Blancer.com Tutorials and projects
Freelance Projects, Design and Programming Tutorials
world news,online new,us news,uk news
An online training course is launched to help police officers and fire and ambulance personnel prepare for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
US President Barack Obama is on his way to the Republic of Ireland at the start of a week-long tour of Europe, which also includes the UK, France and Poland.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Supporters of the opposition Popular Party are expecting strong gains Spain’s governing Socialists party has suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections, early results show.
With 91% of municipal votes counted, the centre-right Popular Party (PP) had almost a 10-percentage point lead, the interior ministry said.
Voting took place amid mass protests against high unemployment and the government’s handling of the economy.
Demonstrators holding sit-ins in Madrid and other cities said rallies would continue for another week.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero conceded his party had been resoundingly defeated but said he had no intention of calling early general elections.
He said three years of economic crisis had taken their toll.
“It destroyed thousands of jobs. It is a crisis that had profound effects on citizens’ morale. I know that many Spaniards suffer great hardship and fear for their futures,” he said.
“Today, without doubt, they expressed their discontent,” he added.
However, he vowed to pursue reforms to try to improve the economy until the end of his mandate. At this point, a general election must be held by March of next year.
Jubilant PP supporters celebrated outside their party headquarters in Madrid as the final votes were counted.
The party was also heading to victory in virtually all of the 13 regional government up for grabs.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government has been struggling to overcome recession and create jobs.
Spain’s overall jobless rate soared to 21% in the first quarter of this year, the highest in the industrialised world. Youth unemployment stands at 45%.
Meanwhile, thousands of young protesters remain camped out in squares across the country.
What began as a sit-in in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square a week ago has turned into a national protest movement popularly known as 15-M.
About 30,000 people were estimated to have occupied the central Puerta del Sol square in the run-up to the vote.
The protests, which have also taken place in cities including Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Bilbao, have so far been peaceful.
Demonstrators defied a government ban on political protests on the eve of the election.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The data is considered by experts to be among the most reliable indicators of school performance There are wide variations in GCSE results between schools the Welsh government expects to be performing at a similar level, BBC Wales can reveal.
The government places schools in ‘families’ – groups of around 10 – where pupils have similar levels of family income and special needs.
In one case a school’s results are 42% better than another in the same family.
The Welsh Government dismissed the tables as “extremely simplistic”
The details were obtained by BBC Wales under the Freedom of Information Act.
Following Friday’s publication of schools’ value added scores, it means BBC Wales has now made more information available on school performance than at any time since league tables were abolished in Wales in 2001.
Comparing exam performance within families of schools shows how a school measures up against others facing similar challenges.
It is considered to be fairer and more useful than ranking the country’s best and worst performing schools based solely on exam results.
For example, Cowbridge High School in the Vale of Glamorgan and Hawarden High School in Flintshire, which both serve relatively affluent areas, are in one group – while Pen-Y-Dre High school in Merthyr Tydfil and Glyn Derw High School in Cardiff, which are both in relatively deprived areas, are in another.
PDF download GCSE performance 2010 in Wales’ families of schools[64.6KB]
Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader
The publication of the family groups gives parents access to information about their local school which is similar to the way it has been presented by the Welsh government to head teachers for the last two years.
Education Minister Leighton Andrews has said that from next year no school will pass an inspection unless its governors can prove they have analysed family of school data.
Mr Andrews hopes head teachers and governors will set ambitious targets for school improvement based on their performance against other similar schools.
He has said there is “systemic failure” in the school system and accused teachers of “complacency in the classroom”.
In a speech in February, he suggested the Welsh government had its own plans to make some of this information public.
He said: “Data empowers people. “People need information on how their schools are performing.
“They also need to understand how their school is performing against the best in class.
“That doesn’t mean a return to league tables. It does mean ‘family of schools’ data being available so that all schools can learn from the best in class and high standards can be set by heads and by governors.”
BBC Wales has published details of the 20 family groups and two GCSE performance indicators for each school within them – the percentage of pupils in each school achieving five A* to C grades overall and also the percentage achieving five A* to C grades including the key subjects of English or Welsh and mathematics.
