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Death? No Big Deal
Casino Royale is really the first James Bond movie in over 35 years to be based on an Ian Fleming novel; after On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969, all the movies either had nothing to do with the novels they were supposedly based on, or were originals (though series producer/writer Michael Wilson would sometimes work in bits from Fleming material, like in License To Kill, which incorporates some stuff from the original novel of Live and Let Die). But because Casino Royale is a real Fleming adaptation, even with all the changes they had to make to update it, it harks back to the Bond movies of the series '60s prime: all of the '60s movies except one are based on Fleming's novels. And the one that isn't, You Only Live Twice, is the one that sucks.
I'm not quite as sold on Casino Royale as some; I think that by changing some elements of the Bond formula, they're almost breaking a pact with their audience. Bond movies, as opposed to the books, are like ancient drama: they rigidly follow certain rules and include certain elements at expected points, and part of the fun of it is seeing how they can keep us entertained even though we not only know what they're going to do, but more or less when they're going to do it. By mixing everything up, e.g. putting the gun barrel before the credits instead of at the beginning, Casino Royale almost feels like it's not playing fair with the audience. But I have to admit that creatively it's the best Bond in a long, long time, an affirmation of the fact that Bond movies work better when they learn from Bond's creator.
But re-reading Fleming, and re-viewing the movies from the height of the franchise's popularity, reminds me of what I think is his most distinctive contribution to popular culture: the absolutely unconcerned, blasé attitude towards death.
This is over-simplifying things, and I'm sure you can think of exceptions, but as a general rule: before Fleming, if a character died in a story, it was kind of a big deal. If it was a murder mystery, the detective would try to find out who killed this person. If the character who died was a friend or lover of the hero, the author or filmmaker would try to make that death a major moment in the story: the character usually gets a big death scene, a memorable line before they die, the hero weeping for them, or something.
There's very little of that in Fleming. The body count of a Bond novel is large, and it always takes in "good guys" as well as bad guys. In a Bond book or movie you can always spot the moment when Bond's sidekick or lover will be killed, like Quarrel in Dr. No or Kerim in From Russia With Love or the Masterson sisters in Goldfinger, or horribly maimed like Felix Leiter in Live and Let Die. And none of this is supposed to strike us as particularly horrible. The characters don't get big death scenes; Quarrel is incinerated, Jill Masterson is killed offstage (Tilly describes it to Bond in the novel; he finds her dead body in the movie). Kerim is dead when Bond finds him and doesn't get the chance to go out with a great death line.
And Bond, whose whole job is based on an indifference to death and killing -- in You Only Live Twice (book) the fact that he's become upset about someone's death renders him almost useless as an agent -- doesn't react much to the carnage. When Quarrel is killed, he says "I'm sorry, Quarrel" (in the book) or just looks glum for a second (in the movie). And the cumulative effect of any Bond book or movie is to desensitize us to death; by the end, we can see another bunch of corpses hit the floor and it doesn't matter much. Deaths in popular culture, traditionally, had some kind of resonance to them. In Fleming, they're mostly there to show us how invincible James Bond is by comparison. One of the reasons the ending of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (book and movie) packs such a wallop is that it's one of the few deaths that actually seems to matter, that Bond cares about and that we're expected to care about. Even the hard-boiled writers whom Fleming was influenced by, like Spillane, were a little less callous about death, if only because they were writing mysteries, and in a mystery, a person's death is at the very least significant.
Though it's not the death of a sympathetic character, a key scene from both the books and the movies is the one in Thunderball where Blofeld punishes a traitor to SPECTRE by electrocuting him in his chair. It's pure Fleming because no one cares that someone just died, and we, the audience, aren't expected to care either. We're expected to find it funny, or a chilling illustration of how cold-hearted Blofeld is (I'm still not sure if Fleming had a sense of humor, so I have a sneaking suspicion that he wanted us to take this scene seriously), but the last thing we're supposed to think is that death is any kind of significant event.
The version of this scene in the movie incorporates some of the best lines from the book, like the one about SPECTRE being a dedicated fraternity that depends on integrity, or the line about the blackmail victim who unfortunately could only give SPECTRE all he possessed.
Posted by Jaime J. Weinman at 1:30 AM
Reel Fanatic said...
You're right that there was a definite shift in tone and structure with this one, but it was welcome to me .. I guess after 20 movies I was just looking for something to freshen the franchise up, and this worked for me
Yeldarb86 said...
I never fully noticed the indifferences towards death, as any instance where at least one of the girls Bond befriended would've affected him in some way.
Maybe they gave more emotion to a character's death in Casino Royale, because one of the challenges was winning the audiences' approval for the new Bond actor (Daniel Craig).
Fleming was far from the first to treat death casually or indifferently. The pulp magazines bumped off supporting cast with ferocious glee, comics books slaughtered stereotypes without a blink of the eye, and B-Westerns and serials viewed anyone other than the star and his girl to be expendable fodder.
No, what the Bond movies did was to turn death into a joke, something that Bond quipped about. This is not indifference, this is urinating on a corpse, one last little act of sadism.
Fleming once wrote that if Bond existed in real life, he'd be a rather dreadful character. No duh.
(Also, I think Spillane was writing best sellers several years before Fleming's career even got started.)
Jaime J. Weinman said...
Oh, yes -- as I said, or tried (perhaps unsuccessfully) to say, Fleming was influenced by Spillane.
Ricardo Cantoral said...
As a fan of James Bond,mostly the Ian Fleming novels,I found Casino Royale highly refreshing after almost a decade of the less then satisfying Brosnan Bonds. Craig is far closer to the character Fleming wrote about,a "blunt intrusment" and far more human and complex.As for the formula,which started really in Goldfinger,it's what really hurt this series. A constant need to stick to a formula severly limited any room for change and creativity. They were some attempts to break out of this formula in the past,namely in the Lazenby and Dalton eras, but they unfortunetly failed. Now that CR is a huge sucess,I hope producers will allow more creativity.
On and that scene with Blofeld in Thunderball was the character's best moment to me, closer to his novel counterpart. The on screen Blofelds have never done justice to the character at all. Donald Pleasence as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice looked ridicoulous with that scar and it didn't help that he was short, his acting was fine but had no menance. Telly Savalas was possibly the best on screen Blofeld but he was a bit too thuggish.And last and definetly the least a very campy Charles Gray as Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever, remember when he was in drag ?
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Elisabeth Scholl
Elisabeth Scholl and Nazi Germany
Arrest and Execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl
Elisabeth Scholl, the daughter of Robert Scholl and Magdalena Scholl, was born in Forchtenberg in 1920. Elisabeth was very close to her sisters and brothers, Inge (b. 1917) Hans (b. 1918), Sophie (b. 1921), Werner (b. 1922) and Thilde (b. 1925). "The Scholl children were seldom seen tumbling about the streets and were never heard singing improper songs in public. A close-knit clan with a strong sense of each other, they usually provided themselves with enough companionship to make a presence of outsiders unnecessary." (1)
Her father was elected mayor of Forchtenberg. Over the next few years he managed to get the railway extended to the town. He also had a community sports centre built in Forchtenberg but he was considered to be too progressive for some and in 1930 he was voted out of office. (2)
The family moved to Ulm in 1932. "Robert Scholl had lived in several small towns in Swabia, an area of south-west Germany known for its rural charms, thrifty people, and spirit of independence, before settling in Ulm, where he opened his own office as a tax and business consultant. He was a big, rather heavyset man, with strong opinions and an unwillingness, if not an inability, to keep those opinions to himself." (3)
Elisabeth, like her sisters, Inge School and Sophie Scholl, joined German League of Girls (BDM) in 1933, whereas her brothers, Hans Scholl and Werner Scholl joined the Hitler Youth. Their father disapproved of Adolf Hitler. "My father had a pacifist conviction and he championed that. That certainly played a role in our education. But we were all excited in the Hitler youth in Ulm, sometimes even with the Nazi leadership." (4)
The historian, Richard F. Hanser, has pointed out: "The Scholl children, all five of them - Inge, Hans, Elisabeth, Sophie, and Werner - needed no government propaganda to urge them to love their country. Like most children everywhere, they were patriotic by instinct, and the country they loved was their immediate surroundings." (5)
Robert Scholl claimed that Hitler 's attempt to reduce unemployment by military spending would result in war: "Have you considered how he's going to manage it? He's expanding the armaments industry, and building barracks. Do you know where that's all going to end." (6) Elisabeth later pointed out why they rejected their father's advice: "We just dismissed it: he's too old for this stuff, he doesn't understand. My father had a pacifist conviction and he championed that. That certainly played a role in our education. But we were all excited in the Hitler youth in Ulm, sometimes even with the Nazi leadership." (7)
Hans Scholl was the first to question the ideology of the Nazi Party. Hans chosen to be the flag bearer when his unit attended the Nuremberg Rally in 1936. His sister, Inge Scholl, later recalled: "His joy was great. But when he returned, we could not believe our eyes. He looked tired and showed signs of a great disappointment. We did not expect any explanation from him, but gradually we found out that the image and model of the Hitler Youth which had been impressed upon him there was totally different from his own ideal... Hans underwent a remarkable change... This had nothing to do with Father's objections; he was able to close his ears to those. It was something else. The leaders had told him that his songs were not allowed... Why should he be forbidden to sing these songs that were so full of beauty? Merely because they had been created by other races?" (8)
Shortly after Hans returned from Nuremberg, an important BDM leader arrived from Stuttgart to conduct an evening of ideological training for the girls in Ulm. When the members were asked if they had any preferences for discussion, Sophie Scholl suggested they read poems by Heinrich Heine, one of her favourite writers. The leader was appalled and pointed out that the left-wing, anti-war, Jewish writer, had his books burned and banned by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels in 1933. Apparently, Sophie replied, "Whoever doesn't know Heine, does not know German literature." (9) Elisabeth argued that all the Scholl children gradually became hostile to the government: "First, we saw that one could no longer read what one wanted to, or sing certain songs. Then came the racial legislation. Jewish classmates had to leave school." (10)
Hans Scholl and some of his friends decided to form their own youth organization. Inge Scholl later recalled: "The club had its own most impressive style, which had grown up out of the membership itself. The boys recognized one another by their dress, their songs, even their way of talking... For these boys life was a great, splendid adventure, an expedition into an unknown, beckoning world. On weekends they went on hikes, and it was their way, even in bitter cold, to live in a tent... Seated around the campfire they would read aloud to each other or sing, accompanying themselves with guitar, banjo, and balalaika. They collected the folk songs of all peoples and wrote words and music for their own ritual chants and popular songs." (11)
At the age of nineteen, every German, male or female, had to spend six months on a construction project or a farm. The National Labour Service was an attempt to keep the young under the supervision of government agencies as long as possible. It also removed thousands from the labour market and therefore reduced the unemployment statistics and kept young people off the streets where they might cause trouble. (12) Hans Scholl was assigned to road building near a place called Göppingen. The project was part of the Autobahn system, the network of roads across Germany, which was one of Hitler's most valued programs. (13)
Six months of National Labour Service was followed by conscription into the German Army. Hans always loved horses and he volunteered and was accepted for a cavalry unit in 1937. A few months later he was arrested in his barracks by the Gestapo. Apparently, it had been reported that while living in Ulm he had been taking part in activities that were not part of the Hitler Youth program. Sophie, Inge and Werner Scholl were also arrested. (14)
As Sophie was only sixteen, she was released and allowed to go home the same day. One biographer has pointed out: "She seemed too young and girlish to be a menace to the state, but in releasing her the Gestapo was letting slip a potential enemy with whom it would later have to reckon in a far more serious situation. There is no way of establishing the precise moment when Sophie School decided to become an overt adversary of the National Socialist state. Her decision, when it came, doubtless resulted from the accretion of offences, small and large, against her conception of what was right, moral, and decent. But now something decisive had happened. The state had laid its hands on her and her family, and now there was no longer any possibility of reconciling herself to a system that had already begun to alienate her." (15)
The Gestapo searched the Scholl house and confiscated diaries, journals, poems, essays, folk song collections, and other evidence of being members of an illegal organisation. Inge and Werner were released after a week of confinement. Hans was detained three weeks longer while the Gestapo attempted to persuade him to give damaging information about his friends. Hans was eventually released after his commanding officer had ensured the police that he was a good and loyal soldier. (16)
Sophie Scholl's arrest had a big impact on her political thinking. Elisabeth remembers a conversation she had with Sophie in the summer of 1939: "As time went on Sophie became increasingly disillusioned with the Nazis. On the day before England declared war in 1939 I went with her for a walk along the Danube and I remember I said: Hopefully there will be no war. And she said: Yes, I hope there will be. Hopefully someone will stand up to Hitler. In this she was more decisive than Hans." (17)
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Sophie's boyfriend Fritz Hartnagel, was serving in the German Army and a loyal supporter of Adolf Hitler. She wrote to him expressing her bitterness: "Now you'll surely have enough to do. I can't grasp that now human beings will constantly be put into mortal danger by other human beings. I can never grasp it, and I find it horrible. Don't say it's for the Fatherland." (18)
Fritz Hartnagel
During the war Elisabeth Scholl became a children's nurse. On 23rd February, 1943, was waiting at a bus-stop when she glanced at the headline of the Voelkischer Beobachter. The headline, nearly made her faint as it was news that her brother and sister, Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, and a family friend, Christoph Probst, had been beheaded for high treason. They had all been found guilty of distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. (19)
A few days after Sophie and Hans were executed, Elisabeth, along with her father, mother, and sister, Inge, were arrested. They were all put into solitary confinement. "For Elisabeth, this meant a bare cell with just a jug of water, a Bible and a cellar of salt. She was held for two months under wretched conditions, freed only when she contracted a kidney and bladder infection." (20)
In August 1943, they were tried and although Robert received a two-year sentence, the women were found not guilty. (21) Elisabeth later recalled: "We were outcasts. Many of my father's clients - he was a tax accountant - wanted to have nothing more to do with the family. It was always nothing personal - just because of the business. Passers-by took to the other side of the road." (22)
With the arrival of Allied troops Robert Scholl was released and appointed mayor of Ulm. (23) On his return from the war Fritz Hartnagel, the former boyfriend of Sophie Scholl, helped Elisabeth to get a job. It was the begining of a romance that led to marriage and the birth of four sons. (24) They both became active in the peace movement and gave advice to youthful conscientious objectors. (25)
In January 2014, the 93 year-old Elisabeth Hartnagel-Scholl, gave an interview to the world's media. As the Daily Mirror pointed out: "Now she is the only one of five Scholl children left alive. Her other brother Werner was an army medic who vanished on the eastern front. Her other sister Inge died in 1998. Though she was shunned by many Germans after the executions, Elisabeth went on to marry her sister's devastated boyfriend and enjoy a long and happy marriage before his death in 2001". (26)
Elisabeth Hartnagel-Scholl, aged 93, standing beside photographs of
Hans and Sophie Scholl (January 2014)
(1) The Daily Mail (18th January, 2014)
It was a cold winter's day in 1943 when three students threw a pamphlet into the stairwell at Munich's Ludwig Maximillian university, the last of six they had distributed decrying Nazism.
The young activists wanted to call attention to the crimes being committed in Russia in their name - the mass shootings of Jews, the burning of villages, the barbarity of the war Hitler proclaimed to be 'without rules' in his bid to crush the Slavic 'subhumans.'
And their writings recounted the heavily suppressed story of how the Wehrmacht had been stunningly defeated at Stalingrad a month earlier - a battle which proved the turning point of the war.
But, unbeknownst to them, a janitor at the university spotted their surreptitious leaflet drop and reported them to the Gestapo, the Hitler regime's feared secret police.
Twenty-four hours later, they were under arrest and, within days Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, 24, and their friend Christoph Probst, also 24, were all beheaded for treason.
Now, 71 years later, the guillotine used to carry out the gruesome sentence has been found gathering dust in the basement of a Munich museum, triggering a debate in Germany about whether it should go on show, or remain locked out of sight forever.
For one elderly woman in particular it has pulled into sharp focus all the pain, anguish and terror she experienced over seven decades ago when her younger sister and elder brother went bravely to their deaths.
Elisabeth Hartnagel-Scholl is the last surviving sibling of Hans and Sophie Scholl, two of the young martyrs who dared to challenge the world's most sinister tyranny and paid the ultimate price in doing so.
Now a 93-year-old widow, she lives alone in Stuttgart, but she clearly remembers the day that she discovered her brother and sister had died beneath the flashing blade of the guillotine.
(2) Daily Mirror (17th January, 2014)
Children's nurse Elisabeth Scholl was drinking a cup of coffee on a cold day in February as she waited for a bus. As she sipped she glanced at a newspaper. And the front-page headline almost made her faint.
This was Nazi Germany in 1943, the newspaper was a propaganda sheet called Voelkischer Beobachter – the People's Observer – and the news filled Elisabeth, only 22, with disbelief, shock and pain.
It reported how her sister Sophie, her brother Hans and their friend Christoph Probst had all been guillotined the previous day – beheaded for high treason.
Now, 71 years later, that guillotine has come to light in the basement of a Munich museum. It has triggered a debate in Germany about whether such a hideous instrument should go on display in memory of Sophie and her fellow resisters.
For Elisabeth Hartnagel-Scholl, now 93, the discovery has brought memories flooding back. Now she is the only one of five Scholl children left alive. Her other brother Werner was an army medic who vanished on the eastern front. Her other sister Inge died in 1998. Though she was shunned by many Germans after the executions, Elisabeth went on to marry her sister's devastated boyfriend and enjoy a long and happy marriage before his death in 2001.
"It was February 23 1943 when I read my brother and sister were no longer alive," said Elisabeth at her home in Stuttgart. "They had been executed the day before in Stadelheim prison near Munich."
Sophie, 21, Hans 24, and Christoph, 24, were members of resistance group called White Rose. Their crime was to distribute leaflets listing Nazi crimes in Russia and the crushing defeat of the Germany Sixth Army at Stalingrad the previous month – a turning point in the Second World War.
A leaflet they threw into a stairwell of Munich's Ludwig Maximillian University was the last of six. But they were seen by the janitor, reported to the Gestapo and arrested within 24 hours. After four days they went before a rabidly Nazi judge and were executed the same day.
Kristallnacht (Answer Commentary)
Adolf Hitler's Early Life (Answer Commentary)
Heinrich Himmler and the SS (Answer Commentary)
Trade Unions in Nazi Germany (Answer Commentary)
Adolf Hitler v John Heartfield (Answer Commentary)
Hitler's Volkswagen (The People's Car) (Answer Commentary)
Women in Nazi Germany (Answer Commentary)
German League of Girls (Answer Commentary)
The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (Answer Commentary)
The Last Days of Adolf Hitler (Answer Commentary)
(1) Richard F. Hanser, A Noble Treason: The Story of Sophie Scholl (1979) page 34
(2) Anton Gill, An Honourable Defeat: A History of German Resistance to Hitler (1994) page 183
(3) Annette Dumbach & Jud Newborn, Sophie Scholl and the White Rose (1986) page 14
(4) Elisabeth Scholl, interviewed in The Daily Mail (18th January, 2014)
(8) Inge Scholl, The White Rose: 1942-1943 (1983) page 8
(10) Elisabeth Scholl, interviewed in The Daily Mail (18th January, 2014)
(11) Inge Scholl, The White Rose: 1942-1943 (1983) page 13
(12) James Taylor and Warren Shaw, Dictionary of the Third Reich (1987) page 168
(13) Richard F. Hanser, A Noble Treason: The Story of Sophie Scholl (1979) page 68
(16) Annette Dumbach & Jud Newborn, Sophie Scholl and the White Rose (1986) page 44
(18) Sophie Scholl, letter to Fritz Hartnagel (1st September, 1939)
(19) Elisabeth Scholl, interviewed by the Daily Mirror (17th January, 2014)
(21) Annette Dumbach & Jud Newborn, Sophie Scholl and the White Rose (1986) page 167
Sophie Scholl

