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IVECO Stralis NP, the first natural gas truck for long-haul operations, elected "Project of the Year" at European Gas Awards of Excellence 2017
The European Gas Awards of Excellence 2017 have been assigned during the European Gas Conference, held in Vienna, Austria from 23 to 25 January 2017.
IVECO, a brand of CNH Industrial, was in a short list of five companies in the "Project of the Year" session of the European Gas Awards of Excellence 2017, which recognizes the 'most exciting projects in the European gas market.'
IVECO Stralis NP, the first natural gas truck for long-haul operations, has been voted "Project of the Year" at the European Gas Awards of Excellence 2017, during the European Gas Conference, the annual meeting for the European gas industry, held in Vienna, Austria (from 23 to 25 January 2017), which gathers more than 450 key representatives from regional governments and industry leaders and more than 80 gas producers, to address issues related to Europe's energy future.
Pierre Lahutte, IVECO Brand President, commented: "We are very proud that IVECO has been again rewarded for its commitment to sustainability. IVECO saw very early that the future of transport was in sustainable alternatives solutions. Our New Stralis NP, elected "Project of the year" at the European Gas Awards of Excellence 2017, is a revolutionary gas truck for sustainable transport: it builds on IVECO's extensive expertise to take a step into the future: it is the first true long-haul gas truck in the market that offers a real alternative to diesel vehicles and the most sustainable long- distance transport truck ever."
The second day of the European Gas Conference 2017 has been closed with the 6th annual European Gas Awards of Excellence 2017 which celebrate "the dedication, triumphs and excellence of companies and personalities pioneering innovation, inspiring others and achieving growth in the European Gas market." Within the category "Project of the Year" award, IVECO and other four shortlisted companies presented the latest developments on the newest and most exciting projects in the European gas market.
The shortlist was:
•	Zeebrugge's Second LNG Jetty
•	Sabine Pass LNG Terminal
•	IVECO NEW 400 HP GAS TRUCK
•	LNG Dunkerque Terminal
•	AUDI e-gas Project
During the discussion panel "Making the difference in the European gas industry," IVECO presented its vision for sustainable heavy duty transport that led to the development of the Stralis NP (Natural Power), the first natural gas powered truck for long-distance haulage.
The brand was the first manufacturer in the world of commercial transport to understand the potential of natural gas, anticipating some of the recommendations of the European Commission published in the communication "A European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility," which states that Liquefied natural gas for heavy duty vehicles is strategic for Europe, providing a solution to most of the issues we face today: local air quality, since NOx and PM emissions are extra-low, but also global warming
– and finally noise.
IVECO created a market for natural gas powered transport vehicles, starting from refuse collection in 1996, followed by urban, then regional and inter-regional distribution, all the way to long-distance heavy-duty haulage with the launch in 2016 of the Stralis NP.
Karl-Martin Studener, IVECO Business Director Austria, Central & Eastern Europe, explained during the conference: "IVECO introduced in the market natural gas versions of trucks, vans and buses, and as a result today more than 16,000 IVECO gas powered vehicles are running on European roads. Our Natural Power technology is future-proof in that it provides a solution to polluting emissions with low Total Cost of Operation – and the added advantage of low noise levels, so important for urban missions. And even more, with the growing availability of bioCNG and bioLNG in Europe, all transporters are now able to provide a CO2-Neutral transport and to contribute to European energy independence."
The New Stralis NP competes on a plane level with its diesel equivalents on performance, while delivering the most sustainable performance, the higher comfort and the lower Total Cost of Ownership in the market. It delivers a best-in-class performance, with the same output of 400 hp and 1,700 Nm torque as its diesel equivalent, and generates 17% more power and 6% more torque than its best competitor.
The big-capacity fuel tanks take the range autonomy of the LNG-only version to the record level of 1,500 km. The engine, combined with the 12-speed automated gearbox, with eco roll function, lowers its fuel consumption by 5% compared to the previous model.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Manager Kilmarnock FC, 2017-19
Oct 14th 2017: Killie announce the appointment of Steve Clarke as their new manager. Clarke, who has previously filled high-profile coaching roles at Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool, has been out of work since leaving Aston Villa 12 months ago. He was taken there by Roberto Di Matteo but moved on when Steve Bruce was brought in to replace him. Clarke, a former Scotland international, brings a wealth of experience to the Killie dugout as they look to get off the bottom of the Premiership table.
Steve Clarke... "I'm delighted to be back in football and I'm especially delighted to be named Kilmarnock manager. In my discussions with the board we spoke about stability and while we need to fix the current situation, I'm looking to provide that stability to this great club. I'm looking forward to working with the board, staff, players and supporters to ensure future success at the club."
May 6th 2019: Steve Clarke has been named PFA Scotland Manager of the Year for season 2018/19. During his time in charge, Killie have secured back-to-back top six finishes and broken the club's record points total twice.
May 20 2019: The club confirmed that Steve Clarke had left Kilmarnock FC to become Scotland National Head Coach with immediate effect.
Steve departs Rugby Park as a Killie legend, having twice broken our record points tally and leading the club to our highest league finish in 53 years and a place in the Europa League qualifiers.
Since joining in October 2017, Steve and his assistant Alex Dyer have led the team to back-to-back Top Six finishes but more importantly have helped restore a feeling of pride, passion and belief in Scotland's oldest professional football club.
During his time in charge, Killie played 67 league matches, winning 34, drawing 18 and losing 15. In the League Cup, Killie won three games, drew once and lost once while in the Scottish Cup, the club won three matches, drew twice and lost twice.
Arriving when Killie were bottom of the Scottish Premiership, Steve proved to be the catalyst for a dramatic upturn in fortunes which saw the team finish in fifth place in the 2017/18 table. This season proved to be even better with the team briefly topping the table in December before ending 2018/19 in third position.
Director Billy Bowie said: "On behalf of the Board of Directors and everyone connected with Kilmarnock FC, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to Steve for his passion and dedication to the job. While we're naturally disappointed to lose such a talented manager, I understand the lure of managing Scotland is a powerful one. Steve leaves an incredible legacy, delivering our best campaign in over half a century and providing European football for the first time since 2001. His place in this club's illustrious history is assured and he will always be welcomed back to Rugby Park with open arms."
Managers Comments
Where Did It Go Wrong For Killie?
Killie Manager History


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Gwich'in Collaborative Government
Regional Gwich'in Collaborative
About Gwich'in Government
What is Gwich'in Government
History of our Government
Gwich'in Government Process
Gwich'in Government Survey
Youth and the Gwich'in Government
Agreement in Principle
About our Agreement-in-Principle
To access a full draft of the Agreement-in-Principle, please register or login
Agreement-in-Principle FAQs
The Agreement-in-Principle (AiP) is a preliminary agreement between the Regional Gwich'in Collaborative, the GNWT, and Government of Canada that describes each chapter of our future Gwich'in Collaborative Government (GCG).
What is the agreement-in-principle?
The AiP is a roadmap to our final agreement. The Regional Gwich'in Collaborative is using the AiP to negotiate what will be included in our final agreement. The AiP is not enforceable by law but the final agreement will be.
What's in the agreement-in-principle?
The agreement-in-principle describes how we will govern ourselves. For example, the AiP describes the areas or jurisdictions where we will have control over law-making and designing and implementing programs and services. The AiP also describes how we will vote on a Gwich'in government, collect taxes, work with other governments, address collective interests, and the steps needed to leave the colonial Indian Act.
How many chapters are in the agreement-in-principle?
There are twenty chapters in the AiP. Sign in to review an updated Draft of the AiP.
Who are the parties involved in negotiating the agreement-in-principle?
There are three parties involved:
The Regional Gwich'in Collaborative which represents: Ehdiitat, Tetlit, and Gwichya Gwich'in Councils
The Government of Canada
The Government of the Northwest Territories
Agreement-in-Principle chapter summaries
Descriptions of each chapter are below. Sign in to review an updated Draft of the AiP.
The preamble to the Gwich'in Collaborative Self-Government AiP provides context for understanding the intentions and philosophy supporting the agreement. It provides a description of the state of pre-contact Gwich'in sovereignty, governance and traditional land use and occupancy. It explains how Gwich'in governed ourselves autonomously in accordance with our laws to protect our culture, lands, and traditions. The preamble acknowledges previous nation-to-nation agreements between Gwich'in and Canada – Treaty 11 signed in 1921 and the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement signed in 1992.
The preamble also acknowledges the inherent right to self-government. In the preamble, Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories recognize self-government as an inherent right and existing Aboriginal rights under section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982.
Describes how the Ehdiitat, Gwichya, and Tetl'it Gwich'in Councils have come into this agreement and their intentions towards self-government, including establishing community and regional governments.
Chapter 1: Purpose of the self-government agreement
The purposes of the AiP and the self-government agreement are described in Chapter 1. These statements show that the parties involved in the agreement, GTC, Ehdiitat, Gwichya, and Tetl'it Gwich'in Councils, the Government of Canada, and the Government of Northwest Territories, all share a common understanding of what the agreement is. The chapter also explains the legal effect of the AiP and the self-government agreement as legal documents. In particular, the AiP is not a legally binding document and it will become the base for the future self-government agreement. And, the self-government agreement will be a treaty within the meaning of the Constitution Act, 1982.
