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We in the local pension scheme’s, unable to join USS initially and unwilling to transfer into USS when promoted to ‘qualifying grades’ without loosing EIGHT years of pension for one year of USS (in my case) are in a similar position, with Universities eyeing up further savings by cutting our pensions using ‘equality’ as the excuse. Some like Southampton took a pensions contribution ‘holiday’ for many years as the local scheme was in profit and spent it on new buildings etc, so now the schemes are in deficit any opportunity to avoid pay whats due is being looked at and exploited. BOHICA!
Organizers said that 100 workers protested for higher wages in Los Angeles, and five were arrested.
Five Wal-Mart workers were arrested Thursday night while protesting for higher wages in Los Angeles.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said that the company knows of three current and two former employees who were arrested.
The workers were among 49 other activists arrested, according to OUR Walmart, the union-backed group behind the demonstrations.
The organizing group, including clergy members and community organizers, had been staging a two-day strike, asking the nation's largest retailer for higher pay, better benefits and hours, and the right to speak up without retaliation. OUR Walmart estimated that 100 workers picketed over the course of two days.
Protestors were sitting in the middle of the street in front of the downtown LA store, when police tried to clear the area. Those who refused police orders to clear the street after their permit expired at 6 p.m. were arrested, according to Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Bruce Borihanh.
Wal-Mart's Buchanan said that the company is proud of the opportunity it provides its workers.
"The reason why so few Wal-Mart associates are participating is because they know the opportunity that exists to move up the ladder quickly," she said.
The arrests come on the heels of nearly a year of similar protests across the country. The movement began last November on Black Friday. Hundreds of activists and workers demonstrated at about 100 Wal-Mart (WMT) stores nationwide.
In one of the biggest protests of the day, nine people were arrested outside of a Paramount, Calif., Wal-Mart store for failing to disperse. OUR Walmart said at the time that three of those arrested were Wal-Mart workers.
Since then, workers have continued to walk off work, claiming that they can't survive on Wal-Mart wages and get retaliated against for speaking out.
Organizers and workers said that this is not the last of the protests as the holiday season nears, though they would not comment on specific plans.
THE Cotswolds is a favourite British hotspot for many celebrities including the royal family.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are rumoured to be setting up home in the Cotswolds and they’re not the only famous faces to love the beautiful setting in South West England.
From beautiful stretches of countryside to cute little hotels with burning fires, the English getaway is perfect for a relaxing break without busting your purse to go abroad.
Whether you want a cute bed and breakfast or a luxury hotel that spoil you rotten, the Cotswolds has a hotel to suit every budget.
A highly recommended hotel is The Lygon Arms in Broadway. Following a multi-million pound refurbishment, the hotel, which has bundles of history behind it, is not only a hotspot on the high street but a beautiful place to stay.
With staff that spoil you, the hotel has recently redesigned guest rooms and suites, where you can also bring the family dog if you desire. The new decor leaves you surrounded by luxury while helping you feel right at home.
What’s a country getaway without a spot of tea and a scone? With plenty of choices on every high street, it would be wrong not to treat yourself to a sugary bite to eat.
If you’re after an afternoon tea with that something extra, The Lygon Arms also offer a classic set up from £25 per person. Surrounded by all that history and a roaring log fire, it’s a tea you won’t forget in a hurry.
Italian, Indian, classic pub – the Cotswolds has every cuisine to offer.
But for that classic Cotswolds feel, we recommend The Lygon Bar and Grill. A chilled atmosphere, a statement burning fire and a menu full of delicious classics, including steak and grilled chicken, you won’t be disappointed.
That’s not to mention the tasty cocktails on offer which can also be enjoyed in the relaxed cocktail bar area.
Also, if you're staying overnight, the hotel offer a fantastic selection of eggs, pastries, fresh fruit and anything else your heart desires for breakfast. What more could you want?!
The Cotswolds aren’t famous for spa breaks what with all the amazing country walks you can go on. However, what’s a break without a little beauty treatment?
The Lygon Arms have an onsite spa that boasts an amazing outdoor chill area, a swimming pool and a list full of treatments sure to relax you on your staycation.
