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I wish you all a fantastic New Year and may 2011 release the good in you!

New stories on London's hectic life will follow shortly.

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Frozen Britain for Christmas

Heavy snowfalls have brought Britain to a halt in the last five days, as up to 25cm of snow blanketed parts of Scotland, North Wales, Northern Ireland and the West Country.

Snow showers have also reached central London and some flights from Heathrow were delayed. Thousands of passengers were stranded at the airport for four days and slept on departure lounge floors, as the airport could not deal with extreme weather.

Meanwhile, the East Coast Line, one of the country’s main railway arteries, was suspended, leaving passengers at King’s Cross staring at a departure board flashing up cancellations. Hundreds spent the night in the freezing cold waiting for Eurostar trains, while the Red Cross handed out blankets to keep passengers warm.

The great queue of St Pancras is slowly decreasing now, as passengers are leaving ‘on a first come, first served’ basis.

The situation at Heathrow airport seems more difficult; even though it has reopened its second runaway yesterday in the evening, many families were told today they will not get home for Christmas as BAA admitted it could not clear the massive backlog at Heathrow before Friday.

Even transport in mainland Europe has been heavily disrupted by the snow and freezing temperatures and hundreds of thousands of passengers in continental Europe contemplate Christmas ruined and holidays wrecked by the heavy snow.

EMA will soon close to new applicants

Many high school students will not receive the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) from the next academic year.

Economic support to 16-18-year-olds students will be targeted to those young people who really need financial help to continue in education.

Yesterday’s protest over plans to axe EMA, was called by the ‘education activist network’ and supported by London Region University and College Union (UCU); activists, who had set up a little trestles table and stood chatting and holding banners, started their march at 3.30 pm in Trafalgar Square.

Soon after, demonstrators from all over London gathered at the department of business, innovation and skills in Victoria Street, where they were surrounded by police. The crowd soon disbanded, and a small group marched off, towards a public meeting being held at King's College.

The action was far quieter than last week’s demonstration to protest at the Government's plans to treble university tuition fees.

Agitators were disappointed over EMA scrapping, but students who currently get the grant will continue to receive it for the rest of the academic year.

Day of protest against plan to axe poor pupils' EMA grants

Students and lecturers at more than 100 schools and colleges across the country will stage marches and sit-ins at lunchtime, protesting against plan to axe poor pupils’ EMA grants.

The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is a weekly grant of up to £30 given to 16-18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged homes to help them stay in education, by paying for their basic costs such as transport, food and books.

Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC) said that the overall spending cut involved could see support for the poorest young people shrinking from £574 million to possibly as little as £75 million, severely limiting the career prospects of teenagers from low income families.

EMA payments are received by 600,000 young people from lower income families in English sixth forms and colleges and in some areas of Birmingham, Leicester and the North West, up to four fifths of students are entitled to the grant.

While potesters all over the UK claim that receiving the support is often the decisive factor for poor teenagers in deciding whether to continue their studies, authorities are increasingly concerned about the present economic climate.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said that as 90% of the students currently in receipt of EMA would have stayed in education without it, the best solution is to ensure better value for money, targeting support to those young people who really need financial help to continue in education.

EMA is due to be scrapped in September 2011 and will be replaced by targeted support straight away.

The action comes just days after tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on Parliament to protest at the Government's plans to treble university tuition fees.

UK students gathered in their biggest mass demonstration ever as MPs vote to raise tuition fees

Thousands of students gathered today in a day-long demonstration in central London, in a last-ditch attempt to defend their right to higher education, while waiting for MPs’ tuition fees votes.

Young protesters from Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Liverpool, Oxford, Sheffield and Manchester travelled by coach to join the demonstration.

Police attempting to control student protest in London have resorted to controversial "kettling" techniques to contain the demonstrators' anger.

The protesters marched through Trafalgar Square and headed to Buckingham Palace before converging near Parliament later today, as MPs voted to increase university tuition fees to £9,000 per year, by a majority of 21.

The protest, which was not coordinated by a central body, was chaotic and flared into violence, as several agitators and police officers were injured.

The siege of the treasury is over now, a police charge has pushed back protestors, but it is still difficult to say if the demonstration is drawing to a close. Parliament Square is a mess and anything that can be smashed is a focus of attention.

But Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who branded university tuition fee protesters 'dreamers', said that fee increases were the best possible choice, given the economic crisis.