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Hi, where would you go? Any idea on price/club? Need a whole set done.
I had mine done at The Villages pro shop next to the Sarasota Exec Course. Plan on $8-12 per club, depending on which grips you choose.
Best place is Edwin Watts in the Target Plaza. Good prices and nice people.
While I used to use the Palmer shop because of its convenient location for me, since they've consolidated with Sarasota...I use them now.
They have a large selection, do a good job...and at a fair price.
Probably could get cheaper some place else, but easy in / easy out and nice people.
Had a 3 wood and a Driver re-gripped at Palmer last week. Fourteen dollars total and I had to wait for less than five minutes. Golf Pride grips.
Just had my telescoping "ball retriever" re-gripped, same great experience.
This is a very easy do it yourself job. I order golf pride grips and two sided grip tape from Amazon. Then pick up a razor knife and some mineral spirits from any hardware store. That's all you need. Use the razor knife to cut off the old grips and then remove the old tape (mineral spirits help with tape removal). Put new tape on the club shaft, put your finger over the little hole on the new grip, fill the grip up with mineral spirits, take your finger off the little hole on the grip and let the mineral spirits pour out through the hole onto the new grip tape until the grip is empty, then slip the new grip on the shaft over the tape. Look down the shaft and make sure the grip is not twisted and adjust if necessary, clean the sticky tape residue off the shaft with some mineral spirits on a paper towel, and wait a couple hours for everything to dry and set before swinging the club. If you are re-gripping a club with a graphite shaft, be careful not to scratch the shaft when removing the old grIp. Once you re-grip the first couple of clubs and get the hang of it, the rest will go very fast.
OP, take it from my experience of gripping 1,000's of clubs and take them to the Sarasota Custom Club Shop and get them re-gripped; there are even some sale priced grips at $5.99. Unless you're going to do this over and over and over, don't spend your money on everything needed to do it right (grips, double sided tape, mineral spirits, rubber shaft clamp, vise and most important - making sure any alignment aids on the grips is dead-center aligned with the face of the clubs) for one set of clubs.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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São Miguel Arcanjo (São Paulo), een gemeente in de Braziliaanse deelstaat São Paulo
 São Miguel Arcanjo (Santiago), Kaapverdië op het eiland Santiago

