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The British pound hit a record low against the dollar on Monday after UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, a fan of “trickle-down economics,” announced a sweeping spending and tax cut plan to rescue the British economy from recession on Friday. What’s happening: Investors were taken aback by the new government’s choice to institute its largest tax cut in 50 years while boosting government spending and borrowing with inflation near 40-year highs. Citibank analysts called the decision a “huge, unfunded gamble for the UK economy.” Markets dropped precipitously on the news. But Truss took a cue from former US President Ronald...

UK's bird tests may be missing flu virus 12 April 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition Debora MacKenzie WHEN France reported its first case of H5N1 bird flu in February, the UK's response was adamant: samples had been taken from more than 3500 wild birds, and those tested so far showed the disease was not yet in the UK. Additional precautions, such as moving poultry indoors, were unnecessary, said the authorities. Last week, scientists found H5N1 bird flu for the first time in the UK, in a dead swan in Fife, Scotland. The UK's environment ministry DEFRA again stated that...