World War 1

In a six month period ending October/November 1918

An estimated figure of 20,000,000 or more people world-wide died not from the rifle bullet, gas or bomb: they

were victims of an influenza pandemic which mainly attacked the younger age groups, from ages 21 to 29;

especially striking those in close proximity.

Many died while serving in the Army, waiting to be posted to the front.

 The irony of it all: a soldier trained for battle – to be killed by a bug!

Right-to-die debate:

Should the law allow assisted suicide?

 "When a Person is deemed to be of no further use to him or herself or society then he

should have the right to die". Radical

Call it Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide but the law and the medical profession should stop playing God.

Our laws – Medical and Legal are dictated by religion, few believe in and that religion should have no part in civil

law.

On the one hand the Government has little compunction to send our boys to their death.

Fails to give life support the most vulnerable in society and operates a life is cheap policy

Government commit murder by failure to protect people at work, allow overcrowding at home and by their incompetence commit carnage on our roads.

Suicides among the young and not so young is increasing alarmingly due to the feeling of hopelessness of this rotten society

All this makes the debate about the Right to Die seems irrelevant to me !

But then the Law is an Ass

Decided by People in Parliament, most of whom, are selfish, self centred, egoistical

individuals whose self interest shows by the fact that they represent only themselves

not the weakest in society.

Radical

European and Asian languages have one mother tongue

• 17:54 07 May 2013 by Michael Slezak

Changing the world one gift at a time

Welcome to the UK Freecycle.org® Groups' Homepage

The worldwide Freecycle Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe.

It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns.

Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them.

Our goal is to keep usable items out of landfills.

By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the

impact on the earth.

Another benefit of using Freecycle is that it encourages us to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote

community involvement in the process.

There are now 493 Groups spread across the country, with 1,650,803 members!

How does Freecycle work?

Everything posted must be free, legal and appropriate for all ages. When you want to OFFER something -

whether it's a chair, fax machine, piano or an old door, simply send an email to your group.

After that it is up to the giver to decide who receives the gift from the responses only they receive and to set up a

collection time, and finally post an item TAKEN message.

Maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself?

Post a WANTED message and a group member may just have what you're looking for.

Alert the group with a follow-up RECEIVED message.

Get started!

Find your most local Group, either by searching for your town or city, or browsing the lists of Freecycle.org

Groups, and join it.

Please check the existing Posts before making a new one, and make sure you've read any and all ADMIN

messages before posting!

Don't forget to read the disclaimer as well!

A day of celebration across the globe

The long tradition of the people's holiday

Traditionally this day has been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations.

Early accounts tell us of young people taking to the woods on the eve of May 1 with predictable results.

As you would expect the Christian church tried to hijack and clean up the whole celebration. Many Christmas

carols started life as pagan Maying songs.

God Rest You Merry gentlemen was originally sung as "Here's to you merry Mayers all."

So much so that in 1955 the Pope named May Day as the feast of St Joseph the worker, the patron saint of

workers.

As so often, the Christian tactic was if you can't beat 'em just nick their happiest celebrations.

The church did it with Christmas and Easter but has had a lot less success with May Day.

In Britain it wasn't until 1978 that the Labour government created the May Day bank holiday officially.

The Tories have always hated it and today's Con-Dem crew have plans to get rid of it.

Many traditional celebrations still continue.

In Oxford May Morning revellers gather below the great tower of Magdalen College to listen to the college choir

sing traditional madrigals.

Usually some people risk life and limb jumping off Magdalen bridge into the all-too-shallow river Cherwell.

Whitstable, Kent, hosts a good example of more traditional May Day festivities, where a character called Jack in the

Green leads an annual procession of morris dancers through the town on the holiday.

Padstow in Cornwall holds its annual 'Obby 'Oss (hobby horse) day of festivities.

This is believed to be one of the oldest fertility rites in Britain - revellers dance with the Oss through the streets of the town.

Prior to the slaughter of the first world war most English villages had a maypole.

Sadly after the war most were replaced by war memorials.

Today there are new maypoles on many a village green.

Scotland celebrates May Day too. In St Andrews, some students gather on the beach late on April 30 and run

naked into the North Sea at sunrise.

Both Edinburgh and Glasgow hold big May Day festivals as well as labour movement rallies.

In Edinburgh the Beltane Fire Festival is held on the evening of May Day eve and into the early hours on the city's

Calton Hill.

An older Edinburgh tradition has it that young women who climb Arthur's Seat and wash their faces in the

morning dew will have lifelong beauty.

The official Irish May Day holiday is the first Monday in May.

On May 1 1561 King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm.

He decided to offer this fragrant flower each year to the women of the court.

Since the beginning of the 20th century a sprig of lily of the valley became a symbol of springtime and May Day.

When I have been in France for May Day I have found French Communist Party stalls selling these fragrant left-

wing favours.

You can smell the lovely perfume on political demonstrations and marches.

It could only happen in France.

In rural regions of Germany, especially the Harz mountains, Walpurgis­nacht celebrations of pagan origin are

traditionally held on the night before May Day, including bonfires and the decorating of a Maibaum or maypole.

Many German left political parties and trade unions organise marches or demonstrations.

Wherever you are celebrating the workers' holiday, in Britain, on one of our many national or regional celebrations,

or perhaps in more exotic places around the world, remember those red banners will be flying in every corner of

the globe.

The Internationale will be sung in 100 different tongues.

For tomorrow is the International Workers Day.

Happy May Day!

----

Top May Day facts

• May Day is Beltane, which means "day of fire."
• It is an ancient pagan festival.
• Bel was the Celtic god of the sun.
• The first maypoles would have been a growing tree brought from the woods.
• Single men and women would dance around the maypole holding on to ribbons until they became entwined with their new loves.
• Class and social position was set aside on May Day.
• Everyone from the highest to the lowest joined in as equals.
• May Day is a celebration of fertility.
• Whole villages would go to the woods and all sorts of sexual adventures would take place.
• The Green Man, sometimes known as Robin Goodfellow, was the Lord of Misrule on May Day.
• He and his merry men would make jokes and poke fun at the local authorities.
• A Puritan Parliament banned May Day festivities in 1644.
• May Day is the only major festival of the year with no significant church celebrations or services.
• Working people would often take May Day off to celebrate even if their employers disapproved.

Doreen Lawrence: 'I could have shut myself away, but that is not me'

It's 20 years since Stephen Lawrence was murdered by racists in London. Since that night his mother, Doreen, has

campaigned tirelessly for justice, and set up a charity in his name.

Here, she talks to Tim Adams and responds to questions from Observer readers, who ask about her memories of

her son, whether Britain today is a better place to be black and what it was like to carry the flag at the Olympics

• 
• Tim Adams
• The Observer, Saturday 20 April 2013 23.26 BST

Doreen Lawrence: 'You can only forgive those who seek forgiveness. They [Stephen's killers] still don't admit

  

anything.' Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer

It doesn't seem like 20 years, not to Doreen Lawrence. "The thing is," she says, "I could tell you what happened

each and every year since Stephen died, but in a way it is like it was yesterday, it is all still very raw. And the battle

itself is constant."

Lawrence talks to me in an office at the headquarters of that ongoing battle – the Stephen Lawrence Centre in

Deptford, south-east London – where she works tirelessly on the isues of social justice that prove her son's death

at least made a difference. On Monday, the anniversary of his murder, she will be attending a service in his memory

at St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London. When she talks about him, though, it still tends to be in the present

tense. "Stephen is always smiling like that," she will say to me, or "That is how Stephen is". She does it because

he still feels very much part of life, she says. "There isn't a day when I don't talk about him in one way or the other.

And now I have my three grandchildren to remind me. Ethan, my daughter's son, is only two, but he is so similar to

Stephen – he has exactly the same look in his eye."

Stephen Lawrence, stabbed to death in a race murder in Eltham in 1993. Photograph: Rex Features

Sometimes she imagines how Stephen would have been now, at 38, had he lived. "I think he would have had a

family, I think he would have travelled widely," she says. "I know he would have qualified as an architect. As I often

say to people: you don't know what the future holds. Up until Stephen died, I think I took my kids, my family, for

granted, like we all do. I don't do that now."

Lawrence lives on her own now, having separated from husband Neville in 1999. She spends most days here in

the office. Part of the work of her foundation is to give young people the opportunities that Stephen was so brutally

denied. She has raised the money for aspiring architects who would otherwise struggle to afford the fees to help

them pursue their ambition as Stephen hoped to. It's a big commitment – seven years of training. Four of the

students the foundation has helped have now qualified, and there are 90 other alumni.

In recent years, as the foundation's most reliable funding has been withdrawn by the closing of the London

Development Agency, it has become much harder to guarantee this work. Lawrence used to be able to employ 15

people here, with an ambitious programme to help educate and implement the findings of the 1999 Macpherson

report into Stephen's death. She is now down to three full-time, and a few volunteers: the big society in action. She

recently had the home secretary here and told her what she thought.

"All politicians make positive noises to us," she says, "and this coalition government is no different, but in my last

meeting with Theresa May I did have to say, you know, I felt I had been really let down. She met some of our

students and was saying how wonderful the work was, and so on. I didn't feel I could let that pass. After losing

Stephen, I don't feel I have much else to lose in life, so I try to speak my mind. I don't remember her saying very

much in response. Though to give her her due, later on they did contact the trust and we were given some

emergency financial support to keep us going until March. It is very tough, though."

I have come here armed with a long list of questions from Observer readers, most of which are prefaced by tribute

to Doreen Lawrence's spirit and dignity. In person, you have a clear sense of that determination, her ongoing

mission, her refusal to despair. It is that determination that has now seen two of the perpetrators of her son's

murder behind bars; it is a relief to her that one of them, Gary Dobson, has dropped his appeal against last year's

conviction, though the other, David Norris, is pursuing his case. She has learned by long practice not to dwell too

much on any of that, she says.

We talk a little about her Olympic experience last year, when she was invited by Danny Boyle to help carry the flag

in the opening ceremony alongside Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the UN. "When they asked me I was really

excited," she says, "because though I had applied for tickets in the ballot, I didn't get any. And on the night itself I

got very emotional just standing there and thinking of all the millions of people watching and the world coming

together." The inclusivity of that ceremony and the Games were an expression of London at its tolerant best, she

suggests, a statement of how far we had come in the past two decades, though she is obviously close enough to

the reality to realise her home city doesn't always live up to that ideal.

Her role in effecting those changes, the role that she was forced into by her son's death, still seems often surreal to

her, though she does not step back from its responsibility. "It's funny," she says, "I was in a school in Sydenham

recently and they told me I was their 'live history' lesson." She smiles. "They were doing their GCSEs and I was

part of their coursework apparently. How strange is that?"

The oddness clearly feels a bit like her fate, these days, but she is not without hope or purpose. She answers the

questions our readers have asked in that spirit.

Is London/the UK in 2013 a better place to be a young black man now than in 1993? Youcantalan, via email

That depends on which young black man you speak to. When Stephen was killed my whole idea of London

changed. I used to see it through rose-tinted glasses. I had never imagined racism would take anyone's life. I used

to talk to Stephen about not getting involved in certain things, but he was always, "Mum, I'm not doing anything!" I

think that is how a lot of young black men feel still today. But that doesn't stop them being harassed in stop and

search, or if they drive a nice car it is always assumed they are drug dealers. That is as true now as it was then. If I

ever see anyone stopped on the street, it is invariably still a crowd of white policemen around a young black guy.