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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The school is part of the United Talmudical Academy, the largest of three Hasidic school systems serving roughly 14,500 children in and around Kiryas Joel.
Ron Coleman, an attorney for the U.T.A., told the Times Herald-Record on Friday that the school's administrators were allowing boys to study on their own in the building and believed that independent study didn't count as schooling and so was permissible under the state's order.
"The school was not operating as a school," he said.
Coleman said school leaders disagreed with health officials on that question but accepted their position and closed the school. He said the conversation was "extremely cordial" and respectful.
Chris Ericson, a deputy county health commissioner who visited the school, said Friday that classrooms were full, teachers were present and few people wore masks. "There were anywhere from 25 to 30 students in a classroom, shoulder to shoulder, with an instructor in front of them, " he said.
New York City closed a Hasidic school in Brooklyn on Monday after officials say they found about 60 students inside. Agudath Israel of America, an umbrella organization for Orthodox Jewish groups, responded by urging compliance with state orders while arguing the continued closure of schools may violate religious rights and was becoming unbearable for large families.
"Moreover, children have been home for months," the statement read. "Orthodox families tend to be larger, and many live in small, urban apartments. The mental health toll of this pandemic on children and parents alike has been crushing."
Neither New York City nor the Hudson Valley have met the state's benchmarks for controlling the coronavirus outbreak to begin reopening businesses and schools. Even when that happens, schools are in the last of four reopening phases, which could take six weeks to reach after the first phase begins.


Well the end of January already.
Valentines day is just around the corner, so I thought that I would get started on a few Valentines Day cards. This being the first of more to come, I used a digital image from Whimsy Stamps designer Miss Rach called Heart Shaped Glasses. A super cute image that fits well into the valentines theme. I put glossy accents on the glasses to try to give it the look of actual glasses. It's hard to get a photo to actually justify the true way the card turned out. I took a couple pictures that will hopefully give the the effect I was trying to capture with my photo.
A bit closer, you can see the shine on the glasses in this picture.
So cute, made me laugh...nice glasses...awesome job. Nice touch with the hearts in the corners...way to go!


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GALLERY: Coventry City 1-0 Bradford City - Andy Rose is the hero from the subs bench as he fires the Sky Blues to victory
Take a look at all the photo's from the 1-0 win over the Bantams at the Ricoh Arena...
Substitute Andy Rose scored with his first touch of the ball as the Sky Blues edged out promotion hopefuls Bradford City.
The midfielder fired in off the bar within seconds of coming on after latching onto an Adam Armstrong flicked header.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men after Steven Davies was sent off for an off-the-ball incident.
The Sky Blues have moved up to eleventh, six points shy of the top six.
Take a look at the photos above...


Holiday entertaining is in full swing, and I've learned the hard way that I can't do everything by myself. Gone are the days when I slaved over the styling, the shopping, the cooking and cleaning on my own: Lessons were learned during the Great Blender Explosion of 2011 and the Cannoli Stuffing Incident of 2008.
Over the past few years we've seen tons of innovation in the home security marketplace; smaller, smarter cameras have made it easier than ever to keep an eye on things at home while you're away – but with a hefty price tag. Enter: Blink, the simple, chic answer to affordably monitoring your whole home.
This time of year, about half my mental energy is spent searching for gifts that match the people on my list. When I discovered Motorola's Moto X Pure Edition designed by Jonathan Adler, I checked a few people off the list (myself, maybe, too?). Sporting the designer's signature happy hues and graphic patterns, this smart (and sassy) phone brings high design to your most functional device.
For something so easily misplaced, a lost wallet can cause an inordinate amount of hassle. Chores like replacing a driver's license and calling the bank to cancel credit cards, while resigning oneself to the loss of whatever cash was stored within, aren't much fun in anyone's book. The people behind Walli are aiming to save forgetful folk from such hassles, by giving their smartphone a nudge when the wallet or some of its contents are left behind.


Inspired by the historic charm and casual elegance of the country around Lexington, Kentucky, this new collection brings a fresh approach to American style. Using architectural motifs found in the barns, farmhouses, distilleries, and stables of Kentucky's bluegrass country, the collection is rich with vintage detail, fine materials, and rich finishes. This relaxed yet sophisticated collection for bedroom, dining room, living room, and office reinvents tradition for the way we live now: warm, relaxed, elegant, and timeless.
© Copyright Colorado Style Home Furnishings 2019.