Chapter 2: Recognition of Gwich'in Government
Gwich'in will have two levels of government: Dinjii Zhuh (regional level) and Gwich'in Community Government (community level) and these government will be formally recognized by Canada and GNWT. These Gwich'in governments will have their own roles and responsibilities to carry out governance as described in the self-government agreement.
Chapter 3 Transitioning to Gwich'in Governments
Once Gwich'in reach a self-government agreement, we will need to transition our current government to the new government structure. Chapter 16 describes how the transition from the current government to self-government will take place. This includes developing a timeline and defining the activities that need to happen before the transition such as:
Approving a Gwich'in Constitution
The legal status of the regional and community governments
Status of Band Council Resolutions once self-government is in effect
Chapter 4: Gwich'in Community Government
Chapter 4 explain which areas of government the community governments will have law-making authority over. This chapter also describes structures and process.
Section 4.2 Constitution:
This section describes what the Gwich'in Constitution will include and how it will be approved.
Section 4.3 Power and authority:
Under self-government, Gwich'in can decide how we want our government to look and this section outlines the structure of community governments, how leadership is elected, and their powers and responsibilities.
Section 4.4 Delegation:
Both the regional and community governments will work together. Section 4.4 describes how each level of government can delegate authority to each other.
Section 4.5 Registration of laws:
Section 4.5 explains how each level of government will register laws and keep records of any changes.
Section 4.6 Elections:
Section 4.6 describes how Gwich'in will host elections under self-government. For example:
How often elections will take place.
Who can vote in an election, for example, how old someone must be to vote.
Who can be elected to hold government office.
How the first set of elections will take place under self-government.
Section 4.7 Citizenship:
Because individuals can have different situations in their relationship to the Gwich'in (e.g., someone who is adopted by a Gwich'in citizen), section 4.7 clarifies who can and cannot be a Gwich'in citizen as described in the GCLCA.
Chapter 5: Dinjii Zhuh Government
Chapter 5 explain which areas of government the regional government will have law-making authority over.
Chapter 6: Intergovernmental service agreement
This chapter describes how and when Gwich'in regional and community governments will work with federal and territorial governments for designing and implementing programs and services. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure that Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and Gwich'in Governments have the tools they need to work collaboratively together to deliver programs and services. They will do this by making agreements to support capacity building, funding to develop and enter into agreements, transitioning to self-government, and on-going co-development and coordination of program design and implementation.
In this chapter, Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and Gwich'in Governments also acknowledge that working on a government-to-government basis is needed to implement the self-government agreement and requires political and administrative collaboration. They also acknowledge that capacity building will involve working collaboratively to negotiate intergovernmental agreements and recognizing historic capacity issues of the Gwich'in before and after reaching a self-government agreement.
Chapter 7: Core jurisdiction
Under self-government, Gwich'in Government will have the authority to design and implement programs and services under the jurisdictions negotiated in the self-government agreement. Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and Gwich'in Governments have agreed to take a "modular approach" to negotiating how Gwich'in Governments will take responsibility over jurisdictions. This means that they will agree to terms for core jurisdictions that are needed for Gwich'in governments to operate and build capacity and a process to negotiate additional jurisdictions in the future. The core jurisdictions are:
7.2 Taxation
Gwich'in governments, regional and community, will collect taxes under self-government. Section 7.2 describes how they will work with the federal and territorial governments to determine taxation policies such as:
What taxes will be collected by Gwich'in governments
What taxes will be collected by federal and territorial governments on behalf of Gwich'in governments
How assets will be transferred to Gwich'in governments
Agreements about tax collection and the transfer of assets
7.3 Financial relations
The AiP (and our future self-government agreement) will describe how Gwich'in government will negotiate a financial relationship and funding for self-government with the federal and territorial government. Section 7.3 outlines this relationship.
7.4 Economic development
Section 7.4 describes which level of government, regional or community, will have the authority to make decisions related to economic development like promoting employment and training and establishing programs and services for economic development.
7.5 Culture and language
Section 7.5 outlines how decisions will be made in relation to culture and language and about cultural programs and services. For example, decisions related to:
Preserving Gwich'in culture and traditions
7.6 Early childhood education
Section 7.6 will describe decision-making and jurisdiction for programing and delivery of early childhood education.
Chapter 8: Settlement Lands
There are many aspects to lands and water management and Chapter 8 outlines the continued responsibilities that fall under the regional government (GTC). For example:
Issuing licences and permits for land and water use
Requirements for Environmental Assessment
Dealing with conflicting laws and policies about Settlement Lands between governments
Chapter 9: Implementation
Implementing self-government will happen over a few years and will require a number of tasks. Chapter 9 describes what will be included in the self-government implementation plan. It also describes the roles and responsibilities of the implementation committee and working group.
Chapter 10: Future self-government negotiations
Self-government is a process and as Gwich'in build capacity, they may take on more aspects of governance than originally negotiated in the self-government agreement. Chapter 10 describes how future self-government negotiations will take place. It describes the process the parties must use as well as timelines and responsibilities for negotiating.
Chapter 11: Review and amendment
Overtime, as Gwich'in communities evolve, there might be circumstances where the Parties need to review and make changes to the self-government agreement. Chapter 11 describes the process to make those changes.
Chapter 12: Approval of this Agreement in Principle
All negotiating parties need to give their approval on the agreement-in-principle and Chapter 14 outlines who can officially make approvals:
The GTC President and Vice President after a motion is passed by the Board of Directors
Each DGO President after motions are passed by community councils
The Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs on behalf of the GNWT
The Minister for Crown and Indigenous Relations and Norther Affairs on behalf of the federal government
Chapter 13: Ratification
Gwich'in need to vote in favor of the self-government agreement and there needs to be clear process in place for this to happen. Chapter 13 describes the processes and requirements for ratifying the self-government agreement such as:
Creating a ratification committee
Preparing a voters list
Voter information campaigns
The number of yes votes needed to adopt the self-government agreement
Process for how the self-government agreement will become a law in Canada
Chapter 14: General provisions
These are the general provisions or terms that the negotiating parties to the self-government agreement have agreed to. For example, terms include what the Self-government Agreement is in relation to other legal documents, its purpose, and the status of Gwich'in rights under the agreement. This chapter also outlines the core principles and objectives of the self-government agreement.
Schedule A: Definitions
Schedule A describes how words and expressions are defined and interpreted in the AiP. To avoid confusion and to make sure readers and negotiators clearly understand the document, important words and expressions that might have different meanings are explained. For example, in the AiP "Gwich'in community" means Aklavik, Tetlit Zheh, Inuvik, or Tsiigehtchic
Your participation will ensure that our future government reflects the unique needs of our communities. All Gwich'in voices matter for our government.
Gwich'in are taking a community-driven collaborative approach to government.
Our Gwich'in government belongs to each of us. Your voice will shape what government looks like for all Gwich'in
Visit us on social media at: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
3 Council Crescent, Inuvik
NT X0E 0T0
Tetlit Gwich'in Council
PO Box 30, Fort McPherson
NT, X0E 0J0
Ehdiitat Gwich'in Council
PO Box 118, Aklavik
NT, X0E 0A0
Gwichya Gwich'in Council
PO Box 58, Tsiigehtchic
NT, X0E 0B0


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Creating Britney Spears' artificial comeback
by Mike Stevens
Mike Stevens
Mike's Most Recent Stories
10 Top TV moments to watch in 2009
Celebrity baby names: scarred for life
Ray J, we hardly knew you and other celebrity exes
October 16, 2008 at 4:31pm PM EDT
Britney's PR people are determined to bring her back to the top – but to her fans, it's like she's been there the whole time.
No matter how average her music may be or what happened in her past, the "haters" are unlikely to stop Britney Spears' mass-marketed return to glory.
Britney Spears is back. We've heard that before. But this time there is at least some empirical evidence – her new single, Womanizer, leaped to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart this week from No. 96 last week.
Never mind that the song is just like her other songs (the 2005-present collection, even, not even vintage Britney) and Spears' breathy utterances can barely be described as singing on her very best day.
This is because Britney Spears is indestructible. She is the Barack Obama of celebrity gossip – no matter what is thrown at her, it doesn't stick…at all.
She has reached a point where she is part of the fabric of our society. Any criticism of her is met with an all-out assault.
Much of this is due to her record label, managers and producers, who are creating a cult of personality around Britney Spears far more grandiose than any actual accomplishment she can muster nowadays.
There is the new album, Circus. The hilariously rigged MTV VMAs, at which she won three for her mediocre work on Blackout. The behind-the-scenes promotional photos. An "all access" documentary on the making of Circus. There was the debut of the "too hot for TV" first single, which nevertheless aired on 20/20. And it wasn't exactly a slow news week.
