We will kick off this round up with the news that a ban on selling new petrol, diesel or hybrid cars in the UK will be brought forward from 2040 to 2035 at the latest.
The change comes after experts advised that 2040 would be too late if the UK wants to achieve its target of emitting virtually zero carbon by 2050.
The biggest problem will be the cost of electric cars.
The Guardian reports that residents of a block of flats overlooked by the Tate Modern art gallery have lost their legal action in an attempt to stop “hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Tate looking into their homes from the Tate’s viewing platform.
They applied for an injunction requiring the gallery to prevent members of the public observing their flats by cordoning off parts of the platform or erecting screening, to stop what they said was a “relentless” invasion of their privacy. The ruling was that “overlooking” does not fall within the tort of nuisance.
Why can’t they just draw the curtains?
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said that products, such as oils, snacks and drinks containing the cannabis extract cannabidiol (CBD) will be “taken off the shelves” if they do not gain regulatory approval.
Despite rising sales of CBD goods, not one product on sale in the UK has been approved yet, raising safety concerns. The products, sold in some pharmacies and health food shops, are used as a supplement to treat conditions such as chronic pain or insomnia. They are not supposed to contain THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. However, when CBD products on sale were tested, some were found to contain unlisted and potentially hazardous ingredients, including illegal levels of THC.
Now suppliers have been told they have to be registered by March 2021 or their products will be pulled.
According to a story in the Telegraph, rubber pavements could be introduced in the UK, to help prevent serious accidents if people have a fall.
In the EU, including the UK, at least 38,000 people a year die as a consequence of falls, more than half of which occur outside. A new rubberized surface created from recycled tyres is hard and durable enough for use on cycle lanes and walkways.
Sweden is leading the way with plans to lay nearly 1,000ft of shock-absorbing pavements in central areas of Lund and Helsingborg. Interestingly, according to Forbes, this is nothing new; before the widespread adoption of asphalt as a road and sidewalk surface in the 1920s, city roads and sidewalks had many different surfaces, often wood but also rubber.
Does anyone remember the film Flubber?
Sources:-
- The Guardian
- The Telegraph
- FSA
- Forbes