The University of Algarve is a young state university, established in 1979 and acquiring a sound international reputation over the years. The University has witnessed a significant growth in terms of student population, modern facilities and the quality and diversity of programmes on offer.
Founded on the 16th January 1979, the University of Algarve results from the union of two preexisting institutions, the University of Algarve and the Polytechnic Institute of Faro, which makes it somewhat unique from most universities given that Faculties and Schools of both systems, co-exist.
In 1982, the first rector of the University, Prof. Gomes Guerreiro (1982-1986) was appointed, following by Prof. Lloyd Braga (1986-1990), Prof. Montalvão Marques (1990-1993), Prof. Alte da Veiga (1993-1997), Prof. Adriano Pimpão (1998-2006), and Prof. João Guerreiro, the current rector since 2006.
Following the approval of the Universities Autonomy Law, the University Assembly, comprising the representatives of academic and administrative staff and students of all the Faculties and Schools, approved the Statutes in 1991, which received subsequent approval by the Ministry of Education. In 2001, the first University Statute amendment was published in the Portuguese government's official gazette.
The University student population is today close to 10,000 and employs over 700 academics. It has three faculties and four schools, offering a range of quality undergraduate and postgraduate courses in beautiful academic settings.
It is an important centre for cultural, scientific and technological development, with strong regional, national and international ties, offering students the opportunity to explore various careers as they gain transferable skills.
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine (DCBM).
The Saúde Campus, situated at the entrance of the city, comprises the School of Health (ESSUAlg).
The Portimão Campus, located in the city of Portimão, the second largest city in the Algarve, offers degrees in management and tourism. This campus arose from a need for decentralisation.
The teaching and research labs at the University of Algarve, with state-of-the-art equipment, are important resources for academic and experiment activities. All of the campuses offer specific classrooms, computer and multimedia labs, auditoriums, study and meeting rooms.
Wireless Internet access is available in all campuses of the University and in most spaces (class and study rooms, libraries, laboratories, etc.).
The University Library is composed of different services, with one on each campus. The Library receives, organises and provides access to bibliographic and documentary resources in several formats, in order to respond to educational, scientific and research activities of the University and the community. Bibliographic catalogue and access to the online resources are available from the library webpage at www.ualg.pt (select Structure – select Library).
Besides the resources available in each library, the University offers b-on (online knowledge library) access. B-on access is available on all University network computers (recognition and access control performed through IP protocol). Users can access b-on through the University library website (www.ualg.pt ) or through the official b-on site (www.b-on.pt ).
Users have free access to full text articles of main international journal publications. B-on allows online access to more than 22,000 electronic publications, breaking the barrier, which in the past made accessing reference resources difficult. Besides gaining access to full-length articles, other resources such as bibliographic references, catalogues, indexes, citation tools and other portals are available.
The University of Algarve has several residence halls located in the city of Faro, in the Penha Campus, near the Gambelas Campus and in the Portimão Campus, in a total of 600 beds.
The accommodation consists of common living rooms, single or double rooms, bathrooms, kitchens equipped with the necessary appliances, in addition to other existing equipment in the living rooms, such as television, video and music devices.
Although the University has limited places at the University Residences, mobility students may apply for accommodation when filling in their application form.
Saúde Campus – School of Health.
There is also a grill in Gambelas Campus and Penha Campus, and a restaurant in Gambelas Campus.
There are several café-bars distributed through the various campuses.
The Student Support and Welfare Services (SAS) offer healthcare in areas of general practice, gynaecology, nursing, and psychology and nutrition counselling. The University maintains contractual agreements in areas of dental care, physiotherapy and chiropody.
These services carry out different types of tests, promote the prevention of sexually transmitting diseases and participate in a European project on drug dependence. SAS are also partners in a transnational observatory on drug prevention in higher institutions with an online information clinic offering advice and support on drugs and treatment.


Shapes and colorsin your home!
Personalization means infinite possibilities! Keep an eye on the latest trends and interpret them in your interior masterfully - quickly and without any renovation!
Shapes and colors - a house in the form!
The world is crazy about it! Fresh, light and fashionable - this is the new face of terrazzo. The multicolored confetti-like pattern will change your interior and give it a unique, fashionable character. Go for a change and dress up your walls in a kaleidoscope of colors!
Create a unique interior full of plants and draw positive energy from patterns and colors straight from the garden!


text:
START_ATF_NAMESPACE
    namespace Register
    {
        class _personal_amine_infoui_open_zoclRegister : public IRegister
        {
            public:
                void Register() override
                {
                    auto& hook_core = CATFCore::get_instance();
                    for (auto& r : Detail::_personal_amine_infoui_open_zocl_functions)
                        hook_core.reg_wrapper(r.pBind, r);
                }
        };
    }; // end namespace Register
END_ATF_NAMESPACE


text:
Veress ist der Familienname folgender Personen:

 Péter Veress (* 1928), ungarischer Diplomat und Politiker
 Sándor Veress (1907–1992), ungarisch-schweizerischer Komponist

Siehe auch:
 Veres


Bypassing the intellect and reaching into the heart and soul of every audience member, Mark Spyropoulos, the first and only full time British member of the Sistine Chapel Choir, left the Pure Land Series audience in awe as he took us through his fascinating account of the Choir's history from the year 300 to the present day, in this, the second event of the Series. Mark was joined on stage by renowned British choristers to sing passages by, among others, Josquin and Palestrina, the Giotto and Michelangelo of music. Illustrating the perfect balance of text and music, and with the space at China Exchange providing 'perfect acoustics', according to the choristers, the room fell silent as they deconstructed Gregorian chant and invoked an atmosphere of complete reverence with deeply moving passages of music from across centuries of worship.
Mark, whose knowledge and passion for his work is unparalleled and infectious, gave us a sense of the extraordinary burst of creativity that returned with the Papal court's visit to France in 1473 and became known as the Renaissance. This culminated with Michelango's transformation of the Sistine Chapel and Allegri's composition of his 'perfect' Miserere. Fascinatingly, this musical work was so prized the Vatican threatened excommunication if the score were to leave the Chapel, but on a visit, Mozart copied it after one hearing. The audience heard extraordinary historical recordings of the choir over the last 100 years, including the unearthly sound of the last castrato who died in 1922, and excerpts from the new album 'Palestrina' released on 7 October. To the audience's amusement, a comparison was made with British order and the passionate heart-filled Italian styles of singing. With the voice as an instrument, the vibration of the human body creating sound, Mark movingly described singing and the Choir as a universal tool of empathy and understanding. Today the Sistine Chapel Choir works as a means of uniting the church and the wider world, representing 1700 years of human achievement at its most honest and beautiful.
The Pure Land Series at China Exchange curates innovative programmes with the aim of enriching lives through creativity, spirituality and self-expression. See What's On for the next events in the programme.