Did you experience racism when you came here to live with your mother, from Jamaica, as a nine-year-old?

Name and address supplied

Not really. I went to primary school here. I wouldn't say there was a problem, though if they showed a documentary

at school about Africa or something kids would ask me: is that what it is like where you come from? The teachers

weren't overtly racist but it was clear, too, looking back that we weren't always given the same opportunity. We

would be put in for CSEs rather than O-levels. Or when we had careers advice it was always, "Are you good with

your hands?" Most of my friends just ignored all that, though, and found our own jobs. I worked in a bank for

seven years before I had Stephen. A lot of it was just kind of what you got used to. My younger brother told me he

would make sure he stood apart from people at a bus stop or whatever, because he thought they might accuse

him of being a pickpocket, or of trying to steal something. But overt racism: no.

You are such an inspiration and a fine example that persistence pays, particularly if accompanied by dignity and

honesty. How do you keep going when there is so much venom aimed at you? How do you get past the negativity

and always have something positive to say? Barbara Moss, via email

I do get some venom. We get hate mail here, and stuff posted on the websites. My real fear is more when I am on

the street. I get recognised and sometimes people will catch me unawares and put their arms around me, or say

they need to give me a hug. I find that quite alarming. I'm quite small and suddenly I am being crushed. It's mostly

positive, but there are a few who just stare at me. I do try not to be negative, though. I could have closed my door

and shut myself away, but that is not me, and my children were not brought up that way.

In your fight for social justice and justice for your son, you and your family must have suffered. Isn't it time for you

to take some time out for yourself? No criticism intended – I think you are amazing – but you need a break. Gail

Kirkland, Edinburgh, via email

I definitely agree with that! When I started working at the centre, I thought I'd do it for about three years and then

hopefully hand it on to others. I thought I might retire to America or somewhere and live out the rest of my days

quietly. But my life has not been like that. I realised that if I wasn't here the work wouldn't exist. I still want it to

survive on its own, so I carry on. I travel up and down the country for the trust. I don't do holidays much. As time

goes on, the work of the trust just gets more intense. It is harder and harder to get away.

What do you think are the main reasons for the lack of success of black boys in education – and the high rates of

unemployment, prison sentences, and rates of serious mental illness among the black community? RabBurnout,

via website

That's really a question about social justice. There isn't just one thing you can point to. Yes, boys need strong role

models to give them a sense of what they can achieve. I read something the other day about a teacher saying of

black boys that "they have the bodies of men and the brains of children". You wonder: how is this person fit to

teach kids? Parents have a big responsibility too. When I had children, I thought it was important for them to be

children, not to grow up too fast. Still, when my kids came home from school in the evenings we would always

have the dictionaries out while I was cooking; I would be giving them spelling tests and word tests. My kids all got

fed up with me not letting them hang out with their friends on the street. I would say: "They are out there today,

they will be out there for ever. This is what you have to do to make sure you don't end up like that." I don't think it

matters who says that to kids as long as someone does. To say that single parents can't do that is so wrong, as

the likes of David Lammy will tell you. He was brought up by his mother on an estate in Tottenham and he went off

to Harvard and became an MP.

The Macpherson report recommended "that consideration be given to amendment of the national curriculum

aimed at valuing cultural diversity and preventing racism, in order better to reflect the needs of a diverse society".

In light of Michael Gove's new history curriculum, how successfully is our education system meeting

Macpherson's recommendations? Martin Spafford, via email

I hated history at school, because it had nothing to do with me. We were taught about empire but not about slavery,

what our grandparents and great grandparents went through. I wanted the Macpherson report to ensure that we

opened up history lessons so all the kids in the class knew where they were from. If kids just hear that these

people are over here taking our jobs, they will believe it. If they hear that in the past Britain has exploited every

single aspect of the places where these children come from, then perhaps they will see things differently. Black

boys in particular have a sense that their self-worth is not much; we need to change that. All children should have

an understanding of the forces that created the country we all live in today.

What was your idea of Britain before you came here – a promised land? Richard Adams via email

No, it was more how cold it was, and how cramped. In Jamaica we had a yard and fruit trees. I used to think of

Britain as a place of red brick huts with fires in the middle and all the people huddled round, and when I came here

that is quite a lot how it felt. It was the summer but it was freezing. I had no cardigan, just a summer dress. And all

the houses joined together, and people letting dogs inside the house, living with dogs; I couldn't understand that.

What is your favourite memory of Stephen? It's the question I love answering about my brother Ben [Kinsella, who

was murdered]. Brooke Kinsella, via email

There are many, of course. Stephen has a particular look. My daughter Georgina made me a calendar once. And

each month had different pictures. For December there is a picture of Stephen the Christmas before he was killed.

We had a washing-up rota at the time and it so happened that Christmas Day was Stephen's turn. The picture is of

him surrounded by all these pots and pans saying: "I can't believe this is happening!" It was very funny. He has a

way of being mischievous. He looks down then he looks up in an amused way. That is just Stephen for me.

Did you ever feel paralysed by anger at the injustice? If so, how did you overcome this? Susan Shaw, via website

I always tried to busy myself with something. In the early days I did focus on the anger – it was like I was locked in

a room with it for 24 hours a day. I didn't want to be in that place so I don't go there.

Some years ago, you undertook a counselling degree at the University of Greenwich. What motivated you to do

this, and how has it helped you personally and professionally? Christine Murray, via website

I did it because I wanted to understand more about the grieving process. For a couple of years after Stephen died, I

had no counselling myself. I thought it would take me to too many dark places. But then I had therapy for probably

a decade. I took the opportunity to study that process because I thought it would help me, and it did.

I am a serving police officer and qualified police trainer. In my view many officers are unconsciously incompetent

because their training is often inadequate. Will you be working will the College of Policing to ensure officers are

better equipped to understand the cultural issues that lead to mistrust of the police? Peter Clarke, via email

I certainly will do if I am ever invited to. I have never really been asked to be involved with the police. Just once,

when I went to a senior police training role play thing. When I was there it seemed that their behaviour was very

defensive, very quiet.

How did it feel to stand in front of Chris Ofili's painting No Woman, No Cry? Nicola Churchward, via email

I didn't stand in front of it for years after it was made. I read that Chris Ofili had won the Turner prize, and I knew

about it. I eventually saw it at Tate Modern and it is an amazing painting. Each tear drop has Stephen's face in it. I

suppose at the time I was proud, or rather honoured, that somebody had been moved to do that. Chris Ofili I have

got to know a little; he is a great source of energy.

My friends' teenage son was killed six months ago. It was as a result of an accident, rather than an act of violence,

but from your own experience, do you have any words of advice about how his parents might make their peace

with such a terrible loss? Name and address supplied

Time hasn't been that much of a healer. And for me, the violent way in which Stephen was killed made it very hard

to come to terms with. The pointlessness of it. But you do have to find ways to remember who your child was as a

person. I always have pictures of Stephen around, and I always talk about him; I never want to think that he never

existed. At first, I just kept asking why did God let this happen, why did he not protect Stephen? For a long time I

used to go to the church where I had always gone, but I would sit at the back and just slip in the moment the

service started and as soon as it finished I would leave. I didn't really want to speak to anybody and people found it

hard to speak to me, I think. As time has gone on, I've begun to have a bit more understanding that through his

sacrifice a lot of positive things have happened. People say to me sometimes if it wasn't for the work we had done

their lives would be harder. I take some comfort from that. The fact is a death is a death, however it happens. You

have to find some way of looking back on the positive things in the person's life before that happened.

Would you ever consider being a member of the House of Lords or even standing as mayor of London?

Name and address supplied

I question what some people in the House of Lords are really there for. But of course I would like to be able to

challenge some things that go on in government, to speak up on some issues. I think a lot of people do it for the

glorification or whatever, but that would not interest me. Mayor of London: I don't think so.

After two decades of amazing work, are we getting to the point where anti-racism campaigning is perhaps too

focused on Stephen, such that our point of reference is 20 years out of date? Patrick Neylan, via website

I don't think anti-racism is too focused on Stephen. When I speak I make a point of trying to speak about all young

people. His name has become a useful reference point for people to talk about these things. The Macpherson

report is a major inquiry, and I don't think it is in danger of overshadowing the other issues.

How do you feel knowing that another 106 people have died in attacks with a possible racial motivation since the

murder of Stephen and the inquiry into his death? Harmit Athwal, Institute of Race Relations, via email

Obviously every death is terrible. Many times mothers have written to me and contacted me. The mother of Andre

Smartt-Ford, who died at Streatham Ice Rink in 2007, for example. I try to give as much support as I can. I can't

promise to get involved in everything because there is only one of me, but I have tried to speak out on behalf of

other mothers and other victims.

I sometimes think, talking to my own teenagers' friends, that race is not discussed enough among white families. If

there was one thing you would say to other mothers about the way we discuss race-related issues, what would it

be? Subistar, via email

It is every parent's responsibility to discuss these issues and to ensure that their children are tolerant of those

around them. This country was never a country for some mythical English white people; it has always been a mix. I

would just say that people need to know their history.

How do I handle less open-minded attitudes when someone makes a comment that could be deemed racist?

James Aldworth, New York, via email

Always challenge it. If you hear a child in a playground making a racist comment, you speak out, you never let it go.

What are your feelings towards your son's killers? I doubt I ever could, but do you think you could forgive them for

what they did? Perrylee, via email

You can only forgive those who seek forgiveness. They still don't admit they have done anything wrong, so I don't

see how I can forgive them. They have to say sorry before you can think about forgiveness. They have never said

that and I don't imagine they ever will.

Do you think institutional racism against British Muslims exists in this country? begmohsin2, via email

It is a problem. As soon as you start talking about people in groups, then that kind of behaviour starts. Some

young black men may be into drugs, but the majority are not. Some young Muslims may be sympathetic to

terrorism, but clearly most are not. The racism arises out of that.

Like you, I am a strong supporter of the public sector equality duty. Its predecessor, the race equality duty, was

motivated in large part by Stephen's murder and is widely thought of as the most innovative development in

equality legislation since the 1970s. So why do you think the government considers the duty to be "red tape", and

what do you think of the current review that has raised the suggestion that the duty might be scrapped or further

watered down? Dr Hazel Conley, Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity

The public sector equality duty is the only measure we have to hold institutions to account over issues of race, but

the review wants to make it seem as though it is about the bureaucracy of form filling. It is a bit like the

recommendations from Macpherson about stop and search, the necessity of providing a paper basis for the

reason why you had been stopped, so you could hold an officer to account. They have done away with that and

they seem to be trying to do the same here. We are moving backwards rather than forwards.

How do you feel about the "reclaiming" of the "N" word and, particularly, the frequency with which it is used in

rap? Jo-Anne Welsh, via email

I think it is more of an American thing than a British one. I don't listen to rap music, so I don't really have a view. I

guess kids can be influenced, but not always. Stephen was a music fan; he liked Mariah Carey and some urban

music such as Public Enemy. But I don't think it had much of a bearing on how he behaved.

How do you see the current state of race equality in Britain, especially considering the negative rhetoric

surrounding human rights, immigration and asylum policy? Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty

This government could have built on Macpherson, and they haven't. When my son was murdered the

Conservatives were in power and they did nothing. And it seems in coalition, now, they still don't do anything. I

have not met David Cameron in the way that I met Blair and Brown. Politicians always seem to want to blame

immigration for the problems of the country. Immigration policy has to be fair, but you have to keep making the

arguments against that blame culture. We need younger people to be taking up the battle for these issues. I went

over to Washington for President Obama's first inauguration. It was something I never expected to see in my

lifetime, a black man running a country like the US. I needed to be there to witness it, one of the 2 million. I don't

think I will ever see it happening here, though. There are plenty who could do it, but I don't think we would give

them the opportunity. They would never think you are good enough, not really.

