of the universities running specific agriculture and farming degrees would be looking to charge the full £9,000 a term from autumn 2012, prompting concern that young people would be deterred from entering an industry crying out for new blood, and undermining long-term efforts to promote it.
Figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed 60,000 new farmers would be needed in the coming years to cope with demand. The current average age of a British farmer was thought to be over 60.
Among those to confirm the higher fees were Harper Adams University College, Cirencester’s Royal Agricultural College, Nottingham University, Newcastle University and the University of Lincoln.
Some of Britain’s most threatened butterflies appeared to be showing signs of recovery after decades of decline.
A monitoring programme run by Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology saw rare species including the wood white and the marsh fritillary record large increases in the previous year.
Experts said the improvement in the butterflies’ fortunes was likely to be the result of targeted conservation action – and better weather in 2010 than the previous few years.
And the sleeve for Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic Dark Side Of The Moon was named the greatest album cover of all time. The image, featuring a ray of white light being split by a prism, triumphed over artwork for releases by acts such as The Beatles and the Clash. The cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind, featuring a baby underwater, was runner-up in the poll of musicians and rock buffs.
Sir Peter Blake’s work on the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover – a collage of famous faces gathered around The Beatles – came third.
– Sheena Hastings
In Yorkshire, 99 per cent of officers said morale was down after the Government announced the proposals.