Life in Canada

Derby and 19 other local authorities back the so-called "Tesco tax"
Tesco is a very large company in the UK and a roup of local councils in England are formally asking the government for new powers to tax large supermarkets.

BBC News has learned that Derby City Council has called for the right to bring in a levy as a "modest" effort to ensure supermarket spending "re-circulates" in local communities. Some 19 other local authorities back a so-called "Tesco tax" on big retailers, which could raise up to £400m a year.

The government said additional taxes on supermarkets would push up food prices. A similar tax already operates in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The council has made the suggestion under the Sustainable Communities Act, which allows communities and councils to put forward ideas to government to solve local problems. In its submission, the council says that while supermarkets bring some benefits, they have an overall detrimental impact on the sustainability of local communities.

"Research has shown that 95% of all the money spent in any large supermarket leaves the local economy for good, compared to just 50% from local independent retailers; this levy is a modest attempt to ensure more of that money re-circulates within and continues to contribute to local jobs and local trade," its report states.
'Already benefiting'

The council wants the right to impose a levy on large supermarkets, retain the money raised, and use it to help small businesses. It said it could also use the money to support community centres and parks.

The extra business rates levy, of up to 8.5%, would affect any large retail outlet with a rateable value of more than £500,000.
Four main supermarkets The tax could affect the four main supermarkets

Ranjit Banwait, leader of the council, said communities in Scotland and Northern Ireland were "already benefiting" from the scheme.

"The revenue that we'll be able to generate will mean that we can support local businesses - especially small businesses," he said.

"We'll be able to improve public services."

The government will have six months to respond. If agreed, the levy would apply not just to the 20 councils seeking change but to all local authorities in England.

And if every one of them took it up, it could cost the big supermarkets alone an extra £190m in tax.

If the levy was imposed on all big out-of-town retailers, including businesses such as Ikea, Homebase and B&Q, it could raise about £400m in total.

But the government has already given an indication of how the idea will be received.

The move would hit low-income families the hardest, said the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
'Powerful legacy'

"We ruled out such a bid for higher taxes under the last round of the Sustainable Communities Act proposals," it said.

"There are much better ways to support small shops."
Richmond High Street Derby City Council says high streets are suffering

However, the move has been given a cautious welcome by the former retail boss and High Street campaigner Bill Grimsey. He proposed the idea of a levy in his independent review of the High Street last year.

He called for a one-off levy on retailers and pub groups with a turnover of more than £10m to help finance plans to allow struggling town centres to rebuild themselves for the future.

Mr Grimsey said it was right that the biggest retailers put something back into their high streets:

"Used wisely, it could leave a lasting and powerful legacy. But I don't want this introduced as an annual levy that essentially becomes another tax," he said.

"If it's used simply to plug council budget shortfalls, it won't be fair and it'll be anti-business. This has to be about the High Street, not clobbering big business."

Town centre expert Mark Williams said the current rates system would be better than a supermarket levy at improving town centres.

"Ironically supermarkets are not looking to go out of town. Customers don't like them - those big starships that landed in those green areas - they are now being cancelled and we are now seeing announcements by Tesco to convert sites that they've got into residential [developments]."
Heated debate

Supporters of the move, which include Oxford, Brighton and Hove, Preston, Southwark and Sefton councils, believe the supermarkets can afford it, saying it is just a fraction of the costs that supermarkets had to swallow when VAT was raised in 2011.

But retailers are likely to strongly resist the move arguing that they are taxed enough already. They pay more in business rates, a property-based tax, than any other form of taxation and have been urging the government for a complete rethink on the system.
Woman shopping in a supermarket

They will also raise concerns about fresh investment and jobs being put at risk.

The British Retail Consortium has said it is consulting its members on the proposed tax.

The levy imposed by the Scottish government on larger shops selling alcohol and tobacco is set to end next year. The aim of the scheme was to make them contribute to public health measures.

It is clear Derby City Council's idea for an additional tax on retailers south of the border will spark even more heated debate.

UK riots: New discipline measures
Education Secretary Michael Gove has said measures he is introducing will help tackle concerns about the absence of discipline shown by recent violence.

Mr Gove told BBC Breakfast it was too early to say what the cause or causes of the violence was. adding but people had raised legitimate concerns over an "absence of discipline in the home and in the school".

