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You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Committee Publications > All Select Committee Publications > Commons Select Committees > Science and Technology > Science and Technology
The Forensic Science Service - Science and Technology Committee Contents
The inquiry
1. Forensic science is integral to the criminal justice system and often plays a key role in providing evidence throughout criminal proceedings. On 14 December 2010, the Home Office announced that the Government-owned Forensic Science Service (FSS), then delivering around 60% of forensic services to police forces in England and Wales, would be wound down. The statement, which we set out in full, outlined the Government's decision and rationale:
The Forensic Science Service (FSS) was an executive agency which was granted trading fund status in 1999, a step designed to increase its financial flexibility. Then, following the McFarland Review in 2002, FSS Ltd was established as a GovCo, wholly owned by the government, in December 2005. The intention was that this be a transitional step towards a 'public private partnership'.
In the event, however, no further progress was made. This lack of progress has led in our view to opportunities for reform being missed, and continuing reductions in the value of publicly owned assets.
The previous government did not reform the Forensic Science Service when it had the chance, and instead allowed it to maintain a cost base far higher than its commercial rivals. This meant that FSS continued operating uncompetitive terms and conditions and expanded its employment levels between 1999 and 2003. This was undertaken without bringing down the cost base towards a level where FSS would be able to compete.
Commercial rivals, many established by former FSS members of staff, have taken market share from the former state run monopoly.
FSS was set up as a GovCo, with an £18million loan in December 2005. The company has met interest payments on this loan but cannot afford to repay the principal amount borrowed.
The previous government supported the company with a further £50 million grant from early 2009 to restructure the business.
Despite this intervention and the commitment of the current management team, the current challenging forensics market has put the FSS back into serious financial difficulty. FSS is currently making operating losses of around £2 million per month. Its cash is due to run out as early as January next year. It is vital that we take clear and decisive action to sort this out. The police have advised us that their spend on external forensic suppliers will continue to fall over the next few years, as forces seek to maximise efficiencies in this area. HMIC [Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary] concur with this assessment.
We have therefore decided to support the wind-down of FSS, transferring or selling off as much of its operations as possible. We will work with FSS management and staff, ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers), and other suppliers to ensure an orderly transition, but our firm ambition is that there will be no continuing state interest in a forensics provider by March 2012.
There is no justification for the uncertainty and costs of trying to restructure and retain the business.
We will ensure the orderly wind-down of FSS does not impact on police service customers or the wider criminal justice system. With ACPO, we will put in place a central team to ensure work is transferred in a controlled way and that arrangement are put in place to ensure security of supply in future. The continued provision of effective forensics is our priority.
We know that there are real challenges ahead for FSS staff whose skills and contribution will be important as we move through the transition. We will be working hard with the company to ensure that staff are kept fully informed of developments.
We will also be working with ACPO to seek to maximise the level of competition in the market including through opportunities created by FSS leaving the field. This will help to ensure that police forces benefit from cost effective use of forensics.
We want to see the UK forensic science industry operating as a genuine market, with private sector providers competing to provide innovative services at the lowest cost. This will preserve police resources and maximise the positive impact forensic sciences can have on tackling crime. A competitive market can help to drive down prices and improve turnaround times, meaning serious crimes can be cleared up more quickly and efficiently. Ultimately, that is what everyone in the criminal justice system wants to see.[1]
2. The decision was greeted with dismay by employees of the FSS, eminent forensic scientists from around the world[2] and some Members of Parliament.[3] Therefore we decided to hold an inquiry into the proposed wind-down of the FSS and issued a call for evidence on 19 January 2010. The terms of reference asked:
a) What will be the impact of the closure of the Forensic Science Service on forensic science and on the future development of forensic science in the UK?
b) What will be the implications of the closure on the quality and impartiality of forensic evidence used in the criminal justice system?
c) What is the financial position of the Forensic Science Service?
d) What is the state of, and prospects for, the forensics market in the UK, specifically whether the private sector can carry out the work currently done by the Forensic Science Service and the volume and nature of the forensic work carried out by police forces?
e) What are the alternatives to winding-down the Forensic Science Service?
f) So far as they are known, are the arrangements for closing down the Forensic Science Service, making staff redundant and selling its assets adequate?
3. The Committee received around 100 written submissions.
4. We took oral evidence from five panels of witnesses over three evidence sessions. On 23 March we took evidence from FSS senior management and a trade union representing some of its staff: Bill Griffiths, Chairman, FSS; Dr Gill Tully, Research and Development Manager, FSS; and Steve Thomas, Officer for the FSS, Prospect Union.
5. On 30 March we took evidence from two panels of witnesses. The first included academics and private forensic science providers: Sir Alec Jeffreys, Professor of Genetics, University of Leicester; Professor Jim Fraser, Director, Centre for Forensic Science, Strathclyde University; David Hartshorne, Commercial Director, Orchid Cellmark Ltd; and David Richardson, Chief Executive, LGC Forensics. This was followed by a second panel from the policing and criminal justice sector, including: Roger Coe-Salazar, Chief Crown Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service; Gary Pugh, Director of Forensic Services, Metropolitan Police Service; Chief Constable Chris Sims, Association of Chief Police Officers; and Dr Simon Bramble, Head of Police Science and Forensics, National Policing Improvement Agency.
6. Last, we took evidence on 27 April, first from Professor Bernard Silverman, Chief Scientific Adviser, Home Office; and Andrew Rennison, Forensic Science Regulator, followed by a final panel with James Brokenshire MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime Prevention, Home Office, and Dr Stephen Webb, Director of Finance and Strategy, Crime and Policing Group, Home Office.
7. We would like to thank those who provided written and oral evidence to this inquiry. In addition we extend our gratitude to the FSS and LGC Forensics for accommodating us on visits conducted as part of our inquiry. Our particular thanks are extended to the FSS employees who wrote to us and met with us during our visit to discuss issues that have clearly been a source of personal and professional distress.
8. The main body of our report is split into three main chapters: the forensics market, alternative forensic science providers (FSPs) and forensic science research and development (R&D). In the final chapter we bring together the various strands to make our final conclusions on the future of the FSS.
What is forensic science?
9. Broadly speaking, forensic science is science that is used for the purposes of the law[4] or "that appertains to the courts".[5] Forensic science encompasses a range of disciplines, and although forensic scientists typically analyse DNA, hair, fibres, footwear, firearms, drugs and human bodies,[6] there are novel disciplines, such as the analysis of computer hard drives for material. In this inquiry we have not sought to define the scientific disciplines that constitute forensic science, instead focusing on the work of the FSS and its competitors.
10. When it has been ascertained that a crime or incident has occurred, evidence is recovered from the crime scene, suspects, witnesses and victims. Some or all of the evidence may be submitted, usually by the police, for forensic testing and analysis. The forensic scientist conducts tests and interprets the results. The forensic scientist prepares a witness statement and passes it to the police, who decide what further action to take, if any. If the case is taken to court, the witness statement is either read out or the forensic scientist appears as an expert witness in court.[7] Forensic evidence can be used by the defence as well as the prosecution.
11. The Crown Prosecution Service, the Government Department responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales,[8] summarised the importance of forensic science:
Forensic science plays an important part in the investigation and prosecution of an increasing number of criminal offences. It is used from the very outset of an investigation at a crime scene through to the evidence relied upon in a criminal trial. Forensic evidence can be crucial in a wide range of cases ranging from the analysis of the blood of a motorist suspected of driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs, through to serial murders and rapes. [...]
Forensic evidence can bring huge benefits to the criminal justice system by narrowing the issues to be tried in a case or encouraging an early guilty plea.[9]
12. Forensic evidence may also be used in other ways. In cold cases (crimes that are unsolved where the trail has gone "cold"), forensic evidence may be re-analysed, often years later using new forensic techniques, to provide a new lead. High profile case studies include the 2006 conviction of James Lloyd, the "shoe rapist", for a series of rapes in the 1980s, using the FSS's familial searching technique.[10] Forensic evidence can also be used post-conviction to investigate potential miscarriages of justice. Such reviews are often enabled by the development of new analytical techniques.
1 HC Deb, 14 December 2010, cols 94-96WS Back
2 "Closure of forensic service puts justice at risk", The Times, Letters to the Editor, 28 December 2010 Back
3 For example, Early Day Motion (2010-12) no. 1353, Future of the Forensic Science Service, tabled 26 January 2011, had 56 signatures as of 9 June 2011. Back
4 Science and Technology Committee, Seventh Report of Session 2004-05, Forensic Science on Trial, HC 96-I, para 4 Back
5 Home Office, Review of the Forensic Science Service: a report, 17 July 2003, para 2.1 Back
6 HC (2004-05) 96-I, para 4 Back
7 HC (2004-05) 96-I, Table 2, p 11 Back
8 "Introduction", The Crown Prosecution Service website, www.cps.gov.uk/about/ Back
9 Ev 99, paras 3-6 Back
10 "Cold case review: James Lloyd (the shoe rapist) - South Yorkshire Police", The Forensic Science Service website, www.forensic.gov.uk Back
Prepared 1 July 2011


