General News

MoD: A Royal Marine Reservist - Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher - who dived on a live grenade to save his comrades in Afghanistan has been honoured with the nation's highest gallantry award - the George Cross. Amazingly, he survived virtually unscathed as his body armour and a rucksack on his back absorbed most of the explosion.
The George Cross ranks with the Victoria Cross as the nation's highest award for gallantry. It was instituted in 1940 to recognise actions of supreme gallantry in circumstances for which the Victoria Cross was not appropriate. Thus, it may be awarded to civilians, as well as members of the Armed Forces for acts of gallantry not in the presence of the enemy, including, for example, military explosive ordnance disposal personnel.
In addition, 135 other members of the Armed Forces were also honoured on Friday 25th July for their gallantry and service in Afghanistan, Iraq and other operations around the world.
Press release ~ Imperial War Museum – George Cross ~ Press release regarding medal ceremony
OGC BS: OGCbuying.solutions took part in an eAuction on 24 July 2008 - reverse auctioning a requirement for 5,000 laptops and 5,000 desktop PCs. Significant savings are expected; the previous 8 eAuctions that OGC have run are claimed to have resulted in 34.5% savings, amounting to £27.65m.
Press release ~ OGCbuying.solutions – eAuctions ~ View The specifications for the hardware
ScotGov: Europe's largest onshore windfarm has been given the green light by the Scottish Government. First Minister Alex Salmond said the 152-turbine Clyde windfarm near Abington in South Lanarkshire would be capable of powering up to 320,000 homes. He also claimed that: “The Scottish Government has an ambitious target to generate 31% of Scotland's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2011 and 50% by 2020”.
Press release ~ Clyde windfarm ~ ScotGov - Clyde windfarm ~ ScotGov – renewable energy~ Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit ~ World Renewable Energy Congress in Glasgow
SE: Sport England received praise in the House of Lords recently when the Rugby Football Union’s highly successful Go Play Rugby Scheme was debated. The scheme surpassed all expectations of trying to convert 6,000 adults back into playing the sport by convincing 9,500 players to return to the game between September 2007 and April 2008.
The campaign had two main elements – a national media campaign to raise awareness & interest in playing rugby coordinated with local club based recruitment activity. Its largest funder was the National Sports Foundation with an award of £500,000.
Press release ~ ‘Go Play Rugby’ ~ Sport England ~ National Sports Foundation
BERR: Business Secretary John Hutton has confirmed the Government will establish a National Nuclear Laboratory and launch a competition to appoint a commercial operator to run the organisation. It is intended to become an ‘international centre of excellence in nuclear research and development’, playing a vital role in cleaning up both the UK's nuclear waste legacy and also contributing to the programme of nuclear new build.
The NNL will bring together world-class nuclear research capability comprising the staff in Nexia Solutions and facilities owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), including the Sellafield Technology Centre. It will be owned by Government, but run by a commercial operator – expected to be in place by spring 2009
Press release ~ British Nuclear Group ~ BNFL ~ Nuclear Decommissioning Authority ~ Nexia Solutions ~ West Cumbria Masterplan
PCS: Harriet Harman has announced that the report stage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill will now be debated after the summer recess 22 July - 6 October 2008. A number of restrictive anti-abortion amendments have been tabled, as well as positive amendments to improve the law for women.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union is committed to defending a woman's right to choose and encourages members to take every opportunity to lobby their MP during the summer and autumn. They are asking that people write to their MP and ask them to sign up to the early day motion 2009 on abortion law.
Press release ~ Early day motion 2009 on abortion law ~ PCS ~ Abortion Rights website
Defra: Climate Change Minister, Joan Ruddock, has launched a new information hub website intended to be a one-stop shop offering easy access to the most comprehensive collection of resources on adapting to climate change available in the UK. It includes details of how the climate will alter, links to practical tools for adaptation, and examples of what is already being done around the country.
Press release ~ Adapting to Climate Change website ~ Adapting to Climate Change programme ~ Climate Change Bill ~ Adapting to Climate Change in England: a framework for action (2.8Mb) ~ UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP)
STFC: For the first time astronomers have found a way to obtain a ‘clean view’ of the elusive disks of matter surrounding supermassive black holes. By using a polarising filter on the Science and Technology Facility Council’s UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii, they have been able to see through the clouds of dust which surround these black holes.
In a similar way that a fisherman would wear polarised sunglasses to help get rid of the glare from the water surface and allow him to see more clearly under the water, the filter on the telescope allowed the astronomers to see beyond surrounding clouds of dust and gas to the blue colour of the disk in infrared light.
Press release ~ Image ~ UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) ~ Joint Astronomy Centre - UKIRT ~ Joint Astronomy Centre - UKIRT - IRPOL ~ Science and Technology Facilities Council
WAG: A bursary to promote research into sustainability has been announced by Minister for Environment, Sustainability & Housing, Jane Davidson. A total of £105,000 will be provided over 3 years to fund the programme from 2008-11. The aim of the bursary is to increase specialist knowledge on sustainability issued in Wales and also enable the production of high quality research on key sustainability issues.
Press release ~ Bursary to support student research on sustainability ~ Sustain Wales
PCS: Following last week’s 3 day strike by passport workers, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union haswarned that the effects could continuewell into August with backlogs of passport applications building up due to the strike, which will now be followed by a work to rule. The union estimates that the strongly supported strike could result in a backlog of as many as 150,000 passport applications.
Staff are angry over restructuring plans which could see the UK’s 7 passport offices reduced to 3 and by a pay offer which leads to the longest serving passport staff receiving no pay rise at all for the fifth year in a row, at a time when nearly £50m has been spent on consultants. Starting salaries in the IPS are as low as £13,109.
Press release ~ PCS
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story