The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust is dedicated to providing opportunities for disadvantaged young people and

maintaining Stephen's legacy. To give money, go to justgiving.com/slct/Donate. stephenlawrence.org.uk

May Day marvels in Glasgow

Thursday 18 April 2013

by Chris Bartter

Comedian and activist Mark Thomas. Marxist magician Ian Saville.

The Co-op brass band. Folk musicians Siobhan Miller and Jeana Leslie.

Political song master Arthur Johnstone.

Singer/writer Dave Anderson.

Harmonica virtuoso Fraser Speirs.

Each is a star in their own right but put them all together and you've got a phenomenal line-up and they'll be

appearing at The Great MayDay Cabaret in Glasgow's Oran Mor on May 6 to crown this year's Glasgow Friends

Of MayDay activities.

It's the culmination of a whole range of events which have been organised by the friends with support from the

STUC, Co-operative Membership and Thompsons Solicitors.

Tonight and tomorrow in Glasgow legendary Chilean folk group Quilapayun, backed by Scottish-Chilean band

Voces Del Sur, play their only British dates in a tour which takes place 40 years after the vicious coup that

forced them into exile in France.

But the full Friends Of MayDay programme starts with two walks visiting sites of significant socialist interest in

Glasgow on April 27 and May 4.

One of them, organised by the Glasgow Women's Library, takes in women's heritage in the west end of the city.

The hugely successful film The Happy Lands about the General Strike and the subsequent lockout in a pit

village in Fife returns for a showing on May 5 and there'll be screenings of films by Glasgow's anti-racism

campaigners Hope Not Hate and the Scottish Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

A group of Matt McGinn aficionados stage a tribute to the great folksinger in St Andrew's In The Square on May

3 and the highly praised talk by prominent Scottish composer Bill Sweeney on music and the working-class

movement has been revived by the Morning Star campaigns committee as part of their Our Class, Our Culture

series.

It's a fantastic line-up of events and the full programme and booking arrangements are at www.may1st.org.uk.

New BBC director general begins

task of mending corporation's reputation

Tony Hall will spend first day speaking to staff as he embarks on restoring public confidence in corporation after

Savile scandal

• Press Association
• The Guardian, Monday 1 April 2013 18.19 BST

Tony Hall takes up the role of director general of the BBC on Tuesday. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Tony Hall will begin the job of repairing the BBC's battered reputation when he takes up the role of director

general on Tuesday. Lord Hall, who started out as a BBC trainee 40 years ago, will spend part of his first day

speaking to staff at the corporation, which has been beset with problems since the Jimmy Savile sex abuse

scandal came to light last September.

The former BBC news executive also has to contend with low staff morale – highlighted by last week's strike in a

row over jobs, workload and claims of bullying.

When the previous director general George Entwistle stepped down in November after a Tory peer was

mistakenly implicated in child abuse claims in a BBC2 Newsnight report, Hall was the only candidate contacted

by the BBC Trust. Before being offered the £450,000-a-year post, he had been chief executive of the Royal Opera

House, a job he took up in 2001.

Birkenhead-born Hall, who was made a crossbench peer in 2010, admitted there was "a lot of hard work ahead"

when announcing his first appointments earlier this year, but said he was creating a team that would "define the

BBC and public service broadcasting for the next decade". He had previously spoken of building a "world-class

team for this world-class organisation", saying he cared about it passionately.

The new director general, who was head of BBC news and current affairs from 1996 to 2001, "has a honeymoon

period - but it could be a short one", according to media commentator Raymond Snoddy. The former presenter

of the BBC News channel's NewsWatch said on Sunday: "Tony Hall arrives with a ocean of good will behind him

as the 'right person' to sort out the mess the BBC is in following the Savile and Newsnight scandals.

"Reality starts tomorrow. He will soon be judged on how well he succeeds – or not – in improving trust in the

BBC and restoring morale while coping with real falls in income. Just round the corner there will also be the start

of negotiations for a new licence fee settlement and royal charter."

Snoddy warned that "the next new row will probably break out before long", however.

Broadcaster and media consultant Steve Hewlett said: "In a sense, he couldn't have a better start - arriving when

it's all gone wrong, and it's not your fault. If you've got an idea of what to do about it, it's not a bad position to be

in. There's the sense things can only improve.

"He knows the organisation. He's no fool. He'll get the right people around him. If anyone can do this, he's the

top of the list. I've some confidence it will go well."

Hewlett said Hall's first challenge was to build an executive team that could command staff respect, something

the new director general has already started doing. He praised the appointment of former Labour cabinet

minister James Purnell as the BBC's new director of strategy and digital, saying Hall had chosen a "smart

operator" who is a "very capable thinker, with a genuine long-term view".

Confidence from the license-paying public also has to be repaired, who expect the organisation to be run with

strong leadership, Hewlett added, with other issues Hall including the negotiation of a new royal charter.

"I think Tony Hall is onto this, and the appointment of James Purnell shows that he is," he said.

Two outstanding appointments Hall still needs to make are those of director of news and director of television,

adding to what is an already busy to-do list as he prepares to make his return to the BBC

Nelson Mandela: Zuma Asks World To Pray

Sky News – 38 minutes ago

The former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, has been taken back to hospital suffering from a lung infection.

President Jacob Zuma confirmed that the 94-year-old was readmitted just before midnight on Wednesday and

said: "We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to

keep them in their thoughts.

"We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery."

Mr Mandela's spokesman Mac Maharaj told Sky News that the former president was "conscious".

He said: "At the moment doctors are saying it is a recurrence of an old lung infection. It is a matter of concern ... He

was admitted around midnight last night.

"They are doing everything they can to keep him comfortable and happy."

He said that last time he had seen Mr Mandela he had been frail but in a "good frame of mind".

Mr Mandela spent 18 days in hospital in December , where he was treated for a lung infection and gallstones.

He was discharged on December 27, however, doctors warned he was "not yet fully recovered" and he continued

to receive medical treatment at his Johannesburg home, including being given extra oxygen.

Mr Mandela has had recurring lung problems since contracting tuberculosis in 1988, during his 27 years in prison

under the apartheid regime.

The Nobel Peace Laureate spent a night in hospital on March 9 for what was described as a scheduled medical check-up .

However, Sky News' Special Correspondent Alex Crawford said that it was now understood that the visit was

required for further treatment of the lung infection and that on that occasion he is believed to have had his lungs drained.

She said that there were now significant concerns over his health and added: "The time of his hospitalisation

certainly suggests they were alarmed at his deterioration."

In February, Mr Mandela's granddaughters showed the first picture of him to be seen in more than seven months

as they promoted a reality television series in which they star.

He was seen with his great grandson, Zen, sitting on his lap at his Johannesburg home.

Earlier this month, George Bizos, the human rights lawyer who represented Mr Mandela at his treason trial, said

that he was suffering memory lapses and sometimes forgot his fellow anti-apartheid activists were dead.

In an interview he told Eyewitness News: "Unfortunately he sometimes forgets that one or two of them had passed

on and has a blank face when you tell him that Walter Sisulu and some others are no longer with us."

In February 2012 Mr Mandela, who is known by his tribal name of Madiba in South Africa, spent the night in hospital

after a minor exploratory procedure to investigate persistent abdominal pain.

In 2001 he had radiotherapy treatment for prostate cancer.

Mr Mandela, who was released from prison in 1990, suffered damage to his tear glands because of being forced to

smash limestone rocks in the quarry on Robben Island due to the alkalinity of the stone. He had cataract surgery at

the age of 75, in 1994, a few months after being sworn in as president.

Mr Mandela stepped down after one term as president. He has not appeared in public since South Africa's World

Cup final in 2010, six years after retiring

Wiltshire’s little-known hero – hanged for refusing to betray his workmates

by Rosie Upton - 22nd March 2013, 8.30 GMT

The tomb of Thomas Helliker, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire

The story of Thomas Helliker (sometimes spelt Hilliker or Elliker) who is sometimes referred to as the Trowbridge

Martyr is little known outside Trowbridge, the county town of Wiltshire.

Born in 1783 into a local family employed as cloth workers he was apprenticed as a shearman at the age of 14

and might in time have expected significantly higher earnings than weavers or other wool workers.  

Shearmen were amongst the most skilled and highly-paid workers in the woollen industry and Trowbridge at that

time was a centre for the production of the finest broadcloth.

Their job was not to cut the cloth but to finish it by shearing it flat after it had been washed and the nap raised by

teasels.

The industrial revolution brought mechanisation and the local workers feared the introduction of shearing

frames to finish the cloth in local mills.

The shearmen stood to lose the most from the introduction of machinery and were well organised in the North of

England and the West-country in fighting this mechanisation.

When shearing frames were introduced at Littleton Mill it was burned to the ground on 22 July 1802.

It is doubtful that Thomas took any part in the destruction but despite having an alibi and protesting his

innocence he was arrested, charged and sent for trial, in Salisbury where he was subsequently found guilty.

He was hanged at Fisherton Gaol on his 19th birthday on 22 March 1803, despite public outrage.

Afterwards it was generally accepted that he was innocent, but that he had known those who burned down the

mill and had refused to inform on them.

 It is likely that he had been framed by powerful clothiers determined to make an example.

His body was carried in procession on a cart across Salisbury plain and buried in St James Churchyard in

Trowbridge. It is said that the procession grew larger as it reached his hometown and was accompanied by girls

dressed all in white who formed a guard of honour.

A fine carved chamber tombstone, the finest in the churchyard, was erected by the shearmen of Yorkshire,

Wiltshire and Somerset over the grave.

This fell into disrepair over the years and his story became largely forgotten, except within the town itself.

The tomb was restored by Trowbridge Trades Council in the 1980s and White Horse (Wiltshire) TUC hold a

commemorative wreath laying there on 22 March of each year.

A handwritten copy of the last letter allegedly written by Helliker (signed Hiliker) is on display at Trowbridge

Museum as part of a current exhibition about the woollen industry in the town.

The full story of Thomas Helliker can be found in a booklet produced by White Horse TUC – Wiltshire Industrial

History – Working Class Episodes – priced at £7.50 plus £1 p&p and available here.

* White Horse (Wiltshire) TUC is organising a wreath laying today at noon at St James’ Churchyard, Trowbridge. They have also organised a social tomorrow evening at 8pm at Village Pump, Lamb Inn, Trowbridge. Admission is £5, with singing from The Boghouse Boys, Rosie Upton and Pete McGregor

World Water Day: Water, Water Everywhere, Only if We Share

• By Freddie Nathan
• Friday, 22 March 2013 at 6:00 am

It is fair to say that in the western world we take water for granted.

At home, one can turn on the tap, pour themselves a glass of tap water, and even leave it running without fear

that the flow might stop.

We are able bathe and shower in temperate water as and when we please and we can walk down to the local

shop and buy ourselves a bottle of mineral water if we are feeling thirsty.

The fact that billions struggle to survive on a daily basis due to lack of water is rarely highlighted on a global

scale.

So while today may be just another Friday to many, it is important to know that it is World Water Day.

Run by the United Nations, the day is devoted to promoting issues surrounding the world’s water resources

across the globe.

