RESUMED IRAN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATIONS
Talks have resumed between Iran and the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany seeking agreement on a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27371534
The aim is to build on an interim deal at earlier negotiations that saw uranium enrichment curtailed by Iran in return for sanctions relief.
Iran is being asked to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities permanently to ensure that it cannot assemble a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear work is peaceful, and wants the economic sanctions to end.
The three key issues are:
Iran's uranium enrichment capacity
The heavy-water reactor at Arak
The possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear programme
President Hassan Rouhani has said that Iran will not surrender its right to nuclear development.
Comment: Iran has always insisted that it does not intend to produce a nuclear weapon. It has been pointed out that the nuclear states have failed to implement their commitment under the nuclear proliferation agreement to reduce their existing nuclear weapons stockpiles.
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Monday, 12 May 2014
INCREASED MELTING OF MAJOR ICE CAP
Observations by the new European Union's Sentinel-1a radar spacecraft reveal a marked increase in the flow speed of an ice cap glacier in Norway.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27330321
This is the glacier at Cap Mohn on the Austfonna ice cap. Scientists had suspected this ice cap was losing substantially more ice through its main drainage glacier.
The Sentinel-1a results confirm this view. Sentinel-1a was launched only last month.
Professor Andy Shepherd from Leeds University said 'We've observed Austfonna with various satellite radar datasets over the past 20 years, and it hasn't done very much. But we've now looked at it again with the new Sentinel-1 spacecraft, and it's clear it has speeded up quite considerably in the last two or three years.. It is now flowing at least 10 times faster than previously measured.'
Comment: These early findings from Sentinel-1a provide further scientific evidence of an increased rate of glacier melting in Norway.
Observations by the new European Union's Sentinel-1a radar spacecraft reveal a marked increase in the flow speed of an ice cap glacier in Norway.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27330321
This is the glacier at Cap Mohn on the Austfonna ice cap. Scientists had suspected this ice cap was losing substantially more ice through its main drainage glacier.
The Sentinel-1a results confirm this view. Sentinel-1a was launched only last month.
Professor Andy Shepherd from Leeds University said 'We've observed Austfonna with various satellite radar datasets over the past 20 years, and it hasn't done very much. But we've now looked at it again with the new Sentinel-1 spacecraft, and it's clear it has speeded up quite considerably in the last two or three years.. It is now flowing at least 10 times faster than previously measured.'
Comment: These early findings from Sentinel-1a provide further scientific evidence of an increased rate of glacier melting in Norway.
Saturday, 10 May 2014
FREE SCHOOLS' FINANCES QUESTIONED
The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Margaret Hodge, has criticised the financial management of Free Schools. Problems identified by whistleblowers should have been found through official audit and review processes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27334531
There are currently 174 Free Schools in England, with another116 approved to open from this September.
The committee said that high-profile failures at three Free Schools show that not enough is being done to ensure that public money is being used properly. To protect whistleblowers, it urges a ban on the use of confidentiality clauses in Free School staff contracts.
The Government said that many of the committee's concerns were 'misplaced'.
Comment: A serious problem with the Free School programme is a mis-match between the location of Free Schools and the areas where there is the greatest need for resources and additional school places. The overall cost of the 'free' schools is also a serious concern.
The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Margaret Hodge, has criticised the financial management of Free Schools. Problems identified by whistleblowers should have been found through official audit and review processes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27334531
There are currently 174 Free Schools in England, with another116 approved to open from this September.
The committee said that high-profile failures at three Free Schools show that not enough is being done to ensure that public money is being used properly. To protect whistleblowers, it urges a ban on the use of confidentiality clauses in Free School staff contracts.
The Government said that many of the committee's concerns were 'misplaced'.
Comment: A serious problem with the Free School programme is a mis-match between the location of Free Schools and the areas where there is the greatest need for resources and additional school places. The overall cost of the 'free' schools is also a serious concern.
Friday, 9 May 2014
GREATER EAST MIDLANDS COMMISSIONING SUPPORT UNIT CRITICISED
Greater East Midlands (GEM) Commissioning Support Unit has been criticised for the standard of its NHS continuing healthcare services for patients with complex needs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27312152
Leicester West Labour MP Liz Kendall, a shadow health minister, said a number of people had been 'badly let down' and 'no-one is taking responsibility.'
She said that a terminally ill 21-year-old man was discharged from hospital after a 10-week stay without the right support, and in another case a company commissioned by GEM to provide night care for an elderly man with Alzheimer's failed to change the man's incontinence pads and he was left wet overnight.
GEM told Ms Kendall that it had only one part-time person monitoring the quality of all its home care providers. A spokeswoman for GEM said vacancies in its monitoring department had since been filled.
Comment: Yet another case of serious problems with a Commissioning Support Unit, apparently with no-one taking responsibility ie a failure of public accountability.
Greater East Midlands (GEM) Commissioning Support Unit has been criticised for the standard of its NHS continuing healthcare services for patients with complex needs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27312152
Leicester West Labour MP Liz Kendall, a shadow health minister, said a number of people had been 'badly let down' and 'no-one is taking responsibility.'
