Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Irish Exchequer likely to run cash surplus for 2016

STATE COLLECTS €45.6BN IN TAX IN 2015, WHICH IS €3.3BN MORE THAN FORECAST AT START OF YEAR

     

Tax revenue in 2015 was boosted by strong income tax returns, following increased employment and increased receipts from value added tax, which reflects increased consumer spending. The figures were also boosted by particularly strong corporation tax returns.

The exchequer is likely to run a cash surplus this year after a big rise in tax receipts in 2015 and once-off bank returns took the public finances close to balance in cash terms, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said.

Mr Noonan was speaking after exchequer returns for 2015 showed the State collected €45.6 billion in tax last year, up €4.32 billion on 2014 and €3.3 billion more than the forecast at the start of 2015.

Government forecasts assume the State will collect €47.2 billion in tax in 2016 but the minister raised the prospect of a higher return. “I would not be surprised if the tax take next year again exceeds the target,” Mr Noonan said.

The exchequer recorded a €62 million deficit in cash terms in 2015, compared to a €8.19 billion deficit in 2014.

According to the Department of Finance, the improvement in the deficit would be €5.2 billion when one-off transactions are stripped out of the figures. Such transactions included the redemption of AIB preference shares, which yielded €1.6 billion, and the sale of shares in Permanent TSB.

Tax revenue in 2015 was boosted by strong income tax returns, following increased employmentm and rising receipts from value added tax, which reflects consumer spending.

The figures were also boosted by particularly strong corporation tax returns, which rose 49% in 2015 to reach €6.9 billion. The Government, whose forecasts for 2016 assume most of these payments are recurrent, expects to collect €6.6 billion in corporate tax this year.

Mr Noonan rejected notion that such provisions meant the Government had built the budget on a base of once-off taxation. “That’s not true,” he told reporters at the department.

“We’ve already built in a buffer in terms of a declining corporation tax take even though we don’t think it will decline very much.”

• Michael Noonan ‘back on the road again’ after being in hospital.

The figures overall were pretty good, he said. “When you take it into account that we’re due another €1.7 billion from AIB next July it’s quite clear that: not only will we balance next year, but we’ll probably be in surplus in cash terms.”

Under European and domestic fiscal rules, once-off transactions cannot be included when calculating the deficit.

The figures point to a budget deficit close to 1.5% of gross domestic product at the end of 2015 – well below the original 2.7% target, which itself was later revised down to 2.1%.

The Government now assumes the end of 2016 deficit will come of between 0.7% and 0.8% of GDP, down from the 1.2% target set out in the October budget. “We’re estimating now 0.75%, that that will be the outturn at the end of 2016,” Mr Noonan said.

The minister said a balanced budget – net of once-off items – can be achieved in 2017, one year earlier than foreseen previously. “We had committed in the original spring statement last year to a balanced budget in 2018, it looks as if we’ll balance in 2017 now, which is a very big advance in the position.”

Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin said the 2015 figures were “truly remarkable” .

The overall deficit in 2010 was 32% of GDP and the underlying deficit that year was 11% of GDP, when bank recapitalisations were stripped from figures. In cash terms, the deficit then was €18.7 billion. “Now, five years later, it’s €62 million,” Mr Howlin said .

“There were real concerns that the task we set ourselves – of having a deficit of less than 3% of GDP by 2015 – was an impossible target to achieve.”

Net spending in 2015 was higher than forecast at €42.86 billion, but €271 million below the net estimate for the year after the inclusion of €1.5 billion in pre-budget supplementary estimates. “Any unexpended money reverts back,” Mr Howlin said.

Cumulative income tax receipts for the year were up €1.2 billion compared to 2014, €379 million ahead of forecast.

“This performance is consistent with the recovering labour market, employment growth and increases in the average weekly earnings as evidenced by the recent [quarterly national household survey] and earnings releases,” the Department of Finance said.

Income tax receipts in December reached €1.79 billion, €329 million ahead of the monthly target and €401 million more than December 2014.