Observed every year on 22 March since 1993, awareness of the day has grown aided in recent years by social media. This year is the landmark 20^th anniversary of its formation, and UN Water are determined to make it the

biggest and most widely disseminated yet, with no fewer than 450 events taking place on every continent today.

This year official festivities are taking place in The Hague, Netherlands.

Choosing the official slogan for this year was even put to a public competition with over 12,000 proposals sent in

from 180 countries. Eventually, a Ms Megha Kumar from India was the winner: “Water, Water Everywhere, Only if

We Share”.

Each year UN Water, a dedicated arm of the United Nations set up in 2003, helps countries achieve centrally

defined water preservation goals, chooses a theme, and promotes key messages to a world audience.

And 2013 is a big year for water.

Coinciding with World Water Day today, this year is also the International Year of Water Cooperation.

After a proposal by Tajikistan, the aim is to make people recognise the importance of cooperation in striking a

balance between different needs and priorities, in order to share water equitably.

The rather bold claim of the organisers is to “use water as an instrument of peace.”

September 2013 will mark World Water Week and will take place in Stockholm where experts will meet to discuss

the planet’s most urgent water-related issues.

All this might not whet the appetite (no pun intended) of the ordinary person.

However, it really should – the fulfilment of seven billion peoples’ basic human needs of sustenance, the

environment, socio-economic development and poverty reduction are all heavily dependent on water.

The shortage and unnecessary wastage of it is a pertinent issue.

Various NGOs have warned that as many as a billion people are without access to safe drinking water.

Rapid urbanisation, pollution and climate change threaten the resource while demands for water are increasing

in order to satisfy the needs of a growing world population.

The fact that water is a shared resource is often lost on people hence this call for cooperation.

Jacob Tompkins the managing director of Waterwise, an NGO that promotes water efficiency says: “In the UK our

water consumption is 150 litres per person per day; this is a third higher than our European neighbours.

By following these tips you will cut your water use which is good for the environment and could cut your water

and energy bills (heating water in the home is about 30 per cent of your energy bill).”

The top 10 tips for saving water:

1. Take shorter showers instead of a bath – use a shower timer and see if you can keep your showers to less than five minutes.

2. Fix leaking and dripping taps.

3. Water your garden early in the morning or late at night when evaporation is lowest.

4. Never use the toilet as a dustbin.

5. Use a Hippo or Save-a-Flush (cistern displacement device) to reduce the amount of water used in the loo.

6. Use a bowl when washing salad or veg then throw the water on your garden.

7. Only use your washing machine or dishwasher when you have got a full load.

8. Turn the tap off when you brush your teeth – in fact toothpaste works better when it’s dry!

9. Put a layer of mulch on the soil around your plants; it will suppress weeds, reduce evaporation and keep the soil moist.

10. Finally, drink tap water! Tap water is just as good as bottled water, it’s a lot cheaper and it better for the planet.

Hugo Chavez empowered and united

by: Sam Webb

March 12 2013

The powerful voice of Hugo Chavez - a voice for economic justice, democracy, empowerment, national

independence, continental solidarity, peace, anti-imperialism, and socialism - has been stilled.

While local and global elites sigh in relief and belittle his life in the major media, the untimely death of Chavez is

also evoking a heartfelt cry from millions of abused, marginalized, and exploited people across the globe - none

more so than in Venezuela and throughout Latin America.

In that cry one doesn't hear a note of despair and defeat, but rather an unmistakable affirmation that the

irrepressible spirit, intellectual curiosity, and disposition to action that defined this man's life will find reflection in

the lives of struggling humanity in the years to come.

The celebrations in the seats of power of the global elite over Chavez's death are very premature. The "masters

of the universe" make the mistake of underestimating the consciousness and capacity of people in Venezuela

and elsewhere to carry forward Chavez's legacy of challenging entrenched capitalist power and injustice. This

misunderstanding is not unusual for a class that is steeped in notions of racial superiority, patriarchy, and class

entitlement, and tucked away in bubbles of privilege and opulence.

Few of us leave an individual imprint on history. For most of us, our ability to affect history lies in joining with

others in collective action.

But some individuals do play an outsized role shaping historical events - as part of the wider struggles taking place in society.

Hugo Chavez Frias falls into this category.

He was an early and unyielding opponent of neoliberal globalization - a system of political and economic

capitalist domination that grew out of the dynamics and contradictions of capitalism in its current stage of

development. This system of governance broke up traditional farming in the countryside and forced vast

numbers of peasants off the land. It created massive slums rimming South America's major cities, rolled back

social provisioning by the state, degraded the environment, generated ever wider inequalities, tore down trade

and financial barriers protecting local economies, decimated and de-nationalized industry, and condemned

millions to impoverishment and spiritual hopelessness.

Drawing inspiration from Simon Bolivar, Fidel Castro and other revolutionaries of Latin America, Chavez

challenged in words and deeds this system of exploitation and oppression.

But his fight was not a lonely one. This great leader of indigenous and African descent (a fact that fueled the

hatred of the elites even more) not only gave voice to the impoverished and rootless, but also inspired them to

become political actors in their own right. Indeed, Chavez played a singular role in transforming a fragmented

mass of people in Venezuela into an organized force challenging the profits and prerogatives of local and global

capital.

If we left it here however, we would miss the other side of the dialectic. Chavez, like other great leaders, was as

much a product of his times and the people he sought to influence as they were of him. Changing circumstances

and an aroused people remade him as much as he remade them.

Chavez was a socialist, and one whose feet were very much in this century. While he was inspired by struggles

of the past, he wasn't a prisoner of the received wisdom of earlier times. His socialism - its sensibilities, goals,

theory, program, and path - were conditioned by the particular, novel circumstances of the 21st century.

At the core of his worldview and political practice were people's needs, people's empowerment, and people's

unity at the national, regional, and global level. His politics grew out of the real movement of people and a sober

estimation of the actual balance of class and social forces.

At times, his views raised the eyebrows of those on the left who considered problematic any deviation from what

I would call their undialectical and rigid reading of Marxism.

In an interview with Tariq Ali, Chavez said,

"I don't believe in the dogmatic postulates of Marxist revolution. I don't accept that we are living in a period of

proletarian revolutions. All that must be revised. Reality is telling us that every day. Are we aiming in Venezuela

today for the abolition of private property or a classless society? I don't think so. But if I'm told that because of

that reality you can't do anything to help the poor, the people who have made this country rich through their

labor - and never forget that some of it was slave labor - then I say: 'We part company.' I will never accept that

there can be no redistribution of wealth in society.

"Our upper classes don't even like paying taxes. That's one reason they hate me. We said: 'You must pay your

taxes.' I believe it's better to die in battle, rather than hold aloft a very revolutionary and very pure banner, and do

nothing ... That position often strikes me as very convenient, a good excuse ... Try and make your revolution, go

into combat, advance a little, even if it's only a millimetre, in the right direction, instead of dreaming about

utopias."

As you can see, Chavez's theory and practice included intermediate steps and stages of struggle. It embraced

the struggle for reforms, even minor ones that would meet in some, even small, ways people's needs, and at the

same time act as a matrix for mass political participation, anti-capitalist education, and deeper and broader unity.

And it rested on a creative and flexible application of theory to changing reality.

Hugo Chavez will be greatly missed in his home country and worldwide, but the way to honor him isn't to turn

him into an icon and his words into sacred texts. We honor Hugo Chavez by embracing his passion and

courage, his curiosity about the world, his tireless struggle for unity of diverse forces, his readiness to think

independently and develop Marxism in fresh and creative ways, and his belief in the intelligence and power of an

engaged people.

Photo: Fernando Llano/AP

Nelson Mandela admitted to hospital in South Africa

Spokesman says 'no reason for alarm' over 94-year-old former president and apartheid activist

• Associated Press
• The Observer, Saturday 9 March 2013 18.45 GMT

 

Nelson Mandela was admitted to a hospital in Pretoria on Saturday.

 

Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/AFP/Getty Images

South Africa's presidency has said that Nelson Mandela has been admitted to a hospital for a scheduled medical checkup.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement that the 94-year-old former president went to a hospital

in the capital, Pretoria, on Saturday afternoon.

He said doctors are conducting tests and have indicated so far that there is "no reason for any alarm".

Mandela, a leader of the fight against apartheid, was hospitalised for nearly three weeks in December last year,

before going home on Boxing Day. At that time, he was treated for a lung infection and had a surgical procedure

to remove gallstones

The Gift Aid Toolkit: introduction

What is Gift Aid?

Now I am on PAYE tax I need to Register with Gift Aid to get tax a refund, which I automatically claimed and

received when making a tax return as a self employed person. Something wrong there !

Radical

Gift Aid is a simple way for your charity or Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) to increase the value of gifts

of money you receive from UK taxpayers.

How will this toolkit help me claim Gift Aid?

This toolkit is the easiest way for you to start claiming Gift Aid from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). All you need are a computer and a printer, it has everything else you need to:

• register for Gift Aid so that you can start claiming
• tell HMRC if your details change
• fill in your claim form for Gift Aid
• obtain acceptable Gift Aid declarations from your donors
• work out how much Gift Aid you will receive

The Gift Aid Toolkit

The resources in this toolkit are stored as Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF is a file format that lets you view and print a document in a style which matches the look and feel of the paper version - including fonts, colours, images and layout.

To view and print these documents you need to use a PDF file viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader which is available to download free of charge from the Adobe website. Follow the link below for more information on how to get help viewing PDFs.

Get help viewing PDFs

Top

Before you start - does your charity need to be registered?

Before you apply to be recognised for Gift Aid, you need to consider whether your charity should be registered with a charity regulator. If you are not sure whether you need to register you should contact the relevant regulator to find out.

The charity regulator for England and Wales is the Charity Commission. If your charity is established in England or Wales and your annual income is more than £5,000, you must register with the Commission before you can apply for Gift Aid (unless you are an exempt body).

Find out more about the Charity Commission website (Opens new window)

If your charity is established in Scotland, you need to apply to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), if you are required to register, before applying to be recognised for Gift Aid.

Find out more about OSCR - Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator

If your charity is in Northern Ireland or in England or Wales (but you do not have to register with the Charity Commission) all you need to do is write to HMRC Charities.

CASCs must be registered with HMRC Charities. If you want to register a CASC, please see 'help sheet 7 - Community Amateur Sports Clubs' below.

Contact detail for Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs

Top

The next step

Once you have either registered with a charity regulator (or decided that you don’t need to do so) you can apply to HMRC to be recognised for Gift Aid. To do that you need to complete the HMRC Charities Application Form (ChA1) for charities or the CASC Registration Form (CASC(A1) and send it to HMRC.

If your charity or CASC has already been accepted by HMRC for Gift Aid, you don’t need to apply again.

HMRC will check your application to see if you are entitled to claim Gift Aid, if no extra information is needed, they will write to you with your unique reference number so you can start claiming Gift Aid.

Please note that there is a different application procedure for CASCs.

Download ChA1 Charities Application form

Download the simple guide on how to complete Form CASC(A1) (PDF 1.1MB)

Detailed guide on how to complete Form CASC(A1) Community Amateur Sports Club Registration

Download CASC (A1) registration form

Top

Helpsheets that really are helpful

There are 12 helpsheets below which explain the basics and answer some frequently asked questions about Gift Aid. They also link to the HMRC website for further information.