Both the Welsh and UK governments place an emphasis on candidates obtaining GCSEs in these subjects.
Overall, the percentage achieving this measure in Wales in 2010 was 49.4%, while in England it was 53.4%.
The information published by BBC Wales is not intended to present a definitive judgment on the performance of any given school and is based on the GCSE examination results of only the most recent year.
However, the publication of the results within family of school groupings gives parents more context than ever before when looking at GCSE performance at their local school.
For instance, the percentage of pupils achieving five A* to C grades including English or Welsh and Mathematics at Duffryn High School in Newport was 35%, considerably below the Welsh average.
However, the average within Duffryn High School’s family group was just 31.6 %, which indicates it performed better than other similar schools.
The variation between the top and bottom performers within groups will be a concern for the minister, who has accused schools of “coasting”.
The widest variation can be found in a family of schools with an average of 49.3% of pupils achieving five A* to C grades including English or Welsh and mathematics – 66% of pupils in Eirias High School in Conwy made the grade, while at Denbigh High School the figure was 24%.
“This is an extremely simplistic league table ranking schools according to a single piece of data from one school year”
Spokesman Welsh Government
The school has acknowledged the need for substantial improvement in English and mathematics at GCSE level and said there are strategies in place.
The Welsh Government said Mr Andrews had made it clear that he wanted to raise school performance and standards and outlined how he would do it.
“Our policy on not publishing league tables is well-known,” a spokesperson said.
“We do not believe that simplistic league tables have a role in the improvement agenda for Wales and that is why we scrapped them.
“This is an extremely simplistic league table ranking schools according to a single piece of data from one school year.
“To get a genuine view of a school’s performance you need to take account of a range of data, look at progress and context – what the BBC have done simply does not reflect what any school improvement professional or teacher would recognise as an informed and rounded view of school performance.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Rory Bremner says he was ‘scatty’ as a child Comedian Rory Bremner has found success in his ability to switch between impersonating many different people.
But behind this comic persona is a man who struggles to focus, loses the thread and takes on too many tasks that can leave his personal and professional life in disarray.
Rory had always put his chaotic lifestyle down to his personality.
However, after a young relation was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, a few years ago, Rory decided to investigate if he too may have the condition.
In a BBC Radio 4 documentary ‘ADHD and me’, he says: “When I think back to my childhood it’s with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. I was always forgetting things.
“My Mum called me scatty because I could never sit still. But there was no sense I was suffering from a medical condition as such.”
Rory travels to St Catherine’s Hospital on Merseyside to talk to a support group for adults with ADHD.
There he meets Gary, who was only diagnosed in later life when his son was told he had ADHD.
“It frustrates me when my mind wanders…”
Rory Bremner
But his problems started much earlier in life, at just 18-months-old, when he was found trying to get into cars in his street. ADHD has had an overwhelming impact on Gary’s life.
ADHD expert Professor Eric Taylor from King’s College London explains problems organising and planning ahead which are typical for someone suffering from the condition, as is the tendency to act without thinking about or understanding a situation.
Rory is quick to see the similarities with his own struggles to concentrate and his lack of common sense.
“It frustrates me when my mind wanders and when I end up reading the same words again and again.”
Rhys Sinclair, from East Lothian, was diagnosed with ADHD when he was six years old – but only after his mother, Avril, had convinced their GP to consider the disorder.
He had been regularly misbehaving at school and was often a nightmare to deal with at home.
After trying different approaches, Rhys’s family settled on treating him with medication which helped him focus more.
On completing his investigation, Rory says he understands more about his own ADHD tendencies, what it is like to live with the disorder and how society’s attitudes to it should change.
And finally he realises why he is constantly making lists and setting his watch five minutes fast.
Rory Bremner presents ADHD And Me on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 23 May, 8:00pm – 8:30pm.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
2010 Chelsea show gardens Imagine spending £250,000 and working for a year under immense pressure, only for your creation to be pulled apart after just one week. That is what is in store for the garden designers at this week’s Chelsea Flower Show. So why do they do it?
