General News: The 20th Century Icon
Alan Turing has been named as the most iconic figure of the 20th century, above other notable personalities including Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.
World War II codebreaker Turing was chosen by the public on BBC2’s ‘Broadcast of Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century’. The show was presented by Nick Robinson, who said: ‘He was a man who worked almost entirely in secret, who received little credit for cracking the Nazi codes and shortening the war. Today, he is the most celebrated figure of the 20th century – a father of computing, war hero and genius’.
Turing was given an OBE in 1946.
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The relentless onslaught against smoking is going to new heights in Hawaii. The mid-pacific island plans to ban anybody from under the age of 100 from buying them.
Democrat politician and Doctor Richard Creagan has proposed a new law raising the age at which one can buy cigarettes from 21 to 30 by next year. The age limit would then rise every year by a decade, reaching 100 on 2024. Dr Creagan is a former smoker himself and said his proposal would fight what he described as ‘the deadliest artefact in human history’.
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Amidst all the coverage of Brexit, just to show that Government business is still going on otherwise, MPs will meet in Parliament tomorrow (February 8) to discuss the proposal of raising probate fees by up to 3,000pc in some cases.
From April the cost of applying for probate – the legal authority to take control of someone’s finances when they die – could rocket from a flat fee of £215 to as much as £6,000.
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Staying with money matters, the cost of moving house has gone up to record levels, the average figure now reaching over £9,000, or close to a third of the UK’s average salary. Stamp Duty, which makes up almost half the total cost, rose by 11 per cent last year compared to 2017, according to Reallymoving.
The cost of buying a first home however, fell by a third in 2018 after the Government removed stamp duty on properties up to £300,000.
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Social Media bosses could face arrest in the UK after the Suicide Prevention Minister, Jackie Doyle-Price said that self-harm and suicide images posted on social media platforms were being ‘normalised’ and had the effect of ‘grooming’ children.
The warning was issued after digital minister Margot James said that web companies would be forced by law to sign up to a code of conduct aimed at protecting user.
Miss Doyle-Price told the BBC that new laws could be introduced of they did not ‘step up’. Asked if bosses could then face arrest of they broke these laws, she replied, ‘Nothing is off the table’.
She added: ‘We’ve seen in the past that these companies have been very cavalier about their responsibilities but equally, once their reputation is on the line they want to step up,’ adding further: ‘we will take legal powers to make sure that they do – they have a duty of care to their users’. Miss Doyle-Price also said that, in her view, social media sites were publishers, not platforms, so they should be held to account by the law.
Her comments follow the stance taken by Miss James on new laws to protect vulnerable social media users.
She said that the UK would create ‘world-leading laws’ to make this country the safest place in the world to be online, also adding. ‘Internet companies have always enjoyed legal protection from liability for user-generated content.
‘This environment has led some companies to pursue growth and profitability with little regard for the security and interests of their users. There is far too much bullying, abuse, misinformation and manipulation online as well as serious and organised crime’.
Despite the current controversy, the UK has already been named the safest country on the world for internet users by Microsoft but the technological company also suggested that many still suffer from abuse, scams and unwanted attempts to make contact.
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