Toolkit tips

Look out for the Toolkit tips on the helpsheets. They highlight tips that you can use to make tasks easier during the claim process.

Helpsheet 1: What is Gift Aid? (PDF 324K)
Helpsheet 2: What is a Gift Aid declaration? (PDF 169K)
Helpsheet 3: What can I claim Gift Aid on? (PDF 204K)
Helpsheet 4: What is a benefit for Gift Aid purposes? (PDF 206K)
Helpsheet 5: Do I need to keep records of Gift Aid donations? (PDF 222K)
Helpsheet 6: Is my charity a trust or a company? (PDF 289K)
Helpsheet 7: Community Amateur Sports Clubs (PDF 236K)
Helpsheet 8: How do I run a sponsored event and claim Gift Aid? (PDF 198K)
Helpsheet 9: How do I claim Gift Aid and how often can I claim? (PDF 184K)
Helpsheet 10: How should I list donations on the schedule? (PDF 194K)
Helpsheet 11: What are the time limits for claiming Gift Aid? (PDF 168K)
Helpsheet 12: What happens if my charity is selected for a Gift Aid audit? (PDF 200K)

Top

Forms

Reclaiming tax - charities and CASCs

Use form R68 to claim tax repayments for your charity or CASC. This claim form will automatically help you to claim the correct amount as you fill in the boxes. The guidance for each form gives you step-by-step help to ensure you fill in the form correctly.

Simple guide on how to complete Form R68(i) (PDF 894K)

Download form R68(i) – Gift Aid and tax Repayment claim for Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs

Gift Aid declaration and sponsor forms

Use the Gift Aid declaration form to make a Gift Aid donation to a charity or CASC or use the form if you’re a charity or CASC to give to your supporters.

Download the Gift Aid declaration form

Sponsorship and Gift Aid declaration - form

Use the Sponsorship and Gift Aid declaration form to make a Gift Aid donation to a charity or CASC from a sponsored event, or use the form if you're a charity or CASC to give to your supporters.

Download the Sponsorship and Gift Aid declaration form

Top

Posters and flyers

Sample posters and flyers to help you promote Gift Aid to your supporters

Posters
Poster – charitable donations version 01 (PDF 223K)
Poster – charitable donations version 02 (PDF 260K)
Poster – sponsorship 01 (PDF 196K)
Poster – sponsorship 02 (PDF 185K)

Flyers
What is Gift Aid: charitable donations flyer (PDF 694K)
What is Gift Aid: sponsorship flyer (PDF 506K)

Scrap 'dangerous and unnecessary' secret justice bill,

hundreds of lawyers and QCs urge the Government

• Law professionals demand Government drop plans for new court system
• Hearings behind closed doors 'erodes civil justice system core principles'
• Letter signed by 702 include 38 QCs, notably Ian Macdonald

By James Chapman

| UPDATED: 22:42, 27 February 2013

Demand: Ian Macdonald QC, pictured in 2004, is one of the 702 law professionals who have signed the letter

Hundreds of lawyers, including some of the country’s most eminent QCs, today launch a devastating attack on

Government plans for secret courts as ‘contrary to the rule of law’ and demand they are dropped.

More than 700 figures from the legal profession insist that the Government’s Justice and Security Bill is

‘dangerous and unnecessary’ and will ‘fatally undermine’ the fairness of court hearings.

The group of 702, which includes 38 QCs, says in a letter published in today’s Daily Mail that the proposals to

allow a huge extension of court hearings behind closed doors will ‘erode core principles of our civil justice

system’ by undermining the right to a fair trial and open justice.

They include Nicholas Vineall QC, former chairman of the Conservative Lawyers’ Association, Reverend

Nicholas Mercer, a lieutenant colonel who was the Army’s most senior lawyer during the Iraq war, and Ian

Macdonald QC, who resigned as a security-cleared special advocate in protest at the existing use of secret justice.

The intervention of such a significant number of lawyers is a shattering blow for the Government, which had

been hoping to get the legislation through Parliament as quietly as possible following months of controversy. It

is expected to return to the Commons next week.

In another setback for the Government, a group of international organisations, including the American Civil

Liberties Union and similar bodies from Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Egypt and Hungary, also

expressed concerns about the Bill in a joint statement.

 It warned: ‘If the UK Parliament passes this proposal into law it will be a huge setback for those of us fighting

to secure truth and fairness from our own governments and within our own justice systems across the world.’

The Daily Mail has led criticism of Government plans to allow so-called ‘closed material procedures’ (CMPs), in

which cases are conducted entirely in private, in civil hearings.

Defendants or claimants will not allowed to be present, know or challenge the case against them and must be

represented by a security-cleared special advocate, rather than their own lawyer.

Currently, such procedures are used in tiny numbers of immigration and deportation hearings, but the

Government wants to extend them across the civil courts in cases deemed to involve national security.

The legislation has been drafted in close cooperation with the security services, who have claimed other

countries may stop sharing intelligence with Britain if it risks being disclosed in open court.

But critics say the proposals are simply designed to ensure potentially embarrassing cases are conducted

behind closed doors.

Reverend Nicholas Mercer, one of the most prominent signatories of today’s letter, said: ‘The Justice and

Security Bill has one principle aim and that is to cover up UK complicity in rendition and torture.

‘The Bill is an affront to the open justice on which this country rightly prides itself and, above all, it is an affront

to human dignity. The fact that some of those individuals who are complicit in rendition and torture can not

only assist in the drafting of the Bill but also vote to cover their tracks is a constitutional scandal.

‘It is little wonder that the Bill has been heavily criticised by the UN Rapporteur on Torture and condemned by

the vast majority of lawyers and human rights organisations in this country.’

Michael Fordham QC, one of the country's leading public law specialists, warned the Government that if it

pressed ahead judges might refuse to preside over secret courts.

‘Secret trials undermine the principles of open justice and natural justice on which the rule of law is built. By

promoting the spread of secrecy, state authorities become self-immunised from proper public scrutiny, and in

relation to the very types of actions which most need it,’ he said.

‘Parliament is unwisely provoking the untapped power of our unwritten constitution which it could come to

regret. The last word will not be Parliament's, but that of judges asked to preside over secret courts. An unwise

Parliament may be about to find that it has constitutional limits, when the rule of law fights back.’

Paul Bowen QC said: ‘The extension of closed material procedures is not necessary for public protection.  The

state is already free to withhold evidence from disclosure under Public Interest Immunity procedures. 

 What is not fair, or just, is evidence being shown in secret to the judge who decides the case on the basis of

that evidence.

‘In those cases where disclosure of torture or other human rights abuses by the British government or its

agents is sought, the public interest surely requires that to be brought into the open.’

Dinah Rose QC, a former special advocate and another signatory, said: ‘Closed material procedures are alien

to British justice and will distort civil trials beyond recognition.

'What may look and sound like a trial is in fact nothing of the sort. Judges will be asked to decide cases on the

basis of "secret evidence" that would not withstand legal challenge and hand down judgments in secret. This

Bill is a dangerous perversion of our national legal system and will undermine constitutional rights.’

Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: ‘When will the coalition that once championed civil

liberties listen to the condemnation of its secret courts proposals?

‘Liberty was dismissed as the reactionary human rights lobby- but now legal and international communities

have joined the opposition to secret stitch-ups between government and judges, with victims, press and public

shut outside. Secret justice is a complete perversion - it is no justice at all.’

Minister without portfolio Kenneth Clarke, who is in charge of the legislation, will today table further

amendments supposed to address some of the concerns of critics.

They mean a judge must be satisfied that the Government has considered whether to make a claim for public

interest immunity before making an application for a secret hearing as one of the tests to be met. Mr Clarke is

also proposing an annual report on the operation of closed hearings and a full review after five years.

He said: ‘With these final amendments the Government has gone to extreme lengths to meet every practical

legal objection that has been made about the Bill. The judge now has total discretion over whether to order a

closed material procedure following an application either by the Government, the claimant, or from the court of

its own motion.

‘I do not believe closed material procedures are ideal, but in the very exceptional circumstances where national

security is at stake, they offer the only practical means of delivering justice where otherwise there would be none.

‘CMPs already exist in our justice system and the Government does lose in them – sometimes to the great

anger of the Daily Mail’s readers.

‘This Bill is now proportionate, sensible and necessary.  It resolves the highly unsatisfactory legal no-man’s

land we have at the moment where national security cases can be brought, but not resolved. 

‘Of course these amendments will not reassure the Bill’s hardline critics, who prefer silence to judicial

decisions on allegations of kidnap and torture, and are prepared to accept that millions of pounds could go

without challenge to individuals who could be terrorists.

These final amendments should now resolve all right thinking citizens that this is a sensible, worthwhile Bill

which they would give their support to.

'There are few Governments in the world who would go to these lengths to ensure that we will uphold justice

and the rule of law in the process of securely safeguarding the safety of our citizens and the national interest.’

How forensic science will solve Pistorius shooting

• 12:00 21 February 2013 by Helen Thomson, Washington DC
• New Scientist

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Editorial: Don't blame the jury system for this failure

Independent

Is is not truly remarkable that our randomly chosen juries work as well as they do?

With every hour and every day that the jury in the trial of Vicky Pryce failed to reach a verdict, the prospect that

they would ever agree seemed to recede.

On the face of it, the question was simple: was Ms Pryce guilty of perverting the course of justice – by taking

speeding points for her then husband, Chris Huhne – or was she to be found not guilty because she was acting

under duress?

Even after submitting 10 additional questions and being invited to reach a majority verdict, however, the jurors

remained so divided that the judge decided to dismiss them.

It was with a distinct weariness that the judge said the retrial would begin on Monday.

But he did not dismiss the jury without adding his two ha'pence worth.

In 30 years of criminal trials, he said, he did not recall receiving such a very basic list of questions at such a late stage.

Such elementary questions, he suggested, raised substantial concern about whether it was safe to permit the jury

to continue its deliberations.

In essence, the judge appeared to be blaming the jury for incompetence and hoping for a brighter lot next time around.

It is true that some of the questions they asked betray elements of confusion about what they might or might not

take into account and a temptation to stray beyond the evidence they had heard.

But at least, it might be said, they admitted this in time to be returned to the straight and narrow.

It is also true some of their questions might be considered so basic as to cast doubt on whether this jury was

capable of pronouncing sensibly on this or any other trial.

To infer from their failure, however, the jury system as such is either counterproductive or doomed would be a

conclusion far too far.

The matter should rather be addressed the other way round.

Is it not truly remarkable that the English jury system works as well as it does?

Jurors are plucked at random from the electoral registers to sit at crown courts up and down the country.

Since it became harder to claim an exemption six years ago, the jury room has become one of the few places –

with the exception, perhaps, of the GP surgery – where all manner and estates of men and women come together.

Almost half a million adults perform jury service every year, from all walks of life, and the social mix is both

intentional and necessary.

The verdict should reflect the common-sense view that an ordinary person would take, presented with the same evidence.

This is not to say that maintaining the integrity of the system has not become harder, or that there is no jury-nobbling.

It may be illegal for jurors to try to research a defendant, or a witness, say, via the internet, or to communicate with

the outside world via mobile phone, though judges have – rightly – come down heavily when they find people breaking the rules.

Some highly technical cases may also be beyond most juries' ken.

All in all, though, a system in which 12 ordinary men and women judge their fellow citizens on behalf of the rest of us still works well.

For all the complaints of the judge at Southwark Crown Court, it might just be that the failure of the jury to agree

reflected the complexity of the case and the presence of so much information already in the public domain.

