Datasets:
Recag
/
C4_8

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
 Community
text
stringlengths
9
78.2k
The UK’s oldest prize for children’s literature, the Carnegie medal, has promised long-term change following a review of its lack of diversity, which one respondent said stemmed from the fact that “literature in the UK is an unapologetic bastion of white privilege”.
The independent diversity review was prompted by outrage at the all-white, 20-author longlist for the 2017 Carnegie. The prize was established in 1935 but has never been won by a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) writer.
Chaired by Dr Margaret Casely-Hayford, the review consulted more than 600 people, from librarians to children, with researchers uncovering a lack of awareness of titles by authors of colour among librarians. The report also found there was a general lack of titles starring BAME characters or written by BAME authors bei...
The report pointed to the racial monotone of UK librarians – a 2015 survey of the workforce found that 97% self-identify as white – as a possible influence on the Carnegie prize, which is judged by librarians.
The Carnegie report follows a recent study from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, which found that only 4% of the children’s books published in 2017 featured BAME characters, and just 1% included a BAME main character.
Casely-Hayford said it was “evident that the current state of diversity, representation and inclusion in children’s books must improve”, and that it was essential that the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway awards “embody the open, positive and inclusive spirit of libraries”.
She made a series of recommendations for librarians’ association CILIP, which include expanding the diversity profile of the award’s judges, opening up the nominations process and raising members’ awareness of diverse books. She also recommended considering the inclusion of writing about different backgrounds as an ind...
“It is critical that we get this right, and for the awards to truly and fully champion diversity, inclusion and representation. I am delighted that CILIP is taking this opportunity to offer children and young people the diverse literature they need and deserve to inspire them throughout their lives,” she said.
CILIP chief executive Nick Poole said the report “provides an opportunity to recognise and reinforce the message that width of diversity and quality are synonymous”. He said the body would be taking immediate action to address the report’s findings, including opening up its nominations process to external nominating bo...
A drunk man who endangered his wife inside an aircraft has been fined for causing a disturbance during a flight to Malta.
Boris Sapoznikov, from Jerusalem was charged with recklessly endangering persons inside an aircraft, being drunk on board an aircraft and breaching the peace during the flight on which he allegedly consumed vodka, local press reported.
The 52-year-old is also said to have used excessive force to awaken his equally drunk wife who had helped him drink the entire bottle of vodka they had purchased from the duty free in Israel.
According to MaltaToday, upon landing in the country Sapoznikov is understood to have hit his wife's head against the bulkhead in front of her after failing to wake her more subtly.
She was uninjured and did not press charges.
In court on Monday, the Israeli citizen refused a lawyer offered to defend him and initially pleaded not guilty to the charges.
After Magistrate Scerri Herrera pointed out that he was not charged with harming people, but with other offences, she mentioned the likelihood of a fine of just under €1,000.
The 52-year-old later changed his plea to guilty ahead of orders that he was to be remanded in custody and was ordered to pay a fine of €450.
Clive Anderson and Sara Cox are joined by Jeff Goldblum, Graham Norton, Adrian Lester and Rosemary Shrager for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.
Jeff Goldblum’s album with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, 'The Capitol Studios Sessions', is available on Friday 9 November. They play Cadogan Hall on Saturday 17 November and Ronnie Scott’s on Thursday 22 November as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival.
'A Keeper' published by Hodder & Stoughton, is out now.
Guys and Dolls is at the Royal Albert Hall, London on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 October.
'Rosemary Shrager’s Cookery Course – 150 Recipes to be a Better Cook' published by BBC Books, is available now.
The volunteer staff at Mt. Shasta Sisson Museum is almost ready to reveal their latest stories about the Mount Shasta area. On Friday, March 29, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., the newest exhibit, “50 Years Later: The Interstate and the Lake” will have its opening night.
What does it take to make an exhibit?
This group of volunteers, Chris Schneider, Julie Cassidy, Ted Marconi, Jim McChesney, Leslie Marconi, Tina Guenthner, Geoff Harkness, Steve Day, and Jean Nels, has spent about a year researching, designing, gathering artifacts, and now installing the exhibit.
Contractors will inject grout into cracks in the dam’s bedrock foundation to stop water from seeping under the dam. They also will check the dam for any other cracks or abnormalities. When water gets into these crevices, it can erode the concrete.
The construction team will install a waterproof membrane on the upstream face of the dam to prevent water leakage.
Emmendorfer said Hume Lake was last drained in the 1980s and again in the early ’90s for repair work on the dam’s outlet valves. This is the first time a waterproof membrane has been installed, she said, which was a tactic used recently on Shaver Lake’s dam to improve its function.
Meanwhile, Hume Lake Christian Camps’ staff is working to clean up its facilities in the aftermath of the Rough fire. Fall programs through Nov. 20 were canceled as a result of the fire, which burned up to the camp but did not destroy any structures.
A Midtown Subway mogul took the sandwich company’s offer of “franchise opportunities” too far, pocketing $500,000 in sales tax over six years.