The idea of the Missouri Tigers having an all-Missouri 2013 recruiting class ended Tuesday evening, courtesy of a highly-touted receiver from Texas.
J'Mon Moore (Missouri City, Texas/Elkins) gave Missouri a verbal commitment on Tuesday, becoming the Tigers' ninth commitment of the 2013 class. He also became the Tigers' first commit from outside the Show Me State.
At 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds, Moore will bring great size and solid speed to the Tigers. Recruited by defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski, Moore chose Missouri over offers from West Virginia, Texas Tech, TCU, Oklahoma State, Miami and several other schools. Additionally, schools such as Alabama, LSU, Oregon, Texas and Oklahoma were showing interest.
Moore visited Missouri over the weekend and said the overall experience helped to finalize his decision.
Moore, who has 4.51-second speed in the 40-yard dash, is expected to line up as an outside receiver. He finished the 2011 season with 30 receptions for 722 yards and seven touchdowns. Moore lined up alongside 2012 receiver Chance Allen, who signed with Oregon in January.


text:
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<title>BasicFileAttributes (Java Platform SE 8 )</title>
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<meta name="keywords" content="java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributes interface">
<meta name="keywords" content="lastModifiedTime()">
<meta name="keywords" content="lastAccessTime()">
<meta name="keywords" content="creationTime()">
<meta name="keywords" content="isRegularFile()">
<meta name="keywords" content="isDirectory()">
<meta name="keywords" content="isSymbolicLink()">
<meta name="keywords" content="isOther()">
<meta name="keywords" content="size()">
<meta name="keywords" content="fileKey()">
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java.nio.file.attribute

Interface BasicFileAttributes

All Known Subinterfaces:

DosFileAttributes, PosixFileAttributes

public interface BasicFileAttributes

Basic attributes associated with a file in a file system.

 Basic file attributes are attributes that are common to many file systems
 and consist of mandatory and optional file attributes as defined by this
 interface.

 Usage Example:

    Path file = ...
    BasicFileAttributes attrs = Files.readAttributes(file, BasicFileAttributes.class);

Since:

1.7

See Also:

BasicFileAttributeView

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods

Modifier and Type
Method and Description

FileTime
creationTime()

Returns the creation time.

Object
fileKey()

Returns an object that uniquely identifies the given file, or null if a file key is not available.

boolean
isDirectory()

Tells whether the file is a directory.

boolean
isOther()

Tells whether the file is something other than a regular file, directory,
 or symbolic link.

boolean
isRegularFile()

Tells whether the file is a regular file with opaque content.

boolean
isSymbolicLink()

Tells whether the file is a symbolic link.

FileTime
lastAccessTime()

Returns the time of last access.

FileTime
lastModifiedTime()

Returns the time of last modification.

long
size()

Returns the size of the file (in bytes).

Method Detail

lastModifiedTime

FileTime lastModifiedTime()

Returns the time of last modification.

 If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
 to indicate the time of last modification then this method returns an
 implementation specific default value, typically a FileTime
 representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).

Returns:

a FileTime representing the time the file was last
          modified

lastAccessTime

FileTime lastAccessTime()

Returns the time of last access.

 If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
 to indicate the time of last access then this method returns
 an implementation specific default value, typically the last-modified-time or a FileTime
 representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).

Returns:

a FileTime representing the time of last access

creationTime

FileTime creationTime()

Returns the creation time. The creation time is the time that the file
 was created.

 If the file system implementation does not support a time stamp
 to indicate the time when the file was created then this method returns
 an implementation specific default value, typically the last-modified-time or a FileTime
 representing the epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).

Returns:

a FileTime representing the time the file was created

isRegularFile

boolean isRegularFile()

Tells whether the file is a regular file with opaque content.

Returns:

true if the file is a regular file with opaque content

isDirectory

boolean isDirectory()

Tells whether the file is a directory.

Returns:

true if the file is a directory

isSymbolicLink

boolean isSymbolicLink()

Tells whether the file is a symbolic link.

Returns:

true if the file is a symbolic link

isOther

boolean isOther()

Tells whether the file is something other than a regular file, directory,
 or symbolic link.

Returns:

true if the file something other than a regular file,
         directory or symbolic link

size

long size()

Returns the size of the file (in bytes). The size may differ from the
 actual size on the file system due to compression, support for sparse
 files, or other reasons. The size of files that are not regular files is implementation specific and
 therefore unspecified.

Returns:

the file size, in bytes

fileKey

Object fileKey()

Returns an object that uniquely identifies the given file, or null if a file key is not available. On some platforms or file systems
 it is possible to use an identifier, or a combination of identifiers to
 uniquely identify a file. Such identifiers are important for operations
 such as file tree traversal in file systems that support symbolic links or file systems
 that allow a file to be an entry in more than one directory. On UNIX file
 systems, for example, the device ID and inode are
 commonly used for such purposes.

 The file key returned by this method can only be guaranteed to be
 unique if the file system and files remain static. Whether a file system
 re-uses identifiers after a file is deleted is implementation dependent and
 therefore unspecified.

 File keys returned by this method can be compared for equality and are
 suitable for use in collections. If the file system and files remain static,
 and two files are the same with
 non-null file keys, then their file keys are equal.

Returns:

an object that uniquely identifies the given file, or null

See Also:

Files.walkFileTree(java.nio.file.Path, java.util.Set<java.nio.file.FileVisitOption>, int, java.nio.file.FileVisitor<? super java.nio.file.Path>)

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Nominees Announced for Barclaycard Mercury Prize
Asia Smith July 20th, 2011 - 2:11 PM
The nominees for Britain's Barclaycard Mercury Prize have been announced. The prestigious prize is chosen yearly and honors the best British album of the year.
Nominees and winners are selected by a panel of figures in the U.K. music industry, including music critics, journalists, executives, and more.
The winners of the Mercury Prize are notoriously difficult to predict, giving hope to lesser-known artists who find themselves on the shortlist of nominees. As the prize is not limited to any specific genre of music, it tends to garner quite an eclectic group of nominees, and this year's bunch is certainly no exception. The shortlist of nominees for the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize is as follows:
Adele: 21
Anna Calvi: Anna Calvi
Elbow: Build a Rocket Boys!
Everything Everything: Man Alive
Ghostpoet: Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam
Gwilym Simcock: Good Days at Schloss Elmau
James Blake: James Blake
Katy B: On a Mission
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins: Diamond Mine
Metronomy: The English Riviera
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
Tinie Tempah: Disc-Overy
Gwilym Simcock
Katy B
Mercury Prize
Asia Smith

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The method of spring usually encourages householders to begin contemplating residence enhancements and repairs. Most hardware stores will supply glass or Plexiglas cutting providers, so finding a brand new window needs to be quite straightforward. OKAY yet another concept keep the home windows shut so you don't let the chilly air in. Then lock the door so no on barges in on you. At Blue Ox we joint all our wood doors with four inch tennons.
However, as everybody cannot instantly prepare the finance required for dwelling repair costs or don't have their house insurance coverage and residential finance so as, many times things get postponed and ultimately leads to paying more. 2. Get some kind of guarantee or guarantee in writing for the finished work so you don't have to fret about paying for a similar repair service twice in a brief amount of time.
The Residence Restore Mortgage Program supplies inexpensive loans to income-qualified owners to handle vital well being, security, and structural issues. In case you live outdoors of the Kent Metropolis Limits in unincorporated King County it's possible you'll qualify to obtain services from King County's Housing Restore. Another related issue for avoiding costly repairs (or disasters) is the right operation of a home, together with systems and home equipment, in a method that stops damage or prolongs their usefulness.
ESSENTIAL: Each house is assessed for emergency repairs and should not require all repairs listed. Keep in mind your bay window is front and center in your design and likewise so too is your roof skirt. In addition, it offers better vitality efficiency over the long term, reducing the air pollution of water and air and the manufacturing of greenhouse gases.
Doors with Tiffany model glass inserts should be viewed with light behind the glass to be able to convey out the complete effect, as the floor colours of the glass sheets present just one dimension of the great thing about every individual glass panel.
If you have a home that could classify as unsafe, unsanitary, or inhabitable, you might qualify to obtain as much as $50,000 in dwelling enchancment grant money to assist restore your home. It's best to go for residence repair service suppliers and builders who take cost of the annual repair and maintenance. Needed repairs cannot cost more than fifty percent of the market value of the home and should not exceed $60,000. As soon as approved by the federal grant, you will receive the required dwelling grant as a way to do no matter repairs you want for your dwelling.
The usual suspects embody the deck ledger board, windows, or vents or pipes sticking through the roof or siding where the caulk has cracked and peeled away. Over one in eight Philadelphia owners can't afford to make important repairs to their homes. Sears House Providers presents reliable washing machine and dryer repair services for these and other less frequent issues.