“It’s been a nightmare,” admits garden designer Diarmuid Gavin.
He is talking about his Chelsea show garden entry, The Irish Sky Garden, in which people are invited to fly 25 metres above the ground to view his work.
He also admits it has cost between £300,00 and £400,00.
Despite the “nightmare” however, he believes it is worth it.
The Irish Sky Garden is inspired by the film Avatar and is tipped to be a highlight of this year’s show “You’re creating an experience and if you hit on something that people like it’s just magic. It can be a lifetime’s achievement in one garden.”
There are 17 show gardens at this year’s Chelsea. The average cost is estimated to be £250,000 but can be much more, according to landscape architect Bunny Guinness. “There have been quite a few million pound ones. Everyone is very cagey about it (the cost).”
She has won six gold medals at Chelsea but her show garden this year is her first in eight years.
Bunny, who has also been a judge at Chelsea, explains it is a hard slog from the start: “To go out and get the sponsor (to pay for the garden) is difficult – you have to court them and it’s not easy.”
“It is tense on site, it’s quite tough, hard work, not plain sailing and you’re putting yourself up to be criticised.”
So why do it?
“It changes your whole profile. There’s nothing else for getting your name known around the world,” says Bunny.
“I’ve had clients come to me from the other side of the world because they’ve seen a picture of a garden I’ve done here.”
She adds: “It’s also fun. Putting together the garden in a short space of time is a real buzz.”
Sarah Eberle has won eight gold medals, including Best in Show, and believes most aspiring top landscape designers want to show at Chelsea to test themselves.
“(They want) to see how they perform under pressure, it’s a challenge.”
Her garden for the Principality of Monaco, has taken over her life for the last two years.
Leeds City Council’s 2010 Gold medal winning garden is now at Roundhay Park in Leeds “For me part of the charm is the success of the journey. It’s the whole process, the design, the planning of it and then in 19 days it has to be put into practice and that is a wonderful feeling.
“In the landscaping industry planning a garden and constructing it and seeing it come to fruition takes an awfully long time. So it’s a luxury for us just see it built and done to perfection in such a short space of time. It’s a bit of a self indulgence.”
In these hard financial times it may surprise some to find Leeds City Council at Chelsea. They are keen to point out their show gardens are entirely funded by local firm Hesco.
“It’s a really positive thing for Leeds, I’m very proud of it,” says Councillor Adam Ogilvy, Executive Member for Leisure at the Council.
“It raises the profile of the city. It’s a way of profiling apprenticeships and training for our park staff and we also involve school kids and young people.”
Ian Barker’s design for Fleming’s Nurseries – the plants are sourced from the northern hemisphere He adds: “We’re trying to break down the perceptions that this is an elitist project.”
A bit further afield Wes Fleming and his team from Fleming’s Nurseries have been coming over from Australia since 2004.
Wes admits their first visit was a “whim”, but he could not believe the response they got.
“It surprised the life out of me the amount of media we got in the UK and at home,” he says.
“Every year the media we get in Australia for building one garden across here in England is more than our industry gets in 12 months.”
He will not reveal how much they spend but Wes says it is worth it for the bigger picture:
1913 – in the first Chelsea Flower Show Japanese dwarf trees – (bonsai), and topiary gardens were seenin the war years – the rock garden craze emerged1980s – paved backyards and cottage gardens were popular1990s – contemporary sculptural gardens took over21st century – wildflower gardening has become fashionable2011 Edible plants are being tipped this yearSource: BBC Gardening
“It’s amazing the difference it has made to our industry.”
“The government ignores us basically (in Australia). We should be involved in policy (on climate change) and town planning but we’re not.
“Since we’ve been doing Chelsea our industry has been getting a greater profile and we’re now able to get through the door of the main ministers, when historically we couldn’t even get to see their advisors.”
At the end of Chelsea some of the show gardens like Diarmuid Gavin’s will get a permanent home. Others are broken up and the plants and parts re-used elsewhere.
But many of the designers and gardeners will be back at Chelsea again next year.
“You’d have to be absolutely mad to do Chelsea every year,” warns Diarmuid Gavin.
