Footage of the recent fox killing in Fife was posted online by hunt saboteurs.
Madam, – I was shocked and saddened to read the article about the fox hunt in Fife (Online footage of hunt sparks call for laws to be tightened up, Courier, March 12).
I had understood fox hunting to be illegal however after reading your article and a quick search on Google I was horrified to discover a loophole in current legislation means nothing illegal occurred during this hunt.
If the dogs are used to flush the fox out and the fox is shot it appears this is defined as pest control, not hunting.
A further search and I was able to establish that better farm practices such as electric fences to ensure safety of livestock are more effective and that foxes actually aid in crop growth by keeping rabbits under control.
Foxes being seen as pests is just as outdated as hunting. There has to be a more humane solution for farmers.
The fox killed was a lactating female.
This means somewhere in her den without her to protect them her cubs have perished awaiting her return.
I can't get this image out of my thoughts.
I now understand that groups are working with our parliament to ensure the law is changed to impose a total ban.
Like so many I believed this is what we had.
It might be too late for all foxes killed this hunting season but going forward we must support a total ban.
I wanted to thank you for raising awareness and I hope I am not the only one to realise that when we thought fox hunting was banned this was not accomplished.
It is a cruel, barbaric and outdated practice which must be banned.
Madam, – I have never seen hounds (they are not called dogs) kill a fox, but I have seen wild dogs kill an impala in Africa.
It was dead in a second, and like the fox in John Masefield's poem, Reynard the Fox, it had no time to feel pain.
Wounding foxes leaves them to a lingering death, which even though they are predators and certainly not dumb, they do not deserve.
Madam, – I read with interest a letter in The Courier from Mrs M. Robertson of Cairnie Loan Arbroath regarding care of the elderly in Angus and, in particular, her very valid comments about Seaton Grove Care Home in Arbroath (Elderly deserve better than care home axe, Courier, March 13).
I was the managing director of Brand Builders in Arbroath and we constructed this building for the then Tayside Regional Council in 1989/90 for £1.4 million.
The building was designed by the council architects department and monitored by their surveying department throughout the construction process.
We all worked together to produce the final unit on programme and on budget.
The completed facility was ahead of its time, beautifully laid out and finished to provide lovely versatile facilities for our elderly and vulnerable Angus residents.
I am appalled to hear it now requires a million pounds to refurbish it and could be at risk in the hands of the Integration Joint Board.
What have these people done regarding maintenance of this facility over the past 28 or so years?
I understand perfectly well that there are financial constraints, but that is an easy excuse.
If there is inadequate money in the hands of government and councils it is time our elected MPs, MSPs and councillors fought to save costs in the right areas.
If still more is money needed, the government should raise taxes to ensure all members of society are properly provided for.
I am glad I'm no longer involved and having to deal with council officialdom to make things happen.
When I was in business not everything was plain sailing, but councils and council officers worked with businesses to make things happen.
Everything appears to be steered by procedures nowadays. The system rules.
Perhaps he can explain to the rest of us why, while the SNP continually foment over Tory austerity, the party presides over more than £48 million so far spent on the white elephant that is the old Prestwick airport, including incentive grants of more than £650,000 given to Ryanair to ensure they keep operating out of this loss-making property.
Beyond that there is the continual spend on Holyrood, the money wasted on policy reviews plus, of course, the public funding of "jollies" abroad.
Maybe instead of trying to castigate the critics of this misdirected political party, Mr MacDougall should try answering the criticisms.
Madam, – I'm sure I am not alone in wishing for the end of March and the end of the EU debacle.
I was always of the opinion that in a democracy the majority ruled.
Our self-opinionated MPs are now debating whether to have an extension of the date, cancelling Brexit or having another referendum.
They must surely realise that we, the electorate, voted to leave the EU, no question.
The position of an MP is to carry out the wishes of the electorate.
If they go their own way then I for one will certainly remember them at the next ballot box.
Madam, – If this is not the worst Tory Government in history it must be close.
Pension chaos, Brexit chaos in which some of those who promote it are making millions, no consultation with elected devolved governments, the DUP imposing their will and a prime minister who says she is guided by God.
It is truly frightening for ordinary people.
Of course there is a way out for Scots, all they have to do is say no to this and make decisions for Scotland in Scotland.


I'm missing that - where are the button assignments?
Looks like when you click aux1 or aux2 then turning the knob does not move the slice. double clicking the button unlocks.
Also, pressing the knob toggles the lock.
On my rig, when I single-click the aux1 it activates RIT, double-click turns RIT off. Same thing for AUX3 for XIT.....nice!
You are correct, I was mistaken because I could not see the frequency moving.
I don't see the lock feature on the flag as indicated in the tutorial.
I got the lock part but can't unlock without restarting SmartSDR!
Double click the same button that you used to lock it or press the knob.
I do not see the lock feature as described in the tutorial. Where is it located?


> C++ forbids a union of classes ... so you won't ever see one.
hopeful magic to deal with alignment concerns.
> variant types) are very useful for hardware interfacing in a "systems"
simple module system will hide the variable-sized nature of a type.
upper bound on their size, things should be fairly straightforward.


text:
Med Review Renews, Expands Office Lease at 199 Water Street in New York City
Posted on April 24, 2019 by Taylor Williams in Leasing Activity, New York, Northeast, Office
199 Water Street in New York City spans 1.1 million square feet across 35 stories.
NEW YORK CITY — Med Review, a subsidiary of the New York County Health Services Organizations that provides healthcare assessment services, has inked a deal to lease 72,439 square feet of office space at 199 Water Street in New York City. As part of the deal, the firm is taking an additional 35,454 square feet on the seventh floor, while also renewing its 36,985-square-foot space that spans the entire 27th floor. Built in 1984, 199 Water Street was renovated in 2014 to offer upgraded signage and lighting, as well as to add a new parking garage and tenant amenities. Brett Greenberg and Adam Rappaport represented the landlord, Jack Resnick & Sons, on an internal basis, along with John Cefaly, Robert Constable, Ethan Silverstein, Stephen Bellwood and Myles Fennon of Cushman & Wakefield. Mark Ravesloot and Bill Iacovelli of CBRE represented Med Review. Other tenants at the 1.1 million-square-foot property include The Howard Hughes Corp. and Allied World Insurance Co.
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Occidental Management Closes on Acquisition of 190-Acre Sprint Headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Germany for Refugees
By Randomizer
Posted on 17 October 2014 4 December 2014
Posted in Documentary, Visual
Flags were flying everywhere. Kurdish, Turkish, Syrian, Palestinian. If you wanted to take inventory of where this neighborhood comes from, this would be the place to start. Police in riot gear milled through the crowd, taking stock of the situation, looking to be in place if things got out of hand. You could see the worry in their eyes.
Trying to figure out what the demonstration was about, an American couple wandered through the crowd, talking aloud, taking photos with their iPhones. Since everyone was speaking Arabic, their German was useless here.
Eventually, they found themselves standing in front of a group of young boys, with placards decrying the plight of Kurdish Yezidis (the the photo above) beseiged on a mountain top in northern Iraq by ISIS.
The experience was dislocating. Even though this was an area well-known for its Middle Eastern immigrants, it felt particularly out of place to these foreigners, precisely because of its foreignness. This was Germany? There wasn't anything European about it. At least to their American eyes, unfamiliar with the nuances of life in Germany, today. Despite Berlin's international rep, there was nothing even remotely like this in the Rough Guide.
It was the mix of politics and culture that did it. The freedom with which the demonstrators were expressing themselves, however outspoken, had a distinctly local vibe, epitomizing the city's reputation as a place of the left, and the outspoken. Nowhere else in Europe can one find an assemblage quite like this. It was quintessentially Berlin, as much as it was Middle Eastern, making plain exactly what it is, at least politically, that draws immigrants to Germany.
The following flyer translations, recounting the crisis of a hunger strike, by refugees, in nearby Oranienplatz, testify to the significance of demonstrations like this one, in Hermannplatz, and why so many flee to Germany. It's not just about getting asylum, in a wealthy country, with excellent social services. It's also about being able to partake in an immigrant public sphere like this, with all the attendant politics, and security in numbers inherent in this crowd, in this square.
Demonstration on Monday
Refugees on Oranienplatz started a hunger strike on 9 April so that they and their demands would not ignored like in previous "negotiations" with M. Kolat. The evacuation of Oranienplatz on 8 April did not happen peacefully, unlike what the media would have us believe. Many of the refugees were ignored during the negotiations, but they will not remain silent and have gone on hunger strike in order to secure their demands.
Talks are ongoing with Aydan Özoguz, the German Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration.
The refugee demands must not be ignored!
Guarantee of a self-determined and self-organised reconstruction of the protesters' information point and a separate tent for meetings, which should not be affected by the evacuation.
Recognition of the occupied Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule on Ohlauerstraße as a self-organised centre run-by and for refugees
Residence permit for all refugee activists who have taken part in the Oranienplatz and school protests
Section 23 of the residence laws must be used in order to ensure these demands
5 May 17.00
On Neptunbrunnen
Press release by the refugee activist of the tree sitting on Oranienplatz and the refugees on hunger strike in solidarity with those on Oranienplatz
We are members of the refugee protest which has been on Oranienplatz since October 2012 to protest against camps, residence obligation and deportations.
The police and the canton will not allow me to drink, eat or have dry clothes until I agree to end my tree protest.
We started a solidarity hunger strike on Wednesday, which will continue until the protesters are allowed to drink, eat and have dry clothes.
The assumption that the resistance of the left-wing activists is dwindling due to the evacuation of Oranienplatz is wrong. More and more refugees are coming to Oranienplatz to protest.
Our resistance is about our demands, not Oranienplatz. We did not leave our countries to compete for Oranienplatz.
In order to evacuate Oranienplatz, the Senate made empty promises to give money and property if the refugees left Oranienplatz against the will of those who want to stay. This is a cleavage tactic used to pit people against each other and has been used repeatedly since the colonial period.
We will not end the protest or leave the tree until Dilek Kolat or other representatives in the Senate come to Oranienplatz to carry out negotiations and the info point accepted by the police as a place of protest.
We call for a common solution:
A peaceful solution for all is possible. Section 23 of the Residence Act is the key, as is made clear in a report by the Scientific Service of the German Bundestag. (Report attached)
Abolish compulsory residence
Homes instead of camps
Stop deportations
Right to work, equal rights and self-determined participation in all areas of social life
Right to medical care and legal assistance
Reconstruction of the event tent and self-made info, protest and networking point
The Ohlauerstraße school should not be evacuated, but instead, become a refugee political centre
Immediate resumption of negotiations (talks and solutions for all)
Enforce Section 23 of the Residence as a solution for all in the Senate. The response then goes to the Federal Minister of the Interior Conference
A meeting with the State Secretary for integration, so she can push through our demands and also the Section 23 in the Federal Minister of the Interior Conference!
That all who were excluded from the list be put back on it
The protesting refugees on Oranienplatz
Translated from the German by Kit Rickard. Introduction and photographs courtesy of Joel Schalit.
Fear Trumps Morality
French, Jewish, Jihadist
What's Old is New Again: The Fourth Reich in History
All-Inclusive Palestine


