There is slightly more information in the grant overview from EPSRC http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/I01196X/1 although it is quite light of specifics.
The proposal appears to be usual blend of new modulation techniques, all optical switching and the usual "green" nonsense which is required to get anything approved these days.

On the 18th April 1930 Listeners to the 6:30pm radio news were informed (paraphrased) "There is no news today, here is some music"

http://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/Old-Newspapers/1930-Newspapers

ISBN check codes are designed to catch common errors back when hand entry was common -

a run of two digits in the wrong place (eg 556 instead of 566)
a mistyped digit
two digits swapped around by one place

The UPC code does not support the latter at the expense of only requiring the check symbol to be one of 10 regardless of the number of digits in the code. The ISBN algorithm requires n+1 where n is the number of data digits. Whether this is required nowadays given that very few ISBNs are entered by hand is another issue.

Electrons travel a lot slower than that - although you are correct that that is the wave propagation speed in coax which is what really matters.
It's still faster than wave propagation in an optical fibre though.

Can someone tell me what the difference is between this and syscall wrapper exploits which have been known about long enough to be lectured in undergraduate security courses?

This used to be true, however in the last couple of years the treaty has been fully ratified by the US such the the extradition conditions are now the same for both the US and the UK. See http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk/press-releases/UKUS-extradition-traety for details

It is still used in a lot of theatre installations in the UK. It means the only fuse/breaker to blow/trip is in the dimming rack not 20 feet up on an inaccessible lighting bar as might happen with BS1363. Also makes chained extensions far easier to deal with.

The radio tax was abolished 1971.

The main reason for moving to a secret ballot is to reduce the effects of vote buying due to it begin (theoretically) unable to confirm (although there are discussions as to why this is not perfect). It would arguably be worse for democracy for your employer to make it known that anyone who does not vote for his preferred candidate will be fired.