text:
An existing case or report
The police officer role
Are you looking for a new, exciting and varied career, where no two days are the same? If so, then the role of a Police Officer could be for you!
We are looking for enthusiastic and dedicated people who will be committed to our vision; to be the best at understanding and responding to the needs of the community; to protecting the most vulnerable, catching criminals and keeping the public safe, whilst also abiding by the policing Code of Ethics.
To be successful you will need to meet our minimum entry requirements, and demonstrate a passion and commitment to providing a first class policing service to the people of South Wales.
We have a strong commitment to equality and diversity both within the organisation and in the service we provide. Our aim is to promote and achieve a fully inclusive workforce to reflect the communities we serve. South Wales Police particularly welcomes applicants from under-represented groups.
South Wales Police is proud to work under a positive action initiative to support those from under-represented groups. If you are from a diverse background and have an interest in joining us please contact our Representative Workforce Team.
Why join South Wales Police?
South Wales Police is the largest police force in Wales and although geographically small, covering around 812 square miles and equating to just 10% of the geographical area of Wales, South Wales Police provides a policing service to 1.3 million people (42% of the country's population).
South Wales is a diverse region, boasting urban, rural and coastal areas and featuring the two largest cities in Wales – Swansea and the capital city, Cardiff. The force also serves 63 of the 100 most deprived communities in Wales.
The force has almost 3000 police officers and over 2200 police staff, including Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and a team of dedicated volunteers that includes over 200 Special Constables and around 200 Police Youth Volunteers. We are committed to developing our staff and providing them with the best support and resources to enable them to effectively support our local communities.
As a force we are investing heavily in the latest technology and the welfare of staff and officers. South Wales Police have been at the heart of many major events - the Champion's League, NATO and the Olympics are just some of the events that we've hosted here in South Wales in recent times.
Join and help us be the best at understanding and responding to our communities' needs.
When the time for promotion or specialisation is right; you will find SWP a supportive employer and we will provide the opportunity for your aspirations and ability to be recognised.
Our unique Talent Management Programme was launched in 2020, offering additional development routes for exceptional officers.
A career path for police officers exists up to the rank of Chief Superintendent.
To apply for the role of police constable, you will need to be aged 17 years or over (will only be appointed at the age of 18).
Cautions and Convictions
You may still be eligible to join the police service if you have minor convictions/cautions, but there are certain offences and conditions that will make you ineligible. You MUST declare all convictions for past offences, formal cautions (including as a juvenile) and any bind-over imposed by the courts. You should also include all traffic convictions. Due to the nature of policing, it's essential that we conduct rigorous vetting checks on successful applicants before they can join the program.
Citizenship/Residency
You must be a British Citizen, citizen from the European Economic Area (EEA), Commonwealth citizen or foreign national with no restrictions on your stay in the United Kingdom. You must also have been continually resident in the UK for the three year period immediately before an application is made. This is to satisfy the requirement to vet all applicants in an equitable manner and the UK Police service does not currently have any means of facilitating vetting checks overseas, to the extent required of those who have been resident in the UK. Applicants who cannot be vetted, cannot be appointed.
All applicants will have their financial status checked. These checks are carried out because Police Constables have access to privileged information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption. Any applicants with outstanding County Court judgements, who have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts, will be rejected. If you have discharged bankruptcy debts then you will need to provide a Certificate of Satisfaction with your application. Applicants who are the subject of a current Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) will not be considered.
Applicants must be in good health mentally and physically to deal with the pressures and demands of the role. Successful applicants who receive a conditional offer of appointment will then be asked prior to appointment to fill in a medical questionnaire and undertake a medical examination which will also include an eyesight test and BMI check (Body Mass Index).
The current Home Office circular 59/2004 outlines this as between 18 and 30. Applicants who do not meet this standard may find their application delayed and / or will not be appointed.
Police Officer applicants with a BMI over 32 will not be considered fit unless their body fat percentage is less than 30% for men or 36% for women. If you have a disability, we will make adjustments where it is reasonable to do so.
You must be physically fit in order to effectively complete the duties required of a Police Constable. All applicants must pass a basic fitness test before appointment. For the endurance test you will be asked to run back and forth a 15 metre track in time with a series of bleeps, in time the bleeps become increasingly faster. You must achieve level 5.4.
You will also be required to attend a pre-appointment fitness test approximately 6 weeks prior to the anticipated appointment date and you must pass this to progress your application.
South Wales Police has a policy of prohibiting any of our officers or staff from being members of the BNP, or a similar organisation whose aims, objectives or pronouncements may contradict the duty to promote race equality. If you are, or have previously been a member of the BNP or a similar organisation, your application will be rejected.
Candidates with visible tattoos may be eligible for appointment. Each case will be considered on its own merits, taking into account the number, nature, size, prominence, appearance and location of the tattoos. Tattoos must not be offensive to colleagues or members of the public or undermine the dignity of your role within the Force. Tattoos on the neck, face or hands are still deemed to be unacceptable but consideration may be given in some circumstances considering the size, nature and prominence of the tattoo. If candidates choose to have any additional tattoos during the recruitment process, after passing eligibility checks, the onus is on them to advise HR and provide appropriate photographs which will need to be checked.
PCDA (Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship)
Pay Point 0
Starting salary
Gateway 1 (12 months)
Gateway 2 (2 years)
End of probation (3 years)
DHEP (Degree Holder Entry Programme) / Fast Track to Detective
What can South Wales Police offer you:
Annual Leave of 22 days (increasing with length of service), plus bank holidays or time in lieu.
Police pension.
Childcare Vouchers scheme – which can be used to pay for approved childcare providers.
Enhanced Maternity, Paternity and Adoption pay.
Assistance in gaining professional policing qualifications.
Support and advice from Occupational Health and access to a range of wellbeing services.
Support and advice from our Staff Associations and Support Networks which include: Female Police Association, LGBT Network, Black Police Association, Christian Police Association, Ability Support Network, Police Federation, Unison, GMB.
Access to subsidised gyms – throughout force area.
Cycle to work scheme.
Training, development and promotion opportunities within an organisation, which values continued professional development.
Lifestyle and organisational discounts, which include travel, financial products, an eye care scheme and many more.
Benefits of working for South Wales Police.
The Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) is a three-year practice-based higher-education programme, leading to a BSc Hons Degree in Professional Policing Practice.
To apply for the PCDA entrants must have already achieved a Level 3 qualification (A level or equivalent) or have successfully completed the online competency based assessment. Predicted grades will not be accepted. The necessary certification will need to be provided at the point of application.
If successful you will need to undertake a number of assessments and assignments during the term of your Apprenticeship.
Apprentices appointed need to have already achieved a GCSE Grade A-C in Maths and English, or a Level 2 Equivalent. If not it they will need to complete the Essential Skills qualification during their training to fulfil the requirement of the Apprenticeship Scheme.
Protected study time to support your professional development will be provided, however it is also likely that a level of private study, outside of working hours, will also be needed. Further information about the programme of learning will be made available shortly.
As an apprentice, how long will I be on probation for?
As a student enrolled on the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeships ( PCDA ) you will have a 3 year probationary period.
What will the apprenticeship probation period look like?
Following appointment, you will embark on a 6-month initial learning programme at South Wales Police Learning and Development services Bridgend. You will also undertake a 12 week tutoring period within the community, where you will be expected to achieve independent patrol status.
For the remainder of the probationary period you will carry out operational duties in the workplace gathering evidence of occupational competency.
You will also be required to carry our academic elements assigned to you by a partner university. Successful completion of both practical and academic elements will result in you being confirmed in rank.
Degree holder
The Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP) is for those who already hold a degree in any subject area but want to join the force.
This is a two-year programme combining on-the-job practical learning and operational competence with academic learning. Upon completion, successful candidates will also achieve a Diploma in Professional Policing Practice. The force covers all course fees relating to this entry route. Predicted grades will not be accepted. The necessary certification will also need to be attached before you can submit an application.
If your degree was achieved outside of the UK, you must achieve ratification from a Higher Education Establishment within the UK to evidence your qualification is recognised at Degree standard.
If you are yet to complete your degree, but would still like to apply, you should do so though the Apprenticeship route. If successful however you will be unable to complete your current degree qualification and you will not be able to defer your application to a later date.
As a degree holder, how long will I be on probation for?
As a degree holder you will have a 2 year probationary period.
What will the degree holder probation period look like?
Following appointment, you will embark on a 6-month initial learning programme at South Wales Police Learning and Development services Bridgend.
You will complete a 12 week tutoring period within the community, where you will be expected to achieve independent patrol status. The remainder of the probationary period you will carry out operational duties in the workplace gathering evidence of occupational competency. You will also be required to carry our academic elements assigned to you by a partner university.
Successful completion of both practical and academic elements will result in you being confirmed in rank.
Pre-join degree
South Wales Police has started this exciting new route to becoming a police officer. A career in policing demands skill, responsibility, leadership, initiative and a genuine desire to make a difference to society. The pre-join degree is a professional, academic, knowledge based degree with the curriculum designed to cover all aspects of the police constable role and help you meet that challenge.
If you are currently in your Final year or have completed the Pre-join degree in Professional Policing – South Wales Police is the ideal force for you to commence your career as a Police Officer.
The pre-join degree is a three-year full-time course self-funded by the student the same as any degree and can only be offered by organisations licensed by the College of Policing. The degree aims to develop high levels of professional knowledge and skills across a range of complex and challenging situations as required for front-line policing.
To view a full list of the organisations currently licensed we have provided a link to the College of Policing Website as the list is continually updated.
To be eligible to apply via this route applicants must achieve their degree before applying to join the police service, or be in the final year of their degree at the time of application and achieve their degree prior to appointment. Successful applicants will then enjoy a shorter on-the-job training programme. N.B. If you wish to take this route into the SWP you must apply to join within 5 years of graduating.
National and local eligibility requirements must still be met and achievement of the degree does not guarantee a successful application. Prospective applicants are strongly advised to check eligibility requirements before commencing their degree.
Once you join South Wales Police you will commence a two year probationary period during which you will undertake further practice based learning and assessments in order to demonstrate your competence for the role.
What does the training entail?
You will undergo a two-year training programme, during which time you will complete mandatory training such as personal safety and first aid. You will have up to 10-15 weeks in initial Police learning before a response policing attachment where you will be required to achieve independent patrol status and achieve occupational competency.
Apply now: Pre-join degree entry route
Do you want to make a real difference to the people and communities of South Wales?
Do you want to pursue a career with South Wales Police and have a challenging and rewarding role with great opportunities to progress?
Have you achieved a Pre-Join Degree in Professional Policing or are you in the final year?
PLEASE NOTE THE APPLICATION FORM ASKS IF YOU ARE DUE TO COMPLETE IN 2021. PLEASE ANSWER YES TO THIS QUESTION IF YOU ARE IN YOUR FINAL YEAR OR HAVE ALREADY ACHEIVED THE QUALIFICATION.
If so, this is YOUR opportunity to join one of the best performing forces in the UK.
South Wales Police is a team like no other, working together as one – to keep South Wales safe. A career in policing demands skill, compassion, leadership, initiative, and a genuine desire to make a difference to society. It is a job like no other and we are looking for people with diverse skills and experiences to join our successful team.
To support this search for talented individuals we are introducing an exciting new route to becoming a police officer. To be eligible to apply to our new Pre–Join programme, applicants must be in receipt or due to attain (by June 2022) their Pre-Join Degree in Professional Policing. The PEQF (Policing Education Qualifications Framework) was introduced two years ago as a new, professional framework for the training of police officers and staff and is based upon a new modern curriculum aligned with the education levels set in England and Wales which supports the development of policing as a profession. The professional framework is extended to specialist routes into policing, and we are offering an exciting opportunity to enter our Degree Holder Entry Programme.
South Wales Police is accepting BSc/BA Professional Policing Degree's (licenced by the College of Policing).
Eligible candidates will be invited to an assessment centre to determine suitability for the high standards we require.
Successful candidates will receive the highest level of training and support and you can expect excellent career prospect and benefits. Please see website for further details.
In joining #TeamSWP you will be joining a leading force and one where you will be able to be the best you can be and develop your career to suit your individual aspirations.
South Wales Police particularly welcomes applicants from under-represented groups.
Think you've got what it takes? Here's what else you need to know:
We will be open from 9am on 26th October 2021 until midday on the 9th November 2021.
On occasion, South Wales Police will reduce the period of the advert if sufficient applications are achieved.
Follow instructions to complete and submit the online application prior to the deadline. Late applications will not be considered.
If you have made an application to become a police officer in the last three months to South Wales or any other force and were not successful during any part of the recruitment process, unfortunately you will not be eligible to apply on this occasion.
Please note the following if you are completing concurrent applications to more than one Police Officer recruitment campaign: you will be asked to decide as to which one you want to pursue.
Candidates are unable to apply for more than one Welsh force during this campaign, duplicate applications will not be accepted. Once you have booked an assessment slot, you are unable to move it to another force.
Any request to transfer an existing valid assessment centre pass will need to be confirmed with the receiving force by providing a copy of your assessment centre feedback report. We suggest that you upload this evidence with your application. Please note, you are unable to request this once the vacancy has closed.
Applicants enquiring about reasonable adjustments should do so via the HR Recruitment team (email as below).
The Assessment Centre will take place mid-December 2021. Please note when the dates have been confirmed, these will be the only dates available for this recruitment campaign.
The Assessment Centre is part of the national recruitment standards set by the College of Policing. Details of the current Assessment Centre process and further information is available via the following link: https://recruit.college.police.uk/Officer/after-I-apply/Pages/Constables-Assessment-Centre.aspx
Please refer to South Wales Police website for full details about what the role entails, eligibility criteria, the application process and answers to frequently asked questions: https://www.south-wales.police.uk/police-forces/south-wales-police/areas/careers/careers/police-officers/police-officer-role/
If you can't find the answers you were looking for, you can also email your queries to the HR Recruitment Team at [email protected] or call 01656 869225.
Opening hours for queries are Monday to Thursday from 9am to 5pm and Friday from 9am to 4.30pm.
Required technology
You can complete the exercises on any internet-enabled device with a camera (laptop, tablet or phone), but to ensure full compatibility with the online platform, the following should be set up:
Your operating system should be Windows 7 (or higher) or Mac OS 10.11 (or higher).
Your browser should be the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari (Apple products only).
You should have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed, and you require a webcam and microphone to record responses.
It is advisable to complete the whole application process on the same device as the IP addresses will conflict if you decide to swap devices once you have commenced and this could prevent you continuing with your application. It is therefore not advisable to complete your application in work.
It is not advisable to use hand held devices such as tablets or mobile phones as they are not compatible with the on-line tests that have to be completed. We are only able to re-set tests on one occasion per candidate.
Applicants are also advised to check their "junk" box for email updates from the system.
The first step will be an online application process which includes some eligibility 'killer questions'. If you pass this stage you will be required to complete several online tests and an application form. There are 2 tests that every applicant must complete (regardless of qualifications), these are a Situational Judgement Test and a Behavioural Style Questionnaire. Both of these must be passed in order to continue in the application process.
Behavioural Styles Questionnaire (BSQ)
The Police Behavioural Styles Questionnaire measures your typical behaviour and preferences at work. The purpose of the questionnaire is to assess whether you have the right behaviours and attitudes to be effective in the role. This questionnaire invites you to review a number of statements and indicate which statements you completely agree with or completely disagree with on a sliding scale. In the questionnaire, you will be presented with these statements about your typical behaviour at work in blocks of four. You will need to read each statement carefully and then decide the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement using the rating scale below:
Completely Disagree
Somewhat Disagree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Somewhat Agree
Completely Agree
Depending on your responses, you may also be asked to rank particular statements in terms of how well they describe your typical behaviour at work. There is no time limit, but it should take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. The test does not require any specialist knowledge to complete.
Situational Judgement Test (SJT)
The Police Situational Judgment Test assesses your judgement and decision-making skills in relation to job-relevant situations. In the test you will be presented with a series of scenarios which reflect challenging situations that you may face when working in a PCSO role. For each scenario, you will be presented with four possible actions that could be taken. You will be asked to rate each of the four actions in terms of its effectiveness in addressing the scenario. The scale you are required to rate the actions on is shown below:
Counterproductive - An inappropriate action that will have a negative impact or make the situation worse.
Ineffective - A poor action which will not help the situation.
Slightly Effective - An action that would have a small positive impact on the situation.
Effective - An action that would have a reasonable positive impact on the situation.
Very Effective - One of the best actions that could be taken in response to the situation.
The test does not require any specialist knowledge to complete. Your responses should be based solely on the information presented in each scenario.
Proof of Qualification
You will be required to upload and attach your relevant Degree or Level 3 or equivalent Certificate before you submit your application. If you do not have a copy of this you will need to obtain one from the appropriate educational establishment.
If your Degree (or Level 3 qualification) was achieved outside of the UK, you must achieve ratification from a Higher Education Establishment within the UK to evidence your qualification is recognised at Degree standard (or level 3 standard).
If you do not have a Level 3 qualification or above you must also successfully pass a verbal reasoning and maths calculation test. This will test your academic ability to Level 3. If you successfully complete the above tests, but fail in another part of the recruitment process, you will not be required to retake these tests again, should you wish to re-apply after 6 months.
Assessment centre UPDATE
Due to COVID 19 an online assessment process will be used until further notice. Read information on this assessment process.
The new process will enable rapid recruitment without face-to-face contact while social distancing measures are required. It will also enable secure online assessment to be part of an efficient and user-friendly candidate journey in the future.
The online assessment process
The online assessment process consists of a three-stage approach designed for the efficient assessment and recruitment of police constables. The three stages are:
Stage 1 – Situational judgement test (SJT)
This test measures your ability to choose the appropriate action in situations similar to those you are likely to face as a police constable. This test will measure your judgement and ability to make effective decisions against the Competency and Values Framework for Policing.
South Wales Police uses our own shortlisting tools so if you are invited to take part in the online assessment centre you will start the process at STAGE 2.
Stage 2 – Competency-based interview
You will be asked a series of questions about how you have dealt with specific situations in the past. This is your opportunity to provide some examples of the key competencies and values that are important for police constables. You can use examples from both your work and your personal life. If you have completed stage 1, you will be required to take stage 2 immediately upon completion.
Stage 3 – Written assessment and briefing exercise
Stage 3a – Written assessment
In this exercise, you will assume the role of a police constable and will have to complete an urgent written task for your line manager. You will receive four items of information to help you with this task.
Stage 3b – Briefing exercise
In this exercise, you will assume the role of a police constable and will have responsibility for dealing with some issues presented to you. You will be tasked with providing a response to a number of questions in relation to this issue. You will be provided with preparation materials to consider your answer.
Please note that you will receive and be able to take stages 3a and 3b separately
Transferring Police National Assessment Centre (SEARCH) scores to South Wales Police
You are able to request to transfer your Assessment Centre score but only when we are advertising a recruitment campaign.
As part of the national recruitment process, South Wales Police consider applications from individuals who achieve an overall pass mark of 50% across each competency at the national assessment process (SEARCH). Please note that when you request to transfer your score you are still required to complete and submit an application form and complete any other sections of the recruitment process that you are guided to. You will not receive confirmation on whether your AC score has been accepted or not until after the campaign has closed.
Your interview will be based on the competencies and values contained within the role profile which was attached to the advert, and which are also important to South Wales Police.
Use examples from your work, social, domestic or educational life to answer the interview questions. In these examples we are looking for specific evidence of competency behaviours which fit our organisation's values.
Be specific: we want to know what YOU said or did on a given occasion to deal with the situation. It's therefore important that the examples you provide are your own experiences and as detailed as possible.
Policing can occasionally be physically demanding, so you will need to be in fairly good physical condition to pass the fitness test. The test will basically measure whether your fitness levels are high enough. For the endurance test, you will be asked to run back and forth a 15 metre track in time with a series of bleeps. As the test goes on, the bleeps become increasingly faster to level 5.4.
You will also be required to attend a pre-appointment fitness test approximately prior to the anticipated appointment date and you must pass this to progress your application.
Medical assessment
Due to the nature of police work, good health and fitness is paramount. However, applications are welcome from people with disabilities and every effort will be made to make reasonable adjustments if required. If you are successful at the interview stage you will undertake a medical examination.
There are certain medical conditions and disorders that may have a detrimental effect on your ability to conduct the role effectively; each case will be considered carefully as part of the medical process.
Your weight range will be assessed during your medical assessment. The healthy weight range is based on a measurement known as your body mass index (BMI). This can be determined if you know your weight and your height. The actual calculation is your weight (in kilograms) divided by your height (in metres squared). Guidance and easy to use charts on how to calculate your BMI can be found on the NHS website.
The NHS advises that a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 suggests a normal healthy weight. This means your body is not at risk of weight-related disease.
The Home Office sets BMI standards for police officers. The current Home Office circular 59/2004 outlines this as between 18 and 30. Applicants who do not meet this standard may find their application delayed and / or will not be appointed.
Police Officer applicants with a BMI over 32 will not be considered fit unless their body fat percentage is less than 30% for men or 36% for women.
Vetting and references
The importance of honesty and integrity is made clear throughout our application process. Officers are subject to the Standards of Professional Behaviour, which clearly set out what communities can expect from their officers.
References are required to cover a minimum of 3 years of continuous employment history. If you have not been in employment for 3 years we will look to obtain education and personal references.
Drugs test and biometric vetting
You will also be asked to undertake a drugs test and provide information about any medication you may be taking. Legislation has been introduced that requires applicants to undergo biometric vetting.
If you should fail the drugs test you will not be offered a position with South Wales Police. Any internal candidates who fail a drugs test will have their offer withdrawn and the results from the drugs test may be used in accordance with the South Wales Police Staff Discipline Police and Police Staff Code of Conduct.
On the day we will be asking you to sign a consent form to take your fingerprints and a sample of your DNA for the purposes of a speculative search and for your fingerprints and DNA profile to be retained on the Police Elimination Database (PEDb).
The purpose of obtaining fingerprints and DNA samples is to allow for a speculative search to be made against the local and national databases prior to your appointment to the police force. This is to ensure that you have not previously come to adverse police attention, which you have not informed us of, and also that you are not linked to any outstanding crime scenes.
The first six months of police training will be classroom based. Police officers and police staff trainers will deliver the course at a police-training establishment in Bridgend.
This is a non-residential course designed to help maximise learning potential both academically and practically and start developing operational policing skills. The classroom syllabus is based on the curriculum developed by the College of Policing, which covers all areas required for the role of a Police Constable. Various E-learning packages alongside fitness, first aid and personal safety training will also be undertaken.
At various stages of the course, student constables will need to demonstrate their understanding and knowledge through informal and formal assessment processes. This will include multiple choice examinations, assignments and practical assessments. Constables are always expected to display the appropriate behaviour and attitude during their training in line with the police service's Code of Ethics.
Following the successful completion of year one officers will commence a period of tutoring at an operational police station with a qualified tutor. Successful completion of the tutor phase will allow student constables to be placed on independent patrol.
In years two and three (depending on entry route), whilst working in an operational environment, student constables on the apprenticeship will be working towards achieving a degree in Professional Policing Practice whilst Degree holder student constables will be working towards achieving a Graduate Certificate in Professional Policing.
Recruits on both programmes will be required to complete an occupational competency portfolio during their probationary period, and will be required to complete a level of private study, outside of working hours.
Please be aware that on appointment and during your service you may be posted to any location in South Wales based on operational need.
Applicants should also be aware that although they will be entitled to a level of protected study time in the workplace to support their professional development, it is also likely that some students will also need to undertake private study, outside of working hours. It is estimated that any learner on a degree or graduate diploma programme will carry out an average of 5 hours per week private study, although this will very much dependent upon the student.
All learners are required to successfully complete the required qualification. Please note that "protected learning time" will be subject to organisational need.
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Pokémon returns to its earliest memories in the full-length feature film Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! Classic moments with familiar friends and new encounters come together in the 20th Pokémon movie.
Check out Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.