I have to write a little, hopefully from a neutral standpoint, on how I believe that mainstream medicine killed my mom, or at least interfered with her health.
I don't want to blame anyone, we are all under the spell of the Corporatocracy which has infused every aspect of modern life in its wish to make us dull consumers.
Most of the elderly are marching blindly down this path. Taking the drugs that the white coats prescribe and push upon them as most Doctors march lockstep with their education that was formatted by the PHARMACEUTICAL massive influence on funding the schools of medicine and studies.
I don't want to say that my mom was a victim although my heart screams that she was.
They call the disease that she ultimately died from, IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY FIBROSIS.
I studied many studies about PULMONARY FIBROSIS and found that it is not IDIOPATHIC.
Only ignorant, or willfully ignorant, scientists and Doctors would call it that. They don't want to say the TRUTH about what the instrument of destroying peoples ability for inspiration, BREATH, is caused by the toxins that they put into our mouths and inject into our arms. They know that PULMONARY FIBROSIS is caused by toxic overload, as seen in the many dentists who get it from the mercury they handle. Most studies that I read mentions that the FIBROSIS is a response to an antigen infiltration [which is basically something -like a heavy metal -that stimulates an immune response].
My argument is that all medicine that I have ever studied has as an inactive ingredient some sort of antigen, like aluminum, titanium dioxide, talc [which contains contaminants] and I even found in a medicine for Parkinsons Disease, contained a DNA stripper. Why do they include toxins in medicines? Because they are allowed to do so. Its a money making bottom line, shareholder decisions to make side effects the disease to chase with their drugs. A great business model for the psychopaths.
It also serves to make us a lockstep army of the walking dead, who can't see, what we are meant to see.
My biggest reason is because FEMA doesn't care about community doesn't encourage Community it sees Community as a threat. Another reason is because FEMA arrives early 2 disasters and I don't think it's because they're psychic. Look it up. In California FEMA has closed down local shelters and carts people off without taking clear and reasonable inventory of the people and without making a list of who they take that all members of our population could look at they secretly whisk them off to places unknown and do whatever they do to these people.
There is evidence that people who are corrupt hav been promoted into the highest echelon of our society. Or they are of the ilk of a psychopath. In the media we have Psychopaths in our government we have Psychopaths and in many corporations there are psychopaths. Normal people don't understand this because they enjoy helping each other. And Psychopaths don't understand the joy that normal people get from helping each other. They have a component of humanity missing from their hearts. FEMA is based on a psychopath model. They see humans as threats. They would rather not have us loose and talking to each other.
The The FEMA prison camps are just that, prisons no freedom of movement nobody's notified that their families are there and it's looking like they're harvesting organs in Hawaii because people have been floating in without with organs missing dead people.
,, why it is dangerous that our media is now almost 100% propaganda and this means Fox News as well as MSNBC and CNN. And I never thought I'd say this but fox has more variety then CNN and MSNBC who only talk about the fraudulent russiagate. I would love to look at Mueller's history especially when he was head of the FBI when 9/11 happened and like George Herbert Walker Bush Mueller is seen as a hero and above anybody's question . And people don't understand the majority of people don't understand what propaganda the dangers of propaganda when it's not knowing that we're being fed propaganda is to our democracy .
We Know that the DNC stole the election from Bernie but nobody's looking into it. And it's looking like dead people can't talk can't be witnesses. and that is where our country is at. Our news won't cover what went on in Miami-Dade and our news won't cover what went on with Deborah Wasserman Schultz spying on all of her colleagues using servers, they won't cover that Hillary bleached her computers and her blackberries as well as Deborah Wasserman Schultz did. Deborah Wasserman Schultz probably didn't get elected as well as she shouldn't even be free right now she should be in jail because they have no guilt when they steal elections and nobody punishes them there's not Justice in our country. They can assassinate people and nobody gets held accountable Oh They'll blame somebody else but nobody gets held accountable like when they took out Wellstone and his family knows that was just an accident right know he was running for president he was just about ready to announce that and Hillary I'm assuming couldn't bear having somebody real to run against her. The media won't take on the 21 trillion with a t dollars that the dod has allotted with no explanations to each other. This is very dangerous because these people are doing stuff like attacking California with directed energy weapons which the media won't cover.
FEMA disaster dot-dot-dot coming to a theater near you!
By theater, I mean a military theater. There is a story floating around that FEMA is mobilizing to 18 different towns and cities on the Southeast coast.
In Paradise California, FEMA has confiscated local activist collection of donations and shut down community shelters. They have come with guns mounted on their vehicles and they threaten people. They have not been helping or comforting people.
In Hawaii and in Houston Texas FEMA used barges to imprison and move people and then they lose these people.
For years there has been a plan to break up our nation.
From what has been going on in Hawaii where bodies have been washing up allegedly with organs missing and dead and FEMA has not been providing answers to where where people are.
I believe that FEMA has been executing people and that the head of FEMA should be in jail today to prevent the plan of disaster. HIstorically there has been a FEMA or Homeland Security presence at every major disaster beforehand. Perfectly FEMA was deployed a day before 911. They were there before Sandy Hook doing a drill , they were there before many shootings with drills with going on even in Paris.
When I am asked to trust my government, I ask why? I am old enough to have seen no answers to many assassinations. I am old enough to witness our military being confused and confounded during 9/11. I have witnessed the biggest conspiracy of all that 911 was the result of two planes destroying three buildings Then I am called a conspiracy theorist! So what? I will wear my tinfoil hat proudly.
My computer is dead and I haven't figured out how to post videos using my phone to support my allegations worked on my blog to support my allegations. For a long time I've known about COG continuance of government. FEMA is an intrical part of this breakup. And when the rumors about guillotines and that FEMA just ordered thousands of blades from a company near the border of Mexico in Mexico allegedly reported by a FEMA agent this has riled me and made me want to expose and remove FEMA and start supporting local communities when there is disaster, instead of hauling people away.
Homeland Security plans to break up our nation and have an unelected government controlling us without a constitution, in itself is unconstitutional and laws that break the Constitution are not laws that anybody should follow. FEMA's mandates are unacceptable and should be dismantled. Unfortunately both political parties are in bed with this. I hope and pray four Warriors and heroes instead of brainless heartless soldiers on the prowl lying to Americans and all people. The New World Order is designed for corporate needs and not to help the people of the world. Albert Pike was a psychopath!
We have to defend our democracy by educating each other and loving one another. Remember David and Goliath. Each of us has to be David today.
and he doesn't sound so much but he looks like Jeb and George Herbert Walker Bush together he has glasses on and his eyebrows are done dark but he looks like an offsping of GHW Bush. I see bushes everywhere kind of a nightmare he keeps ruling from the grave. I hope director Wray is as good a man as he pretends to be and not a 1984 type ruler with doublespeak coming out of his mouth.


text:
The Lost Hopes for South Sudan
By Helen Epstein
Nuer fighters in Upper Nile, South Sudan. Hopes for South Sudan's future soared when it became a nation, but now diplomats are scrambling to make sense of how things went so wrong.
PHOTOGRAPH BY GORAN TOMASEVIC / REUTERS
After half a century of civil war, South Sudan declared independence from Sudan, in 2011. Two years later, the world's youngest country erupted in its own civil war. In 2015, the combatants signed a peace agreement, but then the scales of power were tipped, and the government struck out against the opposing side. Now some are warning of genocide.
In December, President Obama lamented that his Administration hadn't done more to address the crisis. His subordinates were torn over how to handle it; unfortunately, the National Security Council, which prevailed over the State Department, may have prolonged the carnage.
Hopes for South Sudan's future soared when it became a nation, but now diplomats are scrambling to make sense of what went wrong. Some blame greed. As the new nation's oil wells generated billions in revenue, a chaotic scramble for cash ensued. The rudimentary banking system couldn't even handle credit cards, and government transactions were conducted using cardboard boxes filled with currency notes. Grandmothers and even four-year-old children were placed on the Army's payroll. Some four billion dollars went astray.
In her harrowing memoir, "South Sudan: The Untold Story from Independence to Civil War," Hilde Johnson, the former chief of the United Nations mission to South Sudan, suggests another factor. The nation's political leaders, all war veterans, lacked the basic diplomatic skill of solving routine political problems through negotiation. Had so much money not been at stake, these leaders might have been able to settle their differences without bloodshed, but competition over riches, combined with the impatience with dialogue that Johnson describes, made the meltdown almost inevitable.
Early on, many observers noted the lacklustre performance of South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, a mysterious, taciturn strongman. Short-tempered and fond of alcohol, Kiir was slow to make decisions and even slower to implement them. In 2013, Kiir's smooth-talking, efficient Vice-President, Riek Machar, declared his intention to run in elections scheduled for 2015.
Neither Kiir nor Machar is an angel; both have been accused of war crimes. But when Machar made his Presidential ambitions known Kiir bristled, and diplomats urged Machar to wait until the elections scheduled for 2020. Machar ignored this advice, and, with his allies, continued to criticize Kiir in public. The issues between the two had little to do with tribal divisions at first; some of those who agreed with Machar belonged to Kiir's tribe, the Dinka, while some of those loyal to Kiir belonged to Machar's tribe, the Nuer. However, as political tensions mounted, so did lingering grudges over past atrocities committed by one ethnic community against another that had never been redressed through reparations or any form of justice.
On December 15, 2013, Kiir, fearing a coup, ordered Dinka members of his Presidential Guard to disarm their Nuer counterparts. The coup plot was almost certainly a false alarm, but Kiir's soldiers nevertheless went house to house, killing thousands of defenseless Nuer men, women, and children. Those who tried to escape were herded into grass-thatched houses that were doused with kerosene and set alight. Some were forced to drink each other's blood. A rebel movement allied to Machar reacted by mowing down thousands of others, mostly Dinka, decapitating some of the bodies. Women and children had their limbs cut off and were raped with various objects.
Much of South Sudan's regular Army deserted to Machar's side, but within days they were stopped in their tracks by the sudden intervention of the Army of Uganda, South Sudan's southern neighbor. For the next two years, thousands of Ugandan troops propped up Kiir and fought Machar. Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni had long seen Kiir as a protégé and Machar as a rival. The stalemate greatly prolonged the war, killing tens of thousands of people and causing over a million to flee their homes. Many South Sudanese saw Uganda's presence as a foreign occupation, and many Ugandans, who have suffered mightily under thirty years of Museveni's despotic and corrupt rule, wondered what their army, dispatched without parliamentary approval, was doing there.
A year after the carnage began, Samantha Power, the American Ambassador to the U.N., and her French and British counterparts urged the Security Council to impose sanctions, including an arms embargo, against Kiir's government. This could have cut back Kiir's Ugandan supply lines and forced both sides into more serious negotiations sooner. Secretary of State John Kerry supported the move, as did dozens of humanitarian groups. There were signs that Russia and China might have been persuaded to support it as well. But all were overruled by Susan Rice, the head of Obama's National Security Council, who has a history of going easy on Uganda's Museveni. According to Foreign Policy magazine, Rice maintained that Machar was also guilty of war crimes, and that, in any case, Uganda would ignore an embargo. U.N. Security Council meetings were held, and aid to the victims was authorized, but the killing continued.
Finally, in August, 2015, the two factions in South Sudan signed a peace deal. Under its terms, the capital city of Juba would be demilitarized, Kiir's troops would be confined to their barracks, and Machar would serve as Kiir's Vice-President once again.
Everyone knew that asking the two men to share power was a risky proposition. They hated each other. Nevertheless, both had strong, well-armed followings, and, since both refused to step down, a detente based on a balance of military power seemed the only way to secure a ceasefire. But, as the months wore on, Kiir failed to hold up his side of the bargain. His troops were not demobilized, and Machar, fearing for his life if he returned to Juba, stayed away. Under intense international pressure, especially from the U.S., Machar finally returned to Juba in April, 2016. As he had feared, he was entering a trap. On July 8th, as Machar and Kiir were meeting at the Presidential Palace, Kiir's troops attacked Machar's bodyguards. At least three hundred people, including civilians, were killed in the ensuing mayhem. Troops marauding through the city also raped aid workers and murdered foreign peacekeepers and refugees who were sheltering in a U.N. compound. Machar, under intense ground attacks and aerial bombardment, sustained severe injuries and spent forty days in flight through the forests of Congo.
Rather than sanctioning Kiir for destroying the peace process, U.S. Special Envoy to South Sudan Donald Booth told a congressional hearing that the State Department considered it unwise for Machar to return to Juba. Isolating Machar upset the balance of power that had protected his supporters from Kiir's ruthless army, which went on yet another rampage last fall, on the pretext that rebels were rustling cattle. Machar furiously declared war on Kiir's government, and is now in South Africa, under surveillance by South African security, while Kiir's men continue to "eliminate" pockets of resistance inside the country. Anyone suspected of loyalty to Machar is in severe danger; many innocent men, women, and children are again being massacred.
In November, the U.S. finally began pushing for sanctions against Kiir in the Security Council, but by then it was too late to persuade Russia and China to go along. In her 2002 book, "A Problem from Hell," Ambassador Power called for a global responsibility to protect people everywhere from crimes against humanity. Now that she's about to retire, perhaps she'll explain why this is easier said than done, but here's some advice for the Trump Administration: genocide doesn't happen overnight. It begins with small injustices, power grabs, and callous dismissals of the rule of law. Even more important than the responsibility to protect is the responsibility to prevent, using negotiation, diplomacy, and sanctions long before the killing starts. By then, it is far, far too late.
Is There Any Hope Left for South Sudan?
The latest violence is further evidence that South Sudan is a failed state.
By Justin Lynch
The Forgotten Mountains of Darfur
Adriane Ohanesian's images of Darfuri women and children are striking in their closeness to the people at the center of the civil war.
By Alexis Okeowo


