BBC NEWS | Scotland | Bottle recyclers ‘could be paid’
People could be paid to return empty bottles under radical new Scottish Government plans aimed at boosting recycling levels.
The plans would see “deposit and return” schemes introduced, where shoppers would get money for bringing back bottles.
I remember this from last time around - doesn’t seem [...]
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Age guidance on new Wilson book
Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s new book has been age banded, despite the children’s author having joined an online campaign protesting against the practice.
The hardback version of Cookie includes the 9 age band on its back cover.
Wilson is one of 800 authors to sign the No [...]
UK’s renewable energy efforts ‘ineffective’ | Environment | The Guardian
Britain ranked 31st in the cost league of 35 countries, prompting criticism from environmental group Greenpeace.
“Our renewables industry has been left to wither on the vine while our European neighbours have raced ahead, creating new jobs as well as fighting climate change and securing their energy [...]
BBC NEWS | Education | Autonomy ‘key to school success’
Independent schools get better results than state schools because they have the freedom to tailor teaching to the needs of their pupils, researchers say.
A University of Buckingham report found social background and ability were not the only factors behind higher grades in private schools.
The study said [...]
Petition actions | Protect The Human
This autumn the Government wants to push through a Bill allowing police to lock people up for 42 days without charge if they are suspected of a terrorism-related offence. When the Counter-Terrorism Bill comes back to the House of Commons, your MP will have a chance to help defeat it: [...]
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Tony Hart forced to give up art
TV artist Tony Hart has said that not being able to draw any more is “the greatest cross I have to bear”.
The 83-year-old has been robbed of the use of his hands after having two strokes, he told The Times newspaper.
“It has been my [...]
I have been going on about this writer for a while. She’s been writing a blog to get out of doing tours and signings and instead her fans on blog started a campaign to get her to do a signing as well. I would love to be able to support it by being there, but [...]
How will we cope in a world that can no longer rely on cheap and plentiful supplies of the one commodity – oil – that keeps it going? Guests: Matthew Simmons, CEO, Energy Investment bank Simmons & Co. Richard Heinberg, Senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute John Hemming MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary group [...]
Just been at www.scotland.gov.uk, “website of the Scottish Government”, and at www.wales.gov.uk, where there are in fact two web sites - “National Assembly for Wales website” www.assemblywales.org and, oddly, the Welsh Assembly Government website at new.wales.gov.uk (why ‘new’?).
Then I went to www.england.gov.uk. Nope, nothing doing. No Government for the English. How will we cope?
If you had purchased £1,000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago it would now be worth £4.95,
With HBOS, earlier this week your £1,000 of shares would have been worth £16.50,
£1,000 invested in XL Leisure would now be worth less than £5,
If you bought £1000 worth of Tennents Lager one year ago, drank it all, [...]
The security services planned the arrest of the journalist with painstaking care. They bugged her contacts and assembled an elite squad to take her down. On 8 May 2007, eight detectives swarmed into her home and seized her address book, mobile, laptops and bank statements. In a simultaneous raid, a second team searched her newspaper [...]
Not my usual reading, but these two articles by Peter Osborne in the Daily Mail caught my attention:-
Apocalypse Now?: New world order could have devastating implications for Western nations …. “The British economy is in the same position as the Texan coast earlier this month as Hurricane Ike approached — apparently calm, with life going [...]
Five-year-olds making better progress but one in seven can’t write name | Education | guardian.co.uk
Five-year-olds in England are making better progress, ministers said today, but one in seven still cannot write their name after a year at primary school.
Assessments showed that 14% of them struggle to write and one in 10 had trouble linking sounds [...]
BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Women to rule Rwanda parliament
Rwanda will be the first country where women will outnumber men in parliament, preliminary election results show.
Women have taken 44 out of 80 seats so far and the number could rise if three seats reserved for the disabled and youth representatives go to females.
Rwanda, [...]
Hobbit house saved from demolition as winds of change blow in pioneer’s favour - Times Online
Tony Wrench was toasting victory over the planners yesterday with a glass of wine made from the vines that grow on the turf roof of his wooden roundhouse.
After ten years of planning battles, during which he and his partner, Jane [...]
BBC NEWS | Education | Merger may see 3,500-pupil school
Parents and pupils are to be consulted over plans to merge three schools into one academy for 3,500 pupils.
On Tuesday councillors approved a period of consultation over what would be England’s largest school.
The merging of Greenwood Dale School, Elliott Durham School and Jesse Boot Primary in [...]
I think a rainbow has to count as amazing, but so too do thunder clouds and lightning. I used to live in Stuttgart, my flat was high up on one of the hills overlooking the city and I have a vivid memory of watching a dramatic thunder storm pass over the city, lightning striking down [...]
Maybe it is just me… Jax doesn’t think it is at all odd, anyway.
Crookes Radiometer Never have quite “got” this improbable little thing. Pretty though, I used to have one on my bedroom windowsill when I was at school, used to go mad in direct sunlight.
Newton’s Cradle No matter how often I see one of these, they still fascinate me.