07-28-2012 Just got back from a week long Penn State Elite High School hockey camp ... Wow, what week! I had tons of Ice time and instruction. I met new hockey buds frpm North Carolina up to Conneticut and even met Coach Gadowsy of the PSU Icers. I played in 5 games and had 4 assists ... My Gold Jersey team came in 2nd place in the playoffs - had a fantastic time!!!


text:
Q: How can i share cusome title and description in google plus like facebook? I have a  lot of products and want to share each one with different title and description in Google plus instead of page meta tags. How can i do that?

A: Google+
Will recognize:
<meta itemprop="name" content="The page Title for sharing">
<meta itemprop="description" content="The description less than 200 characters">
<meta itemprop="image" content="http://www.yoursite.com/image-200x200.jpg">

Facebook
Open Graph Tags (Other Social networks read it too):
<meta property="og:image" content="http://www.yoursite.com/the-page-thumb-200x200.jpg" />
<meta property="og:title" content="The page Title for sharing" />
<meta property="og:type" content="website" /> (or "article")
<meta property="og:url" content="http://www.yoursite.com/the-url-for-sharing" />
<meta property="og:description" content="The Description less than 200 characters" />
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Your Site name" />
<meta property="fb:app_id" content="your-facebook-app-id" />
<meta property="fb:admins" content="your-facebook-user-id" />

Get app-id
@ https://developers.facebook.com/
Login with your FB credentials and then setup a facebook app.
Use the Debug tool
@ https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug
to see how your Data is seen.
Twitter Tags
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@publisher_handle">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="The page Title for sharing">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="The description less than 200 characters">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@author_handle">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="http://www.yoursite.com/image-200x200.jpg">

A:
instead of page meta tags

You cannot. Google+ will only fetch data about the page from the page. You cannot override it with URI parameters or though any JS API.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Слить игры, только новые продукты!
The concept of lending in history appeared in antiquity. All along with the money itself. Loans are issued both for consumer needs and for large companies and even countries. Some people in history have been extremely negative about lending money. In many countries in Asia and Africa, loans were found for equipment for the extraction of oil and other minerals.


At the camping restaurant in a friendly atmosphere you can enjoy the best of Austrian and Carinthian cuisine. We recommend the Wiener Schnitzel (breaded cutlets ‐ pork, turkey or chicken) or the traditional Hirschbraten (sliced roasted venison in sauce).
Local beer on tap is excellent, as the city of Villach prides itself on its very refreshing and very reasonably priced brews. Of course no meal is ever complete without a taste of the local desserts ‐ Strudel on top of all! ‐ and a shot (or more) of fine fruit spirits. At the restaurant you can also find our small market, where you can stock up your cupboard with all the basics. Fresh bread and croissants are available every day from 7am.


