Latest news with #YuanYang
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Tempest: HQ opens for next generation fighter jet project
The headquarters of a new international fighter jet project have opened in Global Combat Air Programme is a collaboration between the UK, Italy and Japan to develop a next generation aircraft, which is expected to be called Tempest by the RAF. The new facility, based in Green Park, was opened on Monday by minister for defence procurement Maria said the base would be a "centre of excellence, uniting top talent from our three governments and industries that pioneer advancements in future air technology". A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to mark the occasion, attended by Reading's mayor Alice Mpofu-Coles and Labour MP for Earley and Woodley, Yuan Yang."It's exciting for Reading. There are about 100 jobs for a start, which is not to be sniffed at," Ms Eagle added. The aircraft is expected to enter service by 2035, replacing the Eurofighter Typhoon and Japan's F-2 programme said the plane would be "powered by advanced data processing and AI", as well as possessing "enhanced stealth for improved survivability". The UK government said the programme already supported 3,500 UK jobs and 1,000 apprenticeships. It is thought it has spent about £2bn on it so far, with about £10bn likely to be needed until it is three nations have devised the project to make an aircraft that is less reliant on US the project was announced in 2022, BAE Systems were said to have a major role. Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd and Italy's Leonardo are among the other companies involved. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
11-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Women's Prize for Non-Fiction 'amplifies female voices'
A palliative care doctor shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction says the prestigious book award "amplifies" the importance of female Rachel Clarke, from Oxford, and MP Yuan Yang, who represents Earley and Woodley in Berkshire, spoke to BBC South ahead of Thursday's award ceremony in London. Both women said they were delighted to be on the shortlist and hoped it would bring new readers to their work. "The voices of women in non-fiction are often overlooked and eclipsed by male voices," said Dr Clarke. "This prize amplifies their voices and says to girls and women that their stories matter."Dr Clarke said she was compelled to write The Story of a Heart when she read newspaper articles about nine-year-old Max who received a heart donation from a girl called Keira - also nine - who had suffered catastrophic injuries in a car said she approached Keira's family incredibly carefully. "I knew they would be entrusting an incredibly personal story to me. I wanted to honour the little girl that Keira was," Dr Clarke said. The book follows the medical journey that ultimately saved Max's life and tells the stories of those who helped along the way: doctors, nurses and paramedics. Dr Clarke, who specialises in palliative care, draws comparisons between being a good doctor and being a good author. "As a doctor you have to care about people, you have to listen to their stories and you have to communicate stories back to them," she said. "One of the saddest things is when the patient thinks the story of their life is over. Sometimes you can help people realise that life still can be worth living with a terminal illness because it absolutely can." Yuan Yang's book, Private Revolutions, Coming of Age in a New China, tells the stories of four women growing up in the '80s and '90s in a country that was rapidly changing. Ms Yang, who won her seat for Labour last year, started writing it while working in Beijing as a journalist. "Some of the women I met had stories that were so immense that they couldn't be captured in newspaper reporting," she said. "I wanted to explore what it's like to live through such a huge economic and social transformation."Ms Yang, the first Chinese-born British MP, moved to the UK when she was four. She said she often considered what her life would have been like had her parents chosen to remain in China."I'm really glad they settled down in Reading and gave me and my brother a more stable life. For many of my contemporaries in China their lives continued to be unsettled." When Ms Yang was born in 1989 the vast majority of China was agricultural. "Most people were living below the poverty line, my dad's parents included. So you had millions of migrant workers who moved to the city to work in factories and often left children behind in the village," she said, "Moving from farmland to megacities like Beijing and Shanghai is a huge acceleration. "I'm interested in what that does to people on an economic level but also in terms of their relationships with their families and their loved ones." Both women say they were "humbled" to be shortlisted for such a prestigious prize alongside fellow nominees Neneh Cherry, Helen Scales, Chloe Dalton and Clare Yang said she hoped it brought the lives of the women in her book to a greater number of readers. "It was published just before the general election was called in 2024 when my main focus was on campaigning and then setting up the office," she said. "I'm just grateful that the book found its way to readers and to these judges - and I hope it will find its way to more people." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
10-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Earley MP Yuan Yang praises school's money-saving solar panels