All of this has cultivated a loyalty and defensiveness among Britney fans – of which there are still a considerable number. It's as if this is 2000 and Spears is still this virginal (or at least claiming to be virginal), global sensation.
Those upskirt pics, divorces, shaved heads and hospitalizations? In their minds, they didn't happen. Breathe even a word of that and prepare to be met with "Leave her alone! OMG she looks so good! Team Britney!" and other witty replies.
Somehow, Britney Spears has become an icon. In the eyes of her fans, Britney can do wrong, which ensures this "comeback" has already succeeded. How can we even call it a comeback if she's never fallen off their imaginary pedestal?
Britney's Womanizer debuts…don't miss it!
Britney Spears takes home three VMAs
Britney appears on How I Met Your Mother and the show scores record-breaking ratings
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The Iron County Sheriff's Office was honored to be a part of the Purple Heart Ceremony held at the court house last week. After the Honorable Judge Randall Head read the proclamation designating Iron County a "Purple Heart County", the Sheriff's Office was given the distinct privilege of raising the Purple Heart Flag. The Sheriff would like to personally recognize each person the Purple Heart was bestowed upon and thank them for their sacrifice, dedication, and service to our great country. Currently, the Sheriff's Office has six staff members who are proud military veterans with one currently serving in the National Guard.
Deputies Burkett and Chappell attended the Interview and Interrogation class at Missouri State Law Enforcement Academy in Jefferson City, thanks to the LERF Board. The ability to communicate with others is an integral part of a law enforcement officer's job as is the ability to listen and separate lies from truth. The goal of this course was to provide professional training regarding tactical communication tools, active listening skills, and basic interview versus interrogation, statement analysis, and interrogation techniques.
Deputies Elkins and Davis attended an Instructor Development Course, which is required for instructors to provide certified training to Law Enforcement Officers. This course is designed to develop both the technical skills required to become a police instructor and the confidence needed to properly instruct a class. Assist police instructors in understanding and improving their use of techniques and methods of effective instruction, it creates an awareness and appreciation of the role of police instructors and enable students to recognize the factors which influence learning.
Recently, the Missouri Department of Public Safety has increased the number of annually required training hours to maintain a Missouri Police Officer's License. With the new legal issues and decision coming from the Ferguson incident, we have decided to be proactive and started receiving training in defensive tactics, crisis intervention and criminal procedures. We will add additional classes as they become available. With our staff being county residents, we will been able to invest in our staff training and have our own in-house instructors. This will also allow the Sheriff's Office to offer training free to other Iron County cities and at a small fee to surrounding law enforcement agencies.
Deputy Maxey attended an evidence collection and storage class. The proper management of evidence is so vital to the organization. The prosecution of suspects depends on the proper collection and preservation of evidence collected during the course of a criminal investigation. Once certain evidence is collected it must be packaged and transferred to the Missouri Highway's Criminal Laboratory for analysis. Once the items are analyzed the results are returned to the Deputy, who then incorporates it into their report and submits it to the Prosecuting Attorney to assist in the decision whether to prosecute and what charges to file.
The Sheriff's Office sent Deputy Burkett to become an ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate) Training Instructor. This training will is offered at no expense to any organization or business that desires the training, please contact the Sheriff's Office for additional information. ALICE training prepares individuals to handle the threat of an Active Shooter. ALICE teaches individuals to participate in their own survival, while leading others to safety. No one can guarantee success in this type of situation, this new set of skills will greatly increase the odds of survival should anyone face this form of disaster.
I would like to take a moment to thank our Chaplain Don Akers for all he does for the Sheriff's Office. He is available to anyone in time of need. Contact the Sheriff's Office for assistance.


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Britain's got a brand new reward card offering fabulous discounts and special offers when you shop at local owner-run stores and cafes.
It is a chilly morning towards the end of November, and on a narrow street in WC1 a quiet revolution is happening. On this quiet Bloomsbury back street Londoners are talking to each other.
Over a complicated coffee at Marc Kennard's delicatessen, John Bird is trying to explain why these unassuming shopkeepers are heralds of a brave new dawn. As Kennard skilfully prepares him a double decaff Americano with cold milk on the side and two plain croissants, they patiently explain why the way forward for Britain's independent shops is something called Wedge.
Together with his daughter, Diana, Bird, the Big Issue founder, believes that the smallholders in Lambs Conduit Street have hit on something special. None is part of a chain. They do not have expensive marketing men. They don't provide a free multistorey car park or ask customers to drive miles out of town to shop there. They have never conducted a scientific survey of how to make people spend more money and their business plans barely stretch beyond the end of the road. John and Diana Bird believe that this is worth saving. And they think a supermarket-style loyalty card is the way to do it.
Wedge is a loyalty card with a difference. For a start, supermarkets need not apply. As the scheme is slowly rolled out across the country, Wedge's founders will not accept any shop that comprises more than 10 branches, but so far its biggest member has two. That member is Foyles bookshop, the family concern in central London that still holds its own alongside giants such as Waterstone's.
The Wedge Card is a simple proposition. It will be sold to customers for £20. From tomorrow, it can be bought in participating shops, from local charities or from the website, www.wedgecard.co. uk. The seller keeps £5 and £5 goes to charity. The remaining £10 goes into the Wedge company, a for-profit business that seeks to build "social enterprise". For Wedge cards bought online, 50 per cent will go to charity. For traders, it is hoped there will be new customers looking for the kind of discounts they can get on Nectar cards. Only, with Wedge, the discounts and offers will be far, far more creative. And sometimes, burlesque dancers will be involved. For now, you will get 5 per cent at Albion Wine, 10 per cent at Green Baby and up to 15 per cent at The Lamb Bookshop – plus a range of reductions at other businesses, including both Tate galleries.
In theory, the businesses in any given street will choose a local charity to receive 5 per cent of the card's revenue. But as more and more customers sign up, cardholders will be able to use the website to send the money to any charity they choose.
"And we'd like to keep it that way!" says John.
As well as Stratford, Wedge is due to go to Marylebone, in central London, along with a small area of Covent Garden and into Southwark.
With lurid names like 'Candymania', 'Malteser Munch Madness', 'Mini Chocolate Challenge' and 'Triple Treats' dominating the menus, children's health comes second as family restaurants promote junk food over healthier options. Chips with almost everything, eat-as-much-as-like ice cream and bottomless fizzy drinks, containing dangerous levels of fat, sugar and salt, are being served up to over 40 million children in the UK each year, new research by the Soil Association and Organix reveals today. In contrast, the research also identified examples of some restaurants and visitor attractions doing great work, offering far healthier, fresh, unprocessed food choices.
A detailed survey of ten popular family restaurants exposes a continuing prevalence of junk being served up as 'treat food', despite eating out being a routine weekly event for a quarter of families. Whilst schools are changing their approach to school meals and making excellent efforts to provide fresher, healthier food for children, the UK's family restaurants are failing to offer a healthy choice to children and parents who want it.
The full report, containing both surveys, is downloadable at www.soilassociation.org/realmealdeal.
Although TGI Friday's received the highest score overall, this only showed up the pitiful meal options in the other restaurants. TGI Friday's average children's meal still contains over double the school meal maximum saturated fat content. Their burger in a bun with deep fried French fries and baked beans, followed by 'Malteser Munch Madness', contains one and a half times a primary school child's recommended saturated fat intake for a whole day.
Café Rouge, ranked bottom of the league, also wins the booby prize for the least healthiest meal. Its croque monsieur (toasted cheese sandwich) with deep fried French fries, washed down with cola, and followed by ice cream, failed a record 10 out of 14 nutrition standards. The almost complete absence of fruit and vegetables on their children's menu guaranteed their embarrassing bottom position.
Meanwhile, at Hungry Horse, it's a 'candymaniac catastrophe'. This restaurant scoops the prize for highest sugar and salt, with desserts like their monstrous ice cream, chocolate and sweet laden 'Candymania'. This popular pudding contained four chocolate brownies, chocolate sauce, three scoops of vanilla ice-cream, three scoops of chocolate ice-cream, four strawberries, one bag of white chocolate Minstrel's, a handful of Malteaser's, a handful of Milky Way Magic Stars, a Wagon Wheel, a Milky Way Crispy Roll and topped with squirty cream. Needless to say, this provides a child with well over their recommended sugar intake for a whole day.
With the startling rise of obesity in children and the eating out industry now accounting for 31% of total food and drink expenditure, families desperately need these restaurants to be prioritising healthier meals. As family dining declines, we calculate that Whitbread restaurants (Beefeater, Brewer's Fayre and TGI Friday's) now serve one children's meal for every 14.5 school meals served. So they and all other family restaurant chains have a clear responsibility to provide and promote healthy, nutritious food choices.
Not one chain, other than Pizza Hut, passed the fat and sugar tests and, alarmingly, almost none of the food is homemade. Parents might wonder why they didn't stay at home with a ready meal. The only 'cooking' in most of these restaurant kitchens is opening packets and re-heating frozen meals, apart from cooking the odd bit of beef and chicken. Favourite foods, mashed potato and pasta meals, all came out of a packet – with one exception which was Café Rouge.