text:
Crimewatch: The Ambience Affair
The Ambience Affair had a guitar pinched after a gig in Cork last night:
This is what my stolen guitar from last night's Cork show looks like.Please spread the word, thank you. #fb twitter.com/ambienceaffair…
— The Ambience Affair (@ambienceaffair) December 10, 2011
Keep 'em peeled, and if you can help them, let them know.
More from No Rock on ambience affair, cork, crime, theft, twitter
Gordon in the morning: This isn't actually good news
Worrying Stone Roses intelligence this morning:
IAN BROWN can swap his old Adidas tracksuit for a gold-plated number thanks to The Stone Roses reunion.
Eh? A gold-plated tracksuit? That might have just about worked if he'd gone for 'trainers' rather than 'tracksuit' but gold-plated clothing?
So, yes, The Stone Roses are going to make new awful records:
A spokesman for the band confirmed yesterday: "The Stone Roses are pleased to announce that they have signed a record contract with Universal Music in London and with Columbia Records in New York."
I'll bet they're pleased.
Gordon proves that he never really cared about the band that much:
Fans have been waiting nearly 20 years for new material.
No, Gordon. Fans have been spending nearly 20 years wishing they'd been a one-album band.
More from No Rock on gordon smart, reunions, stone roses, the sun
Twittergem: On current events
From @david_flynn:
David Cameron you massive plum head. How the hell do we expect to get any points in Eurovision now? #letsnotbother
More from No Rock on david cameron, eurovision, twitter
Popobit: Dobie Gray
Dobie Gray, who dabbled across many genres, has died.
Writing for its American audience, the New York Times suggests Gray would be best known for Drift Away:
A great song, but from a UK perspective, his big gift to music was The In Crowd:
Although Gray didn't write the tune, it was his idea that inspired Billy Page. The song has been covered by everyone from Bryan Ferry to the Chipmunks, and even survived being mangled to make a BT advert extolling the virtuse of an "in-phone" you could have "upstairs while I paint my toes".
Grays origins are murky - nobody is quite sure how old he was, or where precisely he was born. He came from a sharecropper background somewhere in Texas, sometime during the Second World War. Even his early recording career was confused, as he tried a variety of names - Leonard Ainsworth, Larry Curtis and Larry Dennis - before settling on Dobie Gray.
After his success in the 70s, he relocated to Nashville and concentrated more on writing than performing.
Dobie Gray was around 70; it's believed he died from complications related to cancer.
More from No Rock on dobie gray, obit, obituary
Gordon in the morning: No Harry, not happy
Poor George Osborne. He turned up to switch on the Christmas lights in Knutsford, only - as Gordon reports it - to be booed.
Gordon claims that the audience had been led to expect that Harry Styles out of One Direction was going to flick the switch, and the booing was in response to Osborne turning up.
To be fair, I think Osborne is quite capable of turning a crowd into a hissing mass of discontent without having to not be Harry Styles.
More from No Rock on christmas, george osborne, gordon smart, harry styles, one direction, the sun
Gordon in the morning: Chronicle of a death retold
Without any apparent sense of irony, Gordon's deputy Lia Nicholls reports how Lady GaGa worries she'll die like Lady Diana did:
A source close to Gaga says she sees herself as a "pop version" of Diana who died aged 36 in a horrific car smash in Paris in 1997. The source revealed: "Gaga has always been absolutely fixated on Diana and sees herself as a 21st-century incarnation of her.
"She knows she is almost as recognisable as Diana and is hounded by photographers and fans on the same level.
"Gaga has had dreams about dying the same way as her and has genuine fears that her fame could literally kill her, either in a chase or at the hands of crazies."
Goodness, "source close to GaGa", these terrible photographers. I wonder why they'd even be chasing her?
Surprisingly, Nicholls doesn't put a "GaGa fears we'll kill her someday" headline on the story. Second day running The Sun has missed the chance to play up its central role in a big news story.
Just one thing: GaGa "almost as recognisable as Diana"? Really? Doing ITV2 specials with Perez Hilton hardly in the same league as dissing the Windsors on Panorama, is it?
More from No Rock on diana, lady gaga, lia nicholls, paparazzi, the sun
Radio One remixes dance programming
Radio One is overhauling its specialist line-up, which MediaGuardian suggests might be to do with making the station younger:
Radio 1 has come under pressure from both its commercial rivals and the BBC Trust to attract a younger audience after the average age of its listenership kept creeping up.
[Ben] Cooper added: "It's important that Radio 1 continues to develop new talent and the station keeps evolving for our young listeners. These changes to our evening schedule will strengthen the range and depth of the specialist music offering on the network."
However, while three of the more durable specialists are stepping down - so long Kissy Sell Out, Judge Jules and Gilles Peterson - others are staying. Annie Mac remains, despite having had half a decade's start on Kissy Sell Out; 45 year-old Judge Jules will be waved off by the 51 year-old Pete Tong, still on the station; and although forty-something Peterson is hoping to find a new home at 6Music, Annie Nightingale remains on One for her 70th birthday year. It could very well be, simply, that Cooper thinks some of the specialists were starting to sound played out, and wanted to bring some fresh sounds - rather than younger blood - to the station.
The full list of changes, as detailed by the press office, are:
The Essential Mix will move from Saturdays (3.00am-5.00am) to Saturday (1.00am-3.00am)
Annie Nightingale moves from Fridays (2.00am-4.00am) to Saturdays (3.00-5.00am)
The Punk Show with Mike Davies will move from Tuesdays (2am-4am) to Wednesdays (12midnight-2am)
Nihal moves from Wednesdays (12midnight-2am) to Wednesdays (2.00am-4.00am)
Annie Mac, Fridays 7-9
Pete Tong, Friday, 9-11
Skream & Benga take Fridays, 11-1.
Toddla T, Fridays 2-4
Charlie Sloth, Tuesdays, 2-4
It did appear that Radio 1 had got totally funky by hiring someone with an asterisk in their name, as the press office reported this:
Friction* will be joining the station to host his own drum & bass show on Mondays (2am-4am).
But it turned out to just be pointing to a footnote inviting journalists to not confuse Friction and Bobby Friction.
More from No Rock on annie mac, annie nightingale, bbc, ben cooper, bobby friction, friction, gilles peterson, judge jules, mediaguardian, pete tong, radio 1
Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Explaining the error
Yesterday's surprise appearance of an HMV order page for Amelia Lily's X Factor winner's single caused some eyebrows to be raised, and conspiracy theorists to head for the net.
Who can reassure a worried nation? Step forward HMV's explanation expert Gennaro Castaldo:
"Hmv.com was looking to accept customer pre-orders for versions of the X Factor winner's single recorded by each of the three finalists," said HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo.
"Due to a technical issue, only Amelia Lily's details were uploaded.
"These have been temporarily removed so that all three finalists details can go up at the same time.
"This has been the result of an unforeseen but regrettable technical issue, for which we apologise and ask that nothing further be construed."
Well, that seems... hang on a minute: you were inviting people to pre-order records, two of which don't exist and never shall? That actually seems more scandalous than any possible rigging of the X Factor.
More from No Rock on amelia lily, gennaro castaldo, hmv, x factor
Soulobit: Howard Tate
Howard Tate, who disproved the dictum about no second acts in American lives, has died.
Tate was a major soul star in the 60s - he toured with Aretha Franklin and scored hits on the R&B chart, most successfully with this:
But he felt he was being sold short by the record labels; in the early 1970s, he quit music altogether. He destroyed his own records, and joined the insurance industry, a place where he felt he would be able to keep better track of what was owed to him.
So complete was his divorce from music that many believed he was dead - that's showbusiness, where not being on TV is the same as being in your tomb.
But insurance wasn't any kinder to him. After his daughter died in a fire, Tate spent a decade in thrall to addiction.
End of Act One.
A chance meeting and the rise of the CD conspired to bring Tate back - he'd cleaned up his life and become a minister when he bumped into one of Howard Melvin's former Blue Notes in a shop just as the reissue market kicked off by the CD had rediscovered his 1960s albums. By 2003, Tate was back in the studio; even landing a Grammy.
It's not clear if the industry ever paid him the money he felt he'd earned earlier.
Howard Tate was 72; his death was described as being due to natural causes.
More from No Rock on howard tate, obit, obituary, record labels, royalties
Gordon in the morning: Gordon in the courtroom
A worried Gordon brings news this morning that someone has apparently threatened to reveal secrets about Tamara Ecclestone. You know how much The Sun, and the Bizarre team in particular, hate the idea of someone's privacy being invaded.
Which reminds me: Gordon's name came up once or twice in the Leveson enquiry into the press yesterday. Unusually for Gordon, who likes a story that he can place himself in, the tale doesn't get a mention in today's column.
There's not even the chance of a mock-up image of how Gordon and Justice Leveson might look if they came together to thrash things out:
Yesterday, Chris Atkins appeared at the enquiry. He made the movie Starsuckers, which set out to prove that certain newspapers would print any old rubbish without a care for the truth of it. I know it's hard to believe Smart's name would come up in this context, but it did. From the Guardian's live blog:
One of the stories that Atkins and his collaborator Jen got into the papers was about a Girls Aloud singer.
"Sarah Harding was secretly a fan of quantum physics".
It ran as a lead story in Gordon Smart's Bizarre column in the Sun complete with a fake quote.
The Sun objects to this and have asked the Leveson inquiry to challenge it. It says it rang Sarah Harding's PR who gave them the quote.
Atkins says he finds this "a remarkable coincidence" as the Sun did not challenge this claim about the fake quote since the movies came out two years ago.
You've also got to love a response which quibbles over how made-up the quote was while not actually engaging with the wider question of how a totally bollock-stuffed story appeared in Smart's column in the first place.
Chris Atkins does point out that running rubbish doesn't actually stand in the way of being celebrated by your peers:
Gordon Smart was, after our film, voted the number one celebrity journalist of the year and second was Clemmie Moodie of the Mirror and both of them ran our stories.
There's your angle, Gordon: "Judge hears of Sun man's awards success". It's not all grim news for The Sun in the courtroom, is it?
By the way: the original of that photo is worth a look.
More from No Rock on chris atkins, gordon smart, leveson enquiry, pr, sarah harding, tamara ecclestone, the sun
Womble rumble
Mike Batt is not a happy man. Why is he unhappy?
Because The One Show has failed to treat the Wombles with the respect he believes they deserve.
He triple-tweeted:
"One Show" - very unfairly just played (couldn't be more than 3 seconds ) W. Merry Xmas to Carol King in "Cracker or Turkey" vote. - (more)
- she's a yank, never heard of Wombles, - -and the other two songs got at least twiceas much screen time and were voted "crackers" (more)
..ever had the urge the kick the TV in? What a shitty thing to do in the name of "TV". I don't often get angry.
But isn't it better to be voted "cracker" if the alternative is to be thought a turkey? Isn't being called a cracker a good thing?
And, seriously, Mike: it's some men dressed up in woolly costumes, being judged in a segment on The One Show. Is it really, seriously, worth getting so very angry about? Do you think Great Uncle Bulgaria would approve of that shower of intemperate tweetage?
More from No Rock on bitter men of pop, carole king, mike batt, the one show, the wombles
HMV announce the X Factor winner
A couple of weeks ago, STV screwed up and accidentally gave the impression the vote to bring back one bunch of chancers to the X Factor was a waste of time. They published stories that had been held in reserve while the vote was still running, leading to mutterings of "fix".
Today, @realshowbiz has come across this:
It purports to be an HMV webpage claiming Amelia Lily will be releasing the "X Factor winner's single."
However, if ITV had fixed the vote, and told HMV, wouldn't they also have let on what the winner's single would actually be called?
