Royal assent

Royal assent is the method by which a country's constitutional monarch (possibly through a delegated official) formally approves an act of that nation's parliament, thus making it a law or letting it be promulgated as law. In the vast majority of contemporary monarchies, this act is considered to be little more than a formality; even in those nations which still permit their ruler to withhold the royal assent (such as the United Kingdom, Norway, and Liechtenstein), the monarch almost never does so, save in a dire political emergency or upon the advice of their government. While the power to withhold royal assent was once exercised often in European monarchies, it is exceedingly rare in the modern, democratic political atmosphere that has developed there since the 18th century.

Royal assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the sovereign may appear personally in the House of Lords or may appoint Lords Commissioners, who announce that royal assent has been granted at a ceremony held at the Palace of Westminster. However, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent. In other nations, such as Australia, the governor-general merely signs the bill. In Canada, the governor general may give assent either in person at a ceremony held in the Senate or by a written declaration notifying parliament of his or her agreement to the bill.

High Speed 2

High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway in the United Kingdom linking London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester. It would be the second high-speed rail line in Britain, the first being the High Speed 1 line connecting London to the Channel Tunnel. The line is proposed to be built in a "Y" configuration in two phases, with construction work on the first phase set to begin in 2017, reach Birmingham by 2026, Crewe by 2027 and be completed in 2033.

Carlisle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Preston and York will be linked to the network by HS2 trains running over existing, slower, tracks or edge-of-town HS2 stations.

Although Parliament has approved the first two phases of construction, precise details of the plan and route have not been formalised, and are still open to negotiation and change. For example, the spur to Heathrow airport was dropped from phases one and two in March 2015, while the Crewe Hub has been added to the scheme. In November 2015, Transport for the North (TfN) proposed a four-track trans-Pennine railway line, that would link with the HS2 line to London, and a new Liverpool-Manchester airport-Manchester railway line also linked to HS2. A feasibility study of the west to east rail line and its branches into HS2 will be published in March 2016.

West Midlands

West Midlands may refer to:

In places

In public sector

In other uses

2017

2017 (MMXVII) will be a common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2017th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 17th year of the 3rd millennium, the 17th year of the 21st century, and the 8th year of the 2010s decade.

Predicted and scheduled events

January

August

September

February 23

February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 311 days remaining until the end of the year (312 in leap years).

Events