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ACLU of New Jersey
Our Strategic Framework
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How the ACLU Tracks Anti-LGBTQ Bills, and How We're Fighting Back
Reclaiming Our New Jersey: A Transformative Vision for the Future
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NJ Prison Ban on "The New Jim Crow" is Unconstitutional and Unconscionable
Given NJ's worst-in-the-country disparities in incarceration, censorship of book on prison system's racial injustice is especially shameful
Michelle Alexander dedicated her book The New Jim Crow to incarcerated individuals, but in some New Jersey prisons, policies banning the book actively prevent them from reading it.
The ACLU-NJ urged the New Jersey Department of Corrections to immediately end their unconstitutional censorship and restore access to the book, which explores the deep roots of racial discrimination and mass incarceration, in a letter sent January 8. Both New Jersey State Prison and Southern State Correctional Facility ban the book as official policy.
New Jersey's worst-in-the-country disparity in Black-white incarceration, with Black people imprisoned at over 12 times the rate of white people, makes the ban on a book exploring the injustices and racial inequities of mass incarceration especially shameful. The ACLU-NJ in December released a roadmap for criminal justice reform in our state, A Vision to End Mass Incarceration in New Jersey, which also examined the alarming racial disparities in New Jersey's criminal justice system.
"For the state burdened with this systemic injustice to prohibit prisoners from reading a book about race and mass incarceration is ironic, misguided, and harmful. It's also unconstitutional," said ACLU-NJ Staff Attorney Tess Borden, who drafted the letter to the Department of Corrections. "New Jersey needs to eradicate its worst-in-the-nation racial disparities, not paper them over with a banned book list, hoping that people trapped in an unfair system will remain blind to its injustices."
The ban on The New Jim Crow amounts to censorship of speech on issues of public concern, which is entitled to special protection under the First Amendment. Prisons and jails can only ban reading materials based on legitimate penological concerns such as security issues, and cannot claim that justification applies here.
"Michelle Alexander's book chronicles how people of color are not just locked in, but locked out of civic life, and New Jersey has exiled them even further by banning this text specifically for them," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha. "The ratios and percentages of mass incarceration play out in terms of human lives. Keeping a book that examines a national tragedy out of the hands of the people mired within it adds insult to injury."
In Texas, which has deservedly received criticism for its 10,000-title list of banned reading materials, The New Jim Crow is not only allowed, but in fact included on a list of publications the state has affirmatively approved.
Governor-elect Phil Murphy has elevated the need to address New Jersey's racial disparities as one of his chief goals for criminal justice reform in the state. The ACLU-NJ told the Department of Corrections this is all the more reason to urgently rescind the ban on The New Jim Crow as a priority in the new year and new administration.
The ACLU-NJ asked for corrective action and a response from the Department of Corrections by January 24.
(Photo by Joe Brusky, CC BY-NC 2.0)
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Invitation for the Nomination of Keith G. Provan Award for Outstanding Contribution to Empirical Theory
January 27th, 2016 •
The Keith G. Provan Award was established by the members of the Public and Nonprofit Division of the Academy of Management in 2015 to posthumously honor the legacy of excellence that Keith brought to the field. Throughout his career, Keith contributed high level theory that innovated existing fields, and broke open emergent fields in management and public administration. The hallmark of Keith's work was undoubtedly his contribution to theory building through empirical investigation. His methods were varied and suited the question at hand, but his work always spoke to theory. Additionally, Keith reached into the best available literature to inform his work, not limiting himself to his trained discipline (management) or his adopted one (public administration) –but rather finding insight from an eclectic set of literature and bringing the best knowledge to bear onto his problem of interest. Future recipients' work should embody these ideals and contribution.
Recipients should be a distinguished contributor to the field of Public Administration. Her/his contribution should:
Be interdisciplinary in integrating literature from across perspectives
Contribute substantially to both theory and empirical approaches
Make a unique and identifiable contribution to knowledge in public administration research
Nomination and Selection process
All nominations should be emailed directly to this year's chair of the committee, Kim Isett at: isett@gatech.edu by Friday February 12, 2016. Nominations should include a copy of the nominated individuals' vita and a statement from the nominator. Self nominations will not be accepted. All nominations will be reviewed by the award committee. The committee will review the nominated individuals' work to asses their contribution to theory, empiricism, interdisciplinarity, impact of work, and stature in the field. The award will be given at the Business meeting of the Public and Non Profit Division at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. The Division is not compelled to make the award every year if a suitable candidate is not available.
SIG Local Governance Conference in Capetown
August 16th, 2015 •
Globally, local authorities are significant players the provision of public services. In recent decades, decentralization has become an important reform strategy in many countries, usually with the support of international organizations.
IRSPM 2016 Call for Panels
The content of public management has always been evolving, and even more so in the last two decades. We have witnessed the drastic expansion of the public management realm in terms of academics and policies and practices. For example, through contracting-out and co-production, public organizations have extended their collaborative governance by involving more third parties across sectoral boundaries (i.e., citizens, private and non-profit).