Not one of the restaurants sources food locally and you'll only get organic if you're still on baby food. There is a total absence of helpful, nutritional information in all the restaurants, apart from the occasional referral to 'five a day'.
The report is based on findings by a leading, expert nutritionist who analysed 568 possible meal options for children and ranked the restaurants according to how their food compared to the Government's new minimum standards for school meals. Shamefully, not one restaurant chain came close to meeting the new school meal standards. The results reveal a mountain of highly processed, additive-laden, junk food that contains all the risks that may lead to obesity and diet-related illnesses. For example, the average meal at Nando's contains eight teaspoons of added sugar, taking a primary school child close to the recommended maximum for a whole day.
Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said, "There is much to celebrate in the changes happening across the country to improve the quality of children's school meals. Sadly, our survey of children's food in restaurants reveals that all the major providers of children's meals are simply continuing their unhealthy business of serving up junk food to children. We are not calling for a ban on junk food, but parents have a right to be provided with a choice of healthier meal options, and restaurants must take responsibility for this�?.
Lizzie Vann, founder and managing director of Organix, said, "Parents have the right to know what's in the food being served to their children and we hope this report will give the industry a much needed shake up. It amazes me that some of the biggest and most successful restaurant chains in the country are still getting it so wrong�?.
Jeanette Orrey, dinner lady and writer, said, "I have been cooking fresh, nutritious and exciting food for children for over 20 years. I know kids will eat it and there is no reason why these companies should not be providing that choice�?.
Healthy meals are possible. New family restaurant chain, Leon, shows it is possible to provide children with low-cost, fresh, healthy, nutritious, food in a fun environment. The expert nutritionist rated this restaurant highly, along with other exceptions like the National Trust's restaurants, YHA, Garden Organic's restaurant at Ryton, Ikea and Center Parcs, which provides an excellent children's menu with vegetables included in nearly all main meals. Similarly, The Tower of London and Eden Project show real progress in offering freshly prepared food. And Europe's biggest family restaurant, the Rainforest Cafe in London, serves over 3,000 children's meals a week, many of which are organic and made from fresh ingredients.
This survey follows on from the Soil Association and Organix research earlier in 2006, investigating 14 leading tourist attractions' food and drink provisions, published in August. The full report, containing both surveys, is downloadable at www.soilassociation.org/realmealdeal.
Robert Wiseman Dairies will supply a quarter of the UK's organic milk by the end of this month after announcing new contracts which increase its share of organics five-fold.
Robert Wiseman confirmed it had won new organic contracts from Tesco and Horizon Organic Diary. Later this month it will supply 60 per cent of Tesco's organic milk, the same proportion of all liquid milk it currently supplies to the supermarket giant.
Previously only holding 5% of the organic market, these new deals increase its portion to more than 24%, roughly the same as its portion of the total UK liquid milk market.
For the next year the supply of organic milk will mainly be handled at the company's dairy unit in Manchester. However, its sixth factory, the £46 million Bridgwater unit to be completed late in 2007 will be designed to be an organic "centre of excellence".
Situated in an area with high clover growth which improves organic yields, the factory is closer to the majority of customers demanding organic milk in the south of England.
The "transformational" organic deals were announced as the company revealed a pre-tax profit of £17.1m in the six months to 30 September, a 40% increase on the first half of last year.
Turnover increased 3.8% to £291.9m as volumes rose by 3% to more than 700 million litres. The development was particularly strong south of the border, with more than 75% of the company's milk throughput now coming from England and Wales.
Wiseman said the company would seek to further improve its profitability through more efficiency, and the development of new products and higher cost products such as organics. The company warned that plastics and energy costs "remain a concern". While plastic costs were expected to fall with the price of oil, the company was locked into high energy costs for the next 12 months.
The East Kilbride-based company delivered interim results ahead of analysts' forecasts which sent its shares up almost 3% to a new all-time high of 462.25p.
The increases prompted an interim dividend of 3p per share to be paid in February, 25% more than last year. Charles Hall Securities maintained its hold rating, but upgraded its full-year profit estimate from £28m to £32m.
Several other analysts upgraded their estimations and target prices. Analyst Susan Gordon said the group had been commendably nimble, selling surplus land earmarked for possible development in Durham, to focus its energies on the south of England. However, she said, despite high regard for the company, she believed the stock price "reflects its immediate prospects".
The Prince of Wales is one of the first landowners in the UK to open up his farm to children.
The move is part of a new offensive to offer every child aged 5 to 11 at school in England the chance next year to visit a working farm and learn about food and farming methods. That's more than one million pupils.
Prince Charles, who has agreed to be Patron of the Year, is keen that his Home Farm, part of the Highgrove estate near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, will play an integral part in the project.
From the woman who raised the alarm over the profligate use of pesticides to the doctor who discovered that chimney sweeps in 18th century London were dying because of their exposure to soot, the government's Environment Agency has named the scientists, campaigners, writers, economists and naturalists who, in its view, have done the most to save the planet.
To help celebrate its tenth anniversary, a panel of experts listed its 100 greatest eco-heroes of all time. And it does mean all time: St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) is there, as is Siddartha Gautama Buddha, who died in 483BC.
At number two is the maverick economist EF Schumacher, a German national rescued from an internment camp in the English countryside by John Keynes, who went on to achieve worldwide fame with his green-tinged economic vision.
Jonathan Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development Commission, is third, with the wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough, fourth. James Lovelock, the UK scientist who developed the Gaia theory of life on earth, is fifth.
The US former vice-president turned documentary film maker Al Gore is placed ninth, while David Bellamy, the television botanist who angered some campaigners with his contrary stance on global warming, still makes the list at 18. There are journalists too, including the Guardian's George Monbiot (23) and Paul Brown (80). And some surprises: few would consider an oil boss an eco-hero, but Lord John Browne has done enough to turn BP around to make the list at 85.
Not all the candidates have left their carbon footprints on the real world. Tom and Barbara from the BBC TV show the Good Life are at 91 while Father Christmas completes the list at 100, for his "sleek, no-carbon operation".
Seen by many as the patron saint of the green movement, Rachel Carson's reputation was sealed by the 1962 publication of Silent Spring, a passionate and revelatory account of the damage done by the unrestrained use of pesticides.
A writer, scientist and ecologist from rural Pennsylvania, she studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and received an MA in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932.
First hired by the US Bureau of Fisheries to write radio scripts during the depression, she supplemented her income writing features on natural history for the Baltimore Sun. A 15-year career in the federal service as a scientist and editor followed from 1936, and she rose to editor in chief of all publications for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 1952 she resigned to focus on writing, and published a prize-winning study of the ocean, The Sea Around Us, followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955. Essentially a biography of the ocean, the books made Carson famous as a naturalist and science writer. Disturbed by the widespread use of synthetic chemical pesticides after the second world war, she switched focus and wrote Silent Spring. The book is credited with launching the concept of the environment as a system that sustains us and that we must learn to live within, rather than a mine, dump or playground. It infuriated government and industrial interests and she was attacked by lobbyists as an alarmist. She died in 1964 after a long battle against breast cancer.
Schumacher's 1973 book Small is Beautiful rewrote the rules by questioning whether the objectives of western economics were desirable. Ernst Friedrich was born in Bonn, but made his name in the UK after attracting the attention of John Keynes. He was feted by alternative circles in the 1960s for unorthodox thinking, and his opposition to nuclear power and the use of chemicals in agriculture. He was an early critic of economic growth as a measure of national progress and helped to found the Soil Association. Small is Beautiful catapulted him to international attention: he was invited to meet US president Jimmy Carter and he even received death threats. He died in 1977.
An early activist with the Green party in the 1970s (then the Ecology party) and later party chairman. He gave up teaching in 1984 to lead Friends of the Earth. In 1996 he helped to found Forum for the Future. Tony Blair made him head of the Sustainable Development Commission in 2001, but he remains a critic of government policy on nuclear power and in 2005 urged the prime minister to "bang heads" across departments to combat greenhouse gas emissions. He irked some activists with his book Capitalism As If The World Matters, in which he argued that environmentalists must embrace a "evolved, intelligent and elegant" form of capitalism.
The voice of wildlife, conservation and all things that wriggle, fly and roam across planet Earth, Sir David is still going strong at 80. His programmes have brought the natural world into the living rooms of millions over 50 years and his contribution to public awareness of natural science brought him a fellowship of the Royal Society. A Reader's Digest poll this year voted him most trusted celebrity in Britain.
He has drawn rare criticism from some environmentalists, who have complained that his programmes do not sufficiently reflect man's impact on the natural world, although he has become more outspoken for green causes in recent years.
Best known for his Gaia theory, which says the Earth's biosphere works as a single living organism, able to manipulate the climate and chemistry of the atmosphere and the oceans to keep them fit for life. The idea was hugely influential among fellow scientists and environmentalists, and religious and spiritual thinkers. An ex-Nasa scientist, his work on the Viking Mars missions sparked an interest in the way planets function.
