The state of the UK

[Scot Dutchy]

rainbow your head is stuck up your arse and that is what you smell. Brian said stop these insults unless you want the full "Hagenese' repertoire which is considered the largest in Nederland and leaves nothing to the imagination.

[pErvinalia]

He'll see your "Hagenese" and raise you "Cape Coloureds".

[Scot Dutchy]

Littering epidemic in England as government spends just £2k promoting Countryside Code

Campaigners say unprecedented levels of littering and fly-camping are partly due to ignorance of behavioural guidelines

An unprecedented rise in litter, damaging fires and “fly-camping” across the English countryside is partly a result of the government spending less than £2,000 a year over the past decade on promoting the Countryside Code, campaigners say.

The code, a set of simple guidelines to help rural visitors respect wildlife, local people and landscapes, was relaunched in England in 2004 after the new “right to roam” law increased access to the countryside.

But after a brief flurry of advertising devised by the makers of Wallace and Gromit, successive governments since 2010 spent just £2,000 every 18 months reprinting the code for distribution until recent months. In comparison, the government spent £46m on last year’s “Get ready for Brexit” campaign.

You must have your priorities right.

[Scot Dutchy]

Of course Boris makes another U-turn:

Boris Johnson drops advice against face mask use in English schools

Prime minister makes another coronavirus U-turn days before return to classrooms

Pupils in England will no longer be advised against using face masks in secondary schools after Boris Johnson made an 11th-hour U-turn days before classrooms reopen.

In lockdown areas such as Greater Manchester, which have greater restrictions to stop the spread of the virus, wearing face coverings will become mandatory in school corridors where social distancing is more difficult.

In areas of England not subject to tighter restrictions, headteachers will have discretion over whether to require face masks, but the government will no longer advise against their use, a senior government source said.

The prime minister bowed to pressure and changed the guidance late on Tuesday after scores of headteachers broke ranks to urge their use, backed by Labour and trade unions.

Johnson told reporters earlier in the day he would “look at the changing medical evidence as we go on” but insisted schools would be safe regardless.

The new guidance came after Scotland said secondary school pupils should wear masks in communal areas and on school buses, and days before millions of students are due to return to schools across England.

The change risks a major backlash from Conservative MPs, some of whom had publicly challenged him not to change tack for schools in England. One said the idea of pupils wearing masks in schools went “way too far” and many colleagues were angry.

Why does he think will work in the UK when there is no evidence to say it works elsewhere. Those countries having mandatory mask restrictions are experiencing massive problems. The confusion and paranoia is complete.

[Scot Dutchy]

Once again great social services in action?

Woman in 'extreme poverty' found dead next to crying baby in Glasgow

Mercy Baguma, an asylum seeker from Uganda, was left destitute after leave to remain expired

A woman who was living in “extreme poverty” and relying on charities and friends to buy food has been found dead next to her crying baby in a flat on the Southside of Glasgow.

The woman has been named as Mercy Baguma, 34, from Uganda, by the charity Positive Action in Housing who reported that her one-year-old son was suffering from malnutrition and required hospital treatment. It is believed that he has since been released into the care of his father, who also lives in Glasgow.

[pErvinalia]

That's it, let the hate flow through you...

[rainbow]

He'll see your "Hagenese" and raise you "Cape Coloureds".

Sy Ma het a Moerse Poephol, hom

[Scot Dutchy]

Top DfE official's exit 'proof that ministerial accountability is dead'.

Unions criticise government over Jonathan Slater’s departure from education department

Boris Johnson has been accused of presiding over the death of ministerial accountability after No 10 removed the most senior civil servant in the Department for Education (DfE) from his post in the wake of the exams fiasco.

Jonathan Slater will step down as permanent secretary within days after Johnson decided there was “a need for fresh official leadership” in the department, the DfE said. His departure was announced a day after the resignation of Sally Collier as chief executive of the exams regulator Ofqual.

The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has faced calls to quit but has remained in post and repeatedly declined to say whether he offered his resignation.

[Scot Dutchy]

English city mayors say Covid rules keeping homeless off streets must be extended

Great Manchester and West Midlands leaders call for guaranteed accommodation for every homeless person

The Labour and Conservative mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands respectively have called on the government to guarantee that everyone who is homeless gets temporary accommodation over the next 12 months, regardless of their immigration status.

In an interview with the homeless charity Crisis, Andy Burnham and Andy Street said the UK needed a reset of homelessness policy and emergency homelessness legislation should provide safe accommodation throughout the outbreak.

It comes as winter approaches and fears of a second wave of coronavirus have been raised. Figures show some 20,000 households in England have been made homeless during the pandemic despite a nationwide eviction ban, which is due to expire on 20 September.

Street said the pandemic had generated “citizen will” to make a change, adding “we did something we can be proud of in adversity” and called for the country “not to slip back”, while Burnham said it should be a “reset moment.”

Great to homeless in the UK.

[Brian Peacock]

It's been estimated that something like 20% of London's homeless are actually in employment.

[Scot Dutchy]

Doing what? Low paid menial work accepting the abuse and exploitation. Nice work if you can get it.

[Scot Dutchy]

Well the 1% have finally getting their way; the destruction of the BBC. All part of the grooming for the 51st. state?
If Trump wins it must be on the cards especially if he sets up his dictatorship.

Rivals plan Fox News-style opinionated TV station in UK

Groups pitching to perceived desire for alternative output as trust in BBC falls

Rival efforts are under way to launch a Fox News-style opinionated current affairs TV station in Britain to counter the BBC.

One group is promising a news channel “distinctly different from the out-of-touch incumbents” and has already been awarded a licence to broadcast by the media regulator, Ofcom, under the name “GB News”. Its founder has said the BBC is a “disgrace” that “is bad for Britain on so many levels” and “needs to be broken up”.

A rival project is being devised in the headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire by the former Fox News executive David Rhodes, although it is unclear whether it will result in a traditional TV channel or be online-only.

Both are pitching to a perceived gap in the market for opinionated video output fuelled by growing distrust of the BBC among some parts of its audience, especially on the political right over culture war issues such as Brexit and whether Rule, Britannia! should be sung at the Last Night of the Proms.

Of course there is one little bugger that is always sniffing around this sort of thing:

One of the great unknowns of any such project is the role of Nigel Farage. The former Ukip leader left LBC amid staff anger over his comments on migrants crossing the Channel, but he has the potential to deliver a ready-made anti-BBC, pro-Brexit audience. He has recently appeared on the Sun’s YouTube channel and TalkRadio, both owned by News UK.

[Brian Peacock]

I don't know why these people bash the BBC. It's basically become the broadcast wing of the Tory PR machine anyway.

[Scot Dutchy]

I don't know why these people bash the BBC. It's basically become the broadcast wing of the Tory PR machine anyway.

The BEEB is always considered too pink by the tories. They want a broadcasting service that is dark blue with red and black stripes.

[laklak]

If the left thinks the BBC is right and the right thinks they're left, does that mean they're centrist?