And if indeed this jury was at fault, we should give thanks that such demonstrated inadequacy is so rare.

YOU GOV and you

Are you a member ?

How long does it take you to earn £50 ?

An eternity ?

It feels like it !

How selective are YOU GOV in deciding who may complete which survey?

Are the questions really relevant ?

Mostly not ?

Since 25^th January 2005 it is recorded that I have redeemed two x £50

And I have £46.95 earned since 30^th Aug 2010

Through out  I have redeemed just 500 points for the prize draw

So it has taken me 2.5 years to earn £46.95

Points start at 25 points /pence for answering a survey.

Surveys take from 10minutes each and upwards to answer

Just thought you would like to know.

I have asked You Gov to increase the amount they pay for each survey

and be more transparent about who they select to complete any particular survey all to no avail.

Clearly people who complete the surveys are not motivated by wealth

And those who don’t are clearly not motivated by being exploited.

I really must review my decision to take part when I next receive £50

Radical

Other recipients:

As from yesterday, I have just noticed that without warning, the "UK only Sites" option has been removed from www.google.co.uk home page.

Why has this change been made?

The option was very useful and even though you can get UK only content by clicking on "Pages from the UK"

on the search results, this is now a unconvieniant two step process and a backward step.

Please could you at least provide an option under Preferences to allow you to put back the original home page option.
Thank-you.

Other recipients:

Google have deliberately removed this function from the first page, so that you have to load two pages and

endure their mandatory adverts before you are allowed to make a country specific search.  You also need to

keep the side bar activated, which, if you're using a netbook with a small screen, renders the search results

unreadable.........There is a work around that seems to work at the moment. 

This URL: http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?cr=countryUK performs a UK pages only search straight from the first screen. 

It means having two Google bookmarks/favourites set up, one for the global only URL and one for the UK only

URL, but it does seem to get around the removal of this useful function.

Alternatively, other search engines are still giving users the option to search within their own country from the

first page.  Altavista, Bing and Ask Jeeves, for example, have all retained country-specific buttons on the first page.

Today in Labor History: Paul Robeson dies

January 23 2013

On January 23, 1976, noted singer and actor Paul Robeson died in Philadelphia.

Robeson was also a legendary civil rights and peace leader and athlete.

He was hounded by McCarthy-era witch-hunting committees, deprived of his livelihood and his right to travel for his actions and his beliefs.

Ironically, soon after the turn of the century, Robeson's fame was carried throughout the nation by a beautiful 37-

cent postage stamp bearing his portrait and calling him "an incomparable artist and singer, human rights

advocate, scholar and athlete, defender of Black freedom."

Many events were held in 1998 on the 100^th anniversary of his birth. Calling Robeson "a great fighter for equality

and world peace, a genius who gave his heart and soul to the people," Jarvis Tyner, executive vice chair of the

Communist Party USA, said he "embraced all the advanced ideas of the CPUSA, the need for a socialist

transformation of society, for unity of Black, Brown and white.

If you look at his writings and you know the party's history and policies," Tyner added, "he was an important

figure, helping to give leadership in the party's formulation of its policies."

Paul Robeson, athlete, scholar, singer, actor and civil rights advocate, rose to fame at a time when segregation

was legal in the U.S., and Black people were being lynched by racist mobs.

Robeson's father, a runaway slave, graduated from Lincoln University, and his mother came from an abolitionist Quaker family.

Robeson attended Rutgers University on a four-year academic scholarship.

He won 15 varsity letters and was twice named to the All-American football team.

He became Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year and graduated as valedictorian.

At Columbia Law School, Robeson met and married Eslanda Cardoza Goode, who would become the first Black

woman to head a pathology laboratory.

He took a job in a law firm, but left when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him.

He then shifted to an acting and singing career.  

Because Robeson was an outspoken activist, striking workers and peace and friendship with the Soviet Union,

he was targeted by the McCarthy era witch-hunting House Un-American Activities Committee.

Robeson refused to yield to the committee, which he considered to oppose freedom of expression of those

working for international friendship and peace.

He is famously quoted: "The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery.

I have made my choice. I had no alternative."

Sixty of his concerts were cancelled, and in 1949 two interracial outdoor concerts in Peekskill, N.Y., were attacked

by racist mobs.

"I'm going to sing wherever the people want me to sing," Robeson responded, "and I won't be

frightened by crosses burning in Peekskill or anywhere else."

In 1950 the government revoked Robeson's passport, leading to an eight-year battle to win it back and to travel again.

Beginning in 1952, the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union sponsored four annual Robeson concerts at Peace

Arch Park on the U.S.-Canadian border, with as many as 40,000 in attendance.

Photo: September 1942, Paul Robeson, world famous baritone, leading Moore Shipyard [Oakland, CA] workers in

singing the Star Spangled Banner, at their lunch hour recently, after he told them: "This is a serious job---winning

this war against fascists. We have to be together." Source: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives

Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, MD.

Jim Hacker: "Don't tell me about the press. I know exactly who reads the papers:
-

The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country;
-

The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country;
-

The Times is read by people who actually do run the country;
-

The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country;
-

The Financial Times is read by people who own the country;
-

The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country;
-

And the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is."

Sir Humphrey: "Prime Minister, what about the people who read the Sun?"

Bernard: "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits."

PM Jim Hacker: "Don't tell me about the press. I know exactly who reads the papers:

Sir Humphrey: "Prime Minister, what about the people who read the Sun?"

Bernard Wooley: "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as its got big tits

National newspapers in the UK were traditionally divided by format,

between the relatively respectable and intelligent broadsheets and the

scurrilous, gossip- and crime-obsessed tabloids.

The latter are generally subdivided into the 'mid-market' tabloids and, at

the lower end, those known colloquially as the 'red-tops' after their red-background title logos.

 Several of the broadsheet newspapers have now adopted tabloid or

'Berliner' physical formats, but the divide in reputation between the two types remains.

The UK press is collectively known as "Fleet Street" most of

them have now left that particular London locale in favour of Canary Wharf.

Circulation figures correct as of January 2013

The Daily Mail - 1,945,496 copies per day

WILL PENSIONS CRISIS CAUSED BY MARXIST GAY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM THE HITLER-BACKED EU CHEATING ON BENEFITS AND GETTING MARRIED CAUSE HOUSE PRICE CRASH AND CANCER IN MARGINALIZED WHITE CHRISTIANS?!?

—Every single Daily Mail issue ever, distilled into a single headline

The Guardian and The Observer - 215,988 copies a day

Statistics indicate that Guardian readers tend to either hole up in community theaters or sit around Starbucks sipping Frappucinos while talking about how big businesses are crushing the lower-classes.

—Uncyclopedia

The Daily Telegraph - 578,774 copies a day

To escape jury duty read  the Telegraph and wear a bowler hat

—John Mortimer

The Sun - 2,582,301 copies per day

Are you a paedo? Are you a paedo? Have a bang on her tits, 16 today!

—Russell Howard on a typical edition

The Morning Star

 CIRCULATION FIGURES ARE A TOOL OF THE REACTIONARY CLASS!

Down with Imperialism!

—All of them. "Imperialism" in this context may be translated as "everything I don't like."

Are You Living In The Real World?

by Jeffrey Israel

April 13, 2012, 1:03 PM

The accusation “you are not living in the real world” is always either ideological, narcissistic, or a poorly phrased

attempt to say something else.

But it is frequently used.

I will explore its meaning here.

Let me first offer some stipulative definitions. 

By ideological I mean:

complicit in a distortion of the truth that benefits some class of people at the expense of others.

By narcissistic I mean:

characterized by an inability to perceive the lives of others as anything other than examples of one’s own

idiosyncratic preconceptions.

Political conversations are often rife with ideological usages.

“You’re not living in the real world!

Social welfare programs don’t actually help anyone –

they just waste money on government bureaucracy and get exploited by lazy people!”

“You’re not living in the real world!

Lower taxes for people in the top brackets will not boost the economy –

it is just one of the many strategies used by rich racist elites to maintain their hegemony!”       

Probably both of these are false or at least not entirely true.

In the first case, the accuser is distorting the truth that many social welfare programs provide essential services

to people who would not be disqualified even if you accept the precondition that only “hardworking” people

deserve such services.

To the extent that it succeeds, this distortion benefits those who do not want to pay higher taxes to fund social

welfare programs.

Its success would come at the expense of people who need such programs.

In the second case, the accuser is distorting the truth that some people who want lower taxes on individuals with

wealth and high incomes take this position on the basis of a principled view about how to promote the common good.

To the extent that this distortion succeeds,

it benefits those who want American politics to be widely perceived as a Manichaean struggle

in which “the Left” represents the forces of good and “the Right” represents the forces of evil.

The success of this distortion would come at the expense of those principled conservatives who are thereby

preemptively branded as evil.     

In both cases, “you’re not living in the real world!” functions as an ad hominem preface to a distortion.

Particularly nefarious, it turns a conversation that should be about political values into a conversation about

one’s credentials as a citizen of “the real world.”

Instead, all parties involved should take for granted and readily admit that they are susceptible to false beliefs about history, society, policy, and so forth.

They should also confess their predispositions.

With these background conditions in place, the conversation ought then to proceed in conditional statements: “If

X is true, then Y seems like the right policy for promoting the common good.”

This kind of conditional construction can be a paradigm for non-ideological political discourse.

You can use it to regulate your own predispositions and susceptibility to false beliefs.

And you can look for it in the rhetoric of others in order to measure the extent to which their political language is ideological.

When the conversation is thus framed it is easier to stay focused on questions of value: what is “the common good”?

What would our society look like at its best?

What is every person entitled to by virtue of being a person?

How can we measure the degree of justice in our society?

And so on.    

The phrase “you are not living in the real world” is also used in less directly political contexts.

I have often heard it deployed against “academics in the Ivory Tower,” who, it is suggested, live among abstract

theories and speak to each other in insider jargon far away from the everyday concerns and language of “real” people.

Going over to the Dark Side, a scholar might level the same accusation against his accusers:

professionals, politicians, people muddling through the daily grind cannot perceive their own lives in an

historical or comparative context or with any analytic clarity –

they are the ones so mired in the contingencies of each passing moment that they are “not living in the real world.”

Secularists and religionists likewise accuse each other of “not living in the real world.”

And we can come up with many more examples.

All such cases of ideological rhetoric pose the question: who stands to benefit from the distortion? Cui bono?

The quintessential narcissistic usage is the kind addressed by an “adult” to his younger:

“You’re not living in the real world! Majoring in Classics with a focus on ancient Greek drama is a waste of time!

Your political idealism will mature into cynical self-interest when you grow up! If you get a tattoo no one will ever take you seriously!”

There is a wonderful community of Classics scholars teaching and writing around the world and anyone would

be privileged to join it.

There are many genuine adults whose political motivations derive from moral ideals rather than cynical self-interest.

And tattoos are only taboo in very specific social sectors. In other sectors, a good tattoo will garner respect.

The response to the narcissist prescribed by the Sages is: “Yeah, well, ya know, that’s just like, uh, you’re opinion, man.”

When “you are not living in the real world” is ideological or narcissistic, is it not in fact the case that the one who

makes the accusation is the one who, ironically, is not living in the real world?

No. While this irony would undoubtedly satisfy the accused, it is not in fact the case.

Everyone who is living is living in the real world.

At the same time, life generally includes ample distortions and misperceptions of what is true and what false.