More recently he courted controversy by public supporting nuclear power and increasingly dire predictions on the consequences of climate change for the human race. His book The Revenge of Gaia predicts that billions will die by the end of the century, with survivors forced to live in the Arctic. He argues that the phrase "global warming" fails to reflect the seriousness of the problem and wants it replaced with "global heating".
Africa's "tree woman'"who founded the green belt movement in Kenya in 1977 and was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2004. The movement has since planted more than 10m trees to prevent soil erosion and provide firewood for cooking fires. Most have been planted by poor women in the villages of Kenya, restoring their environment and providing paid work. Born in 1940 in Nyeri, Wangari, she trained as a scientist in the US before returning to Kenya to do a PhD. She gained worldwide attention in 1998 by helping to defeat plans by Kenya's president to clear hundreds of acres of forest for luxury housing. Jailed several times by previous administrations, she was elected to parliament in 2002 and is now environment minister.
Once derided for talking to plants, Charles Windsor's passion for the environment and green issues such as locally produced organic foods have won him admirers and brought the issues to public attention. Last year he spoke out on climate change, calling it the greatest challenge to face man.
Remembered by environmentalists for his pioneering predictions of the problems caused by unsustainable industrialisation. His utopian view of a society in harmony with nature still inspires generations of sustainable-living advocates.
US former vice president defeated by George Bush in the infamous "hanging chad" recount presidential election of 2000. His long-lasting interest in environmental matters, and climate change in particular, was sealed with this year's release of his film An Inconvenient Truth, which has helped to drive the issue on to the mainstream agenda.
The Scandinavian polar opposite to Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s, her views of sustainable development seemed radical at the time, but are common political language now. Her 1987 report, Our Common Future, laid the ground for the 1992 Rio Earth summit.
The biologist and accountant, who died last year aged 59, had a profound influence on the green movement and the world of international development. He helped to set up Friends of the Earth UK, the Eden project and Forum for the Future. At the International Institute for Environment and Development he was instrumental in bringing together the poverty and environment agendas.
Top green thinker who launched Friends of the Earth in Britain and founded the Rocky Mountain Institute, a technology thinktank that develops blueprints for low-energy devices such as the "hypercar". He says soft technologies can cut energy use by three-quarters.
Physicist and ecologist, founding director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and a leader in the International Forum on Globalisation. She has had a vast impact on a range of issues from forest conservation to GM crops,from world trade policy to organic farming.
An Austrian doctor of theoretical physics, based in California, he combines an interest in eastern mysticism with a fascination for what makes the planet tick. His most recent book, Hidden Systems: A Science for Sustainable Living, argues the need for a natural rather than a technical toolkit to tackle the impending global crisis.
Widely acknowledged as the founder of wildlife management as a discipline and profession, he was one of the greatest US ecologists. His writings on conservation and the value of the wild to civilisation are highly regarded. The most famous, A Sand County Almanac, inspired many to follow in his footsteps.
A Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist who fought to stop logging in the Amazon rainforest for cattle ranching. He was murdered by ranchers opposed to his activism.
A formidable campaigner for green causes, including saving a Tasmanian rainforest from flooding by a dam project. In recent years his reputation has been tarnished by public statements sceptical of climate change. Fierce hater of wind farms.
The architect of central London's sewer system who saved the city from the cholera epidemics that had ravaged it in the early 19th century.
Born in 1785, his seminal work, Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-sized prints, is still a standard by which modern day bird artists are measured. While living on the family estate near Philadelphia he conducted the first known bird-banding experiment in North America by tying strings around the legs of Eastern Phoebes.
As consumers become increasingly discerning about what they eat, worrying about "food miles", excessive packaging and the health benefits of organic and locally grown produce, farmers' markets – once a novelty – have become a destination of choice.
There are now more than 500 certified markets across the country and the best of them, according to a survey by Country Life magazine, is in Edinburgh.
Ever since the first farmers' market opened in Bath in 1997, the demand from an increasing environmentally aware public has seen the concept take off across the country. Today, more than £166m a year is being spent on fresh, locally prepared produce at markets up and down the UK. Originally set up to provide an outlet for farmers, growers or producers from local areas to sell their own produce direct to consumers the markets have now become fashionable places to shop.
Typically, a market runs for about five hours at the weekend, weekly or monthly depending on the demand. But, as their popularity grows, more are being created on an almost daily basis.
"Local food is attracting more interest than it has for a generation and is an issue increasingly at the centre of everyone's thinking," said Mark Hedges, editor of Country Life magazine, which launched a competition to find Britain's favourite farmers' market.
The magazine, which has previously run competitions to find England's favourite village and England's favourite market town, drew up a shortlist of 18 outstanding markets across England, Scotland and Wales.
The 18 semi-finalists comprised three farmers' markets from each of six regions: East of England, the Midlands, Scotland and the North, the South-west, the South-east and Wales and the public then voted for their favourite market town. These votes determined the finalists, which included Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Moseley, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Tavistock, Devon, Deddington, Oxfordshire and Chepstow, Wales.
The judges included celebrated high-profile Clarissa Dickson-Wright, Michelin-starred chef Shaun Hill, Mark Hix who oversees celebrated London restaurants Le Caprice and The Ivy, TV chef John Burton Race, Lady Cranbrook, a regional food advocate for the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and the food critic Tom Parker Bowles.
"The competition was certainly strong, but Edinburgh was named Britain's favourite farmers' market because it really represents the future of farmers' markets in Britain," said Ms Dickson-Wright, formerly one half of the Two Fat Ladies cookery show.
The market opened in 2000 and is held every Saturday, attracting about 6,000 people a week. It adds some £1.16m to the rural economy and £800,000 to the city centre's economy each year.
One of three farmers' markets in Wales, Chepstow was conceived in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis.
Big companies stand accused of selling junk food to children behind their parents' backs with a variety of "underhand" tricks, despite claiming only to use responsible marketing methods.
A report yesterday from the consumer organisation Which? found that a dozen multinationals had been using up to 20 different marketing ploys to push unhealthy products. Some companies bypassed parental control by using new technology such as viral marketing campaigns which encourage children to e-mail each other cartoons or spoof adverts with a brand message. Others offered free toys or ran promotional tie-ins with popular children's films.
For six months this year, researchers monitored the marketing practices of 12 companies: Coca-Cola, Kraft, Cadbury Schweppes, Kellogg's, Burger King, KFC, McDonald's, Haribo, Nestlé, Masterfoods, Weetabix and Pepsico.
Although the companies stated publicly that they carefully targeted adult customers, Which? found that promotions for sugary, fatty or salty food included "educational" worksheets on chocolate, and competition prizes that appealed to primary school children.
Although Coca-Cola said it did not advertise any of its products to under-12s, Which? found the company ran special promotional packs of the sugary drink Capri-Sunto coincide with the launch of the children's animated film Ice Age 2. Sponsorship of the football World Cup and a website featuring Wayne Rooney enhanced Coke's appeal to the young.
Interviews by Which? with 50 children aged between five and 15 established that the marketing had made a strong impression. Children associated Coca-Cola with the positive image of the World Cup. "They're linked together, they stay together," said one child, aged five. "The signs on TV say Coca-Cola and football is good for you," said another.
KFC said it had not targeted children with advertising for years. Yet the fast-food chain gave away collectible toys with its children's meals, sponsored Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, and had a tie-in with the Nickelodeon cartoon Barnyard.
The world's biggest food company, Nestlé, was found to have engaged children in nine different categories of dubious marketing, from a milkshake website with children's games, to football-related gifts in its high-sugar Golden Nuggets cereal.
Nick Stace, Which? campaigns director, said food marketers were using "sophisticated, underhand techniques" to target children behind their parents' backs. "The approach of a number of companies is to go around the back door to go direct to children," he said. "There is a sense that parents are left out in the cold. They can't necessarily control the messages that their children are receiving. In many instances the companies are sticking to the letter of what they are saying but they are not sticking to the spirit of what they are saying."Which? wants a pre-9pm ban on TV commercials for junk food – a measure rejected by Ofcom last week – and a ban on other promotions for under-16s.
* Wrappers of the Nestle chocolate bar Milky Way promised children would enjoy the 'fun puzzle inside'.
Planet Organic is set to compete with Fresh & Wild for the UK's organic retail crown. Fresh & Wild was bought up by US giant Whole Foods Market a couple of years ago. Now a trio of British investors have got behind Rennee and Brian Elliott, founders of the original UK organic food retail chain Planet Organic. The investors are David Krantz, Alan Smith and Colin Fenn.
Global organic food and drink sales are forecast to reach US$40 billion by the end of 2006 according to research from Organic Monitor. Demand is exceeding supply in many parts of the world, particularly North America, where consumers have embraced the organic food trend.
Due to the premiums placed on organic products, most organic shoppers live in affluent countries such as Switzerland, the US and Singapore. Meanwhile, the largest increases in organic production are in developing countries, with Latin America, Asia and Africa reporting triple-digit growth in organic farmland since 2000.
