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NEWSROUND
SECOND HOARD OF SILVER COINS
by Paul Rutland
A second stash of historic coins has been found in the same Buckinghamshire field where the largest hoard of Saxon treasure was discovered last year.
Five coins with what looks to be an interesting story attached, were discovered in January, but details are only just coming to light thanks to an article in The Searcher magazine.
This latest find was dug up on a Lenborough farm just yards away from last year’ s cache of 5,000 silver pennies. The latest mini-hoard numbers just
FIVE silver coins. But its discovery comes with a twist of pathos.
The coins, dating from 1555 to 1603, were unlikely to have been lost but placed in the ground for safekeeping. Found in a purse that had been buried some time in the 16th or 17th century, it’ s likely they were deliberately concealed due to the depth at which they were discovered. Although there’ s no record of the person responsible for their burial, to find a cache buried so deep suggests that whoever placed them there, did so obviously hoping to return and dig them up at a later time.
“ It’ s possible they are a hoard and they’ ve been buried either to keep for later or to hide them,” said Arwen James, Finds Liaison Officer at Bucks County Museum.
“ Because it’ s such a small group of finds, it’ s also possible that it is a purse drop, and that someone has accidently dropped them and not meant to put them there. It could be either.”
The five coins found have been identified as:
ONE Philip and Mary shilling dated 1555; THREE Elizabeth I sixpenny pieces minted in 1574 and 1591; and ONE James I sixpence struck in 1603.
The latest of the coins would have been enough, at the time, to pay for a seat at Shakespeare’ s latest play, Othello.
Buckingham is not for shale
By Didi Frank
Besieged residents of Buckinghamshire facing the menace of fracking can take comfort that some unlikely allies share their fears – black rhinos, African lions and Hamadryas baboons.
They are among a roll-call of inmates at Flamingo Land theme park zoo in North Yorkshire cited in the latest local opposition to the controversial gas-drilling process. Zoo trustees said the animals could be affected by the county council’ s approval of test fracking near the North York Moors National Park.
Shale gas extraction plans have had an increasingly bad press across the UK, and
by Rabiatu Bobboi A constitutional time bomb has been set ticking amid the ongoing chaos at Westminster triggered by the EU Brexit vote and internecine leadership struggles of the two main parties.
Police are investigating possible electoral fraud in no fewer than 33 parliamentary constituencies most held by Tory MPs.
The investigation was kickstarted by a Channel 4 programme which alleged overspending by the Conservatives of more than £ 200,000 in elections over the past two years. According to electoral law, there is a limit on how much candidates and parties can spend in parliamentary elections.
There are, rather confusingly two types of spending which have to be recorded and for which accounts have to be made, says Prof bob Watt University of Buckingham electoral law expert.
Firstly, there is National Campaign spending- details must be filed with the Electoral Commission which has 12 months to determine whether spending complies with electoral law. Secondly,§ there is campaign spending in support of individual candidates seeking to become MPs. no less so in Buckinghamshire since the Government invited firms to bid for two licences to drill in the north of the county – around Buckingham.
The County Council’ s environment and plannning committee has to date approved no fracking exploration plans after considering several reports. And council leader Martin Tett said it was unlikely that fracking companies would be starting operations in the area.
Any fracking activities associated with shale gas exploration and production would require planning permission from the county council as the mineral planning authority.
Pandora’ s Box opened
Channel 4 investigative journalist Michael Crick’ s report detailed massive overspending in three crucial by-elections as well as the 2015 General Election.
But the Commission has no power to prosecute and can only refer complaints to the Crown Prosecution Service( CPS) who, in turn, decide whether to instruct police. Many election law experts believe current electoral law is archaic, much of it unchanged since parliamentary election Acts of 1868 and 1872, and even further back. And it’ s an unsatisfactory situation that urgently needs updating, they say.
That’ s also the view of bob Watt who was interviewed for Channel 4’ s report.
“ The Law Commission and I and just about every election lawyer in the country believes that the election law needs updating”, said Prof Watt.
“ I fear the UK Electoral Commission is toothless! I have gone on record and I would repeat, we need a much stronger Electoral Commission in this country. I would like to see one set up along the Scandinavian model.”
At present the Commission must refer alleged breaches of electoral practice to