Abdul Mazumder, 49, of Woodside, Queens, yesterday pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to charges that he helped himself to the lettuce.
He must pay the city and state $1.5 million over the next year.
We feel slightly torn about this home. One on hand, we love the sleek lines of Streamline Moderne homes. On the other, this house has some incongruous Asian decor touches at odds with the house, especially around the hot tub. On one hand, there are some great details like Art Deco light features and tile work. On the o...
In Brief: No one and nothing is quite safe at Mrs. Rittenhouse's (Margaret Dumont) swanky Long Island house party when the Marx Brothers show up. Worse, one of them, Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho), is her guest of honor. Zeppo is his secretary and, as usual, mostly fades into the background, while Signor Emmanu...
The Marx Brothers’ second film is a somewhat smoother ride than their first (1929’s The Cocoanuts), but it is still an adaptation of one of their Brodway shows and was shot at Paramount’s Astoria Studios on Long Island. That means it’s still on the stagebound side and hemmed in by the (often lesser) technical prowess o...
The film has little in the way of plot, which is fine, because it exists solely for the Marx Brothers to run wild at a classy weekend party being given by Long Island socialite Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont, of course) in honor of the “great” African explorer, Captain Geoffrey T. (it stands for Edgar) Spaulding (Gr...
Oh, yes, there’s what passes for a story concerning a stolen painting and a romance between Mrs. Rittenhouse’s daughter (Lillian Roth) and a penniless artist (Hal Thompson), but none of this matters much. What matters is the array of great comedy routines — the ersatz Gilbert and Sullivan opening (copied in Duck Soup),...
The Asheville Film Society will screen Animal Crackers Tuesday, July 15 , at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther.
In short, Pence showed little hesitation returning to game action for the first time since a Corey Black pitch broke his arm in the first week of spring training games. Because he had missed most of spring, though, and due to the length of his layoff, Giants manager Bruce Bochy indicated this week the length of Pence’s...
Fans at Raley Field were happy to welcome Pence, crowding the railing along the third-base line near the River Cats’ dugout well before Friday’s game. Pence entered the field around 6:35 p.m., waving and smiling to the crowd, and spent about 10 minutes signing autographs and posing for pictures before hitting the field...
Thursday night, Pence had admitted that, given his long absence, he wasn’t sure how many minor-league games he would need to get up to speed. He said his left arm is still not 100 percent, and that he has never missed this much time to an injury and therefore has no frame of reference.
“I feel confident it’s not going to be a factor in performance,” Pence said of his arm.
“I gave everything I had every day” during the recovery process, Pence said.
Friday night, he finally was free to do so again in a baseball game.
Call The Bee’s Matt Kawahara, (916) 321-1015.
What will change the world over the next 20 years? And if you think you know, are you willing to put money on it?
Long-term changes to factors such as population, climate and technology will shape investment returns for decades and identifying them early is the holy grail for investors.
No one knows what's around the corner, but here we've sought to identify some big investment themes that look likely to generate rich returns over the next couple of decades - and warn against getting carried away in the pursuit of them.
With the help of investment experts Tim Cockerill, of wealth manager Rowan Dartington, and Gavin Haynes, of financial adviser Whitechurch Securities, we provide some fund and trust tips to help retail investors get on board.
What happens when oil starts to run out and how to make money from the consequences is a topic that has gripped investors for decades.
But more oil continues to be discovered and more advanced technology is being invented to extract it, says Cockerill.
'I don't think we are in danger of running out of oil. The big factor is demand,' he says.
He points out car ownership runs at just 10 per 1,000 people in China but at around 600 per 1,000 in the West.
The size of China's population means if it catches up even a bit this would have a big impact on demand for oil - although the environmental challenge means the government will probably limit the rise in car ownership.
Political developments like the Arab Spring are likely to keep the oil price volatile, although a return to economic growth will probably send it higher over the next five years, suggests Cockerill.
When it comes to taking a punt on future industry trends, he points out most investors will probably have exposure already in other other equity funds.
Cockerill suggests investors who are keen devote '5 per cent tops, perhaps 2.5 per cent' of their portfolio to the energy theme.
Total Expense Ratio or TER is the benchmark of fund running costs which is the current best estimate for taking all the administration and dealing charges into account. The bigger it is, the costlier the fund is to run.
He recommends Investec Global Energy [minimum investment: £1000; TER: 1.61 per cent], a broad-based energy fund that includes explorers as well as big integrated companies like BP that search, refine, distribute and sell oil.
Haynes believes ordinary investors are better off focusing on long-term structural energy themes rather than trying to find short-term opportunities.
Oil prices are highly unpredictable, based on speculation, and influenced by a wide range of underlying factors like politics and the weather.
Meanwhile, it's hard to forecast future demand and supply due to the rise of emerging countries like India and China and changes in technology, he points out.
An energy revolution is now underway in the US as controversial drilling techniques allow companies to extract natural gas from shale rock formations.