A school will have more money to spend on education thanks to government-funded solar panels, an MP has government announced in March that it was investing £180m installing solar panels in schools and hospitals across the first 11 schools have now had them put in - including Whiteknights Primary School in Reading, which is expected to save around £4,500 a year as a result."Overall that means less money spent on energy and heating bills [and] more money to for the school to actually spend on students' education," said MP for Earley and Woodley Yuan Yang. The Labour MP visited the school on Monday, alongside climate minister Kerry McCarthy. She said she spoke to schoolchildren about climate change and how it should be tackled. "They wanted to talk about all sorts of things, from saving energy to transport," she said."It's often the children who asked the most incitive questions about climate change and the future."Climate minister Kerry McCarthy said the fact schools could save money on their bills was proof that the transition to green power could directly benefit communitiesGreat British Energy is a new publicly owned company set up by the Labour Yang said the solar panels, which would continue generating electricity throughout the weekends and school holidays to be sold back to the national grid, were "a really key investment"."All of this together is part of a diverse energy mix and the more different sources of renewable generation then the more robust - the more secure - an energy system is," she said. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Relief at 'new era' for Reading FC as club is sold to fresh owner
In this monthly letter, Yuan Yang, the Labour MP for Earley and Woodley, celebrates the news that Reading FC has been sold. The stadium is in her constituency. Ms Yang writes: "We've got our Reading back!' That was the chant at the last match of the season on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend. After two years of fan protests, points deductions, winding-up petitions, unpaid wages, parliamentary lobbying and constant worry about the future of the club, Reading Football Club is finally being sold to a new owner! The sale represents the chance for a new era at Reading. The club's development must now come with a more sustainable business model – the 'Reading Way' of previous decades. The new buyer, Rob Couhig, has a track record of doing this. Wycombe fans agree that he left their club in a better place than he found it. I look forward to working with Mr. Couhig to ensure that fans' voices are heard and that the club becomes community-focused once again. I've been joking with the fans I've worked with at Sell Before We Dai and the Supporters' Trust At Reading that we won't know what to do with our time now we're no longer worrying about ownership 24/7. I can definitely say my parliamentary staff and I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing we won't be having more late-night phone conferences on this particular topic! But I already know there's a lot I want to do to ensure the distress suffered by Reading fans can never be allowed to happen again. No football club should need their MPs to make repeated interventions in Parliament, lobby government ministers, or gather 10,000 signatures on a petition, just to fight for their survival; we need to have stronger rules against absent and neglectful owners. The Football Governance Bill is currently making its way through Parliament, and I am confident that this will start to fix football's governance problem. The 'New Ownership Test' and the new licensing rules within the Bill would have been so helpful when Dai Yongge was buying the club. I look forward to the Bill becoming law, as well as the new Independent Football Regulator starting their work. Football is a huge part of British life and shouldn't be used to manage the debt, or service the assets, of distant billionaires with no presence at the clubs they buy. Clubs must once again serve the communities that they are part of. The future is bright for Reading FC – after an incredible season on the pitch, I can't wait to see how we do under better ownership next year. And while we rightly celebrate the performance of the men's team; we shouldn't forget about the parts of the club that receive less media coverage. The Reading Football Club Community Trust do brilliant work, and I've seen first-hand their impact on young people through community 'kick sessions' and educational provision. It's vital that they have the resources to continue this work. It is also important to ensure that the women's team is properly funded and can start to climb the divisions again after they withdrew from the women's Championship last year.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hundreds turn out to take part in the 40th annual Shinfield 10K
Hundreds turn out to take part in the 40th annual Shinfield 10K Yuan Yang and runner (Image: Office of Yuan Yang) Hundreds of runners took to the streets of Shinfield for the 40th annual 10K. The road race took place in the Berkshire village on Monday, May 5 where over 800 participants crossed the start line. Sponsored by Honeysuckle Day Nursery and Parkers estate agents, the event has raised over £130,000 since its inception in 1985 and continues to support a number of local charities. The MP for Woodley and Earley met runners at the finishing line of the 10K and children's race to hand out the hard-earned medals. James Lyne was first to cross the finish line with an impressive time of 32 minutes and 55 seconds. He was followed by Nicholas Twomey in second place and Jack Boswell in third. The first woman to finish was Lesley Locks in 37 minutes and 37 seconds, ahead of Caroline Hoskins and Jodie Penny. Friends, family, supporters and local residents lined the streets to cheer on all the runners on the day. MP Yuan Yang said: 'I really enjoyed handing out the hard-earned medals and meeting people throughout the event. Some were repping the Reading FC stripes and stopped afterwards to chat to my team and me about the sale completion. 'I also met Emma from Reading Roadrunners, who was one of many behind setting up the day. 'Thank you to all the volunteers and the over 800 runners for making the day so special!'