It includes acts of simple lying, the state that we describe as “in denial,” instances of believing something to be

true that you have every reason to believe is true even though it is actually false, and so on.

When “you are not living in the real world” is leveled non-ideologically and non-narcissistically I assume that the

intended meaning is usually something like: “you are making a mistake.”

The intention is to communicate to the accused that something he takes to be true is actually false or that he is

failing to perceive something appropriately.

There is nothing wrong with telling another person that you think he is making this kind of mistake.

But there are more and less tactful ways to do so.

It is always better to address the mistake directly and to set about clearing it up with further argumentation or verifiable evidence.

Telling someone that he or she is naïve is never anything more than gratuitous and insulting.     

So the ideological and narcissistic accusers should not be mocked for ironically diagnosing others with a

condition that they in fact have.

There is no such condition as “not living in the real world”!

Such an accusation should be criticized for being ideological or narcissistic.

In the other cases, the phrase is just unproductive and rude.

LETTER FROM SCOTLAND

25th January 2013, Burns Night

John Knox 
 

Burns’ Cottage

“O wert thou in the cauld blast….”

It seems right to start with one of Burns’ wistful love-songs on this cauld Burns Day.

“Or did misfortunes bitter storms around thee blaw/

Thy bield (shelter) should be my bosom/

To share it a’.”

We’ve been having a cauld blast all week with roads snowed under, 150 schools closed in the North East and the

Borders and lots of pictures in the media of children on sledges, cars buried in snow, dented vehicles by the

roadside, pandas at the zoo making friends with snowmen, and Shetland ponies dressed in Shetland jumpers.

Even the hedgehogs have been suffering from the cold, with a rising number being handed in to the Scottish SPCA (707 last year).

The snow has led to worst tragedies too. In one of the worst mountain accidents for years, four climbers were killed in an avalanche in Glencoe.

They were swept a thousand feet down Bidean Nam Bian in what the first minister described as “an appalling accident”.

Two of the party survived, though one of them was seriously injured.

They were all experienced climbers, from various parts of the UK, and Glencoe mountain rescue team, who went

to their aid, said afterwards that the party were simply unlucky and had not done anything foolhardy.

We also learned that two Scots were among the 38 victims of last week’s terrorist attack on the gas plant in the Algerian desert.

The politicians have been saying that the attack highlights the need for greater security for oil and gas workers

and for the West to focus more attention on the threat of Al-Qaeda-inspired groups swarming through North Africa.

The unemployment figures have shown another fall, to 207,000 or 7.8 per cent of the workforce.

But it has not led to any rejoicing, since the figure disguises the fact that many people have simply given up looking for a job.

The number in work is down 24,000.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported that the number of young Scots out of work has doubled to 90,000

since the recession began and those in part-time employment has also doubled to 120,000.

Among the unemployed are the 5,000 Scottish construction workers who are said to be on an employers blacklist

because of their trade union activities or simply because they have raised health and safety concerns.

The blacklist only came to light when the Information Commission raided the offices in Droitwich of an agency

calling itself the Consulting Association.

Trade unions say 40 leading British companies have been using the Association to vet its prospective

employees, including firms working on the new Forth bridge. Shocking.

It’s been another referendum week – not Alex Salmond’s but David Cameron’s.

Mr Cameron promised that if re-elected, he would hold an in-or-out referendum on the European Union.

Mr Salmond used question time in the Scottish Parliament to tease the Conservatives by saying it appears the

only way Scotland could remain in the EU would be if it became independent.

He accused Mr Cameron of “making for the exit door of the European Union” while at the same time urging the

Scots to stay in the British Union.

The opposition parties brought him down to earth a little by pointing out that the latest opinion poll, based on the

annual Social Attitudes Survey, put support for independence at only 23 per cent.

That’s sharply down on the figure for last year (32 per cent) and the experts are attributing that to a rising “fear

factor” as the economy worsens.

However support for a stronger form of devolution remains high, with 67 per cent saying the Scottish Parliament

should either make all decisions or all except foreign affairs and defence.

It will be interesting to see how the two referendums play out against each other over the next few months and years.

Will they define the political debate or will they be pushed to the sidelines as people worry more directly about the economy.

Both Mr Cameron and Mr Salmond will probably have to learn the lesson of Burns’ famous mouse about best laid

schemes o’ mice and men ganging aft agley.

And if that’s not frightening enough, try the last verse of that poem, in which the mouse has the advantage over the man:

“Still, thou art blest, compared wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee.
But och, I backward cast my e’e
On prospects drear
An’ forward tho’ I canna see
I guess and fear !”

 
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner,

think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,

but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E.
A billion Dollars ago was only 13 hours and 12 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

Stamp Duty
Tobacco Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Income Tax
Council Tax
Unemployment Tax
Fishing Licence Tax
Petrol/Diesel Tax
Inheritance Tax
(tax on top of tax)
Alcohol Tax
G.S.T.
Property Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Vehicle Licence / Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Carbon Dioxide Tax
 
 

New Scientiist

SAVE the planet, save your pension.

A new report claims that environmental problems could bust pension funds by 2050.

Aled Jones of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues drew together evidence about a

wide range of environmental problems, from water shortages to atmospheric pollution to climate change.

They plugged these into models used to predict the values of pension funds.

Jones ran several scenarios, varying how quickly governments and industry responded to environmental problems.

The results are published by the UK's Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFA).

In almost all cases the value of funds began to fall before 2100.

In the worst-case scenario, where governments and markets did nothing,

values dropped steeply from around 2020 and fell to zero by 2050.

"Despite strong evidence that there is a risk that resource constraints could have significant economic impacts,

these risks are not being factored in by many actors in the global economy," says Peter Tompkins of the IFA

George Bradshaw

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
George Bradshaw (1801–1853), by Richard Evans, 1841

Windsor Bridge, Pendleton near Salford, Lancashire, England

Died 6 September 1853 (aged 52) Oslo, Norway

Cause of death Cholera

Known for Bradshaw's guides and timetables
Religion Society of Friends

Children 2
George Bradshaw (29 July 1801 – 6 September 1853) was an English cartographer, printer and publisher.

He is best known for developing the most successful and longest published series of combined railway timetables.

Biography

Bradshaw was born at Windsor Bridge, Pendleton, in Salford, Lancashire.

On leaving school he was apprenticed to an engraver named Beale in Manchester, and in 1820 he set up his own

engraving business in Belfast, returning to Manchester in 1822 to set up in that city as an engraver and printer,

principally of maps. [1]

He was a religious man.

Although his parents were far from wealthy, when he was young they enabled him to take lessons from a minister

devoted to the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

He later joined the Society of Friends (the Quakers) and gave a considerable part of his time to philanthropic work.

[1] He worked a great deal with radical reformers such as Richard Cobden in organising peace conferences and in

setting up schools and soup kitchens for the poor of Manchester. [2] It is his belief as a Quaker that is quoted as

causing the early editions of Bradshaw's guides to have avoided using the names of months based upon Roman

deities (i.e. a "pagan" usage).

(Quaker usage was (and sometimes still is) "First month" for January, "Second month" for February and so on.

Days of the week were "First day" for Sunday and so on.)

In 1841, he founded a high quality weekly magazine, edited by George Falkner, called Bradshaw's Manchester

Journal, described as "a 16-page miscellany of art, science and literature, to sell at the cheap price of a penny-

halfpenny a week. ... After the first six months, the Journal was renamed Bradshaw’s Journal: A Miscellany of

Literature, Science and Art, and the place of publication moved to London, where the title was taken on by William

Strange", but the journal survived only until 1843.[3]

He married on 15 May 1839.

While touring Norway in 1853 he contracted cholera and died in September of that

year without being able to return to England.

He is interred in the cemetery adjoining the cathedral in Oslo.[2][4][5]

Bradshaw's railway timetables

Early history

Bradshaw's name was already known as the publisher of Bradshaw's Maps of Inland Navigation, which detailed

the canals of Lancashire and Yorkshire, when, on 19 October 1839, soon after the introduction of railways, the

world's first compilation of railway timetables was published in Manchester.

It cost sixpence (6d/2½p) and was a cloth-bound book entitled Bradshaw's Railway Time Tables and Assistant to

Railway Travelling, the title being changed in 1840 to Bradshaw's Railway Companion, and the price raised to one

shilling.[1]

A new volume was issued at occasional intervals and from time to time a supplement served to keep this up to date.

The original Bradshaw publications were before the limited introduction of standardised Railway time in November 1840, and its subsequent development into Standard time.

In December 1841, acting on a suggestion made by his London agent, William Jones Adams, Bradshaw reduced

the price of his timetables to the original sixpence, and began to issue them monthly under the title Bradshaw's

Monthly Railway Guide. [1] Many railway companies were unhappy with Bradshaw's timetable, but Bradshaw was

able to circumvent this by becoming a railway shareholder and by putting his case at company AGMs.[6] Soon the

book, in the familiar yellow wrapper,[2] became synonymous with its publisher: for Victorians and Edwardians

alike, a railway timetable was "a Bradshaw", no matter by which railway company it had been issued, or whether

Bradshaw had been responsible for its production or not.
 
 
Timetable from the 1850 Bradshaw

The eight page edition of 1841 had grown to 32 pages by 1845 and to 946 pages by 1898 although unusually, in April 1845, the issue number jumped from 40 to 141.[6]

The publisher claimed this was an innocent mistake, although it has been speculated as a commercial ploy, where

more advertising revenue could be generated by making the publication look longer-established than it really was.

Whatever the reason for the change, the numbering continued from 141.

When, in 1865, Punch praised Bradshaw's publications, it stated that "seldom has the gigantic intellect of man

been employed upon a work of greater utility."

At last, some order had been imposed on the chaos that had been created by some 150 rail companies whose

tracks criss-crossed the country and whose largely uncoordinated network was rapidly expanding.

Bradshaw minutely recorded all changes and became the standard manual for rail travel well into the 20th century.

By 1918 Bradshaw had risen in price to two shillings (2s/10p) and by 1937 to half a crown (2s-6d/12½p).

Although historic money values are difficult to calculate, this would have been equivalent to perhaps £6.00 at 2009 values.

Later history

Bradshaw became less necessary from 1923, when more than 100 surviving companies were "grouped" into the Big Four.

This change reduced dramatically the range and number of individual timetables produced by the companies themselves.

They now published a much smaller number of substantial compilations which between them covered the country.

Ironically, between 1923 and 1939 three of the Big Four transferred their timetable production to Bradshaw's

publisher Henry Blacklock & Co., and most of the official company timetables therefore became reprints of the

relevant pages from Bradshaw.

Only the Great Western Railway retained its own format.

Between the two world wars, the verb 'to Bradshaw' was a derogatory term used in the Royal Air Force to refer to

pilots who could not navigate well, perhaps related to a perceived lack of ability shown by those who navigated by

following railway lines.

Regrettably, the 20th century brought about no improvement to the cramped Victorian typography of the earlier

issues and a certain inertia became apparent.

By the 1950s Bradshaw looked distinctly old-fashioned, although the information was as good as ever.

When the railways were nationalised in 1948, five of the six British Railways Regions had followed the companies'

example by using Henry Blacklock & Co to produce their own timetable books, but production was eventually

moved to other publishers.

This change must have reduced Henry Blacklock & Co's revenue substantially.

Parts of Bradshaw began to be reset in the newer British Railways style from 1955, but modernisation of the whole

volume was never completed.

By 1961 a single Bradshaw cost 12s 6d (62½p), although a complete set of BR Regional timetables could be bought for 6s (30p).