'That is something that was not deemed to be commercially viable for a long time but it's moved very quickly and is having a marked effect on US natural gas prices,' says Haynes.
He thinks investors should put no more than 5 per cent of their portfolio in individual specialist areas such as energy. He suggests the Artemis Global Energy fund [minimum investment: £1000; TER: 1.62 per cent].
He says investors need to keep in mind both the opportunities and threats created by technology.
There are opportunities in areas like social media and cloud computing, whereas the retail, media and healthcare industries are vulnerable.
He says the US stock market features tech very heavily, so if you have a US equity fund you may have enough exposure to the sector already.
If you do want a specialist focus, he suggests the AXA Framlington Global Technology fund [minimum investment: £1000; TER: 1.58 per cent].
Cockerill sees opportunities in both biotech and consumer electronics - and there are also bound to be new products in the next few years that haven't even occurred to us yet.
'It will always move forwards. There will always be opportunities. When they do come around the uptake of them is getting faster, and the opportunity to replicate them is faster,' he says.
'The right investment in technology can be very successful for investors.
Cockerill says mainstream investment funds will include tech but are usually looking back at yesterday's story, so discovering the next one needs a specialist manager.
He suggests the Polar Cap Technology investment trust, which is trading on a small discount of 4 per cent to NAV [share price and charts].
'This fund is quite broad based, with Amazon, Apple and Samsung. It suits a lot of ordinary investors who want exposure to technology,' he says.
If you want to take a risk on small and medium-sized companies, he recommends the Herald Investment Trust, which has been going since 1994 and currently trades at a 17 per cent discount to NAV [share price and charts].
The rise of India and China might be a powerful investment story - but don't write the US out of the tale.
'I wouldn't abandon America,' says Cockerill, who believes the US is enjoying a renaissance due to the exploitation of shale oil and gas, which will make it close to self-sufficient by 2020.
'It makes their industries more competitive. They are now relocating businesses back to the US. It's cheaper and more flexible.
Meanwhile, the easiest way for investors to access emerging markets is through broad Asian funds and emerging market funds, he says.
Cockerill recommends the First State Asia Pacific Leaders fund [minimum investment: £1000; TER: 1.55 per cent] and the First State Global Emerging Market Leaders fund [minimum investment; £1000. TER: 1.58 per cent].
He describes both as high quality funds with very good investment processes and cautious portfolios that come through with good profits.
A global shift in economic power and rebalancing of wealth from developed to emerging markets is certainly underway, says Haynes.
'Just because their economies are growing doesn't necessarily translate to stock market returns. But if you are taking a long-term perspective, investors are under-represented in emerging markets,' he goes on.
If you are investing for 10 years or more, you should consider allocating as much as 25 per cent of your equity exposure to Asia and emerging markets, he believes.
Haynes suggests looking beyond the big four - China, India, Russia and Brazil - and going for a broad emerging market fund rather than focusing on one country or region.
'Each emerging market has its own unique character. Each market and sector can diverge greatly in performance,' he says.
Haynes recommends the First State Global Emerging Market Leaders (see above) and the Templeton Emerging Markets investment trust, which is trading at a discount of around 7 per cent [share price and charts].
Climate change is going to make a huge difference to the planet even though the full consequences are as yet unknown, says Cockerill.
He reckons governments will be forced by necessity to step in and tackle the problems that arise - China especially since it has 20 per cent of world's population and just 7 per cent of the world's fresh water.
From the investment angle, it's not just about wind turbines and solar panels but fast-changing sectors including industrial energy efficiency, pollution control, transport efficiency, recycling, water and waste management.
Cockerill thinks you need a specialist fund for some of these areas - to keep on top of companies around the world working on pollution control systems for instance.
His favoured fund is First State Worldwide Sustainability [minimum investment: £1000; TER: 1.95 per cent], which looks at sustainability of goods and services, responsible finance and infrastructure.
Cockerill also tips Impax Environmental Markets investment trust for those who want to invest in the leading edge of technology. It is trading at a 15 per cent discount to NAV [share price and charts].
Actively-managed funds need to pay a fund manager to select stocks, pushing up the costs. Index trackers, on the other hand, aim to follow a stock market's fortunes based on a computer programme.
It's far cheaper. The best trackers levy fees of less than 0.5 per cent a year compared to, for example, funds that may come with a total expense ratio of 2.5 per cent plus.
The effect of charges amplifies over the years and can leave a big dent in your final savings pot, although the managers argue that you are paying for their skill in outperforming the market. Unfortunately most of them don't and it's difficult to predict which ones will excel.
Investors could also consider exchange-traded funds, which are more easily tradeable and are sometimes cheaper than trackers. Read more here about buying ETFs.
He says the sector has suffered since the global financial crisis since it was very much strategically supported by governments, but austerity has forced subsidy cuts.
However, Haynes thinks climate change will get higher on the political agenda because of pollution. It's likely governments will force companies to act at some stage, meaning businesses that already have a smaller environmental footprint will have a competitive edge.