More from No Rock on hmv, itv, x factor
A day we never thought we'd see
Who would have ever expected Smokie And Roy "Chubby" Brown's terrible novelty hit to be inspiring headlines in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung half a decade later?
More from No Rock on headlines, novelty records, roy chubby brown, smokie, sueddeutsche zeitung
Showbiz Zoe with Zoe Showbiz goes to Romford
You'll remember Zoe Griffin, the former Sunday Mirror showbiz writer who now... well, you remember her.
Let's catch up with her "live like a VIP" blog where, yesterday, she went to a shopping centre in Essex to watch some people from a gameshow do a PA. That's less living like a VIP, more like living like someone on their way to Greggs to pick up lunch.
The PA was from Little Mix, off the current series of X Factors. You'll recall they used to have a different name. Zoe certainly does:
The band, who had to change their name from Rhythmix to avoid trouble with a long-established charity with the same name (don't mess with do-gooders), bounded on stage to rapturous applause at the shopping centre.
"Don't mess with do-gooders" - what a nasty, sneery way of dismissing a charity which has been doing good work with young people for years. There's an implication ("to avoid trouble") that this was some sort of good-natured tussle, rather than a case of the band having to change their name because it refused to roll over simply because Simon Cowell attempted to bulldoze their name off of them. Griffin conjures a vision of angry do-gooders rather than good people having their work disrupted by an entertainment programme which thought its marketing needs were more important than people who help people.
Still, fair play to Zoe for pointing out the fundamental flaw in the day:
After the gig came the signings. As the band don't actually have any material of their own yet, it made this particular part of the day a bit difficult.
At least they've got a name of their own, I guess. Or rather are able to use a trademark owned by Simon Cowell.
More from No Rock on charity, little mix, rhythmix, x factor, zoe griffin
Gordon in the morning: It was on the television
Appearing not just in his column, but also under his byline, Gordon Smart reveals this:
IF there's one man who should have been let on Blind Date, it's Angelos Epithemiou.
The former burger van owner admitted to Cilla Black he tried to get on her old telly favourite a few times but was knocked back.
Angelos was a guest on Never Mind The Buzzcocks last night, which our Cilla hosted.
She's not your Cilla, Gordon. The Sun long ago forfeited any right to pretend it had an interest in Scouse heroes.
You do realise that Angelos isn't a real person, and that he was telling a joke, by the way? I know you probably think that you're playing along with the character comedy, but what you've done here, Gordon, is just transcribe a gag that everyone saw on the TV last night.
I know that copying down stuff from electronic communications is Bizarre's house style, and that these days it's harder to justify actually listening to phone calls, but I'm at a loss as to what the point of this is. Maybe tomorrow it'll be a shaggy dog story Gordon hears in a bar.
More from No Rock on angelos epithemiou, cilla black, gordon smart, never mind the buzzcocks, the sun
Gordon in the morning revisited: Bad Monday
Gordon Smart's story about a Happy Mondays reunion from breakfast time had wilted by lunch:
The band's representative told NME that although singer Ryder and brother Paul were on better terms as reported, it was a "bit of a leap" to suggest Happy Mondays had anything planned for 2012.
However, she refused to completely rule out the possibility of the band doing something together next year, in light of plans to re-release their classic album 'Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches'.
Once again, Smart proves to be the man you can't trust.
More from No Rock on gordon smart, happy mondays, reunions, the sun
Dry your dishes the "pop columnist" way
How much money do you have? Good news - unless you said 'none' - as you can turn some of that money into an officially-endorsed luxurious "recreation" of the original Black Type tea towel. For years writers of "letters" to the nation's premier pop periodical Smash Hits would hope to be judged the best, in order to win a record token and tea towel.
The "record token" has vanished into the haze of memories - something to do with buying Frisbees in shops, I think - but at least we can all enjoy our very own tea towel. And, because this is now, you don't even have to write an amusing letter about Kate Bush, as Swingorilliant is actually selling them. For cash. That's why I asked how much money you had.
Jason says: "That'll do"
More from No Rock on memorabilia, smash hits
Gennaro Castaldo Watch: The dead sell on their own
Hey - that Amy Winehouse album is merely being released as a tribute, yes, and the fact it's been rushed out to hit the Christmas market is just a coincidence.
The Evening Standard reports that it's already number one:
Amy Winehouse topped the charts today with a posthumous album.
Eh? But it's Monday. How has she topped the charts "today"?
Four months after she was found dead in her Camden flat, her new album, called Lioness: Hidden Treasures, has topped the iTunes chart within hours of its release.
Wow. That really is number one in some sort of chart.
But who can give a view on this? Who can tell us if it's alright, like giving a dead man's shoes to a charity shop for someone else to get value from them; or terrible, like digging up Benny Hill to steal his silver? iTunes don't have a spokesperson for these occasions, so the Standard turns instead to Gennaro Castaldo:
Gennaro Castaldo of HMV said: "There could be an emotional reflex among the public, who may feel compelled to buy by way of paying tribute to Amy."
Yes, don't say a silent word of prayer or play the record you already own. That isn't paying tribute. If you're not forking over a credit card, you're some sort of beast. An uncaring, evil, beast.
Talking of which, there's an unnamed HMV spokesperson wheeled into position in the Guardian to talk out their face about Jeremy Clarkson. Could it be a shy Gennaro?
An HMV spokesman said: "We've found in the past that controversy involving artists, with all the media coverage this generates, can often boost sales of their products.
"Clarkson is one of those 'Marmite' personalities that you probably either love or hate, and the chances are that many of the public he upset weren't likely to be among his fans in the first place, while people who do appreciate his sense of humour and follow him on TV may have felt prompted to go out and buy his Powered Up DVD over the weekend."
Or perhaps it's people deciding his career is over, feeling compelled to buy his DVD by way of paying tribute. Who can say, eh?
More from No Rock on amy winehouse, gennaro castaldo, hmv, jeremy clarkson, posthumous records
Madonna will go to the Superbowl
During the FA Cup final, every year, my Dad would holler "the band! show us the band!" as the screen cut from the half-time entertainment to Hill, Moore, or whoever yakkitying away about the sport just shown.
Were he to be around for the superbowl next month, he'd probably be yelling "the pundits! In God's name, bring on the pundits!" as Madonna and Cirque Du Soleil top up their earnings for the current tax year.
More from No Rock on cirque du soleil, madonna, superbowl
Gordon in the morning: Mondays come round again
It's hard to get that excited about the fourth coming of The Happy Mondays, especially as there's a tawdry attempt to try and shoehorn it in onto The Stone Roses comeback, as Gordon explains:
A source said: "After the success of The Stone Roses reunion, there's a real clamour to get the group back on the road and document it properly."[...]
[T]his time they want to do it properly, with full tour dates and possible slots with The Stone Roses.
You'll bet they want to sneak onto the Roses' dates, which will turn this latest reunion from one that settles whatever the bills that have come up this time into one which might actually leave them ahead.
But should we be thinking of this in terms of the Roses? Let's listen to that "source" again:
"The Mondays have had offers from film companies, including Film4 and Sky, who want to follow them for the reunion. There will be gigs next summer and a re-release of their classic album Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches. A DVD will also be released of the comeback shows and the documentary."
Ah, doing a comeback to make some cheap television. This isn't Mondays-as-Stone-Roses; this is Mondays-as-Steps.
More from No Rock on comebacks, gordon smart, happy mondays, reunions, the sun
It's lucky Fred Durst has his sitcom to fall back on
Limp Bizkit's comeback album wasn't a massive success, it's fair to say. And surveying warehouses full of unsold boxes of Gold Cobra, Interscope decided there was only one course of action.
Not that Fred Durst is bothered about being dropped:
He said of 'Gold Cobra' and the band's reaction to their departure from Interscope: "One of the things with 'Gold Cobra' was that it was a record for us to do for ourselves, for the core fans, for some of the people that we know in the industry. It wasn't our step forward to make a big pop, smash radio record; we just didn't want to make that record at that time. We have been working for a while now to renavigate where we are going to take Limp Bizkit and finally we have been able to get off our label and become independent."
Aha! So it was all a cunning plan to release a record so incredibly bad only the most slavish of Fredheads would buy it (and he really must remember to thank his Aunt Maude and Nanny Peeks for that) that the label would have no choice but to drop them.
A brilliant plan. Although apparently one they've been trying to put into practice since they first released a record.
But when life hands Fred a massive box of unsold lemons, he sits down and plots the invention of a machine powered by lemons which will turn other lemons into, like, some sort of liquid that attracts, you know, really hot chicks or something like that and dude it's gonna be so cool:
"We just want to go play a concert and crush it and turn it into a big-ass party. The record thing sort of kind of always got in our way, but it's part of the game and we love writing music and it happened that we had some songs that became popular and we never thought that would happen. So with this way, we can still go tour."
He continued "and, right, Mom says I can so stay in the basement so long as I help out in the garden and take her to the Church Beetle Drive every Thursday, and she won't even care if I take friends back there, I'll bet."
He continued: "We do very, very good on our touring, and we mainly tour outside the United States. It seems like in the United States, they're waiting on a song, they're waiting on a hit, and the rest of the world doesn't necessarily operate that way. So I'm waiting until we can really give them something they can sink their teeth into and then they can be reminded about how ill Limp Bizkit is live".
"Yeah, obviously in the States the gigs don't go down so well because they're just wanting to hear, like, the song they paid to come and see, but overseas, we're like Gods. When we played Paris, France in England this time they were like, listening in respectful silence and didn't even disturb us by clapping or nothing, and when we play overseas the promoters always put us in these small rooms which means they're like hand-picking the people who come to see us and keep out the guys who just want to hear the song. Can I have a pizza? I'm hungry."
More from No Rock on dropping, fred durst, interscope
Every little helps
With everyone fixated on John Lewis' Christmas advert, this seems to have slipped by:
Really, Tesco? The Fairytale Of New York? I guess this means that the song has now melted so far in our national psyche that the lyrics have been replaced with just a chanting of "Christmassy Christmassy Christmassy" whenever we hear it?
More from No Rock on advertising, kirsty maccoll, tesco, the pogues
This week just gone
The most-read pages with 'Christmas' in their names of all time:
1. Salford Lads' Club plots to reunite The Smiths
2. BPI advertiseswarns about cheap knock-off goods at boot sales
3. Radio One: The traditional DJ's Christmas lunch
4. EMI blame Robbie Williams for spoiling Christmas
5. What The Pop Papers Say At Christmas from 2003
6. Boy George trial rescheduled for after Christmas
7. Christmas in 1987: The Sounds reader's poll
8. Biffy Clyro release single on Christmas Day
9. Shane McGowan spends Christmas singing with a whale
10. The Monster Ballad Christmas
This week's interesting releases:
The Lemonheads - Hotel Sessions
Download The Best Of
The Unthanks - Songs Of Robert Wyatt & Antony And The Johnsons
Download Songs Of Wyatt...
Kirstin Hersh - Paradoxical Undressing
Kindle Edition of Paradoxical Undressing
Balance: European Hardcore Music
Eion Devereux - Morrissey: Fandom, Representation & Identities
More from No Rock on this week just gone