“The performance of VAT in 2015 has been very encouraging with receipts finishing the year €170 million (1.4%) ahead of target and on a year-on-year basis, receipts grew by 7.1% (€791 million) in 2015,” the department said.

“These strong receipts are reflective of improved consumer confidence as evidenced by the performance of retail sales for the year to date.”

On the spending side, the department said net spending was €162 million below the revised forecast for 2015 set out in the budgetary projections in budget 2016 in mid-October.

Net voted current expenditure was €39.35 billion, €969 million above the original profile. The largest spending over profile was in health (€574 million), social protection (€275 million) and education.

Debt servicing costs for 2015 were €7.1 billion. On a like-for-like basis, the expenditure was down €473 on 2014 largely due to lower interest payments to the IMF after the early loan repayments.

“Interest expenditure in 2015 at €6,979 million was in line with the outturn projected in Budget 2016 last October. It was some €718 million or 9.3% below the original Budget 2015 estimate of October 2014,” the department said.

INMO Nurses to strike in seven hospital A&Es next week

INMO MEMBERS REJECT DEAL ON STAFFING AND OVER-CROWDING IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

      

LIAM DORAN ABOVE LEFT, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE INMO WITH NURSES STRIKING LAST YEAR.

Nurses are to stage rolling two-hour work stoppages in seven hospital emergency departments on Thursday of next week.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said there would be further industrial action to follow after its members voted to reject a deal aimed at dealing with over-crowding and staffing levels in hospital emergency departments.

The union said its members in 26 emergency departments rejected, by a margin of 58 per cent to 42 per cent proposals which were brokered before Christmas in talks at the Workplace Relations Commission.

The deal agreed at the Workplace Relations Commission involved a series of new incentives to recruit and retain nurses in emergency departments as well as revised internal arrangements for tackling overcrowding in hospitals.

Nurses taking up posts were to be offered a €1,500 education bursary after 12 months.

A relocation package worth a similar amount, announced a number of months, would continue, under the proposals

Controversially the deal contained provision for nurses in emergency units to get two additional leave days in 2016 and 2017 in lieu of meal breaks not taken.

The general secretary of the INMO Liam Doran said : “”It is quite clear that, in rejecting these proposals, our members were stating that they had no confidence in senior management, at local level, to implement the proposed measures on a continuous basis.

“It was also obvious that members believe that there is a complete lack of awareness, within senior management, as to the compromising of patient care, and safe nursing practice, occurring on a daily basis, from the continuous presence of trolleys and overcrowding generally.”

He said the union would now consult with its emergency department representatives and strike committees on Thursday, and prepare for the first day of strike action, in seven hospitals scheduled for Thursday, January 14th.

“Our campaign for a safer environment, for patients and staff, in the country’s emergency departments will continue until our members are satisfied the necessary measures will be applied on a 24/7 basis.”

Lawyers for Áras Attracta staff seek to exclude RTE video evidence

DPP received ‘incomplete evidence’ 

     

JUDGE MARY DEVINS IN THE TRIAL OF FIVE STAFF ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING PATIENTS AT THE ÁRAS ATTRACTA CARE FACILITY IS TO GIVE HER VERDICT ON NEXT THURSDAY ON WHETHER THE DPP RECEIVED ‘INCOMPLETE EVIDENCE’ BEFORE DECIDING TO PROSECUTE IN THE CASES.

A judge in the trial of five staff accused of assaulting patients at the Áras Attracta care facility in Co Mayo is to give her verdict on Thursday on whether the DPP received “incomplete evidence” before deciding to prosecute in the cases.

Judge Mary Devins will also decide on applications by lawyers for the five accused for video footage to be excluded from the trial.

Some 190 hours of video footage was filmed covertly by RTÉ in the common area of the Health Service Executive (HSE)-run facility between November 3rd and November 19th, 2014

On the second day of the trial at Castlebar District Court, counsels for the accused called for the video evidence to be excluded because of “discrepancies” between the master tape held by RTÉ’s Investigations Unit and the copy of the tape furnished to the State.

