January 2012
20 posts
3 tags
DWP Benefits Cap Impact Assessment →
If you look at nothing else, scroll to the charts.
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Capped
A small note regarding the “£26k benefits cap”:—
Lots of people seem to be talking as though the benefits being paid are exclusively (or, at the very least, predominantly) to those seeking work. In other words, if they found work then these benefits would go away. This is the justification for capping to an “average” salary — pay too much in benefits to the unemployed, then you’re providing a...
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European court of human rights: which countries... →
The UK was found against for lack of effective investigation on five occasions, not to have offered a fair trial on three occasions, and to have failed its duty on prohibition of torture twice.
See also this.
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BMJ: Does anyone understand the government’s NHS... →
In a Personal View published on bmj.com today, he writes: “I have tried very hard, as have some of my cleverer colleagues, but no matter how hard we try, we always end up concluding that the bill means something quite different from what the secretary of state says it does.”
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Ariel: Learning to make competition-winning ideas →
Nassé and BBC North director Peter Salmon also decided to commission Mega Bits, an idea from runner-ups Chris Tangye and James Parkin in Future Media, which encourages children to write computer code.
Excellent.
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Islington Council admits tree sign 'error' →
A council has warned residents not to attach objects to trees - in a notice attached to a tree.
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Church refuses boy with Down's syndrome Holy... →
In its letter, the diocese said Denum had “limited concentration, doesn’t really access the RE curriculum and does not enjoy going to Mass”.
It said if Denum took his first Holy Communion when he was “better placed to understand” it would “enrich his whole experience”.
Pretty sensible, I would have thought. Faith is (meant to be) a personal thing, and...
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BBC names David Shukman as first science editor →
Definitely a role which needed creating.
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Rodong Sinmun →
North Korea’s official newspaper, featuring such headlines as S. Korean Traitors’ Group to Stop Playing Disgusting Trick, All Koreans to Open Gate to National Reunification, and Russian Organization Discusses Measures for Introducing Immortal Exploits of Great Men.
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BASF to Stop Selling Genetically Modified Products... →
leejarvis:
Hooray, Europe! Lesson to everyone - you can vote with your wallet - if it doesn’t make “business sense” then corporations won’t try and sell you crap!
So BASF is no longer doing the R&D in Europe, but will still import the products. The potato in question, incidentally is used… for…
(wait for it)
…making paper.
It’s difficult to see this as a victory for common sense.
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What is WebID?
WebID is a W3C Incubator Group (soon to be, and possibly by the time you read this already, a W3C Community Group) specifying a mechanism for using X.509 End Entity (or “client”) certificates to identify yourself to online services, and for performing attribute exchange through Linked Data.
WebID works like this:
You generate, or obtain, an X.509 certificate for yourself. It doesn’t really...
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The Rise of the New Groupthink →
Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption.
While this may be a study of the bleedin’ obvious, the message has yet to sink in for many designing working environments.
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A polite request
Dear The Newspaper Industry,
I pay for your content—in electronic form, no less. I’ve tried a few different ways of doing this, but my present favourite is a Kindle subscription. I receive The News when I wake up in the morning and read it on my commute. Splendid.
What I’m unable to fathom is why the content which is delivered to my device and I have paid actual money for is a subset of...
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Microsoft hustled UK retreat on open standards,... →
The British government withdrew its open standards policy after lobbying from Microsoft, it has been revealed in a Cabinet Office brief leaked to Computer Weekly.
Bunch of knobbers.
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Home Office: The local labour market effects of... →
The perception that immigrants take away jobs from the existing population, thus contributing to large increases in unemployment, or that immigrants depress wages of existing workers, do not find confirmation in the analysis of data laid out in this report.
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Israel vows to retaliate after credit cards are... →
Israel has said it will respond to cyber-attacks in the same way it responds to violent “terrorist” acts after the credit card details of thousands of its citizens were published online.
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Mac OS X: Adding a new Windows printer
Say you have a printer shared via Windows — and you want to add it as a new printing device in Mac OS X. You head to System Preferences, then either Print & Scan or Print & Fax depending upon your version, press the + button… and fail to find it in any of the sections. The Windows section doesn’t seem to provide anything useful.
There are two ways to do achieve what you want.
One is to...
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Teachers warned over Facebook and Twitter use →
Jim Docherty, assistant secretary of the SSTA, told BBC Scotland that teachers should follow his advice: “First thing is don’t bother telling anybody else about your social life. Nobody is interested about your social life and it doesn’t help.
“Secondly, never make any comment about your work, about your employer, about teaching issues in general.
“There is...