Statement from Hull City Council: Tent City Protest - 10/11/2016
"Following a meeting with the organisers of the tent city protest on Monday 7 November, we offered to meet and assess the needs of the rough sleepers present on the site and to provide emergency accommodation. Assessments were carried out yesterday and all of those who came forward were found suitable accommodation. "We know that there are only a handful of local rough sleepers on the site, most of whom are already known to us, and that the remainder of occupants are protesters from outside of the city. "Since tent city was established, our priority has been to get rough sleepers off the street and into warm accommodation, particularly as we are experiencing poor weather conditions. Outreach workers have visited the site and offered the occupants hostel places. There are currently enough bed places in Hull for all rough sleepers who need one. "We have a moral obligation to protect rough sleepers in this city, which we take extremely seriously, and we work extensively with them to enable them to live independent lives. "Sadly, we now know that the organisers of tent city are advising these vulnerable individuals to reject our offer of accommodation and remain on site for the false promise of permanent accommodation. Many of these individuals have significant problems, addictions and complex needs and it would not be in their best interests to offer them a permanent tenancy until they are ready to live independently. We will not set people up to fail. "We have actively sought to engage constructively with the organisers of tent city since their arrival in Hull. However, it is now unclear as to whether they are prepared to co-operate with us and, unfortunately, their behaviour is becoming increasingly intimidating to council and partner employees. "Fundamentally, their actions are encouraging rough sleepers to remain on the street. This is totally unacceptable and we are left with no option but to instigate legal proceedings to remove the protesters from the site and city. "We will continue to support rough sleepers in Hull and our outreach support will carry on, as it has been doing, 365 days per year." http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/eileen-kersey/hull-tent-city-championing-homeless-citizens
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Michael Moore
23 hrs · Morning After To-Do List: 1. Take over the Democratic Party and return it to the people. They have failed us miserably. 2. Fire all pundits, predictors, pollsters and anyone else in the media who had a narrative they wouldn't let go of and refused to listen to or acknowledge what was really going on. Those same bloviators will now tell us we must "heal the divide" and "come together." They will pull more hooey like that out of their ass in the days to come. Turn them off. 3. Any Democratic member of Congress who didn't wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that's about to begin. 4. Everyone must stop saying they are "stunned" and "shocked". What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren't paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all "You're fired!" Trump's victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that. 5. You must say this sentence to everyone you meet today: "HILLARY CLINTON WON THE POPULAR VOTE!" The MAJORITY of our fellow Americans preferred Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Period. Fact. If you woke up this morning thinking you live in an effed-up country, you don't. The majority of your fellow Americans wanted Hillary, not Trump. The only reason he's president is because of an arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College. Until we change that, we'll continue to have presidents we didn't elect and didn't want. You live in a country where a majority of its citizens have said they believe there's climate change, they believe women should be paid the same as men, they want a debt-free college education, they don't want us invading countries, they want a raise in the minimum wage and they want a single-payer true universal health care system. None of that has changed. We live in a country where the majority agree with the "liberal" position. We just lack the liberal leadership to make that happen (see: #1 above). Let's try to get this all done by noon today. -- Michael Moore http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/robert-weller/trump-is-losing-the-popular-vote Open Rights Group has responded to the results of the US election.
Executive Director Jim Killock said: “The US election has massive implications for the British public as both countries’ intelligence agencies are so closely integrated. The Snowden leaks showed us how GCHQ carries out work for the NSA and how the latter’s operatives can access GCHQ surveillance programmes. “The integration of the NSA and GCHQ puts into question the UK’s ability to have proper oversight of the surveillance of its citizens. The UK is dependent on US technology and data to such an extent that it is unlikely that we could separate our intelligence capabilities even if we wanted to. “Whilst the ‘special relationship’ has always been perceived to be in the UK’s interests, our politicians need to consider its implications in the age of bulk data collection and surveillance.” Notes to Editors Open Rights Group’s report Collect it all: GCHQ and mass surveillance outlines how GCHQ and the NSA are integrated. See sections 5.3 and 9.9: https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/reports/collect-it-all Contact: 07749785932 About Open Rights Group Open Rights Group is the UK’s leading voice defending freedom of expression, privacy, innovation, creativity and consumer rights on the Internet. Founded in 2005, we have over 3000 paying supporters and a movement of 36,000 activists. Winner of the Liberty Human Rights Campaigner of the Year Award 2012 https://www.openrightsgroup.org/about/ 85 FIRST NATIONS AND TRIBES CONDEMN ENBRIDGE’S ROLE IN THE VIOLATIONS AT STANDING ROCK AND CALL ON TRUDEAU TO SPEAK OUT