Worldwide, fruit and vegetables are the most popular organic food category representing a third of global sales value; this is followed by dairy foods and then drinks.
THE nearest the cheerful, obsessively tidy former Yugoslav country of Slovenia comes to hell on earth these days is when a British stag party lands in the capital, Ljubljana. But since President Janez Drnovsek experienced a spiritual rebirth, baffled Slovenians have been warned that they are living on the edge of the apocalypse.
Frequently dressed in Indian clothes and sometimes playing the flute with laurel leaves in his hair, the president has cast off the trappings of power. After he was diagnosed with kidney cancer, Drnovsek, 56, left his presidential palace in Ljubljana, sacked most of his staff and moved with his dog to a mountain cabin near the village of Zaplana, where he grows organic food and bakes his own bread.
Having rejected conventional medicine in favour of herbal therapies and a vegan diet, he has become a tireless crusader against "all things evil�?, warning that the world is about to end.
Drnovsek has embarked on a globe-trotting mission to preach positive energy, environmental awareness, spiritualism and animal rights, pledging to end the tyranny of "well-paid but inefficient international officials�?.
There is no formal word on his health — the cancer is reported to have spread to his liver and lungs and he has visibly deteriorated — but he retains the same vigour in his largely ceremonial job, declaring: "I feel healthy, therefore I am healthy.�?
He works full-time, seven days a week, and is constantly on the move, talking to heads of state and hippie gatherings alike. Last week he was in Vienna promoting his new book, The Essence of the World, a follow-up to his blockbuster The Thoughts on Life and Awareness which was second only to The Da Vinci Code on the Slovenian bestseller lists.
Drnovsek, who holds a PhD in economics, served as prime minister for almost a decade and is credited with having lifted his country out of the Balkan cauldron straight into the European Union. He still enjoys wide public support, but since his conversion to the simple things in life he has ditched his Liberal Democratic party to found the Movement for Justice and Development, which aims to "restrict the logic of capital and profit and provide a social as well as environmentally more balanced world�?.
His criticism of the EU, the United Nations and politicians in general is harsh. "Politicians say what they think people want to hear. They don't speak the language of a higher consciousness. They don't really know what they're saying,�? he said. To critics, he retorted: "I have reached my inner peace and I am not afraid any more.�?
Jim Place, the Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs, has tabled a new Early Day Motion (EDM) on GM crops asserting the right to choose non-GM foods.
Australia's blistering summer has only just begun but reservoir levels are dropping fast, crop forecasts have been slashed, and great swaths of the continent are entering what scientists yesterday called a "one in a thousand years drought".
With many regions in their fifth year of drought, the government yesterday called an emergency water summit in Canberra. The meeting between the prime minister, John Howard, and the leaders of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland was told that more than half of Australia's farmland was experiencing drought.
David Dreverman, head of the Murray-Darling river basin commission, said: "This is more typical of a one in a 1,000-year drought, or possibly even drier, than it is of a one in 100-year event." He added that the Murray-Darling river system, which receives 4% of Australia's water, but provides three-quarters of the water consumed nationally, was already 54% below the previous record minimum. Last month it recorded its lowest ever October flows. Inflow this year was just 5% of the average.
The drought is likely to affect drinking water supplies to many areas. Sydney's largest reservoir is now 40% full and many small rural towns in east Australia face shortages within a month.
It is also expected to have a serious impact on crops. Last week, the government forecast its lowest wheat crop for 12 years, a 62% decrease on last year. Yesterday the agriculture minister Peter McGauran announced the allocation of more than A$200m (£80m) to help businesses which service drought-stricken farmers, in addition last month to the A$910m in payments for 72,000 farmers affected by drought.
The drought has set off a fierce political debate in Australia about climate change. The country has maintained, with the US, a sceptical stance on the issue, and Mr Howard has refused to sign Australia up to the Kyoto agreement. However, polls suggest he is increasingly out of step with public and scientific opinion and the drought has forced him to demonstrate concern.
With an election due within a year and the environment emerging as a big political issue, Mr Howard last month announced several "green energy" projects. He now concedes that climate change is taking place but argues that the Kyoto process is flawed because it does not include the big polluters – India, China and the US. But last week new UN figures showed that Australia's emissions of greenhouse gases were the highest per capita in the west, apart from Luxembourg, and that they had grown by 1.5 tonnes a head since 1990.
Australia now emits almost as much carbon and other greenhouse gases as France and Italy, which each have three times its population.
In Kenya next week Australia will come under intense pressure from ministers of developing countries at the UN meeting on climate change. However, Mr Howard is not expected to change his position.
Adding to the government's embarrassment, the leading scientific body in Australia – the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – this week predicted that rainfall in parts of eastern Australia could drop by 40% by 2070, along with a 7C rise in temperature. It said that by 2030 the risk of bush fires would be higher, that droughts would be more severe and that rainfall and stream run-off would be lower.
Chemical pollution may have harmed the brains of millions of children around the world in what scientists are calling a "silent pandemic".
The world is bathed in a soup of industrial chemicals which are damaging the intellectual potential of the next generation and may increase the incidence of conditions such as Parkinson's disease, they say.
One in every six children has a developmental disability, such as autism, attention deficit disorder or cerebral palsy, the effects of which may be life-long.
The role of low-level pollutants, such as lead and mercury, on the growing brain has been recognised for decades and measures taken to reduce exposure to a minimum. But scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, say at least 202 chemicals are known to have the capacity to damage the brain and their effects at low levels of exposure are unknown. They say limits for exposure to chemicals should be set for pregnant women and young children, recognising the unique sensitivity of the developing brain, which is much more susceptible to the toxic effects of chemicals.
Critics accused the scientists of scaremongering and said their claim of a silent pandemic was a "gross overstatement".
The 202 chemicals listed by the authors have been shown to cause serious accidents when ingested, or have been used in suicide attempts. They include chemicals used in household products, such as aluminium in saucepans and soft-drink cans, and acetone in nail-polish remover. The main exposure to the pollutants is through contamination of the environment during manufacture, when the chemicals seep into ground water, are carried in air or contaminate food.
Commenting on the review, Professor Nigel Brown, dean of medicine at St George's School of Medicine, University of London, said: "This is a campaigning article. In their enthusiasm, the authors verge on scaremongering.
Used in adhesives, printing ink and agricultural sprays. Can cause drowsiness and hallucinations.
Used to make nylon, paint and resin removers, and fungicides. Can cause headaches and convulsions.
Used in nail-polish remover and to make plastics, fibres and drugs. Breathing it over long periods can cause light-headedness and confusion.
Used as a petrol additive and in spray paints. Can cause an effect similar to drunkenness followed by severe stomach, leg and back pain.
Used in dry cleaning. Breathing it for long periods may cause dizziness, poor co-ordination and difficulty concentrating.
Used to make pesticides, dyes and rubber. Breathing in small amounts over several years may cause cancer.
Used in making plastics. Breathing small amounts over long periods causes alterations in vision, hearing loss and slower reaction times.
Organic food sales have doubled over the past six years and shoppers' rising demand for healthier foods means fast growth should continue, a report out today says.
Around £1.6bn was spent on organic goods last year, up from £800m in 2000, according to Datamonitor. The market analysts said concerns over safety and health were some of the main reasons why people decide to go pesticide-free. As awareness of health and environmental issues gathers steam, Datamonitor predicts the UK market will hit £2.7bn by 2010.
A new major scientific report he has co-authored proves there will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue. Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity.
Catch records from the open sea show declining fish stocks. In 2003, 29% of open sea fisheries were in a state of collapse – defined as a decline to less than 10% of their original yield. Bigger vessels, better nets, and new technology for spotting fish are not bringing bigger catches. Historical records from coastal zones in North America, Europe and Australia also show declining yields, in step with declining species diversity; these are yields not just of fish, but of other kinds of seafood too.
One-third of once viable coastal fisheries are now useless. Catch records from the open ocean show widespread decline of fisheries since 1950 with the rate of decline increasing.
In the UK, the Soil Association decided in August to give full organic status to aquaculture, a decision that caused some critical comment from purists. That decision was only made after 8 years of holding aquaculture at interim status and following an extensive 3-year research project. This looked into a wide range of issues surrounding fish farming. The decline in and over-exploitation of global wild fisheries was one of the factors that convinced the Soil Association that it's essential to engage with and bring improvements to fish-farming in order to save wild fish stocks from collapse.


The record is simply titled "Tribute to Coroner" and already looking at the cover (a pure citation) it is clear that this release has a particular spirit: pay tribute to one of the seminal thrash metal bands of the 80s, Swiss CORONER, band originally produced by Tom G.Warrior of CELTIC FROST. PHARAOH covers "Tunnel Of Pain", one of the Swiss' power trio most famous songs to date - it will indeed bevery interesting for PHARAOH's fans to see how Tim Aymar will pull such a different style from the band's other releases! Eccentric CANVAS SOLARIS are instead literally reinterpreting an original version of "Arc-Lite" (an originally instrumental song, of course!), confirming the band as one of America's most interesting metal combos around today.


