Many people are still buying analogue TV sets unaware that they will soon need extra equipment to make them work, according to a report from MPs.

A parliamentary report claims that many viewers do not understand the implications of the digital switchover, despite a £200m campaign.

It says the digital tick labelling scheme for digital TVs is a "mystery" to many sales staff and customers.

Almost half of all TV sets sold in the first half of 2007 were analogue.

However, once the analogue signal is switched off completely those sets will not receive programmes without their owners paying for extra equipment.

The report did find the switchover timetable, which is taking place region-by-region until 2012, was on track to complete on time.

The report also criticises the government for "not taking adequate safeguards to secure value for money" in the digital conversion scheme.

It paid £803m of licence fee money to the BBC to deliver digital switchover, without ensuring proper accountability for the way the money is spent, the report said.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has given the BBC responsibility for funding the public information campaign and delivering a digital help scheme.

But the report from the Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts said the government departments have no means of holding the BBC to account.

Whitehaven was the first town to have its analogue signal turned off

Committee Chairman Edward Leigh said: "Many viewers do not seem fully to understand the implications of the analogue switch-off and are still buying analogue televisions - unaware that they have built-in obsolescence.

"The evidence is that the digital tick label, with which digital televisions are flagged in shops, is a mystery to many retail staff, let alone the people to whom they sell TVs."

'Easily converted'

He added that just 15% of households needed to make the switch to digital TV for their main set - but that left 26 million analogue TVs to be converted or replaced.

A Government spokesman said: "Digital switchover is progressing well and according to timetable. Take up continues to be high with 87% of homes having access to digital TV."

A spokesman for Digital UK said: "Some people may choose to buy analogue televisions for use with DVD players or games consoles.

"These sets do not become obsolete at switchover, as they can also be easily converted using a digital box, available from around £25."

Whitehaven was the first town to have its analogue signal turned off in October last year.

A lack of suitable flowers may be forcing bumblebees to seek out aphids to feed on their sugary secretions.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BCT) said it was a behaviour that appeared to be becoming increasingly common.

Images captured by the BBC Scotland news website in a garden in Nairn, in the Highlands, show the bees visiting tree leaves covered with aphids.

The secretions offer a substitute for nectar, but do not contain the protein the insects need to stay healthy.

There have been warnings that bumblebee and wild bee populations around the UK are experiencing "catastrophic declines".

Bees are important pollinators of flowers and crops.

The bumblebees' behaviour of feeding on secretions from aphids could be a further sign of the problems facing the insects.

There is a fine balance to be struck in the garden - the answer is to put plants in the garden that are of benefit to bees Craig Macadam Buglife Scottish officer

Dr Ben Darvill, a BCT director and research ecologist based at the University of Stirling, said there have been several reports of the behaviour but the reason for it remained unclear.

He said: "It's hard to say for sure, but it does seem as if this behaviour is becoming more common.

"Bumblebees are known to feed from aphid secretions, and from extra-floral nectaries on unlikely plants like bracken - but it's more usual to see it in upland areas where there are few other flowers around.

"The fact that it is now frequently observed elsewhere may suggest that there are fewer of the right sorts of flowers around in people's gardens and in the wider countryside."

Dr Darvill said a fascinating aspect of the behaviour was the bumblebees' ability to apparently smell the sugar.

They normally choose flowers by colour, but are known to have "smelly feet" allowing them to detect if a flower has already been visited by another bumblebee for its pollen.

However, the intrigue is tinged with concern for the insects.

Dr Darvill said: "Bumblebees have struggled in recent decades from habitat loss - three species are extinct in the UK and many more are threatened - so perhaps bumblebees are having to find innovative ways of finding food."

A wasp at the same curled up leaf frequented by bumblebees

But he added: "Although the aphid secretions provide them with a sugary solution, a substitute for nectar, they provide no protein.

"Bumblebees can only get their protein from pollen, which they feed to their growing young, so it is essential for a healthy population."

Research work at the University of Stirling, has demonstrated that certain pollens are particularly rich in protein, said Dr Darvill.

He said to help declining bumblebees, gardeners, farmers and land managers need to ensure a constant supply of forage plants from March through until September.

Flowers from the pea and mint families seem to be particularly beneficial.

Craig Macadam, Scottish officer with conservation group Buglife, said aphids were considered a garden pest but he would not wish to see them wiped out.

He said: "Ants often protect the aphids from other predators such as ladybirds and in return they take the honey dew secreted by the aphids.

Scientists have turned to chickens to help them understand why some people are struck down by severe allergies.

The birds have a "fossilised" version of the key molecule responsible for severe allergic reactions in humans.

King's College London researchers say their findings, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could guide the hunt for future treatments.

Experts said the work offered "exciting new avenues" for research into preventing allergies developing.

This molecule is like a living fossil - finding out that it has an ancient past is like turning up a coelacanth in your garden pond Dr Alex Taylor King's College London

The molecule in birds, called IgY, appears to be an ancient forerunner of a similar human molecule called IgE - one of the culprits when the immune system goes into overdrive during asthma attacks or anaphylactic shock.