Mr Gove said he had worked for 15 months on restoring a "culture of adult authority in our schools". He added that measures coming into force on 1 September would also mean that discipline "is taken more seriously".

"Teachers will be given additional powers to deal with poor behaviour and we have made it clear that when teachers exercise authority we will support them and the legal system," he said.

These measures include giving teachers greater power to search pupils for banned items, giving anonymity to teachers facing allegations, and removing the requirement for 24 hours' notice for detentions.

Also, appeals panels will also not be able to send children back to a school from which they have been excluded.

"I think the balance has shifted too far in favour of people, often young people, who say 'I know my rights'," Mr Gove said.

Mr Gove said that poverty or disadvantage should not be blamed for the violence, saying that ultimately it was a question of morals and values.

"There are people in tough circumstances who would never think of stealing. And I think it's an insult to the majority of people in this country who are trying hard, at a difficult time to make the best of their lives, to somehow link poverty and criminality," he said.

He said this was a critical moment to show that people who want to do well should work hard and devote themselves to their career rather than going for the "instant gratification" of "gangsta culture".

Mr Gove's sentiments were echoed later by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said after a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency meeting that parts of society were "sick" and there needed to be a greater sense of "responsibility".

And London Mayor Boris Johnson raised the question, during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, of the need for some sort of government programme such as the National Citizen's Service to give a sense of purpose to people who might otherwise join gangs.

Modern life is 'producing a generation of weaklings', claims research as physical strength declines in 10-year-olds

A shift away from outdoor activities has made children weaker compared to previous generations, research reveals. Photograph: Andrew Payne /Alamy
Children are becoming weaker, less muscular and unable to do physical tasks that previous generations found simple, research has revealed.

As a generation dedicated to online pursuits grows up, 10-year-olds can do fewer sit-ups and are less able to hang from wall bars in a gym. Arm strength has declined in that age group, as has their ability to grip an object firmly.

The findings, published in the child health journal Acta Paediatrica, have led to fresh concern about the impact on children's health caused by the shift away from outdoor activities.

Academics led by Dr Gavin Sandercock, a children's fitness expert at Essex University, studied how strong a group of 315 Essex 10-year-olds in 2008 were compared with 309 children the same age in 1998. They found that:

■ The number of sit-ups 10-year-olds can do declined by 27.1% between 1998 and 2008

■ Arm strength fell by 26% and grip strength by 7%

■ While one in 20 children in 1998 could not hold their own weight when hanging from wall bars, one in 10 could not do so in 2008.

"This is probably due to changes in activity patterns among English 10-year-olds, such as taking part in fewer activities like rope-climbing in PE and tree-climbing for fun," Sandercock said. "Typically, these activities boosted children's strength, making them able to lift and hold their own bodyweight."

The fact that 10% could not do the wall bars test and another 10% refused to try was "really shocking", he added. "That probably shows that climbing and holding their own weight was something they hadn't done before."

Previous research has already shown that children are becoming more unfit, less active and more sedentary and, in many cases, heavier than before.

But the new study also found that children in 2008 had the same body mass index (BMI) as those a decade earlier. Lead author Daniel Cohen, of London Metropolitan University, said this meant that, given their declining strength, the bodies of the recent test group are likely to contain more fat and less muscle then their predecessors. "That's really worrying from a health point of view. It's good news that their BMI hasn't risen, but worrying that pound for pound they're weaker and probably carrying more fat," said Sandercock.

The authors want ministers to reduce their reliance on the National Child Measurement Programme, which surveys primary schoolchildren's BMI, and introduce fitness testing in all schools – a call made last year by the then-chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.

"Climbing trees and ropes used to be standard practice for children, but school authorities and 'health and safety' have contrived to knock the sap out of our children," said Tam Fry of the Child Growth Foundation.

"Falling off a branch used to be a good lesson in picking yourself up and learning to climb better. Now fear of litigation stops the child climbing in the first place."

He added: "Fitness tests may or may not be appropriate, but Sandercock should not be discouraging the use of BMI measurements."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said the government had introduced several programmes promoting active lifestyles among the young, and the health survey for England reported back on physical activity levels.

I fear for the young and their cowardly parenting!