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text:
Angry Autie
I'm autistic. And I'm angry.
Anti-Semantism: Do I Have Autism Or Am I Autistic?
Posted on November 10, 2013 by angryautie
Welcome to Anti-Semantism, a section of Angry Autie that tackles language use, especially as it pertains to autism and discussing it. Words are very profound and powerful things. People know this in the abstract but yet continue using words imprecisely. It may seem like what I'm doing here is just nit-picking to most people but I find the way that people use words to be extremely revealing, more revealing than they may want. It is possible to call people out on bullshit based on their word-choice. I believe that a lot of problems arise from a misunderstanding in communication, which people with autism supposedly lack. In Anti-Semantism, there'll be diatribes against certain terms, an analysis of how certain terms are used, and more. Any topic that is about language use in autism discourse will fall under the "Anti-Semantism" label.
Lately, I've stumbled upon the concept of 'English-Prime' (henceforth, 'E-Prime') and I've obsessed over it ever since. E-Prime proposes to eliminate the verb 'to be' from our lexicon. E-Prime aims to eliminate dogma from our way of thinking about and discussing anything and puts us in a linguistic box that forces us to think and discuss more critically. The verb 'to be' serves as a (lazy) tool of equivalency and an enhancer/definer of categories and because of the fast-paced and uncertain nature of speech, these equivalencies and categories often go unchecked and one may tacitly accept them, especially if the speaker has mastered the art of speech and sophistry. As a result, false ideas may circulate. Someone emphatically says "Rush Limbaugh is a genius" and, next thing you know, more and more people think that. As you sit on the idea of E-Prime, even if you don't intend to use it, you become more aware of the power and the slippery and deceptive nature of 'to be.'
All of this made me think of the way that I discuss and think about autism. I think of it as something 'I am,' rather than something 'I have,' and so do most other autism bloggers (re: person-first language discussion). My consideration of E-Prime has revealed to me the hazy yet dogmatic nature of this position, especially considering that autism, other than a few key characteristics like proneness to sensory overload or meticulousness, evades precise definition. And my position becomes more absurd when you take into consideration the fact that 'being' and 'essence' also evade precise definition. The verb exacerbates ambiguity, rather than combating it. When I say 'I am autistic,' what do I aim to affirm and why does it need affirming?
Eliminating 'to be' would eliminate identity to a certain extent. Identity constantly changes but static aspects of identity like ethnicity can still remain. For me to say "I am American" leaves out a lot of information about me. A more accurate statement would be "I grew up in New York City with an American father and an Egyptian mother who currently resides in the UK." I managed to say a lot without using 'to be' and I avoid pigeonholing myself as simply an American. More complex facts about me, those more difficult to express in E-Prime, would reveal themselves overtime and express themselves with more nuance. Thus, E-Prime reveals the multi-faceted and fluid nature of the state of affairs and eliminates clearly defined categories.
Now this makes me consider whether or not I need identity for the sake of inner peace, the reason why I've been writing this blog. I often feel that whenever I express my 'autism identity,' I unintentionally define myself in opposition to neurotypical people, portraying the situation as black-and-white. I present myself too much as 'not one of you' and I close off all future discussion. With E-Prime, definite categories would not exist and I would not think of terms of opposition to neurotypical people; I wouldn't even view them as 'neurotypical people' or myself as 'autistic.'
E-Prime encourages an open discussion on several matters because it forces one to deconstruct categories that they may or may not know well and recognize their essentially fluid and occasionally self-contradictory nature. Most people, at least from my experiences, cannot handle it when their ideas and mental categories become completely deconstructed because the sheer complexity becomes obvious and overwhelms the person. Read any Socratic dialogue and notice that Socrates takes the tightly held ideas and beliefs of his interlocutors and deconstructs them to the point where the interlocutor no longer recognizes it and plainly notices the issues and implications of their beliefs. A resolution never presents itself because a resolution does not exist.
I argue that autistic people can handle this deconstruction better than neurotypicals because autistics tend to think on a more atomic level, noticing the small details that neurotypical people would never notice before noticing the big picture. Because of their our ability to think outside categories (or unwillingness to think in categories), autistics are inherently superior to neurotypicals and why we are slowly taking over…*
*How about that! The one time that I use the verb 'to be' in this essay and it asserts a dogma! See how dangerous that is?**
**Oops. Did it again. This is getting tiresome…***
***Oh, fuck you, E-Prime, you beautiful whore.
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5 thoughts on "Anti-Semantism: Do I Have Autism Or Am I Autistic?"
Kurt Thometz says:
on November 11, 2013 at 11:49 am
"…Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to?" Willie the Shake
Pingback: Person-First vs Identity-First: Force Feeding | Autistic BigBro
Floofy says:
Neurotypicals apotose their unused brain cells at a very early age so I've been told. I was wondering why it is that they begin telling lies. Could it be related to the erroneous concept that things do not change over time. If a developing infant believed everything remained static and their TOM told them "If I admit this. ..so and so will react badly" based on this 'safe' static view, would they not begin a habit of lying? A child with ASD on the other hand would admit to their mistakes telling the truth, in the mistaken belief that the other .would not react badly, based on the assumption that everyone would think like them and know that everything changes in time.
on October 16, 2014 at 9:01 am
Also, in response to your original question, I would say neither "am" nor "have". Kellogg and Bourland the initial proponents behind E-Prime, describe over-use of "have" as creating another set of problems as it "[leads] the user to map/see the world in terms of objects and possessions instead of dynamic processes".
Instead, especially given your second paragraph concerning how to talk about autism, I would say "I exhibit autistic behaviour", or "I share many of the traits associated with autism".
Autism Candles says:
on April 1, 2021 at 3:31 pm
Reblogged this on Autism Candles.
Intellectualizing
The Ethan Hein Blog
The Arabist
The Unemployed Philosopher's Blog
THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM
paulacdurbinwestbyautisticblog.blogspot.com
NEUROCOSMOPOLITANISM
Autistic Hoya — A blog by Lydia X. Z. Brown
"Social adaptation has to proceed via the intellect." - Hans Asperger
Music, Technology, Evolution
Just because you're unemployed, it doesn't mean that you're out of work


text:
Hindu woman loses Malaysia case
Hindu woman loses Malaysia case.
Subhasini's lawyer said the court made it clear a newly converted Muslim had recourse to the Islamic courts
The court said that as a principle, marital disputes involving a converted Muslim spouse and a non-Muslim partner should only be decided in a civil court and not in the sharia court.
But at the same time, the court said Subhasini's husband has the right to approach the shariah court to seek redress.
Civil-rights groups have voiced fears that minority rights have become subordinate to Islamic jurisprudence because of a series of rulings that have gone in favour of Muslim spouses.
Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman, one of the two judges who dismissed the case, said: "The civil and sharia courts cannot interfere with each other's jurisdiction."
There was one dissenter.
Controversal family law
Family law is a controversal area in Malayia's courts. Non-Muslims complain that civil courts give up their responsbilty to their Islamic counterparts too easily in cases involving a Muslim conversion.
In Malaysia marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims are forbidden.
Therefore, once a spouse converts to Islam, the union is broken in the eyes of Islamic courts.
K Shanmuga, Subashini's lawyer, said the judges' comments made it clear they recognised the husband's right, as a newly converted Muslim, to have recourse to the Islamic courts.
In summing up the ruling's significance Shanmuga said: "The high court has jurisdiction to hear matters when this is a non-Muslim marriage but the husband also has a right to sharia court under Islamic law."
In the civil court Shanmuga cited a landmark ruling by the federal court in July which stated that if one party was a non-Muslim, the sharia court had no jurisdiction.
This was a rare ruling that went against a tide of decisions granting jurisdiction to the Islamic courts.


text:
Student shot at Pennsylvania school; another student sought
Published: Apr. 05, 2022, 7:02 p.m.
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — One student was injured when multiple shots were fired inside a high school in northwestern Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning, and another student was being sought as a suspect, authorities said.
Mike Nolan, deputy chief of the Erie police department, said the shooting was reported just after 9:20 a.m. at Erie High School.
Nolan said the shooting occurred in a hallway and other students were in the vicinity, although a school official said it didn't take place during a change of classes. The injured student was taken to a hospital and was said to be in stable condition. No other injuries were reported.
"This is an ongoing investigation, but what we've learned so far, we're confident that this was an isolated targeted incident and not a random act of violence," Nolan said. "A suspect has been identified, and juvenile allegations have been filed."
Nolan said due to the age of those involved, he could not release any more information about suspect or victim, but confirmed that both are Erie High students. District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz indicated that the suspect would face only juvenile charges because the person's age is younger than 15. Nolan said the 9mm weapon used hadn't been recovered and the exact number of shots fired hadn't yet been confirmed.
Nolan said security footage confirmed that the shooter had left before officers arrived, and responding officers were diverted to search for the suspect, who had not yet been taken into custody late Tuesday afternoon. He declined to comment on a possible motive.