The conclusion was inevitable, and the last edition, No. 1521, was dated May 1961.

The Railway Magazine of that month printed a valedictory article by Charles E. Lee.

Reprints of various past Bradshaws have been produced.

References in literature

19th century and early 20th century novelists make frequent references to a character's "Bradshaw".

Dickens refers it in his short story The Portrait-Painter's Story (1861).

In Around the World in 80 Days, Phileas Fogg carries a Bradshaw.

In particular, crime writers were fascinated with trains and timetables, especially as a new source of alibis.

Examples are Ronald Knox's The Footsteps at the Lock (1928) and novels by Freeman Wills Crofts.

Perhaps the most famous mention is by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes story The Valley of Fear:

"the vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited."

Other references include another Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, Lewis Carroll's

long poem Phantasmagoria, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, which makes note of Count Dracula reading an "English

Bradshaw's Guide" as part of his planning for his voyage to England. In the 1866 comic opera Cox and Box, the

following exchange takes place:

BOX: Have you read this month's Bradshaw, sir?
COX: No, sir. My wife wouldn’t let me.[7]

There is also a reference in Death in the Clouds (1935) by Agatha Christie: "Mr. Clancy, writer of detective stories ...

extracted a Continental Bradshaw from his raincoat pocket ... to work out a complicated alibi." Bradshaw is also

mentioned in The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. In Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938), the second Mrs.

de Winter observes that "Some people have a vice of reading Bradshaws.

They plan innumerable journeys across country for the fun of linking up impossible connections." (chapter 2).

Another reference to a "Bradshaw" occurs in an aside in Riddle of the Sands (1903) by Erskine Childers: "... an

extraordinary book, Bradshaw, turned to from habit, even when least wanted, as men fondle guns and rods in the

close season."

In G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, the protagonist, Gabriel Syme, praises Bradshaw as a poet of

order: "No, take your books of mere poetry and prose; let me read a time table, with tears of pride.

Take your Byron, who commemorates the defeats of man; give me Bradshaw, who commemorates his victories.

Give me Bradshaw, I say!" In Max Beerbohm's Zuleika Dobson (1911), a satirical fantasy of Oxford undergraduates,

a Bradshaw is listed as one of the two books in the "library" of the irresistible Zuleika.

Although not a direct reference to the Bradshaw railway timetable, it is also worth noting the name of the character

of Sir William Bradshaw in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

Considering this character's association with rigorous quantitative measurement, it is quite possible that the name

was chosen deliberately by Woolf.[citation needed]

Bradshaw's is also mentioned in some modern novels with a period setting. It is directly mentioned in Philip

Pullman's The Shadow in the North (Sally Lockhart Quartet).
 

Bradshaw's Air Guide

In 1934 Bradshaw also began publishing a guide to the major airline routes both within Europe and those

transcontinental flights that originated from Europe and the UK.

Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide

In June 1847 the first number of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide was issued, giving the timetables of the

Continental railways, just as Bradshaw's Monthly Railway Guide gave the timetables of the railways of the United Kingdom.

The Continental Railway Guide eventually grew to over 1,000 pages, including timetables, guidebook and hotel directory.

It was discontinued in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War.

Briefly resurrected in the interwar years, it saw its final edition in 1939.

The 1913 edition was republished in September 2012.[8]

Bradshaw's and other printed timetables today

In December 2007, the Middleton Press[9] was one publisher which took advantage of Network Rail's willingness

to grant third-party publishers the right to print paper versions of the National Rail timetable.

Network Rail itself had discontinued official hard copies in favour of pdf editions, which can be downloaded without charge.

As an appropriate tribute to Bradshaw, the Middleton Press named its timetables the Bradshaw-Mitchell's Rail Times.

A competing edition of the National Rail timetable, again reproduced from Network Rail's own artwork, is

published by TSO,[10]

This is a same-size reproduction of the Network Rail artwork, although the size is only about 70% in the Middleton

Press versions to reduce the page count.

It is said that even for those with keen eyesight the Middleton Press version is physically impossible to read with the naked eye.

A third publisher, UK Rail Timetables,[11] has been set up to produce printed timetables, but announced

publishing dates (or seasons) have been repeatedly missed.

The problem faced by such publishers is that all franchised train operating companies in Britain are obliged to

produce free booklets for their own services, while many passengers also obtain timetable information from the

website of National Rail Enquiries (or third-party ticket retailers) instead.

It may well be that the majority of purchasers of the surviving hard-copy editions are railway enthusiasts rather

than ordinary rail users, although the hard copies do continue to be bought by many reference libraries.[original research?]

The main timetable for Indian Railways is still known as Newman's Indian Bradshaw.

Great British Railway Journeys/Great Continental Railway Journeys

Michael Portillo used a copy of what was described as a Bradshaw's guide (specifically the 1863 edition of

Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Hand-Book of Great Britain and Ireland) for Great British Railway Journeys, a

BBC Two television series in which he travelled across Britain.

The first series was broadcast in early 2010, a second in early 2011, followed by a third in early 2012.

At the end of 2012, a special series, Great Continental Railway Journeys, was broadcast featuring Portillo using the

1913 edition of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide to make a series of journeys through various European

countries and territories

The two sides of Marilyn Monroe

Chávez assimilating treatment and in stable condition

CARACAS, January 7.—Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is assimilating the treatment being applied with all

due rigor and has remained stable, Communication and Information Minister Ernesto Villegas stated today.

Speaking on national radio and television, Villegas noted that Chávez is in a stable condition in relation to the

situation described in the most recent medical report referring to his respiratory insufficiency.

Prensa Latina has circulated the complete text of the official communiqué on the instructions of Vice President Nicolás Maduro (PL).

COMMUNIQUE FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is informing the Venezuelan and other sister peoples of

the clinical evolution of President Hugo Chávez after the operation performed on December 11.

The Bolivarian government is in constant contact with the medical team treating Comandante Chávez, as well as

family members accompanying him in the post-operation process in Havana, Cuba.

The President is in a stable condition in relation to the situation described in the most recent report, which

informed of the respiratory insufficiency confronted by Comandante Chávez as a consequence of a post-

operative pulmonary infection.

He is receiving rigorous and constant treatment and assimilating it.

The Bolivarian government reiterates its commitment to keep the Venezuelan people informed of the health of the

President, and calls on them to ignore the messages of psychological warfare coming from abroad in order to

disturb the Venezuelan family.

The Bolivarian government congratulates the people and students, teachers and educational workers, fathers,

mothers and representatives on the recommencement of classes in the 2012-2013 school year.

At the same time, it thanks enterprises in the agribusiness sector who attended a working meeting with the Vice

President and Cabinet ministers directed at coordinating efforts to halt food hoarding and speculation, and

reiterates its commitment to guarantee stable supplies of basic products for the Venezuelan people.

¡Que viva Chávez!

Caracas, January 7, 2013.

Airlines with the worst safety records

Radical - Travelled Air India - Never Again !

AgeUK.org.uk

Pension Calculator planning for your retirement

What you need?

To get the most out of the Age UK pension calculator you should have the following documents to hand:

·                 A recent  state pension forecast

·                 Recent benefit statements from any pension schemes due to pay you a pension at retirement. Scheme

or pension providers usually send you these once a year or provide details online

·                 Information about any other savings and investments if you’re planning to use them as savings for

retirement, for example the amount built up so far and whether the savings are tax free or not.

Don’t worry if you don’t have these documents, you can still use this pension calculator.

How couples should complete the calculator

If you’re a couple, you can decide jointly how much income your household might need in retirement, but you’ll

each need to work through the calculator independently to check whether you’re on track.

This is because you each build up your own state and private pensions, depending on your personal record of

work, earnings and other circumstances.

How long will it take?

We estimate it will take you around 30 minutes to complete the whole calculator.

But this timing is only a guide. If you don’t want to complete the calculator in one go, you can save your work and come back to it at a later date.

Saving your information

You can stop and save your progress at any time.

You might find this helpful if you need to find out some more information and you don’t want to lose the information you’ve entered already.

If you use the save function, you’ll be asked for your email address and a password. You can then return to the pension calculator and complete it at a later date.

At the end you’ll get a personal summary plan that you can print out and refer to.

Your information will remain confidential at all times.

How accurate is the guidance?

The guidance provided by the calculator is as accurate as it can be, but please note the following:

The guidance you get out is dependent on the information you put in.

Your benefit statements and state pension forecast are estimates that usually change from year to year.

Therefore, it’s wise to check your savings for retirement by re-running the pension calculator every 12 months.

The pension calculator helps you plan ahead and, to do so, it has to make a number of assumptions, such as the

rate of inflation over the years until your retirement.

Click on the ‘More information’ tab at the side to read about the assumptions on which the pension calculator is based.

Confidentiality

The pension calculator ensures that the information you enter is for your eyes only.

You won’t be asked to enter your name or address, but you will be entering financial details about yourself.

When you’ve finished using the pension calculator, if you press the save button these details are saved.

However, if you’ve completed the pension calculator in one go and not saved the information then your details will not be kept

State pension - how much are you entitled to?

Moneywise – Mon, Dec 31, 2012 11:21 GMT

The basic state pension is paid to people over state pension age who have made enough national insurance contributions in qualifying years.

The number of qualifying years you need to get a full basic state pension of £107.45 a week depends on your age

and sex: • Men born before 6 April 1945 usually need 44 qualifying years • Men born on or after 6 April 1945 need

30 qualifying years • Women born before 6 April 1950 usually need 39 qualifying years • Women born on or after 6

April 1950 need 30 qualifying years.

If you have reached state pension age without building up the full entitlement you will still be able to claim a portion of the state pension.

How much will depend on how many qualifying years you have built up.

You can get a state pension forecast at direct.gov.uk.

Pension Credit – who's eligible and how to claim it Pension Credit is a means-tested benefit designed to top up

low pension incomes. It is not linked to national insurance contributions and around four million people are

entitled to it, but only one in three of those eligible actually claim it.

It is made up of two parts – the Guarantee Credit and the Savings Credit.

The Guarantee Credit is designed to top up everyone's state pension to £142.70 a week if you are single, or

£217.90 for couples.

The Savings Credit is designed to reward people who have made some provision for their retirement such as savings or a second pension.

You need to have a weekly pension income of at least £111.80 for single people (£178.35 for couples) in order to

be eligible for the Savings Credit. The amount you can receive from the credit is capped at £18.54 per week for

single people and £23.73 for couples.

“Pension credit can make a significant difference to a person's quality of life”, says Michelle Mitchell, charity

director general of Age UK.

Unfortunately, at present there is a “benefits maze facing older people,” she says.

You can navigate the maze with Age UK's pension For once in credit calculator available at ageuk.org.uk

Pension Credit
 
About 4 million older people are entitled to Pension Credit, yet about 1 in 3 of those eligible are still not claiming it.

If you’re one of them, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of pounds a year.

There are two parts of Pension Credit - you may be eligible to receive one or both of them.

Guarantee Credit tops up your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level set up by the Government.

Savings Credit is extra money for people who have an income higher than the Basic State Pension or who have a small amount of savings.

Can I claim Pension Credit?

• The minimum age to qualify for Guarantee Credit is gradually rising from age 60 to 66.

The current minimum age for Savings Credit is 65.

• Pension Credit is means-tested so your income and savings are taken into account when it is worked out.

Pension Credit includes help towards mortgage payments and service charges for home owners, and extra