But designer Sarah Eberle says that “buzz” from creating a show garden can be hard to give up. “Anything that produces adrenaline in that measure is addictive.
“It’s inordinately stressful, but it’s a bit like child birth and every time you think never again… but you do.”
BBC TV coverage of The Chelsea Flower Show runs daily from Sunday 22 May through to Sunday 29 May 2011. You can also catch up on Red Button or iPlayer.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The government wants banks to lend more to firms The latest figures on how much UK banks are lending to businesses are due to be published later by the Bank of England.
They are expected to show that the five biggest banks are not meeting the lending targets set under their Project Merlin agreement with the government.
Under Merlin, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, HSBC and Santander have pledged to lend £190bn in 2011.
However, the BBC’s Robert Peston says banks are £2bn behind on small business lending in the first quarter of 2011.
Our business correspondent says of the £190bn for 2011, £76bn of credit should be made available to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) this year.
However, lending in the first three months is expected to collectively total £16.8bn compared with a de facto target of £19bn – a shortfall of about 12%.
Last week, Business Secretary Vince Cable warned that the banks could face higher taxes if they did not raise their business lending.
“I expect the Treasury to issue a statement tomorrow telling the banks they must try a bit harder, if they want the government to honour its side of the Project Merlin bargain”
Robert Peston BBC business editorPeston’s blog: Pressure on banks to accelerate lending
But Robert Peston said it was unlikely the banks would be punished because they still have the rest of the year to raise lending.
The Merlin deal was agreed back in February, and the combined £190bn target compares with the £179bn the banks collectively lent in 2010.
The British Bankers’ Association has repeatedly said that its members are doing all they can to increase lending.
At the same time, business organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses say its members are continuing to struggle to get bank loans and other credit.
Mr Cable said last week that he expected the banks to miss the lending targets, and that they would have to make up any lending shortfall over the rest of the year.
“It’s a deal with the banks,” he said.
“If the banks don’t deliver, there are options open to the government, including taxation.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
He’s a prolific singer-songwriter, poet and painter – and one of the figureheads for the generation who fought for civil rights and social change in 1960s USA.
To mark Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, take a look back at his life and music with author Michael Gray – who, in 1972, wrote the first critical study of Dylan’s work, Song and Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan.
Some images courtesy AP, PA, Rex Features, Getty Images and Sony Music.
Music by Bob Dylan. Includes archive audio from NBC News and Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour (Grey Water Park Productions).
Slideshow production by Paul Kerley. Publication date 23 May 2011.
Related:
More audio slideshows:
Rock’s music: The Photography of Mick Rock
World view – Travel Photographer of the Year
When Tracey Emin met John Humphrys
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
An advertising campaign reminding motorists of the law change is being launched by the government Motorists are being reminded that a new law comes into force in a month’s time which will require them to make sure their vehicle is insured.
An advertising campaign is being launched to publicise the change, which means people can be fined without actually driving the car.
There are estimated to be about 1.4 million motorists without insurance.
At the moment uninsured drivers are prosecuted only after they have been caught actually driving.
Although police cars have number plate recognition technology which can check cars against a database, it still requires police time to enforce.
From next month, a new offence will be brought in which will allow motorists to be prosecuted for simply owning a vehicle without insurance.
Letters will be sent to drivers and, if they do nothing, they face a £100 fine followed by court action.
If the vehicle remains uninsured – regardless of whether the fine is paid – further action will be taken. If the vehicle is on public land it could then be clamped, seized and destroyed.
Alternatively court action could be taken, with the offender facing a fine of up to £1,000.
Motorists who have declared their car as off the road will not be fined.
Ministers say the change will allow police to concentrate their efforts on hard core offenders, who drive unregistered cars which the automatic system will not be able to trace.
Road Safety minister Mike Penning said: “Uninsured drivers are a danger on our roads, killing 160 and injuring a further 23,000 people each year, and they cost honest motorists £500m in extra premiums.
“That is why we are introducing this tough new law which will leave uninsured drivers with nowhere to hide.