Eoin Garavan, counsel for one of the defendants, told the court that the master tape had been examined by a member of his legal team on Tuesday.

“Until yesterday we understood there were no deletions [from the tape]. Then there were five, then there were six. [On Tuesday] the number of deletions has doubled,” Mr Garavan said.

“The whole integrity [of the case] is falling down. The hard disc is different from what we understood it to be.

“There is a huge question mark over the original footage.”

When complaints were made?

The judge said that when the complaints about the abuse of patients were made to gardaí, the matter was referred to the DPP, who elected to prosecute.

She said that it had now been shown that the DPP did not have sight of all of the RTÉ material, including six files which had been deleted.

The judge asked Patrick Reynolds, counsel for the State, if he needed time to consider the situation, given that it appeared that “incomplete evidence” was held by the DPP when a decision to prosecute was made.

Mr Reynolds said he wanted to make an application that the master tape and the copy from which the State had been working be given to gardaí overnight, so that they could be forensically examined by Garda IT experts.

Mr Reynolds asked that the cases be adjourned to Thursday.

The judge is to give her decision on the issues raised, including the application for expert examination of the tapes, at 10.30am on Thursday.

The five accused each face a single charge of assault at Bungalow 3 of Áras Attracta on dates in November 2014.

They are Pat McLoughlin, of Mayfield, Claremorris, Co Mayo; Christina Delaney, Seefin, Lissatava, Hollymount, Co Mayo; Anna Ywunong Botsimbo. Low Park Avenue, Charlestown, Co Mayo; Joan Walsh, Carrowilkeen, Curry, Co Sligo, and Kathleen King, Knockshanbally, Straide, Foxford, Co Mayo.

Why the position you sleep in might be giving you nightmares

BAD NEWS IF YOU LIKE TO SLEEP ON YOUR LEFT SIDE..

     

If you’re forever having dreams about your pants falling down in front of your boss or being stuck in the middle of the ocean, it turns out it might not actually be down to that cheese sandwich you had before bed – but rather the position you’re sleeping in.

(If ever there were an excuse to have a cheddar toastie before bed, this is it.)

According to scientific research conducted by Van Winkle, people who sleep on their left side are far more at risk of having nightmares, whilst those who sleep on their right have a better quality of sleep due to ‘feeling safer’.

The report shows that 40% of people who slept on their left side admitted to having disturbing dreams and nightmares, compared to the 14.6% of those who sleep on the right side of their body. Interesting stuff, eh?

The research added that people who slept on their right reported having more pleasant dreams linked to feelings of relief, whist people who slept on their fronts reported feeling sensations related to ‘sex’ more frequently than anyone else. Oi oi.

Researchers think this increase in steamy thoughts is due to not getting as much air when you’re lying on your front, and your brain reimagining this into racy thoughts. So there’s that.

Whether or not there’s actually any truth in this is up for discussion, but if it means we can forget the wives’ tale about eating brie before bed giving you bad dreams? We’re sold.

This is how Tim Peake trained for his upcoming spacewalk

     

WHEN ASTRONAUT TIM PEAKE STEPS OUT OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) SHORTLY BEFORE 1PM NEXT FRIDAY, HE WILL DO SO AS A HISTORY MAKER.

The former Army Air Corps officer and helicopter test pilot is the first Briton aboard the ISS and the first fully British professional astronaut employed by a space agency.

But it will have taken months of arduous training to get to that point.

As far as the spacewalk is concerned, much of it will have been undertaken at a specially designed Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas.

Major Peake clocked up the hours underwater, with a mock-up of the ISS submerged in an attempt to resemble life in space.

The principle used to simulate weightlessness in a huge tank of water is called neutral buoyancy, as a neutrally buoyant object neither floats nor sinks.

For an astronaut to achieve this in the water, the natural tendency to float or sink is counteracted by weights or flotation devices.

Although it is not exactly the same as being weightless in space, astronauts can practice in neutral buoyancy how to move large objects.