Rated four stars, The Lygon Arms really is a British gem you’ll want to rebook in a hurry.
Software for beginners guitar, with tabs, make up and print songs, ear traing, fretboard, stave notes, and tabs to play along to and print. Accompanies Guitartab.co.uk Guitar For Beginners Book, or just use as PC software. You can write your own songs in it and save them, as well as playing fun ear training games, tuning the guitar, learning notes on the stave and fretboard. This version is the first release on CNET Download.com.
SBS’s eye-opening three-part documentary series First Contact hosted by Ray Martin concluded last night with the final episode attracting a combined metro and regional audience of 568,000.
Broadcast simultaneously on SBS ONE and NITV, with a delayed 9:30pm broadcast on SBS 2, the First Contact finale reached 947,000 (632,000 metro and 315,000 regional) Australians based on five consecutive minutes of viewing.
On SBS ONE, 399,000 metro and 169,000 regional viewers tuned in reaching a peak audience of 722,000 (485,000 metro and 237,000 regional) and a metro free-to-air share of 10.4%.
The First Contact broadcast on NITV attracted a combined metro and regional audience of 36,000 (10,000 metro, 26,000 regional). On SBS 2 at 9:30pm the program recorded a combined metro and regional audience of 68,000 (41,000 metro, 27,000 regional).
The special live Insight program hosted by Stan Grant at 9:30pm continued the conversation on SBS ONE with a combined metro and regional audience of 412,000 (metro audience of 297,000 and 115,000 regional viewers) and a metro free-to-air share of 10.3%, beating Channel Seven and ABC in the time slot.
Over the three nights (Tuesday 18 November – Thursday 20 November), First Contact had a cumulative reach of 1,847,000 Australian viewers based on five consecutive minutes of viewing (metro and regional) across SBS ONE, NITV and SBS 2.
Audiences who missed the broadcasts have flocked to watch the program online, with catch-up numbers on SBS’s On Demand service for First Contact episode one currently at 123,645 views, episode two currently at 64,426 views and episode three currently at 10,072 views. Total current views for the series on SBS On Demand are at 198,143.
SBS director of television, Tony Iffland said: “During the past three days, First Contact has truly shone a light on the divide between indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia. SBS and the program’s producers Blackfella Films are beyond delighted that so many Australians have come together to engage in debate and discussion about an issue that effects all of us.
“Audiences not only tuned in across the three channels and on SBS On Demand, but they also took to social media, which saw the program trend globally on Twitter – testament to the SBS network’s ability to lead debate and discussion.
“The success of First Contact extended beyond the documentary itself, with record numbers for NITV – the two Awaken specials presented by Stan Grant achieved the channel’s highest ever ratings.
The hash tag #FirstContactSBS again trended number one on twitter in Australia for the third consecutive night yesterday.
All three episodes of First Contact, as well as the live Awaken and Insight specials, are now available at SBS On Demand.
What Will Be Robert Gates's Legacy?
What will we say about Secretary of Defense Robert Gates after he steps down, as he has suggested he will do in 2011? Gates, who took over the Pentagon in 2006, has overseen the turning and draw-down of the Iraq War, the ramp-up of the Afghan war, and perhaps his most daunting challenge, reining in the military-industrial complex. Newsweek has made an attempt at this question with a story on Gates's post-Pentagon legacy. Here's what Newsweek and others have to say.
Last Mission: Overhaul Defense Dept. Newsweek's John Barry and Evan Thomas write, "As he turns 67 this month, serving in his final government post, he appears to be embarked on a kind of last crusade. ... The defense secretary's deeper complaint is about what he calls 'brass creep.' Roughly translated, it means having generals do what colonels are perfectly capable of doing. Generals require huge staffs and command structures: three-star generals serving four-stars, two-stars serving three, each tended by squadrons of colonels and majors. This sort of elaborate hierarchy may have been called for in Napoleon's day, but in an era of instant communication, Gates thinks the military could benefit from a much flatter, leaner management structure. ... He thinks he can persuade Congress to go along."