“Our message is clear – get insured or face a fine, court action or seeing your car seized and destroyed.”
Ashton West, chief executive at the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, said the change in law is a “stepping up of enforcement activity”.
He added: “Now the registered keeper must make sure that their vehicle is insured all the time.
“Around four percent of vehicles have no motor insurance at any given time, and this needs to change so that is why this new enforcement approach is so important.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
India’s 2011 census shows a serious decline in the number of girls under the age of seven – activists fear eight million female foetuses may have been aborted in the past decade. The BBC’s Geeta Pandey in Delhi explores what has led to this crisis.
Kulwant has three daughters aged 24, 23 and 20 and a son who is 16.
In the years between the birth of her third daughter and her son, Kulwant became pregnant three times.
“My mother-in-law said if I had a daughter, my husband would leave me. Thankfully, I had a son.”
Deepali Sah Health worker
Each time, she says, she was forced to abort the foetus by her family after ultrasound tests confirmed that they were girls.
“My mother-in-law taunted me for giving birth to girls. She said her son would divorce me if I didn’t bear a son.”
Kulwant still has vivid memories of the first abortion. “The baby was nearly five months old. She was beautiful. I miss her, and the others we killed,” she says, breaking down, wiping away her tears.
Until her son was born, Kulwant’s daily life consisted of beatings and abuse from her husband, mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Once, she says, they even attempted to set her on fire.
“They were angry. They didn’t want girls in the family. They wanted boys so they could get fat dowries,” she says.
India outlawed dowries in 1961, but the practice remains rampant and the value of dowries is constantly growing, affecting rich and poor alike.
Kulwant’s husband died three years after the birth of their son. “It was the curse of the daughters we killed. That’s why he died so young,” she says.
Common attitude
How girls are valued varies widely across India. Over the years, most states in the south and north-east have been kind to their girls, and sex ratios are above the national average.
In the matrilineal societies of Kerala and Karnataka in the south and Meghalaya in the north-east, women have enjoyed high status and commanded respect. But the latest census figures show the good news even in these areas could be turning bad. A minor decline in the number of girls has begun in the three states which, campaigners worry, might be indicative of a trend.
What is seen as most distressing is the steep decline in the number of girls under seven in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and in Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura in the north-east. Even though these states have registered numbers much higher than the national average, the decline is too substantial to ignore.
But all is not lost. Some states, such as Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh – which saw the gap between numbers of boys and girls widen in 2001 – have shown an improvement. That is cause for some cheer, campaigners say.
Her neighbour Rekha is mother of a chubby three-year-old girl.
Last September, when she became pregnant again, her mother-in-law forced her to undergo an abortion after an ultrasound showed that she was pregnant with twin girls.
“I said there’s no difference between girls and boys. But here they think differently. There’s no happiness when a girl is born. They say the son will carry forward our lineage, but the daughter will get married and go off to another family.”
Kulwant and Rekha live in Sagarpur, a lower middle-class area in south-west Delhi.
Here, narrow minds live in homes separated by narrow lanes.
The women’s story is common and repeated in millions of homes across India, and it has been getting worse.
In 1961, for every 1,000 boys under the age of seven, there were 976 girls. Today, the figure has dropped to a dismal 914 girls.
Although the number of women overall is improving (due to factors such as life expectancy), India’s ratio of young girls to boys is one of the worst in the world after China.
Many factors come into play to explain this: infanticide, abuse and neglect of girl children.
But campaigners say the decline is largely due to the increased availability of antenatal sex screening, and they talk of a genocide.
The government has been forced to admit that its strategy has failed to put an end to female foeticide.
“Whatever measures have been put in over the past 40 years have not had any impact on the child sex ratio,” Home Secretary GK Pillai said when the census report was released.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described female foeticide and infanticide as a “national shame” and called for a “crusade” to save girl babies.
But Sabu George, India’s best-known campaigner on the issue, says the government has so far shown little determination to stop the practices.
Campaigners say India’s strategy to protect female babies is not working Until 30 years ago, he says, India’s sex ratio was “reasonable”. Then in 1974, Delhi’s prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences came out with a study which said sex-determination tests were a boon for Indian women.