She said that a terminally ill 21-year-old man was discharged from hospital after a 10-week stay without the right support, and in another case a company commissioned by GEM to provide night care for an elderly man with Alzheimer's failed to change the man's incontinence pads and he was left wet overnight.
GEM told Ms Kendall that it had only one part-time person monitoring the quality of all its home care providers. A spokeswoman for GEM said vacancies in its monitoring department had since been filled.
Comment: Yet another case of serious problems with a Commissioning Support Unit, apparently with no-one taking responsibility ie a failure of public accountability.
Thursday, 8 May 2014
ROSETTA CLOSING IN ON 67P
The Rosetta spacecraft carried out a manoeuvre yesterday moving towards an orbit rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27315877
The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Rosetta in 2004. Rosetta carries a lander called Philae due to touch down on the comet in mid-November.
Philae will report back on changes that occur on the surface o 67P as gas and dust lift away from the comet when the icy surface is heated as it moves closer to the Sun.
Comment: As with many of the science probes sent to study distant objects in the solar system, patience is the name of the game. The Rosetta mission is already ten years away from launch, and yet to start the crucial part of its scientific research.
The Rosetta spacecraft carried out a manoeuvre yesterday moving towards an orbit rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27315877
The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Rosetta in 2004. Rosetta carries a lander called Philae due to touch down on the comet in mid-November.
Philae will report back on changes that occur on the surface o 67P as gas and dust lift away from the comet when the icy surface is heated as it moves closer to the Sun.
Comment: As with many of the science probes sent to study distant objects in the solar system, patience is the name of the game. The Rosetta mission is already ten years away from launch, and yet to start the crucial part of its scientific research.
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
CURIOSITY MARS ROVER CONTINUES DRILLING
Curiosity has drilled a second deeper hole in the rocked named 'Windjana' at the bottom of Mars' Gale Crater, a week after a test bore just a few centimetres away.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27298907
Professor John Grotzinger said his team was seeking further information on the role played by water in fixing the sediments that make up many of the rocks on the crater floor. 'We're most interested to find clues as to the aqueous geochemistry which resulted in cementation of the sedimentary rocks', he commented. The evidence indicates that the crater once held a lake, and the many rounded pebbles seen by Curiosity hint at the action of the water streams that may have fed that lake.
One obvious difference with the new sandstone hole in the Windjana rock compared to the previous drillings is the markedly darker colour of the particles.
Comment: The new pictures show an obvious layered aspect of the rocks around Windjana, which look clearly sedimentary. It is brilliant that we are able to follow this scientific exploration of the Martian surface, as it happens.
Curiosity has drilled a second deeper hole in the rocked named 'Windjana' at the bottom of Mars' Gale Crater, a week after a test bore just a few centimetres away.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27298907
Professor John Grotzinger said his team was seeking further information on the role played by water in fixing the sediments that make up many of the rocks on the crater floor. 'We're most interested to find clues as to the aqueous geochemistry which resulted in cementation of the sedimentary rocks', he commented. The evidence indicates that the crater once held a lake, and the many rounded pebbles seen by Curiosity hint at the action of the water streams that may have fed that lake.
One obvious difference with the new sandstone hole in the Windjana rock compared to the previous drillings is the markedly darker colour of the particles.
Comment: The new pictures show an obvious layered aspect of the rocks around Windjana, which look clearly sedimentary. It is brilliant that we are able to follow this scientific exploration of the Martian surface, as it happens.
Thursday, 1 May 2014
EDUCATION FELLOWSHIP TRUST
An investigation into the finances of the Education Fellowship Trust, which runs a chain of Academies mostly in Northamptonshire and Wiltshire, questions governors' expenses of £45,000, a £20.000 trip to New York, £600 for customised umbrellas, unadvertised jobs for family members, £915 on printing Christmas cards, expenses of £45,000 by two trustees, very high levels of private car usage, travel and subsistence and accommodation costs, significant breaches of the Companies Act 2006, Charity Commission regulations and the Academies Financial Handbook, and payment of its chairman £90,000 per year, including transactions with companies in which the chairman has a controlling interest.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27238265
The investigation into this use of public funds and, and the financial management and governance, was carried out by the Education Funding Agency. which delivers public funding to academies.
The first academies became part of the Education Fellowship Trust in October 2012. From September 2013 the trust had restructured with the chief executive stepping down.
Academies are independent state schools which operate outside of local authority control.
An investigation into the finances of the Education Fellowship Trust, which runs a chain of Academies mostly in Northamptonshire and Wiltshire, questions governors' expenses of £45,000, a £20.000 trip to New York, £600 for customised umbrellas, unadvertised jobs for family members, £915 on printing Christmas cards, expenses of £45,000 by two trustees, very high levels of private car usage, travel and subsistence and accommodation costs, significant breaches of the Companies Act 2006, Charity Commission regulations and the Academies Financial Handbook, and payment of its chairman £90,000 per year, including transactions with companies in which the chairman has a controlling interest.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27238265
The investigation into this use of public funds and, and the financial management and governance, was carried out by the Education Funding Agency. which delivers public funding to academies.
The first academies became part of the Education Fellowship Trust in October 2012. From September 2013 the trust had restructured with the chief executive stepping down.
Academies are independent state schools which operate outside of local authority control.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