Reformer in the Pentagon, Unifier in the White House The Washington Post's David Ignatius finds "the essential Gates: independent, ornery, sentimental. ... Gates seems to like telling people off if they get in the way of his basic mission. This includes challenging generals and admirals who want to protect their perks, defying members of Congress who want more pork-barrel military spending, and pushing the system for faster delivery of armored vehicles, surveillance drones and medevac helicopters to protect soldiers. ... Rather than battling the secretary of state, the national security adviser or the CIA director, as did so many of his predecessors, Gates has helped bring the national security team together."
We at the Air Force Know His Darker Legacy Retired U.S. Air Force Major General Charles Dunlap calls Gates, who began his career in the USAF, "an extremely clever CIA veteran, well-schooled in creating media hype when and where he wants. Hubris can, however, overtake even the savviest. ... I worry a lot about Secretary Gates' disquieting penchant for indulging near-term wants (and perceived needs) at the expense of long-term strategic interests. That's the kind of thinking that got Wall Street in trouble." Dunlap says Gates is not sufficiently deterring China. "Mark my words, for all Newsweek's veneration of Gates' budgetary visions, today's thinking about defense spending is hobbled by the Pentagon's inability to distinguish sufficiently between the serious challenge of irregular wars, and the need to deter truly existential threats posed by nation-states."
OXFORD � Selectmen have weighed in on the controversy surrounding a local restaurant owner's refusal to serve a man who visited his establishment with a service dog in tow.
Selectman John G. Saad, the board's chairman, said in a written statement, "The town is disappointed to learn of a failure by one establishment to respect the needs of veterans by refusing access to a veteran accompanied by a service dog."
Mr. Saad also wrote that the town is grateful to all veterans.
Meanwhile, James Glaser, the U.S. Air Force veteran who uses his dog, Jack, to alert him before his post-traumatic stress disorder can become too much to handle, said he will accept the apology Russell Ireland issued during a television interview.
In fact, he's hoping Mr. Ireland will, on Saturday, attend what has morphed from a boycott of Big I's restaurant into an educational event for folks to learn about PTSD and the various types of service dogs that people use.
"I would love for him to be there. I would shake his hand," Mr. Glaser said.
Mr. Glaser said he filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, and Town Manager Joseph M. Zeneski said he alerted the attorney general's office about the matter.
Locally, the town can do nothing aside from the inspections it performed to be sure Mr. Ireland was in compliance with the local permits he was issued.
"He has not violated the terms of any licenses or permits," Mr. Zeneski said.
The two men were at odds on Sunday, when Mr. Ireland, in a less than friendly way, asked Mr. Glaser to take the dog out of the restaurant. Mr. Glaser's post about the incident on Facebook went viral, but they're both facing similar problems now.
Each has received a barrage of communications, many of which included death threats that left them shaken.
Mr. Glaser, who in Facebook photos has a patchwork quilt of Air Force ribbons pinned to his chest, said some people have questioned his military service.
He said he enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school in 1990, following his father's footsteps. He said he did two tours in Iraq of six months each. During the first, he helped move troops in Operation Desert Fox, and during the second he provided air traffic control in Baghdad, with mortars exploding near the tower where he worked.
Of all his awards he is most proud of the commendation he got when he was helping to train allied troops. As a jump master, he was the last one out of the plane, parachuting into the water, when he noticed a parachute being dragged by a boat. He was able to rescue the man being dragged. The man needed CPR and medical treatment but survived the brush with death.
"I saved a life," he said, adding that knowing that makes him proud, and the response from the man was that he'd be welcome at his home anytime.
He is upset that anyone would question his service and he said he doesn't want the matter to become political. His Facebook page has some pictures that might be termed controversial. and, he said, he's not happy with the current administration or "Washington in general," but politics have nothing to do with his desire to educate about service dogs.
He and his wife, who have been staying in a motor home in Oxford while she was working in the area, will return home to Nevada soon. Mr. Glaser is hoping to leave behind some folks in the Bay State who have a better understanding of PTSD and who might be more welcoming to dogs like Jack that don't look like the stereotypical service dog.
On Saturday, anyone interested is welcome at Greenbrier Recreation Area, not far from the Big I's. Veterans groups will attend and provide information, Mr. Glaser will hand out pamphlets about the Americans with Disabilities Act, service dog organizations will be on hand and the names of veterans who have taken their own lives as a result of PTSD will be read.