The King's team are trying to find out why IgE causes a problem, while IgY does not.

Dr Alex Taylor, one of the researchers, said: "This molecule is like a living fossil - finding out that it has an ancient past is like turning up a coelacanth in your garden pond.

"By studying it, we can track the evolution of allergic reactions back to at least 160m years ago."

His colleague Dr Rosy Calvert said: "We know that part of the problem with IgE in humans is that it binds extremely tightly to white blood cells causing an over-reaction of the immune system and so we wanted to find out whether IgY does the same thing."

Their lab tests revealed that it did not bind in the same way, and a more detailed comparison could reveal subtle differences which explain why, and perhaps provide targets for new drugs or treatments.

'Stopped before they start'

Dr Brian Sutton, who runs the laboratory where the work is being completed, suggested that IgE evolved specifically in mammals perhaps to counter a particular bacterial threat in the past.

"The problem is that now we've ended up with an antibody that can tend to be a little over enthusiastic and causes us problems with apparently innocuous substances like pollen and peanuts, which can cause life-threatening allergic conditions."

John Collard, Allergy UK's clinical director, said that the find opened "exciting new avenues" of possible treatments, even though they would not be available within the next few years.

He said: "If we could find a way to unbind IgE from white blood cells, then a lot of these allergic reactions could be stopped before they start.

"Current treatments are aimed at dealing with something that has already happened, which means they tend to be less effective than if you could stop something at an earlier stage."

As many as a quarter of British homes could be fitted with solar heating panels under new government plans for a "green revolution".

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the new proposals are "the most ambitious" such strategy that Britain has seen.

The goal is to meet the EU target of 15% of energy from renewables by 2020.

But at a time of consumer anger over fuel prices, the plan concedes that green power will cost more.

The plan will also call for 3,500 new wind turbines to be erected across the UK, the Guardian newspaper reported.

The total price tag for the proposals is pegged at £100 billion.

Mr Wicks said the plans, which may include measures to force homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, were aimed at dramatically increasing Britain's energy supplies from renewables by 2020.

'Huge momentum'

Even if climate change didn't exist these proposals would be sensible John Sauven, Greenpeace

"You will see this week a real determination by the government to move towards 15% of all of our energy from renewables by 2020," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "That is a green revolution."

Mr Wicks insisted there was now a "huge momentum" in renewable energy provision and said the government would ensure that carbon emission reduction was the "core concept behind our energy strategy".

He described the proposals as "the most ambitious renewable energy strategy for Britain that we have ever seen".

Britain currently gets less than 5% of its electricity from renewables, mainly wind.

According to the Guardian, which has seen a copy of the government plan, the proposals seek a 30-fold increase in off-shore wind power generation, new loans and grants for businesses to increase green energy supply and a compulsory measure on households to boost efficiency.

The plans recognise that the new energy policy could transform large areas of Britain's landscape and have a "significant impacts on all our lives...not all of these positive", the Guardian reported.

A wind farm plan off the East Yorkshire coast could power 150,000 homes

The plans, due to be unveiled next week, come after a parliamentary report warned Britain would not meet its own targets, and would fail to meet EU requirements, unless it stepped up action substantially.

Robin Webster, energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said the plan was a positive step.

"Harnessing the UK's natural abundance of wind and wave power, and developing a comprehensive energy efficiency programme will create thriving new industries and generate thousands of jobs."

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said the plans for solar panels on seven million roofs and other steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels make sense regardless of the price of oil or the state of the climate.

"We'll create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and use less gas, and in the long run our power bills will come down. Even if climate change didn't exist these proposals would be sensible."

The RSPCA and the Coastguard are urging dog owners to be aware of the dangers of cliff-top walks in the South West.

The warning comes after one dog died and another was seriously injured earlier this year after falling from cliffs in Cornwall.

The RSPCA spokeswoman Felicity Cross said dogs should be on leads on cliff-tops, many of which are unfenced.

"It only takes a split second for even the most obedient pet to dart after a rabbit or try to catch a seagull."

Earlier this year she had to help the owners of Harvey, a spaniel which fell 12m (40ft) from a cliff in Padstow, seriously injuring his leg.

'Very distressing'

His owner Geoff Gale, who was on holiday from Exeter, Devon, at the time said: "When Harvey fell I thought that was it, but when I got down to him he was sitting holding out his broken paw, so I wrapped him in my jumper and called the coastguard, who rang the RSPCA."

Mr Gale said: "The whole incident has been very distressing and I will definitely be keeping Harvey on a lead in future. He's such an obedient dog, it just goes to show how easily this can happen".

Harvey's vets bills have totalled £1,400.

In April this year a Staffordshire bull terrier cross owned by holidaymakers from Milton Keynes died after falling nearly 50m (150ft) from cliffs at Perranporth.

Coastguard spokesman Fred Caygill pointed out that owners too could put themselves in danger when attempting to rescue their pets.