Major Peake will still have been able to feel the pull of gravity while neutrally buoyant, and the drag of moving about through the water will have slowed down his movements – but it is the closest he will get to microgravity on Earth.

Footage uploaded to the European Space Agency website showed the Briton attempting to achieve neutral buoyancy, before being hoisted out of the water on a large robotic platform.

Before departure from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 15, Major Peake described the prospect of conducting a spacewalk as “the icing on the cake”.

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Former Irish Nationwide chief Fingleton loses court action

Action was to stop Central Bank from starting inquiry into regulatory breaches

    

IN HIS HIGH COURT PROCEEDINGS MICHAEL FINGLETON SOUGHT VARIOUS ORDERS AND DECLARATIONS FROM THE COURT IN RESPECT OF THE CENTRAL BANK’S DECISION TO LAUNCH AN INQUIRY

Former Irish Nationwide Building Society chief executive Michael Fingletonhas lost his High Court action aimed at preventing the Central Bank from conducting an inquiry into alleged regulatory breaches at the financial institution.

Mr Fingleton, along with several other former officials of INBS, are the subject of a Central Bank inquiry, under Part III C of the 1942 Central Bank Act, which is due to commence hearings in February.

He challenged the Central Bank’s decision to subject him to an inquiry claiming it was unfair and unreasonable.

The Central Bank, which wants to inquire into allegations certain prescribed contraventions were committed by both INBS, and certain persons concerned with its management, between August 2004 and September 2008, opposed the application.

Giving judgment today Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, dismissed Mr Fingleton’s action, clearing the way for the inquiry to proceed.

In a lengthy and detailed ruling Mr Justice Noonan said Mr Fingleton had “not satisfied me that there is any unfairness inherent in the inquiry process to which he is subject.”

Mr Fingelton was not present in court for the decision.

The inquiry, in the event of any finding of wrong doing, has the power to impose a fine on an individual of up to €500,000. INBS was nationalised and merged with the former Anglo Irish Bank into IBRC in 2011.

The Central Bank estimates the collapse of INBS cost the tax payer €5billion, although the figure is disputed by Mr Fingleton.

• Michael Fingleton action to stop Central Bank inquiry opens

In his action Mr Fingleton sought various orders and declarations from the court in respect of the Central Bank’s decision to launch an inquiry which he claims is disproportionate, oppressive and unreasonable.

Mr Fingleton also claimed that proceeding with the inquiry is a breach of fair procedures and an unlawful breach of his right to a fair hearing.

Mr Fingleton argued the Central Bank cannot conduct an inquiry of this nature. This is because Mr Fingleton, who retired in 2010, is no longer involved in the management of an entity that was a regulated financial service provider.

It was also claimed there was a delay by the Central Bank in bringing the inquiry, he had been subject to prejudicial adverse media coverage, and was made the scapegoat for the banking crisis.

Mr Fingleton is also the subject of proceedings before the Commercial Court, also arising out of events at INBS before it was nationalised. Mr Fingleton also claims that at the very least the inquiry should not be conducted until those proceedings have been concluded.

The Central Bank had rejected all of Mr Fingelton’s arguments, and said there was nothing preventing the inquiry from proceeding as planned.

In his decision Mr Justice Noonan dismissed all grounds of Mr Fingelton’s case. The 1942 Central Bank Act applies to Mr Fingleton, the Judge said, the former INBS CEO was lawfully subject to the inquiry.

There had been no culpable delay by the Central Bank in conducting its investigation into Mr Fingleton resulting in any unfairness to him.

The inquiry, and the elaborate procedures provided for in the 1942 Act, ensured Mr Fingleton’s right to a fair hearing “is guaranteed,” the Judge added.

“It seems to me that the public interest is well served by a credible system of financial regulation and enforcement such as that provided in the 1942 Act,” the Judge said.

Much of Mr Fingelton’s claim, the Judge said, was “an attempt to to preempt in advance issues before the inquiry that may or may not arise, or be determined by the inquiry itself.”