Joey Requested THIS Unknown Man To Sing At Her Funeral. What Happened After Is Truly God's Work!
How Joey's Last Request Is Changing Everything For One Man!
Before leaving for Heaven, Joey Feek outlined some of the wishes she had for her funeral service to her devoted husband, Rory. Now, in his latest blog entry on This Life I Live, Rory shares how God is using Joey's last request. And it is yet another testament to our Lord and Savior's amazing ability to make all things work together for His good!
God works in mysterious ways. His work could be seen all throughout Joey Feek's battle with cancer. And even though her time on earth is done, God still continues to work through her -- this time using Joey's last request to bring to light the incredible talent of a formerly unknown man!
As Joey and Rory discussed her final arrangements, Joey told Rory what she wanted -- a plain wooden box lined with a quilt made by her 75-year-old friend, a simple service where their hometown pastor would share the gospel, and someone to sing the song "Leave It There" at her graveside. Rory says she paused for a minute, and then added something to this last request.
At the time she made the request, no one knew the name Bradley Walker. He was a family friend in whom Joey saw something special. To her, he was "one of the sweetest men, and voices she'd ever known."
And so, when the day came where family and friends gathered around Joey's grave, they did so as Bradley sang out the moving words from the hymn Joey first heard while she and Rory were on their honeymoon in Montana.
The powerful words were a comfort to those saying goodbye to such an amazing woman. But Bradley's sweet voice, which had impressed Joey while she was still here, also impressed Bill Gaither of Gaither Music that day -- the same record label behind Joey and Rory's final recordings.
"They tell me that the album is gonna come out this fall. And our friend Bradley, who works at a power-plant in Athens, Alabama is gonna be all over his Mama's television, and everyone else's. All because he sang one song. All because of my wife's last request."
In addition to the album, Bradley has also taped a television special from the stage in Joey and Rory's barn.
He was also invited to perform at the Gaither's annual Family Fest gathering at the convention center in Gatlinburg.
"It was beautiful to see. To see that big smile on Bradley's face up there on the stage. Still, I know he would trade it all in a heartbeat to have Joey still here with us. We all would. But if this had to be the next best choice… Joey would be so proud of him."
Be sure to read Rory's beautiful post about Joey's last request in it's entirety HERE.


All public streams, lakes and ponds are open to fishing throughout the year except some state-owned and managed Public Fishing Lakes (PFL).
It is illegal to fish in public waters on or from posted private land without the owner's permission. It is illegal to fish in private waters without permission from the owners.
It is illegal to take, catch or kill, or attempt to take, catch or kill any game fish by any means other than ordinary hook and line, artificial lure, live bait, troll or spinner in any of the public waters of this State. It is unlawful to use electrical devices, explosives, poisons or firearms to take fish of any species from these waters.
The following shall be named and designated as game fish in Alabama: rainbow trout, all members of the sunfish family to include: largemouth, smallmouth, spotted, shoal, and those species formerly known as "redeye" bass, which are now known separately as Coosa, Warrior, Cahaba, Tallapoosa, and Chattahoochee bass, based on their respective drainages and the Alabama bass which was formerly known as spotted bass in the Mobile drainage; those fish commonly referred to as bream which include rock bass, flier, shadow bass, warmouth, redbreast, bluegill, longear, and redear (shellcracker); black and white crappie; all members of the temperate bass family to include: saltwater striped, white, and yellow bass and any hybrids thereof; all members of the pike family to include chain, redfin, and grass pickerel; the following members of the perch family: sauger (jack), walleye, and yellow perch.
BAIT is a voluntary partnership between bass clubs and the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (ADWFF). The program summarizes information on bass fishing and is used by ADWFF fisheries biologists, in combination with their reservoir surveys, as the basis for fisheries management decisions. BAIT data allows biologists to identify trends in bass populations and helps them better understand the mechanisms that influence them. This data may also be used by participating bass clubs to select tournament locations.
Following a tournament, a club member fills out a data form that provides details regarding the tournament format, the number of participants, and the numbers and weight of bass weighed-in. The results are then compiled and analyzed for each Alabama reservoir and an annual report is published. The report ranks each reservoir based on five fishing quality indicators and determines an overall ranking.
In order to assist in the BAIT process, tell your fellow club members and tournament directors their participation is needed. If your club is already participating in this program, we thank you for your continued support. If your club is not participating, but would like to, simply complete and submit a BAIT card following each tournament. All participating clubs receive a printed copy of the annual report.
For more info, contact the Fisheries Section at (334) 242-3471, email Kyle.Bolton@dcnr.alabama.gov or visit www.outdooralabama.com/bass-fishing-quality-bait-reports.
Alabama's Angler Recognition Program is intended to honor individuals who catch large sportfish from Alabama waters and to provide biologists with useful statistics on the number of large fish caught from our reservoirs. The program includes four categories: Master Angler, Trophy Angler, Lake Record and State Record. Anglers can submit applications for Master Angler and Trophy Angler status based upon their fish's total length or total weight, but not both, and may submit an unlimited number of applications. Applications, specific requirements, and instructions can be obtained from any District Fisheries office or from www.outdooralabama.com/freshwater-fishing/state-record-angler-recognition. Qualified anglers will receive a certificate commemorating their catch and a window decal.
Detailed information on creel and possession limits and size limits is provided on Fishing Daily Creel, Possession & Size Limits. Please familiarize yourself thoroughly with this information. You should also notice that size limits for the various fish species are not the same on all public waters. Be sure and check this information for each body of water you plan to fish. Should you have questions, you may contact any Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Division Fisheries Biologist or Conservation Enforcement Officer or call (334) 242-3471 for assistance.
All species of bream may be used as bait as long as a person does not have in his possession total bream numbers in excess of the daily creel limit, regardless of size, and they are harvested legally. Other native game fish may not be used for bait.
It is unlawful to sell or purchase any game fish from Alabama or in Alabama from another state except (1) game fish raised in hatcheries and sold for stocking ponds and lakes; (2) non-native game fish (trout, salmon, etc.) raised for human consumption or (3) largemouth bass, shellcracker, yellow perch and bluegill bream raised in farm ponds, which may be sold under permit from the Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Division. For more information, contact your local District Office (Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries District Offices).
It is illegal to fish trotline or snag line, set line, commercial fishing net, slat boxes or wire baskets within one-half mile below any lock, dam or powerhouse. All recreational licensed fisherman utilizing trotlines are limited to 100 hooks total. All trotlines must have a plastic or metal tag attached containing the owners name and either their address, fishing license number or phone number. Trotlines operated under commercial fishing licenses are not limited in number of hooks.
Wire baskets may be used only in certain counties to harvest nongame fish for personal consumption only. Persons holding a commercial fishing license may not fish with wire baskets. No fish taken in wire baskets may be sold or offered for sale. All game fish taken in the baskets must be immediately returned to the water. All baskets must be clearly marked with the valid wire basket license number and name of person using and owning the basket. It is illegal for any one person to fish with more than four wire baskets. Consult the Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Regulation Book or local Conservation Enforcement Officer (see District Offices, Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries District Offices) to determine number of baskets and locations where wire baskets are legal.
Commercial or nongame fish may be legally taken by gigs or by grabbling by hand by persons possessing a valid sport fishing license.
It is unlawful to fillet a fish or remove heads while fishing or to possess fillets of fish while on public waters, except when fish are being prepared for immediate cooking and consumption; provided, however, that the fish may be drawn or gutted with heads left attached.
The spearing of nongame or commercial fish solely for the purpose of sport in all waters of this state, both fresh and salt, is legal provided that the person engaged in the act of spearing is completely submerged and possesses the appropriate sport fishing and spearfishing licenses. This license is issued by the Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Division, Marine Resources Division and online. For more information and application packet, call (334) 242-3465 or visit our website at www.outdooralabama.com.
It is unlawful to take fish by snagging on the Chattahoochee River or its impoundments, the Tennessee River or its impoundments, and State-owned public fishing lakes. Further, it is unlawful to take or attempt to take fish by snagging within 800 feet of any dam on the Coosa River or its impoundments.
Bow fishing with any longbow, recurve bow, compound bow or crossbow using barbed arrows attached by line to the bow, float, vessel or shooter is legal for the taking of commercial or non-game fish.
It is legal for licensed anglers to take minnows, shad, and certain suckers from certain public waters by the use of a cast net, minnow jug, minnow basket, not to exceed 24 inches in length, 12 inches in diameter, with funnel entrance not more than one inch in diameter, dip net or minnow seine, the length of which shall not exceed 25 feet and the width or depth of which shall not exceed 4 feet for the purpose of taking shad or minnows for the exclusive use as fish bait. No seines may be used in un-impounded tributary streams and creeks. All game fish and all commercial or nongame fish taken by nets or seines must be immediately returned to the water from whence they came with the least possible injury. Dip nets may be used to land legally caught fish.
Licensed anglers may use their hands, a rake or dip net not wider than 24 inches to collect the Asiatic Clam Corbicula for fish bait.
The zebra mussel is an exotic species of freshwater mussel that has colonized many southern bodies of water, including the Tennessee River system. These mussels can disrupt freshwater food chains and may cause major changes in some fish populations. Boaters are one of the major contributors to the spread of zebra mussels from infested to uninfested waters. To report zebra mussel sightings or for more information, contact: Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Division at (334) 242-3471.
It shall be unlawful to intentionally stock or release any fish, mussel, snail, crayfish or their embryos, including bait fish, into the public waters of Alabama under the jurisdiction of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries as provided in Rule 220-2-.42 except those waters from which it came without the written permission of a designated employee of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources authorized by the Director of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries to issue such permit. The provisions of this rule shall not apply to the incidental release of bait into the water during the normal process of fishing.
It is unlawful for any person to operate any vessel on the waters of Alabama within 800 feet below a hydroelectric dam and/or navigation lock and dam unless each person aboard, including the operator, is wearing a securely fastened U.S. Coast Guard approved personal flotation device Type I, II, III or V.
Public access areas include state-owned and/or operated boat launching ramps, associated parking lots, piers and any real or personal property within the boundaries of such areas. Such public access areas are for the uses of pleasure boating, hunting and fishing. Picnicking is allowed only where tables are provided. The following is a synopsis of regulations for use of such areas, and is intended as a general guide for the boating public. Please refer to the Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Regulation Book for specific interpretation.
Operate any unlicensed vehicle such as ATVs, except those driven by mobility impaired persons in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Operate commercial, industrial or construction equipment such as barges without written approval obtained from the Fisheries Section, 64 N. Union St., Suite 551, Montgomery, AL 36104.
All other state laws apply and are enforced on public access areas. Boating access information is available online at: www.outdooralabama.com.
This pamphlet covers only freshwater sport fishing laws and regulations. For information on freshwater commercial fishing or musseling, visit our website at www.outdooralabama.com, call (334) 242-3465 or visit the nearest District Office (Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries District Offices).
In 1995, a major initiative to bring fishing opportunities to urban dwellers became a reality when the Division launched the Community Fishing Program in cooperation with Alabama municipalities. Recognizing the shift in population from rural to urban areas, the program promotes fishing as wholesome fun for youth in Alabama cities and towns. From small communities to sprawling metropolitan areas, towns and cities throughout the State are all eligible to participate.
The Division partners with local communities or civic groups. The Division provides expertise, block off nets and loaner tackle. Communities and/or civic groups provide a location, volunteers and fish. The result is a lot of fun for everyone. Community events attracting participants are proof of the success of this program. To learn how to have a community fishing event in your community, contact your local district fisheries supervisor or Doug Darr, Fisheries Section, 64 N. Union Street, Montgomery, AL 36104, (334) 242-3884. Our web address is www.outdooralabama.com.
The Roberson-Archer Act and The Boating Safety Enhancement Act of 2001 mandates that no one under the age of 12 may operate a motorized vessel, and that every vessel operator be licensed and have the license in possession at the time of operation.
For information on obtaining a vessel operator's license, contact the ALEA Marine Trooper Division at (334) 517-2930, or visit www.outdooralabama.com and click on Boating.
Must be 12 years old or older, but cannot operate alone until the age of 14. Operators 12 or 13 years old, after obtaining the vessel operator's license, can only operate if an adult 21 years old or older with a vessel operator's license in possession, is onboard and seated in a position to take immediate control of the vessel if necessary. A licensed operator, 14 years old or older, may legally operate without supervision. Possession of a certificate of completion for a boating course is not a vessel license.
Nonresidents 12 years old and older, may operate on Alabama waters up to 45 days per calendar year without obtaining a vessel operator's license. However, operators 12 or 13 years old, can only operate if an adult 21 years old or older who either has a vessel operator's license in possession or who falls under the 45 day exemption period, is onboard and seated in a position to take immediate control of the vessel if necessary. If operating a vessel for more than 45 days, the nonresident must get an Alabama Nonresident Vessel Operator's License. Nonresidents who have obtained a vessel certification or license from their home state, may use that in lieu of the Alabama Nonresident Vessel Operator's License.
For information on saltwater fishing license requirements, size and possession limits, contact the Marine Resources Division, PO Drawer 458, Gulf Shores, AL 36547, (251) 968-7576.
Ponds provide more fishing opportunities than most types of waters in Alabama. Alabamians utilizing ponds for fishing provide needed funding for sport fish restoration. There are more than 275,000 fish ponds in Alabama. Manmade fish ponds greatly alleviate the fishing pressure on our public streams and lakes. Therefore, the Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Division is vitally interested in this popular resource. Proper stocking and management will provide years of excellent fishing for bass, bluegill and shellcracker.
Sustaining good fishing in ponds requires proper design, stocking with appropriate fish species and ongoing fish management. Ponds should be thought of as gardens because all the basic gardening principles also apply to pond management.
Technical assistance is also provided to pond owners at no cost regarding proper management practices such as fertilization, liming, weed control and fish harvest. These management practices are essential to maintaining good fishing in ponds. In particular, proper fertilization results in an abundant food supply for bass and bream, ensuring that they will be abundant and in good condition. Contact a Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Division Office for assistance (Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries District Offices).
Many of our rivers, lakes, and coastal areas are experiencing algae blooms that cover our favorite fishing spots with green slime and cause fish kills and "dead zones" where no aquatic life can survive. The cause is usually nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that comes from farm and lawn fertilizers, septic systems, animal waste, and sewage treatment plants. Everyone can do their part for clean water by reducing fertilizer use, preserving plants along shorelines, and picking up pet waste. Supporting water quality protection supports great fishing!
It is prohibited to introduce, place or cause the introduction or placement of any non-native aquatic plant into any public waters of the State. For further information, contact the local District Fisheries Biologist (see Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries District Offices).
Fish from most waters in Alabama are safe for human consumption. For those locations of concern, fish consumption advisories are provided by the Alabama Department of Public Health. For a current list of advisories call: (800) 201-8208 or visit www.adph.org.