It said they no longer needed to produce endless children to have the right number of sons, and it encouraged the determination and elimination of female foetuses as an effective tool of population control.
“By late 80s, every newspaper in Delhi was advertising for ultrasound sex determination,” said Mr George.
“Clinics from Punjab were boasting that they had 10 years’ experience in eliminating girl children and inviting parents to come to them.”
In 1994, the Pre-Natal Determination Test (PNDT) Act outlawed sex-selective abortion. In 2004, it was amended to include gender selection even at the pre-conception stage.
Abortion is generally legal up to 12 weeks’ gestation. Sex can be determined by a scan from about 14 weeks.
“What is needed is a strict implementation of the law,” says Varsha Joshi, director of census operations for Delhi. “I find there’s absolutely no will on the part of the government to stop this.”
Today, there are 40,000 registered ultrasound clinics in the country, and many more exist without any record.
Ms Joshi, a former district commissioner of south-west Delhi, says there are dozens of ultrasound clinics in the area. It has the worst child sex ratio in the capital – 836 girls under seven for every 1,000 boys.
“Something’s really wrong here and something has to be done to put things right”
Varsha Joshi Delhi census chief
Delhi’s overall ratio is not much better at 866 girls under seven for every 1,000 boys.
“It’s really sad. We are the capital of the country and we have such a poor ratio,” Ms Joshi says.
The south-west district shares its boundary with Punjab and Haryana, the two Indian states with the worst sex ratios.
Since the last census, Punjab and Haryana have shown a slight improvement. But Delhi has registered a decline.
“Something’s really wrong here and something has to be done to put things right,” Ms Joshi says.
Almost all the ultrasound clinics in the area have the mandatory board outside, proclaiming that they do not carry out illegal sex-determination tests.
But the women in Sagarpur say most people here know where to go when they need an ultrasound or an abortion.
They say anyone who wants to get a foetal ultrasound done, gets it done. In the five-star clinics of south Delhi it costs 10,000-plus rupees ($222; £135), In the remote peripheral areas of Delhi’s border, it costs a few hundred rupees.
Similarly, the costs vary for those wanting an illegal abortion.
Delhi is not alone in its anti-girl bias. Sex ratios have declined in 17 states in the past decade, with the biggest falls registered in Jammu and Kashmir.
Ms Joshi says most offenders are members of the growing middle-class and affluent Indians – they are aware that the technology exists and have the means to pay to find out the sex of their baby and abort if they choose.
“We have to take effective steps to control the promotion of sex determination by the medical community. And file cases against doctors who do it,” Mr George says.
“Otherwise by 2021, we are frightened to think what it will be like.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Prime Minister says the Big Society is not a ‘fluffy add-on’ Prime Minister David Cameron is to make another attempt to promote the Big Society, by encouraging more charitable donations and volunteering.
Initiatives will include donating at cash machines and by mobile phone, and the use of social networking sites to promote volunteering.
Government policies will be tested for social value as well as value for money, the government says.
Critics say the plans will not make up for cuts in funding to charities.
Labour says a year after its launch the Big Society has “stalled”, with big promises made but little delivered.
A White Paper will set out plans for more than £40m in additional support for the voluntary sector.
In a keynote speech to mark the White Paper, Mr Cameron will emphasise strong families, strong communities and strong relationships.
“These are the things that make life worth living and it’s about time we had a government and a prime minister that understands that.
“These are the things I’m most passionate about in public life. This is what is in my heart. It’s what fires me up in the morning.
“The Big Society is not some fluffy add-on to more gritty and more important subjects. This is about as gritty and important as it gets – giving everyone the chance to get on in life and making our country a better place to live.”