Any suggestion Mr Fingleton will be subject to any prejudice by the inquiry, the Judge found, was “devoid of substance and without merit.”

Rejecting Mr Fingleton’s claim the inquiry would occasion significant financial hardship on him as he would have to bear the legal costs associated in preparing for the inquiry.

The Judge noted that the Central Bank referred in a sworn statement said annual reports for INBS from the years 2003 to 2008 show Mr Fingelton’s remuneration package amounted to €9.77 million.

The Central Bank also avers that when his pension fund matures it is worth approximately €30 million. Mr Fingelton had not replied to that evidence, the Judge said.

“In the light of that the applicant’s complaints about equality of arms and the unfair costs burden on him of participating in the inquiry ring somewhat hollow,” the Judge said.

The Judge adjourned all outstanding matters in the case, including the issue of legal costs, to January 14th.

FF makes a proposal on ‘arrears crisis’ in sub-prime mortgages

MICHAEL MCGRATH SAYS SITUATION IS ‘ABSOLUTELY DISASTROUS’

    

FIANNA FÁIL FINANCE SPOKESMAN MICHAEL MCGRATH.

Fianna Fáil has said the Government’s failure to deal with the “spiralling arrears crisis” in the sub-prime mortgage market is “disastrous” as the owners of such loans are amongst “the most aggressive in the market” at seeking court ordered repossessions.

New figures provided by the Central Bank indicate that 20,338 mortgage accounts issued by sub-prime lenders were in arrears of more than 90 days at the end of September 2015. This compares to 19,935 at the end of December 2014.

The sector now accounts for 22.5 per cent of all residential mortgages in arrears more than 90 days compared to 15.5 per cent a year previously.

In recent years, there have been several loan books sold in Ireland. There are 7,461 mortgages now in the hands of non-bank lenders and vulture funds.

GE Money disposed of its subprime mortgages to Pepper in 2012. Among the other buyers of mortgage books was US private equity fund Tanager who bought 2,000 distressed home loans from Bank of Scotland Ireland.

Permanent TSB sold around 2,200 home loans to Mars Capital while the IBRC liquidation also saw loans originally issued by Irish Nationwide sold off to various vulture funds.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the situation in relation to mortgages issued by sub-prime lenders was “absolutely disastrous”.

“While the mortgage arrears crisis generally has shown some signs of easing, the trend in relation to these mortgages has been steadily deteriorating in the face of complete indifference from the Government,” he said.

“It is clear from court reports that sub-prime lenders account for a disproportionate level of legal action being initiated in many Circuit Courts. The fact that 61 per cent of the outstanding balance on these mortgages are in arrears is of huge concern.

“In many ways, this is not surprising given the very high interest rates and income multiples associated with these loans.

“Most of the originators of these loans have now sold them on. In my view there is a clear need for a specific response to the problems of this sector including clear targets for resolution measures.”

He said Fianna Fáil was putting forward three proposals to tackle the issue.

Firstly, he said the party was calling for an extension of the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets, which currently only apply to the six main banks operating in the State.

He also called for the establishment of a dedicated mortgage to rent scheme targeting this group of loans, and for the Central Bank to be obliged to publish a specific report on how current owners of these loans are complying with the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears.

“Significant fines should be imposed in cases where breaches of the Code take place,” said Mr McGrath.

“This issue is now reaching a crisis point and unless action is taken we will be facing a massive social problem.”

Banking Inquiry final report could now be published in late January

    

THE FINAL REPORT OF THE BANKING INQUIRY COULD BE PUBLISHED AT THE END OF THIS MONTH.

The Inquiry has opened its right-to-reply phase today, meaning any of the 80 people named in the document have 21 days to contest certain elements of the report.

Senator Susan O’Keeffe (pictured) co-authored the finxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl report which was signed off by the Inquiry members on New Year’s Eve.

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She said it is intended to publish the report on Wednesday, January 27, but this could be affected by potential challenges.

“People will be aware legal challenges are complex and take time, and are not easily resolved,” she said.