J. & P. Coats or Clark's O.N.T. Pearl Cotton, size 5, 24 balls.
Milward's steel crochet hook No. 8.
Gauge for waistband: 4 X-sts make 1 inch; 5 rows make 1 inch.
Skirt … Start at waistline. Make a 27" chain. 1st row: D c in 4th ch from hook, d c in next ch, skip 1 ch, d c in next ch, d c in ch just skipped (thus an X-st is made). Make another X-st, * d c in each of next 3 ch, make 2 X-sts. Repeat from * across until there are 30 d c-groups and 30 X-st groups in the row. Cut off remaining chain. Ch 3, turn. 2nd row: Skip 1 d c of 1st X-st group, d c in next d c, * ch 1, skip 1 d c, d c in next d c, d c in d c just skipped, ch 1, d c in each of next 3 d c, ch 1, skip 1 d c, d c in next d c, d c in d c just skipped. Repeat from * across, ending with d c in each of 2 d c, d c in turning ch. Ch 3, turn. 3rd row: Skip 1 d c, d c in each of next 2 d c, * ch 1, skip 1 d c, d c in next d c, d c in d c just skipped, ch 1, skip 1 d c, d c in next d c, d c in d c just skipped, ch 1, d c in each of 3 d c. Repeat from * across, ending with ch 1, skip 1 d c, d c in 3rd st of turning ch, d c in d c just skipped. Ch 3, turn. 4th to 9th rows incl: Repeat 2nd and 3rd rows alternately. At end of 9th row, ch-1 but do not turn. Sl st in 3rd st of turning ch-3 at beginning of row. Hereafter work is done in rnds instead of rows.
1st rnd: Ch 3, d c in each of 3 d c, * ch 1 and make X-st over each X-st, ch 1, d c in next d c, 2 d c in next d c (an increase), d c in next d c. Repeat from * around. Join last ch-1 with sl st to 3rd st of ch-3 first made. 2nd rnd: Ch 3, d c in each of 3 d c, * ch 1, X-st over each X-st, ch 1, d c in each of 4 d c. Repeat from * around. Join. Continue in this manner, increasing 1 d c in center of each d c-group every 10th rnd, until there are 7 d c in each group. Work 4 rnds without increasing. Now inc. 1 d c in center of each d c-group on next rnd and every 5th rnd thereafter until there are 11 d c in each d c-group. Work without increasing until skirt measures 17 inches. Fasten off.
Waistband … 1st row: Attach thread to first st of X-st on 1st row at waistline. Ch 3, d c in next d c, ch 1, skip 1 d c, d c in next d c, d c in d c just skipped, ch 1, skip 2 d c, d c in next d c, d c in 1st of 2 d c just skipped. Continue in this manner, making X-st over X-st, and X-st over each 3-d c group. Ch 2, turn. 2nd row: * Skip 1 d c, s c in next d c, s c in d c just skipped. Repeat from * across. Ch 3, turn. 3rd row: * Skip 1 s c, d c in next s c, d c in s c just skipped. Repeat from * across. Ch 2, turn. Repeat the 2nd and 3rd rows alternately until waistband measures 3½ inches or desired depth. Do not break off but work s c closely together along short side of waistband to waistline; turn and work s c in each s c for 2 more rows. Fasten off. Attach thread to opposite short side and work 2 rows of s c, making five ch-4 loops at equal distances apart in 2nd row. Fasten off.
Straps (Make 2) … Starting at one end, ch 21. 1st row: D c in 4th ch from hook, * skip 1 ch, d c in next ch, d c in ch just skipped. Repeat from * across, ending with d c in last ch. Ch 2, turn. 2nd row: Skip 2 d c, s c in next d c, s c in the 2nd d c skipped, * skip 1 d c, s c in next s c, s c in d c just skipped. Repeat from * across, ending with s c in turning ch. Ch 3, turn. 3rd row: Skip 2 s c, d c in next s c, d c in the 2nd d c skipped, * skip 1 s c, d c in next s c, d c in s c just skipped. Repeat from * across, ending with d c in turning ch. Repeat the 2nd and 3rd rows alternately until piece measures 21 inches.
Sew straps to waistband, crossing straps at back before sewing the back ends of straps in place. Sew on buttons.


