News Headlines - 26 December 2010

▽Airports to face heavy fines for future 'service failure,' minister warns - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/26/airports-heavy-fines-minister-warns
Heathrow and other British airports will face fines running into tens of millions of pounds if they allow a repeat of the sort of disruption that ruined the travel plans of thousands of people after the heavy snowfall in the week before Christmas.

▽Biting winters driven by global warming: scientists - Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/biting-winters-driven-by-global-warming-scientists-2169007.html
This has allowed more of the Sun's radiative force to be absorbed by dark-blue sea rather than bounced back into space by reflective ice and snow, accelerating the warming process... The result, according to a modelling study published earlier this month the Journal of Geophysical Research, is a strong high-pressure system over the newly-exposed sea which brings cold polar air, swirling counter-clockwise, into Europe.

▽Christmas television viewing at 10-year high despite 'unimaginative' schedule - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/26/christmas-tv-ratings-decade-high
Christmas television viewing figures were at their highest in at least a decade this year, despite a schedule that most critics derided as unimaginative.

▽High Street expects falling sales in 2011 despite bumper sales over Christmas period - Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1341777/High-Street-expects-falling-sales-2011.html
Retailers are bracing themselves for a dismal 2011, despite reporting bumper sales over the festive period, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Two thirds of retailers fear that sales will undershoot this year’s performance in 2011, while just 18 per cent expect an improvement, according to a BRC survey.

▽Coalition government support is dramatically down, poll shows - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/26/coalition-government-support-dramatically-down
Just 43% now think a coalition government was the right decision for Britain, down from 59% in May