Erie's Public Schools said the shooting prompted what the district called a "hard lockdown." Police secured the school and officials said students were dismissed classroom by classroom about an hour after the shooting, officials said.
The school district said there would be no school for Erie High School students for the remainder of the week, with the annual spring break to be observed next week. Officials said counselors would be available this afternoon for students, staff and parents at the Erie Center for Arts and Technology, an adult education school.
"We are devastated and angered by this senseless tragedy, and we are all hoping for the full and speedy recovery of the student involved," Superintendent Brian Polito said in a statement.
Officials said the school doesn't have metal detectors and never has had them, although late-arriving students are searched with a metal detection wand and random wand searches are also employed.
The Erie Education Association, which represents school faculty and staff, said it had for years called for safety improvements but "each time, we're told, 'it will take time, we're working on it.'"
"We will not stand by one day more until the safety of our students and staff is properly addressed," the organization said in a statement, WICU-TV reported.
The school district vowed to release detailed information about the plan for a return to school in the coming days.
"The well-being of our students and staff is and always will be our priority, and we will take every measure possible to ensure their safety and security," the district's statement said.
Mayor Joe Schember called the shooting "very saddening," adding that "schools should be safe places where children learn and grow."
Gov. Tom Wolf said he was "deeply disturbed" by the shooting.
"Students, faculty and staff deserve to feel safe in their school and community, yet gun violence continues to impact all corners of our commonwealth," he said in a post on Twitter.


text:
New Evidence Shows 'No Sign' Pilot Blacked Out In Crash That Killed 11
Photo Credit: Sunday Mirror
In 2015, the annual Shoreham Airshow was going according to schedule. During the opening part of the event, a 50s era jet fighter, the Hawker Hunter T7, was to perform its typical routine. Manned by Andy Hill who witnesses called an experienced pilot with over 12,000 flight hours in both military and commercial settings, the routine didn't call for anything exceptional.
A Hawker Hunter, much like the one which crashed in 2015. | Airwolfhound / Public Domain
Right before the crash, Hill performed a low pass next to the crowd and was to exit with an inside loop. The maneuver is typically started at 500 feet off the ground but Hill pulled up from 200 feet leaving "no room for misjudgment" according to an expert.
Hill was unable to complete the loop and regain altitude at the end of the maneuver, crashing into the A27, a busy road in Shoreham. The aircraft broke apart into four pieces and wiped out cars on the road, the jet fuel spilling out and causing a massive fireball to erupt. You can see the footage below.
Hill asserted he blacked out due to g-forces when coming out of the loop which caused the crash. His chair got ejected upon impact, he stated, which is why he survived although with multiple injuries. The prosecution is now contesting that fact which is critical as it separates this incident from being an accident and manslaughter.
"No sign" #Shoreham airshow crash pilot blacked outhttps://t.co/2cP9YzdRuM
— BBC Sussex (@BBCSussex) February 7, 2019
Expert aviation witness Jonathan Whaley told the jury all the movements of the aircraft were calculated and under the control of Hill until the crash. He also went to state that since Hill didn't have the altitude necessary to complete the loop he shouldn't have committed to it, something he called "fundamental" in aviation.
It's up to the jury to decide whether the crash which killed 11 and injured many others was an accident or negligence.


text:
Africa, Education
Private Education Goes Public in the Developing World
Martin Levine
Maryland County, Liberia / Brittany Danisch
June 14, 2016; New York Times, "Opinion"
The debate over the potential role of for-profit organizations in public education isn't unique to the United States. Across the developing world, public education systems struggle, depriving millions of children of a basic education and exposing them to a continued life of poverty. Social entrepreneurs have seen this as an opportunity to cure a pressing social ill while turning a profit. With their entries into the educational systems of Asian, African, and South American countries, they have raised questions about their effectiveness and whether, even if they do benefit the children they teach, they will do more harm than good.
Tina Rosenberg took a look at the efforts of one company, Bridge International Academies, as it expands into Liberia as part of a government experiment to test the merits of privatization. The story begins with a failing public school effort where "a girl is more likely to be married by 18 than to know how to read. The last two times the University of Liberia held its entrance exams, 15 students passed—out of some 38,000 who took the test. Only 59 percent of 6-to-11-year-olds are actually in school." Liberia's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, facing an election in 18 months, came upon the work of Bridge International Academies' schools in Kenya and Uganda and decided that radical transformation of public education was worth a try if it would improve outcomes.
Bridge International Academies describes itself as "the world's largest education innovation company serving the 700 million families who live on less than $2 USD per day. We strive to provide the highest quality education product to the more than 100,000 students who attend Bridge's more than 400 nursery and primary schools across emerging markets in Africa and (soon to open) in Asia." What attracted President Sirleaf to their model was their claim of documented success:
Results show that Bridge pupils gain an additional .34 standard deviations on core reading skills and an additional .51 standard deviations on maths compared to their peers in neighboring schools, based on USAID-designed exams administered by an independent monitoring and evaluation company—this translated into over 250 additional days of learning. Thanks to economies of scale, Bridge is able to charge just $6 a month per pupil on average with academies reaching operational sustainability after just one year.
Comparing its current national system against these results makes Liberia's decision to invite private operators to take over 150 public schools quite understandable and with little downside. The current system is failing, and the government on its own does not seem to have the ability to make it better. If firms like Bridge can bring that improvement, how could anyone say no?
Our experience with privatization in the United States has some lessons that Liberia and other developing countries can learn from. Improving education in one school is difficult, but not unusual. The real challenge comes in taking the successful innovations to scale and bringing equal education to all children. The Liberian experiment would do well to be thinking about that issue as it begins.
But establishing parallel systems, one its traditional public model and the other made up of privately run schools, is not without risk. Bridge's model includes a small monthly fee; it will serve as an obstacle for a large portion of the population who will not be to afford it, creating a further barrier between the poor and the less poor. While the Liberian government seems aware of this pitfall and has taken steps to control the downside as far as possible during the experimental year, there is real concern that should the private school model prove more effective, the cost of expansion is beyond the government's resources, resulting in an unwanted two-tier system.
Others worry that the sponsors of private schools have the ability to augment funding for their students, resulting in another force pushing the two approaches farther apart. The Liberian government has ensured that public funding for the new private schools will be the same as that given current public schools. But private operators are not barred from using their own funds to augment their schools as they begin, and they plan to do so. Paul Skidmore, the founder and chief executive of Rising Academies, another one of the potential private operators entering Liberia, told the Times, "We operators are asked, as far as possible, to live within that amount. That will be impossible, as there are large upfront costs that operators will have to pay themselves."
Under these conditions, the new model may not be fiscally viable and scalable. What remains to be seen is whether, as for-profit ventures, they can produce improved results without relying on their owners' willingness to operate at a loss and see this as part their overall objectives.
In Liberia, private operators have been asked to use state-certified teachers rather than those they have trained in Teach for America–like programs. In return, the private operators have asked for the right to select the teachers they want to implement their program. Will this result in the new schools having the best teachers, leaving the less effective ones to the rest of the nation's schools? Can they achieve better results if they don't "skim" their personnel?
A year from now, Liberia will have the results from the first year of the experiment. How they and other nations seeing privatization as the answer to improving their public educational systems will balance improvement for some students with the needs of the whole will test their capabilities. Government effectiveness is not their strong suit, so the real danger is that their private partners will not see the national concern as more important than maintaining their particular share of the market. If that happens, the dangers of two-track education will become a reality, and millions of children will miss the chance for a better life.—Martin Levine
Martin Levine is a Principal at Levine Partners LLP, a consulting group focusing on organizational change and improvement, realigning service system to allow them to be more responsive and effective.Prior to forming Levine Partners, Mr. Levine served the CEO of JCC Chicago creating a purpose driven organization, continuously realigning service and management systems to responsively and effectively fulfill JCC Chicago's mission.Over the past 35 years Mr. Levine made major contributions to the transformation of JCC Chicago to its present position as a pre-eminent JCC in North America. Mr. Levine focused on strengthening the JCC's effectiveness as a Jewish Community Building and Jewish Educational organization dedicated to "Bringing Jewish Values to Life" in all aspects of JCC programs and services.Mr. Levine was been responsible for the development of new facilities as part of JCC Chicago's response to the changing demography of the Metropolitan Jewish Community. In addition, Mr. Levine had responsibility for guiding the Chicago JCC's integration of its service and business strategies into a holistic approach.In addition to his JCC responsibilities, Mr. Levine served as a consultant on organizational change and improvement to school districts and community organizations.Mr. Levine has published several articles on change and has presented at numerous conferences on this subject.Mr. Levine held membership in many professional organizations including the Association of Jewish Center Professionals (Board member), Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups, Association for Quality and Participation, and the Future Search Alliance.A native of New York City, Mr. Levine is a graduate of City College of New York (BS in Biology) and Columbia University (MSW). He has trained with the Future Search and the Deming Institute.Mr. Levine served as President of the Gan Project, an organization committed to engaging communities in locally and ethically produced food.
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