As part of the refurbishment of the Lyric, Hammersmith BID, – the Business Improvement District group of which Tom was a board member – took the opportunity to sponsor and dedicate one of the Main House boxes to Tom, and the unveiling was held on 29 October.
The dedicatory plaque and box are shown, with Liz Ryland seated in the foreground – the box itself is a delightful feature of the theatre's Victorian interior. It is a very fitting memorial to Tom, who greatly enjoyed the theatre and was very supportive of the Lyric.
As one of the ways in which The Hammersmith Society will be commemorating Tom, we plan to erect a bench dedicated to him at a location along the Hammersmith riverside. We know that among the members of the Society there were personal friends of Tom's, and if you would like to make a donation to the cost of the bench, do please contact Melanie Whitlock (ku.gr1556186613o.yte1556186613icosh1556186613timsr1556186613emmah1556186613@namr1556186613iahc.1556186613eciv1556186613).
This year's award nominations are open – winners of awards and wooden spoons will be announced at the AGM at the Bush Theatre on 5th July.
Please do nominate your choice – see our awards page to understand the process and the various award categories, and review the list of existing nominations which are being added to the website as they come in. Nominations close on 16th May.
It would help us if you can send us a photo with your nomination.
No this is not another football club! How many of you have heard of the Hammersmith United Charity or know of the amazing work that it does? In fact there are two sister charities which have both been operating for 400 years in Hammersmith and Fulham.
The one in Fulham is called Dr Edwards and Bishop Kings. To celebrate their success, they want to unite and set up another charity which they will call UNITED. The objects would be 'to bring people together (young and old, rich and poor, existing residents and newcomers, diverse communities, people with and without disabilities), enhance connections as neighbours and colleagues, and build a sense of belonging, resulting in meaningful and sustainable outcomes'. The initial objective is to raise a £1million fund and a large part of this has been achieved.


text:
11 years ago this month, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter dove into History
Spectacular play by Jeter was 11 years ago.
Staff Post
11 years ago this July, Derek Jeter showed Yankees fans once again why his nickname is "The Captain."
Yup 11 years ago, feel old yet?
On July 1, 2004 the Yankees started the conclusion of a four-game series with the rival Boston Red Sox. The game seemed like a normal one to start as the Yankees and Red Sox exchanged runs and ended up going into extra innings.
It was inning number 12 when a Trot Nixon pop-up to short leftfield gave fans of baseball a highlight they have seen for the past 10 years. Yankees right-hander Tanyon Sturtze was on the mound when Nixon delivered a one-two count pitch over Alex Rodriguez's head into short left. Jeter, charged full speed ahead and made the catch just before diving and descending into the third base seats. The ball would've dropped and would have scored two runs, but Jeter had other ideas.
The face of the Yankees held on to make the catch and end the top of the 12th inning. The play was so special because at the time, the Yankees were up seven and a half games on the Red Sox, and one game wouldn't have made a huge difference, but that's how Jeter played. When Jeter reappeared out of the stands, his face was cut up and bruised.
Jeter's catch on pinch-hitter Trot Nixon's popup with runners on second and third stunned the 55,265 fans and also scared them. They gasped when the replay was shown on the video board of him flying over the photographers' pit and into the seats.
Jeter left the ballpark with a bloodied chin and a red, swollen cheek. He also had a bruised shoulder. X-Rays were negative, and Jeter was in the lineup against the Mets the next night. The Yankees went on to beat the Red Sox on a pinch-hit double by Yankees back-up catcher John Flaherty.
Jeter surely made greater plays, he just didn't make them against the Red Sox, and he didn't just make them in regular season games in July, but on a July night in the Bronx, Derek Jeter did what he did best, he amazed Yankee and baseball fans everywhere.
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Rieter is a strong brand and forms industrial progress through its innovative strength.
Rieter is the world's leading supplier of systems for short-staple fiber spinning. Based in Winterthur (Switzerland), the company develops and manufactures machinery, systems and components used to convert natural and manmade fibers and their blends into yarns. Rieter is the only supplier worldwide to cover spinning preparation processes as well as all four end spinning processes currently established on the market. With the acquisition of SSM Textile Machinery in mid-2017, the company invested in related areas of the textile value chain, thereby expanding its portfolio. With 16 manufacturing locations in ten countries, the company employs a global workforce of some 5 150, about 20% of whom are based in Switzerland.
Rieter is a strong brand with a long tradition. Since it was established in 1795, Rieter's innovative momentum has been a powerful driving force for progress in the spinning mill industry. Products and systems are ideally tailored to customer needs and mostly produced in the markets where the customers are located.
With a global sales and service organization and a strong presence in the core markets China and India, Rieter as market leader is well positioned in the global competitive environment. For the benefit of shareholders, customers and employees, Rieter aspires to achieve sustained growth in enterprise value. With this in mind, Rieter seeks to maintain continuous growth in sales and profitability, primarily through organic growth, but also through strategic alliances and acquisitions.
Safety, health and the environment are fundamental to the Rieter Group and an integral part of it's strategy.
The Rieter Award has been given to students and young trainees every year since 1989. With this award, Rieter promotes talents and thus also supports universities and institutes in their efforts to win outstanding new recruits for textile training. The Rieter Award winners are selected globally. Selection is made from students and young professionals from the field of textile engineering who excel due to well-founded work and a high level of commitment.
Founded in 1795 by Johann Jacob Rieter in Winterthur (Switzerland), Rieter is a company with a long tradition. Explore the many milestones in the company's history.


Have no money but want to create your own synth? Kickstarter!
That's what many aspiring designers and engineers exclaimed before you even asked. Because they know exactly how it should work and how to construct it without spending extra money. Plankton Elektronics developers are the ones of those smart people. They started up a project raising funds for their semi-modular Ants! synth which embraces the number of basic modules assembled in one case. We were ensured that we would get an affordable and self-sufficient synthesizer. And you know what? Seems like we will because these guys are good. Listen to the demos and read below why we dare to think so.


Chicago Public Schools just released the detailed list of how the new budget for the 2015-16 term will affect each of its 656 schools, and the variations are dramatic—particularly between "regular" neighborhood schools and charter/contract schools.
CPS officials say the disparity is because they have stuck closely to their relatively new "student-based budgeting" system, in which money follows students wherever they attend school. With charters gaining kids and neighborhood schools losing them, the district has no choice at a time of austerity except to so act, officials contended.
As a result, some of the city's best-known traditional high schools are big losers. These include Bogan, down $704,000; Bronzeville, $504,000; Chicago Vocational, $496,000; Foreman, $962,000; Gage Park, $1.3 million; Lane Tech, $938,000; Marshall, $875,000; Schurz, 917,000; and even Payton, which will lose about $362,000.
At the same time, while some traditional high schools are winners—Jones will gain $1.5 million with growing enrollment—the big winners are charters, either new or expanding ones.
On the winners list: Aspira Business & Financial, up $2.4 million; Catalyst Maria, $1.5 million; Intrinsic High School, $2.6 million; and Noble Academy, $1.9 million.
Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, says that general approach is on the mark.
But Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey says the charters do effectively cherry-pick, since local schools have to accept every student in their attendance area who shows up for school. Neighborhood schools also lack the promotion expertise needed to compete for bodies, Sharkey added. "The whole situation has become a bit of a setup for neighborhood schools," he said.
Between those two views is longtime CPS watcher Linda Lenz, publisher of Catalyst, a news organization that tracks developments in Chicago education.
Look for this debate to intensify.
10:45 A.M.: Chicago Public Schools today began to lift the veil on how $200 million in budget cuts will hit neighborhood schools. It's going to be ugly.
And it may get uglier—a lot uglier—unless Springfield comes up with $500 million in pension help.
Most of the cuts, which will take effect in September, will hit central office staff. But neighborhood schools will sustain a net $59.6 million cut, mostly because of reduced enrollment. Those details and more were laid out in a late-morning conference call by the district's acting CEO, Jesse Ruiz, and Chief Financial Officer Ginger Ostro.
Even as neighborhood schools take a budget bite, however, charter and contract schools—which have been adding students—will get $30 million more. That's roughly a 5 percent hike, to a total of $609 million.
With a few other changes, the total spent in schools will drop a net $31 million, to $2.6 billion.
Details on exactly how each school will fare in the new financial environment are to be released today after school principals are informed of what is happening to their individual budgets. Officials distributed a map that provides a pretty good guide, indicating that some schools will lose as much as $600,000 while others will gain.
Editor's note: The increased funding that Jones College Prep will receive has been corrected from a previous version.
Ruiz said officials made a core decision to follow the guidelines of their student-based budgeting system. "Money is following the students," Ruiz said, and that means that, even though most enrollment declines are due to demographic changes beyond a local school's control, schools that lose kids will lose money.
As a result, the district no longer will offer "hold harmless" aid for schools that fell short of enrollment targets. "The district no longer can afford to provide those funds," he said.
While today's school-by-school budget figures are based on estimates, the district is fairly confident in its projections, Ruiz said. A total of $8 million will be set aside to help schools in extreme cases were projections were well off the mark.
Ostro said today's cuts would have been worse if the district had not obtained a waiver giving it $35 million in extra federal anti-poverty Title I funds. Those funds will be distributed directly to local schools rather than running through CPS' central office.
Ruiz and Ostro blamed the cuts on a decade-old decline in state aid levels—$106 million just in the upcoming school year. Total state help has dropped 13 percent since 2010, officials said, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel repeatedly has griped that district taxpayers have to pay for downstate and suburban teacher pensions but receive little help for the Chicago Teachers' Pension Plan.
Earlier, Emanuel had promised that, despite the cuts, classroom sizes will not increase. I heard nothing this morning to conflict with that promise, but it will be hard to tell for sure until looking at how the schools with the biggest cuts will cope with them.
There is other bad CPS news today.
As expected, the district is levying to its property tax cap, an action that will pull in an additional estimated $61 million in the upcoming school year.
And the overall budget that will be adopted in August anticipates $500 million "in pension reform from Springfield." If that money does not arrive, more cuts will come "later this year," Ruiz said.
CPS had asked its pension fund to allow it to defer $500 million in pension payments until fiscal 2017. But that deal fell apart over the weekend.
Editor's note: The amount by which total CPS spending would drop has been corrected.