text:
Home/Uganda: Extension of the Kampala Northern Bypass
2020-01-24T13:12:39+00:00January 9th, 2020|Project, Uganda|
In Kampala, at the Northern edge of Lake Victoria, Reinforced Earth South Africa (RESA) supplied Reinforced Earth® walls for the extension of the Northern Bypass.
Designed in a semicircle and built between 2004 and 2009 across the northern suburbs of the city, the bypass aims to relieve traffic congestion in the city centre. In May 2014, the expansion of the Northern Bypass into a dual carriageway was launched by the Ugandan National Roads Authority in order to form part of the East-West route around the northern side of Kampala. The contract comprises a total of 6 bridges and associated Reinforced Earth® approach ramp retaining walls for a network of interchanges. The extent of the Reinforced Earth® totals 10,562 m² of TerraClass® panels, using 171,314 metres or 340 Tons of HAR steel reinforcements 45 x 5. The Sentema Bridge is the only structure built to date, with the other bridges to following the coming months. Design, material supply and the precasting are complete for all the structures, work is expected to be completed by 2019.
March 2nd, 2020


I am using JavaProgramPatcher to add parameter used by VisualVM, and then start VisualVM in DefaultJavaProgramRunner or GenericDebuggerRunner which results in opened tab in VisualVM on currently runned application. My current solution is not very clean, I save the parameter appended at JavaProgramPatcher to some static variable, and then use it at the Runner to start the VisualVM.
Problem is, that it does not work for Tomcat, because the Patcher is runned at different points - at configuration menu, and after the application was actually started ( which is also after my VisualVM was started).
JavaProgramPatcher so you need to override 'GenericProgramRunner#doExecutedoExecute' methods in your runners to patch the command line.
JavaProgramPatcher was great because it was runned even for default and JRebel executions. Too bad that it takes RunProfile instead of RunnerSettings.X-( But I figured out, that I can use both methods, because the java parameter could be happily used multiple times.
I understand that it was not meant to do this, but I could not find any other way how to add buttons (for Debug, Run was easy).