Insurance Q&A: The Right Travel Insurance Could Cover Your Costs If Zika Threatens : Shots - Health News Consumers worried that health issues might thwart a planned vacation may want to look into travel insurance that allows them to cancel the trip for any reason.
Would the threat of Zika lead you to rethink a scheduled trip to Ipanema beach or the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil? You'd need the right kind of travel insurance to cover the cost of a canceled trip.
As the summer unfolds, people are understandably interested in whether travel insurance will cover them if they cancel a trip because of concerns about the Zika virus. Other readers asked whether student health plans are a better option than the coverage from a health law marketplace and how an employer can't offer mental health coverage. Here are the answers.
My wife and I have a trip planned to South America, but we're increasingly worried about the Zika virus. We bought travel insurance when we booked the trip. If we cancel, will we be able to get our money back?
A typical travel insurance policy won't reimburse you for trip expenses if you cancel because you're afraid of traveling to a country where there have been reports of an outbreak of a disease such as the Zika virus.
But if you purchased a "cancel-for-any-reason" policy, your claim is more likely to be approved, said Megan Freedman, executive director of the U.S. Travel Insurance Association, a trade group. Like standard trip cancellation policies, these policies provide financial protection for unreimbursed expenses if you have to cancel your trip before it starts or interrupt it once you're there. These policies also allow you to cancel for any reason, including pregnancy, a particular concern with the Zika virus. They typically cost a bit more than a standard policy. If you cancel, you'll generally be reimbursed for about 75 percent of your prepaid expenses.
The Zika virus causes only mild flu-like symptoms in most people, but if women contract it during pregnancy, it can cause a devastating birth defect called microcephaly in their baby. Researchers estimate that babies born to between 1 and 13 percent of pregnant women who are infected during their first trimester will have that problem.
The virus is generally passed along through the bite of an infected mosquito.
"Ask what if any concessions your hotel or airline is extending," she said.
I'm leaving my job to go to graduate school this summer. The college offers a student health plan, but would I be better off buying an individual plan on the marketplace? Since I worked half of the year, I suspect I won't get much in subsidies.
The best choice for you will depend on a couple of factors, including how good the student plan is at your school and your coverage priorities: Do you want a plan with generous coverage or would you prefer something that may have a higher deductible, for example, but probably has a lower price tag?
Student health plans vary widely from school to school, said Stephen Beckley, a higher education health care consultant in Fort Collins, Colo. At many schools, coverage is equivalent to a platinum level plan on the state marketplace, meaning it pays 90 percent of the cost of medical services. A survey of student health plans at 38 public and private schools conducted by Hodgkins Beckley Consulting found average premiums were $184 at public universities and $217 at private colleges.
A platinum-level plan on the health law marketplaces would likely run more than that, especially if you don't qualify for a federal tax credit to help pay the premium. On the state marketplaces, more than three-quarters of people who buy plans get premium tax credits, which are available to people with annual incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (about $47,000 for an individual). This year, after factoring in an average premium tax credit of $290, consumers paid on average $106 per month for coverage in the 38 states where the federal government operates the marketplace. Most people buy silver plans on the state exchanges, which pay for 70 percent of medical services, leaving them to pick up more of the cost of care than a platinum plan does.
My employer does not offer mental health benefits. What can I do?
You're in a tough spot. The federal mental health parity law doesn't require companies to offer mental health benefits. Rather, it says that if they do, the benefits have to be at least as generous as their medical/surgical benefits.
Depending on where you live, you may be able to find a local mental health clinic or federally qualified health center that offers mental health services for less than you'd pay a private therapist, Bufka said. You could also check out universities near you that have training programs for mental health professionals. You might be able to work with a student who's under close supervision by a trained professional.
"It's important for people to understand that psychotherapy does not need to be a forever thing," Bufka said. "It could be a 10 to 12 week intervention."
Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Email questions for future columns: KHNHelp@KFF.org. Michelle Andrews is on Twitter: @mandrews110.
Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus stirred up quite a fuss when they unveiled their essay “The Death of Environmentalism” last fall, declaring the environmental movement kaput and calling for a more visionary and inspiring progressive movement to take its place. In an interview with Grist, Shellenberger and Nordhaus talk about their ideas, the responses they’ve gotten (or haven’t), and what comes next. Get the backstory here.
What exactly do you mean by the death of environmentalism? Are you proposing that all existing environmental organizations should be shuttered, or that they should just nudge their strategies in a new direction?
Shellenberger: Neither. We need to create a set of very different institutions and, at the same time, not just nudge but transform existing environmental institutions into something more powerful. We are not saying that Natural Resources Defense Council or any of the big national environmental groups need to close their doors. We’re saying that the environmental identity should be updated into something more relevant. What needs to die is a particular conception of what environmentalism is and how environmental advocacy and campaigns are organized and run.
In other words, you believe the current strategies are archaic, but the groups that built the movement will survive?
Nordhaus: They could, but they need to be radically reconceptualized. The very DNA of these institutions was constructed around a particular idea and model of doing politics, largely based on successes that the environmental movement had in the early ’70s. They were developed to use scientific and legal expertise to identify a problem, craft a very specific technical policy solution to address that problem, and then go hire communications specialists and lobbyists and organizers to go sell that technical policy solution.
Shellenberger: That approach is failing for two reasons: First, the values, mindsets, frames of reference, and belief systems Americans use to make sense of the world have changed dramatically over the last 12 years, but the strategies of the environmental movement have not. Second, we’re faced with a set of massive ecological challenges — global warming, global habitat destruction, global species destruction, deterioration of the world’s oceans, the ozone hole — that are fundamentally different from the kind of problems the environmental movement was constructed 30 years ago to address. On every one of these emerging issues, our national environmental movement has been strikingly ineffectual.
Your criticisms echo those we’re hearing about the progressive movement at large — criticism that liberals focus too much on precise policy prescriptions rather than communicating a broader values message.
Shellenberger: A critique similar to the one we’ve made on environmentalism could be made of many other single-issue movements — women’s rights, abortion rights, anti-war, criminal justice, labor, and so on. Each of those so-called movements has turned itself into a special interest in defining the problem so narrowly and offering technical policy solutions instead of an inspiring vision.
Nordhaus: The challenges environmentalists face are very similar to the challenges progressives in general face. Everything environmentalists do going forward needs to be driven not by individual policies, but by the politics — capital P — we want to build: the vision and values, the broader political coalition we need to accomplish our long-term social objectives.
Are you saying the environmental movement needs to team up with the other progressive factions to work together on a more holistic vision?
Shellenberger: Well, the issue movements did unite around the effort to get rid of Bush. They came together around a particular political strategy, but they didn’t come together around a common vision for the country that’s inspirational and aspirational, nor around a common set of core values.
What’s an example of a device that could create the right political context?
By contrast, McCain-Lieberman [aka, the Climate Stewardship Act] doesn’t have nearly the same kind of resonance: “You voted against a cap on carbon?” No senator is going to lose reelection for voting against McCain-Lieberman. Even if McCain-Lieberman passes, it will do nothing to strengthen the progressive movement or make a big difference in the debate over advancing our values.
Nordhaus: Apollo changes the categories we use to discuss global warming in that it forces us to take off our environmentalist hat. We’ve got to stop talking about global warming narrowly in terms of carbon emissions and talk about a whole set of very different things — the economy, people’s futures, global trade, and competitiveness.
Shellenberger: The usefulness of any legislative proposal should be determined not just by whether it’s going to reduce the level of carbon in the atmosphere, but also whether it’s going to create a cultural environment where much more dramatic and sweeping transformations can take place in the future.
When the Republicans fought partial-birth abortion, every time they lost legislatively, they gained power in the court of public opinion and in Congress. They got the message out there, they changed people’s thinking around abortion. We need to fight political battles that even if we lost for several years running, we may be in a stronger position than we are now.
Nordhaus: We need to start winning even when we lose. Right now, the environmental movement loses when it loses and even loses when it wins.
Interesting point, but the Apollo Alliance example doesn’t convince me that environmentalism is dead. Apollo was founded almost entirely by old-guard environmentalists, which means the traditionalists are themselves generating a new vision.

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