The AnswerBank Articles

What difference will the new matrons make

asks woolley:A. Health Secretary Alan Milburn recently announced that he planned to reinstate hospital matrons, and it's hoped that they'll make a significant difference in the cleanliness of00:00 Sun 15th Apr 2001

What is the aim of the May Day protest

asks Su Smith:A. Specifically, to bring London to a standstill on 1 May. Q. How is it going to be done A. Planned events include mass cycle rallies, protests at the World Bank offices in the00:00 Fri 13th Apr 2001

What is Blair doing to get tourists back to the countryside

asks Riley:A. Tony Blair, along with John Prescott and other Government ministers, has been visiting rural areas and having pub lunches in country inns in order to reinforce the message that 'the00:00 Thu 12th Apr 2001

How do we know when Britain is officially in recession

asked Riley A. In the UK, the accepted definition of a recession is 'two successive quarters of quarter-on-quarter negative growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).' In layman's terms, this translates00:00 Fri 06th Apr 2001

What is the Kyoto Treaty

A. The Kyoto Protocol is an international climate treaty to halt climate change. Under the agreement, the developed countries of the world are to commit to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and00:00 Fri 30th Mar 2001

Why is the Royal Mail losing its 150-year-old monoploy

A. On 26 March a new law was introduced that enables 'PostComm', the new Post Office regulator,to give licences to other companies enabling them to deliver post costing less than 1. Q. What other00:00 Mon 26th Mar 2001

The Mir Space Station finally makes it home

A. Yes, the 15-year-old space station which has been beset with problems finally ended its life crashing safely into the Pacific Ocean. During its 15 years it travelled over 2.2 billion miles,00:00 Fri 23rd Mar 2001

Why are so many people raising money for farmers

A. There is an underlying belief that the foot and mouth outbreak is a crisis which is not of their own making. That's why Prince Charles, and the Duke of Westminster have funnelled 1m between them00:00 Fri 16th Mar 2001

When is the next general election going to be

A. Political analysts predict that the next general election will fall on 3 May 2001. Their calculations are based the government's scheduling of the budget and various other voter-grabbing00:00 Wed 07th Mar 2001

Q&A: Foot and Mouth disease

Q. What is foot and mouth disease A. Foot-and-mouth is an infectious viral disease that causes small blisters called vesicules to erupt around the feet and mouth of an animal. The earliest signs00:00 Wed 28th Feb 2001

Why does the government want a drug-dealers register

By Christina Okoli Why does the government want to register known drug dealers Plans to introduce a register of known drug dealers were announced by the prime minister Tony Blair at the Labour00:00 Thu 22nd Feb 2001

Has drug taking among British teenagers continued to rise

No, the number of British teenagers experimenting with legal and illegal drugs has actually fallen slightly since 1995, according to a survey by the World Health Organisation. The survey found that00:00 Tue 20th Feb 2001

End of the road for Napster

by Oliver Goggi FOLLOWING months of litigation it appears Napster has finally been brought to its knees. The ruling by a Californian court to stop trading in copyrighted material means that although00:00 Tue 13th Feb 2001

Oxfam calls for fairer distribution of life-saving drugs

By Anna Tobin THE international pharmaceutical business and western governments have been accused by Oxfam of restricting the supply of key medicines to the earth's most in need countries. The00:00 Mon 12th Feb 2001

Organs scandal deters donors

GOVERNMENT ministers and healthcare professionals are preparing for an emergency summit to address the fall in public confidence in the National Health Service, and the possibility of a sudden drop in00:00 Tue 06th Feb 2001

School inspector highlights worsening behaviour

BRITAIN'S Chief Inspector of Schools Mike Tomlinson is expected to highlight worsening behaviour in our secondary schools in his upcoming first annual report. Tomlinson took over from the00:00 Tue 06th Feb 2001

Napster announces subscription fee

By Oliver Goggi THE days of downloading free music from the net could soon be over as Napster tells of its intention to charge users for its service. Napster's chief executive, Hank Barry,00:00 Tue 30th Jan 2001

Morning-after pill remains on the counter

By Anna Tobin A MOTION to overturn government legislation that has allowed the morning after or emergency contraceptive pill to be sold in chemists without prescription, has been defeated in the00:00 Mon 29th Jan 2001

Human cloning

By Oliver Goggi THE House of Lords has voted in support of Government plans to legalise tests on stem cells, an area of research bringing hope to sufferers of Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's and00:00 Tue 23rd Jan 2001

Who inspires you

By Christina Okoli Ten years after she was ousted from Downing Street, Lady Margaret Thatcher, who may no long hold much political influence, is still seen as an inspirational figure by the British00:00 Wed 17th Jan 2001