Here's a little update on the Atolls necklace.
I'm more and more convinced that it would have been much, much easier to do this in bead embroidery. Connecting these shapes, without making bridges and leaving empty spots, is driving me nuts.
Doesn't matter if you don't like it... I like it a lot!
Hahaha, ok Annette, I like your point of view!
Thank you so much for your kind and fun comment!


Triple F is a 100% natural microbial based fruit and flower booster delivering up to a 50% yield increase, without the use of Plant Growth Regulator (PGR) chemicals, some of which may cause harm to those using them. Triple F has no health risks, no environmental dangers, just great results every time.
Triple F comes as a two component pack. The first component of Triple F is a blend of beneficial micro organisms that work in harmony with your chosen growth medium and your plant's roots to enhance nutrient uptake. The second component is an organic microbial catalyst liquid that acts as a food source for the microbes and complexing agent, which is required during the developing symbiotic relationship between the micro organisms and your plant's roots.


text:
« LOVING ERDOGAN
HOPE AND CHANGE IN THE 9TH »
How Insane Is Mark Mardell?
By David Preiser (USA) | September 14, 2011 - 2:57 am | October 12, 2012 bbc bias and balance., Mark Mardell, Mark Mardell - Obam shill, PRO OBAMA AT ALL COSTS., pro Obama BBC agenda, US economy
This insane:
The president had waved a copy of his hefty American Jobs Act and told them the USA had to catch up with the likes of China and North Korea in spending on high-speed rail and education.
The President of the most successful, most prosperous country in the history of the world says we need to catch up with North Korea, and the BBC US President editor is fine with it. Doesn't bat an eyelash.
Okay, I admit I'm being mean. Actually, this is a mad typo. There will probably be a stealth edit tomorrow once somebody points it out to him, so I've taken a screenshot. If/when this gets fixed, I'll post it. Be honest: you thought for a moment that the President actually did say that, right?
The President actually said we should emulate South Korea by adding more teachers. Yay, more government spending. I guess it's difficult to churn this stuff out, especially when one has to go out amongst the great unwashed in flyover country in search of the elusive Obamessiah supporters, so I'll be charitable here and shrug off this nutty typo.
Anyways, there's something about China's high-speed rail that he doesn't want you to know about. China's high-speed rail project has so far killed 11 people, and injured a further 89 people. And it's losing money hand over fist. And Mardell thinks it's a good idea to emulate? What is it with Beeboids covering the US and China's autocratic ways?
Mardell sees nothing fishy – or curiously neglects to point it out – in the President's seeking out the most sympathetic white audience He ever had, back before the 2008 election, when He was still the world's sweetheart: students.
The president was talking at Fort Hayes art and design college and one pupil, 18-year-old Mel Dodge, told reporters he was an aspiring lyricist and admires Mr Obama's skills.
"He chooses his words so beautifully," said the teenager. "That's why I came out here today, just to hear that in person."
That's just the kind of spiritual boost Mardell needed. Actually, it's a high school in US parlance. Which means some of them will be voting next year – like Mel Dodge – and the rest are potential noisemakers on His behalf. I know this is just a language barrier thing and not an attempt to mislead. But there's something else fishy here.
As a high school it's part of the state/city-funded school system in Ohio. His Jobs Plan For Us has a couple lines sending over $350 million specifically to Ohio's largest school districts (not colleges). Including the Columbus area, which covers this school. Totally targeted pandering. Oops, Mardell forgot to mention that bit. There's something else about Ohio he doesn't want you to know:
Ohio is just about the most key swing state there is when it comes to national elections. The President has spent half of His domestic traveling while in office to swing states. He's visited Ohio fourteen times. Mardell didn't want to inform you of that lest you start thinking too much about how this was an election campaign stop, geared in part towards unions. But now there must be a semblance of non-partisanship:
He wasn't so certain about the politics, unsure that the president's jobs plan would work. He wanted to look at the Republican field as well before he decides how to cast his first vote.
Yeah, sure. Mardell also has a bridge downtown to sell you. His blogpost is just past its midway point, so it's time for a party political advertisement.
If Mr Dodge is not convinced, it won't be through lack of White House effort. Senior advisor David Plouffe is just the latest to offer to answer questions by tweet.
This advertisement was brought to you by the Campaign to Re-Elect the President. And your license fee.
I've just got a detailed White House email on the beneficial impact of the act on Montana. Why Montana, I know not, but I am sure 49 similar missives will soon be in my inbox.
Yes, Mark, we know you're well-connected and on the Democrat mailing list. You don't need to remind us. Oh, my apologies, I'm being rude. The campaign ad is still going.
The president will, I guess, be on the road until this is done or dead.
"I guess." That's very silly, and pretty disingenuous. We all know that's what's going to happen, because Jay Carney already told everyone last week that the President will "travel all over the country; we'll be to a lot of different places." As if he doesn't know. Hell, the President's travel schedule is given out to the press, and it shows that He's going all over the damn place now, mostly to those magical swing states. Just how stupid does Mardell think his audience is? And it's not partisan at all, no sir. No way you're going to hear from the US President editor that the only job the President is concerned about creating is His own second term. That'd be a bit too much analysis. Instead, Mardell gives us one of the more obvious signs of his personal political bias:
He is portraying what is a series of pretty partisan, controversial proposals as plain common sense, that no-one of goodwill could resist.
No one of good will, eh? That's a purely emotional phrase. Mardell is clearly giving an ideological position, supporting the President's message. Anyone who doesn't agree with throwing another half trillion dollars down the rabbit hole would resist, based on an entirely different definition of goodwill, but he doesn't see it that way, and tells you so. So now it's time to provide "balance".
In fact, there is intense debate about his ideas.
There you go. One sentence, with a once-in-a-blue-moon link to a known right-wing pundit, Cal Thomas. If this was from elsewhere, I'd say that might remotely be enough to balance out Mardell's preceding statement that this "debate" obviously means that there are some who are resisting, and therefore have no good will. But as this is a Mardell post, there's more coming to support the President.
He got backing on Tuesday for more spending from the Congressional Budget Office's director, who warned cuts could damage recovery.
He got backing, sort of. But the CBO's "backing" isn't quite how Mardell presents it. In fact, the CBO boss says that "changes in taxes and spending that would widen the deficit now but narrow it later in the decade." Which is pretty much exactly what the SuperCommittee is going to do. Just like in Britain (not including union bosses and UK-Uncut and their fellow travelers at the BBC), nobody really thinks severe cuts are happening this instant or tomorrow. For the US, it's all about 2013 and beyond, and remember, only in a best-case scenario will there be barely $1.5 trillion cut over the next few years, which is a fraction of the actual deficit we need to cut. That's why nobody on the fiscally responsible side was really happy about the debt agreement. Hello?!!? Short-term memory, anyone?
The CBO isn't backing the President in the way that Mardell insinuates, nor are they really repudiating the Tea Party idea and instead siding with Ed Balls and Stephanie Flanders. In fact, what the CBO really says is this (does Mardell think nobody clicks through his links, or does he actually not understand what the following bit means?):
"Attaining a sustainable budget for the federal government will require the United States to deviate from the policies of the past 40 years in at least one of the following ways," he said. "Raise federal revenues significantly above their average share of GDP; make major changes to the sorts of benefits provided for Americans when they become older; or substantially reduce the role of the rest of the federal government relative to the size of the economy."
Raising revenues doesn't necessarily mean draconian taxes only. Growth in industry and consumption raises revenues as well, since that's all taxed to the eyeballs. So "raising revenues" means a lot more than just taxing the rich even more. And what's that about changing benefits for seniors? Oh dear, oh, dear. Sounds like austerity and cuts affecting the most vulnerable to me, and as Social Security and Medicaid are going to be just about the biggest government expense in the near and long-term future (aging Baby Boomers joining the rolls, longer-lived population in general), it's pretty major. Again, this is way more in line with Tea Party ideals than with Krugman/Balls/Flanders. And that last sentence about reducing the role of the federal government speaks for itself, you betcha.
Remember: the CBO boss said "at least" one of these three methods. It's pretty dishonest to put it as just cuts are bad, m'kay, full stop.
So is that what Mardell thinks supports the President? One could just as easily say that the CBO statement is more about what the SuperCommittee is going to do than about whether or not we should add another half-trillion to the deficit. Oh, hang on: the CBO boss actually was saying this to their faces. The link Mardell provides is about the CBO boss's first appearance in front of their first official hearing. Nothing to do with supporting yet another Stimulus package at all! Wow. Let's just shake our heads and move on.
But the president's plan is ideologically objectionable to most Republicans, even more so now that he has revealed how it would be paid for: by taxing what they would describe as "wealth creators" and what Obama would call the rich, oil companies and corporate-jet owners.
It's ideologically objectionable to Republicans, but not to anyone of "good will". How biased can you get? Actually, the President has already caved on the corporate jet issue (perhaps Oprah had a word in his saucer-like?), but never mind. Mardell must have missed that memo. I think a less ideologically blinkered person would mention small businesses as well, as they provide the vast majority of jobs in the country.
This is bound to get messy. The White House has confirmed that they will accept parts of the bill being passed.
What's that last bit supposed to mean? I thought compromise and bi-partisanship were supposed to be the new American dream? Why is he warning about compromise and bi-partisanship? Weird. Unless one would be unhappy with the President giving in one iota to the nasty Republicans.
The danger for Obama is a loss of his simple message.
What simple message? Where did we see a simple message? Mardell sounds like he drank the Kool-Aid here.
He could get drawn into the wrangling and the less attractive aspects of compromise. He needs all the clarity his lyricism and beautiful words can conjure.
So compromise is bad now. Curiously, only a few weeks ago it was the one thing that would have saved us from a credit downgrade. And just the other day Mardell was telling us about how ashamed someone was of Congress for their failure to work together. Now he thinks its best for the President if He convinces everyone to do things His way, without stooping to compromise. You know, that's just what the other of his concerned voter in that post said. Funny, that. It's almost as if there's an agenda here.
By the way, that post of his saw Mardell visiting Democrats in Indiana, and he kind of forgot to mention that it's another important election swing state.
In the end – wacky typos aside – this is all typical biased reporting. And sloppy and dishonest at that, one of Mardell's worst. What's the emoticon for putting one's head in one's hands and weeping quietly?
29 Responses to How Insane Is Mark Mardell?
My Site (click to edit) says:
'There will probably be a stealth edit tomorrow once somebody points it out to him'
Possibly sooner than you think….
Not FoundError 404
Sorry, link fixed now. Too blinded by tears of laughter.
Interesting that it still seems to be there, after a bunch of advisories and time. So much money, so many staff, so little care and attention.
Maybe tell SKY and the BBC will copy in an hour?
Even the cherry vultures must be asleep on their perches.
Quick, on the intranet!
Before tub of Mardell is embarrassed further.
29. Derek_Watson
"Sarah Palin makes gaffe, saying North Korea is US ally"
Now Mark Mardell gets his Koreas mixed up!:
"The president…told them the USA had to catch up with the likes of China and North Korea in spending…"
Hopefully, Mark will be reading the comments and correct the error, which is just a typo (rather like Sarah Palin's "gaffe".)
N. Korea train system may need a bit of support mind.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3649655.stm
The defense from defenders of the indefensible will be that Palin is a Presidential candidate or whatever and must be held to a far higher standard, while Mardell is merely a reporter and can't be expected to be error-free every time when he churns this stuff out on deadline. Except one of them posts on his own time on a computer and has an editor, while the other speaks ad lib with no script and no warning time to prepare a remark.
Bit geeky, but I just had another gander and it is still up.
So, either the £4Bpa news empire that is the BBc fires and forgets and only reads what it writes (hence, even excluding corrective blog posts not inc.), or tub of Mardell really sees N. Korea as a socio-economic powerhouse to emulate.
hippiepooter says:
I remember the BBC making a big thing out of Sarah Palin getting her Korea's mixed up a while ago. Happens to BBC Correspondent's as well? Who'd'a thunk?!
Maybe just a Freudian slip of Mardell's? Wanting to show America up against a Communist State, like they try to do with Cuba over health?
Interesting to note that those pointing out the error are being showered with negative ratings.
Seems the bubble doesn't like to be confonted with its own delusion.
As the BBC steams ahead with its 'newer, faster, better' blog system, I see these ratings being used, especially via 'Editor's Picks', more and more to justify quote choices.
Another piece of rigging to the wholesale corruption that is the BBC's claim of speaking for the public.
New Headline : "Mark Mardell No Smarter Than Palin – Official".
Asuka Langley Soryu says:
'But the president's plan is ideologically objectionable to most Republicans, even more so now that he has revealed how it would be paid for: by taxing what they would describe as "wealth creators" and what Obama would call the rich, oil companies and corporate-jet owners.'
Why scare quotes around what the Republicans say but not around what Obama says? Never mind, I'll answer my own question. What the Republicans say is bullshit, and what Obama says is The Truth. Thanks for playing, Mark.
pounce_uk says:
Just want to say that actually the death toll from the above crash was 40 and that over the past 7 years over 120 people have been killed by the Chinese train system.
I'm sure that in some way it will be proved to be our fault
Millie Tant says:
Revealing post about His travels / electioneering an' all.
However, on one point, I read it that Mardell's saying that He (Pres) is portraying them as proposals that no one of good will could resist.
Exactly. The no one of good will can resist the President's Plans, ergo Republicans who find them "ideologically objectionable" cannot be of good will. And Mardell doesn't say the President's spending plans are ideological.
This is among the most blatantly biased things Mardell has ever said. And he'll continue to get away with it because BBC management thinks the same way.
wild says:
"wealth creators" i.e. the opposite of Mark Mardell
D B says:
I wonder if Susanna Reid or Robyn Bresnahan will have anything to say about Mardell's South/North Korea slip.
Carruthers says:
Why do socialists just love trains so much? Is it the top-down planning, requiring teams of bureaucrats and consultants and impact assessments? The fact that people have to obey timetables like so many compliant hive workers? The deeply unionised workforces that inherently go with railways? Simply their hatred of the car, which per miles travelled can really be no more polluting than massive steel railways, diesel engines and empty carriages being heaved to and fro? The destruction and forced purchase of anyone's property that is in the way of new tracks? The necessity of massive taxpayer subsidies for the rest of time, because the real price of fares is completely unaffordable?
High speed intercity rail is considered by the bien-pensants of so many countries to be some sort of ingenious route to the future and prosperity, but in truth it's 19th century technology really isn't it? Routes and timetables are completely inflexible. It's overwhelmingly used by the middle class going to meetings in city centres near the terminus. Working class people tend to work locally to their homes, or need to use the bus/car to get, you know, to the actual place they want to go to.
Actually I like train travel, the problem is ours is so crap, partly because of the Unions and partly because the companies who run them are so useless.
I prefer yo go by train than car (or flying) when possible, what we have to do though is sort out the bloody leftists.
No error, Mardell does think North Korea is a great place to live. ONLY state TV as well. Heaven for a beeboid.
I wonder if Mark Mardell in wide-eyed wonder at the big O will talk soon about Solyndra. But sometimes it is what is NOT said that defines a reporter's position on issues.
Briefly, Solyndra – a "solar-panel manufacturer" – was granted a pile of money from the White House and became a poster child for O's stimulus package.
Surprise, surprise! Solyndra is bankrupt and subject of an FBI investigation. Where did $535m go?
Now e-mails have turned up showing the White House pressured the Office of Management and Budget to agree to hand Solyndra stimulus money. The Washington Post (no conservative newspaper) concludes: "The e-mail exchanges could intensify questions about whether the administration was playing favorites and made costly errors while choosing the first recipient of a loan guarantee under its stimulus program. Solyndra's biggest investors were funds operated on behalf of the family foundation of Tulsa billionaire and Obama fundraiser George Kaiser. Although he has been a frequent White House visitor, Kaiser has said he did not use political influence to win approval of the loan".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-pushed-500-million-loan-to-solar-company-now-under-investigation/2011/09/13/gIQAr3WbQK_story.html
I will continue to watch for a report on the subject from the BBC. So far there are 33 words in this an opinion piece from Matthew Sinclair of the Taxpayer's Alliance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14886658
Note to BBC newsroom. This is an important story. Follow it.
The BBC cenosred the name Kaiser and the fact that he's an Obamessiah bundler out of the one story they ran about this. No reason to expect them to be more honest about it in future.
cjhartnett says:
One of our number posted James Delingpole yesterday-and HE in turn gave us a link to Sarah Palins speech In Iowa recently( Hillbuzz I think!).
I am looking no further behind Obama, Mardell or any of them-I have not seen as clear an expose of the crony corporate capitlaist class in all my years.
That speech needs addressing bt eh political class-and the more they try to besmirch or bug Sarah, the more I know she`ll be our girl very soon.
If Chomsky had written such a critique he`d be the intellectual that the left says he is…but he coudn`t!
Palin is brilliant…"hopey changey,, abd two great barbs at Obame when he was only a candidate( one referred to him writing his own autobiography before he`d even written a policy!)
Keep up the posting David…but if Sarahs last speech in Iowa doesn`t yet make giant waves both sides of the pong , then we will only have ourselves to blame…she`s a wonder!
God Bless the USA…and the mighty Sarah Palin!
Both sides of the pond!… by the political class!
Typos R Us!
I think in the case of the BBC, it's both sides of the pong.
George R says:
"Sarah Palin totally gets it "
(James Delingpole)
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100104496/sarah-palin-totally-gets-it/
Margo Ryor says:
The interesting thing about all this is as far as I can recall the President is NOT constitutionally empowered to introduce legislation. Granted he has every right to SUPPORT legislation but he isn't supposed to write it – is he?
That's what they do in China and North Korea, I'm amazed Mardell hasn't got a "Obama, President for life" t-shirt on.
Yes, a President can write legislation. They just can't actually introduce it, and have to get a Congressman to start that in motion.
Behold some of those people without good will who resist the President's Jobs Plan For Us:
Hill Dems pick apart Obama jobs plan
Wait….Dems? If Republicans are "ideologically opposed", what about these guys? Are they racists? This is also from Politico, so Mardell sure as hell knows about it. Yet the spin continues.