I'm not sure we know when this mutation happened. Anyway, it's not the (a?) relevant mutation for vitamin D metabolism - I just gave it as an example.
>>Much as I disagree with the original comment on vitamin D, I don't think the implications you mention follow.
It was a poorly conceived joke however I will carry on for the sake of it.
Sounds like Eugenics. Evolution also works at the group level. Indeed a human cannot survive alone (I mean as a mated pair). I'm with the camp that says that altruism doesn't exist as such. It's a matter of believing that evolution is robust vs falls apart by itself if we don't cooperate.
>>b) only really operates on illnesses that reduce reproductive chances.
Being social animals we evolve as a group. Consider that humans evolved largely as family groups. Old members beyond their reproductive years were of great value, the example often given is of the oldster who remembers the last water hole to dry up 50 years ago. This would vary with the society of course. There again with chemical processes in the body supposedly occurring in the GHz range what is the difference between living for 40 years or 100? Not much. If the system is stable then it's stable unless pushed off by something powerful. The idea of spontaneous or programmed degeneration is as meaningless in humans as in crocodiles.
The proposition that we are teetering on a knife's edge of too little UV leaving us with a jillion diseases and too much UV leaving us with skin cancer is hard to reconcile with... anything.
No, the distinction being between competition between fit organisms vs organisms being grossly unadapted to their environment - evolution not working.
e.g. The antelope on the Serengeti may well die young but it does not spontaneously transform into a heap of bones due to a fragile evolutionary process. It's the Lion!
Pgeek, evolution still operates after reproductive capability ends. Paul Ewald (evolutionary biology prof) showed that having grandparents around to help with physical tasks (and to pass on tradition) is an advantage. Early old age disability is an evolutionary disadvantage, as it reduces the numbers of able adults vs. the number of children.
Can anyone provide evidence for their claims and can we agree on some definitions of the things that we are talking about?
>>Can anyone provide evidence for their claims and can we agree on some definitions of the things that we are talking about?
It was a Paul Ewald article that helped me decide to do the MP, as he gave a rationale for expecting sarcoidosis to be caused by infection, based on statistics and evolution.
They found that women in the highest quartile for vitamin D during pregnancy (32.20-60.80 ng/mL) were a significant 3.66-fold more likely to have a child who developed food allergy during their second year of life than those in the bottom quartile (6.13-14.39 ng/mL), following adjustment for various confounders including family atopy history, cotinine level in pregnancy, and vitamin D supplementation in first year of life.
Children of mothers in the highest quartile for vitamin D status in pregnancy also had a significant 1.91-fold increased risk for food allergy within the first 2 years of life compared with children of mothers in the bottom quartile for vitamin D, as well as a 1.59-fold increased risk for having food-specific IgE antibodies.
Children with the highest levels of vitamin D (17.40-40.10 ng/mL) in their cord blood at birth also had a significant 4.65-fold increased risk for developing food allergy in the second year of life compared with children with the lowest levels (1.50-6.98 ng/mL).
Lehmann and team suggest that an inhibition of regulatory T cell numbers at birth associated with high levels of vitamin D in the blood may explain the increased risk for food allergy seen in these children.
uh oh... Better sell the "D Drops" stock.
A new double-blinded study of Vit-D supplementation in osteoarthritis shows no benefit, either in reduced pain or reduced joint damage.
Saw that one reported on the local news show last night. Looks like that "cat is out of the bag".
I make sure I watch that particular section on the local London news - the BS stories they follow up on can boggle the mind and they do have a lot of "D is the cure all"
Thanks for that link Nyima.
I came across this article in MEDSCAPE that purports to show that because low 25D is measured in patients with RA, that therefore, low 25D causes, or at least contributes to, RA.
I noted with interest that they did not measure, nor even talk about 1, 25D.
No further comment is necessary from me.
Quote: [Marion Nestle, a nutrition researcher from New York University who coauthored a commentary published alongside the recommendations in the Annals of Internal Medicine, said that good studies on vitamin D are hard to do, and any end to the debate over whether to take supplements or not is a long way off.
Yes, don't we have that experience!
The interests of the pharmaceutical industry are very large and they will find "good" results to keep using vitD.
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New Blueprint for Scottish Local Government
NEW BLUEPRINT IS THE MENU FOR CHANGE THAT LOCAL GOVERNMENT REQUIRES SAYS COSLA
COSLA has today (Monday) launched a new Blueprint for Scottish Local Government.
The Blueprint will allow Local Government to build around an ambitious vision for Scotland's future - one based on the empowerment of people and communities.
The document (which can be viewed here) has been framed around 6 themes,
Strengthening Local Democracy
Funding Services and Communities
Wellbeing – including Health and Social Care
Education and Children and Young People
Economy and the Environment
Supporting Vulnerable Communities
Speaking as he launched the Blueprint, Councillor Graham Houston COSLA's Vice-President said: "The Blueprint we are launching today provides a narrative around the kind of country we want, and about the changes that could make a real difference to communities across the country.
"Covid-19 has changed the way we live. But pre-Covid, through Covid and after Covid Local Government is the anchor for communities in need. For children, young people and families; for local businesses; and for services that benefit our physical and emotional well-being and the environment. We work with communities and local organisations every day to bring about change and to make the voices of people heard and matter."
Councillor Houston continued: "The value of Local Government can be seen in our response to Covid-19, where Councils have taken decisive action to support communities, people, and businesses.
"Whether delivering food or medicine, providing shelter for the homeless, supporting volunteers or keeping many essential services running, Local Government has been the face of the response for many.
"The Local Government workforce, which is the largest in Scotland, has fundamentally changed the way it works to reduce the disruption caused to everyday life.
"Scottish Local Government must be further empowered to bring about the change we now need.
"The financial impacts of Covid-19 have been severe and have placed extreme pressure on already strained Council budgets and on our workforce. Without proper resourcing we will see reductions in spending and inevitable cuts to services, furthering the inequalities highlighted by the pandemic and putting at risk the very recovery we seek."
Councillor Houston concluded: "Local Government, and the communities we serve, have shown the innovation and creative thinking needed to respond to this unprecedented pandemic and to adapt to a new way of life.
"We have proved our worth, we will continue to deliver and our Blueprint is the menu for change that Local Government now requires."


text:
Home News National Book Tokens unleashes annual Hidden Books Game
National Book Tokens unleashes annual Hidden Books Game
Published November 11, 2021 by Ruth Comerford
National Book Tokens is launching its annual brainteaser, the Hidden Books Game, for the ninth year running this Christmas, with authors including Dara McAnulty set...
National Book Tokens is launching its annual brainteaser, the Hidden Books Game, for the ninth year running this Christmas, with authors including Dara McAnulty set to partipate in the online campaign.
The festive puzzle, launching at 11.30 a.m. today, challenges readers to identify 20 different book titles hidden in an image, with the winner receiving a £500/€500 National Book Tokens gift card. Ten runners up will each receive a £150/€150 National Book Tokens gift card. Authors including McAnulty, Adam Kay and Ian Rankin will support the Hidden Books Game on social media for the first time, offering hints in the form of riddles to help players unravel the titles hidden within the image. A quiz will also be available on National Book Tokens' reward programme Caboodle, to help fans determine what kind of player they are.
Award-winning illustrator Harry Woodgate will bring the game to life again this year, and has designed a striking image to celebrate high street bookshops. Woodgate was nominated for the V&A Illustration Award 2019 and has worked with Penguin Random House, the Sunday Times, the Big Issue and House of Illustration among others. Woodgate's recent books include Grandad's Camper (Andersen Press) as author/illustrator and Little Glow (Owlet Press), and The Very Merry Murder Club (Farshore) as illustrator.
Woodgate said: "As always it's been a joy to work with the National Book Tokens on the Hidden Books Game. This year's edition is packed full of some brilliant books and feels like such a lovely celebration of books, bookshops and booksellers everywhere. I hope the illustrations prove sufficiently fiendish while helping everyone get into the cosy, festive spirit!"
Stacey Croft, digital marketing and brand manager at the organisation, added: "When people think of the Hidden Books Game from National Book Tokens, they think of Christmas — it's one of our favourite projects to work on and is an integral part of our Christmas campaign. The game is a celebration of books and the joy that comes with choosing a book as well as the fun of reading it. Harry has done a wonderful job bringing to life our tricky clues, with a bookshop at the centre of the high street. We hope book lovers across the UK and Ireland have a fun (and frustrating!) time playing it."
Previous Hidden Book Games have been played by more than 450,000 people to date, and the contest is a key part of the National Book Tokens Christmas marketing campaign, emphasising the message that gift cards are "a gift beyond words" for book lovers at Christmas.
Developed with creative agency Arthur London and media agency Wavemaker, this year's campaign will be deployed across print, digital and social advertising. The campaign will centre on a media partnership with the Guardian in the UK, and the Irish Independent, launching early to drive instore and online sales for bookshops in anticipation of potential disruption for shoppers.
The challenge will be open until 31st December 2021. For the first time, Bookshop.org will announce the answers via a book list on its website, socials and newsletter in January 2022, alongside Caboodle.
trade-notes
Hidden Book Games
Stacey Croft
National Book Tokens accepted on Bookshop.org
National Book Tokens launches monthly gift card
Ivybridge Bookshop named newcomer of the year
National Book Tokens' Hidden Book quiz launches
National Book Tokens' hidden book brainteaser returns