“I guess if someone were to make a legal challenge, it would delay the publication, but I can’t say that for sure.”

Irish Business owners are not happy about the new minimum wage

THE WAGE INCREASED FROM €8.65 TO €9.15 PER HOUR LAST WEEK.

  

THOUSANDS OF JOBS COULD BE AT RISK DUE TO THE RECENT INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE, ACCORDING TO THE IRISH SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ASSOCIATION (ISME).

In its final Business Trends Survey for 2015, the organisation says there is the potential for 60,000 new jobs in Ireland if costs for businesses are curtailed.

The survey finds that current and future sales are at their highest in eight years, with owners and managers “generally positive in expectations for the new year”. Ten out of the 12 economic indicators tracked have increased.

However, the report warns that job creation will decrease due to the minimum wage increase. As of 1 January, it was upped from €8.65 to €9.15 per hour. The survey lists the euro exchange rate as “the biggest area of concern” for businesses.

Mark Fielding, CEO of ISME, noted: “Following on from a mixed-bag of results in the previous quarter it is a relief to see such a positive report coming from owner-managers this time round. The recovery might finally be trickling down to SMEs but it is important that we focus now on managing our costs and nurturing this growth.”

Fielding said that despite some improvements “SME competitiveness has taken many blows this year”.

Rents, insurance, energy and legal costs have all increased while the slack consumer demand has dictated that pricing and margins have reduced. This means that small businesses operating on increasingly tight margins cannot afford any more cost increases.

“The increase in the minimum wage due in January will be a difficult adjustment for labour-intensive sectors and may force some businesses to reduce staff hours.”

He added that, as the general election draws closer, “We are being treated to more and more outlandish political promises and policies”.

“Labour’s promises to impose a ‘living wage’ during the next administration will result in cost-conscious employers delaying and cancelling job creation which will be unaffordable if those increases are introduced.”

The living wage

Last month, Joan Burton said introducing a living wage of €11.50 per hour makes sense.

The Tánaiste said the next government should look at a €2 increase over four years – 50 cent per year.

“I don’t see any threat in the fact that people would earn a decent wage,” she stated.

The ISME survey was conducted in the third week of December, with 956 SME respondents. Some 54% of respondents employ less than ten people, while a further 36% employ between 11 and 50 people and the remaining 10% employ between 51 and 250 people. Geographically, 32% are from Dublin with 59% spread across the country, while 9% operate from multiple sites.

30,000 new jobs

The Small Firms Association (SFA) published its outlook for 2016 today. The survey found that 77% of owner-managers feel the business environment is improving, with just 4% indicating it is getting worse.

Domestic economic growth was highlighted by over 40% of businesses as their biggest opportunity in 2016. Other positive factors identified were specific sectoral opportunities (14%), exporting (12%) and bringing new products to market (10%).

Over 65% of survey respondents indicated their intention to recruit over the coming year, up slightly since the last survey in June.

This was welcomed by Patricia Callan, SFA Director: “Small firms already employ over half of the private sector workforce and almost two-thirds of our members will be hiring in 2016.

“Small firms have a crucial role to play in job creation around the country, reducing unemployment and attracting emigrants home to work. We expect small firms to create 30,000 jobs in 2016.”

Scale of diabetes timebomb laid bare with one in five retirees suffering from the condition

New figures show a 65 per cent rise in diabetes diagnoses in just a decade, as experts warn that the number of sufferers has now topped 4 million – and will reach 5 million in a decade

     

EXPERTS SAY BRITAIN’S SOARING OBESITY RATES IS FUELLING “ALARMING” LEVELS OF DIABETES 

One in five retirees are suffering from diabetes as new figures reveal the scale of the middle-age time bomb facing Britain.

Spiralling obesity rates have fuelled a 65 per cent rise in diagnoses in a decade, with more than 4 million people now living with the condition, UK data shows.

Charities said the NHS will become “crippled” by the burden of the condition without urgent action to make “profound” changes to today’s lifestyles.