“Soaring political speeches like this may get headlines, but in practice this rhetoric is contradicted by this government’s actions”
Tessa Jowell Shadow cabinet office minister
Measures in the White Paper include:
A £10m social action fund to support measures to promote giving and boost volunteering in priority areas in EnglandPrizes of up to £100,000 for the best solutions to “volunteer challenges”A £30m fund to improve the effectiveness of infrastructure organisations which support front-line volunteering£1m to support the Youthnet volunteering website and £700,000 to support Philanthropy UK, which connects wealthy donors to charities£400,000 to trial the “Spice” system in England, which offers rewards such as vouchers or discounts with local businesses for volunteers who help their communitiesEstablishing a new honours committee to ensure people are recognised for “exceptional and sustained philanthropy”Trialing charity promotions on the public service website Directgov and opening up government buildings to charities and voluntary groupsHolding a “giving” summit in the autumn to bring charities together with philanthropists, businesses and financiers.
Cash machine network Link said its member banks have agreed to enable charitable donations to be made through their machines from next year.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude described the level of charity giving and volunteering as having “flat-lined” in the past decade.
“The building of a bigger, stronger society will not be done by government but by citizens.
“However, it will not emerge overnight and government has to play a role in supporting it,” he said.
Shadow cabinet office minister Tessa Jowell dismissed Mr Cameron’s speech, saying: “Soaring political speeches like this may get headlines, but in practice this rhetoric is contradicted by this government’s actions.
“Under the indiscriminate impact of accelerated cuts the essential elements of community life are slowly being starved of sustenance. What we lose in the next two years may become impossible to rebuild in 10.”
Ministers are to undertake a day of voluntary service over the course of the year with a charity or community group.
But John Low, of the Charities Aid Foundation, said ministers should be doing more.
“While the move to encourage ministers to volunteer is a step in the right direction, government could have encouraged them to pledge money as well as time, helping to shape social norms around giving.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Rosemary Nelson represented several high profile clients from her office in Lurgan The findings of a public inquiry into allegations of police collusion in the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson in Lurgan will be published later.
She died after a bomb exploded under her car near her home in March 1999.
The family of the solicitor claimed the police and government ignored a series of warnings about threats against her.
She had become a hate figure for hardline loyalists – and reportedly some police officers – because of some of the clients she represented.
They included leading republican Colin Duffy, who is currently in prison charged with the murders of two soldiers in Antrim two years ago.
Another client was the Garvaghy Road Residents Group, which opposed an Orange Order march in Portadown.
The solicitor and a number of legal and human rights groups had raised concerns about her safety over a two-year period before she was killed.
They claimed she had been threatened by RUC officers as well as loyalist paramilitaries.
Within hours of the bombing, those groups and her family alleged there had been police collusion in her murder.
On Monday afternoon, the government will make public the verdict of a 15-month long public inquiry that examined those allegations.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has conceded defeat after suffering heavy losses in regional elections in what has been seen as punishment for his government’s handling of the economy, and the country’s high unemployment rate.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Benedict Cumberbatch did not comment on his Hobbit role Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has landed a role in The Hobbit, his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman says.
Freeman let the news slip backstage at the Bafta TV awards on Sunday, where Sherlock picked up the prize for best drama series.
Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s two-part fantasy film, due out in 2012-13.
Asked about his role, Cumberbatch remained tight-lipped: “I can’t say at the moment, thank you very much.”
Freeman said later: “I knew I was a sort of a big mouth but I didn’t realise to what extent I was a big mouth, and I’ve just ruined everything.
“I might not actually go back to a job – they might have just sacked me.”
Cumberbatch joins a cast on the Tolkien epic, currently filming in New Zealand, which includes Hugo Weaving and Sir Ian McKellen.
Earlier in the week it was announced that writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry would have a role in The Hobbit playing The Master of Laketown.
Freeman said: “He’s a scholar and a gentleman and I’m very pleased to welcome him aboard.”
Freeman also played tribute the late actor Edward Hardwicke, who played Dr Watson to Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes in the Granada TV adaptation in the 1980s and 90s.
Hardwicke died last week aged 78.
Freeman said: “He was a great Watson, they were really good adaptations, it was great television.
“I found out when a friend texted me while we were filming the second series of Sherlock, and I texted him back and and said hopefully I’ll pick up the torch.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Gunmen have attacked one of Pakistan’s largest military bases, killing a number of people, and taking several hostages.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.