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America Facing a Baby Bust, New Data Confirm
Birth rate hits lowest level in recorded history
Charles Fain Lehman - May 18, 2018 5:00 AM
U.S. birth rates hit a record low in 2017, according to new data released by the Center for Disease Control.
There were 60.2 births per 1,000 childbearing-age women in the year preceding the end of 2017, the CDC's analysis found. It was, the CDC noted, "another record low for the nation," with the drop between 2016 and 2017 being the single largest since 2010. The birth rate has fallen steadily since 2007, when there were some 70 births per 1,000 women.
Also in 2017, the total fertility rate—the number of children 1,000 women would be projected to have over their lifetime given current trends—hit a 40-year low, reaching lifetime 1.76 children per childbearing-age woman. This number is below the 2.1 per woman referred to as the "replacement rate," referring to the rate of childbearing needed to sustain population levels.
The precipitous drop beginning in 2008 may be attributable to the Great Recession, as families opted to put off childbearing in the face of a collapsing economy. But as economic indicators continue to recover to pre-recession levels, fertility has continued to fall, suggesting deeper trends may be at play.
Indeed, a fertility rate that persists below replacement may pose substantial cultural and economic challenges going forward. A decline in births means fewer people, translating into less human capital overall, harming America's productive prowess. On the entitlement end of the scale, the glut of people born during the postwar baby boom now reaching retirement means that the number of workers per retired American will continue to decline to unsustainable levels.
So what is causing America's baby bust? Experts are divided, but point to a number of factors with at least some explanatory value. More effective contraception is a factor, although abortion's legality is not—abortion rates have in fact fallen along with fertility, hitting historic lows in 2014.
However, other trends are doubtless involved. Front and center is the drop in childbearing among younger American women, who opt to defer childrearing until later in their lives. The new CDC numbers reveal that younger Americans continue to have children with less and less frequency. Rates of births to 20 to 24 year-olds and 25 to 29 year-olds declined between 2015 and 2017, while the rates of births to 35 to 39 year-olds and 40 to 44 year-olds remained roughly constant.
These stats are part of a long-running trend in the age-differentiated birth rates: Fewer younger women are choosing to have children, while their older peers are having slightly more children, but not enough to make up the shortfall.
This deferral is apparent in more than just childbirth. Analyses show that Americans are opting to marry and have sex later than their predecessors. That teens are having less sex is likely good news, all things considered; the CDC found that teen birthrates have also hit historic lows. However, that trend seems to extend into Millennials' early 20s, as members of that generation appear to be having less sex than preceding generations did in their 20s and 30s.
Americans are getting married later and fewer of them are married overall, a fact that is likely connected to the baby bust. The proportion of children born out of wedlock has risen substantially over the past 60 years, accounting today for about 40 percent of all births. At the same time, unwed people as a category are less likely to have children than their married counterparts, meaning that a rise in unwed childbearing likely means fewer children overall.
Demographer Lyman Stone, presenting at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday, noted the overwhelming majority of births which would have happened had fertility rates remained at 2008 levels are attributable to a decline in out-of-wedlock births.
There might be another reason for the fertility drop between 2016 and 2017: President Donald Trump's toughened immigration policy. Pew's Gretchen Livingston has shown that as births to native-born mothers fell from 1970 onwards, foreign-born mothers picked up the slack. Indeed, she found that immigrant mothers are responsible for the entirety of the growth in annual U.S. births since 1970. Speaking on Thursday, Livingston noted that foreign-born women age 15 to 44 make up just 17 percent of the population, but have 23 percent of the children.
Immigration to America has in general been rising as fertility has fallen, but that doesn't necessarily mean that foreign-born women have been increasing in fertility; Livingston suggested that since the Great Recession, the opposite has been true. Either way, given that immigrants seem to be largely responsible for increases in fertility, reductions in immigration will likely have at least some impact on America's overall birth rate.
Bradford Wilcox, a scholar the Institute for Family Studies, thinks there is another explanation: the recent, massive increase in screen time. Speaking on Thursday, Wilcox suggested that the amount of time that young Americans spend online or buried in their phones may be contributing to their choice not to interact in person, thereby delaying sex and marriage.
"The surge in smartphone ownership coincides with the marked, recent declines in sex among young adults and teenagers. The evidence is growing that the spread of highly entertaining and diverting technology discourages in-person socializing, including—we think—one of the most fundamental forms of socializing—sex." Wilcox and co-author Samuel Sturgeon wrote in Politico in February.
Regardless of the cause, one thing is clear: Americans are having fewer babies, a trend unlikely to abate any time soon. Such a demographic bust, Wilcox worries, could end up with America looking like Japan: elders uncared for and young people shut away from the world, unable to form lasting human relationships.
This entry was posted in Culture. Bookmark the permalink.
Charles Fain Lehman is a staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon. He writes about policy, covering crime, law, drugs, immigration, and social issues. Reach him on twitter (@CharlesFLehman) or by email at lehman@freebeacon.com.