Gateway cordless KR Keyboard. Join our site today to ask your question. Your answer needs to include more details to help people. Posted on Oct 29, Everything is all good. Back to home page Return to top.
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I found the keyboard in my dad's closet and thought it would be a good idea becasuse it has extra quick-click buttons on the side, like copy-paste, internet buttons, and music controls. You are covered by the leyboard Money Back Guarantee if you receive lb item that is not as described in the listing.
You need a driver for your system that works with Windows 7.
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You can't post conmments that contain an email address. You need to remember that the keyboard is designed for a Gateway computer, it may therefore have dependencies on specific Gateway 0410 other than the basic keyboard driver.
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No matter what your design style is. Whether you are after the latest trends, seeking a modern and contemporary edge or something more traditional, our Canberra lighting showroom has a vast range of wall lights to suit your space.
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Well, I couldn't find a guide for precisely this on the Internet, securing your Shiny Server over SSL (with Apache), but I did find the following links which were very useful and which I only adapted slightly.
Do have a read of the following if you're so inclined, they're both very useful, but neither told me exactly what to do.
This guide is for Ubuntu but I imagine the configuration will work on any Apache server. You'll just need to figure out what the equivalent terminal commands are for whatever OS you're using.
Even though the changes I've made to the config files were quite small I really knew nothing about Apache configuration at all so it's been a bit of a trial. I'll try to give a bit of explanation in case it helps you to know what you're actually doing and show the changes to the config files to make it all work.
I will start with a disclaimer that I am just a dumb guy on the internet. I make no claims as to exactly how secure this is, whether it's possible to bypass it, any of that. If you're really interested in security and you don't know what you're doing I suggest you pay a security expert to help you. I am many things but a security expert is not one of them. I suppose I should say also that this might not even be the "correct" way to configure Apache. There are lots of different rules of thumb and general guidelines as to what goes where (it still works the other way, it's just a way of organising things and having a generalisable approach) and I've ignored some of them to make this simpler. I'm not a sysadmin so I've rather gone with what works rather than what the industry standard is. Again, if that bothers you you'd better pay someone cleverer than me to tell you.
With all that said, let's begin. The principle of what you're doing is pretty simple. When you set up your Shiny Server you set it listening on port 3838, by default, or some other port. So now, when people go to, say, chrisbeeley.net:3838 Shiny hears them and delivers whatever it is they ask for. In the meantime Apache is listening on port 80. Every time someone points a web browser at chrisbeeley.net it hollers on port 80 and Apache hears it, and returns a web page. You don't want that. Shiny isn't secure over port 3838. What you want is a secure connection with Apache, that then forwards a request on to Shiny.
What we're going to do is very simple. We're going to have Apache continue to listen on port 80. However, when someone does go to port 80 Apache will send them to 443, which is secure. Apache already serves my blog with WordPress on chrisbeeley.net/ and my website (which needs an update, I know *embarrassed emoji*) on chrisbeeley.net/website. We're going to have Apache proxy for Shiny Server whenever anyone goes to chrisbeeley.net/shinyapps.
Whenever someone goes to /shinyapps, Apache will say to them "Oh, you want the other guy, sure". Apache then shouts over to Shiny Server (on port 3838/shinyapps) "Hey! Shiny Server! This guy wants some graphs and whatnot!". And Shiny Server hears, because they're listening on 3838/shinyapps, and shouts back "Sure! Here you go!". And back and forth they go as you click around the application.
We're going to listen on port 3838/shinyapps, rather than just on plain 3838, because if you don't, the index page of apps you can optionally display when someone navigates to plain old 3838, instead of 3838/your-app-here doesn't work properly- all the links to applications are 3838/the-application rather than 3838/shinyapps/the-application. For all I know there's a better way of dealing with this problem, but this works fine and, as I already mentioned, I'm no sysadmin.
The big difference here from one of the blog posts that helped me to do this is that in their case the whole Apache server was just proxying for Shiny Server. They weren't listening on port 80 for HTML, because they weren't serving HTML with Apache. Apache listened on all the ports. I use my server as a web server, so I can't do that.
So, to summarise, we're going to have Apache listen on port 80. We're going to redirect all requests to port 80 to port 443 (HTTPS). And we're going to have Apache *proxy for (i.e. shout over to) the Shiny Server on this port. We'll close the 3838 port on the firewall. Shiny Server will still listen on this port, but nobody outside the server can get to it. Only Apache can, and they will shout instructions to Shiny Server on this port, receiving graphs and buttons back which they'll show to the user.
That's Apache taken care of, and the proxying modules set up.
Now you've done that the next job is to get an SSL certificate for your site. This used to be difficult and/ or cost money but now it is/ does neither thanks to the wonderful folks at let's encrypt. This site is incredibly easy to use, I won't bother telling you what to do, just shell into your server and follow the instructions. You will be asked if you wish to direct all HTTP to HTTPS. Given that Google Chrome is going to start giving warning messages for *all HTTP sites, not just ones with passwords/ credit cards, now is a good time to encrypt all your traffic (https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/10/avoid-not-secure-warn). Let's do that, the rest of this guide assumes that you do.
If you used to have a Shiny Server that listened on port 3838 and so had that port open, you can now close it. Unless you only want to give your users the option to use HTTPS, and leave the HTTP there for those who want it. You can do that if you want, leave the port open. I won't go into the firewall stuff here because there are so many ways of configuring firewalls and if you press the wrong button you'll end up blocking ssh into your server and I don't want to be responsible for that.
Now for the real magic. We're going to set up a Virtual host with Apache, on port 443, but only when someone goes to chrisbeeley.net/shinyapps (which, if they use HTTP, will be automagically redirected to HTTPS), which will then act as a proxy server for Shiny Server.
And everything is back the way it started. Phew!
There'll already be loads of stuff at the top about port 443. Leave that alone. It knows what it's doing. We're going to add some stuff at the bottom.
As you can see, we route everything for /shinyapps to port 3838/shinyapps.
You've done! All HTTP traffic is now routed to HTTPS. If it's /shinyapps, it goes to Shiny Server. If not, it goes to Apache for a normal web request.
Well done, have a cup of tea to celebrate.
Your saved few bucks for me – I can still stay with free version of shiny!
Thanks for the help! I had been banging my head on this for a couple of weeks until I found your post.
Worked right out of the box and is so simple!!


Can you make sure fencing is secure and there is a fresh supply of water and can be checked at least once a day to make sure they are happy and well?.
When your ponies arrive they really need to be stabled for at least a week until they know you and about eating food from a bucket. Here we start them on Dengie Alpha A with Oil and gradually add course mix until they realise it is yummy. We put water buckets in old car tyres to start with as they tip them over endlessly until they work it out. If you want some one to head collar train your ponies we can start them here, this costs £50 per pony.
(IF YOU WISH, WE HAVE INFORMATION SHEETS AVAILABLE ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF TRAINING YOUR PONY and WE ALSO HAVE ADVISORS WHO WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO ASSIST YOU or find someone who can.) Sarah Weston has also written a very good book on training semi feral ponies.
Worming is recommended as soon as you feel they have got over the trauma of leaving Dartmoor and establish a regular programme thereafter, information sheet available. Keep your passport safely you will need to produce it for veterinary treatment or to sell your pony.
We wish you all the best with your pony and may you have as much enjoyment as we have from these amazing custodians of Dartmoor.
As a final note, please beware of the temptation to overfeed. These ponies are used to walking 20 miles for their breakfast, if overfed can lead to digestive and laminitic problems.
We'd like to share this submission with as many people as possible, and in the hope that 'those in power' can understand and act to help us achieve our aim to protect the Dartmoor Hill Ponies. So please share this with your friends and family!
Recording and co-ordinating Drifts and Oversight following drifts.
We are happy to confirm that Chagford Drift Pony sale WILL be going ahead on Thursday 11th October.
The first step for a pony seeking a life off the moor, is to learn to trust humans and wear a headcollar.
When you subscribe, we will send you an email with a link to ask you to confirm your details.


While it is still still too early to start summer tomatoes from seed indoors (end of February), it is well worth starting some Russian and Eastern European tomato seeds. These are early tomatoes that need 8 weeks indoors before slowly moving outside. As their names imply (eg Sub-Arctic Plenty) these are more sturdy plants that stand up to mixed summer weather better than their European counterparts.
Nicky's Nursery in Kent, England caters to the renewed interest in Russian tomatoes with many of the classic varieties available by post. The Sub-Arctic Plenty bush tomato is one of the earliest setting of all tomatoes. The more beefsteak type (larger) tomatoes, such as Black Krim and Paul Robeson are useful for city gardeners (with limited growing conditions) but who would still like to enjoy a larger tomato.
Tomato seeds are relatively easy to start, the main point being not to plant the seeds to deep. A light covering of soil is enough. More important is keeping the seed pots in a constant warm moist environment. A simple propagator made with a plastic box and plastic sheet held on with elastic, works very well. The plant pots (2 seeds to each) are gently spray watered before sealing in the box and checked once a week for extra spraying (damp not wet).
It is a good thing to support organic seed producers in Eastern Europe and Nikitovka Seeds from Kiev in the Ukraine has an extensive range of the best heirloom tomato seeds available. The bush varieties Iskorka and Karas (ideal for pots) are early setting and robust, able to stand up to poor summers. The Ukrainian heirloom classic, Kolyadnik is a vine tomato producing excellent fruit late into the year.
There are 2 main reasons for experimenting with Eastern European tomato types. First, they have been known to tomato growers for years because of their excellent resistance to the late blight disease that often destroys tomato plants in Western Europe. Second, these tomato types also have flavours and colours quite impressive and distinct from their Southern European counterparts. Best started before the end of February.


