UK News: Public sector cuts to hurt private firms too

ALMOST 500,000 jobs could be lost in the private sector because of the Government's cuts in public spending, pushing the total number of losses to a million, a new report said today.

Accountancy giant PwC said the output of private firms could fall by around 46 billion a year by 2014-15.

Cyber terror warning

BRITAIN faces a "real and credible" threat of cyber attack, the head of the UK's electronic spying agency warned today.

GCHQ director Iain Lobban said that Britain's future economic prosperity depended upon developing effective defences against a cyber assault.

Consultants land big NHS bonus for bad work

CONSULTANTS working for the NHS are being paid large bonuses even if the quality of their work deteriorates, it was reported today.

In a scheme now being reviewed, the top doctors in England are given the awards on top of their basic pay of 89,400, with a loophole in the system meaning they receive the bonuses for life.

Similar schemes are in place in other parts of the UK with a smaller number of consultants paid the bonuses.

Phone driving triples

THE number of motorists admitting they take phone calls and send text messages while driving has tripled in a year, according to an RAC survey.

As many as 39 per cent of drivers admit to being distracted by calls, texts and social media website alerts on their mobiles while at the wheel.

Those saying they take calls while driving has risen from 8 per cent to 28 per cent.

Jacobson hails Booker win

WINNER of this year's Man Booker Prize Howard Jacobson said he had waited a "long time" for such an accolade as he picked up the award.

The author was a 10/1 outsider with some bookmakers for his comic novel The Finkler Question before the outcome was announced.

Manchester: A sex-change dog born with male and female organs before surgeons turned her into a bitch is looking for a home. Georgie, a Staffordshire bull terrier cross, was abandoned at Manchester Dogs Home after suffering the extremely rare hermaphrodite condition.

London: Millions of parish records charting the history of London from the 16th century were launched online for the first time today. Ancestry.co.uk said the London, baptisms, marriages and burials records contained information kept at more than 1000 parishes in the capital, including from the English civil war.