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FCA bans NED for conflicts of interest failings
A former non-executive director has lost her six-year battle against a ban and fine that was originally imposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
She referred the original FSA decision to the Tribunal, and after being unsuccessful at this stage, she took the case to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court. The final stage of this saga came on November 27 2018, when the Supreme Court issued an order refusing her application for permission to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal. Hence only now, in December 2018, is the new regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a position to issue its Final Notice.
The director in question has now been banned from holding the CF2 (non-executive director) position at any authorised firm and has been fined £20,000.
The individual's failings lasted for more than four years, from January 2009 until May 2011. During this time, she was a non-executive director at two mutual societies and served as the chair of the investment committees of both firms.
At the same time, she was soliciting work from a well-known US investment manager firm, and the two mutual societies were also seeking investment manager services and were exploring various options in this regard. She did not, however, tell either mutual society that she was simultaneously seeking consultancy work with one particular investment manager, and the two mutual societies were led to believe that she was providing them with impartial advice.
The FCA says that her actions were a breach of Statement of Principle 1, which requires approved persons to act with integrity.
Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight of the FCA, said:
"Directors have a duty to disclose or avoid conflicts of interest so they can be addressed by the board. In this case, [name of director] placed herself in a position where her duty as a non-executive director may have conflicted with concurrent opportunities she was pursuing. This was neither disclosed nor, as a consequence, could it be addressed by the board. This was inappropriate and inconsistent with the standards of integrity expected from senior managers".
The case serves as a reminder to all managers at all authorised firms to be aware of any conflicts of interest their activities might expose them to.
The information shown in this article was correct at the time of publication. Articles are not routinely reviewed and as such are not updated. Please be aware the facts, circumstances or legal position may change after publication of the article


