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December 10th, 2009UncategorizedSir James Dyson, the entrepreneur behind the bagless vacuum, has unveiled a hand-held cleaner with a motor that spins faster than a Formula 1 car -
December 9th, 2009UncategorizedThe Gibraltar Parliament, which is part of the South West region in the Euro elections, this week voted to defeat the gay age of consent equality bill, which would have established an equal age of consent of 16. SW Greens have joined Peter Tatchell in calling for the UK Government to intervene.Ryan Cleminson, Coordinator of the SW Greens LGBT group said, “The Government of Gibraltar is required by European Court of Human Rights rulings to equalise the age of consent for same-sex relationships. I urge David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to intervene and let Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Peter Caruana know that Gibraltar cannot be allowed to evade its human rights obligations."
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December 8th, 2009UncategorizedMaximo Park's frontman Paul Smith has commissioned a special suit with a reinforced crotch for his Glastonbury performances.
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December 7th, 2009Uncategorized
With any luck this will be my last word on the issue of Sir Fred Goodwin's pension.
First, it is possible to do a calculation that shows he has given up all the enhancement to the value of his pot that came when he left by mutual agreement rather than being sacked.
Here's the maths.
His enhanced pot at the end of 2008 was worth £16.6m.
Without the enhancement, the pot would have been worth £10.2m (this is not a number that has ever been published).
The gap between the two is therefore £6.4m.
Today he is giving up £4.7m.
And in October he gave up around £2m in contractual pay and further associated pension contributions.
Hey presto: the gap is closed.
Which is the sort of calculation that really matters to the government, because it was so adamant that Sir Fred should only receive his contractual minimum.
However the rest of the world will note that his contractual minimum - a £2.7m tax-free lump sum (worth £4.5m before tax) and £342,500 per annum - is pretty handsome.
Second, while it is the case that RBS's internal review found no evidence of wrongdoing or misconduct by Sir Fred, the bank was advised by leading counsel that there was a reasonable legal basis for suing him for the return of some of the pension pot - and Sir Philip Hampton, RBS's chairman, told Sir Fred he was happy to seem him in court.
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December 6th, 2009Uncategorized
Homophobic and transphobic attacks are on the increase in the UK.
There has been a nationwide upswing of 9% and a frightening 63% increase in homophobic crime in the Manchester area in the past year.
Crown Prosecution Service figures show that prosecutions for crimes involving homophobia rose 60% over the past two years. Scotland Yard and the Greater Manchester Police have each expressed "exceptional concern" over the increases. -
December 5th, 2009UncategorizedFear of having to reveal their sexual orientation deters some women who are abused in lesbian relationships from seeking help, new research shows.
The study, presented to the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in Cardiff, reports that abusive lesbian relationships can involve physical assaults, sexual coercion and emotional cruelty, just as abusive heterosexual relationships can.
But fear of their colleagues or family finding out their concealed sexuality can deter some women from speaking to those closest to them or approaching the police, the research found. In one of the most detailed studies to date of abuse in lesbian relationships, Dr Rebecca Barnes interviewed 40 women aged between 21 and 70. The women were chosen because all had suffered some form of abuse.
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December 4th, 2009UncategorizedVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the CIA of being behind anti-government protests rocking Iran, and repeated his support for Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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July 16th, 2009UncategorizedI was quite interested in the reports of the Mansion house speeches by Mervin King, the Governor of the Bank of England, and Alistair Darling the alleged Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The bottom line appears to be this:
Alistair says that his predecessor is not the bringer of doom, and there is nothing wrong with the current regime, though obviously the Bank of England has to take responsibility to make the system stable.
Mervin says that's all well and good, but if you want us to make the system stable, is there any chance we could have the powers back that the bringer of doom took away from us when he created the ridiculous tri partite system back in 1997.
Needless to say Alistair is in a difficult position, because his boss is Gordon Brown, the bringer of doom.
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July 15th, 2009Uncategorized
The proposals, reported today, to make MMR jabs compulsory show how worried some public health professionals are about the number of young children who are not being given the injections.
As the BBC has reported, documents we received under freedom of information revealed how the London Strategic Health Authority was so concerned that it raised the possibility of compulsory vaccination with the Department of Health.
This is a brief from the Department of Health and Central Office of information for a public relations contract worth between £300,000 and £400,000 to promote the MMR vaccine.
The brief states: "A high profile advertising campaign would not be the right way forward at this stage. It may run the risk of bringing the controversy and debate back into the headlines - igniting a media debate and giving further voice to those opposed to MMR. From research and past experience we know that one of the best strategies for reassuring parents is to keep MMR out of the headlines."
The document illustrates well the difficulties faced by the Department of Health in its campaign to maximise the take-up of the vaccine.
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July 14th, 2009UncategorizedThe Anglo-American policy in the region is still focused on efforts of destabilization of the countries, and thus, provide both an excuse and a feasible situation to maintain control over the region.
Afghanistan and Iraq, often seen in the public view as two wars in the US-led ‘War on Terror’ which hopes to ‘rid the world of terrorism’, yet, in reality, these two major theatre wars are simply two geopolitical pivots in the broader strategy of Middle East and Eurasian imperial conquest.