text:
Life is Short. Investigate Wisely.
Posted by Carl Petersen 47sc on August 28, 2015
"...investigations should be completed in a timely matter, nothing and I mean nothing, will stand in the way of making sure our students and school communities are safe."
-Ramon Cortines, LAUSD Superintendent
The fifth grade students of Hobart Elementary School have started the school year without award winning teacher Rafe Esquith in the classroom. They are also deprived of access to his nonprofit, the Hobart Shakespeareans, and its proven record of allowing students to "move on to attend outstanding colleges." Instead, Esquith continues to be confined to teacher jail as the five month investigation against him drags on. What started with a complaint about a joke told in the classroom has somehow expanded into "a complex investigation that requires painstaking, time-consuming work."
David Binkle has been hailed as "an excellent leader who led several important nutrition initiatives for Los Angeles students," but resigned from the LAUSD after being paid to stay at home for eight months. The District "placed Binkle on administrative leave in December so that he would be available to answer investigator's questions," but Binkle says that the investigators never contacted him during this time. While the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) accused him "of failing to report payments from vendors to attend school food conferences," Binkle has stated that his "actions were approved and encouraged from senior district officials." One of his superiors was Michelle King, who has been called a "'top candidate' to replace Ramon Cortines." The investigation drags on as the public waits for a final report.
With all this and more on their plates, the OIG has now announced that it is now diverting resources to investigate "whether the teachers whose district emails appear on the Ashley Madison database violated district policy." It is unclear why teachers are being singled out when the initial LASR story stated that the LAUSD e-mail addresses included in the database belonged to "principals, teachers, athletic directors, athletic coaches, administrators, cafeteria workers and at least one school police officer." This investigation appears to be driven by internal forces as the LAUSD's Director of Communications admits that she has "not heard any concerns from District parents." It is also probable that the cost of the investigation will be higher than any actual harm to the district. While users may have provided their district email address, they "didn't use school computers to access the dating website" as it has been verified as blocked by the District's IT department.
If history is any indication, this investigation runs the risk of dragging the reputation of innocent people through the mud. For example, Jason Duchan filed a lawsuit against the LAUSD this summer after he was suspended for posting inappropriate messages to Facebook. After the District "sent memos, to students, teachers and parents, telling them that an employee had been removed for alleged misconduct," the LAPD arrested a student for falsely creating the page. Interestingly "the one friend the page had turned out to be the student who was arrested for creating it," but the LAUSD was still tricked into believing the existence of the page was reason enough to destroy a teacher's reputation.
The risk is even greater with the Ashley Madison website. It should not surprise anyone that a site geared towards facilitating infidelity did not conform to very strong business ethics. In fact, only 1,492 of the 5.5 million women allegedly on the service had ever checked their messages. Therefore, the 31.5 million registered males on the site probably exhibited more bad intentions than bad behavior. Furthermore, the site "doesn't require email verification to create an account," leaving people subject to office pranks and false profiles. Is this a rabbit hole the OIG really wants to go down?
David Binkle Rafe Esquith Ashley Madison LAUSD


Canuck Place mom, Michaela Evanow shared her emotional Canuck Place journey with over 500 guests at the 12th annual Gift of Time Gala on October 15th.
Michaela was quick to point out that while children like Florence need extensive medical assistance, the disease does not affect their mental development.
Canuck Place helped Michaela and her husband come to terms with their daughter's diagnosis, and let them be the best parents they could be for her.
In May 2015, Florence's condition worsened. Rather than put her through another grueling hospital stay, the family opted to spend her final hours at Canuck Place.
"We gave Florence dignity, love, and a king-sized bed for mama and daddy to cuddle her. The sheets were a soft sage green. They weren't starchy white. She had a handmade patchwork blanket resting on her hips. There were play mats on the floor for our son Teddy, and toys and marigolds filled the room. The windows were open, and we could hear the birds and the gentle hum of the neighbour's lawnmower.
Once Florence passed, the family was invited to spend a final night at Canuck Place.
Canuck Place has continued to support the Evanow family in the year and a half since Florence's death, through bereavement counselling, and regular visits to the house.
"We remember her at the festivals and ceremonies, and we teach our son to remember her, too. But, I also remember this place held my wails and my sorrow and held us in at the most devastating and vulnerable time in our lives. When we left, the day after she passed, we were given a box of food and were reminded that they would see us soon.
The 2016 Gift of Time Gala raised funds for Canuck Place children and families. You can still support the Gift of Time Gala and families like the Evanows through the Friends of Gift of Time fund.


I'd already been out for a working lunch, out for drinks, then out for more drinks. Stopping in at the office, I got word that the James Beard Foundation had announced its semifinalists for the restaurant and chef awards, and that Bonanno was on the list. The announcement had just been made that afternoon; I knew there was no way in hell he'd be at Bones that night. He'd be out celebrating or something, making it a light night, maybe only dropping in at three of his four restaurants, whatever. I had my window. And since I knew I'd better wait a bit before trying to thread my way home through the cops and traffic anyway, I figured I'd sober up over some noodles. Just a quick snack. I called Nancy.
Two hours later, we staggered out of Bones after having eaten nearly everything the crew could throw at us. And it had all been amazing. We'd eaten pillowy, perfectly textured steamed buns folded like marshmallow tacos around a filling of either roasted suckling pig or delicious pork belly, both varieties topped with nothing more than a touch of hoisin glaze, a delicate fall of green onion. We'd eaten marrow, scraping it out of the hollows of big beef bones with special marrow spoons and spreading it on toasted bread, scouring the big knots of bone clean and then kinda wanting to chew them like dogs. We'd had the cod, tempura-fried, and shumai dumplings with coconut milk sauce that were a little stiff, a little chewy. But these were followed by noodles so good it was like they were spiked with a soupcon of sodium pentothal, enough to make you forget everything bad that had ever happened to you in your entire life and focus you fully on the beauty of this one, pure moment.
And that was just one meal--one of the best I'd had in the city in a year.
This week, it's all about Bones in Westword. I review Bones, and then in Bite Me I talk with Bonanno about just who make Bones work. Finally, inspired entirely by my dinners at Bones, I stop by Oshima Ramen in Tiffany Plaza, probably one of the most authentic Japanese noodle bars in the United States.
So it's a big week for the noodle fans, is what I'm saying. A big week for fans of Frank Bonanno. And next week? Best of Denver hits the streets with more than a hundred awards for the best of everything foodwise that this fine city has to offer.


text:
Executive Member for Finance and Governance - Tuesday 11th October, 2022 2.00 pm
Venue: Oberhausen room
Resident and Business Support Telephony Solution PDF 175 KB
View the background to item 22/3
Appendix 1 - Impact Assessment , item 22/3 PDF 386 KB
The Director of Finance submitted a report to seek approval for amendments to the inbound telephony opening hours for Resident and Business Support.
The report advised that the inbound telephone solution was a resource-intensive priority to the Resident and Business Support service with staff being rotated daily to respond to phone demand. During the Covid-19 lockdowns, closure of the customer contact centre and restrictions on staff working from the office in 2020 and 2021, the inbound telephony solution provided a vital contact mechanism enabling residents and businesses without the digital access or skills to use our online self-serve portals to receive financial advice and support. On 8 June 2021 the Executive Member for Finance and Governance approved proposed changes to the telephony opening hours for Revenues and Benefits, from 8.30am until 5.00pm (Friday 4.30pm) to the current opening hours of 10.00am until 4.00pm Monday to Friday which became effective from Monday 5 July 2021. As a result of these highly successful changes, the service was able to better respond to demand with extra resources being allocated during peak call times, as well as maximising cash collection ability outside of opening hours including the clearance of outstanding work and undertaking targeted outbound collection activity. Middlesbrough's existing high levels of multiple deprivation factors have been exacerbated first by the impact of Covid-19 and more recently by the energy and cost of living crises, resulting in growing numbers of residents and businesses with complex, diverse and manifold financial support needs.
In order to address these needs, on 12 July 2022 Executive approved the council's Welfare Strategy to combine a wide collective of support policies and implement a holistic single-touch approach to support Middlesbrough's most vulnerable residents, incorporating debt management solutions, crisis support, Council Tax Reduction, benefits maximisation and hardship relief, facilitated by the Resident and Business Support Service. However the daily resourcing of inbound council tax and benefits phone lines restricts the effectiveness of this solution due to daily pressure to respond to high call queues, and limiting the ability of Advisors to offer end-to-end wraparound account support to those in highest need.
To advance and strengthen this innovative Welfare Strategy approach, it was essential that general inbound phone open times and demand are carefully, effectively and responsively managed. Increasing phone line downtime will ensure vital time and resources are protected for specified periods each week, in order to best utilise the skills and experience of Officers in targeted financial support campaigns directed at our most vulnerable and hardest to reach residents.
Proposed telephony solution
The initial proposal is to close the inbound phonelines for one day a week from Thursday 3 November 2022, to maximise outbound targeted financial support and income recovery. In order to mitigate impact on accessibility of the service for residents and businesses, the opening times on the remaining days will be increased to 4.30pm from the current 4pm closure time with the exception of a Friday which will remain at 4.00pm.
Following a 2-month trial period and ... view the full minutes text for item 22/3
The decision will come into force after five working days following the day the decision were published unless the decision becomes subject to the call in procedures.


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