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Using Commodore 64 Peripherals On The 128
The Well Connected Computer
Kathy Yakal,
Assistant Features Editor
If you're considering buying a 128 and have already spent a lot of money on peripherals for you Commodore 64, you may be concerned about compatibility. Will your old printer and monitor and disk drive suffice? For most applications the answer is yes.
Peripheral compatibility between the Commodore 64 and 128 is not as simple an issue as it was between the VIC-20 and 64, though, in most cases, the peripherals are interchangeable. The only real problem arises if you want to take full advantage of the 128's special features, like its 80-column screen and CP/M capability.
One of Commodore's prime objectives in designing the 128 was "to maintain hardware and software compatibility with the 64," according to preliminary technical documentation. With millions of active 64 users out there, and hundreds of popular software packages and peripherals in place, that certainly makes sense.
With one exception, the ports and switches on the 128 are identical to those found on the 64. Starting at the lower right side of the 128, let's move around counterclockwise and have a look at which peripherals work with the 128.
Joystick ports
Control ports 1 and 2, as they're labeled on the 128, read the signals sent to the computer by either switches or potentiometers (a potentiometer is like the dimmer switch in an overhead dining room light fixture). These signals are sent out from joysticks, paddles, trackballs, graphics tablets, light pens and Commodore's new mouse, which is like an upside-down trackball.
There was a bit of an outcry when the Plus/4 and 16 were released, because the machines' joystick ports were not compatible with existing joysticks. But any of the above that you might have purchased for your VIC or 64 will work on the 128.
This has the same function as the 64, to turn on the computer. There's also a reset switch (not available on the 64) that works basically the same as on/off switch.
Power Supply Port
You can't use the original two-pin VIC-20 power supply on a Commodore 64 (although the newer VICs use the same seven-pin plug as the 64), and you can't use a 64 power supply on a 128 because of their different voltage and current requirements. The power supply is not really considered a peripheral - it's a standard accessory that comes with the machine.
Expansion Port
Again, this is not really a peripheral port, since it's most often used for cartridge-based software. Many cartridges are auto-booting, meaning you plug it in, turn on the computer, and it boots itself up without a RUN or SYS command.
Though the 128 automatically starts out in 128 mode, it can detect the presence of a cartridge for the 64 and switch into 64 mode, allowing the cartridge to auto-boot. Voice synthesizers, some of which plug into this port, could be considered peripherals. There appears to be no problem using them on the 128.
Cassette Port
Two types of peripherals can be plugged into this port: the Commodore 64 Datassette and certain printer interfaces which draw power from one of the pins. A VIC or 64 Datassette is compatible (but not the cassette drive designed for use with the Plus/4 and 16) as are the printer interfaces.
This port is also used for printer interfaces, as well as for disk drives. Both the 1541 and 1571 disk drive have two ports on the back: One receives the cable running from the computer, and the other can act as a substitute serial port for additional disk drives or printers. If you have both a printer and a disk drive, you plug the disk drive cable into the serial port of the computer and the printer cable into the back of the disk drive. The disk drive, in effect, relays commands from the printer to the computer and vice versa. Compatibility does not appear to be a problem, although you may have to turn off your printer before powering on or resetting the 128.
However, the speed of your drive will vary, depending on the combination of computer/disk drive. The new protocol on the 1571 makes a combination of the 128/1571 very fast (and it's even faster when the 128 is in CP/M mode). Combinations of 64/1541, 64/1571, and 128/1541 all yield relatively slow transfer speed (300 characters per second in 64 mode, as opposed to approximately 2000 in CP/M mode).
Also, the 1571 can read double-sided disks, where the 1541 cannot. This may cause some software incompatibility in the future if developers create software that uses both sides of a disk.
Video Port
This port, which sends a signal to either a composite or a monochrome monitor, is wired exactly the same on both the 64 and 128. Whatever you're using now with your 64 should work fine on the 128.
Commodore's 1660 modem also connects to the audio pin on this port in order to emulate touchtone dialing sounds. It works with both machines.
Low/High Switch
This switch is the same on both computers. It simply lets you choose which channel, 3 or 4, will receive a signal if you're using a TV for video display.
RF Port
If you don't own a monitor, this is where you plug in your television. The cable that plugs into the TV/computer switch box plugs in here on both the 64 and 128.
RGBI Port
This port does not exist on the 64. On the 128, it sends out two signals. Both allow for 80 columns, one in monochrome (black and white) and one in color.
If 80 columns in monochrome is good enough for you, you can continue to use either a composite monitor, like the 1701 or 1702, or a monochrome monitor. But if you want 80 columns in color, you'll need an RGBI monitor like Commodore's new 1901.
At least two companies have manufactured monitor cables that give you 80-column capability. Cardco's C128/80 ($9.95) is a single cable that connects the 128's RGBI port to the video-in plug on a monitor. To switch from 40 to 80 columns, you unplug the 40-column input before inserting the 80-column plug (or, if you have a Commodore monitor, you can use the front connections for 80-columns and the rear connections for 40, and flip the switch on the back of the monitor to go between the two screens). Microvation's 40/80 Switch ($14.95) consists of a small switch box with three cables running out. One plugs into the monitor, and the other two connect to the 128: one into the video port and one into the RGBI port. By flipping the switch on the interface, you can switch between 40 and 80 columns. (For more information, contact Cardco, 300 S. Topeka, Wichita, KS 67202, or Microvations, 8920 Arcturus Way, San Diego, CA 92126.)
Unfortunately, there is no practical way to get 80 columns if you're using a television set.
User Port
This port is used almost exclusively for plugging in direct-connect modems. The compatibility situation looks good here, as long as you are telecommunicating in 64 or 128 mode.
But the original release of CP/M for the 128 does not support telecommunications. This is not a problem with the hardware, but with the software. The upgraded CP/M release has reportedly corrected this, and includes a terminal program called MDM730, which should be compatible with all Commodore modems. (For further information, see "128 Update: An Improved CP/M" on page 38.)
Though compatibility should create very few problems as you upgrade to a 128, you may run into some annoying minor problems. For instance, some software packages require you to plug a dongle (a small plastic box used for copy protection) into the user port before running the program. Because of the differences in the plastic casing of the 64 and 128, it may be difficult to plug in the dongle. But remember, the 128 was designed to allow 64 owners to upgrade without having to sink a lot of money into new peripherals, and Commodore's plan appears to have been successful.
Published in COMPUTE!'s Gazette, Issue 32, February 1986. Copyright © 1986 COMPUTE! Publications, Inc.
This page has been created by Sami Rautiainen.
Read the small print. Last updated August 26, 1998.