The UK’s political parties must commit to spending 3 per cent of gross domestic product on Britain's military or the country “could suffer defeat”, a group of former defence ministers and armed forces chiefs claimed.
With the UK facing its “gravest threats since the Cold War”, political parties should commit before the general election to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent immediately, then to 3 per cent by 2030, the Council on Geostrategy think tank said.
The Defence Pledge was published on Tuesday by the group, led by former defence secretary Michael Fallon.
“Countries which wish us harm are growing stronger and more dangerous,” the statement said. “To deter them and properly protect our interests, we need stronger armed forces. Absent this investment, British interests could suffer defeat, making the disruption we have experienced in recent months look moderate."
The UK's current defence spending of about 2 per cent of GDP was “no longer enough to protect all our interests at home, within Nato, and further overseas”, the group added.
It said Russia was among the main threats facing Britain, with President Vladimir Putin viewing Britain “perhaps more than any other country, as an absolute enemy”.
The statement also referred to the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea and said China was “rearming at scale”. With the threat of global war growing, it claimed, it is more important than ever for the UK to have strong armed forces to act as a deterrent.
“Our inability to muster sufficient forces to protect our allies may encourage hostile states such as Russia to invade them, sparking an international crisis,” the group said in its statement, which was also signed by former defence secretary Ben Wallace and two former leaders of Britain’s armed forces.
Prosperity risk
Britain needs to ensure greater protection for its trades routes, energy supplies and undersea cables, which are vital for financial system data. These are “all now at greater risk than at any time this century”, the statement added.
“Our future economic prosperity is at risk,” it said. “Conflict and instability elsewhere threaten our borders.”
But the group said a drop in the number of British naval vessels meant “the loss of a warship against a swarm of drones would exhaust the Royal Navy’s ability to protect our vital trade routes”.
The erosion of Britain’s position as Nato’s strongest European military power would also “weaken our hand in Washington” and other parts of the world at a time “when our leadership is needed more than ever”.
Too late
Emma Salisbury, an associate fellow at the council, criticised the current UK government over its “vague promise” to increase spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP “as soon as economic conditions allow”.
“We must not wait for it to be too late. We must increase defence spending,” she said.
Ed Arnold, a military analyst at the Research Fellow for European Security think tank, said that in 1936, with the threat from Nazi Germany rising, Britain’s defence spending was 3.75 per cent of GDP. It reached 52 per cent in 1945.
“Defence spending should derive from the threat, not fiscal rules,” he said. “UK defence spending must significantly rise, but of greater importance, it must also become far more productive.”
He said that neither Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak nor Labour leader Keir Starmer had yet prioritised defence spending for the next parliament.
“By then it may be too late," Mr Arnold said.
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Juvenile arthritis
Along with doctors, families and teachers can help pick up cases of arthritis in children.
Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
Dr Betina Rogalski said "The younger the child the more difficult it into pick up the symptoms. If the child is small, it may just be a bit grumpy or pull its leg a way or not feel like walking,” she said.
According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.
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Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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CHELSEA
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Favourite country: UAE
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The emirate’s public education system has been in a constant state of change since the New School Model was launched in 2010 by the Abu Dhabi Education Council. The NSM, which is also known as the Abu Dhabi School Model, transformed the public school curriculum by introducing bilingual education starting with students from grades one to five. Under this new curriculum, the children spend half the day learning in Arabic and half in English – being taught maths, science and English language by mostly Western educated, native English speakers. The NSM curriculum also moved away from rote learning and required teachers to develop a “child-centered learning environment” that promoted critical thinking and independent learning. The NSM expanded by one grade each year and by the 2017-2018 academic year, it will have reached the high school level. Major reforms to the high school curriculum were announced in 2015. The two-stream curriculum, which allowed pupils to elect to follow a science or humanities course of study, was eliminated. In its place was a singular curriculum in which stem -- science, technology, engineering and maths – accounted for at least 50 per cent of all subjects. In 2016, Adec announced additional changes, including the introduction of two levels of maths and physics – advanced or general – to pupils in Grade 10, and a new core subject, career guidance, for grades 10 to 12; and a digital technology and innovation course for Grade 9. Next year, the focus will be on launching a new moral education subject to teach pupils from grades 1 to 9 character and morality, civic studies, cultural studies and the individual and the community.
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