For Immediate Release October 31, 2016, Turtle Island—An International Treaty Alliance of 85 First Nations and Tribes is calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make a statement condemning the role that Canadian company Enbridge Inc. (headquartered in Calgary, Alberta) has played in the severe violations of the rights of the Indigenous People and their allies at Standing Rock. The Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sand Expansion, which prohibits the passage of proposed Tar Sands pipelines, trains and tankers, was formally launched on September 22, 2016 with the majority of signatories located in Canada, and including U.S. Tribes such as the Standing Rock Sioux. Enbridge announced on August 2, 2016 that one of its units, Enbridge Energy Partners L.P., would be investing $1.5 billion in exchange for a 27.6 percent share of the Dakota Access pipeline project, which seeks to transport dirty fracked oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota to Illinois and would pass under the Missouri River, the source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and millions more people. “It is time for the Prime Minister, who has stated that no relationship is more important to him than the one with Indigenous Peoples, to take a stand in support of the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and allied Nations as they resist the Dakota Access pipeline,” said Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. “This historic moment at Standing Rock is a Canadian issue that you must publicly address Mr. Prime Minister: we are talking about a Canadian company committing severe human rights violations and some of its victims are brave water protectors and land defenders from First Nations up North.” The world watched in horror on September 3, 2016 as the security guards hired by the Dakota Access pipeline company unleashed attack dogs on peaceful, unarmed water protectors. That day also saw the pipeline company bulldoze a sacred tribal burial ground. Since such time, military-like police forces from North Dakota and elsewhere have acted like the pipeline’s paid security force, violently assaulting peaceful Indigenous People, often women and elders, who, along with their allies, are simply standing in defense and protection of the water relied upon by millions. “There is a battle being waged across the globe by Indigenous People and their allies demanding a safe world for future generations. This is about water versus oil: life versus death,” added Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. “Right now, the frontlines of the battle for humanity’s survival are located at Standing Rock. It is time to choose Mr. Prime Minister – to be silent is to be complicit: do you stand with Enbridge and the forces trying to ram through the Dakota Access pipeline or do you stand for human rights and the protection of the environment?” “Canada likes to think of itself as a human rights leader, despite the way its government and its companies have treated Indigenous People at home and abroad,” said Winona Laduke, executive director for Honor the Earth. “Yet once again, this time at Standing Rock, we see the Canadian company Enbridge harming our Tribal peoples in the US. Let’s not forget that Enbridge is responsible for the biggest inland pipeline spill in US history when they dumped over 4 million litres of toxic tar sands dilbit into the Kalamazoo river in Michigan, and yet now Enbridge and Canada are hoping with the proposed Line 3 pipeline project to send even more tar sands dilbit our way in Minnesota. That pipeline is not going to pass either.” The Treaty Alliance is growing and will be announcing more signatures at an upcoming event in Ottawa (Algonquin territory) on November 15, 2016. We will also be announcing the groups that will be signing the Solidarity Accord in support of the Treaty Alliance. You can find a copy of the Solidarity Accord and all of the information on the Treaty at www.treatyalliance.org https://www.facebook.com/UBCIC/ FBU News: Ludicrous pay rises to directors at Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service have been slammed by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).
According to the results of a freedom of information request, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s director of people and organisational development, Anne-Marie Scott, was this year awarded a 21.35% pay increase. Deputy chief fire officer Trevor Ferguson saw his pay rise by 14.96% and chief fire officer, Andy Fry, was handed a 10.38% increase. Assistant chief fire officer Paul Southern received a 5.01% pay rise. The revelations come as frontline firefighters and control staff find their pay capped at a below inflationary 1% for the fifth year in a row. This came after a two-year period when pay for all firefighters was frozen as part of the government’s public sector pay freeze. Richard Jones, secretary of the FBU in the south east, said: “These revelations are a smack in the face of every firefighter working in Berkshire who has suffered years of pay freezes and pay caps only for those at the top to be substantially rewarded. It is a clear example of one rule for them and another for us. “Firefighters’ workloads are increasing as budget cuts have dramatically reduced the number of personnel in the service. We are having to do a lot more work with fewer resources. “We are facing budget cuts of up to £2.5 million from frontline service across Berkshire over the next three years. Fire service staff are distraught at being under threat of redundancy. The fact that directors have been awarded a whopper pay rise is an insult.” Since 2010, 93 frontline firefighter jobs have been axed in Berkshire. Source: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2016/10/24/fury-fire-service-directors-awarded-mammoth-pay-rise#.WBBzbIVZjg1.twitter From FBU online: A dramatic decline in the amount of fire prevention work that fire and rescue services perform is putting lives at risk, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said, as new figures show that 10,000 jobs have been axed in England over the last seven years.
The home office’s ‘Fire Operational Statistics Bulletin’, released today, also reveals:
The figures are worrying because the number of fire deaths has rocketed by 15% in the past year – the single biggest percentage increase in 20 years. The union has also warned of a ‘generational time bomb’ as the number of young firefighters aged between 16-24 has dropped by a shocking 40% in the past five years reflecting a lack of recruitment. The average age of a firefighter is now 41. Andy Dark, FBU assistant general secretary, said: “We are deeply concerned about the impact of job cuts on the public’s fire and rescue service. The government’s data shows that fire services are now cutting back even further on fire prevention work because the workforce has been stripped. Fire services are struggling to cope with the current workload. “The government have prioritised balancing the books over all else, including public safety. These figures paint a damning picture of today’s fire and rescue service, which is simply not safe in the hands of this government. Resources continue to be slashed, it’s taking longer to get to fires and more people are dying as a result.” The new findings are the latest in a series of alarming statistics that show how budget cuts are compromising the service the public receive. In addition to the rising number of fire deaths announced in August, it was revealed late last year that response times to fires are now at their slowest in 20 years. The full home office bulletin can be found here. Source: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2016/10/27/firefighter-job-cuts-mean-less-fire-prevention-and-more-death Subscribe to the fire and rescue service's lottery here. |
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