Experts called for measures to bring down the price of healthy foods, introduce clearer food labelling and bring an end to “couch potato” habits.

NHS figures, analysed by the charity Diabetes UK show the number of people with diabetes in the UK has topped four million for the first time and is on course to hit five million in less than a decade.

The latest figure includes 3.5 million adults who have been officially diagnosed – up 119,965 on the previous year and an increase of 65 per cent in 10 years.

The trend has been driven by soaring rates of obesity, which have left Britain the second fattest nation in Europe, second only to Hungary.

Almost two thirds of men and women in Britain are overweight or obese, with the figures rising with age.

Last month the country’s chief medical officer suggested that obesity poses such a threat to the country that it should be treated as a “national risk” alongside terrorism.

The four million people with diabetes means about eight per cent of adults are suffering from the disease.

But the figure rises sharply with age, with analysis of the latest figures suggesting that between 15 and 20 per cent of those in their 60s and 70s are now suffering from diabetes.

Experts warned that worsening lifestyles mean those numbers are set to continue rising, while the proportion of people succumbing to the condition earlier is also expected to soar.

Chris Askew, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “With four million people in the UK now living with diabetes, the need to tackle this serious health condition has never been so stark or so urgent.”

He said there was a need for a “concerted effort led by the Government to take active steps to address the fact that almost two in every three people in the UK are overweight or obese and are therefore at increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.

“Basic measures such as making healthy food cheaper and more accessible, introducing clearer food labelling and making it easier for people to build physical activity into their daily lives would have a profound influence.”

The charity said more than 24,000 people with diabetes die prematurely every year due to failures in accessing the best type of care.

This includes receiving eight annual checks in areas such as foot care and eyesight.

The checks – which only 60 per cent of people with diabetes currently receive – are designed to prevent complications which can lead to limb amputation, blindness, kidney failure and even death.

The charity also warned that people are missing out on education courses designed to help them best manage their condition, with more than a third of regions in England still not running them.

Furthermore, hospital care for people with diabetes is consistently poor and puts some lives at risk, it said.

Some 80 per cent of the £10 billion spent on diabetes every year by the NHS goes on treating complications that may have been preventable.

Mr Askew said: “Tragically, we are continuing to see too many people with diabetes suffering serious complications, and even dying before their time, and we know that key reasons for this are that they are being denied both the care and access to education that would help them to manage their condition well.

“It is vital that we start to see people with diabetes receive good quality care wherever they live rather than them being at the mercy of a postcode lottery.”

He added: “With a record number of people living with diabetes, there is no time to waste in getting serious about providing better care and diabetes education.

“Until this happens, the rising number of people with diabetes will continue to be denied the best chance of living long and healthy lives and the NHS will continue to be crippled under avoidable but escalating costs of treating poorly-managed diabetes.”

Putin to release an army of ‘cyborg rats’ with amazing sense of smell to sniff out ISIS explosives

Russian experts claim the rodents could be trained to find explosives and even human beings trapped in rubble

     

BOMB DETECTING RATS COULD REPLACE SNIFFER DOGS IN THE BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM, SCIENTISTS SAY.

Russian experts claim the rodents could be trained to find explosives – planted, perhaps, by ISIS militants – and even human beings planted booby bombs trapped in rubble like with the above rats used in Cambodia.

The creatures have keen senses of smell which could be harnessed for use by the police and military researchers believe.

Rats in Rostov-on-Don at the Laboratory of Olfactory Perception (LOP) have been shown with electrodes attached to their brains.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Head of the LOP, said, “Unlike a dog, a rat can get through the smallest crack where it seems it couldn’t go.

“This way it could find its way deep under rubble and by its brain activity one could understand if there are, for example, people who are still alive, if it’s worth clearing debris here or at another place, to rescue people more quickly”.

The scientists have discovered that rats differentiate between types of tea leaves through smell.

The experts admit, however, that it could be years before the rats are used for real-life work.

‘Sniffer rats’ are already used in parts of Africa to detect land mines and tuberculosis.